Strategy Guide for Leshrac the Tormented Soul by thisisBob (as of v6.59)
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Strategy Guide for Leshrac the Tormented Soul by thisisBob (as of v6.59) http://planetdota.blogspot.com Leshrac writes disgusting emo poems in place of his personal profile, yet half of his profile picture was covered with masculine facial hair. He is also one of the only few emos who actually get noticed by people around him. Boo hoo, tormented soul, pack up your shit and be a man, you grew a beard for a reason. === Introduction === _________________________________________________________________ _____ Starting Stats: Strength: 16 + 1.5 Agility: 23 + 1.7 Intelligence: 26 + 3.0 Movespeed of 300 Attack Range of 600
Transcript
Strategy Guide for Leshrac the Tormented Soul
by thisisBob (as of v6.59)
http://planetdota.blogspot.com
Leshrac writes disgusting emo poems in place of his personal profile, yet half of his profile picture was covered with masculine facial hair. He is also one of the only few emos who actually get noticed by people around him. Boo hoo, tormented soul, pack up your shit and be a man, you
Leshrac skills specializes mostly in continuous AoE damage, he has an AoE stun, spammable chain lightning, an AoE damage per second activatable spell, and the best tower sieging skill in the game. He is the kind of hero who would run in, make flashy lights appear, and boil his enemy team with his AoE damage.Unfortunately, he usually gets gunned down along with his enemies due to his anorexic physique.
High intelligence gain (mana pool) Spammable AoE combo nukes capable of dealing 555+ damage, stun included Best tower sieging skill in the game Beard
Cons:
Fragile in HP and armor Needs mana to spam all skills (even with high mana pool) Longest basic casting animation of 0.7 seconds Relatively large character circle
To effectively maneuver his explosive capabilities, Leshrac often have to close in or enter the center of the battle, causing enemy nukes and attacks to be thrown at him. This comes in conflict with his weak HP and moderate armor. Also, due to the heavy consumption of his spells, he needs extra mana if he would like to stay efficient for more than a fight. Since he needs to move around for ganks, pushes, and defense. Mobility and survivability is extremely important for his case.
____________________________When do I pick Leshrac?
Leshrac excels in lane harassment, 5v5 AoEs, tower sieging, as well as a capable observer ward consumer of the team.However, he is prone to be focus-fired, and he needs supporting flank to actually hit a target with his stun. I find him best in a team when initializers (Sven, VS) are present. Basically Leshrac just needs dump his load on the immobilized targets, dealing massive damage.
(numbers in bracket represents damage after Hero spell resistance rounded off to nearest integer)
Split EarthSplits the earth under your enemies' feet. Deals damage and stuns for a
short duration.
Level 1 - Deals 70(52) damage and stuns for 1.25 second.Level 2 - Deals 140(105) damage and stuns for 1.5 seconds.Level 3 - Deals 210(157) damage and stuns for 1.75 seconds.
Level 4 - Deals 290(217) damage and stuns for 2 seconds.
Cooldown: 9 seconds.
Manacost: 100/125/140/160
Split earth is a ranged AoE stun like Avalanche or Light Strike Array. Leveling this skill increases the damage, duration, and the size of the area. Unlike the two other AoE stuns that only progresses in damage, Split Earth is weak for the first two levels making it less capable at early game frags.
Another weakness from Split Earth is that Leshrac has 0.7 second casting animation, and then another pause before the spell takes place; you will need to predict where the enemy will be after a second. Thus, Split Earth is extremely difficult to aim.
Diabolic EdictWhen cast, 32 explosions occur randomly targeting all enemies within 500
I have taken the liberty of re-wording the tooltip of this skill, since it was extremely confusing and raised 935,699 related questions in Mechanics forum since 2005.
When edict is cast, there will be a single-target continuous explosion targeting random enemy units within 500 range. Each explosion deals 12.5/25/37.5/50 damage, explosion occurs every 1/4 second (32 explosions total). The tooltip lied to you, effect area does not increase in level, explosion does not become faster in level, and the damage does not splash.
This spell is most effective against a single target so that the damage doesn’t distribute. The explosion is automatic so it will not hinder your actions. If Leshrac dies before the edict effect time is up, the explosions will remain in effect around his corpse until the duration is over. Otherwise it can target all enemies within 500 range of you.
