Brandon's Guide to Huskar, the Sacred Warrior, Let's burn! [Guide of the Month: June 2008] Options Rating

[Eozm]

Greetings
Hello. This is my first strategy guide on Huskar. Due to my low age and having English as my second language, my English isn't perfect in terms of grammar. In addition, I'm not computer-friendly, so I'm still teaching myself how to use programs in order to post screenies. Furthemore, I only play public games, so I don't know if this strategy will work in high-level plays. Thank you.

Eozm's Guide to Huskar, the Sacred Warrior

Updated for 6.59b

Best viewed in DotA-Allstars Skin

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Skill Build
3. Item Build
4. Burning Spear and Helm of the Dominator
5. Skills Strategy
6. Combat Strategy
7. Laning
8. Farming
9. Jungling
10. Ganking
11. Team Battles
12. Replays
13. Conclusion
14. Change Log
15. Credits

1. Introduction

There have been several excellent Huskar guides. I'm sure that by the time you read my guide, you have already read theirs, so I'm guessing that you know the basics on how to play Huskar.

My previous Huskar guide focused on the general Huskar, including his stats, skill explanations, early to late game strategies, etc. However, through comparing my guide with the other guides, I have realized that my guide was too similar to theirs and it was just a simple hybrid which wasn't quite unique. However, this guide will focus more on the actual strategy such as laning properly or how to gank/counter-gank, etc.

Due to shifting my focus on the strategies, I have minimal images in the guide. In addition, this guide will be text heavy. However, if you truly wish to improve your skill on Huskar, do proceed onto the guide. My second aim in this guide is that in the future, Huskar will be chosen more frequently in higher-level games.

If you wish to read a more detailed guide in terms of general Huskar with no lifesteal, read Afterburn's Guide to Huskar, the Sacred Warrior. If you wish to see an abridged guide on Huskar that uses only lifesteal, read Complete Idiot's Guide to Sacred Warrior.


2. Skill Build

For complete details about Huskar and his skills, click here.

Level 01 | Burning Spear
Level 02 | Berserker's Blood
Level 03 | Burning Spear/Berserker's Blood
Level 04 | Burning Spear/Berserker's Blood (opposite of level 3)
Level 05 | Berserker's Blood
Level 06 | Life Break
Level 07 | Berserker's Blood
Level 08 | Inner Vitality
Level 09 | Inner Vitality
Level 10 | Inner Vitality
Level 11 | Life Break
Level 12 | Inner Vitality
Level 13 | Burning Spear
Level 14 | Burning Spear
Level 15 | Stats
Level 16 | Life Break
Level 17-25 | Sats

This skill build is for people who loves to play aggressively and enjoys flexibility. Berserker's Blood is maxed out first as the passive bonuses are great! With level 4 Berserker's Blood, Huskar gains +56% attack speed and +56 damage at 58% health. Burning Spear is kept at level 2 and Inner Vitality is maxed out before Burning Spear, since after level 7, Huskar should be going around ganking without his starting regeneration item, since it will most likely be gone. Some people prefer to take 1 level of Inner Vitality at level 4, but I find this entirely useless as it only regenerates around 85 hp including Huskar's natural regeneration. Furthermore, it can only be casted once. I prefer to take extra damage over time than a mere 85 hp regeneretion, especially because I recommend that you get 1 set of Tango and 2 Salves. With this build, early game kill will be guranteed as long as you play smart and/or your allies stun/slow the enemy. Burning Spear is maxed out for the insane damage over time.

If you plan to jungle, then follow the skill build in the Jungling section.

3. Item Build

In my opinion, Huskar is a very flexible hero. He can either be a ganker, a semi-carry hero, a tank or a hybrid of everything. Therefore, Huskar's item build may vary on personal preference. In terms of orb-effects, the only viable options seem to be lifesteal or corruption. The strategy I will focus on is both Burning Spear and lifesteal as they seem to be the best options for Huskar. The most important items on Huskar is Armlet of Mordiggian and/or Helm of the Dominator. As long as you get one/both of those two items, I don't really mind which item you get for my strategy.

[Click on the images to view their description]

Power Treads is probably the best of all 5 types of footwear (bare, Boots of Speed, Phase Boots, Travels, Treads) because it provides attack speed as well as +10 strength, which is very helpful for Huskar as his Inner Vitality heals scaled on his primary attribute (when casted on self). Plus, it's bought for the speed. Helm of the Dominator is used for dominating creeps for easier kills as well as lifestealing your life back after ganks or when you have to fight a hero who has higher health.

Armlet is just a must. It synergizes really well with Huskar. The additional 25 strength will allow his Inner Vitality to heal faster after deactivating the Armlet. Also, the attack speed bonus and damage bonus synergizes really with Huskar's Berserker's Blood. The degeneration can be countered by Inner Vitality or lifesteal. Black King Bar is gotten in almost every single game, unless your opposing team is seriously messed up and don't have any nukers at all. This item will allow you to be a semi-carry hero.

