Storm Spirit/Guide

Tips & Tactics

 * In order to make the most of his mobility, Storm Spirit's first priority should be to build items that give him both mana and mana regen. Ball Lightning allows him to initiate and escape at will, making him very hard to catch in the hands of a skilled player, however it consumes large amounts of his mana pool, meaning that life or death literally rests on how much mana Storm Spirit can muster up when needed.
 * Storm Spirit is most generally played in the mid lane, as his abilities make him an extremely powerful hero to have early levels and gold on. While he is quite weak and vulnerable before he hits level 6, he becomes a force to be reckoned with once he obtains access to his ultimate.


 * Static Remnant drops a remnant on Storm Spirit's position upon cast, detonating when an enemy walks into its trigger radius or when it expires.
 * In the laning stage, Static Remnant can be used to apply nuke damage to a creep wave, useful for getting multiple last-hits at once or pushing the lane in order to buy yourself space to check the runes. However, it is also dangerous since the spell's small radius means that Storm Spirit, a ranged hero with low HP and armor, must walk into melee range of the creep wave in order to make the most of it. Make sure that the enemy cannot easily capitalize on this disadvantageous positioning before doing this.
 * If your laning opponent is a melee hero, Static Remnant would be very effective to prevent them from lasthitting. Cast Remnant when the hero comes close to the creep wave to apply the damage, also with attack and Overload proc.
 * Due to its area-of-effect nature and low mana cost and cooldown, Static Remnant can be a useful spell for farming neutral camps, especially if they have been stacked. Each remnant can deal its damage to the entire camp if placed close enough, reducing the amount of time required to farm them.
 * Mind the delay between placement and materialization of a Static Remnant. Smart enemies can run outside of its radius in the second after placing the remnant, so try to make sure that the enemy is otherwise disabled in order to land the explosion on them. Position yourself using Ball Lightning and cast Static Remnant on their escape route to inflict more damage or for enemies to change their path.
 * Static Remnant has an instant cast time, allowing Storm Spirit to place them without breaking stride. When running from enemies, leaving a Static Remnant in your wake can discourage enemies from pursuing in the early game if they cannot afford to take the damage.
 * Keep in mind, a Static Remnant will still explode if an invisible enemy enters its radius. If a Static Remnant explodes without a visible enemy entering its radius, but before its expiration time, it means that an invisible enemy is approaching.
 * Static Remnant gives flying vision for its duration, which allows it to be used to gain vision through the fog of war. This can be used to check inside Roshan's pit, or to see over trees and high ground. It can be particularly useful when placed behind a tree, as enemies will be unable to see the remnant but it will still provide vision of them until it explodes.


 * Electric Vortex is a short disable that stuns its target as it is pulled in.
 * As a general rule of thumb, Electric Vortex has little value at level 1, and is only useful for catching enemies at level 3 or higher, so it should either have multiple early skill points put into it in order to increase Storm Spirit's disable potential, or altogether ignored in the early game for more damage output through his other spells.
 * Still, putting a single point is okay to proc Overload one more time in short period, hinder enemy's movement to get more chance to attack, also interrupt Town Portal Scrolls.
 * At any level, Electric Vortex can pull an enemy into the explosion radius of Static Remnant, provided that it was already placed at the same location that Storm Spirit casts Electric Vortex from. However, keep in mind that Static Remnant takes time to materialize, and at level 1 Electric Vortex only pulls for just barely the theoretical amount of time and distance needed for this; in practical terms, a fleeing enemy and the delay between commands means that they will likely run outside of the remnant before it materializes unless Electric Vortex is cast on a target inside of its maximum range. Regardless, it is wise to put at least two levels into Electric Vortex in order to ensure that enemies will be caught by a Static Remnant.
 * Beware that Electric Vortex will also halve Storm Spirit's movement speed upon casting, meaning that he is unable to easily move himself to a more advantageous position to attack or cast his other spells. As such, the only ways to reliably re-position are either to have activated a Haste rune or to cast Ball Lightning.


