Ember Spirit Overview

Lore & Bio

The Fortress of Flares lay abandoned within the Wailing Mountains, its training halls deserted and its courtyard covered with leaves and dust. A topaz kettle filled with old ash, leftovers of a pyre for the warrior-poet Xin, sits atop a dais in its locked temple. Xin taught his acolytes the Bonds of the Guardian Flame for three generations, a set of mantras designed to prepare the mind and body for the harsh reality beyond the castle walls.

However, by teaching a warrior's way, he attracted a warrior's foes, and Xin was bested and died in his autumn. His supporters dispersed like the wind. Yet, as the years passed and his followers became descendants, his teachings persisted in a quiet whisper and deed. The Burning Celestial, inquisitive element of fire, threw himself to the Fortress of Flares and reignited the pyre ash, touched by the teacher's lingering legacy. From the smoldering ashes sprang an image of Xin, wreathed in flames, his thoughtful countenance ready to train and teach, and to spread the flames of knowledge to all who seek its them.

In the game, Xin, the Ember Spirit, is a melee agility hero with a lot of mobility and versatility. His powers make him a slippery foe who can dance about his enemies at will. His skill set allows him to launch aggressive attacks on opposing heroes, as he may use Sleight of Fist to approach them from afar and tie them down with Searing Chains. Flame Guard deals damage in a limited region around him while also shielding him from magic nukes, making him a formidable opponent for enemy casters. Finally, his Fire Remnant magic allows him to engage, flee, or move about the map instantly, allowing him to emerge and vanish when the adversary least expects it.

Despite having a good health pool early on, he lacks armor and a large mana pool, rendering him vulnerable to physical damage if caught or disabled. Ember Spirit, on the other hand, may engage his adversaries with his speed and disables, dominating the battlefield with blinding speed, with the right item choices and discretion. Despite his limited presence in the early and mid game, Xin eventually develops into a dangerous opponent on his own, demonstrating to both friends and foes that there is still plenty to learn.

This is his in-game description: 

“Ember Spirit is a fast and evasive enemy who attacks all around foes in quick succession and binds them up with scorching chains. Few can evade or grab his flame as he rushes across the battlefield to one of his exploding fragments.”

Attribute & Stats

Level 0/1/15/25/30

• Health: 200/620/1340/2100/2400;

• Health: regen 0.75/2.85/6.49/10.29/11.79;

• Mana: 75/315/675/1083/1239;

• Mana regen: 0/1/2.54/4.24/4.89;

• Armor: -1/2.67/9.43/16.27/19.02;

• Att/sec: 0.59/0.72/0.96/1.2/1.29;

• Damage: 33‒37/55‒59/95‒99/136‒140/153‒157;

• Magic resistance: 25%;

•  Movement speed: 305;

•  Attack speed: 100;

• Turn rate: 0.6;

• Vision range: 1800/800;

• Attack range: 150;

• Projectile speed: Instant;

• Attack animation: 0.4+0.3;

• Base attack time: 1.7;

• Damage block: 16;

• Collision size: 24;

• Legs: 2;

• Gib type: Fire.

Abilities & Talents

Skills building guide

Ember Spirit is an agility hero, but despite his reasonable strength growth, he has relatively low armor and weak agility growth, making him vulnerable to physical damage. As a result, to avoid strikes, disjoint missiles, and evade counterattack, he relies on his spells and mobility. Because of his reliance on casting, he is vulnerable to disables, especially stuns and silences, which prevent him from escaping damage that his limited HP pool is ill-equipped to handle.

This skill build can serve as a general guide to help counter his weaknesses, but ultimately you can vary the builds depending on the team and the situation of your match. Generally speaking, consider taking more points in Searing Chains if the enemy is faster than you and that you need a reliable form of lockdown to stop them from escaping.

Taking a value point in Sleight of Fist in order to dodge spells such as Lightning Storm, Shadow Strike, Dragon Slave and more can help a lot in lane. If your enemy has a lot of magical nukes, make sure to max Flame Guard. 

