Storm Spirit Guide by Qojqva
Artist: Chemical Alia
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Author:
Qojqva & Co.
Date: 12/2018
Tags:
text
Storm Spirit
Builds
Tactics
Analysis

Welcome

Welcome to Qojqva's Book of the Storm Spirit, a hero guide part of the Book of Dota series!

Here you will find all the information you need to learn to play Storm on a high level – from drafting and builds to the optimal playstyle in different lanes and situations. We hope you’ll enjoy this guide and find it useful!

qojqva storm stats
TL;DR:

Draft: You have many heroes you want to avoid playing against – mainly bad lane matchups and heroes with strong disables & silences. Because of this, opening the draft with Storm is risky – get him at the end of the picking phase, if possible.

Early Game: Concentrate on your levels and farm. Getting kills after level 6 is possible if the opportunity arises, but your own resource development remains the top priority. You need your core items in order to snowball. Push out the wave and stack and farm the jungle in the later laning stage.

Mid & Late Game: Decide on the item build you want (a fast or a slow Orchid; do you need BKB/Linkens, etc.). Once you get your core items you can join your team to initiate fights and ganks and ideally snowball and take map control in the mid-late game. Don’t forget about farming: you are a terrible pusher and if the game goes late you need to have the needed items to keep killing heroes.

Authors

Max "qojqva" Bröcker
Endorsement & Info

Qojqva is one of the very few old-school core players who have been able to consistently stay at the top of the game and to maintain their peak mechanical skill.

He has competed on legendary teams like MYM,  mousesports, Team Liquid, Team Tinker, Escape, NiP, and Alliance.

Nikolay "CTOMAHEH1" Kalchev
Info & Editing

CTOMAHEH1 started his pro career as a support in Basically Unknown together with Mind Control. Since then he has consistently been playing on the European T2 scene, most recently on Unchained Esports. 

His highest placement on the EU ladder is top 100 - he plays all roles (mainly support), which is untypical for high-ranking players and shows his great versatility and understanding of the game.

Kyril "MrNiceGuy" Kotashev
PM, Writing & Editing

Esports and gaming enthusiast since forever and founder of Dotahaven.

Has been playing Dota since 2005 (5.84). An Ancient I player in Dota 2.

Ooh, who's that handsome devil?

Storm Spirit is mobility incarnate. Because of this ability to jump from place to place with the only real restriction being his mana pool, he is a unique hero to play. He is a great ganker and fares quite well in group fights. Even though he is an INT hero, Storm scales very well with levels and items and has more than decent carry potential.

Storm is quite an independent hero and consequently, doesn’t rely on having some specific combo or strat and can have a decent impact in different situations. This means that he is an easy hero to fit in different lineups - he is quite versatile as he is strong in all stages of the game. Storm is good early on, being a strong ganker. Furthermore, he can also farm fast and scales well with items, so he has considerable strength in the late game too.

Because of his level and farm dependence, Storm is usually played as a solo farmer, most commonly in the middle lane or occasionally in the safe lane.

Generally, Storm is at his best when a ganking strategy is built around him. He, however, can also be used to counter drafts that lack reliable disables as he will have freedom in fights to jump around and pick-off heroes. Countering split-push strategies is also one of his strengths.

Storm Loadout
Stats
Level 1
Level 15
Level 25
STR
21
Medium
49
Low
69
Very Low
AGI
22
Very High
43
Medium
58
Medium
INT
22
Very High
67
Very High
99
Very High
Attack
48-58
Medium
92-102
High
124-134
High
Armor
5.52
Very High
8.88
High
11.28
Medium
Resistance
26
Medium
27
Medium
28
Medium
HP
578
Medium
1082
Low
1442
Low
MP
405
Very High
1065
Very High
1545
Very High
MS
288
Low
291
Low
293
Low
STRENGHTS

MAJOR

Mobile: Storm’s ultimate ability makes him, hands down, the most mobile hero in the game. It allows him to move with incredible speed over impassible terrain repeatedly (Ball Lightning has no CD), and to top it off, while he is “flying”, he is invulnerable. As a result, he is a very good initiator and a very elusive and difficult target to pin down and kill. His mobility creates a lot of opportunities and allows him to do things no other hero can.

Scales very well with items: Storm’s mana pool is something crucially important to him as it is the only real restriction to his mobility. This, however, means that the more mana (and INT) he has, the more things he can do and the more mobile he is. So, unlike most INT heroes in the game, he reaches his maximum potential pretty late - he has good carry potential.

MINOR

Decent stats: Storm is very well rounded. He has relatively high armor, good attack animation and decent range. Even though he has below average movement speed, this is compensated by the mobility his ultimate gives him.

Fast farmer: With the help of his Static Remnant and Overload, Storm is able to farm creep waves and camps very fast. This, coupled with his carry potential and his elusiveness, means that Storm can become dangerous very fast, and in addition, it is quite hard to stop him.

WEAKNESSES

MAJOR

Ball Lightning dependent: If for some reason Storm doesn’t have access to his ultimate (disables, silences, out of mana), he is a very easy hero to kill, and he has a rather limited impact in fights. As he is an INT hero, he has a relatively low HP pool, and in addition, he is a slow hero. This means that without the mobility from his ultimate he is quite easy to target and kill off. Another big problem is that you tend to get in the middle of the fight thanks to your Ball Lightning initiation. If you get disabled or silenced when you are in the middle of the fight, though, you are in trouble as you cannot escape, and you will get focused.

Level Dependent: Storm needs a maximum level in all of his skills to reach his full potential, and if he is under-leveled he will struggle to have an impact on the game. What is even a bigger problem, however, is that he desperately needs to get his ult. Without it, he is an easy gank target, and he is generally unable to fight efficiently.

Mana Dependent: Arguably Storm Spirit is the most mana dependent hero in the game. He needs a lot of mana to initiate from a decently long range and even more to fight continuously.

MINOR

Farm Dependent: Storm needs items to scale well into the mid and late game and stopping his development will hurt him a lot. This problem is mitigated by his ability to flash-farm and his elusiveness - it is quite hard to stop a Storm from getting the items he needs.

Movement Speed: Storm’s below-average movement speed is an issue in the early game as it makes him more susceptible to ganks, and it is easier to die if you make a mistake in the lane. Nevertheless, when you reach lvl6, this becomes much less of an issue.

