Hero Guide: Storm Spirit

Storm Spirit is a pretty interesting hero. Well suited for Mid. By and large a very good ganker and great at surviving. A good Storm Spirit is very hard to play against because, similar to Pudge, he's a very intimidating ganker. With farm, Storm Spirit can carry as well. Depending on your build, he is also a capable initiator.

Skill Build

I think the best way to go is (in general):

1. Electric Vortex
2. Static Remnant
3. Overload
4. Electric Vortex
5. Electric Vortex
6. Ball Lightning (i.e. Ult)

Justification:

• Electric Vortex is your ganking skill
• Electric Vortex will completely screw over anyone that tries to tower dive you
• One level of Static Remnant keeps the mana cost low (70 mana) while still allowing you to last hit numerous creeps when you're trying to push the wave just before rune spawn
• One level of Overload comes in handy to chase, harass (to some extent), and you get it each time you use a skill (even your ult)

Item Build

Starting

Mid (w/ proper support that gets Wards/cour):

• 1 x Tangos (90g)
• 1 x Salve (100g)
• 2 x Clarity (100g)
• 2 x Mantle of Intel (300g)

Mid (w/o proper support items AKA average pub):

• 1 x Tangos (90g)
• 1 x Salve (100g)
• 2 x Clarity (100g)

Then choose:

• 1 x Courier (150g) + 3 x Iron Branch (159g)
• 1 x Wards (200g) + 2 x Iron Branch (106g)

Core

• Magic Wand because it's good. Plus, as a ganker, you will gain charges super fast because the first thing people do after shitting their pants from a gank is cast spells wildly.
• Power Treads because none of the other boots (save TP Boots) make much sense. Power Treads give you a lot of versitility because you can switch the main stat in a pinch.
• Bottle if you're playing Mid or no one else is getting one. Sometimes, it makes sense to get one even if another player has it (especially if they fail at rune whoring). You can make use of every rune type and the regen is very useful to Storm Spirit.
• TPs because they let you jump from lane to lane and gank, take advantage of free farm situations, etc... I usually carry 2 of these around once I get the money.

Luxury/Late Game

• Blood Stone because it gives you the regen you desperately need. The bonus HP and Mana are also very useful.
• Boots of Travel these are good on pretty much every hero late game because it gives you so much mobility, frees a spot that is normally taken by TPs, and allows you to push with ease because you can port onto creeps.
• Scythe of Vyse because when isn't having sheep stick a good thing? Besides, the stats are good, especially that delicious INT.

Situational

• Arcane Boots If you're taking up more of a support role for some reason.
• Eul's Scepter of Divinity If you need more crowd control. You benefit from the Regen, Int, and Move Speed.
• Eye of Skadi Because it gives good stats and has a nice passive effect.
• Linken's Sphere because it gives you good regen and makes initiations super easy (unless they have an AoE stun). You get really annoying with this, but it's not effective in every game because it only blocks single target spells.
• Shiva's Guard because of the stats and armor. You are hard to kill, so the passive will be present to antagonize the enemy team for the entire team fight. The active ability is great for initiating.
• Orchid Malevolence For the silence effect, regen, and attack speed. You can chase blink heroes pretty well, so it's more for heroes with spells that will wreck your team or spammy heroes.
• Assault Curiass to help your team push, it gives you armor you need, and again, because you're difficult to kill, your team reaps the benefit of the passive for the entire teamfight.
• Medallion of Courage can make your sidelane ganks easier because it lets your teammates kill Electric Vortex'd enemies faster. You also gain armor and small regen otherwise.
• Ring of Basillius can be a good pickup for help pushing, the armor, and the regen.
• Drum of Endurance this is moreso if you're not doing well or having to take on a support role. Again, you're hard to kill and this can be great for the bonus attack speed for you & your allies while ganking.

Other

People will pick up almost anything on a late game Storm Spirit since it's all highly Situational. I've seen people go: Desolator, Radiance, Manta, BKB, etc...

General Strategy

• Lane: Usually want to go Mid with him. He can do OK in a side lane, but he's Mid at heart.
• Crystal Maiden is a good ally for him due to her Mana Regen Aura
• At mid, about 10 seconds before rune spawn you want to push the lane so you can snag the rune while your enemy is forced to choose between gold/XP and the rune. You do this by hitting creeps down to low levels, then casting Static Remnant
• Ball Lightning is the hardest skill to use. You'll want to practice with it to get a feel for how much mana you use to travel what distance. Ideally, you wanto use as little mana as possible while getting to where you want to be.
• You are invulnerable in your Ult, so you can dodge shit with it.
• Mana management is very crucial on Storm Spirit. The more regen you have the better.
• Your ult triggers Overload. You can use it to chain slow by only going a small distance.
• The default ganking opening is: Ult -> Overload -> Vortex -> Overload -> Static Remnant -> Overload
• Only getting one level of Static Remnant keeps the mana low, while still dealing 140 magic damage, which is enough to last hit a low creep wave.
• You can use Remnant for vision, or to discourage enemies from chasing you.
• Remnants have flying vision (i.e. can see over cliffs/trees)
• Remnants cannot block creep spawns anymore