Dark Seer

Dark Seer

The Dire

22 + 2.3 12 + 1.2 29 + 2.7

Level 1 16 25 Hit Points 568 1252 1993 Mana 377 923 1469 Damage 60-66 102-108 144-150 Armor 5.68 8.48 12.4 Attacks / Second 0.65 0.77 0.94

Movement Speed 300 Turn Rate 0.6 Sight Range 1800/800 Attack Range Melee Missile Speed Instant Attack Duration 0.59+0.58 Cast Duration 0.4+0.67 Base Attack Time 1.7

Ish'kafel the Dark Seer is a melee intelligence hero with versatile abilities that allow him to assist allies and greatly change the conditions of combat. His Vacuum in particular affects enemies in a large area and is a powerful crowd-control. It not only disorients and damages enemies, but also pushes them into a small area to follow up with area spells or to trigger other abilities, such as his Wall of Replica ultimate that turns the very power of enemies against them in the form of illusions that replicate their statistics. His other spells focus on buffing allies with speed, or in the case of his Ion Shell, granting an aura that radiates damage onto enemies who venture within it.

Bio

Ish'kafel, the Dark Seer Play "An enemy destroyed cannot rise against you." Role: Initiator / Nuker / Escape Lore: Fast when he needs to be, and a cunning strategist, Ish'Kafel the Dark Seer requires no edged weapons to vanquish his enemies, relying instead on the strength of his powerful mind. His talent lies in his ability to maneuver the fight to his advantage. Hailing from a place he calls 'The Land behind the wall,' Dark Seer remains an outsider here—a warrior from a realm beyond the veil of this reality. Once a great general among his people, and a valiant defender of the god-king Damathryx, Dark Seer’s army was wiped out by a much larger force in the final days of the Great Boundaries War. Facing certain defeat, he made one last desperate act: he led the enemy forces into the maze between the walls. At the last moment, just before capture, he crossed over—then sealed the walls forever in an explosive release of dark energy. When the dust settled, he saw that he had saved his people but found himself blinking at the sun of a different world, with no way to return. Now he is committed to proving his worth as a military strategist, and vows to show that he’s the greatest tactician this strange new world has ever seen. Voice: John Patrick Lowrie (Responses)

Abilities

Vacuum Q C Ability Affects Damage Target Point Enemies Magical Dark Seer creates a vacuum over the target area that sucks in enemy units, disrupting them and dealing damage. Range: 500 Radius: 250/350/450/550 Damage: 40/80/120/160 24 100/130/160/190 Ish'Kafel modifies the center of gravity to a place of his choosing.

Notes: This ability will interrupt channeling spells and items. Drags units over 0.3 seconds. Can drag units over cliffs. This ability destroys trees in a 275 radius. Doesn't work on invulnerable units.

Ion Shell W E Ability Affects Damage Target Unit Units Magical Surrounds the target unit with a bristling shield that damages enemy units in an area around it. Range: 600 Radius: 250 Duration: 20 Damage Per Second: 30/50/70/90 10 70/90/110/130 The Dark Seer slices holes into the 'Land Behind the Wall,' causing prismatic energy to seep forth.

Notes: Doesn't damage the target it is cast on. Damage is dealt in smaller amounts every 0.1 second. If cast on a unit that already has Ion Shell on it, the new Ion Shell will replace the old one. Can be cast on mechanical units.

Surge E R Ability Affects Target Unit Allied units Charges a target friendly unit with power, giving it a brief burst of maximum movement speed. Range: 600 Duration: 3/4.5/6/7.5 12/11/10/9 20/30/40/50 Ish'Kafel once used his speed of mind to navigate the maze between the walls.

Notes: Slowing effects from spells or items do not affect Surged units. Surged unit maintain maximum movement speed for the full duration, unless the Surge buff is removed (by Purge or other spells).

Wall of Replica R W Ability Affects Damage Target Point Enemy Heroes Magical Raises a wall of warping light that damages and creates replicas of any enemy hero who crosses it. Enemy replicas serve at the Dark Seer's will. Range: 500/900/1300 Wall Length: 1000 Duration: 15/30/45 Illusion Damage Dealt: 70%/80%/90% (100%/120%/140%*) Illusion Damage Received: 300% 100 200/300/400 Increases the damage dealt by illusions. The Dark Seer, while unable to return to his natural realm, can channel part of the prismatic wall with powerful strength of mind, sowing confusion amongst enemy ranks.

