Durable

Hello all, I'm struggling with what role a durable character fills in team games... I don't mean heroes that have an other role (like a support or semi carry kinda thing) but heroes that build items to make themselves tankier. Axe/ Bristleback for example. I mean they are both fun, but what purpose do they really play in organised teams?

I Might just be being stupid and they do something really obvious. but like... if they are there to do damage then why not get a full nuker?

I hope someone can help as some of these heroes are pretty fun in pubs :)

Cheers

It mostly depends on their skill set: Axe, having a pseudo-disable ( Berserker's Call), usually gets a Blink Dagger and takes the initiator role like many other durable Heroes such as Centaur Warrunner , Magnus, Brewmaster, Clockwerk and so on.

Talking about Bristleback, he is a semi-carry and can fit the "2" (most farm-dependent Hero after the 1 Hero, which is a hard carry most of the time) role: even though he can do a lot with some farm, he can't carry by himself. Basically, he's built as a tank because the more he stays into the fight, the more damage he can dish out with his abilities; some people build him as an aura holder ( Drum of Endurance, Pipe of Insight, Vladmir's Offering, Assault Cuirass...) though.

Axe's role is initiator, since you'll get a Blink Dagger on him you can do some great initiations with your Berserker's Call.

Bristleback's role is semi-carry. Since his skills work so well together, it's important for him to stay alive as much as possible, since he can deal huge amounts of damage.

The role depends on the hero's abilities, mostly.

The whole durable thing is basically "hard to kill" - somewhat a counter to enemy nukers as they've usually got enough HP to take the damage and still get out. If you're dead you can't inflict damage or use your abilities.

In team fight they'll generally try to soak up a certain amount of damage for their squishier team mates and be in the enemy's face. E.g. if you have a 2000hp hero and can soak up 1800 worth of damage, that could easily be 2 team mates who aren't dead. A few of them have abilities that allow them to return some of the damage they take, or as already mentioned can carry aura items to keep them in play as long as possible.

I see, So the durable bit isn't like a thing, Its just that they can survive a bit longer, almost like just an advantage.

so if I'm right Visage can be built as a semi carry or a support and the durable thing is just to help him do that better?

Interesting to know thanks guys/girls :)

x

Yeah, well, durability is good on any hero, especially if you make enemies waste spells on you while you're tanking and save time for your team to clear them out.

erm...feels like an idiot... Durable isn't on Visage! whoops! still my point stands :P just with another hero in his place :P

Thanks guys really cleared that up for me, I wondered if there was something i was doing wrong or if i had just missed the point all together. :D

Actually, Visage can get quite durable with Gravekeeper's Cloak and Hood of Defiance,both combined,he will take considerably less damage from spells early on,the Gravekeeper's Cloak also helping against auto-attacks too.

If you want a durable hero that can also dish out a lot of damage,try Dragon Knight.

Visage has one of the highest str gains for a support hero (2.3?). Same goes with Jakiro as well. The idea with durable is that they have high hp due to high str gain.