Ember Spirit can be built into either a magical or a physical carry. As a magical carry, he comes online early since abilities output high magical damage. Octarine Core and talents increase uptime of disables in Searing Chains and mobility in Fire Remnant, thus making him more survivable. Radiance increases his survivability by passive lifestealing using Bloodstone.

As a physical carry, he shines late game with Sleight of Fist enhanced with damage items, and against a high number of enemy units when having  Battle Fury. Consider defensive items like  Black King Bar, as physical Ember Spirit is not as survivable as the magical version.

Abilities

Searing Chains

Searing Chains (No Target, Magical) 

Effect: Ember Spirit sends out fiery bolas that wrap around adjacent foes, immobilizing them and causing damage every second.

Cast Animation: 0+0.5

Search Radius: 400

Max Targets: 2 (Talent 3)

Damage per Second: 50/70/90/110

Duration: 1.5/2/2.5/3 (Talent 2.5/3/3.5/4)

Cooldown: 13/12/11/10

Mana: 80/90/100/110

Does not pierce spell immunity. Root effect persists and attempts to damage if debuff was placed before spell immunity and when not dispelled.

Notes:

Searing Chains interrupts Ember Spirit's channeling abilities upon cast.

Despite the visual effects, the Searing Chains' effects are applied instantly and cannot be disjointed.

The units are selected randomly within its range. There are no priorities.

Roots the targets, preventing them from moving and casting certain mobility abilities. Provides True Sight over the targets, but only when the targets were not invisible or within a fade time upon cast.

Does not target invisible units or units inside the Fog of War.

Deals damage in 0.5-second intervals, starting 0.5 seconds after cast, resulting in 3/4/5/6 (Talent 5/6/7/8) damage instances.

Can deal up to 75/140/225/330 (Talent 125/210/315/440) damage to each unit.

Sleight of Fist

Sleight of Fist (Point Target/Physical) 

Effect: An ally blessed with Shallow Grave, no matter how close to death, cannot die while under its protection.

Cast Animation: 0+0.7

Cast Range: 700

Effect Radius: 250/350/450/550

Jump Interval: 0.2

Hero Attack Damage Bonus: 40/80/120/160 (Talent 105/145/185/225)

Creep Attack Damage Reduction: 40%

Talent Number of Charges: 2

Talent Charge Replenish Time: 18/14/10/6

Cooldown: 18/14/10/6 (Talent 0)

Mana: 50

Notes:

Ember Spirit is invulnerable during Sleight of Fist. Does not disjoint projectiles upon cast.

During Sleight of Fist, this ability is inactive, so that it cannot be recast until the current cast finishes. Ember Spirit is only disarmed during Sleight of Fist, so actions besides attacking can be performed normally during it.

Upon cast, all targets within the area are marked. A flaming sword appears above them as an indicator, which lasts until they get hit. Sleight of Fist has no range limit. Once a target is marked, it cannot escape Sleight of Fist with distance. Does not affect invisible or attack immune units. When a marked unit turns invisible or attack immune, it gets fully skipped on its turn. Fully affects units in the Fog of War. Fogged units get marked on cast, and get hit as well.

Jumps in 0.2-second intervals. The jumps are random between all marked units, there are no priorities.

On each jump, Ember Spirit is positioned 50 range away from his target, on a line between the target and the cast location of Sleight of Fist.

Causes Ember Spirit perform an instant attack on each jump against the targets. These instant attacks can proc any attack modifiers and on-hit effects normally. They do not have True Strike. If Ember Spirit is disarmed, no instant attack is performed on the jump. The instant attacks of Sleight of Fist do not break Smoke of Deceit's invisibility.

After all marked targets have been slashed, Ember Spirit returns to the position he had upon casting Sleight of Fist. That position is marked by a fiery replica of Ember Spirit for the duration.

Casting  Activate Fire Remnant cancels Sleight of Fist. However, other sources of Forced Movement do not.

Xin's Sleight of Fist attacks originate in the direction from which he cast the spell.