Replays

OG vs Kinguin, DreamLeague season 8

MATCH ID: 3737707928
Replay

Resolution plays Storm against team Kinguin. He has a good laning stage (the best on his team) and afterward he slowly and steadily starts to snowball and overtake the game. Notice his item build: he is playing against Beast Mater and Dragon Knight and because of this he values Linken’s Sphere highly (he needs it to block the Dragon Tail and Roar and to stay alive). Nonetheless, he still gets his core items first – Kaya and Bloodstone. This is the correct decision because over-reacting and rushing the Linkens will slow down his farm and decrease his impact in fights too much.

Drafting

Storm is usually quite self-sufficient and isn’t too reliant on some combos or specific strats. Despite that, his unique mobility opens opportunities for some strong combinations.

Solo Mid Storm Spirit

The mid lane is Storm Spirit’s usual position as he is a decently strong solo laner (especially versus melee heroes). The main idea to put him mid, however, is to get as much XP as fast as possible so that he reaches lvl6 quickly, which will give him the freedom to rotate for ganks or to stay in the lane more safely (he is very hard to gank after he gets his ultimate). The same goal can be achieved in the solo safe lane if you are certain he will face a single opponent.

The main thing to consider if you are putting a Storm mid is whether the enemy supports are good at ganks in the early game. In case they are, and they have the freedom to rotate, they might interrupt Storm’s development as the hero doesn’t have a good arsenal of skills with which to dodge gank attempts.

Consequently, it might be good to have an offensive dual or trilane while you are running Storm mid (in order to keep the enemy supports preoccupied) or to keep your supports close by or ready to react with TP supports to stop incoming ganks.

Keep in mind that running Storm in the safe lane might prove to provide more safety for him from ganks. In the safe lane, Storm is likely to get more farm. As a result, rushing a very fast Orchid is easier, and you can use this to start solo ganking from earlier. Putting Storm in the safe lane is a good decision only if you are quite certain the enemy team isn’t running a strong offensive dual or trilane.

Substitutes:

Puck Portrait

Puck works similarly to Storm as he is again a level dependent spell caster that usually goes to the mid lane and has ganking and initiation potential. Puck is harder to counter with ganks during the laning stage thanks to his elusiveness and he is better mid against ranged heroes because he can harass from a long range and he can avoid getting harassed. He is also a much better initiator for team fights thanks to his AoE potential (control and silence). Storm, however, is better at prolonged fights as he doesn’t rely on any long cooldown high impact spells and provides more sustained DPS, which also makes him a better semi-carry. Puck is another good hero to make Naix Bombs with.

Queen of pain

QoP uses short ranged nukes to dominate the mid lane and she’s quite good at harassing, which makes her very dominant versus melee opponents. Similarly to Storm, she is mobile semi-carry with great ganking potential. She doesn’t provide a disable like Storm or Puck, but she provides more AoE nuke damage.

Synergy

The best partners for Storm are heroes who complement his very good ganking potential:

Gankers, heroes that can find ganking opportunities: Bounty Hunter, Nyx Assassin, Riki, Clockwerk, NS with Aghanim's

Bounty Hunter
Nyx
Riki
Clockwerk
Night Stalker
Map control and vision are the first prerequisites of successful ganks, so heroes that provide that complement Storm very well. Provided those heroes provide damage and control to kill off targets faster, they become perfect partners.

Storm has very long initiation range thanks to his ult. This means that if you as Storm know where a good target to gank is, you can get there very quickly and attempt a kill. Therefore, heroes who provide vision on enemy heroes because of their skills (Shadow Walk, Track, Vendetta, Rocket Flare) could help Storm exploit his strength and take advantage of ganking opportunities.

Another important part is that such heroes are usually good gankers themselves. If they follow up on Storm’s initiation (some of them can even initiate themselves), the combined burst damage of the two heroes is usually enough to kill even tanky targets. This is much stronger than solo kill attempts as in case you take too long to kill your target, you can get counter-ganked.

Heroes that help with his mana problems: Io, KotL, Crystal Maiden

IO Wisp
Keeper of the Light
Crystal Maiden
Heroes who can help with your mana problems are always a great teammate to have when you are playing Storm Spirit.

Like we mentioned, Storm is one of the most mana dependent heroes in the game; as a result, the more mana he has access to, the more impact he can have. The three supports mentioned above are very good at providing mana sustain and in that sense, increase the potential of the hero.

Long Range and Global Heroes: Clock, Zeus, Invoker, Ancient Apparition, Nature’s Prophet

Clockwerk
Zeus Portrait
Invoker
Ancient Apparition Portrait
Nature's Prophet Portrait
Heroes who have some kind of global presence or very long initiation potential have the opportunity to more easily help out Storm in ganks.

As Storm can initiate at great distances, sometimes less mobile heroes have trouble catching up and helping out in such fights. Consequently, heroes who can in some form help out regardless of where Storm starts a fight are very useful. E.g. NP has global presence thanks to his ult and the ability to teleport anywhere on the map (hence join the gank). AA, on the other hand, can cast his ult at the target before Storm initiates, and the projectile should hit until Storm’s disable ends, securing solo kill attempts by Storm.

Lifestealer Portrait

Life Stealer deserves a special mention as the “Naix Bomb” tactic allows the two heroes to become a deadly ganking (or team fight initiating) combo. The way this works is that Naix uses his Infest on Storm. Afterwards Storm uses Ball Lightning to initiate on a target, and while the chosen target is disabled by Electric Vortex (or Sheep Stick), Naix pops out and deals damage with right clicks and Rage. Usually, this is more than enough to bring down even very tanky targets. More importantly, it allows the Naix to take an optimal position in team fights and start attacking right away, rather than try to enter the fight by walking and getting kited, as a result.

Counters

Weak Against:

Instant Disables and Silences: Shadow Shaman, Lion, Rubick, Silencer, Riki

Shadow Shaman
Lion
Rubick
Silencer
If the enemy team has instant disables or silences, you need to be extra careful as Storm not to get initiated upon as your elusiveness will not save you.

Heroes that can initiate on Storm very quickly before he can cast Ball Lightning or activate BKB could make him an easy target to kill. Therefore, instant disables like the hex of Shadow Shaman, Lion or Scythe of Vyse are quite dangerous to go against. Silences are also a problem (especially if they are also with very fat casting animation), but a lesser one since they can be dispelled with BKB.

