Community Guide to Juggernaut (Safe Lane)

Introduction

Hey everyone, welcome to this community Juggernaut guide. In this guide, we'll be going over all the essential info you'll need to get started with Yurnero. This guide is aimed at lower level play or for players unfamiliar with the hero.

This guide was written with contributions from community members like you! Thank you to the following DOTAFire members for contributing to this guide:


Please feel free to leave any comments or suggestions if you have feedback on the guide. Without further ado, let's get started!

Abilities

Blade Fury - Great for dealing damage while chasing and also escaping when needed. Some attack modifiers still work while you are under the effect of this skill, such as Mjollnir, Battle Fury, Diffusal Blade, Eye of Skadi, Skull Basher and so on. Very good for farming jungle camps early, specifically stacks. Also useful for clearing waves quickly (you can teleport while clearing waves if you time it right!). Has no cast time meaning it is instant and can be used while channeling without breaking the channel, making it ideal to be used with Town Portal Scroll for a guaranteed escape unless enemies have bash or stuns that pierce spell immunity. Can deal damage to structures and Phoenix’s Supernova egg during Blade Fury, without running the risk of getting disabled. You can press 'M' (the default movement function) on the player you are chasing instead of trying to predict which way they are going to go, making it in a general way easier if you have more movement speed, which is the most common situation, however they might go into the fog, making so the command stops and you have to take manual control.

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Healing Ward - Place your Healing Ward a bit away from you, so ranged enemy heroes won’t be able to kill it easily (giving free 75 experience and gold to your enemy is not ideal) You can allow other players from your team to control your summoned units, so they can control it for you if you have trouble with micro. The ward can be spawned on places that are hard to reach, such as warding cliffs. If enemies don’t have vision of an area you’re going to place your ward on, they won’t be able to easily destroy it. The healing is percentage based and can change the tides when used in a team fight due to the area heal. Also great when pushing lanes and killing Roshan, as it'll keep your team fully healed and you won't have to retreat back to base or spend extra gold on regeneration.

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Blade Dance - Benefits from increased damage from items and its damage can be further increase by armor reduction abilities and items (e.g. Desolator). The proc chances of multiple crit sources stack. If two sources of critical strike proc at the same time, the higher multiplier has priority (e.g. Daedalus). You must be careful when placing points in Blade Dance early, as unpredictable critical hits can mess up your last hits. You can either try last hitting safer or you can not skill Blade Dance until later in the match. Increases overall attack damage by an average of 28% when maxed out.

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Omnislash - You can easily get early kills with this ultimate on isolated enemy heroes (the lower armor they have, the better! e.g. Lion, Ancient Apparition. Can be used to give your team time to join a team fight, while staying alive. Saves you a few seconds and every moment makes a difference! You can use Healing Ward and items during Omnislash, such as Mask of Madness, Abyssal Blade and Diffusal Blade. This ability can be upgraded by Aghanim's Sceptre to receive an additional ability called Swiftslash. Provides a mini- Omnislash that lasts 0.8 seconds. However, this item should be considered only if you have a considerable lead in farm as the cost is hefty.

Juggernaut is very vulnerable without Blade Fury, meaning you should skill every ability to level 1 and max out Battle Fury first. This will also be your main source of early damage and wave clear.

Every extra level will also reduce its cooldown and mana cost, meaning you’ll be able to use it more often during fights. The second ability you want to max out is Blade Dance, which will increase your damage per second and will boost your farming speed.

The last ability you’re going to max out is Healing Ward, which is great enough with 1 point early without needing more than that. Make sure to always skill your Omnislash when you can!




+5 All Stats - The bonus radius is nice, but stats are almost always going to be more worth it. Gives you a decent boost in attack speed, damage, health, basically everything you need.

