Dark Seer

Hero

 

Strategy

 

Counters

 

Equipment

 

Gear

 

Talents

 

Relics

 

Responses

 

Sounds

 

Lore

 

Old Abilities

 

Changelogs

 

Known Bugs

 

Dark Seer
24 + 3.1 12 + 1.8 21 + 3.1
Level Base 1 15 25 Health 200 680 1540 2160 Health regen 0 2.4 6.74 9.84 Magic res. 25% 26.44% 29.04% 30.9% Mana 75 327 843 1215 Mana regen 0 1.05 3.22 4.77 Spell dmg 0% 1.47% 4.51% 6.68% Armor 3 4.92 8.95 11.83 Att/sec 0.59 0.66 0.81 0.91 Move sp amp. 0% 0.6% 1.86% 2.76% Damage 33‒39 54‒60 97‒103 128‒134
Movement speed 300 Turn rate 0.6 Vision range 1800/800 Attack range 150 Projectile speed Instant Attack animation 0.59+0.58 Base attack time 1.7 Collision size 24 Legs 2  Gib type Default

Ish'kafel the Dark Seer is a melee intelligence hero who relies on his abilities' potent utility and synergy. In lane he is sustained by high armor and enabled by his Ion Shell and Surge. Surge boosts his or an ally's speed, helping them to escape or pursue opponents. Ion Shell wraps a unit in a spiky shield that rapidly damages nearby enemies, enabling Ish'kafel to harass and gain last hits. These abilities also make him an efficient jungler and therefore a natural semi-carry, usually focused on building utility items.

Dark Seer's greatest damage is done during teamfights and comes from the combination of his final two abilities. Vacuum makes for powerful initiations. It sucks in nearby enemies, briefly disabling them and making them susceptible to area of effect spells—such as his Wall of Replica. The wall slows his foes and creates replicas of any enemy heroes that cross it, high-damage illusions that Dark Seer can control. A subtle hero, Ish'kafel's dark energies can be deadly in the right hands.

Bio

Ish'Kafel, the Dark Seer

Play "If your enemy is equal, prepare for him. If greater, elude him. If weaker, crush him."

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.

Voice:

John Patrick Lowrie (Responses)

Abilities

Vacuum

Play

Q

C

Ability
Target Area

Affects
Enemies

Damage
Magical

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

Cast Animation: 0.4+0.7

Cast Range: 450/500/550/600

Effect Radius: 400/450/500/550 ( 475/525/575/625)

Damage: 25/50/100/200

Pull Duration: 0.3/0.4/0.5/0.6

60/50/40/30 ( 51/42.5/34/25.5)

100/130/160/190

Attempts to deal damage if enemy turns spell immune before the pull ends.

Modifiers

Vacuum: Dispellable with strong dispels.

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

Notes:

• The pull duration always takes 0.3/0.4/0.5/0.6 seconds, no matter how far or close the units are from the center, so the speed varies.

• The damage is applied upon losing the debuff, so that dispelling it causes it to happen earlier.

• Affected units are fully disabled during the pull.

• Can pull units over impassable terrain.

• Fully affects invisible units, but not invulnerable units.

• Does not affect ancient creeps and creep-heroes.

• Vacuum destroys trees within 275 radius at the targeted point upon cast, after placing the debuff on enemies.

Ion Shell

Play

W

E

Ability
Target Unit

Affects
Enemies

Damage
Magical

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

Cast Animation: 0.4+0.7

Cast Range: 600

Damage Radius: 250

Damage per Second: 30/50/70/90 ( 180/200/220/240)

Duration: 25

9 ( 7.65)

100/110/120/130

Can be cast on spell immune allies.
Cannot be cast on spell immune enemies. Shell persists if debuff was placed before spell immunity and when not dispelled.

Modifiers

Ion Shell: Dispellable with any dispel.

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

Notes:

• The shell can be put on enemy and allied units, damaging only enemy units. The unit with the shell itself is not damaged.

• Successive casts on the same unit do not stack, but refresh the duration and update the damage to the current level instead.
  • When two opposing heroes cast it on the same target, the modifier updates and starts damaging the enemies of the latest caster.
  • The modifier status, however, does not update. Whether it is treated as a buff or debuff is determined by the first cast, and not updated on refresh.

• Deals 3/5/7/9 ( 18/20/22/24) damage in 0.1 second intervals, starting 0.1 second after the cast, resulting in 250 damage instances.