Xin can cast spells and use items during this skill.

Xin can place buffs and trigger chance effects (like Bash) on each attack.

Disarming Xin causes Sleight of Fist to deal no damage.

A temporary remnant appears where Xin cast it, showing his return location for when the ability ends. This remnant is merely a visual indicator and has no interaction with his ultimate.

Does not hit invisible units.

Xin cannot cast this skill while rooted.

Flame Guard

Flame Guard (No Target/Magical)

Effect: Ember Spirit creates a ring of fire around himself that eats all incoming magic damage and leaves him uninjured. While Flame Guard is active, it does damage every second in a radius around Ember Spirit. The damage is also lost if the shield is broken.

Cast Animation: 0+0.6

Damage Radius: 400

Damage per Second: 25/35/45/55 (Talent 75/85/95/105)

Magical Damage Absorbed: 110/240/370/500 (Talent 390/520/650/780)

Duration: 11/14/17/20

Cooldown: 35

Mana: 80/90/100/110

Notes:

Flame Guard interrupts Ember Spirit's channeling abilities upon cast.

Deals 5/7/9/11 (Talent 15/17/19/21) damage in 0.2-second intervals, starting 0.2 seconds after cast. Can deal a total of 275/490/765/1100 (Talent 825/1190/1615/2100) damage to a single unit (before reductions), assuming a max duration Flame Guard.

Blocks damage before any reductions, except  Mana Shield.

Only blocks magical damage, coming from abilities and attacks. Does not block any physical or pure damage.

Recasting Flame Guard refreshes the buff and resets the barrier's absorb capacity.

Does not stack with other magical damage barriers. If multiple sources of barriers are active on a unit, all of them lose capacity from the same absorbed damage instance. However, if a damage instance is greater than the capacity of all barriers individually, the damage gets blocked as if the barriers were one barrier with combined capacity.

Fire Remnant

Fire Remnant (Point Target)

Effect: Xin gathers the energy needed to construct a Fire Remnant. The secondary ability allows you to choose a location that is closest to the Remnant of your choice. Xin will then run forth, going through each relic one by one until he reaches the one he wants. Each Remnant you pass over causes it to detonate, causing damage to those in its immediate vicinity.

Cast Animation: 0+0.53

Cast Range: 1400 (With Aghanim's Scepter 3000)

Remnant Travel Speed: 250% (With Aghanim's Scepter 500%)

Remnant Duration: 45

Number of Charges: 3 (With Aghanim's Scepter 5)

Charge Replenish Time: 38 (Talent 26)

• With Aghanim's Shard Enemy Death Radius: 400
• With Aghanim's Shard Damage Radius: 600
• With Aghanim's Shard Damage per Second: 45
• With Aghanim's Shard Damage Aura Linger Duration: 0.5
• Cooldown: 0
• Aghanim's Scepter upgrade: Increases cast range, initial remnant speed, and maximum charges.
• Aghanim's Shard upgrade: Fire Remnants deal 45 damage per second in a 600 AoE around them. If an enemy hero dies within 400 range of Ember Spirit, a Fire Remnant charge will be replenished.

Notes:

Leveling this ability automatically levels  Activate Fire Remnant as well.

Ember Spirit gets all 3 charges immediately upon learning Fire Remnant. Acquiring Aghanim's Scepter the first time instantly grants 2 charges as well. This only happens once, so re-acquiring it does not grant them again.

Fire Remnants move to their targeted location at a speed of 250% (Upgradable by Aghanim's Scepter. 500%) of Ember Spirit's movement speed. The movement speed is set upon cast and does not adapt.

Since Fire Remnants last for 45 seconds and the replenish time is 38 (Talent 26) seconds, it is possible to have 4 (Talent 4) (Upgradable by Aghanim's Scepter. 6, Talent 6) remnants up at a time.

Every time a Fire Remnant is placed, Ember Spirit gets a status buff, showing the duration of the remnant. The status buff disappears once the Remnant expires or is used.

