Sacred Warrior (Huskar)

(Huskar)
Strength 18 + 2.4          Agility 20 + 2.4              Intelligence18 + 1.5

Inner Vitality

Magically unlocks the potential regenerative power within a target unit, healing its life force based upon its primary attribute. If the target is below 40% it will heal faster.

Burning Spear

Using his own life force to set them aflame, the Sacred Warrior can cause his spears to deal stackable damage over time as they impact the foe.

Berserker's Blood

Huskar feels each of his wounds and channels the pain, increasing attack speed and damage for each 7% missing health. First bonus starts at full health.

Life Break

Huskar reaches into the well of his own life force to heavily damage an enemy. Huskar is magic immune while charging towards the target. The target takes damage equal to 50% of its hp. Slows target by 50% for 5 seconds. Huskar pays a certain percentage of his hp to cast this.

Huskar's ganking spell. Keep in mind that that the damage dealt to you and your target is the percentage of their current hp. Also remember that it deals magical damage to you and your target. Heroes have a natural 25% magical resistance. 500 hp hero is life-breaked, 187 damage is dealt, not 250. The same is applied to Huskar.

The Skill Build

1. Burning Spears

2. Berserker's Blood

3. Burning Spears

4. Berserker's Blood

5. Burning Spears

6. Life Break

7. Burning Spears

8. Berserker's Blood

9. Berserker's Blood

10. Inner Vitality

11. Life Break

12. Inner Vitality

13. Inner Vitality

14. Inner Vitality

15. Stats

16. Life Break

The Reasoning

Burning Spears is what makes Huskar, Huskar. Without maxing it asap you are completely wasting his potential. What makes Burning Spears so effective early game compared to other slowing orbs is the amount of damage dealt after you attack, it really adds up. On a single enemy hero the Burning Spears damage from 5 stacked spears alone over 6 seconds is 360 magical damage after reduction, and that's not even mentioning the damage you yourself deal from Huskar's attacks. Later there will be a section extensively covering this skill.

Now here's where the debate beings, Berserker's Blood or Inner Vitality? Honestly there is no argument, Berserker's Blood wins hands down. By spamming Burning Spears on your enemies your own hp drops too, and although some say that you don't have enough hp to utilize it, remember it's percentage based. That means that early game when you have the lowest amount of hp, it activates faster than in any other stage of the game. The huge damage and IAS boost really makes Huskar a devastating dpser all game, and playing mind games with this skill give you such a good-feeling as you take down the full hp enemy while you're at red hp the entire fight.

In the item build below I start with 6 tangoes and a salve, that's 1210 hp worth of regeneration. That is far more than Huskar should need in an average lane, and that should cover for him in a harsh lane as well. Inner vitality is simply pathetic early levels. Remember that it is percentage based, because of that the later in the game the more effective it is. Huskar's stats early on aren't that terrific, and he has a shitty strength growth. On top of the fact that it won't heal much, look at it's mana cost! Huskar has a terrible intelligence growth, he can't afford to use spells that cost a whopping 170 mana per cast! Save this till later.

Life Break is a powerful battle-turner and slow, and later on I'll show you how to utilize it to perfection. Half of it's use is to slow and damage the enemy, and the other half is to actually damage yourself. By hurting Huskar you just pumped him full of damage and IAS with Berserker's Blood, making him far stronger. Get this whenever available.

The Item Build

The Starting Items

x2x2

2 gauntlets is an affordable boost to your hp and damage, making your harass more effective with extra damage and you have more hp to cast Burning Spears with. The Salve and dual tangoes are pretty crucial, the Tango is for over-time regeneration and the Salve for when you're real low. You'll most likely need to use both due to the opponents harassing you and spamming burning spears, don't expect to head back to the fountain for a long time.

Soon After

(x2)

Boots of speed is actually a pretty major item for Huskar, by having a movespeed advantage quickly, you'll be able to orb-walk much more effectively, or if the enemy gets an early boots as well, you'll be able to keep up. The Helm of Iron Will is a good early game item, providing armor and the ever-helpful regen, but naturally the main use is to upgrade to a Hood later. If you're farming exceptionally well you can grab 2 of them, since eventually you'll be getting both Armlet and Hood, but generally upgrading to Hood with one right away is your best bet.

The Core

Treads is the natural upgrade choice to your boots, only costing an easy 950 gold to upgrade, they give you more IAS, damage and hp.