I often don't bother completing my Bracers mainly because it delays my other items, which is more important. I do start off with 2~3 gauntelet, but sell them whenever I need to (i.e. Sell a gauntelet to buy a Town Scroll to gank a hero, when I am sure to kill).

Alternate/Luxury Item Build

Phase Boots provides movement speed as well as armor and damage. However, the main reason to get this item is because of Phase. The active ability will allow easier orb-walking because Huskar can go through creeps and gain extra-movement speeed (total of 407). Boots of Travel isn't such a great item anymore mainly because Town Portal Scrolls can be bought from the side-shops easily.

Heart should really be the next item for Huskar after the Core Build. If you manage to rush it after your Core Build, then Huskar will be able to semi-carry and tank (see my replay when I solo push and kill everyone with silver health). Hood of Defiance allows you to be more tanky as well as provide you with +8 health regeneraion per second. This item also reduces the backfire damage from Life Break. I highly recommend this if you will be tanking many nukes. Satanic is for higher lifesteal towards late game where you won't have to dominate creeps for kills since there will be more team battles. Assault Cuirass is for the armor bonus and negation and the nice attack speed bonus. Very useful for tanking damage and supporing allies with the aura. Usually, Huskar won't need any damage item since his main damage will come from Armlet and Berserker's Blood, but if you are just overflowing with cash, then Buriza should be the damage item you should go for. I recommend this because Crystalys is cheaper than Monkey King Bar, and it can be more useful than individual parts of Monkey King Bar.

Once again, I do not like to post an item build. Even I play with different item build pretty much every game, so please do not argue with me about the item builds. I don't really mind what you get, as long as you get Armlet and/or Helm of the Dominator.


4. Burning Spear and Helm of the Dominator

Let me be clear just incase you don't know. Lifesteal orb and Burning Spear orb do not stack, but you can still orb-walk the Burning Spear!

I have been frequently questioned about maxing Burning Spear when I suggest Helm of the Dominator as core items. Here is the reason why.

When Burning Spear level 1 hits a target 5 times, the additional damage will be 180 damage. However, at level 4, the additional damage is 360. The basic math craft is: 5 x [Burn damage (6, 8, 10, 12)] x 6 (time).
This is excluding the magic reduction and natural/item regeneration. For example, if you hit a target once who has Ring of Health, you will only do 4 additional damage per second or so. However, if you hit the same target twice, you will be able to do around 11 damage per second. And so on. What I'm saying is, 180 (125 for say with magic reduction and natural/item regeneration) is caused by level 1 Burning Spear. However, level 4 Burning Spear will deal around 315 damage when the target is hit 5 times minimum.

Since my item build suggests Helm of the Dominator, you will have a pretty decent disable. Go with troll as ensnare is the easiest disable as it locks the target down for 2.5 seconds and this skill is targeted. Not to mention your own disable: Life Break. Hitting your opponent with Burning Spear constantly until the hero dies is fairly easy. In addition, even if the hero gets away with 200 or so life, the maxed Burning Spear will most likely kill the hero.

Honestly, I rarely find that I have to retreat before actually killing the hero by damage over time, since my enemy just decides to fight me despite the burn damage, meaning that the burn damage can stack easily. Even if my enemy starts to run, I can easily disable them as long as they're not super fast or goes invisible. Who knows, maybe the approximate 209 damage difference caused by maxing Burning Spear can actually get you a kill if your enemy does decide to go invisible or super fast at 200 life. Happened many times in my life!

Now about orb-walking with the Helm of the Dominator in your inventory; first of all, put Burning Spear on auto-cast, then simply orb-walk like you would normally (using the hot key "R"). Instead of lifesteal, you will be able to burn your target. This way, you can still orb-walk easily even with a second orb effect.

5. Skills Strategy

There are so many ways to use Huskar's skills to their max potential. Here are some combination of skills that I'd like to point out. These are just basic skill strategies.

Dominate Disables
Make sure that you dominate neutral creeps with disables. Huskar's only disable is his ultimate, so the dominated creeps are really beneficial for Huskar. Here are some neutral creeps and their abilities.

Centaur - Stun and Endurance Aura. Also can tank damage.
Furblog - Slow which gives 150 damage. Useful in early game. Also can tank damage.
Dark Troll - Ensnare and ability to raise skeleton armies.
Ghost - Frost attack. Very useful throughout entire game
Hellcaster - Very low life, but has purge. Get this guy against self-buffers or summoners.
Alpha Wolf - Not really a disable, but the command aura is nice.