Fire Remnants are visible to everyone. They do not grant any vision and cannot be seen when sent into the Fog of War.

Fire Remnants deal no damage when they expire.

With Aghanim's Shard, Fire Remnants deal 22.5 damage in 0.5-second intervals, starting 0.5 seconds after receiving the debuff. The fire remnants start dealing damage as soon as they are created, so they already deal damage while traveling towards their destination. The damage from multiple remnants with overlapping areas do not stack. Can deal up to 2047.5 damage within 600 radius for the entire duration. The damage is sourced to Ember Spirit, and not to the remnants themselves. The damage is provided by an aura, it's debuff lingers for 0.5 seconds.

With Aghanim's Shard, any enemy hero kill (including clones, excluding illusions and allies) done by Ember Spirit replenish a Fire Remnant charge. This also happens whenever an enemy hero dies within 400 range of him. Denies do not count. A charge is replenished even if the killed hero has Reincarnation. If Ember Spirit dies, he leaves behind a Fire Remnant at his death location.

Activate Fire Remnant

Activate Fire Remnant (Point Target)

Effect: You dash past all other Fire Remnants until you reach the one you've chosen, bursting it for area of effect damage.

Cast Animation: 0+1.07

Cast Range: Global

Remnant Damage Radius: 450

Remnant Damage: 100/200/300

Cooldown: 0

Mana: 150 (With Aghanim's Scepter 75)

• Aghanim's Scepter upgrade: Activate Fire Remnant costs less mana.

Notes:

This ability level scales together with  Fire Remnant's level.

Ember Spirit moves to a Fire Remnant with a speed of 1300 if it can be reached within 1 second at that speed, or reaches it in 0.4 seconds. Ember Spirit is invulnerable while traveling to a Fire Remnant.

Does not disjoint projectiles upon cast.

The mana cost of Activate Fire Remnant is always the same, regardless of how many remnants he is traveling to with a single cast.

While traveling, Ember Spirit cannot turn, but can attack, cast abilities, and use items (still requires facing his targets).

Forced Movement cancels the movement of Activate Fire Remnant and removes its invulnerability. However, the remnants still get used up and Ember Spirit gets instantly moved to the last one's location once it explodes.

Always travels to the Fire Remnant furthest away from the targeted point first.

Ember Spirit damages enemies within a 225 radius around him as he travels, and in a 450 radius around a remnant upon reaching it. Enemies may only be damaged once per remnant, either by Ember Spirit as he travels towards the remnant, or by him upon reaching the remnant.

Destroys trees Ember Spirit collides with while traveling to a remnant. Though at high traveling speeds, some trees may be skipped and not destroyed.

Effective items guides

Early game

Tango

Tango: assists Ember Spirit in staying alive throughout the laning phase, sparing him from having to return to base due to opposing harassment.

Healing Salve

Healing Salve: Ember Spirit's health is also restored with the use of Healing Salve. After killing an enemy, Faerie Fire may help you survive a gank or deadly strike from the tower. It also aids in final hitting.

Iron Branch

Iron Branch: is a low-cost, high-impact approach to boost Ember Spirit's mana and health pools, which are both deficient in the early game.

Bottle

Bottle: Ember Spirit may use Bottle to replenish his HP and mana, letting him to stay out in the field to farm or fight. It's recommended to buy it if Ember Spirit is used as a mid hero, as he has easier access to runes.

Infused Raindrops

Infused Raindrops: can help with mana recovery and also lessen magical damage in battle.

Boots of Speed

Boots of Speed: Ember Spirit needs Boots of Speed because the increased speed will help him to flee dangerous circumstances and catch up to an escaping enemy. It also boosts his ability to use Searing Chains to catch an escaping hero.

Town Portal Scroll

Town Portal Scroll: allows him to move across the map rapidly to locate farm and fights and ganks, and his spells make him a force to be reckoned with in any combat. Ember Spirit may regenerate in a fountain and return rapidly when coupled with Fire Remnant.

