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Jackal by FangzofFuzzy

4 Votes
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Jackal

By: FangzofFuzzy
Last Updated: Jul 28, 2018
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Jackal

The Herald of Death

Jackal is a hero who focuses on hit-and-run tactics, quickly moving in and out of fights. Soul Eater and Fleeting Dread embody this concept, rewarding him for constantly switching between striking targets and maneuvering the battlefield. During moments where he is less inclined to attack, Ruin and Death Grip allow him to remain a threat with dangerous control, especially when used together. Strike fast, and get out even faster. Chain them down, and watch them crumble away. With strong passives that require perfect timing and actives that require constant repositioning, the Herald of Death shows little mercy and leaves few opportunities to strike back to those who dare cross him.

Role: Carry, Disabler, Escape, Nuker, Durable

Strength: 20 + 2.0
Agility: 30 + 2.4
Intelligence: 15 + 1.2

Base Damage: 18 - 25
Base Armor: 2
Attack Range: 150
Movement Speed: 310
BAT: 1.5

Primary Abilities

Ruin
Throw his cane in a line to reduce armor and continually slow enemies hit. At the end of its path, the cane will fly back to him.

While his cane is away, Jackal is disarmed but gains move speed.

Ability: Target Point
Mana Cost: 75
Cooldown: 16, 14, 12, 10
Range: 1200
Width: 200
Debuff Duration: 5, 6, 7, 8
Base Armor Reduction: 40%
Move Slow per Second: 10%
Move Speed: 40%

Merely touching Jackal's dreaded weapon can fill one with the foreboding sense of their eventual demise.

Notes
Death Grip
Damage and tether nearby enemies to his cane. If the tether breaks, they will be stunned and teleported to the cane.

This follows the cane’s location during Ruin.

Ability: No Target
Mana Cost: 60, 70, 80, 90
Cooldown: 15
Radius: 400
Damage: Physical
Damage: 60, 90, 120, 150
Tether Duration: 4
Tether Break Distance: 600
Stun: 1.2, 1.6, 2, 2.4

Who is the true master, the one who holds the leash or the one who pulls it?

Notes
Soul Eater
His attacks apply Soul stacks on enemies for 4 seconds, refreshing with every application. When they expire, enemies take damage while Jackal gets shielded.

Ability: Passive
Damage: Physical
Damage per Stack: 20, 30, 40, 50
Shield per Stack: 20, 30, 40, 50

The cycle continues, souls leaping from one life to another.

Notes

Ultimate Abilities

Fleeting Dread
Passively gain massive attack speed and remove his move speed cap. His attacks convert 20% of the bonus into move speed for 4 seconds.

After not attacking for 4 seconds, the bonuses are reverted.

Ability: Passive
Attack Speed: 250, 375, 500

Death goes as swiftly as it comes.

Notes

Hero Talents

+25% Attack Damage per Soul Stack
25
+50 Heal per Soul Stack

Ruin Attacks Enemies
20
-5s Death Grip Cooldown

50 Damage
15
-10 Ruin Attack Slow per Second

10 Agility
10
10% Evasion

Talent NOtes

  • Right level 15 Ruin talent causes its debuff to reduce attack speed on top of the move speed every second.
  • Left level 20 Ruin talent causes Jackal to perform an instant attack on all hit enemies. Can trigger any attack modifier on all of them, including Soul Eater but excluding Fleeting Dread.
  • Left level 25 Soul Eater talent adds 25% of his attack damage when triggered per stack onto the 50 damage per stack. This includes base, attribute and raw damage bonuses.
  • Right level 25 Soul Eater talent adds 50 heal per stack when triggered onto the 50 shield per stack. The heal comes before the shield.