Creep Stacking
You can stack creeps using your dominated creep. The neutral creep spawns per minute as long as there are no corpse, units or anything revealing the area of spawn. Do this by hitting the creeps at approximately X:53 and just running away from the camp. I usually do this on Ancient Creeps near Roshan as you can load up +1000 gold after few stacks. However, do realize that it will be difficult for Huskar to actually kill the Ancient Creep Stack during mid-game. Only do this if you have Double Damage rune, 3 Bracers, Armlet and Helm of the Dominator with a new dominated creep such as Centaur. Otherwise just allow your carry to farm if they can. Your allies will love you.

Burn
Harass your enemies using Burning Spear. Either manually cast it or auto-cast it. Try not to auto-cast it during early game as it attracts creeps. Note that once you get lifesteal, or any other orb effect, Burning Spear can only take effect if you auto-cast it. Like I mentioned above, however, you can still orb-walk with Burning Spear once you option Helm of the Dominator by simply leaving it on auto-cast and orb-walking normally.



Notice how Afterburn (Huskar) used Burning Spear to attack his enemy Balanar. After Balanar got some hits, he was able to shake off Afterburn, but the damage over time from the Burning Spear granted Afterburn a kill! This is why I said Huskar loses too much harassing capability without his Burning Spear.

Burn and Blood
As you get damaged, your attack speed and damage will increase. Use it to your advantage! Harass your enemies and let them attack you. Never be afraid to let your blood spill.

Break, Blood and Burn
If you cast your ulti, you will lose life. This will give you bonus in attack speed and lifesteal. Also, the ultimate will provide you with a slow, so auto-cast your Burning Spear and harass them as much as possible.



Afterburn (Huskar) casts Life Break on Lanaya then casts Burning Spear to damage her. With the slow and the damage, along with backfire, Afterburn was able to get a kill because of the burn damage and the increased damage from Berserker's Blood.

Heal/Double Heal
You can either cast your Inner Vitality or just lifesteal. Inner Vitality is Huskar's healing skill which requires mana. The heal is based on the primary stats, so the higher the primary stats, the better the heal. This should be casted on ally tanks or carries, or self for extra safety in team battles. If you want to regenerate really fast, cast Inner Vitality and lifesteal. Don't forget that the regeneration rate will increase when the target's health is below 40% health. In Huskar's case, when he is below 40%, his Berserker's Blood will be at max, so you will regenerate really really fast. Trust me.

In one-on-one combat, try to use this when you reach 40% of health, because if you cast it in the beginning, the enemy realizes your regeneration rate is high, so s/he might just run away. In addition, fighting without Inner Vitality in the beginning in 1 on 1 and dropping your health by 40% means that your opponent will think that he can own you as you only hav such few healths. Furthermore, if more enemies come after a 1 on 1 battle, the faster regen can keep you alive and you can either bait for your allies more safely, or just run away until the target gave up on you or whatever. Sometimes though, it is advisable to cast it in the beginning. I never found any reason to, so I rarely casted it in the beginning of a 1 on 1 fight. Don't forget, if Armlet is on, you will have higher regeneration as Unholy Strength provides +25 strenght!

Golden Rule: Armlet of Mordiggian
This item will provide you +65 damage, +25% attack speed, +25 str, +475hp when activited. When deactivated, it will provide +9 damage, +15% attack speed, +5 armor, +3hp/sec. Always turn this on when you are fighting heroes. Also, this is a great Art of Mindgame tool. Use the 475hp to your advantage. When an enemy with low life is chasing you, use it and kill him! Furthermore, when running away, you can use this to get life boost and run like mad! Again, turn it on in a battle! Always turn it on!

Life Break
This is Huskar's ultimate which will eat away 40% of your enemy's current health. Thus, Huskar cannot kill using this skill as a nuke. This skill provides 50% slow for 5 seconds, which is great as Huskar can harass the enemy while he is slowed. Use it on tank or carries as they are number one priority in team battles. Golden rule is that when you are about to die, you either cast it on green hp hero, or cast it on any hero around you who will not die in next 2 seconds so that your ally/ies can pawn him.

6. Combat Strategy

A good player needs to know the abilities of every heroes in DotA. Also, a good player has good map awareness and know which allies are near you and which enemy heroes are missing. Most importantly, you must have experience. Here are some other imporatant facts which you must drill into your minds when playing Huskar.

Health Management
Always manage your life. Although Huskar is stronger when his life is low, this is only up to 58% of health. Even this might still be dangerous against nukers. Managing your health is as important as farming! Managing your health also means that you determine whether you are still good for one more fight, or whther you should return. Always try to bait for your allies. Don't be a fool though! Manage your health!

Trading Hits
I see so many Huskar players run away when they have low health and are beinga attacked by enemies. That is no way to play Huskar. Never be afraid to trade hits with your enemy when the opportunity arises. Your stack damage from Burning Spear is very signifcant. Enemies will, in most cases, underestimate the burn damage and the Berserker's Blood. The lower your life, the stronger you get. Use it to your advantage. There is no reason why Huskar should be afraid of getting hits! However, be reasonable and manage your health.