• Can deal up to 750/1250/1750/2250 ( 4500/5000/5500/6000) damage to a single unit (before reductions), if it stays in range for the full duration.

• Affects invisible units that go close to the shell wearer, however, the visual effects do not appear.

• Cannot be cast on creep-heroes or couriers.

• Choosing the damage upgrading talent immediately upgrades all of Dark Seer's currently active Ion Shell modifiers.

Surge

Play

E

R

Ability
Target Unit
( Target Area)

Affects
Allies

Charges a target friendly unit with power, giving it a brief burst of movement speed and removes unit collisions. Allows the unit to surpass the movement speed limit and cannot be slowed.

Cast Animation: 0.4+0.57

Cast Range: 600

Radius: 0 ( 400)

Movement Speed Bonus: 30%/45%/60%/75%

Duration: 6

16/14/12/10 ( 13.6/11.9/10.2/8.5)

50

Modifiers

Surge: Dispellable with any dispel.

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

Notes:

• Applies a haste on the target, meaning it cannot be slowed while affected.

• Also grants the target phased movement, and removes the movement speed limit while affected.

• The talent turns Surge into an area-targeted spell, so that it cannot directly target units anymore.
  • Self-casting the ability still targets Dark Seer, centering the AoE around him.

Wall of Replica

Play

R

W

Ability
Target Point / Vector Targeting

Affects
Enemy Heroes

Raises a wall of warping light that slows and creates replicas of any enemy hero who crosses it. Enemy replicas serve at the Dark Seer's will. Replicas last until they are destroyed, or until the wall's duration ends.

Cast Animation: 0.2+0.73

Cast Range: 1300

Number of Walls: 1 ( 2)

Wall Length: 1300

Wall Width: 50

Parallel Wall Distance: 600

Movement Speed Slow: 50%/60%/70%

Illusion Damage Dealt: 70%/85%/100% ( 100%/120%/140%)

Illusion Damage Taken: 200%

Duration: 45

Slow Duration: 0.75

100 ( 85)

125/250/375

Increases the damage dealt by illusions.

Creates illusions of spell immune enemies, but does not slow them.

Modifiers

Wall Slow: Dispellable with any dispel.

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.

Notes:

• The values of the wall are set upon creation, and do not update upon leveling the spell further up after having placed the wall.
  • However, Aghanim's Scepter's bonus is applied to the wall immediately. Illusions created while having Scepter get the increased damage.

• A wall can only create one illusion per player. There cannot be more than one illusion per player per wall.
  • This means when there are multiple walls up (with the talent, or with multiple casts), each wall can create an illusion for each enemy.
  • This also means that when an enemy has multiple heroes ( Divided We Stand and Tempest Double clones), they are still limited to one illusion per wall.

• Only creates illusions of real heroes. Does not create illusions of illusions pathing through the wall.
  • Can create illusions of Divided We Stand and Tempest Double clones as well, but not of Wukong's Command clones.
  • Can create the illusions of invulnerable enemies, but not hidden ones. The slow, however, is not placed on invulnerable units.

• Upon spawning, the illusions are automatically ordered to attack the heroes they are based on.

• When the illusion dies, the wall can create a new illusion of that hero as soon as it comes in range.

• Illusions created by Wall of Replica have a static 5 gold and experience bounty which does not scale with levels.

• The illusions's duration is based on the remaining duration of the wall from which they originate.

• The illusion spawns 108 range away from the hero if the hero has a collision size of 24, and 72 if the collision size is 8. It appears either north, east, south or west from the target.

• Wall of Replica illusions are visually distinguishable for the enemies.

• The slow is applied constantly within the wall's area. When walls overlap with each, their slows do not stack.

• When choosing the parallel wall talent, a second wall is placed 600 range behind the cast location of first wall, parallel to it.

Talents

Hero Talents
+150 Ion Shell Damage	25	Parallel Wall
400 AoE Surge	20	15% Cooldown Reduction
+75 Vacuum AoE	15	+12 Health Regen
+90 Damage	10	12% Evasion

Notes:

• This attack damage talent is added as raw attack damage, so it does not benefit illusions, and is not affected by most percentage-based damage increasing or reducing effects.

• The evasion talent stacks multiplicatively with other sources of evasion.

• The cooldown reduction talent stacks multiplicatively with Octarine Core and additively other sources of cooldown reduction.