The damage seems insane at first, but note that the damage becomes reduced by both Armor and Hero armor type (25% spell resistance). The spell can also target units with magic immunity, it effects avatars, repel, ancients, towers, everything. Against the fortitude armor type, it deals 70% of the damage.
Edict can hurt scourge spirit towers; the animation won’t show but the effect is there, -ap’ers beware.
Edict will attempt to damage invulnerable units even if it doesn't deal damage, stay away from the two racks when you're trying to siege the last towers.
Invisible units can also be damaged by this spell, but Leshrac will not be able to see the explosions upon the invisible unit.
You on the other hand, won't see anything.
Lightning StormCalls a lightning storm that hits nearby enemies. Jumps 8 times.
This is basically chain lightning with two exceptions:
Lightning damage will not weaken as it jumps It will not chain to heroes covered by fog of war
This a flexible AoE spell that is easy spam and can be cast at a safe distance. You can hit two heroes at once, both with full damage unlike chain lightning.
This spell’s casting range is 600, you can shoot several enemy heroes when two teams are at a standoff, thanks to its range and its jumps.
Pulse Nova ULTIMATESummons a Pulse Nova every second to damage nearby enemies.
Level 1 – 66 (49) damage per nova. 300 Range, drains 20 Mana per secondLevel 2 – 100 (75) damage per nova. 350 Range, drains 40 Mana per second
Level 3 – 144 (108) damage per nova. 400 Range, drains 60 Mana per second.
Manacost: 143/165/187
This is an activate-able ultimate, with an initial cost of mana then slowly drains mana over time. Every second all enemy units within 300/350/400 range of Leshrac get damaged. Because the effect of this spell is automatic, it will take place when you are stunned. However, pulse nova stops working when Leshrac is silenced, eul’ed, hexed, or removed from play (Harbinger’s imprisonment).
Due to the pathetic range but immense damage of this spell, Leshrac will need to run into the center of combat in order to hurt enemy heroes. Usually he gets focused to death in the middle of 3 enemies. So it's best coupled with long AoE disables.
Aghanim’s Scepter increases nova damage to 88/133/177 damage.Pulse Nova hits invisible units and units in fog of war.
Items that Leshrac should definitely have, or else his opponents will slit his wrist for him
Bracers - 510I once bought nulls, and what a mistake it was. Leshrac's health is piss poor and everyone wants a piece of him. If you want to survive nuke-trading, skirmishes, and early 5v5 battles, 2 to 3 bracers are absolutely mandatory.
Observer Wards – 200I'm including this in the core item section because you better buy this every game. You have no reliable escapes and everyone wants a piece of you. They can be gankers from another lane, or sneaky stunners behind a bush. If you want to make sure that a storm bolt doesn’t kill you every 3 minutes, you will want to buy wards.
Point Booster - 1200Cheap dosage of health and mana, this and two bracers makes sure that you have what it takes to tank and cast.
Boots of Travel – 500 + 2200 = 2700BoT is Leshrac’s most important item since he is required to run back and forth in enemy fire. More importantly, his excellent AoE spells can decimate creepwaves and his diabolic edict can destroy a tower faster than anything else. BoT is required for Leshrac to have his mobility, even if he lacks health and mana at first. You may consider skipping BoT if your team suffers from a tower disadvantage, meaning that most 2nd towers are down and tping to any lane just isn't safe. In that case just stick with tp scrolls and make way to Soul Booster.
Soul Booster - 3300Soul Booster is the cheapest option to boost both life and mana. Perfect for a homicial maniac like Leshrac. All the ingredients are cheap and offers a lot in separate pieces. Soul Booster steps up to BloodStone or Aghanim's scepter, they both also serve well for Leshrac.
and that's it; you're going to have a flexible lategame item build.
Wow, pulse nova at lv13/14/16? The current trend of games doesn't give Leshrac the possibility to fire pulse nova in the center of battle. Unless you grab sufficient health gears on him, he gets finished off quickly. On top of that, spamming edict/split/lightning already taxes on your mana unless you rushed a soul booster. Chances are, with you getting BoT/Bracers/Observer Wards, your soul booster won't come around so fast. It's best to invest in nova later when you have the power to maneuver it.