In this image, notice how Afterburn (Huskar) has critical health, but still approaches enemy Lich who has Frost Armour and half health. Afterburn stood ground and fought, and the outcome was that Afterburn was richer in experience and gold, while Lich died.

Studying Your Enemy
Know your enemy, his skills and his items. Also watch the way your enemy plays. Does your opponent last hit/deny very well? Does he know when to retreat when you go up to him? Determine the level of his skills. You need to empathize and predict your opponent's movements. Always, constantly check his health, mana and items!

Aptitude, Assurance and Aggression
The three mental A's you need to have. Aptitude. Be smart, and play smart. Know wheter you can fight your opponent. Predict your opponent's move. Assurance. Be confident. Never be a chicken and back away when you can just stand your ground and still make it out a live by the last hit from Burning Spear. Aggression. Be aggressive. Never hesitate to harass when the opportunity arises.

Chasing Your Opponent
If you don't have any disables, try to cancel your animation. If you don't have lifesteal, this is much easier. Just manually cast your Burning Spear on your enemy and click where he will run to directly after Huskar attacks. If you must auto-cast, then as soon as Huskar attacks, click next to the hero or the hero again.

Animation Canceling/Orb Walking
Well the general idea is that when your hero casts a spell, the animation takes place. Once the effect of the spell has occured, there is some delay time from casting, such as backswing. This signifcantly wastes time when chasing or running away. In order to cancel the animation, you must issue another command such as moving or attacking. By doing so, the new command will cancel the delay and perform the new issued command. Orb walking is manually casting your spell that can be auto-casted to not attract creep aggravation.

For Huskar, since he only has an average movement speed, you should cancel the Burning Spear animation. Simply, after Huskar casts his spear, click on the designated location where your opponent will go to. Once he starts moving, click on your target again to cast another Buring Spear. He also has a small delay time after casting Inner Vitality/Life Break/Unholy Strength (from Armlet) and this might change his target. Make sure you click on your target after activting your skills.

Creep Advantage
Usually the case is, if your life is lower than your enemy's, he will get greedy and chase you, regardless of your creeps attacking your enemy. Just try to let him attack you until your creeps arrive. When the creeps arrive, cast Inner Vitality if you have, Life Break your opponent and keep attacking the hero with your creeps using lifesteal. In most cases, you will live and receive +200 gold or so. Don't forget the 3 A's!

Regeneration
Don't forget, Huskar has excellent regeneration. Not only from Inner Vitality but also from lifesteal. Use it properly as stated in the Combo section above.

This post has been edited by Eozm: Feb 10 2009, 02:50 PM

[Eozm]

7. Laning

Huskar is an overall a pretty balanced hero. I believe that he is capable of any lane situation as long as you play correctly. Huskar's main role is harasser and farmer. Huskar does need to farm a bit for his items, such as Armlet of Mordiggian and Helm of the Dominator, etc. Honestly, there are just too many combinations of lane partner/enemy(ies) you can encounter. I can't really cover much on laning. However, whatever the case is, always last hit/deny creeps. Here is the general concept.

1 on 1
This is probably the easiest. Just harass your opponents by manually casting Burning Spear so that you do not attract creeps. You will be able to dominate your lane if your enemy is a melee hero. You might also be out harassed if your enemy is a nuker or long ranged harasser such as Silencer, Enchantress, Leshrac, etc.

1 on 2
This might be tough or it could be really easy. If the lane is double nuker and double stunner, either ask for lane switch or lane partner as you will be out harassed. If the enemies are both melees, it will be much easier as you can just harass both. I cannot really cover much detail on this as there are too many combinations of heroes. Just basically play safe, smart and know when to harass. Watch your opponents and determine whether they have good cooperation or not. If they are very uncoordinated, the case usually is that you will be able to dominate your lane.

2 on 2 or 2 on 1
This is like 1 on 1 lane except you have an ally. Again, watch your opponents' cooperation. Try to go for a kill if your ally is a disabler. Coordinate properly with your ally and try to go for a kill!



Afterburn (Huskar) was harassing Lanaya at level 1 using Burning Spear. She was forced to stay away from the creeps, making her unable to farm. This is why Huskar's Burn is such a great skill early game to establish lane control.

8. Farming

Basically, there are three ways Huskar can farm.

Creep Killing
The general concept is that Huskar can farm better with lower life as Berserker's Blood will increase his attack speed and damage, giving him better ability to farm. Huskar's attack animation is nice and his base attack time is quite low as well. Make sure you can dominate your lane so that you can farm more easily.