Recommended items

Starting items:

• Tango sustains health in the laning stage.
• Healing Salve restores health to stay in lane.
• Clarity sustains mana to use Ion Shell.
• Iron Branch boosts Dark Seer's attributes, build up to a Magic Wand and/or Mekansm later on, or use with Tango for more healing.
• Enchanted Mango gives health regeneration and can restore mana in a pinch, before Dark Seer acquires Soul Ring.
• Stout Shield blocks some physical attacks whether you are laning or jungling.

Early game:

• Magic Stick gives burst health and mana in a pinch.
• Soul Ring covers most of your mana issues and allows you to constantly use Ion Shell in order to harass your lane opponents and get some last hits.
• Boots of Speed gives mobility for chasing or running away.
• Infused Raindrop gives mana regeneration and absorbs some magical damage.

Mid game:

• Magic Wand sustains health and mana in fights.
• Helm of the Dominator allows you to pull off Vacuum combos by yourself. Also, gives you an additional controllable unit to use Ion Shell on to fight or to push out waves.
• Arcane Boots increase your mana pool and allow you to restore your teammates' mana.
• Mekansm adds to Dark Seer's teamfight effectiveness and increases durability. Also his decent intelligence gain means he will generally have enough mana to use the heal.
• Blink Dagger can help you positioning to place a better vacuum wall combo.
• Town Portal Scroll allows you to be at any lane for a gank, countergank, or push in seconds.

Late game:

• Guardian Greaves restores both health and mana to team; the health regeneration and armor aura works better on wounded allies.
• Shiva's Guard grants you more punch to your Vacuum and Wall of Replica initiation, and gives you armor and intelligence.
• Lotus Orb removes debuffs from Dark Seer or an ally, as well as granting Echo Shell to reflect spells.

Situational items:

• Force Staff changes position of Dark Seer or any heroes.
• Pipe of Insight grants you and your allies protection from magical damage.
• Crimson Guard can protect your team from physical attacks in teamfights.
• Aghanim's Scepter effectively allows your illusions to deal more damage than your opponents, thereby significantly increasing your team fight potential.
• Ghost Scepter should be considered to counter high physical damage dealers, ensuring your survival to use abilities.
• Black King Bar guarantees your initiation with spell immunity to ward off almost all disables.
• Scythe of Vyse grants mana regeneration and Hex to completely nullify an enemy hero from using abilities or attacking.
• Refresher Orb allows you to use your abilities and items twice in a row if needed.
• Radiance for dealing more magical damage combined with ion shell and 17% miss chance combined with your evasion.
• Octarine Core will restore your health because of your aoe magical damage abilities and lower cooldowns for better influence in fight.

Gameplay

Roles:	Initiator Jungler Escape Disabler
Complexity:	★☆☆
Playstyle:	In a final, calculated move, Ish'Kafel led his outnumbered army into a new world, sealing the path behind with a burst of dark energy. A cunning tactician, the Dark Seer manipulates gravity to pull foes into a Vacuum, drawing them into the prismatic thorns of his Ion Shell. Armed only with his intellect, he Surges across the land to survey every point of conflict. At strategic locations Ish'Kafel places a Wall of Replica, sowing confusion amongst enemy ranks as an army of duplicates emerge to do battle against their own likenesses.

Strategy & Tips

Counters &
Matchups

Audio

Responses

Sounds

History

Lore

Old Abilities

Changelogs

Equipment

Dark Seer Equipment (expand sets) Sets Aqwanderer Set Forgotten Tactician Gombangdae Dosa Imperial Relics Insights of the Sapphire Shroud Mentor of the Artif Convert Opus of the Vizier Exile The Seers Command Set Head Craniomancer Shoulder Dark General's Mantle Arms Bracers of Forlorn Precipice Golden Bracers of Forlorn Precipice

Trivia

• Dark Seer's response, "Speed is the heart of battle." is an indirect quote of Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu, who said "Quickness is the essence of war."
• Dark Seer's response, Play "No, I will not calm my beard." is a response to Beastmaster's and Clockwerk's rival hero taunts, both voiced by Sam A. Mowry.
• Dark Seer's Vacuum's lore is based on the military term, center of gravity, which is a concept developed by Carl Von Clausewitz, a Prussian military theorist, in his work On War.

Gallery

• 

  Model

• 

  Concept art

• 

  Ability icon progress

• 

  Hero icon progress