Even if you're in a solo lane, I would not recommend stats on lv2/4, all of his skills are too damn important to skip. And I'm more than content to give up 4 stats for the sake of landing lv4 split earth at lv8.
_____________________________________________Everything about early game (Lv1 ~ Lv8)
Items to start with: Circlet x 2, Tango x 1, Clarity Potion x 1If nobody bought chicken, skip a circlet and clarity, and get chicken for the team
Laning against two enemies are very important. Your lightning is not worth it against a solo hero since he'll outlevel you before you reach a harassing level. Make sure the fight is 1v2 or 2v2, that, or change lane, or request solo.
Leshrac’s lightning at later levels can hopefully keep enemies away so that your weak lanemate can last hit and farm. Otherwise if your lanemate has a ranged reliable stun, you may tweak the skill build and go split earth first for some sick double disable madness.
At lv3, begin using lightning for partial harassment; make sure both heroes are within the jumping range so that you harass two at a time, hopefully also killing a creep in the process. Depending on how hard you’re cracking them with lightning, you may pop some clarity potions for further harassments.
You will most likely dominate a lane if your partner has a staple stun.
Against chain casters/nukers: A double nuke/stun will kill you. Stay at a distance at all times, consider getting obs wards earlier to spy the lane, side forests and nearby river. Your harassment is superior since it can done so far away. Just play it safe. Consider buying a bottle against a lane that gives you too much trouble.
Against weaker heroes: Melee heroes, heroes with no critical skills, and heroes with low HP fall into this category. Lightning harass is efficient in messing them up. You don’t necessarily have to aim to kill, but if you succeed in sending them back to fountain, they will be missing a lot of experience.
And finally, your biggest enemy in the lane is bottle. Fuck bottle. Nothing pisses me more than spending 350 mana on harassment, and have their chicken load them a bottle and sip back to full life. Bottle'd opponents like to play suicidal by trading nukes with you, don't take that bait. Stand far away and back off as soon as they close in. You will emerge victorious as long as they spend bottle purely for the sake of health.
Last hit and harass as usual, and your early game inventory should look like this:
1. Bracer2. Bracer3. Point Booster (or at least, halfway there)4. Boots of Speed5. Observer Wards6. Spare slot (tango/TP/clarity)
The item order is not definite, use your own judgment. Get 3 bracers if there are lots of nukes, get boots earlier if you want to kill that melee sucker in your lane, or obs ward right off the bat if enemy is capable of doing early game first bloods. Or, if you feel safe, rush a Void Stone after several circlets.
Finally, make sure you ward. Blaming your teammates for not calling is not going to cover the fact that you're a lazy bastard who doesn't ward to protect yourself. Usually I ward around lv5, or lv3 if opponents are heroes capable of landing staple stuns. Do yourself a favor and avoid massive damage.
On lv8, you should be done with these basic equipments and almost to a void stone.
________________________________________________________After Early Game (Lv8+)
You have maxed out lightning storm and split earth and you are now a deadly nuker. Remain in your lane until the tower busts, gank starts, or until you got your Point Booster.
In a gank, you are not yet ready to run in like a homicidal freak. It’s best if you blow lightning and split earth behind your teammates. Make sure observer wards are bought and set, it's your job. Play it safe, and eventually reach up to your BoT.
Believe me when I say lightning and earth is all you need at this stage in ganks. It keeps you safe, and at the same time makes your opponents wet their pants.
After your BoT, begin to expand on these items:
Energy BoosterVitality Booster
At this point a team fight would probably occur over a tower. What is your role?
For defense, spam lightning to the other side if you can, and establish a line of defense with your fearful split earth. Do not waste mana over pulse nova unless your mana is overloading-ly high, it’s better to hit 8 targets using 165 mana every 5 seconds.
For offense, you better make sure that wards are stuck in proper places. Leshrac sucks against an ambush; even pub level players know that he should be the primary target. If wards are inappropriate, Leshrac will need to be on the center of his team and making sure that enemies aren’t about ready to kick his ass. If two teams are at a stand-off, your lightning-storm is pretty good at chipping life away from enemies that are far away from you.
Continue pay up for observer wards and make sure that main path and other possible ganking spots are well lit. It is crucial that Leshrac does not get jumped and that he gains a vision of the paths ahead of him so he can weaken waves and heroes with his spammable lightning.