Hero Killing
Hero killing isn't really considered "farming" but I just included it here as killing heroes give you gold. Try to kill heroes as much as possible to get money for your items. But always work within limits! Don't go killstealing without permission!

Neutral Creep Killing
I only do this when dominating creeps and killing the creeps that I have attracted or just simply getting my life back. However, if you decide to go jungling, then this will be your main early game farming method. See below to learn how to Jungle with Huskar.

9. Jungling

With the permission and help from Sonicspear and Xenterex, I have included a Jungling Section. I personally don't do this, but if you really enjoy jungling, then go ahead. This requires a different Skill Build though, but still follows the Item Build recommended.

Assuming that your ally buys a chicken for the team, buy 3 Circlets of Nobility in the start. Creep pull the camp at x:45 and x:15. If you have any spare time, you can either kill the easy camp, or attack the hard camp. Sonicspear advises that you go for the easy camp unti level 3. In 15 minutes, you should be able to have 4 Bracers and Boots of Speed. Also, because of Huskar's Berserker's Blood, he is capable of taking the hard camps from lower level.

Here is the recommended Skill Build for Jungling Huskar.

Level 01 | Berserker's Blood
Level 02 | Inner Vitality
Level 03 | Berserker's Blood
Level 04 | Inner Vitality
Level 05 | Berserker's Blood
Level 06 | Life Break/Inner Vitality
Level 07 | Berserker's Blood
Level 08 | Inner Vitality

And so on. Raise Burning Spear when you decide to start ganking heroes. Sonicspear and I both agree that with this, you should follow the recommended Item Build suggested, which includes Helm of the Dominator as lifesteal is needed.

Here is a replay to help you by Sonicspear.  Sonicspear_Huskar_Jungle.w3g ( 67.67k ) Number of downloads: 3124

This is a replay by Xenterex, with normal mode.  Huskar_Xenterex1.w3g ( 76.3k ) Number of downloads: 1307



10. Ganking

Huskar is capable of solo ganking hero from level 1 due to his stackable orb-skill which. However, I suggest you farm your items up first before you go for hero kills. Also, use domination to your advantage. I see so many people in pubs get Helm of the Dominator and never dominate creeps. Disables are your friends! Huskar doesn't have disables until level 6 or whenever you decide to get Life Steal.

Determining the Role
Huskar can have many different roles depending on his item build. He can either be a tank, a carry, a ganker, a supporter, or everything! This might depend on your allies and enemies. Just know which role you are going to be and adjust to that.

Before Ganks
Know your hero and know your enemy. Check his items, levels, skills he raised, health, mana. Those are the must. Also, see which hero is up against you. If he is a nuker, just play with aptitude. It's always great to have allies such as dominated creep or actual ally!

During Ganks
As I have stated previously in the Combos and Combat Strategy sections, just trade hits and be smart. Predict your opponents movements. Heal yourself if you need to. Know which orb you want to use. Aptitude, assurance and aggression are the mental keys to your victory. Don't forget, stupidity is not aptitude!

After Ganks
If there are enemy heroes missing, then either go back to the fountain if you have critical life or go near your ally for safety and/or Double Heal yourself. Mostly, the enemy heroes are coming to get you with greed. Now if it is one hero that is gone, and you know you can fight again, then do so. Enemy heroes will underestimate Huskar's regeneration and will regret it.

11. Team Battles

Team Battles occur during big pushes, usually in the middle lane. Here are some helpful tips.

Determining the Role
Just like above. Huskar can have many different roles depending on his item build. He can either be a tank, a carry, a ganker, a supporter, or everything! This might depend on your allies and enemies. Just know which role you are going to be and adjust to that.

Before Team Battles
Know the roles of the enemies. Decide which hero to take out first. Just like ganking, know your opponents' items, skills, health, mana, levels, etc. These are crucial as knowing these can affect your battle significantly. If there is tank or carry, know when to cast Inner Vitality before engaging. If this is unnecessary, save it for later.

During Team Battles
You will mainly use Life Break during this stage in order to take out either the carry or the tank. Most of the time, the carry will have BKB on, so either save it until it finishes or cast it on a different hero. Make sure that you take out the pesky carriers before you shift focus on anyone else. Don't forget aptitutde, assurance and aggression!

After Team Battles
Heal your allies and heal yourself by lifestealing. Keep pushing and know when to return. If all enemies are alive and most of your enemies have regenerated, then stay. The cooldown time also affects them as much as they affect your teammates'. It is advisable that you push as much as possible before retreating.

12. Replays

The English spoken is quite different as I played in Singaporean Server (I'm Korean).

The replay might not showcase my strategy, as I have hard time playing good games.

Beyond Godlike Turnaround Huskar
Here is a 1.22 patch replay. I didn't follow my exact Item Build (since I got Power Treads and rushed Heart after my Armlet and Helm) and I kept on dying early game. It was more or less an equal-sided game.


