Here are some tips on how to play Earth Spirit for beginners
The first thing you should do is go into Settings > Hotkeys > Hero and set Bolder Smash (first skill) and Geomagnetic Grip (third skill) to Quick Cast so that both skills cast immediately after clicking the button.
The second thing, and one of the most important things to use while playing this hero, is his Stone Remnant skill.
This skill can be used with all of his other skills, and using it effectively is really important if you want to play this hero well.
Using Stone Remnant: This skill can be placed anywhere within a base cast range of 1100 around the hero. You can also self-cast (double-tap) this skill to place the remnant directly on yourself, allowing you to use your abilities with it.
It can also be used while already in Rolling Boulder
Abilities and what they do in short and simple terms
Boulder Smash: This skill damages and slows the enemy. It can be cast on enemy heroes, creeps, and Stone Remnants.
Rolling Boulder: When using this skill, Earth Spirit rolls into a ball and moves in the chosen direction. Earth Spirit will move farther and faster if he hits a Stone Remnant along the way. on contact with the enemy it stuns and deals damage.
Geomagnetic Grip: This skill silences and damages enemy heroes. It can be cast on allies and Stone Remnants. When cast on an ally, it pulls them back a certain distance and can be used to save teammates.
Stone remnant: Places a stone remnant that can be used with all other skills
Magnetize: When cast, it starts dealing damage over time (DoT) to enemies in the area. All heroes affected by Magnetize will also be affected by the slow from Boulder Smash or the silence from Geomagnetic Grip if either ability is used on a Magnetized hero.
How to play
Combo 1
An easy combo for this hero is to use Rolling Boulder with Boulder Smash to displace enemies and push them toward your allies.
To do this, use Rolling Boulder and, while the Rolling Boulder animation is active, self-cast Stone Remnant to make Rolling Boulder faster. After making contact with the enemy, use Boulder Smash with your cursor pointing in the direction you want to push the enemy. Boulder Smash will cast on the nearest enemy, and because you used Rolling Boulder to make contact, the enemy will be stunned. This is an effective single-target pickoff combo.
Combo 2
If you don’t want to push the enemy but instead want to initiate, deal damage, and silence them—especially if the enemy has an ability they can use to escape—then you can use the following combo:
Use Rolling Boulder and Stone Remnant to make contact with the enemy, then cast another Stone Remnant a short distance away from the enemy and use Geomagnetic Grip on the Stone Remnant. This will stun the enemy with Rolling Boulder and silence them with Geomagnetic Grip. Then, cast Boulder Smash to deal damage and slow the enemy.
This is a very strong combo that can keep an enemy crowd-controlled long enough for you to kill them in the early game, as long as they don’t have a way to purge the silence, while also dealing significant burst damage.
As the game progresses, you can use your ultimate, Magnetize, immediately after Rolling Boulder if needed. Use it when you think you need the extra damage or when you’re engaging in a team fight.
Things to keep in mind
While fighting, make sure to keep track of your cooldowns. Earth Spirit has short cooldowns, making him a very disruptive hero in a fight when played correctly.
When using Magnetize, enemies affected by it will have a small countdown above their heads showing the remaining duration of Magnetize. This visual cue will help you keep Magnetize active on specific enemies more efficiently during a fight.
Item suggestions
Spirit Vessel: Deals damage and reduces HP regeneration. It gains charges through kills and is an effective item on active heroes such as Earth Spirit.
Kaya and Sange: Reduces mana costs, increases magic damage, shortens cast times, provides status resistance, increases HP recovery, and gives you a significant amount of stats.
Black King Bar: Provides spell immunity and reduces magic damage taken. Since you need to stay active and constantly cast your spells, this item helps you do so by preventing many stuns and silences.
Shiva’s Guard: Provides armor, intelligence, and increased AoE. When activated, it deals damage to and slows enemies in the area.
Bloodstone: Provides a significant amount of health, mana, intelligence, and spell lifesteal. It also provides spell amplification in a 1200-radius area. When activated, it provides 60% spell lifesteal. When combined with Magnetize, it makes you extremely difficult to kill.