Blink Dagger is a fantastic and powerful item that Huskar can utilize very well. Your ultimate has a short range of 135, putting you in basically melee range of your target. Naturally anyone with a brain will immediately back away when a Huskar comes charging toward them. Blink Dagger fixes this problem, granting the element of surprise and mobility, (there is no faster way to get anywhere than blinking.) Of course, outside of using your ultimate it is also simply great for chasing, juking, escaping and overall mobility.

The path splits, Hood and Armlet are both great items on Huskar, and you should get both. Armlet grants 65 damage, 475 hp, 5 armor, 25% IAS and -62 hp regen while activated, and since you have IV to help with the degen, I'd say the huge dps bonuses make it worth it's unbelievably cheap 2850 gold price. Hood grants a huge 8 hp regen and the ever-useful 30% magical resistance, making it the top-tanking item in today's spell-ruled metagame. On top of that it further-benefits Huskar reducing the self-damage from Life Break by an addditional 30%.

Depending on your enemies lineup, you can decipher for yourself which to get first, Hood against a highly magical damage lineup, and Armlet on a more passive lineup, where you can utilized the huge dps to blink in and dominate your targets as quickly as possible. Now as I play more and more competitively I find Hood a better first choice, as you won't get to utilize the damage from Armlet or Berserker's Blood if you're instantly nuked to death before you can strike.

Generally I go Hood > Treads > Blink > Armlet, but factors such as how fast I'm farming, the enemies lineup and my role on the team change these things. While Armlet, Treads and Hood come in nice convenient useful parts, with blink you have to save up a solid 2150 gold.

Extension, Optional and Luxury Items

BoT are also an available choice, but it should never be rushed on Huskar. Although the extra movespeed is beneficial, as is the tp, it's high cost makes it less desireable, and in-battle your usefulness won't be amplified as much as one of your other more important items, (blink, Armlet, Hood, Heart, Treads.) Only get this in games where you need to be all over the damn map tping and fighting, and it's a good idea to sell your Treads for these if the game drags on late.

Aghanim's enables Huskar's ultimate to take out 65% of the enemy's hp with Life Break while only having an 8 second cooldown at level 3; Best of all it's not like Spirit Breaker who'll need mana support for continuous ultimate casting, as long as you have hp you can use your 0-mana ultimate whenever you want! It's a good extension for imba-ganking after the core items if you're not going hard-dps carry, in which case just getting more dps items would be my choice.

Black King Bar is a viable extension item, but not always. Huskar is made to tank damage, by tanking damage, both physical and magical your hp drops, and in turn your dps increases. You get Hood so you can live to tell the tale after you take in the nukes, but with BkB all of this is avoided, so you probably won't get much of a damage boost. Get BkB if you're going hard-carry and the enemy team has lots of disables though.

Linken's Sphere is now a useful item with the Spell Block actually working on many single-target spells. A situational item at best when you are in need of 3 things: to block single target disables, more mana since you go oom from casting IV on yourself and your allies in pushes, and the stats for an overall boost. Consider these factors before purchasing this highly defensive item.

Monkey King Bar is a good item to get if you're going for straight up dps. In a higher-level game you probably can't farm this much, but if you can, feel free to get it. With True Strike this item is even better than before especially against carrys with evasion or butterfly, but be wary that auto-casting Burning Spears with True Strike activated will cause interference.

Buriza-do-Kyanon is a powerful dps item that scales excellently as the game goes on. Unfortunately this item is pretty expensive and Huskar may not have to pure-damage and godly IAS to utilize it's crit to full potential.

Heart of Tarrasaque was changed as of late, and not granting regeneration in combat is far less appealing to Huskar. It's rather justifiable, since the regeneration on a hero like Huskar was completely imbalanced. Still, it grants a massive 1060 hp boost, which is the most hp from any single slot possible. Get this if you need some raw hp, also as long as your mana pool isn't depleted, you'll never have to visit the fountain again with the unbelievable 2% hp regen outside of battle. This is my personal favorite extension of choice, granting hp and damage for Huskar to utilize late game.

Assault Cuirass is a possible Luxury item, granting you godly EHP and even better attack speed, I'd recommend this after HoT if you ever manage to farm that much in a game.

Guinsoo? DTC is noob, banned.

But really, Guinsoo is the item that never goes wrong. Granting some stats and highly unnecessary int on a hero like Huskar, the hex is what takes the cake. 3.5 seconds disable can easily shift the tide of battle, in some leagues having more than 1/2 Guinsoos on a single team is banned due to this items potential. If you aren't the carry and are playing a support/ganking Huskar, get this if you find yourself rich late game, it's simply a fantastic item.