13. Conclusion

To me, Huskar is a very fun hero to play with. He isn't your typical strength hero, nor is he your typical troll. He is the only troll with self confidence issues. If you wish to play well, you need good teammates who has great general knowledge of the game and knows what they are doing.

The main reason why I have changed my guide was because I wanted my Huskar guide to be focused more on the strategy. Many people tend to have this thing with not reading the "strategy" section of many guides as they are very dull and boring and doesn't outline specific strategies. I hope that my guide helped you. However, if you disagree with my playstyle, then that's fine with me. Don't forget, this is my strategy. I strongly encourage you to try your own strategies and create different ways of playing this great hero.

I'm not sure if this quote exists in the world. Someone else probably said it, but this is why I thought of while writing this new guide. Practice makes Permanent. Keep practicing, but you'll never be perfect, which is why you will practice forever. However, the skills you have obtained through your effort will be permanent. All you need to do is drill in the concepts in your mind and practice! I hope you enjoyed reading my text-heavy, image-less guide and still learned something out of it. Comments and feedbacks please! Thank you!


14. Change Log

5/25/2008 - Guide finished.
5/27/2008 - Edited Item Justification part along with the In-Depth Skill and Item Strategy, Inner Vitality part.
5/30/2008 - Edited In-Depth Skill section and added new replay!
5/31/2008 - Rewrote entire guide to shift focus on strategies more than anything else.
6/01/2008 - Changed text colors and re-formatted table of contents. Erased Enemies section.
6/02/2008 - Added Jungling section.
6/05/2008 - Added Burning Spear and Helm of the Dominator section.
6/07/2008 - Edited Laning section. Added Animation Canceling in Combat Strategy. Edited Conclusion.
6/18/2008 - Edited Animation Canceling/Orb Walking section in Combat Strategy section.
6/24/2008 - Added screen shots with permission from Afterburn.
7/06/2008 - Due to popular demand, added my Item Build.
7/26/2008 - Added a 1.22 replay that was played by ha107642. Many thanks to him.
8/24/2008 - Added Creep Stacking in Skill Strategy section. Edited Item Build.
10/01/2008 - Major grammatical edit. Hid most of the information. Added link to items.
10/14/2008 - Added Phase Boots to Alternate/Luxury Item Build.
11/25/2008 - Added extra information about orb-walking Burning Spear.
12/23/2008 - Added Hood of Defiance to Alternate/Luxury Item Build.
1/11/2009 - Added Heart to Alternate/Luxury Item Build.
2/09/2009 - Altered Skill Build and added a replay of my own.
2/11/2009 - Altered Item Build.

15. Credits
All my friends for disliking Huskar which made me use him lol.
Kalorful for writing Complete Idiot's Guide to Sacred Warrior.
Afterburn for writing Afterburn's Guide to Huskar, the Sacred Warrior.
Afterburn, again, for providing me with screen shots.
Sonicspear and Xenterex for providing the Jungling section.
Draajen for telling me that Huskar can still orb-walk the Burning Spear even with Helm of the Dominator.
OneLastGoodbye for arguing that Heart is a must on Huskar.
OneLastGoodbye, again, for allowing me to trial a different, yet much better skill build.
Gotank for the first actual in-depth criticism.
Jtyh for moving the guide to appropriate location and adding my guide to Complete List of Strategy Guides.
Dota Allstars Wiki Team for writing the Wiki pages that I have used.
All the people who read this guide and commented on it.

This post has been edited by Eozm: Feb 10 2009, 02:53 PM

[InstantRamen]

Most people get 1L of inner vit early, which i find a bit useless; 3 sets of tangos like you said is a better idea IMO. Good start to guide, great builds.

[Jtyh]

Yes, its correct to report your guide if its completed. Moving to Sentinel Guides from Sandbox.

[protoplm]

Try using HotD to dominate a ghost, Huskar plus that slow is really scary.

Huskar reminds me of ursa the way you can come out of the jungle and solo gank people too.

[Bookston]

The difference between one hit of level 2 BS and level 1 BS is 12 damage, and the difference between one hit of level 2 BB and level 1 BB is 14 damage. True, there is a bigger difference with BB, but that's only under optimal conditions at 58%, which will not be all the time, given that you have natural regen, you start at full life, and you have 6 tangoes which you will use in your build. So I guess what I'm saying is, isn't it more beneficial to max BS first?

I make this distinction because level three is usually a good opportunity for first blood for a lot of characters, so it is kind of an important point in early game laning.

[Eozm]

@protoplm
Forgot about her. I will add that to the guide. Thank you.