Disables & silences through BKB: Silencer, Doom Bringer, Beastmaster, Bane Elemental, Bat Rider, Faceless Void

Silencer
Doom
Beastmaster
Bane Portrait
Batrider
Faceless Void Portrait
Reliable disables that go through BKB can make team-fighting very hard for a Storm player.

Storm relies on his mobility to be elusive in fights. Heroes who can disable through BKB ultimately can deny him this freedom and make him an easy target to focus down and kill. Tinker deserves a special mention - Storm is one of the best heroes in the game to find Tinker in the trees and gank him thanks to his huge mobility. He is also great at reaching him in team-fights.

Tanky heroes: Lycan, Brew Master, Centaur Warrunner, Wraith King, Bristleback

Lycan
Brewmaster
Centaur
Wraith King
Bristle Portrait
Storm is weak against very durable heroes as it is hard to pick them off in ganks.

Storm excels at picking off heroes and some heroes are simply very hard to pick off. Usually, these are very fat (high EHP) targets who can easily live through the initiation, as Storm can counter elusive targets with Orchid or Sheep Stick. It is almost impossible to solo kill this kind of heroes or jump in a fight and burst them down, which makes your life as Storm harder.

Strong Against:

Split-Pushers: Nature’s Prophet, Weaver, PL, Tinker

Nature's Prophet Portrait
Weaver
Phantom Lancer
Tinker
Storm is a viable way to counter-pick split pushers.

As one of the most potent gankers in the game, Storm is a natural counter to most split pushers. Such heroes often push out lanes away from their allies, which could present Storm with a great ganking opportunity. Thanks to his Ball Lightning he can get in position for the gank faster than most heroes in the game and initiate from afar, which doesn’t give the split pushers enough time to avoid the gank attempt. In addition, he has a disable and build items with more disables (silence, hex), which will prevent the split pushers to escape the gank after it has happened.

Tinker deserves a special mention - Storm is one of the best heroes in the game to find Tinker in the trees and gank him thanks to his huge mobility. He is also great at reaching him in team-fights.

Squishy Heroes: KotL, CM, Ancient Apparition, Lich, Io, Dazzle

Keeper of the Light
Crystal Maiden
Ancient Apparition Portrait
Lich
IO Wisp
Dazzle Portrait
Surviving in fights with a squishy spell caster versus a Storm is a very difficult task.

Some heroes are very easy to bring down, and since Storm can jump almost instantly on a chosen target, playing such a squishy hero is always a problem against Storm in fights (even if you are positioned safely behind your teammates, Storm can reach you and snipe you off).

Skills

Storm Spirit Remnant
Storm Electric Vortex
Storm Overload
Storm spirit Ball Lightning

Creates an explosively charged image of Storm Spirit that lasts 12 seconds and will detonate and deal damage if an enemy unit comes near it.

STATS

Cast Animation: 0+1.1

Trigger Radius: 235

Damage Radius: 260

Activation Delay: 1

Damage: 120/170/220/270

Remnant Duration: 12

CD: 3.5

Mana: 70/80/90/100

Static Remnant

Static Remnant is a spell you will be using quite often as Storm Spirit as it is very spammable (cost low mana and has very low CD). It is very convenient for farming since it does decent magical AoE damage and you can use it to take down creep waves fast or even farm stacked camps. In the laning stage, if you don’t want to push the wave, you can put it in such a way that it hits (and last hits) only one creep. You need to take into account that the Remnant explosion triggers within 235 radius; however, it deals damage within 260 radius.

When fighting, Static Remnant is the cheapest way to activate your Overload, so try to use it as often as possible even if you don’t hit units with it (of course, it is best if you can use it in a way that you hit units). You should bear in mind that the Remnant activates with a delay of 1 second. Therefore, if you put it on top of an enemy hero, but he/she runs away immediately, the Remnant won’t explode and deal damage to that target.

Finally, the Remnant gives a small area of flying vision flying vision. As a result, you can use it to scout over cliffs/trees /high ground ledges, etc. During the laning stage, you can use the Remnant as an Observer Ward in case you are concerned a gank is coming your way. You need to bear in mind, however, that the duration is pretty short (12s), so even if you put the ward after a few seconds, you will have to put another one.

A vortex that pulls an enemy unit to Storm Spirit's location.

STATS

Cast Animation: 0.3+0.77

Cast Range: 300

Pull Distance: 100/150/200/250

Pull Duration: 1.4/1.8/2.2/2.6

Slow Duration: 3

CD: 16

Mana: 60/70/80/90

Aghanim's Scepter

Electric Vortex affects all enemies within a radius around Storm Spirit.

Electric Vortex

It is important to realize that even though the spell pulls the target towards Storm for some time, Storm is actually free to perform other actions - cast spells, attack or move. Besides this detail, Vortex is a very straightforward disable - it is the spell you latch onto enemies with.

Casting a spell creates an electrical charge, which is released in a burst on his next attack, dealing damage and slowing nearby enemies.

STATS

Radius: 300

Damage: 40/60/80/100

Move Speed Slow: 80%

Attack Speed Slow: 80

Slow Duration: 0.6

Overload

For farming, besides the damage, you can use the slow to kite creeps so that you don’t take as much damage yourself. Bear in mind that the spell hits in a small AoE radius, so when coupled with Remnant, you can clear big creep waves or stacked camps very fast - your mechanism to flash-farm. In the lane, you can use the Overload extra damage to last hit, but when you use it on creeps that are next to other creeps, you will end up pushing the wave.

In fights, you need to try to land as many Overloads as possible not only because of the bonus damage, but also due of the slow it provides. It has a very short duration (0.6s); nevertheless, you can activate it with any spell (including short Ball Lightning jumps), so “spamming” Overload is actually possible. Besides the movement speed slow which helps you stick to a target, you get an attack speed slow (50%), so spamming Overload on the enemy physical damage carry could actually reduce his/her DPS by a large margin.

Storm Spirit becomes volatile electricity, charging across the battlefield until he depletes his mana or reaches his target. The activation mana cost is 30+8% of his total mana pool, and the cost per 100 units traveled is 12+0.7% of his total mana pool. Damage is expressed in damage per 100 units traveled.