Mid game

Power Treads

Power Treads: Ember Spirit can perform abilities more often with the help of Power Treads. His attack speed and agility also help him do more damage.

Boots of Travel

Boots of Travel: Ember Spirit's Boots of Travel, combined with Fire Remnant, grants him excellent global mobility, allowing him to easily help in ganks, pushes, and defenses all over the map, or heal up at the Fountain before returning to farm.

Battle Fury

Battle Fury: replenishes Ember Spirit's mana and increases Sleight of Fist's cleave damage, making him more dangerous in teamfights and speeding up his farming. Multiple Battle Furies for more cleave damage can be considered to counter illusion swarms.

Maelstrom

Maelstrom: is a less expensive option to Battle Fury for splash damage from Sleight of Fist, and it's typically more useful for magical builds.

Late game

Blink Dagger

Blink Dagger: Ember Spirit may store his Remnants for escape rather than initiation with Blink Dagger, which allows him to effortlessly jump on adversaries and do right-click damage while binding them with Searing Chains.

Daedalus

Daedalus: Ember Spirit gains a lot of extra damage from Daedalus, as well as the chance to deal 2.2x damage on an attack. It has a great synergy with Sleight of Fist, allowing for high damage output from afar. 

Ember Spirit may use several Daedalus to inflict massive amounts of physical damage with Sleight of Fist, perhaps resulting in multi-kills if the enemy team is packed together.

Black King Bar

Black King Bar: In the face of heavy disables, Black King Bar is a must-have equipment. Because he can be destroyed fast if stunned or silenced, Ember Spirit's spell immunity allows him to combat the enemy head-on and disregard their disables, giving him a longer damage window before retreating. It also grants him more raw damage and increases his strength by raising the size of his HP pool.

Linken's Sphere

Linken's Sphere: Ember Spirit stats are applied across the board with Linken's Sphere, as well as passive HP and mana recovery. Ember Spirit's Spell Block passive allows him to shrug off one targeted spell, presumably a targeted disable, during a fight, improving his slipperiness and allowing him to fight without worry of being disabled.

Manta Style

Manta Style: provides some protection against silences, since he can rapidly dispel debuffs, particularly silence, while also producing two illusions to distract the enemy. The item gives him all-around stats, increased agility and attack speed, and a movement speed benefit that increases his mobility. Finally, because items may be utilized during Sleight of Fist, pairing this item with Sleight of Fist and Searing Chains allows Ember Spirit to root and place illusions near a victim from afar.

Aghanim's Scepter

Aghanim's Scepter: improves practically every aspect of Fire Remnant, making Ember Spirit more mobile, reducing his mana drain, and increasing the burst damage of magical builds.

Situation items

Drum of Endurance

Drum of Endurance: Ember Spirit gains all-around stats from Drum of Endurance, including enhanced HP and mana pool, as well as improved damage. His mobility is increased by the additional movement speed, allowing him to better position himself to use his spells.

Veil of Discord

Veil of Discord: is a formidable mid-game item. Ember Spirit's skills can cause a lot of magical damage thanks to his Discord and spell amplification talents.

Eul's Scepter of Divinity

Eul's Scepter of Divinity: Ember Spirit can catch up to foes and set up Searing Chains thanks to Eul's Scepter of Divinity's movement speed bonus and cyclone. It also silences him and gives him enough mana to resume utilizing his abilities.

Butterfly

Butterfly: In the hands of Ember Spirit, Butterfly may be extremely effective, as it offers him evasion while also increasing his physical DPS. The passive evasion reduces his vulnerability to physical damage, while the active evasion increases his movement, allowing him to abandon a fight or pursue an enemy.

Octarine Core

Octarine Core: is a potent late item for magical Ember that improves spell cooldowns and increases survivability. Ember Spirit can quickly capture his opponents with to his 25 percent Cooldown Reduction and +1 sec Searing Chains skills.

Divine Rapier

Divine Rapier: lets Ember Spirit deal absurd damage with Sleight of Fist. While his natural mobility helps him hold onto the Rapier, it is nevertheless still a very risky purchase.