Notes: When the Wall creates an illusion of an enemy, it deals 150 damage to the affected Hero. Illusions are semi-transparent to enemy players. Does not create illusions from other illusions or Geomancer copies. The wall is created perpendicular to the line between the Dark Seer and the target point.

Recommended items

Explanation: Starting Items: Stout Shield gives you the much needed durability whether you are laning or jungling. Consumables will cover your health and mana issues until you build up your early game items. Filling in the rest of your item slots with Branches will be beneficial with its early attribute boost, but also help you build up to a Magic Wand later on. Early Game: Soul Ring will cover most of your mana issues with his fairly high strength gain. But if you are jungling, an early Tranquil Boots will be a better option to sustain, as you can choose to disassemble it if you choose to go Arcane Boots. Core Items: A Vanguard can be picked up against right clicking heroes, although Dark Seer's high base armor makes the upgrade from a Stout Shield into a Vanguard not very effective. In most cases though, Hood of Defiance into a Pipe of Insight will be expected of you, since it gives a great damage shield in team fights. Aghanim's Scepter will effectively allow your illusions to deal more damage than your opponent, thereby significantly increase your team fight potential. Scythe of Vyse is always a great pickup for the hex and mana regen. If you need to turn off a carry's damage output, this is a very strong pickup. Shiva's Guard will grant you more punch to your Vacuum and Wall of Replica initiation. Unmentioned Items: Blink Dagger can help you positioning to place a better Wall into Vacuum combo. Mekansm is a strong pickup on Dark Seer, as it makes him tankier and he can very quickly farm one up. A Bottle can also be used to sustain high mana use, if the Dark Seer is put midlane. It has the added benefit of rune control as most runes are useful for Ion Shell harass.

Tips

• With a Stout Shield and healing items, Dark Seer can start jungling almost immediately.
• An advanced jungling tactic involves Smoke of Deceit. By combining it with Ion Shell, Dark Seer can jungle without taking any damage from creeps, as the only thing that removes the invisibility is proximity to an enemy hero or auto attacking a unit. In this way, Dark Seer can stack a single camp multiple times, cast Ion Shell on himself, pop Smoke, and stand at the camp until the creeps have been killed. Because of the steep cost of Smoke, it is advised that players do not use it without stacking camps first. As of the July 26th patch neutrals will now run away when attacked by an invisible enemy, players can still choose to use this method of jungling by chasing the creeps while invisible or casting on a weak neutral but the method will be far less efficient compared to before.
• If laning, be sure to harass enemies with Ion Shell by placing it on their melee creeps (for melee heroes) or ranged creeps (for ranged heroes). Additionally, placing Ion Shell on the second allied melee creep to arrive at the creep line is a good way to push the lane as well as create a moving damage-dealing creep that will chase enemy heroes.
• Be sure to take at least 1 early point of Surge, as it can help escaping ganks and chasing, as well as giving more mobility.
• When chasing, self-cast Ion Shell and run next to the enemy without attacking, using Surge if you need to catch up. Even better, use surge to body-block enemy heroes (that is, get in front of them to hinder their movement) and deliver auto-attacks without moving out of range of the Ion Shell.
• Wall of Replica is usually skilled after you've maxed both Ion Shell and Vacuum, as early game illusions don't deal much damage. Additionally, the relatively high mana cost at lower levels can be prohibitive, as you won't be left with much mana to cast other spells.
• AoE spells, especially those that require positioning, greatly benefit from Vacuum, as you can place all of them together to ensure a hit.
• Using Vacuum on enemy heroes to send them through your Wall of Replica will disallow foes from preventing illusions, as well as causing guaranteed damage from passing through the Wall.
• Due to Vacuum and Ion Shell's instant cast, your usefulness in large team fights permit Dark Seer to synergize extremely well with heroes such as Enigma and Jakiro. Make sure to cast these abilities with Black Hole and Ice Path/Macropyre/Liquid Fire to maximize AoE damage and maybe turn the tide in battle.
• Because of how illusions scale, it is usually best to skip putting points into Wall of Replica until at least level 10.