STATS

Cast Animation: 0.3+0

Cast Range: Global

Damage Radius: 200

Travel Speed: 1250/1875/2500

Damage per 100 Units: 8/12/16

Base Mana Cost per 100 Units: 12

Max Mana as Cost per 100 Units: 0.7%

Mana: 30 + 8% of max mana

Ball Lightning

Ball Lightning is your bread and butter as it is what makes you strong at initiation and elusive in fights. The most important thing to consider when casting Ball Lightning is how much mana it is going to cost you. Bear in mind that in the later stages of the game when you have a decently large mana pool, its cost is mainly %-based; so, no matter how large your mana pool is, it is going to take the same part of it based on the distance you travel (this means that with experience you can start expecting how much mana each jump will cost you).

When you use the spell for initiation, it is important to consider how much mana you will have left after the jump. Generally, you want to have enough to use all your spells and to disengage with your ult. Nevertheless, if you have heroes to help you with the gank, you can afford to be more wasteful and save just enough for your disable. When initiating, especially when you are initiating with a fairly long jump, try to go through your target so that you deal the Ball Lightning damage. For short jumps, it is mostly not worth it to try and go through your target.

The last thing you need to consider when initiating is that you can actually use items and abilities or even attack while you are still in Ball Lightning form. This means that you can cast Orchid’s Silence/Scythe of Vyse’s Hex right when you get in range and not even give a chance to your target to use important defensive spells and items (BKB, Blink, etc.). You can also use Static Remnant and Vortex. Consider, also, that the higher level your Ball Lightning is, the faster you move, so your targets will have even less time to react - the faster travel speed is the main reason to level-up the ult - it makes you an even faster hero, a more dangerous initiator.

When you are running away with the ult, it is smart to get enough distance between you and your opponents so that they can’t catch up to you. Nonetheless, it is also important to leave enough mana so that you can jump again if something goes wrong. Generally, the smartest thing you can do is use high ground ledges, so that your opponents can’t continue chasing even though you haven’t traveled a great distance.

Finally, you are invulnerable while in Ball Lightning form, so you can use it to dodge spells. When doing this, you need to consider your own casting animation (Ball Lightning isn’t instant, you enter the ult form after 0.3 seconds). This means that dodging long range slow projectiles is quite easy, while instant spells might give you problems (hence, heroes with instant or very fast disables are included as a counters for Storm in the Drafting section).

Skill Builds

Each one of Storm’s spells has a relatively distinct purpose, which defines his skill builds. Remnant is your main source of damage for farming, Overload is your main source of damage for fighting and harassing and Vortex is your main source of control. Because of this usually, Overload and Remnant are the first two skills you level up in order to maximize your laning presence. Electric Vortex is your last priority, but in cases hard disable is important for your team from early on, you can choose to get levels in the spell faster.

You get your ultimate whenever it is available since it is your hero-defining skill.

Overload Skill Build
Remnant Skill Build
Storm Spirit Remnant
1
Storm Overload
2
Storm Overload
3
Storm Spirit Remnant
4
Storm Overload
5
Storm spirit Ball Lightning
6
Storm Overload
7
Storm Spirit Remnant
8
Storm Electric Vortex
9
Talent Icon
10
Storm Spirit Remnant
11
Storm spirit Ball Lightning
12
Storm Electric Vortex
13
Storm Electric Vortex
14
Talent Icon
15
Storm Electric Vortex
16
Storm spirit Ball Lightning
18
Talent Icon
20
Talent Icon
25
Pros: high amount of harass in the lane; high last hit power in the lane; high damage in early fights;
Cons: low control – a problem for initiating fights;

Prioritizing Overload over all your other spells maximizes your harassing and fighting potential early on. Landing your Remnants on heroes is hard without disables from allies, which makes Overload a much more efficient fighting spell. The two levels in Remnant on 1 and 4 are usually sufficient to secure last hits in the lane and push it out when needed.

The obvious drawback of the build is that you get Vortex very late. If you feel you need the disable it is a relatively common alteration of the build to get 1lvl in Vortex on lvl 7 or 8 after you have maxed Overload.

Storm Spirit Remnant
1
Storm Overload
2
Storm Spirit Remnant
3
Storm Overload
4
Storm Spirit Remnant
5
Storm spirit Ball Lightning
6
Storm Spirit Remnant
7
Storm Overload
8
Storm Electric Vortex
9
Talent Icon
10
Storm Overload
11
Storm spirit Ball Lightning
12
Storm Electric Vortex
13
Storm Electric Vortex
14
Talent Icon
15
Storm Electric Vortex
16
Storm spirit Ball Lightning
18
Talent Icon
20
Talent Icon
25
Pros: high AoE damage for farming camps and pushing out the wave;
Cons: lower harass potential; low control;

Maxing Remnant over Overload is a good idea mainly when you want to prioritize flash-farming over harassing and fighting.

For example, if you have trouble staying in the lane because of constant ganks or an unfavorable matchup, with higher levels in Remnant you will be able to push out the wave faster and farm jungle camps more efficiently. Moreover, if your allies are stacking jungle camps for you, you will be able to clear them much faster with high levels in Remnant.

Talents

500 Distance Auto Static Remnant in Ball Lightning

25
Overload Pierces Immunity

+30 Attack speed

20
+0,5s Vortex

+400 Health

15

+80 Remnant Damage

+3 Mana regen

10

+30 Overload Damage

Lvl10: Since you depend on your mana a lot to farm or to fight, mana regen is teh usual choice.

Lvl15: If you play aginst heroes that can burst you with spells ( Lion, Lina) or simply with physical right clicks before you can react (PA, TA), you might consider taking the Health talent. If that`s not the case, you should take the Remnant damage, as it allows you to farm quicker and it has very good synergy with your lvl25 talent.

Lvl20: 0,5s is a very small increase, so you should go for this talent only if you go for an Aghanim`s build. Otherwise - just take the AS.

Lvl25: The Auto Remnant talent allows you to farm faster, deals a lot of damage in fights and helps you cut waves with long jumps. By the time you are lvl25, BKBs should be becoming shorter anyway, and in the very late game, a larger part of your damage is physical anyway, so the alternative talent doesn’t provide a lot of value.

Item Builds

The logic behind what items work on Storm is pretty straightforward - you need a lot of mana and mana sustain for fighting and farming continuously. At the same time, you need to boost your survivability and give yourself as much freedom to fight as possible through magic immunity or/and spell block.

