Heroes/Ember Spirit

AgilityMelee

Ember Spirit

Lost within the Wailing Mountains, the Fortress of Flares lay abandoned, its training halls empty, its courtyard covered in leaves and dust. Upon a dais in its sealed temple rests a topaz cauldron filled with ancient ash, remnants of a pyre for the warrior-poet Xin. For three generations, Xin taught his acolytes the Bonds of the Guardian Flame, a series of mantras to train the mind and body for the harsh realities beyond the fortress walls. <br><br>However, in teaching a warrior's way he earned a warrior's rivals, and in his autumn Xin was bested and slain. His followers spread to the wind. Yet as years turned to centuries and followers to descendants, his teachings endured by subtle whisper and deed. Touched by the teacher's lasting legacy, the Burning Celestial, inquisitive aspect of fire, cast himself to the Fortress of Flares and reignited the pyre ash. From these glowing embers emerged an image of Xin, wreathed in flame, his thoughtful countenance prepared to train and to teach, and to spread the fires of knowledge to all who seek guidance.

Base STR

22 +2.5

Base AGI

22 +3.2

Base INT

20 +2.2

Move Speed

300

Attack Range

150

Base Armor

Attack DMG

33–37

Projectile

900

Innate Abilities

Immolation

PassiveInnateAghanim's Shard

Ember Spirit is continuously burning, dealing damage per second to all nearby enemies at all times.

RADIUS:

200

DAMAGE PER SECOND:

Break does not disable Immolation for Fire Remnants when upgraded with Aghanim's Shard.

Abilities

Searing Chains

No Target

Cooldown

13 / 12 / 11 / 10s

Mana

80 / 90 / 100 / 110

Ember Spirit unleashes fiery bolas that wrap around nearby enemies, anchoring them in place and dealing damage each second.

DURATION:

1.25 / 1.75 / 2.25 / 2.75

RADIUS:

400

DAMAGE PER SECOND:

100

UNIT COUNT:

Targets are chosen randomly around Xin.
Does not affect Debuff Immune or invisible units.

“

Xin's harshest lessons often employed the use of red-hot chains.

Sleight of Fist

Point TargetAOE

Cooldown

13 / 11 / 9 / 7s

Mana

Ember Spirit dashes around with blazing speed, attacking all enemies in the targeted area of effect, then returning to his start location. Deals bonus damage to heroes.

RADIUS:

250 / 350 / 450 / 550

BONUS HERO DAMAGE:

50 / 90 / 130 / 170

ATTACK INTERVAL:

0.25

Targets are determined when the spell is cast.
A regular attack is done to each target every 0.25 seconds.
Any attack modifier that Xin has (such as Critical Strike, Bash, Cleave, or Orb effects) will be applied normally on these attacks.
Abilities and items can be used while Sleight of Fist is active.

“

The studied warrior must whip and weave through its enemies, burning each without pause.

Flame Guard

No Target

Cooldown

32s

Mana

65 / 80 / 95 / 110

Ember Spirit surrounds himself with a ring of fire that consumes incoming magic damage, absorbing a percentage of the damage taken. Flame Guard deals damage per second in an area around Ember Spirit while Flame Guard is active. If the shield is broken, the damage is also lost.

DURATION:

12 / 14 / 16 / 18

DAMAGE PER SECOND:

20 / 30 / 40 / 50

RADIUS:

500

PERCENTAGE ABSORBED:

70%

MAGIC BARRIER:

60 / 140 / 220 / 300

Magic damage reduction is calculated before any reductions.
The damage lingers for an additional 0.5 seconds after application.

“

An enemy should never be allowed to approach without difficulty.

Activate Fire Remnant

Point Target

Mana

100 / 125 / 150

Select the Fire Remnant to arrive at.

“

With blazing speed does a spirit fly!

Fire Remnant

Point TargetAghanim's ScepterAghanim's Shard

Cooldown

0.5s

Sends a Fire Remnant that runs to the target location at 250% Ember Spirit's speed. Using Activate Fire Remnant, Ember Spirit will dash out to all active Fire Remnants, destroying them and dealing damage in an area and then moving to the nearest Remnant. Ember Spirit will end at the Remnant closest to the targeted location.

DAMAGE:

100 / 200 / 300

RADIUS:

450

DURATION:

RANGE:

SPEED MULTIPLIER:

MAX CHARGES:

CHARGE RADIUS:

Starts with 3 charges (maximum).

“

By the spirit's power are Xin's teachings spread anew.

Talents

+12 Damage

+165 Flame Guard Barrier Amount

+100% Flame Guard Damage Per Second

+0.8s Searing Chains Duration

+50 Sleight of Fist Hero Damage

+50 Searing Chains Damage

2 Sleight of Fist Charges

-12s Remnant Charge Restore Time

Aghanim's Scepter

Fire Remnant

Increases cast range, initial remnant speed, and maximum charges.

Aghanim's Shard

Fire Remnant

If an enemy hero dies near Ember Spirit, a Fire Remnant charge will be replenished.

Hero Performance

Median across all public matches · OpenDota

Form

50%

Win rate in recent matches

Performance

100%

KDA ratio (kills + assists / deaths)

Laning

47%

Last hits per minute over full game

Farm

68%

Average gold per minute

Fighting

39%

Average kills + assists per match

Experience

87%

Average XP per minute

Strategy

When to Pick Ember Spirit?

