Ursa: Is Vlad's still the best option?

Recently Ursa got buffed when they made Fury Swipes no longer a Unique Attack Modifier. Until then, it was always core on him to build Vlad's as soon as you could to take Roshan.

However, now that we can use UAMs on him, is Satanic the better option for lifesteal?

Helm of the Dominator is cheaper than Vlad's, but doesn't give an aura to your team. That being said, Ursa is pretty much a lone wolf for much of the early game. You don't get any mana regen, but you do get some damage, armor, and hp regen.

Ursa's ultimate gives bonus damage depending on how much hp you have. Since HotD builds into Satanic, which gives a big chunk of STR, it seems like the natural choice. It also frees up a slot in your items for something else since you don't have to build Heart. Late game, you can basically heal up from 10% to 100% with one cast of overpower and Satanic's active. It's almost like having Cheese with a cooldown.

Still, even quite a while after the update, I see people rushing Vlad's unquestioningly. It's also still listed as core in the valve guide, which is probably why it's always built. Anyway, what do you guys think?

Maybe, maybe not. I have a friend that started experimenting with Ursa, doing some crazy Lifestealer-ish build : Phase Drums (BKB - Ursa needs it) and Desolator. It worked out pretty well, so he says. I can't give you any links however, his profile is not shared on dotabuff.


He also tried out armlet on Ursa, but that was with Vlad's. It's surprisingly good, the extra HP pool and STR it gives is really good with Enrage.

Armlet kind of seems like a natural fit on Ursa if you think about it. I've been building Satanic on him lately, rushing HotD as you would Vlad's, and it works really well. Desolator is also probably great, considering how fast you can attack towers. Plus it causes fury swipes to hurt even more.

I think Vlad's still has a place on the team, if you have lots of melee I guess, but when you go Satanic you don't have to take heart, and have room for another damage or attack speed item. Makes him a lot better imo.

I don't really see the point. Lifesteal on Ursa is ~80% about Rosh, and I'd much rather leave it as a basic mask and speed up the blink+BKB. From there you have two options imo:

1) Keep to the standard-ish build. It was a combination of heart/sheep/basher/abyssal, but you can now go satanic over heart and save an inventory slot.

2) Ditch the lifesteal and pick up a different orb. Deso/shiva both work well, diffusal situationally. I see a decent amount of mjol but I'm not really a fan.

For me there's absolutely no reason to make Vlads on Ursa anymore. Delays your blink and...does nothing.

Morbid Mask + Orb of Venom anyday, into straight blink.

Vlads has always been a support item. From a "selfish" point of view this item is garbage, you only make it because it's good for the rest of your team. So it's highly situational and depends on the other heroes in your team. Eye of Skadi/ Satanic is generally the way to go on Ursa now. Who makes heart on Ursa when you have Skadi? ;)

I would say yes but HotD would be very good too. I would say Ursa needs vlads because it gives him the armor and manaboost which he needs to snowball