Orchid Build

The build focuses on getting Orchid as fast as possible in order to start ganking from as early as possible. The drawback is that you will lack survivability in the early and mid-game. The success of your ganks will predetermine whether you will be able to snowball well into the mid and late game, or you will struggle to have an impact in fights. Generally, it is not a good idea to go for this build versus 5-man lineups, but it is a very good build against split-pushers and heroes who want to farm for the first part of the game. 

Usually, you want to build Kaya first if the game is fast-paced - its cost is very similar to that of a single Oblivion Staff. If you are free-farming, however (e.g. in the safe lane, which is rare nowadays) you can go for Orchid straight away to start ganking quicker.

Starting items
Null talisman
Iron branch
Pulled Tango
Pulled Tango
Early game
Bottle
Boots of Speed
Magic wand
Power Treads intelligence
Mid game
Kaya
Orchid
Late game
Bloodstone
Black King Bar
Bloodthorn_icon
Scythe of Vyse
Null talisman

Null Talisman: Nulls are useful on Storm as they give you stats and damage. This helps you fight early on before you get your core items.

Iron branch
Pulled Tango
Pulled Tango
Bottle

Bottle: Not the best item for midlaners anymore but Storm is one of the heroes that can benefits from it anyway. With Ball Lightning, you can get the rune safely (i.e. you can escape if you get caught at the rune spot) and if you are lucky you can get a Rune that can secure you a kill or simply allow you to farm quicker (Regen is amazing on Storm, as it always has been). Controlling the rune with Storm might be risky before lvl6, so you should be conservative about it rather than race for every rune - you can get ganked and killed.

Boots of Speed
Magic wand

Magic Wand: Wand is very useful for all heroes; however, Storm benefits from it even more as the burst mana can give him just enough to Ball Lightning away a small distance and escape an engagement or use a spell and finish a kill.

Power Treads intelligence

PTs: Generally the most common boots of choice for Storm as they give you the always useful stats (survivability or DMG and mana). Being able to switch the intelligence off, use Bottle and switch it on again is also nice since in the mid lane you will almost always have a Bottle at some point.

Kaya

Kaya: Storm is pretty much the hero this item is made for: decreasing your mana cost for every spell means you will use more spells in a fight, you will jump longer distances and you will deal more damage as a whole. If you are facing heroes with silence or gankers that build Orchid (e.g. QoP), it is safer to build Eul's instead of Kaya for the dispell.

Orchid

Orchid Malevolence: Orchid is your best option if you want to roam around the map and search for pickoffs. It is a great choice since it gives you lots of mana Regen and DPS in addition to the active Soul Burn which silences targets and disables them from running away from you or fighting back effectively. You do a considerable amount of burst damage, so the 30% damage amplification for the 5sec duration might end up being what you need to finish the kill. The drawback of the item is that it gives no survivability, which means that in case you get locked down, you will very easily die. As a result, rushing the item is a good choice provided you are certain you will have the freedom to roam around and gank. Getting it versus 5-man lineups is often useless and going for Bloodstone first is the better option.

Bloodstone

Bloodstone is a very good item for Storm as it gives lots of mana sustain and survivability. The main use for the item is that it allows you to use your mana more freely - for farming or even more importantly, in fights.

Black King Bar

BKB: The number one thing you need to fight is freedom. You need to be able to jump in, cast spells and deal damage and jump out (or at another target) without worrying that you are going to get disabled or killed. The most straightforward way to ensure you have this freedom is by getting BKB. You don’t get a lot of useful stats from the item (no mana sustain, you don’t use the STR that well), but the active skill is priceless. Rushing the item is not your best option - you want to have some stats and mana sustain items to allow you to stay on the map for longer and farm/fight without needing to go back to base. Because of this even if you feel you need BKB you would usually get it as your 2nd or 3rd big item.

Bloodthorn_icon

Bloodthorn: You shouldn’t go for the Bloodthorn upgrade too early – it increases your physical DPS but at the same time is very costly and doesn’t help your mana or survivability problem. Only upgrade it in the late game after you have other vital items. It’s a good solution against evasion.

Scythe of Vyse

Scythe of Vyse: As is the case with many spellcasters, Scythe of Vyse is one of the best late-game items for Storm. It couples very well with the initiation Ball Lightning gives as you will be able to jump on and Hex enemies before they are able to react. You can prolong the disable by using your Vortex just as the hex is about to end. This will add up to 6 seconds, which is plenty of time to bring down even very tanky heroes provided your team is around to help out. The stats that come from the Scythe are also very useful, giving you damage, mana sustain and some survivability. Rushing the Sheep Stick is possible, however, it is somewhat inferior to your other options since usually at the early stages you don’t need the additional disable to bring heroes down, and the survivability the item gives isn’t enough to keep you up in fights.

Bloodstone Build

In this build you get a second Null Talisman to contest last hits more easily. Since you don’t have a bottle it is very important to sustain your mana with Clarities.

The build focuses on survivability and mana sustain. Getting a very fast Bloodstone can help you stay on the map either farming or ganking for longer and as a result - speed up your item development.

In this example you go for Kaya first, so you can speed up your farm and also gives you some early game kill potential. After Kaya, you are rushing your Bloodstone and in the late game you get Orchid or Scythe of Vyse to increase your kill potential, Linken’s to protect yourself from instant disables and Bloodthorn to increase your damage output. You finish with Shiva’s to increase your EHP against physical damage when the enemy carries start to hit hard.

Starting items
Null talisman
Iron branch
Pulled Tango
Pulled Tango
Early Game
Null talisman
Magic wand
Boots of Speed
Clarity
Arcane Boots
Mid Game
Kaya
Bloodstone
Late game
Orchid
Linken's Sphere
Bloodthorn_icon
Shiva's_Guard_icon
Null talisman

Nulls are useful on Storm as they give you stats and damage. This helps you fight early on before you get your core items.

Iron branch
Pulled Tango
Pulled Tango
Null talisman

Nulls are useful on Storm as they give you stats and damage. This helps you fight early on before you get your core items.

Magic wand
Boots of Speed
Clarity
Arcane Boots

Arcane Boots: Arcane Boots will give you more mana sustain to farm or fight early on. They are a good choice when you want to rush a Bloodstone because you will be able to disassemble them. Otherwise, PTs are more useful on you because the stats and AS make you more dangerous in fights. After disassembling your Arcanes, you can build PTs or even opt for BoTs which will allow you to split push.