Items Not to Get

Orb-effects. When manually-casted Burning Spears overrides all orb-effects, and when auto-casted is overridden by orb-effects. Burning Spears is just too powerful of an orb to give up.

Basher is a terrible item to begin with, and is 100% unnecessary on Huskar. Huskar is built to kill and last through it all, not to disable. Huskar has better things to build.

Radiance is an amazing item when on the right hero, and especially at the right time. Huskar has neither the speed to stay in immolation range of a fleeing enemy nor the capability to power-farm a relic. His lane-control is just too strong to pass up in power-farming. The majority of gold comes from Huskar's kills and last-hits in lane.

You don't need intelligence items at all, if you become low on mana have an ally with Arcane Ring cast or something, or grab a Clarity.

Dagon. YOU ARE NOT A NUKER. KTHXBAI. But for real, your burst damage comes from your ultimate and your orb, you can't afford to buy it, nor to cast it, your mana pool is pathetic.

Vanguard is an item for heroes that need to tower-dive, and directly attack an enemy hero triggering creep-aggro. Huskar is neither of these, as his goal is to kill quickly and effectively, and his orb-walking does not attract creep-aggro. He doesn't really need the hp with an average strength growth, and if you desperately want hp, grab a Vitality Booster and upgrade it to HoT later. You need regeneration? Get a HoD. Honestly right there I just granted good reasoning not to get Vanguard, so I'll say it again. If you want hp, feel free to buy an early game Vitality Booster to upgrade to a HoT later, and if you want regen, feel free to buy a HoD. A Vanguard only grants 50 more hp than a Vitality alone, and the regeneration from a Vanguard is inferior to a HoD. Also as I stated above, and I'll say it again, Huskar doesn't need the damage block, he neither needs to tower-dive extensively nor does he attract creep-aggro.

Mekansm. What are you a support hero? No, you're a hard-core ganker/carry, your job is to build up your core while dominating your lane, not being your team's healing bitch. You want your hp to drop, it makes you a powerful dpser, if you just heal back all the damage Life Break deals to you, then you kinda just ruined the point. On top of the fact that you don't want to heal your damage like that, Huskar doesn't nearly have the mana-pool to support Mekansm, he can barely support casting his own innate heal; which btw is at least 10x better than Mekansm.

Huskar in DotA

Lane Assignment

Huskar thrives well in both solo and dual lanes, having powerful lane control in Burning Spears, few heroes can dare stand near the creeps while he's around.

If you want to solo, be sure to check for the following criteria

-A different hero in your team could use the solo lane better, such as Storm Spirit, Nevermore or Tinker.

-If enemy has one of the few solo heroes who can shit on your life, such as Viper, a (good,) Drow, or Ancient Apparition.

-You don't have an ally who possesses a hero that you can combo up with to dominate a dual lane.

The solo lane provides the most experience gain and most likely a faster farm for Huskar, which is highly beneficial. But if the above criteria are being fulfilled in an anti-Huskar sort of way, play it safe and go to the side lane, not like you can't dominate from there.

Ganking with Huskar

As I've extensively covered this, you should know what to do. Utilize all of your skills, and keep in mind that you win the longer battles, and never forget to Orb-Walk when chasing. Ganking is however, significantly harder without Blink Dagger, as few will let you just walk up to them to Life break. Be sure to bring a disabler, (or a Haste rune,) for a gank. You need it to be successful, for whenever you're not killing someone, you're farming.

Getting Ganked

Huskar is pretty good at surviving ganks as long as disables aren't abundant. (A rather contradictory statement, since a good gank is one where disables are abundant from the gankers.) Activate Inner Vitality once your hp drops and start running. With Blink Dagger attempt to juke the enemy long enough for it to reactivate, then blink to saftey and use a TP scroll to get to base. Remember when blinking, not to just blink ahead of you, but try to do maneuvers that will greatly hinder the gankers. Blink over cliffs, trees, onto unreachable terrain, be imaginative.

On top of that, Huskar is also an excellent gank-reverser. With Berserker's Blood you get stronger as you take more damage, if you can evade death while your allies are coming to help, you can quickly turn around to slow with Life Break or just orb-walk the enemy to death. If the enemy stands and fights when you're both low, (and it's not Ursa/Viper/Slardar/Void, and their nuke is on cd,) chances are you'll win.

Pushing and Defending

This is where Huskar lacks greatly, he has little to no potential in this area do to his lack of AoE spells. While pushing just attempt to Orb-Walk any defenders, and if the opportunity arises Blink in and ultimate a target if you know you can kill them without being killed yourself. If you're low hp, you do make a good tower sieger with Berserker's Blood running. Turn on Armlet, (if you've got it,) and activate Inner Vitality to tank the damage and take it down.