With BoT, you should teleport to lanes where pushes are past your river. Piss off enemy hero with your lightning if there is one. Stick wards down to avoid ganks to disrupt a neutraling opponent. Slowly build out your soul booster and level your Diabolic Edict.
___________________________________________________After Soul BoosterHere's a realistic inventory for you:
You have plenty of mana and health, you (hopefully) pushed down many towers thanks to BoT and edict, both team gathers, and the final battle is about to begin.
With soul booster you now have the health and mana to finally redeem your role as a suicide diver. However, you still die relatively fast. Leshrac is not made to be the first one in, unless your team has no tanks, or disrupting heroes, don’t be the first one in.
When you do enter the battlefield, it is unrealistic for you to get all 5 enemy heroes. Pulse Nova’s range is 400 at best, focus on making nova hit agility heroes or heroes with spammable abilities (for example, CM). You are going to die, but as long as your team wins the fight, you died for a good cause.
Depending on the lineup, get BkB if there are too many spells that has the potential to harm your mana (mana leak) or to stop you from casting nova (regular stuns don’t count). Otherwise, finish scepter to maximize your nova power.
There are rare occasions where BkB comes before soul booster, but notice that even with Avatar on your nova won’t maintain more than several seconds and you’ll have no spare mana for other useful abilities. BkB’s primary purpose is to make sure that you avoid being nuked to crisp.
Edict, at this point of the game, is a tower-buster. If you reach a tower unguarded, 8 seconds of lv4 edict can bring a full life tower down to 1/4 health. To reach a tower, you have to push fast and start surprise-pushes through BoT. With sufficient mana from your boosters, you should use lightning to clear the waves. Once you reach the tower, you must also make sure that all 8 seconds of effect does not get distributed by creepwave. You probably don’t have time to destroy the creepwave by the tower all the time, so you must make sure that you isolate your edict on tower.
Oh, you can also backdoor. If the enemies don’t like it, be a TDA rule whore and tell him to press F9.
Another tactic is to push multiple lanes at once, and catch any towers that the opponents have failed to watch over. Also, if two teams push in different lanes at the same time, Leshrac’s team is guaranteed to have the upper hand in terms of pushing speed.
Don’t be afraid to buyback either. You may not be fast enough to teleport back to turn the tide, and you maybe have just wasted 1000 gold, but you can definitely blow up a tower while the enemies are vastly absent after the fight.
______________________________________________________________If games carry on after your soul booster. There are three luxury items that I would recommend:
Blood Stone
With Soul Booster complete and a void stone, grabbing an RoH completes bloodstone. With it you can die easier, heal teammates, and leech exp off the battle. Furthermore, you can disassemble it later if you plan to make Aghanim's scepter afterwards.
Shiva's Guard
An alternative to Aghanim's. Shiva + Bloodstone is superior to Aghanim's Scepter. While 5 seconds of pulse nova with aghanims does sick damage, shiva locks the enemy and deal damage which makes your pulse nova work easier. That is... if the game drags on long enough for you to reach BloodStone/Shiva/BoT.
Aghanim's Scepter
Boosts ultimate and ups mana capacity using only one slot. It's no as dramatic as ogre scepter, but the damage does add up after a bit. Aghanim's is recommended if you happen to use nova a lot (a.k.a doesn't die in 5 seconds), and you don't feel that you'll be getting shiva's.
Other utility items such as Eul/Guinsoo/Necronomicon are also useful as well, but strictly based on lineup and situation of the game. In other words, learn to judge.
_____________________________________________________Late Game Era(or/and BKB, if the enemies forced you to buy one)
At Lv16 is your golden period of group-fights. Your nova and spells deal significant damage, you have health, and the enemies are still relying on nukes for most of the damage. This will slowly fade as lategame heroes pop up with their insane damage and slaughter you like a cow. Use this time wisely.
There are plenty of alternatives if your team failed in team fights: You can threaten enemy’s tower by pushing, backdooring, and making sure that all 3 creepwaves are pushed past your river.
It is best if the game reaches a breaking point before you reach lv18. Leshrac, like all other mages, fails at late-game. You must fight through your enemies by winning team fights or destroying the racks by surprise. Do your stuns, spam your bolts, and move around spraying nova over everyone until you get gunned down.