Kaya

Kaya: Storm is pretty much the hero this item is made for: decreasing your mana cost for every spell means you will use more spells in a fight, you will jump longer distances and you will deal more damage as a whole. If you are facing heroes with silence or gankers that build Orchid (e.g. QoP), it is safer to build Eul's instead of Kaya for the dispell.

Bloodstone

Bloodstone is a very good item for Storm as it gives lots of mana sustain and survivability. The main use for the item is that it allows you to use your mana more freely - for farming or even more importantly, in fights.

Orchid

Orchid is your best option if you want to roam around the map and search for pickoffs. It is a great choice since it gives you lots of mana Regen and DPS in addition to the active Soul Burn which silences targets and disables them from running away from you or fighting back effectively. You do a considerable amount of burst damage, so the 30% damage amplification for the 5sec duration might end up being what you need to finish the kill. The drawback of the item is that it gives no survivability, which means that in case you get locked down, you will very easily die. As a result, rushing the item is a good choice only when you are certain you will have the freedom to roam around and gank. Getting it versus 5-man lineups is often useless and going for Bloodstone first is the better option.

Linken's Sphere

Linken’s Sphere: In case there are heroes who can easily latch onto you and kill you, especially heroes with instant targeted disables or disables that bypass BKB, Linken’s Sphere is your best option. The fact that it gives mana sustain and stats (for DPS and survivability) means that you get a lot of utility from the item aside from the spell block. Rushing the item is not a bad option for Storm in any case versus opponents like Batrider, Doom, Beastmaster, etc.

Bloodthorn_icon

Bloodthorn: You shouldn’t go for the Bloodthorn upgrade too early – it increases your physical DPS but at the same time is very costly and doesn’t help your mana or survivability problem. Only upgrade it in the late game after you have other vital items. It’s a good solution against evasion.

Shiva's_Guard_icon

Shiva’s Guard: Will make you more resistant to physical DPS and will give you lots of INT. The active will make your initiation stronger, especially in group fights as it will slow down multiple enemies. In addition, the Aura synergizes well with your Overload since it provides 40% attack speed slow (coupled with your 50% from Overload). In that sense, Shiva’s is a very strong counter to physical damage dealers.

Other items

Mid game
Euls
Force staff
Late game
Aghanim's_Scepter_icon
Dagon5
Boots_of_Travel_1_icon
Monkey_King_Bar_icon
Euls

Eul’s Scepter of Divinity: Eul is probably the most cost-efficient way to get a lot of mana sustain and you can use the cyclone to setup a Remnant or dispel a silence from yourself. At the same time, it doesn’t provide any survivability, and you don’t use that efficiently the movement speed. It is a great choice versus heroes with silence or heroes that build Orchid, but otherwise, Kaya is abetter small item.

Force staff

Force Staff: The INT is useful and even though the mobility from the active seems irrelevant (you have mobility of your own), there are cases where it could save your life. If nobody else on the team is buying the item, and there are some silences you cannot break (Riki’s Smoke, Drow or DP silence), the push might buy you the few seconds of time in which Ball Lightning will become available again.

Aghanim's_Scepter_icon

Aghanim’s Scepter: Agh’s turns your Electric Vortex into a 475 AoE ability. Combined with your initiation potential from your ultimate, this is a great increase in your team-fighting potential. In that sense, if you expect your opponents to group up as 5 and push and you need to fight in order to defend your towers, going for Agh’s + BKB and becoming the fight initiator for your team is a great idea.

Dagon5

Dagon: Dagon is very useful for every ganker, especially when snowballing, as it can provide the additional damage you might need to finish off your target. Even though it is not bad as you can use well not only the burst damage but the stat, usually Orchid is much better for ganking. After you get Orchid, you need to get BKB as fast as possible, to be online for team fights, so Dagon is actually rarely purchased. Nevertheless, if you are very rich, you could get it.

Boots_of_Travel_1_icon

Boots of Travel:  BoTs are quite a good tool to have with Storm. Your ability to kill creep waves fast and your elusiveness thanks to the ult make you a very decent split pusher. BoTs will allow you to take advantage of split push opportunities right away, and if enemies want to stop you, you always have the option to Ball Lightning to safety. Besides split pushing, being able to teleport on friendly units (including ally summons) could help you to get in range of a gank very fast.

Monkey_King_Bar_icon

MKB: In the very late game DPS items are a viable option for Storm as the hero fights not only with spells but also with attacks. Probably the most common one to get is MKB as it will disable Evasion on enemy heroes. The other regular choices (Assault, Daedalus) are also viable in the very late game after you get your more important items- mana sustain, survivability and disables. 

Laning stage

Storm 350px

Storm Spirit usually is put in a solo lane to get as much experience as possible. Getting lvl6 is crucial not only for surviving in the lane (e.g. to avoid gank attempts), but also to enable effective rotations.


Since your ultimate is incredibly important, we can easily divide the laning stage in two. Before you get it, you have a clear task - play defensively (you are susceptible to ganks and aggression) and get as much XP and last hits as possible. After you get your ultimate, you can feel much safer (it is hard to gank you if you have enough mana). You have the basic choice of staying in the lane and farming as much as possible or trying to find some pickoffs right away.

Don’t die, get Levels, reach lvl6;
Get farm;
Rotate for kills after lvl6;
Harass and possibly try to zone out melee heroes;
Farming:

Storm has a decent attack point, decent range, and most importantly, decent damage, which means contesting last hits against most lane opponents shouldn’t be an issue.

Besides that, you can use Remnant and Overload to help in last hits. Remnant is very spammable thanks to its low mana cost, and each time you cast Remnant you get an Overload hit as well, so using the spells often shouldn’t be an issue. The thing to be careful about is managing the creep equilibrium. Since both spells do AoE damage, you could end up pushing the lane which sometimes is not desirable. What you can do to prevent this is to use your Remnant in such a position that it only hits one creep. The same could be done for Overload, but it is a bit harder since the center of the AoE is the creep you hit, and creeps (besides the raged one) usually stay close to each other. Therefore, if you don’t want to push the wave, you can use the Overload charge for harassing.

Maximize Farm: You can opt to nuke the creep waves and in the spare time, stack a camp (the nearby medium or large camp). After a while, when you have some levels into Remnant and Overload, you can recharge your mana and farm the stack with the help of the two spells.