Mjollnir

Mjollnir: Maelstrom can be upgraded to Mjollnir. Ember Spirit's Static Charge ability can also be utilized to deter adversaries from hitting him for fear of triggering the discharge. Ember Spirit's main source of physical damage is Sleight of Fist, therefore the increased attack speed isn't really effective.

Shadow Blade

Shadow Blade: Ember Spirit's physical DPS is increased by Shadow Blade, and he also has another way to begin ganks on foes. Ember Spirit will also deliver 175 extra damage to all slashed targets and remain invisible upon returning to the remnant if Sleight of Fist is cast during the 0.3 second fade time. However, keep in mind that this strategy does not work with Silver Edge.

Enemies & Allies

Allies

Magnus

Magnus: Magnus is a great addition for a team with Ember Spirit. His  Empower is extremely effective, as it greatly increases Ember Spirit's farming speed, granting him a buff somewhat similar to  Battle Fury.  Empower stays potent during all game, as it increases damage proportionally and its cleave stacks with  Battle Fury. Additionally,  Reverse Polarity paired with Sleight of Fist is an extremely effective late game combo.

Keeper of the Light

Keeper of the Light: With Chakra Magic, Ember Spirit can use Sleight of Fist twice with 0 cooldown. A recipe for rampages if ever there was one. It also helps that Ember Spirit's spells cost a lot of mana on rather short cooldowns, so the mana regeneration from Chakra Magic stays relevant well into the late game.

Dazzle

Dazzle: Dazzle is a great laning support for Ember Spirit. Not only can he heal Ember Spirit with  Shadow Wave, but he can also provides killing potential with his  Poison Touch. Dazzle's ability to make game-changing plays with his Shallow Grave, combined with the capability to save Ember Spirit makes them a strong pair for the whole game. Bad Juju also greatly amplifies Sleight of Fist damage through the armor removal.

Faceless Void

Faceless Void: Ember Spirit is not frozen by Chronosphere while using Sleight of Fist or Activate Fire Remnant, enabling him to deal great damage to units caught inside.

Others: Chen's Divine Favor complements Fire Remnant by taking Ember Spirit back to base to heal before resuming his duties. Sleight of Fist works well with all AoE disablers and nukers.

Counters

Lion

Lion possesses two strong disables in Earth Spike and  Hex and heavy magic burst with  Finger of Death which help lock him down and prevent him from escaping with Activate Fire Remnant. When getting his  Blink Dagger Lion can punish Ember Spirit's overextension immediately, or initiate a fight on him with disables.

Shadow Fiend

Shadow Fiend: Shadowraze can easily remove the protection from Flame Guard and kill Ember Spirit due to his low health. Ember Spirit is very vulnerable to physical damage from  Necromastery.

Silencer

Silencer : Global Silence and  Last Word can prevent Ember Spirit from casting Activate Fire Remnant to escape.  Glaives of Wisdom also provide high pure damage that is not negated by Flame Guard.  Arcane Curse is also a potent harassing tool in the laning stage as its cooldown is lower than Flame Guard's.

Storm Spirit

Storm Spirit is not only a potent  Orchid Malevolence carrier, his  Electric Vortex provides an additional disable and  Overload provides a great slow. When paired with  Static Remnant, they can cut through Flame Guard fast.  Ball Lightning not only provides great initiation upon Ember Spirit from any position anytime, but also helps dodge Sleight of Fist.

Faceless Void

Faceless Void is one of the best heroes against Ember Spirit, providing a lot of ways of dealing with him. Ember Spirit becomes a lot weaker if affected by  Time Dilation, as he can no longer spam Sleight of Fist.  Chronosphere is also a reliable lockdown for Ember Spirit, although it can be evaded sometimes by Activate Fire Remnant. 