+20 Attack Speed - The bonus attack speed is strong because it’s going to be increasing your damage output, plus it’s going to increase the damage you’ll deal to structures during Blade Fury (you can attack structures and Phoenix’s Supernova egg during Blade Fury)

+8 Armor - Only pick +160 Blade Fury DPS if you’re going for the maximum damage build and there aren’t heavy physical damage dealers in the enemy team. In most cases, the armor is more worth it as the game progresses. Also pick the Blade Fury radius bonus from level 10 if you're planning to go for this talent.

+475 Health - We’re again in a tough spot, as both talents we have to pick from at level 25 are great. Having more health is always good, because it means you’ll be lasting more in fights and you have more time to cast your abilities and deal damage. This bonus will also benefit from all the armor you have. However, if you don't have too much trouble getting killed or you've been very successful with your Omnislashes, feel free to go for the extra second talent.

Items

The following items will provide you with enough early regeneration to stay in lane. The Enchanted Mango is good to have because you'll always have some emergency mana to use if you're ever out and you really have to use Blade Fury or Healing Ward.

The Quelling Blade will help you secure last hits and it's also great to counter heroes such as Monkey King and Timbersaw. It can also be upgraded into Battle Fury later.

The Iron Branches can be upgraded later into Magic Wand. Nothing goes to waste!




Power Treads will help with extra mobility, stats and attack speed, everything that Juggernaut needs.

The Magic Wand will help in most situations, as it's going to be providing you with a reliable health and mana reserve. Make sure to pick it up earlier if you're against heroes that tend to spam their abilities, such as Zeus and Phantom Assassin.

Wraith Band offers a good boost to your stats and will help you survive more and farm faster during the early game.



This are a few choices that you can go for, as Juggernaut is a very versatile core hero that can be effective with multiple builds.

Both Battle Fury and Mjollnir are great for farming and for dealing against heroes that are dependent on illusions or sticking together (e.g. Phantom Lancer and Meepo.

In most cases, Battle Fury is great when you expect the match to be longer. It's also a good upgrade to Quelling Blade when you really need to have its Cut Tree effect available against heroes such as Monkey King and Nature's Prophet.

The other option is Mjollnir which enables you to fight earlier and diversifies your damage output (you'll be dealing both physical and magical damage). This is a strong option that enables you much faster thanks to Maelstrom which is way cheaper than Battle Fury. The Static Charge effect from Mjollnir also shouldn't be forgotten, as it's damage is significant during prolonged fights.

Manta Style is a strong item on Juggernaut, as it provides the ideal stats he benefits from and also his illusions are strong. They can be used for split pushing, removing negative effects such as silences and also for dodging abilities (this one is more advanced).

If you're planning to go for Manta Style, consider picking up Diffusal Blade as illusions will also benefit from the Mana Burn effect (in a reduced form).

Another viable option to boost your farming speed and damage is Mask of Madness, which can also be used during your Blade Fury to deal damage to structures faster or during your Omnislash to increase its overall damage output.

Enables you to attack enemies with evasion. The pierce effect applies both to your basic attacks and Omnislash attacks. Also grants more damage and some of it is magical which pierces Black King Bar, very useful against heroes with high armor and low health, such as Terrorblade and Luna.

Grants agility which translates into bonus attack damage and attack speed. The mana burn goes well with Omnislash since it burns the mana of everyone hit. Remember that you can use Diffusal Blade's active effect during both Blade Fury and Omnislash, use that to your advantage! Also, it's important to keep in mind that even though you won't be dealing damage to enemy heroes during Blade Fury, you can still burn their mana with this item.

Provides everything that Juggernaut needs, plus bonus status resistance that will help with dealing with enemy disables, and amplification for health regeneration and life steal, which go together wonderfully with your Healing Ward and other life steal items that you plan to get.

Gives you status resistance, more health and lifesteal, basically makes so you can tank more damage and trade much better. It might seem redundant because of Healing Ward, but this is much more constant since Healing Ward can be easily removed from a fight. Works well with Sange and Yasha since it increases the status resistance and healing even more.