Beyond Lv20
Leshrac’s role is shortening. This period is no place for you; you can’t do much besides from killing creeps and offering your 2 second stun. You may extend your significance by purchasing disabling items, but out there in the field you’re just something that dies in 5 seconds.
Your other alternative is to push sides and backdoor towers. But of course, don’t expect yourself to be as efficient as you were 30 minutes ago. Although you should be pretty good at creating
giant waves of push since you can take down creepwaves at extremely fast rates.
You make bigger differences in mid/early game, so if game was delayed until now and your team doesn’t have a set lategame heroes, you have failed controlling the game using Leshrac.
Here are some alternate item choices... besides from BoT/Soul Booster
Black King Bar –3800
BKB when there are too much disables to stop you from spell (hex, silence, eul) or mana burning spells (mana leak). If you do want to get it, complete it after Soul Booster. Also, getting BKB after lv18, where heroes are dealing superior physical damage, is kind of useless.
Dagger of Escape – 2150 Situational
Blink dagger used to be a favorite on Leshrac for him to chase and position stun. After its nerf you really can't afford that much money for what it can give you.
However, in cases where you're going for speedy AoE combos such as Leshrac + blink Magnataur or Leshrac + faceless void, then sure, get it.
Necronomicon/Euls/Guinsoo
Yes, if you happen to be the only candidate for these and your game is competitive, then go for it. This guide is not responsible for you grabbing Soul Booster against techies, invis heroes, and Leoric. Learn to judge, thank you.
Teammate combosThis section covers up awesome mid/late spell combos with Leshrac and his team.
Faceless Void/Chronosphere:
Edict and Pulse Nova works inside and outside Chronosphere, at lv16 trapped enemies must face 5 seconds of immobile-face-burning. A powerful combo.
buy dagger when teaming with Darkterror. So that both of you can zip into the battlefield and perform that horrible combo with no way of countering it.
Staple Stuns:[INSERT PICTURES 50% OF DOTA-ALLSTARS HERO HERE]
I'd like to mention this again: Single-target stuns are much needed if you ever want to touch somebody with your stun. Split Earth is difficult to pull off if the enemy is aware of it. In early/mid game, a long distance single target stun/sprout/shackle/blah gives you a guaranteed kill.
3 of these aren't long period stuns, but they create enough diversion for you to charge in and deal damage before they shoot you down. Magnataur's reverse polarity however, is a force to be reckoned with if he bought a dagger.
Obsidian Destroyer/Essence Aura:As if you haven’t already thought of it. Your 5 second CD spells and your huge mana pool makes sure that your mana will never deplete around him. Do notice though, that Pulse Nova does not trigger the aura every 1 second as you activate it.
Crystal Maiden/Brilliance Aura:That global auras of her turns Leshrac into a lane beast, no mortal can withstand early lightning coupled with mana regen.
Undying/Plague:
Perfect synergy with your AoE and pulse nova, combo for massive damage.
one-on-one heroes (Juggernaut, Luna):
if you play –ap like I do, heroes with solo-kill skills such as Juggernaut or Luna are perfect for setting up kills in teamfights after you wipe out all the creeps.
__________________________________________Enemies that mess you upEnemies who somehow can endure Leshrac’s emo powers must be taken with caution. They will burn your beard off.
KoTL/Mana Leak:
One leak and your mana pool will be down to nothing. Nothing can really be done, if you activate bkb in mana leak status you lose mana anyways. You lose, and you can only avoid leak with gank or distraction.
Silences (Silencer, Drow Ranger):
Stupid silence stops you from work. Silencer is especially your worst enemy as you fail in spammage when you’re against him. Although BKB prevents his last word aura Leshrac can still get affected by global silence.
Omni Knight:
Repel is an asshole and there is nothing you can do about it. Expect a key enemy unit to be repel’ed.
Anti-Mage:
You’re a mage, he’s an Anti-mage, he’ll screw you up. A mana void is guaranteed to take half the life out of you as soon as you finish spamming your spells. Also, Anti-mage is a hunter proficient at pursuing lone fragile targets and you’ll never know when he’ll pop up and kill you.
Juggernaut:
Magic immunity and immunity from two of his skills meaning that Leshrac doesn't stand out against him. The bigger problem is that his healing ward is always there when you try to spam your lightning over to the other side.