Pick Ember Spirit when your team needs a mid hero that can dominate the lane, rotate to every single fight on the map simultaneously, and then scale into one of the most terrifying late-game damage dealers in all of Dota 2—because right now in patch 7.41a he is absolutely one of the meta leaders in the mid lane, and the numbers back it up completely.

People have been sleeping on him for a while, but not anymore—the recent buffs to Sleight of Fist hero damage, the Fire Remnant cast point going to zero, and Flame Guard getting stronger every level have turned him into a hero that is threatening at every single stage of the game in a way that very few mids can claim right now.

He is disgusting in lineups that have strong follow-up damage and can capitalize on Searing Chains locking enemies in place—Leshrac, Zeus, Skywrath Mage—heroes that just need targets held still for two seconds to completely delete them while Ember dashes around the fight dealing physical and magical damage simultaneously from every direction.

He thrives in lineups that want tempo and constant map pressure because Fire Remnant gives him a global presence that almost no other mid hero can match—place a remnant in the enemy jungle, go secure a rune, teleport back into a side lane fight, and be farming the mid wave again twenty seconds later like nothing happened.

He pairs beautifully with carries that need space and time to farm—Medusa, Spectre, and Terrorblade—because Ember creates so much chaos across the entire map that the enemy team never has enough heroes in the right place to properly pressure anyone.

The current patch builds him as a hybrid damage dealer — Kaya and Sange into Aghanim's Scepter into Shiva's Guard or Mjollnir — giving him both the physical damage of Sleight of Fist and the magical damage of Flame Guard simultaneously, which means the enemy can't just stack magic resistance or armor to shut him down because he is always hitting them with whichever damage type they are weakest against.

Avoid picking him into lineups with a lot of roots, silences, and stuns that can lock him down before he activates Fire Remnant to escape—Lion, Shadow Shaman, and Bane—because a stunned Ember Spirit with no remnants available is just a melee hero with mediocre base damage standing in a very bad position with absolutely no way out.

Also feels genuinely terrible about Anti-Mage—that hero burns his mana faster than he can replenish it, removes Flame Guard's entire identity as a magic barrier with Mana Void, and farms to a point where Ember simply cannot keep up in the late game if the game goes too long. And if the enemy mid is a strong lane bully that can deny him runes and bottle charges?

Be very careful—because Ember Spirit with no rune access and no mana is just a hero standing in mid lane, unable to cast anything and rapidly becoming irrelevant.

Tips & common mistakes

The Double Impact facet is the correct choice right now—it makes Sleight of Fist hit the closest enemy a second time when two or more enemies are nearby, which turns every grouped fight into an absolute massacre of physical damage that stacks incredibly fast. Do not go to Chain Gang unless you have a very specific reason for it.
You can place a fire remnant at one rune spot and physically run to the other one—this means Ember is one of the only mid heroes who can contest BOTH runes simultaneously without missing any farm or experience in the midlane. Do this every rune cycle without exception and watch how much sustain advantage it gives you over the enemy mid.
Flame Guard is your primary damage source in the early game, and most people underprioritize it completely. Max it first—the magic damage absorption makes you nearly unkillable against magic-heavy mids AND the damage it pulses around you every second is what makes you threatening in early fights before your items come online.
You can cast ALL your spells during Sleight of Fist — yes, including Searing Chains and activating Fire Remnant mid-dash. This means you can Searing Chains enemies while Sleight of Fisting through them, locking them in place while dealing physical damage simultaneously. If you are not doing this in every single fight, you are playing the hero at half its actual potential.
Fire Remnant recharges a charge every time an enemy hero dies near you. This means in a winning teamfight where kills are flying everywhere, you suddenly have unlimited mobility for the next thirty seconds. Use this aggressively—don't just stand around celebrating; immediately push a tower or rotate to the next fight while the charges are available.
Stop building pure physical damage items and ignoring the hybrid build. The current meta build — Kaya and Sange into Aghanim's — makes you deal both damage types simultaneously and gives you the status resistance to survive long enough to complete your combo. People going straight Daedalus and skipping survivability items are winning individual fights but dying too fast to matter in real teamfights.
Controlling runes is more important on Ember Spirit than almost any other mid hero in the game right now because bottle refills now require you to physically be at the fountain—meaning runes are his PRIMARY source of mana sustain throughout the laning phase. If you are letting the enemy mid control both runes freely, you will run out of mana, stop being threatening, and fall behind on farm faster than you can recover.

Summary

Ember Spirit is one of the best mid heroes in the game right now, and if you are not drafting him when the matchup allows it, you are leaving one of the most complete and versatile mids in the current patch completely untouched.

He wins the laning phase, rotates globally, fights all game, scales into the late game, and adapts to whatever damage type the enemy is weakest against—there are very few heroes in Dota 2 that can claim all of those things simultaneously at the same time.

Master the rune control, learn to combo during Sleight of Fist, build the hybrid damage path, and make the enemy team feel like no matter where they go on the map there is a trail of fire following them that they simply cannot shake.

Just don't pick him if you can't control your mana—because an Ember Spirit with an empty mana bar, no remnants available, and no runes secured is not a meta leader; he is just a slow melee hero standing in mid lane watching the game fall apart around him wondering where all his resources went.

Strong Against

Weak Against