Rune Control: When pushing-out the wave you can choose to go for the rune especially if you have Bottle. However, you should be conservative with rune control. Before lvl6, you are a very slow hero, and you don’t have any escape mechanisms. Hence, you can get in trouble if the enemy support and mid laner catch you at the rune spot. Only go for runes whenever you are fairly certain you are safe - you see the enemy heroes or have good ward vision there.

Harassing:

Passive Harass: In case you have a longer range than your opponent, passive harass might be relatively easy, especially when you couple it with active harass (Overload hits). Remember that you have high armor, so even if you end up trading hits with another ranged hero, you should be able to get on top of the exchange.

Active Harass: Harassing with Remnants might be difficult versus ranged heroes and is often not worth it because, in order to land the Remnant, you might have to overextend. However, using Remnants to take last hits and the Overload charge to harass are smart things to do.

Versus melee heroes, you might want to put Remnants near the creep waves just when some of your ally creeps are on low HP, and the enemy hero would want to take the last hits. This would either force the enemy hero to tank the Remnant to take the last hit, or force him to stay zone out. Whenever the hero commits to the last hit, you can start right-clicking him/her as well, but be careful not to get the enemy creeps + the enemy hero on yourself.

Surviving Ganks:

Stay as far from initiation as possible, especially when the enemy supports are missing. If you get initiated while you are overextending, you are going to die (you are slow and have no escape mechanism). As a result, in case the creep equilibrium is far from your high ground, you might want to nuke and push the wave with your spells so that after your wave dies to the enemy tower the next waves meet at the default spot.

When the first night hits, you will still be below lvl6. This is the most dangerous stage of the early game for you. Stay back if any hero is missing even if it means missing some last hits. Getting your supports to rotate to your lane and Ward it will help a great deal. If you are in doubt you are getting ganked, remember that you can use your Remnants as mini Observer Ward.

Provided you are having big trouble staying in the lane (you are getting repeatedly ganked, zoned out by enemy support + mid laner, etc.), sacking the lane is not a bad choice. The reason is that before lvl6, you are a very easy target to gank and kill; however, at the same time, you have flash-farming potential with Overload and Remnants. You can stack a medium camp a few times (or get a support to stack it for you if possible) and flash-farm it. Hopefully, by doing this for a while, you will get lvl6 without risking dying repeatedly in the lane.

When you get to lvl6, a lot of pressure is relieved and you can afford to stay further away from your tower in the lane - you always have the option to Ball Lightning away from danger. The one thing to be careful about is having enough mana for the Ball Lightning.

Kill Potential:

Before lvl 6, you don’t really have kill potential, and you should focus on winning the lane through last hits.

After lvl 6, you become much more dangerous because you can initiate on a target from a distance. You will still struggle to bring down an opponent from full HP, however, since you lack damage at that point. This means that after lvl6, you become a threat if there are allies to follow up on your initiation.

Rotations & Timings:

After you hit lvl 6, both options are viable for you: rotate for kills or stay in the lane and continue farming.

Because of your strong initiation, you can easily setup kills on enemy heroes. Normally, the decision whether to stay in the lane or to rotate is more tactical rather than hero specific as you can do both things - you can use your ganking potential to help in the other lanes, or you can just farm in the middle lane and control it.

Remember that at lvl 6, you are a much stronger laner, so you can start dominating certain heroes. If you are controlling the lane very effectively and zoning out your opponent, staying in the lane might be a better choice. Provided you have problems in the lane, e.g. you are laning versus an OD, rotating right when you get lvl6 might be the best choice.

You need to know what your long-term goal is. Provided you can kill targets just on the back of your lvl6, you might want to take advantage of that and stop the development of important enemy farmers from as early as possible.

If you are not certain you can do that, you might want to get more resources. For example, to be successful in your rotations, you might need an Orchid, so it is the better choice to farm up the item before you start rotating.

Alternatively, you could be playing against a team with multiple disables and nukes, and farming your BKB as fast as possible might be more important than attempting rotations that might get you killed as it will allow you to fight.

Always remember that rotating is the riskier option. If you are ahead, controlling your lane and farming up could yield better results in the long run.

Video Example:

He goes for the rune before the creeps spawn, which in this case secures him a nice and easy first blood on Gyro. This allows Storm to rush a very fast second Null to secure him a solid last-hit advantage in the lane.

In the first 1-2 min, he has to play a bit careful since there is an NS which tries to zone him out. Nonetheless, getting a kill on DP when Rhasta finds an invis rune propels him even further ahead. Notice how he uses Remnant just before his last right-click projectile lands on the DP to activate Overload and secure the kill.

 After lvl6 he pushes the lane as quick as possible to create an opening for himself to farm the jungle or rotate for ganks – a successful one on the enemy carry, Gyro. He makes sure not to get in range for Rocket Barrage initially, but commits on top of the gyro once his allies join him.

Mid & Late Game

The best way to describe the way Storm is played in the mid and late game is to call him a ganking carry. He is quite potent in small-scale engagements, and when he gets his BKB he can have an impact in team fights. Nevertheless, Storm is not a 5-man hero. Usually, you are either ganking with him or farming. You need to find a good balance between the two since ganking is your forte, but on the other hand, you need levels and items to be able to fight well in the late game, so you shouldn’t under any circumstance neglect farming.

So, generally, if you can get kills, you need to try to get them. In case there are no good ganking opportunities, you need to farm a lane or jungle. You should always join your team for team fights, of course, but you can also opt to split push when there are good opportunities.

Gank if there are good ganking opportunities, preferably with the help of some allies.
Flash-farm the jungle and lanes.
Be present for team fights.
Split push, if you see a good opportunity.
Timings:

The first timing we already discussed is lvl6 - it allows you to choose what to do – either stay in the lane or start searching for ganks.

Your second timing is when you get your DMG spells at max lvl. Then, you will most probably be able to do enough damage to solo kill most squishy enemies (most likely supports).

If you are going for an Orchid, finishing the Orchid is a good sign to start ganking for the same reason - you will be able to solo kill most heroes. Nevertheless, you need to be extra careful not to overextend and die from a counter gank.

Finally, BKB is also a very important timing as it is what allows you to join group engagements without fear of being locked down and killed. Of course, Linken’s is an alternative, especially if your enemies don’t have multiple reliable disables.