Trivia

• Dark Seer's response "No, I will not calm my beard" may be a reply to Beastmaster's and Clockwerk's rival hero taunts, both voiced by Sam A. Mowry.
• Dark Seer has the highest base intelligence in the game (29).

Update history

February 28, 2013 Patch

• Fixed two ledges (below the two rune spots) where you could get units stuck with Telekinesis and Vacuum.

February 07, 2013 Patch

• Fixed being able to cast Ion Shell on special units like Spirit Bear and Warlock's Golem.

November 08, 2012 Patch

• Fixed Wall of Replica illusion creation timing (affects instantly dying illusions mainly).

October 25, 2012 Patch

• Updated vision values on these abilities: Unstable Concoction, Phantasm, Waveform, Storm Hammer, Mirror Image, Spirit Lance, Requiem of Souls, Spectral Dagger, Venomous Gale, Earthbind, Dream Coil, Shackleshot, Wall of Replica, Flamebreak, Deafening Blast, Ghost Ship.

October 18, 2012 Patch

• Fixed Ion Shell damage interval and it triggering Cold Snap.
• [Undocumented] Updated model and textures for Dark Seer.

June 14, 2012 Patch

• Fixed Ion Shell showing the visual connecting effect on invisible targets.

May 10, 2012 Patch

• Fixed turn rates for the following heroes: Lifestealer, Alchemist, Clockwerk, Bounty Hunter, Dark Seer, Dazzle, Ancient Apparition, Brewmaster, Chen, Silencer, Lone Druid, Spectre and Spiritbreaker.
• Fixed Vacuum tree aoe destruction being too big.

April 26, 2012 Patch

• Fixed Brewmaster's primal splits creating illusions from Wall of Replica.

February 16, 2012 Patch

• Fixed Vacuum continuously pulling new units in the aoe for a period of time after initial cast.
• Fixed Vacuum disable/pull duration lasting too long.
• Made Dark Seer's illusion effect more differentiated from a normal illusion effect.
• Made all known illusions draw with a creep style healthbar. This does not effect enemy illusions, but does apply to Dark Seer's Wall of Illusion illusions.

January 12, 2012 Patch

• Changed how Dark Seer's illusions look — smaller and illusion color for both teams.

December 01, 2011 Patch

• Fixed being able to Surge magic immune allies.

November 17, 2011 Patch

• Added more movement lines for Dazzle, Dark Seer, Dragon Knight, Furion, Huskar, Riki, Skeleton King, Slardar, Spectre, and Jakiro.

October 13, 2011 Patch

• Fixed Wall of Replica not providing vision.

October 06, 2011 Patch

• Fixed Ion Shell being dispelled during Bladefury.

July 29, 2011 Patch

• Fixed Vacuum to allow pulling of units through buildings.

June 24, 2011 Patch

• Fixed Vacuum to properly stun vacuumed units while they are being moved, so it will now interrupt channels such as teleports.

May 20, 2011 Patch

• Vacuum now destroys trees around the targetted area.

April 30, 2011 Patch

• Added Dark Seer.

February 09, 2011 Patch

• Dark Seer now resumes his previous movement if he casts Surge on himself.

Balance changelog

6.78

• Vacuum cooldown increased from 22 to 24.

6.76

• Vacuum cooldown increased from 19 to 22.

6.75

• Movement speed decreased from 305 to 300.
• Vacuum cooldown increased from 16 to 19.
• Vacuum cast range decreased from 550 to 500.
• Vacuum AoE decreased from 275/375/475/575 to 250/350/450/550.
• Vacuum no longer pull invulnerable units.

6.74

• Wall of Replica illusions take 300% damage (up from 250%).
• Wall of Replica Aghanim bonus no longer creates allied illusions.
• Wall of Replica Aghanim bonus now increases illusion damage from 70/80/90 to 100/120/140% instead.

6.73

• Ion Shell duration increased from 15 to 20.
• Ion Shell AoE from increased 225 to 250.
• Ion Shell cooldown increased from 7 to 10
• Ion Shell damage increased from 30/45/60/75 to 30/50/70/90.
• Wall of Replica illusions are now semi-transparent to enemy players.

6.72

• Wall of Replica illusion damage improved from 70% to 70/80/90%
• Added an Aghanim's Scepter upgrade (and visual effect):

Creates illusions of allied heroes as well as enemy heroes. Allied illusions deal 50% damage.

See also

• Dark Seer responses