Discussion

  • Soul Eater is the crux of his potential to deal damage and survive. Arguably, it is extremely powerful but its primary weakness is that he has to stop attacking the target to reap its benefits. Also in terms of durability, shielding is not necessarily as great as healing in the long run so he is encouraged to dive back into the fight as soon as the shield comes on. Fleeting Dread can bolster and supplement this passive, allowing him to quickly get 5 stacks and duck out of the fight to wait for the shield to trigger before running back in. Of course, Jackal does not need to always play like this. The bonus move speed can be used to keep near targets to immediately strike them once he recovers attack speed or to just chase a target and hit them repeatedly like his fellow hounds, Bloodseeker and Lycan.

  • At first glance, Ruin is counterproductive to a hero who relies on attacks because of its disarm. However, the reduced attack speed after a few attacks from Fleeting Dread does make casting it less devastating. If the disarm is really not needed, you can chase the cane like a dog chases a bone to quickly regain the ability to attack. While this spell is a great way to start fights from range, waiting to fire it after landing a few attacks can be even more impactful to quickly burst enemies with Soul Eater and move at even greater speeds thanks to the flat move speed bonus of his ultimate. It also has direct synergy with Death Grip, a point blank nuke that is reminiscent of Dream Coil but with a few twists. Normally, the leash works wonders to keep enemies in striking distance and is quick to trigger with all the movement speed he has. With Ruin, the possibilities with this skill truly open up. Here are some of them:

      1. W nearby enemies then Q in the direction of your team for a special delivery.
      2. W nearby enemies then Q in the direction opposite where you are fleeing for a guaranteed escape.
      3. Q then W on the cane's outward path to quickly lock up enemies from range.
      4. Q then W on the cane's outward or return path for a pseudo-hook.

  • His playstyle will be relatively similar to the other hit-and-run heroes, Weaver and Slark. Cast some spells, hit a few times, run when danger approaches then slip back in. He does not do as much damage as them later in the game or have very reliable ways of escaping fights but has more multi-target disables. Thus, he can function well with safelane farm as a carry to make full use of his passives or be put in the offlane where his main focus is running around and disrupting the enemy with his active spells. The left side of his talent tree gives him more damage and allow him to scale better with carry items, while the right side offers options for utility and survival. Level 20 is especially important, allowing Ruin to deal damage and apply effects including Soul Eater is powerful but note that just means further waiting time for the passive to trigger, meanwhile the reduced Death Grip cooldown alleviates the drawback of not having his active cooldowns synced, allowing them to always be used in tangent whenever he needs it.

  • In terms of carry items, he can choose between items that can abuse his innate insane attack speed like Skull Basher, Monkey King Bar and Mjollnir or straight up raw damage bonuses like Desolator, Radiance and Daedalus. Overall, he doesn't need to focus on attack speed so much thanks to Fleeting Dread despite being an Agility hero, so he can consider defensive items as well. Solar Crest and Assault Cuirass serve well in an armor reduction build coupled with Ruin to melt enemies. Blink Dagger is overall a powerful item for Jackal, immediately blinking onto his cane to regain his ability to attack, blinking in to start attacking straight away like Troll Warlord or being able to blink in the middle of a fight thanks to the shield from Soul Eater. Other interesting utility items include Nullifier, Bloodthorn and Heaven's Halberd. Good allies come in the form of other carries who can supplement consistent DPS whenever he has to duck out as well as heroes who can help him disable enemies. Death Grip is strongest when he can use it at point blank range first, so can act primarily as a dangerous follow up.

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Aspiring Musician (2) | July 26, 2018 12:58am
Nice design, although to me his E seems a little uninteresting, I like how there are basically two synergies one being between QW and the other between ER. I really really like his Q/W Though.
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FangzofFuzzy (9) | July 27, 2018 6:18am
Thanks for the comment. I agree that E might be the most boring thing in his kit as basic spell passives usually are, but I'd like to challenge that notion a little. Because it only triggers after not hitting the target, you have to actually stop attacking for damage and survivability. So you have to balance between knowing when to keep adding stacks for more power and when to let go to either actually land the damage or protect yourself. Maybe not as interesting as I'm proposing, but it adds a layer of depth no other hero has to consider.
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