@Bookston
I guess your justification for maxing BS is valid. However, BB should be taken at lvl 3, because as you said, it is a good opportunity to do a first blood. However, it isn't always the case that your enemy will run away from you. If they happen to fight back, Huskar's life will deplete to 58% or so, thus raising your damage. If the enemy is just running away from you, and you can catch up, you will have to tower dive, losing your life. Also, during lvl 1~2, you will be harassing your enemy, thus bringing your life down. lvl 2 BB will help you more in farming than harassing your enemy. IMO, the small increase in damage and attackspeed > extra damage from BS. I guess either way is fine and it depends on the preference of the player, but BB should definitely be maxed out first because by level 7, players will be trying to kill (since they have their ultis available now), thus BB > BS at lvl 7.

This post has been edited by eozm: May 26 2008, 02:56 AM

[Leeroy_Jesus]

In your core justification, you should'nt say how much better BoT is than P treads, because Huskar Lacks Disables. And cant catch heros.

His Ult is well enough to catch heros, it slows them 50%, and with the treads and armlet, you get godly attack and speed (treads +6 damage).
I think that should be changed, other than that the guide is great

=D

This post has been edited by Leeroy_Jesus: May 26 2008, 07:13 PM

[sciron37]

Wow very interesting guide! Huskar's my fav hero! Only thing is whenever I play huskar if I have money for luxury items I prefer MKB over the other damage items only because it gives that extra 15% AS. I think a buriza or even Just a crystalis would compiment MKB very well.

I also kind of disagree, probably only due to preference, in how you use Inner Vitality in a 1v1. Since you have to completely stop attacking to cast this, I prefer to actually cast it on myself first Then rush in to gank. Even if he has creeps there helping him, you're so much harder to kill when your life is regenerating the whole time. I mean come on, 16 seconds of healing is a Really Really long time when you're in a 1v1, so why not spend the first second to cast before rushing in instead of wasting it when you're at 40% health when you could of threw an extra arrow. At the end of the 1v1 it could be a matter of 15hp and every arrow at every second counts. But hey, its just the way I play him.

This post has been edited by sciron37: May 27 2008, 01:05 AM

[Anderkent]

Interesting, and should work.

My personal preference is to only get one level of BS at lev 1 and score the firstblood (cmon, if you manage to lay 6 hits while orb-walking on some agi/int hero, its an easy kill). Then i max BB together with IV.
For items, a rushed radiance works very well on him. If you can get your relic around 20-25 minute, go for it! It will improve your farming by significant bit and gives you that scary immolation animation Satanic would be my next item then.

But i guess its all good, huskar is pretty versatile when it comes to items.

[Eozm]

Thank you all for the constructive comments!

@Leeroy_Jesus
I guess your right. I was thinking of times when the ulti was on cooldown so I had to chase the enemy with treads and I really wished that I had Bot to catch up. In any case, thank you for pointing that out, I will remove that justification, but I still think that BoT > treads for other reasons ^^. Thank you.

@sciron37
Well through my experience, if I use IV during the start of the fight, the enemy hero just runs away from me (which sux). Also, in an occasion of 1 vs 1, the enemy could be calling for allies. If you cast it at 40% health, and successfuly kill your opponent, the rest of the regen is for your extra safety in case the enemy's hero engages you too. Otherwise, do cast if you are sure that enemy heroes aren't gonna come help (i.e. you're doing 1 on 1 with someone). Also, the reason why I get IV later is for the benefit of BB. If you really need health during fight, turn BS off, and just simply lifesteal or something. That is just my opinion anyway. I don't always use it at 40% health TBH lol. I'll add more details to that. Thanks. Btw, the reason why i get crystalys is for the critical which helps me in terms of lifestealing, but MKB works too. I will add that too (forgot about it coz i nvr really get it).

@Anderkent
I guess my build is different from yours I personally believe that BS is great the whole game (and im not planning to change my mind on that). I believe that there are better radiance carriers than Huskar. Huskar should focus more on the single damage than pushing/farming from immolation. That is my opinion. Thank you for commenting.

This post has been edited by eozm: May 27 2008, 05:32 AM

[Afterburn]

I see your guide made it to the correct forum. Nice work. Sorry I wasn't able to reply to your PM earlier, I've been really busy lately.

Regardless, your guide looks great. Format is decent, and I like the colored text (r,g, and b are my favs). Text-wise, its easy to read, but you should try to break those big paragraphs into smaller sections to make it less intimidating.

For efficiency, I only have a few comments.

Since you're using Lifesteal, would you recommend other orb effects? Deso is also a good orb (tried it before since we were losing. we won.) if you decide to go all out offensive. Skadi (though unrealistically expensive) is also good since it stacks with Lifesteal.

Your skill build suggests maxing Berserker's before Spear. Even though the damage bonus is great at level 7, would you really want to expose yourself at 58% (other than post-Lifebreak situations), or level Burning Spear more so you can harass at range?

Huskar is actually a good Rad carrier IMO. Since Radiance carriers are usually focused, Huskar would benefit from BB more. Radiance can be a possible item on him right after the core build.


