Ezalor, the Keeper of the Light (KotL), is a ranged Intelligence hero. He rides around on a horse, carries a staff, and has a big bushy beard. He’s Dota’s version of Gandalf. Keeper of the Light is a common pick in lower MMR brackets, but less-skilled players rarely make effective use of his skillset. KotL gives his team a huge amount of tactical flexibility, and is fully capable of serving as a solo support to four greedy cores. Mastering the wizened old wizard is an excellent investment of your time, especially for players who are looking to diversify their Dota hero pool.
Hero Overview: Keeper of the Light’s Abilities
Keeper of the Light’s strength as a hero partially comes from the freedom he provides to the rest of his team. Illuminate lets you repel early pushes, cut down creep waves, buy your team valuable farming space, and dish out an impressive amount of damage. Once you’ve bought an Aghanim’s Scepter, Illuminate can also be used to heal your teammates.
Mana Leak is one of the most frustrating abilities in the game, crippling mana-dependent heroes, setting your team up for pick-offs, and preventing enemy playmakers from being active around the map. Mana Leak is similar to Bloodseeker’s Rupture, as KotL uses the ability to “[w]eaken an enemy’s magical essence, causing them to lose mana as they move.” The worst part? If you lose all your mana from a maxed-out Mana Leak, you’ll be stunned for three seconds. In most cases, this is a death sentence. Think of Mana Leak like a ranged version of Diffusal Blade.
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Chakra Magic is a steroid-dispenser for your team, keeping their mana pools topped off and reducing spell cooldowns. The sheer utility of Chakra Magic should not be underestimated — if used correctly on teammates, it helps them farm faster, increases kill potential in lane, and means that mana-starved heroes like Juggernaut won’t have to make a premature trip back to the fountain or spend crucial money on regen.
Recall, one of KotL’s Ultimates, is massively under-utilized by most players. Reading the ability text should give you an idea of how powerful this spell is: “After a short delay, [Recall] teleports the targeted friendly hero to your location. If the targeted friendly hero takes player based damage during this time, the ability is interrupted.” Recall can be used to bring in reinforcements before a fight or keep split-pushers safe across the map. Blinding Light obliterates right-clicking physical carries in team fights, giving their attacks an 80% miss chance that lasts up to six seconds.
Keeper of the Light Item Builds
As far key items are concerned, you’ll always want to pick up Tranquil Boots on KotL, and almost every game is made easier by purchasing an Aghanim’s Scepter at some point. Outside of these two items, you can be pretty flexible.
Keeper of the Light is easy to pick off, especially during the early game, so buying a Force Staff, Ghost Scepter or Glimmer Cape can provide you with some much-needed survivability. If you don’t need an escape tool right off the bat, you should feel free to buy whatever your team needs most, whether it’s a Helm of the Dominator, Euls Scepter, Solar Crest, or Rod of Atos.
Effective Keeper of the Light Playstyles
Honestly, how you decide to play Keeper of the Light is up to you. In games where you’ve got a second support and your lanes are going well, you might want to spend time in the jungle stacking and farming camps with Illuminate. In other cases, especially when the enemy is pushing early, you might find yourself babysitting or camping beneath a tower and pushing back enemy waves while your carries roam the woods in search of farm.
You’ll always want some early points in Chakra Magic, but sometimes it’s wise to prioritize Mana Leak, particularly if you plan on ganking or harassing an enemy hero. It’s worth mentioning that you don’t want to spam Illuminate in lane and push the wave when your carry is trying to farm.
General Advice for Playing Keeper of the Light
Keeper of the Light excels against mana-dependent heroes and early push line-ups. You do have to exercise caution against mobile mid heroes, however. Mana Leak can ruin the escape plans of heroes like Storm Spirit and Ember Spirit, forcing them to buy Euls or Linkens (and thereby limiting their damage potential). At the same time, KotL is a bit fragile, and if you give them the opportunity, high-mobility heroes will feed off of you without hesitation. Heroes like Medusa, Weaver, Faceless Void, Leshrac are also excellent Mana Leak targets.
Keeper of Light can also run offlane strats alongside heroes like Bristleback, providing him with the mana and reduced cooldown he needs to spam his spells and delete the enemy’s safe lane. You should be aware of KotL’s powerful synergy with Anti-Mage–your Mana Leak can be used to set up massive Mana Voids, while Recall lets AM maximize his farming efficiency around the map.