 * Overload is the linchpin that links together all of Storm Spirit's abilities and augments the amount of damage that his physical attacks deal.
 * Overload procs every time Storm Spirit casts any of his spells. As such, mastery of Storm Spirit requires that players learn to attack targets between every spell in order to maximize the amount of damage dealt.
 * The area-of-effect nature of Overload allows for it to be used as a farming spell. Throwing an Overload charge at the center of a group of creeps will apply the damage and slow to all of them, which allows Storm Spirit to deal aftershock damage to groups of creeps after using a spell.
 * The damage from Overload also allows it to be used as a harassing spell in the laning stage, especially in the mid lane due to easier access to runes to replenish mana using bottle. Hitting enemy player with attack together with Overload damage is the main way to harass a ranged hero since most of them won't trigger Static Remnant often. However, the attack range of Storm Spirit is relatively short - 480 compared to Queen of Pain's 550 or Lina's 670. Laning with an experienced player of these heroes would be dreadful. Use the damage of Overload to lasthit to counteract heros with either long attack range or high attack damage, such as Shadow Fiend and Viper, to gain gold and experience instead of harassing.
 * If the enemy is standing close to a creep (such as the ranged creep), attacking that creep with the Overload charge can deal splash damage to the enemy player without drawing aggro.
 * Keep in mind, attacks will check for Overload procs when they successfully connect. As such, it is possible to throw an attack, and then cast a spell while the projectile is mid-air, and the projectile will still proc Overload on its target. This can be used to get kills on low-health enemies who are fleeing, but who will escape before a spell comes off cooldown for proccing Overload prior to attacking; attacking and then casting a spell to proc Overload will cause the subsequent attack to deal its damage and slow.
 * Beware that attacking spell immune units, particularly ancients and wards, will still proc Overload even if it will not deal the damage or slow on that unit. In the early game when Storm Spirit's mana is still finite, this can result in a wasted Overload proc, so be careful about which targets to attack in order to maximize the usage of Storm Spirit's mana.


 * Ball Lightning makes Storm Spirit one of the most mobile and deadly heroes in the game, as it gives him strong initiation and escape potential. However, it is also one of the most mana-costly spells in the game, so good mana management is key to playing Storm Spirit well.
 * Because Ball Lightning's mana cost is expressed as a percentage of Storm Spirit's total mana pool, it is crucial to build mana regen items on him, since the mana cost of the spell increases in tandem with the size of his mana pool. By focusing on mana regen, Storm Spirit can quickly replenish the mana used by his ultimate between engagements, allowing him to be ready for another one shortly after.
 * Keep in mind that Ball Lightning does have a flat mana cost for each activation as well as per distance traveled. The larger Storm Spirit's mana pool is, the more negligible this flat cost becomes. As well, a larger mana pool also reduces the cost of his other spells relative to how much mana he has, allowing for more profligate use of Static Remnant.
 * Storm Spirit is invulnerable during Ball Lightning, so he cannot be damaged, disabled or otherwise affected by most spells in the game. As such, it can be cast to disjoint incoming projectiles or to avoid other types of damage and disables if timed properly.
 * As Ball Lightning has no cooldown, it can be used to travel over short distances to proc Overload. This can be a powerful, albeit costly way to add more damage to Storm Spirit's attacks during ganks.
 * Items can still be used, and Storm Spirit can still attack during Ball Lightning. During initiations, this means that enemies can be disabled prior to arrival with items like ( and, an Overload attack can be made before emerging, and Shiva's Guard can be activated to expand its radius to encompass multiple enemies. This also means that during escapes, Town Portal Scroll can be channeled during the jump, allowing Storm Spirit to put distance between himself and any pursuing enemies while channeling.
 * When using Ball Lightning to initiate or escape, it is sometimes wise to only jump the minimum distance necessary, due to the spell's high mana cost. Making unnecessarily long jumps will drain Storm Spirit's mana quickly, allowing for less mana to be used for attacks and disables upon reaching a gank target, or allowing for less mana for making a secondary escape jump if needed.
 * Never discount the damage that Ball Lightning itself deals if it connects with a target, especially when upgraded to Level 3. When initiating over longer distances, it can put a respectable amount of damage on the table, increasing the odds of a successful kill. However, doing so effectively requires Storm Spirit to land right on top of, or pass right over the enemy, which requires additional skill since the target's path must be predicted right when the jump is made.
 * The massive initiation potential of Ball Lightning means that Storm Spirit can engage foes who are behind their teammates, focusing down squishy supports with low HP at the beginning of fights. This can be useful for removing them from the picture before they can cast any of their powerful teamfight spells, or use any crucial items such as Mekansm or Pipe of Insight.
 * Initiating on and killing enemies requires good mechanical skills and planning in order to make the most of all of Storm Spirit's spells. The textbook initiation is: to close the distance > Cast disable while en route  >  attack (if no quick counteract items such as Manta Style or Black King Bar in terms of Orchid Malevolence) >   >  attack >  >  attack >  over short distance >  attack > Repeat as needed using either  or  > Escape with  if necessary. With  more actions could be applied before casting Electric Vortex.