Keeps Juggernaut alive and immune to most disables. Get this only when you're struggling against teams that have multiple disables and heavy magical damage. Not worth getting against heroes that have abilities that pierce spell immunity such as Bane's Fiend Grip or Beastmaster's Primal Roar.

Increases your durability while giving you a passive chance to stun your enemies and an active one that does the same but with a short blink effect. Makes you a real threat and most of the times you'll use Abyssal Blade it'll result in a kill.

Strong item choice that offers a high boost in stats, health and mana. Grants the Cold Attack effect that slows the enemies you hit, reducing their speed and their healing. Great against lifesteal and heroes that depend on high regeneration (e.g. Alchemist.

Bonus stats and damages, why not. The main advantage of this item is its ability to apply Break when coming out of invisibility. This effect will be very effective against heroes that rely on passive abilities, such as Bristleback, Mars and Phantom Assassin.

Significant damage boost and situational active ability. You can use Nullify to dispel enemies annoying effects such as Ghost Shroud and Ghost Scepter. The bonus armor and slow effect are also neat to have!

Greatly boosts your damage output and grants you evasion. Very effective againsth heroes that deal damage through their basic attacks, but be aware if they're buildingitems that counter evasion, such as Monkey King Bar.

A very costly item that grants you a decent amount of stats and some bonus health and mana. Only pick this up if the game is going well, you don't need any other items more urgently and if your Omnislashes have been having a significant impact so far.

In case you could use some extra armor and attack speed, this is the best choice. The bonuses are strong and the aura is also very useful to have for your team, as it boosts their physical resistance while reducing it for the enemies. Keep in mind that it also reduces the armor of structures, meaning you'll be able to push more effectively. Only buy this item if nobody else in your team is getting it!

This is always on the table! In case enemies just cannot kill you at all, Divine Rapier might be the best choice to plant the last nail in the coffin. Also a high risk high reward choice in clutch situations (e.g. when you're against mega creeps).

Bonus damage and armor reduction that will further boost your damage output. Great against heavily armored targets such as Dragon Knight and Terrorblade.

Gameplay

Main points to keep in mind:

• Get as many last hits as you can and don't die. The more you stay alive, the more passive gold you'll be able to gain and that way you also won't be giving any gold and experience to the enemy team.
  
  
• Check who's your support. Do they have a slow or a stun? Communicate and play together, one extra ability in combination with your Blade Fury can result in a kill most of the time in the early game. (e.g. Lich's Frost Shield or Shadow Shaman's Shackles.
  
  
• Use your regeneration efficiently. Don't overlap Tangoes, don't get your Healing Salve's cancelled and buy more regeneration if you need it! It's better to spend some gold rather than wasting your time going back to base, losing so much experience and farm in that time.

Main points to keep in mind:

• You can safely push lanes with your Blade Fury and Teleport Scroll combo. However, if the enemy team has ways to disable you trough your magic immunity, it's better to do this only if you have clear vision of the enemies that can cancel your teleport. Such heroes can be anyone with Skull Basher or Abyssal Blade, Bane, Beastmaster, etc.
  
  
• Use your Healing Ward to farm the jungle and heal your teammates while pushing towers and taking Roshan. Being full health is a huge advantage and your ward can save fights. Don't be greedy and always make good use of it, with saving enough mana for other abilities, of course!
  
  
• You're going to feel strong and confident and that you can kill anyone by yourself. Make sure not to overextend and to play together with your team when needed, no matter how strong you feel. It will be 10 times harder for the enemy team to deal with you if you have 4 teammates behind to help you with their own abilities and damage. It's a team game!

Conclusion

Thank you for reading this Community guide to Juggernaut! If you'd like to contribute to this guide, please leave me a comment in the Discussion tab with your feedback or send me a Private Message if you'd like to contribute regularly to guides like this. Everyone who contributes to one of these Community Guides will be credited in the guide.

If you liked the guide, don't forget to vote and leave me a comment with your thoughts! If you have any suggestions, criticism or other feedback, comments of all sorts are appreciated. Good luck in your Juggernaut games!