Thats all the comments/questions I have. Your guide is great, I'd give it a T-up if you had a binary poll.

[kalorful]

Since Afterburn's guide is about burning spears,
My guide is about lifesteal,

Why don't you focus your guide around Armlet Deso? It sounds like it works great, and no one has tested it in detail yet. This is a chance to differentiate your Huskar guide from the other guides on DA!

[Eozm]

Thank you both Kalorful and Afterburn for poisting on my guide.

@Kalorful
Well I tried to focus my build on:
1. Being able to maximize the potential of HotD (not just for lifesteal, but also for the creeps and getting reliable disables for Huskar)

2. Being able to maximize the potential of BS as it is great all around.

3. Be able to stay in battles longer with survivability and switch game play mode and use BS to harass when Huskar gets enough life.

Anyhow, I guess deso is okay, but IMO, it doesn't provide much survivability, in fact, none! (unless you count killing ur opponent before he kills you as survivability). I tested the deso method, and I ended up with score of 2-11-16 (well ppl kept on getting my kills..but I did assist a lot). With this build, I got targetted too much and BKB became my "core" after armlet, boots and 2 bracers. Inner Vitality wasn't enough to keep my health up and I didn't have any chance to buy a heart (had no money since I was targetted too often and my allies were being gay). I am still considering to change my guide only if you decide to add in a section in the idiot's guide about how to maximize the potential of HotD.

@Afterburn
Thank you for the constructive comments on how I should lay out my guide. In any case, about orb effects:

1. Desolator - probably most effective for Huskar as it gives good damage and the corruption damage

2. Skadi - Although the slow is nice and stacks with lifesteal, it is just plainly too expensive and the intel bonus becomes a huge waste. For the price, I'd get SnY (gives MS, IAS, and maim)

I max out BB first because usually, by the time I'm lvl 7, I have HotD meaning that I cannot auto-cast BS anymore. Also, with HotD, I go for kills not harasses. Most of the time enemy responds with attacks, damaging me and BB will benefit from that more for me.

Thinking about it now, radiance is good on Huskar. I only got MKB or Buriza - single target damage items so that I can kill more easily so that I wouldn't have to chase them, but I guess I was wrong. sorry @ Anderkent.

[Afterburn]

You take advice very well, eozm. You also give very good arguments which defend your guide, all-the-more it's unique build, just like kalorful.

Now that Huskar has gone through some games, people tend to try different things. Your guide and kalorful's are examples of well-thought ingenuity. Congrats.


Also, I'd like to note that I think that you did not have to apologize to Anderkent. As polite as it seems, there's really no need to apologize since there was barely any flames in any of the posts here, lol.

[UTDC.Justin]

Since you are getting Helm of the Dominator, don't forget to add the Dark Troll which is probably the best option with ensnare, a ranged net that lets you stack on the spears and ultimate no problem. More trolls = more power!

Also if possible include a section of Hood of Defiance because there are a number of players who get it.

Otherwise a fine guide, keep adding to it.

[Eozm]

@Afterburn
Thank you for the compliments! I'm not really sure if Kalorful and my guide is different, but ok.

@Justin Kong
Thank you for the trolls. I forgot about them. Also, I will add the *optional* item section

[IAmTheSp00n]

Has all the basic information =) So it's a good guide. Doesn't have much above Complete Idiot's guide I am afraid, though.

[Eozm]

@spoony123
Thank you for your comments. I do not understand the comment regarding Complete Idiot's Guide to Sacred Warrior. Anyway...


@ All readers of this guide
Due to the inconvenient truth that my guide is too similar to both Afterburn and kalorful, I will be re-writing my entire guide. Please post your comments. TBH, i just clicked back and erased all my new work that I took 3 hours to do. !@#$

Anyway, my new guide will consist more of the "strategy" than the item build.

The Table of Contents (which is the only thing I was able to copy before my page went back):

A. Introduction
B. Skill Build
C. Item Build
D. Combos
E. Strategy
F. Laning
G. Farming
H. Ganking
I. Team Battles
J. Enemies to note
K. Replays
L. Conclusion
M. Change Log
N. Credits

Since I already wrote it up to secion E before it got erased, I believe that I will be finished with this guide in the next 48 hrs or so.

I am crazy..I have exams next week..but I'm doing this lol. Ah well..life of a high school freshman lol

This post has been edited by eozm: May 30 2008, 11:09 AM

[Human(Pro)]

skadi is a great end game item for him with lots of stats and an effect that stacts with lifesteal. getting iv early and using it WITH a tango means you can go into a highly unkillable state early in the game which is nice just incase you get tower dived. aside from that it would be better if you defined it more with a clearer stat build and a late game item, like skadi/tanic/buriz/mkb. good job.