Additionally, Void can easily negate Sleight of Fist damage with  Time Walk. And finally, Void is a great  Diffusal Blade carrier. Not only  Manabreak's physical damage not negated by Flame Guard, but it also burns Ember Spirit's mana. That, in turn, prevents him from escaping if he survived  Chronosphere.

Omniknight

Omniknight: The pure damage provided by  Purification is a great addition for killing Ember Spirit, as well as a good way of saving teammates.  Guardian Angel will temporarily save his allies from Sleight of Fist's physical damage, and Ember Spirit is not a hero that will get  Orchid Malevolence to counter it.

Outworld Destroyer

Outworld Destroyer: The pure damage provided by  Arcane Orb is a great addition for killing Ember Spirit.  Astral Imprisonment fully negates all magic damage of Flame Guard and Searing Chains and will temporarily save himself from Sleight of Fist's physical damage, and Ember Spirit is not a hero that can counter these skills.

Nyx Assassin

Nyx Assassin: With  Vendetta, Nyx Assassin can move closely to Ember Spirit when he's farming with his Flame Guard and use  Spiked Carapace with  Impale to provide a reliable and long disable.  Mana Burn is also good, as Ember Spirit relies on his limited mana pool for the early to midgame.

Kunkka

Kunkka: Using  X Marks the Spot Kunkka can prevent Ember Spirit from escaping with Activate Fire Remnant, until he purchase  Eul's Scepter of Divinity or  Linken's Sphere.

Doom

Others: The common belief that Doom's Doom can counter Ember Spirit is a myth, as Doom's cast animation is long, and an alert Ember Spirit can easily avoid it if he has a Fire Remnant nearby. Doom, on the other hand, is still a very effective early ganker, as his Scorched Earth and Infernal Blade damage rapidly overpower Flame Guard's magic damage absorption, leaving Ember Spirit defenseless. Doom's additional talents, which he can obtain from Neutral creeps, can also assist him in bullying Ember Spirit early on. Doom's Shadow Blade or Blink Dagger can also be useful, as they provide an excellent means to apply Doom on Ember Spirit. When fighting with Ember Spirit with Orchid Malevolence, Queen of Pain can be a useful hero. Her pure damage nuke in Sonic Wave and a slow in Shadow Strike is Orchid Malevolence. Ember Spirit, on the other hand, can punish Queen of Pain since his Searing Chains prevent her from getting Blink off.

Items Counter

Orchid Malevolence

Orchid Malevolence/ Bloodthorn: both items can be devastating for Ember Spirit, as silences prevent him from getting Activate Fire Remnant off. Ember Spirit is quite fragile as well, so additional damage from these items will be very helpful. It will probably force Ember Spirit to get  Manta Style or  Black King Bar as well, which will limit his late game damage potential.

Abyssal Blade

Abyssal Blade/Scythe of Vyse: both are strong disables, preventing Ember Spirit from easily escaping.

Assault Cuirass

Assault Cuirass/Crimson Guard: greatly decrease Ember Spirit's damage output from regular attacks and Sleight of Fist.

Butterfly

Butterfly/ Heaven's Halberd allow enemy heroes to survive longer against Ember Spirit because of the evasion bonus and the disarm in Heaven's Halberd's case.

Satanic

Satanic/ Heart of Tarrasque/ Eye of Skadi: these are all items that will allow enemies to survive Ember Spirit's late game AoE damage from Sleight of Fist. Additionally,  Heart of Tarrasque will allow enemies to repeatedly breach Ember Spirit's highground without committing any resources.  Eul's Scepter of Divinity can be tactically used to lock Ember down, dispelling his Flame Guard, and being followed by another disable

Heart of Tarrasque

Heart of Tarrasque: will allow enemies to repeatedly breach Ember Spirit's highground without committing any resources.

Eul's Scepter of Divinity

Eul's Scepter of Divinity: can be tactically used to lock Ember down, dispelling his Flame Guard, and being followed by another disable.

Favorable Matchups

Bloodseeker

Bloodseeker: Fire Remnant allows Ember Spirit to escape Bloodseeker while Ruptured.