Defending is probably even worse for Huskar, all you can do is throw cheap shots with your orb and wait for your allies with AoE skills and disables to shake things up. If you have allies with you and you can begin to attack, just Blink in and Life Break someone.

Just a Bit of Hero Synergy!

Crystal Maiden

Your best friend in a lane, she is Huskar's favorite lane partner. She can disable and slow your enemies, enabling easy early kills. On top of that, she's item independent so all the last hits go your way. Your allies will love her for her aura, and if the enemies lineup is especially tough, you may actually be able to afford to invest in some early levels of IV, simply because her huge mana regen is the only way you can afford to cast it.

Dazzle

Your other favorite lane partner, a Dazzle Huskar lane leads to an under-leveled under-farmed enemy and an overpowered carry Huskar. Spamming of his heal keeps Huskar's hp in check, and Poison Touch lasts so damn long you can orb walk an enemy's hp to 0 in it's duration, and it deals damn good damage in itself. Weave will make you hit harder than ever mid-late game, and Shallow Grave let's you break out that Rambo bandanna so you can truly Laugh in the Face of Death.

Viper

This lane spells death to all who face you. Both of you have powerful lane control, and the only thing Huskar needs to finish off his foes is something to keep them in range. Viper provides just that with his own perma-slowing ability, so get ready for the ultimate double-orb beatdown. The only problem here will be a confliction of farm, in which to that you'll simply have to make an agreement to.

OmniKnight

A partner both in lane and in battle, OmniKnight is a great supporter for Huskar. His heal deals some devastating damage, so a great combo is for you to ulti to keep your opponent in range, then a heal brings your hp back up while lowering there's by a massive pure damage amount. Also, if you cast Life Break while Repel is on you, you won't take any of the self-damage, a definite plus. If Omni gets Degen early on, once he gets the enemy in perma-slow range Huskar will have a field day orb walking them down.

Necrolyte

A combo most definitely overrated in pubs, Necrolyte and Huskar undeniably do have synergy. With a spammable heal/nuke to keep Huskar fighting, and their Ultimates both dealing damage on opposite sides of the damage spectrum, these two make a fearsome one-two combo strike that can pretty much one-shot any hero in the game. The enemy best be careful when these two wander the battlefield, lest their Souls be torn in two, and then pulled to their grave.]

Slowers

Everyone loves a good slow, especially Huskar. In and out of lane, heroes with slows give you plenty of time to orb-walk them to death.

Disablers

The guys who are under "your best friends" section in every guide, no one can hate on these guys. Have them hold your targets down while you burn holes through them.

Hero Counters!

Disablers

You meet again, for the last time! As much as you like to have these guys on your team, they're a pain in the ass on the enemy team. When you're disabled... well you're disabled. You really just don't do anything.

Necrolyte

Another love-hate relationship, Necrolyte serves as a powerful counter to Huskar. Heartstopper keeps your hp draining when you try to keep it up, his spammable heal/nuke is always a pain to deal with, and Reaper's Scythe goes against what Huskar strives for: getting low hp. Fear the Reaper.

Axe

You'll have a blast facing him in the lane, since your burning spears will keep him so far from the creep wave he'll never get a chance to spin, but if he manages to farm so gold Hood will negate a lot of your dps from Spears and Life Break, and with a Blink Dagger he'll always be right next to you in a team fight, watch out for the Culling Blade...

Silencer

He's not a total counter, but he will give you a hard time. Last Word completely fucks your ability to orb walk, you can't even combo Life Break and spears with him around. In a lane, if he gets Curse of the Silent, consider yourself screwed. You have no spammable early game ability, even if you invest in a point of Inner Vitality it costs so damn much you'll be oom in 1 cast, and then every consecutive CotS will keep your mana and hp at a nice low level... Watch out late game too, with only a Guinsoo he can deal some scary dps, and the disable is always a pain.

Viper

He might be one of your favorite allies, but he's also a terrifying enemy for Huskar. In a lane, he'll ruin you. He has more range, more damage, (through Nethertoxin,) a perma slow, when you orb walk him he'll slow you and run, when he orbs walk you, there's no where to go. You want your hp to lower for Berserker's? Well then his Nethertoxin kicks in and destroys you. No chance doing any fancy 0-hp Armlet jukes either, try keeping Armlet on while Viper Strike eats away at your hp.