Raijin/Barrier:
Barrier protects against 150/300/450/600 magic damage. Just the kind of hero to fuck you over. Chances are the key dpser will be barriered, and you can't do shit about it.
Item counters to Leshrac
Black King Bar:
Avatar bypasses all your magic damage, you’re like a sitting duck to the avatar’ed enemy. Avoid engaging the BkB enemy either by killing other heroes or attempt to steal enemy towers before he gets there.
Hood of Defiance:
Hood successfully counter midgame and lategame aspects of lightning Leshrac. Its regen and magic resistance can really hinder your long range harassments over time. This means you have to charge in with pulse nova early game to actually deal considerable damage to hood bearers.
I couldn’t put these in Strategy because they cover a lot of texts and screenshots and the overloading tips may distract the reader.
Aiming Split Earth
Against delays and a player who has a functioning brain, chances are you're still going to miss. If possible, connect split earth with other stuns to minimize the risk.
Backdooring at its greatest
Leshrac must only backdoor when there are no creeps by the tower. Creeps spawn every 30 seconds, or when the time is reaching X:00 or X:30. You’ll want to backdoor after the creepwave have left, sometime around X:10 or X:40.
also, if your teammate have land-creature summoning spells you can BoT to that unit. One of my favorite partner would be Nerubian Weaver, since his weavers are teleportable and you can establish backdoor and neutral catching of the enemy hero.
Split Earth + Lightning + Lightning combo
Basically you run in and target split earth, then lightning, then hit, then chase, then use lightning again when 5 sec cooldown is up. Sounds easy? Here are some don’ts:[list][*]Do not start combo with Lightning, your casting animation sucks and the enemy will run away.[*]Do not reveal your location 700 range outside your target, this means you don’t want to get seen by an enemy creep while you sneak up.[*]Do not get obsessed over this combo after lv10, as you have more important matters to attend to such as pushing and team fighting.
When can I ever cast Pulse Nova
Although it sounds rewarding to get your nova off at multiple heroes, being in the center guarantees your death. Nova will mostly be used on small scale skirmishes or coupled with a super disable like reverse polarity.
Split Earth tree clearing
Tree clearing is very valuable. When you want to get out of Furion’s sprout or get rid of Rooftrellen’s eyes Split Earth is well qualified for the job. It’s also useful in top lane where you want to clean the trees for a surprise entrance, or getting rid of those pesky hide-and-seek players who uses the path in the forest.
Range of Sight
This is another problem with the 0.7 second casting animation. Your spell takes effect at the end of the animation, and you stand still aiming before that. When you target a hero with spell (lightning storm), if an enemy is out of your sight in 0.7 seconds then your lightning storm will fizzle. You must make sure that the enemy is not in the edge of your sight as you cast your spells. With that said, Day = lightning harass, Night = ambush.
______________________________________________________________________=== Technical Support ===
Replays
tda649Lesh.w3g ( 662.05k ) Number of downloads: 566
TDA 6.49b: A fine replay following the build. Knowing that enemy Tinker is solo, I bought wards throughout early game to shut him down. I skipped void stone for point booster because their lineup scares me. After several failed ganks from the other team, we managed to prevail. My mistakes include staying too close to the battle (which results in focus fire), and leveling pulse nova when OD and others can nuke me to the ground.
Conclusion
This build focuses on Leshrac being a background fire for the first half of the game, and then becoming a pulse nova machine after collecting enough items to tank and maintain mana. Background fire for Leshrac is very effective now thanks to the 5 sec cooldown buff on lightning. Then when you finally get the expensive gears, you may run in, tank, and deal 800 damage with your nova.
Boots of Travel:- Mobility- no slots taken, no need for spare TP scroll slot (1 spare slot)- Creepwave pushing- Defense- Money- No escape
BoT gives map-wide support that synergizes with edict more. Dagger is only for instant-combos such as chronosphere/AoE Nuke. I'd grab BoT for most cases.
Q: Why not edict+stats or edict+earth? I stomped so many lanes with the uber 1600 damage!
Edict requires you to keep close and isolate the opponent for 8 seconds straight. There are simply too many ways to counter this and Leshrac's piss poor hp is not going to help him either. It's a lot smoother to use the long range lightning if you plan to kill anything.
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