Meepo

Meepo is quite fragile in the early game and can be easily taken down by Flame Guard's and Searing Chains' damage. Later on, Meepo is very vulnerable to Sleight of Fist's damage due to  Battle Fury's cleave on multiple Meepos.

Chaos Knight

Chaos Knight: Ember Spirit is evasive and can dodge close encounters with melee heroes like Chaos Knight. Ember Spirit can't be caught with the slow from  Reality Rift, and Flame Guard and Sleight of Fist can bring  Phantasm's illusions down quickly.

Terrorblade

Terrorblade: Ember Spirit can deal devastating damage to illusion heroes like Terrorblade with Sleight of Fist. Terrorblade also has no way of preventing Ember Spirit from getting Activate Fire Remnant off. Additionally, Ember Spirit's ability to fight from long range as well as his wide skill set won't give many opportunities for Terrorblade to get  Sunder off.

Crystal Maiden

Crystal Maiden: Crystal Maiden is extremely fragile and she's an easy target for him. She has no real disables that can lock Ember Spirit down, and all of her skill damage can be negated with Flame Guard. The damage from Searing Chains, Flame Guard, and Sleigh of Fist can easily take her down.

Nature's Prophet

Nature's Prophet: Ember Spirit can easily deal with  Nature's Call by using his Flame Guard and with  Battle Fury. He also has multiple ways of escaping  Sprout. Additionally, Ember Spirit can break  Sprout's trees with Activate Fire Remnant and interrupt  Teleportation with Searing Chains.

Phantom Lancer

Phantom Lancer: Sleight of Fist is the natural counter to Phantom Lancer's army of illusions, especially when combined with Battle Fury.

Templar Assassin

Templar Assassin: Searing Chains and Flame Guard quickly burn through  Refraction instances exposing her low health pool. Templar Assassin has no inherent way to prevent Ember Spirit from escaping, a good ember player also will be able to dodge her meld attack.

Others: To catch Ember Spirit, you'll need a hard disable or silence, as slow will never be adequate as long as he has a Remnant nearby. As a result, he's an excellent option against any line-up that doesn't have those disables. Similarly, Ember Spirit's lone disable is the root from Searing Chains. As a result, if the enemy are vulnerable to root effects, he can be a suitable choice. Blade Mail doesn't really function against Ember Spirit because he uses ordinary attacks on creeps and Sleight of Fist on opponent heroes. Heroes who rely significantly on illusions or summons (Naga Siren, Terrorblade, Phantom Lancer, Lycan, etc.) are especially vulnerable to Sleight of Fist, especially if Ember Spirit has Battle Fury.

Game plan

Early game

If you’re a magical carry, your Ember Spirit can come only quite early as his abilities output high magical damage. This should relate to your build decisions, whether you want him to be built magical or physical. 

Ember Spirit has mana issues early in the game - using Fire Remnant to chase will often put you in danger. The higher level of Sleight of Fist you get, the further your Searing Chains can hold the enemy. It’s best to keep this in mind. 

Sleight of Fist doesn't help Ember Spirit farm at all in early to mid game when he has few attack damage items. Flame Guard and Searing Chains help a lot to deal damage, and Fire Remnant helps Ember Spirit move around the map quickly and farm dangerous lanes.

You are usually a weak laner before 6. Focus solely on your own item and level progression; unless your supports rotate and you're assisting them in securing a kill, don't try to be overly aggressive. Get to level 6 and your first core item, and then start rotating more. Offensively, defensively, and in terms of farming efficiency, ult mobility is quite beneficial.

Mid game

When the mid-game arrives and adversaries begin to congregate, you must abandon combat and return to farming. Out-push lanes and split-push to obtain your valuable late-game goods as quickly as possible. If your attackers don't have strong quick disables, you can farm the more dangerous locations while your teammates stay in the safe zone.

Late game

This is when you need to be pushing hard and punishing the enemies should they make any mistake in teamfights. Help your team dominate the late game fights and keep pushing when the enemy team is dead in order to secure the win.