Introduction
"War's flames blaze again!"
Ember Spirit is an agility carry/semi-carry hero. Although mobile, and with good potential to snowball out of control, he is vulnerable in the early stages of the game due to being relatively squishy and having no reliable escape mechanism until he hits level 6.
You can find Ember Spirit's complete character profile here.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Good at initiating and escaping once he hits level 6
- Good at chasing
- Good pushing potential
- Decent early and late-game damage potential
- Has a disable
- Ultimate can act as a free tp scroll
- Fun to play!
Cons
- Squishy in the early stages of the game
- Requires good farm to be effective heading into the mid-game
- His disable is unreliable if there is a creep wave nearby
- Low mana pool
- Not the best head-to-head carry
Item Build
Your starting items are fairly flexible. You'll always want at least two Branches and a set of Tangos though.
Depending on your lane, you'll also need to grab a Stout Shield and Healing Salve so you can stick around in lane if you expect to have contested farm. If you anticipate freefarm you can stick with just the Tangos, grab three Branches, and bank the rest of your starting gold.
Your first main item will depend a lot on how your lane is working out. If you grab an early kill or have completely uncontested freefarm you may want to consider an early Hand of Midas, but ONLY if you can get it extremely early. Ember Spirit is a hero that needs the security of farm to engage in full-on teamfights after the laning stage; your timing window for a Midas is small and if you blow it your teammates will not thank you.
Most of the time you'll probably have a decent but not stellar start, in which case you want to work straight into mid-game oriented items. Phase Boots are core on Xin; they allow you to chase and the damage stacks with your second skill. Upgrade those Branches into a Magic Wand. Drums of Endurance are semi-core and should also be considered at this stage. As most high level players and pros will tell you, if you expect to fight early as a carry then Drums are the most cost-effective stat item in the game.
If your farm was good in the early going then a Battle Fury will be your first big ticket item of choice and should be considered core. The cleave is perfect for Xin and the damage and regen synergise well with the hero too. It will also make farming the jungle a breeze.
Moving on to the situational items: Black King Bar is fantastic if you find yourself getting stunned up or nuked down in teamfights, you may even need to prioritise it above a Battle Fury depending on the opposition line-up and how aggressive they're being. If you play anywhere above the lower ranks consider it a core item because they WILL have lockdown. The crit and damage from a Daedalus turns your second skill into a potent physical nuke, in similar fashion to Admiral Kunkka's passive and should be the ideal second damage item you aim for.
Desolator is optional if you want to go down the minus armour route. If coupled with an Assault Cuirass you'll shred through the enemy team. Your second skill also ensures that the minus armour procs on each enemy you hit when you use it. For the same reason you may also consider a Vladmir's Offering if you're not the team's primary carry; the life steal works with Sleight of Fist and your whole team benefits from the armour and damage auras.
If the enemy team has a carry that is going to opt for Butterfly then definitely consider a Monkey King Bar after you've got your core up and running. It ensures you ignore the evasion element of that item (the same is true if facing heroes like Phantom Assassin who have built-in evasion).
Finally, there's always the Divine Rapier option if your back's against the wall and defeat is almost imminent or you feel you're so far ahead you want to one shot the opposing supports.
| Warning: Be sure to avoid stacking orb effects (e.g. do not purchase a Desolator and an Eye of Skadi; the effects do not stack). Items like Basher are also relatively ineffective because your second skill - Sleight of Fist - hits too quickly for it to proc more than once. |
Skill Build
Taking Searing Chains at level 1 is recommended in case of a level 1 engagement; it will lock two random nearby enemies in place for 1 second, allowing you to either capitalise on a gank by your team or to escape if you’re the target of an enemy level 1 gank.
After that, you want to max Flame Guard first. In lower levels of play people often tend to max Sleight of Fist first, but Flame Guard scales much better in the early stages of the game. With Flame Guard you become a very potent lane killer, are granted a fairly ridiculous amount of damage mitigation, and can also melt creep waves quickly if your team needs you to push your lane early on.
Level up Fire Remnant whenever you can (levels 6, 11 and 16). It provides fantastic utility and mobility. It can be used to escape incoming ganks, initiate attacks, to chase fleeing enemies, or even as a free teleportation scroll if you need to go back to base to regenerate. It also provides vision and destroys terrain, so it can be useful for scouting too.
Sleight of Fist is what makes you a threat in the mid and late game. It allows you to deliver a physical attack to each enemy within its radius whilst also making you invincible. Furthermore, it applies any orbs and attack modifiers you possess to enemies, such as minus armour from Desolator or the slow from an Orb of Venom.
| Tip: you can also cast other abilities and use items whilst slashing |
One word of warning: you always return to the point you were at upon casting Slight of Fist. This can potentially leave you vulnerable to counter-initiation, with the enemy team converging on your starting point to focus you down once your ability ends.
Searing Chains is the final ability you’ll want to max out. As mentioned earlier, getting a point in it early is potential life-saving, but thereafter this ability is simply outshone by Ember Spirit’s other abilities at all stages of the game. It’s worth getting it over stats, and Level 3 gives you an extra second of lockdown, but do not prioritise it over your other abilities.
For more detail on Ember Spirit's abilities check out the detailed skill page.
Gameplay Tips
As Xin, the Ember Spirit you're going to need to acquire a decent amount of farm. If in the safelane you should be given farm priority, if on the offlane you'll probably need to dual lane in order to get much out of the lane and will probably fit into a semi-carry role. Ember is also viable in the mid role, making him a pretty flexible carry or semi-carry all round.
Prior to level 6 your only escape mechanism is fairly unreliable - you can lock down two enemies nearby for two seconds using Searing Chains, but they will be chosen at random – but once you hit 6 you become a very mobile ganker with decent nuking and chasing potential.
When ganking or teamfighting, try to get in an extra use of Sleight of Fist before any engagement. You can then use Fire Remnant to initiate (think of it as a blink that deals damage on arrival in this situation). Attack or chase with Flame Guard triggered, to deal potent damage over time early-to-mid game and provide you with some tankability, followed by casting Searing Chains to hold the enemy in place.
If the gank/teamfight is going well then Fire Remnant can be used to chase and another cast of Sleight of Fist can be used to finish off the enemy. If it goes badly, you can use Searing Chains or Fire Remnant to disengage.
| Tip: Ember is countered hard by Bloodseeker (Bloodseeker’s ultimate, Ruptured, removes health when you move, and given that Ember is a highly mobile hero it effectively nullifies you). |
Enemies with silences generally counter you as well (another reason Bloodseeker is your hard counter), so consider not picking Ember if the enemy team includes heroes like Silencer, Skywrath Mage, Night Stalker, Death Prophet, Riki, Doom, Earth Spirit or Drow Ranger.
Last Updated - Patch 6.82.