Comeback Potential:

As for the comeback potential, it will predetermine how aggressive you can get. If you are under leveled and under farmed, initiating ganks and jumping at multiple enemies is going to be much more dangerous - you might end up feeding. Therefore, if you had a bad laning stage, you might want to catch up at farming and levels before you get aggressive. The good thing about Storm is that because of his ability to flash-farm, catching up in resources is possible.

As a result, generally, you have two choices - catch up through flash-farming (stacking and farming the jungle, flash-farming and split pushing the lanes) or catch up trough kills. The second is the riskier version, but with some help from your teammates, you can easily initiate kills even without too many items, which will not only get you resources but slow down the development of your opponents.

After a good laning stage, you should try to use your advantage and apply pressure - spread your success in the lane to the other lanes. Setting up kills while your enemies are still under leveled and under farmed might be easy. Be very careful not to throw your advantage away, however. You need to pick your gank targets carefully and be vigilant of the positioning of the other enemies. You can easily die to a counter-initiation. Nevertheless, picking off squishy supports even by yourself is quite easy if you have XP and Gold advantage. To further this lead, you can try to get an Orchid as fast as possible- you can easily snowball out of control and dominate the game.

Farming up after you had a good laning stage is not at all a bad decision, especially if you are not certain you will be successful in your ganks. Provided you don’t have good map control and your opponents are heroes which are hard to kill, if you go for fights, you could easily throw your advantage away. Instead, you could flash-farm your territory while avoiding ganks with Ball Lightning to get a significant level and item advantage. At that point, you should be able to flex your muscles and take favorable fights.

Against 5-man squads with lots of magic damage and disables, getting your BKB before you start fighting is crucial.

Pushing & Split-Pushing:

Because of his ultimate and ability to kill creep waves fast Storm is not a bad split pusher. If you see an opportunity, you can go to a lane, nuke down the creep waves with Remnants & Overload and reach the enemy tower relatively quickly. You are relatively slow at killing towers since you are not a physical damage dealer, and you don’t have spells that damage towers. Nevertheless, in the later stages of the game, your auto attacks should be enough to pose a threat to the enemy team and force a reaction. The main reason why split pushing is viable for you is your Ball Lightning. In case you get ganked, you can always zap away. Be careful though, as some instant disables could punish you severely. Split pushing is safer when you have a Linken’s Sphere.

When you are pushing with your team, you should position yourself defensively, away from danger (unless your opponents are dead) since you don’t want to be the one your enemies initiate upon. You can always Ball Lightning into the fight right after it breaks out.

Vision:

You can use your Remnant to give yourself flying vision. You can use this to scout Roshan or look over high ground ledges. Dropping a Remnant just before a fight starts is generally a good idea since the flying vision can reveal a hero that would have otherwise surprised you, especially behind trees and other obstacles.

Ganking:

Whilst you are ganking, you need to think of the initiation. Provided you are ganking a hero that has some escape mechanism or BKB, you need to trigger your Vortex/Hex( from Scythe of Vyse) as quickly as possible, which usually means using the disable before you have finished your Ball Lightning. From there you need to do as much damage as possible; nevertheless, you need to also be careful not to get counter-initiated. Provided teammates are following up your initiation, and you are scared of enemy heroes counter-initiating on you, immediately after you use your disable, you can zap backward. You shouldn’t go too far though so that you can go back in again in case enemy heroes use their spells on your allies.

The same technique of initiation could be used in team fights too, especially if you want to start the fight but don’t want to be the one your opponents focus first.

Team Fights:

There are a couple of things you need to think about in a team fight. The first basic thing is your mana pool. You don’t want to be stranded between opponents without mana. You want to jump in and fight; however, always have enough mana to jump out and run away. If you are fighting to defend your base, you can abuse buyback - spend all your mana while fighting, die, buyback on full mana and jump into the fight again. For the same reason, Storm is a very good Aegis carrier- dying will refill your mana, and you will be able to jump around and catch enemies again.

Secondly, you want to think about when you want to initiate. If you have a BKB and enemies don’t have disables through BKB, you can be the one to start the fight - your allies could follow up. Provided you don’t have BKB, however, you want to be the one to follow up. In addition, without BKB you always want to fight at a safe distance (if possible) from the heroes with the most reliable disable that you can’t dodge. In case you don’t have the BKB (or Linken’s), but no one from your team can reliably initiate, you can do the initiation trick mentioned in ganking: jump on a target, Vortex it and jump out right away, allowing your allies to reach it and start the fight favorably.

Thirdly, you need to think who you want to initiate on. If you can catch an important carry or team fight initiator with Hex and Vortex so that your allies can help you to bring him/her down, this is a very good thing. If not, your best option is to kill off the supports. Since you can reach them no matter how defensively they are positioned, and you are likely to be able to kill them off on your own, you are one of the best heroes in the game to do this. With the help of BKB, you can kill off 1 support before he/she has had any impact in the fight, making the engagement a 5v4 at the very beginning. Of course, this tactic assumes that your teammates can handle the enemy carries on their own at least for a while.

Lastly, the most important thing is to avoid getting killed off before the fight starts (with the help of some instant disables or disables that latch trough BKB). It is quite vital that you get the jump on your enemies rather than the other way around - you are not a great counter initiator, you don’t care if your enemies are relatively close to each other or not. On the contrary, if you can catch an opponent while he/she is separated from his team, this would be ideal for you. This means that before you jump in, you want to be quite defensively positioned. Ball Lightning will help you get in the fight instantly, so you shouldn’t worry about not being able to help when a fight starts if you are behind your allies.

Resolution plays very greedily and uses all of his mana in an attempt to kill the enemy carry Jugg. He does this because he knows he has Aegis and will have full mana once he dies. The recharge from Aegis allow his team to secure kills, win the fight and push into the enemy base.

Farming:

You deal good AoE damage with Remnant and Overpower, which means that it is an option to stack camps in the jungle and farm them afterwards. This is not as important for you as for other heroes, however. Especially later in the game when you have mana sustain, it is good to stack a camp if the timing is right, but if it is not, you should just start farming camps one by one- you farm them fast enough anyway, and if you have some items sustaining constant Remnant usage is not a problem.

Using Ball Lightning to go from camp to camp is too expensive. Nevertheless, you can use the spell to break some trees or traverse some ledges so that you don’t have to walk around. Such short-range jumps are not that expensive, and usually, you can support them without too many items.