Hero Discussion of this Day: Dark Seer (14 December 2012)

Ish'kafel, the Dark Seer

The Dark Seer is a master of manipulating the positioning of allies and enemies and causing confusion in battle. His Vacuum ability drags all enemy units a wide area to a central location. This spell is very deadly when combined with allies who have strong area of effect spells. The Dark Seer's primary damage source is Ion Shell. When cast on an allied unit or the Dark Seer himself, Ion Shell continuously damages all adjacent enemies, making it the natural complement to Vacuum. Ion Shell is powerful when cast on allied melee heroes who like to be in the thick of the fight. To aid his allies and to make sure Ion Shell is in range, the Dark Seer uses Surge, a powerful spell that makes a target ally move at maximum speed for a short period of time. This ability is useful in any situation, and due to its low cooldown period and mana cost it can be cast quite frequently. The Dark Seer's final spell, Wall of Replica, summons a shimmering barrier which duplicates any enemy hero that passes through it, creating an illusion of him. Wall of Replica is great at causing a lot of confusion during large battles, especially combined with Vacuum. For players who like a more strategic playstyle and can quickly determine the flow of battle, the Dark Seer is a good choice.

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.

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Roles: Initiator, Nuker, Escape

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Strength: 22 + 2.3

Agility: 12 + 1.2

Intelligence: 29 + 2.7

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Damage: 60-66

Armour: 5.68

Movement Speed: 300

Attack Range: 128 (Melee)

Missile Speed: N/A

Base Attack Time: 1.7

Sight Range: 1800 (Day) / 800 (Night)

Turn Rate: 0.6

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Spells

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Vacuum

Dark Seer creates a vacuum over the target area that sucks in enemy units, disrupting them and dealing damage.

Level	Manacost	Cooldown	Casting Range	Area	Duration	Effects
1	100	22	500	250	N/A	Pulls all units in an area to the centre location of the targetted area, dealing 40 damage
2	130	22	500	350	N/A	Pulls all units in an area to the centre location of the targetted area, dealing 80 damage
3	160	22	500	450	N/A	Pulls all units in an area to the centre location of the targetted area, dealing 120 damage
4	190	22	500	550	N/A	Pulls all units in an area to the centre location of the targetted area, dealing 160 damage

• Magical Damage

• 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

Ish'Kafel modifies the center of gravity to a place of his choosing.

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Ion Shell

Surrounds the target unit with a bristling shield that damages enemy units in an area around it.

Level	Manacost	Cooldown	Casting Range	Area	Duration	Effects
1	70	10	700	250	20	Puts a shield around any selected unit (ally or enemy) which deals 30 damage per second to enemies around the unit with the shield
2	90	10	700	250	20	Puts a shield around any selected unit (ally or enemy) which deals 50 damage per second to enemies around the unit with the shield
3	110	10	700	250	20	Puts a shield around any selected unit (ally or enemy) which deals 70 damage per second to enemies around the unit with the shield
4	130	10	700	250	20	Puts a shield around any selected unit (ally or enemy) which deals 90 damage per second to enemies around the unit with the shield

• Magical damage

• 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

The Dark Seer slices holes into the 'Land Behind the Wall,' causing prismatic energy to seep forth.

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Surge

Charges a target friendly unit with power, giving it a brief burst of maximum movement speed.

Level	Manacost	Cooldown	Casting Range	Area	Duration	Effects
1	20	12	600	N/A	3	The targetted allied unit gains temporary max move speed (526)
2	30	11	600	N/A	4.5	The targetted allied unit gains temporary max move speed (526)
3	40	10	600	N/A	6	The targetted allied unit gains temporary max move speed (526)
4	50	9	600	N/A	7.5	The targetted allied unit gains temporary max move speed (526)

• 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)

Ish'Kafel once used his speed of mind to navigate the maze between the walls.

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Wall of Replica

Ultimate

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.

Level	Mana Cost	Cooldown	Casting Range	Area	Duration	Effects
1	200	100	500	1000 (line)	15	Creates a wall that anyone can pass through. If enemy heroes pass through the wall, they are dealt 150 damage and have an illusion summoned of them which deals 70% (100%*) damage and takes 300% damage
2	300	100	900	1000 (line)	30	Creates a wall that anyone can pass through. If enemy heroes pass through the wall, they are dealt 150 damage and have an illusion summoned of them which deals 80% (120%*) damage and takes 300% damage
3	400	100	1300	1000 (line)	45	Creates a wall that anyone can pass through. If enemy heroes pass through the wall, they are dealt 150 damage and have an illusion summoned of them which deals 90% (140%*) damage and takes 300% damage

• Magical damage

• This ultimate can be upgraded via Sceptre, (*) shows the upgraded effects

• Illusions are semi-transparent/different colour 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

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.

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Recent Changes from 6.76/6.76b/6.76c

• Vacuum cooldown increased from 19 to 22

Recent Changes from 6.75/6.75b

• 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 can no longer pull invulnerable units

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Findings (not-factual information as above):

I find Dark Seer to be a great versatile hero. His ultimate can be used in so many ways, the most obvious one would be in teamfights to sway it in your favour. Another way is for an anti-push tactic, put the wall just a bit infront of the tower and enemies can't his the tower without going through, spawning an illusion and taking damage - this causes them to hesistate. The same method could be used in a pushing tactic (putting the wall at or behind the tower to leave them unable to defend). After placing your wall, or before it, used vacuum to suck all enemies into the wall to take damage and make an illusion. Use Surge to help you or your allies in escape (whoever has the least hp/ is being focused) and you can also use it for chasing, ganking or initiating.

In the lane, use Ion Shell to farm as much as possible, casting it on an enemy or ally melee creep, this will disallow the enemy to farm without taking damage and will gain you creep kills and gold. It will also push the lane too, but remember to have wards to watch for incoming ganks.

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MyLifeInRage_ has a mini write-up from a previous discussion

A tl;dr on Dark Seer by Wilco-

"How do I deal with Dark Seer in the solo lane", thread by stormsmcgee. Uile and huntman1412 have some good suggestions. And Aerowkun suggests Enigma to Counter Darkseer convert every ion shelled creep

Here is some good advice for laning against darkseer by kroxldyphivian

A semi-concise PlayDota guide, a good read and good to follow

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If you guys want a specific hero to be discussed next, please feel free to post (or message as someone did for Meepo, Lina, Krobelus, Sylla, Puck and Brood).

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Posts are every 2 days, next post will be on the 16th.

Important Brood tip of last thread by Exotopia: "Brood's pushing skills are very much limited if heroes like Sand King (especially him, Caustic Finale means no spiderlings ever) and Axe are on the other team. If you see them, for god's sake don't randomly send waves of spiders towards them to die. Push with spiderlings when you know they aren't present etc."