A Huskar guide on how to counter ALL Heroes (7.07)

Introduction

This is a very in-depth Huskar guide for players of all MMR brackets.

Huskar is a hero that lanes decently, excels in the midgame and remains relevant in the late game. His abilities are not complicated and getting kills is easy, however knowing how to stay alive with Huskar's health management is a challenge. He is not mana dependent and rarely should ever need to return to the fountain. His skills allow him to do the most single target DPS than any other hero it the game with and without items (Seriously, there are builds where he can 1hitKO a hero, and the 240 damage from Burning Spear and 340 attack speed from Berserker's Blood make his right click damage incredible).

Just to put Huskar in perspective, on Dotabuff, he typically is the number 1 of most kills and most deaths in a game. If you don't get good, be prepared to stare at the respawn screen.

Abilities

Inner Vitality

Inner Vitality This skill is greatly underestimated and is usually looked over because of the other great abilities of Huskar. At first glance it seems like just a generic heal over time; a castable Tango. Its actual purpose is to improve your durability. Think of it more as additional HP more than a heal. It should be cast on before you get into a fight if possible (we all forget when we just want to dive on an enemy) and it will make you much more difficult to kill. Its stronger when your health is less than 35% and over the full duration of 16 seconds it heals 160 health and between 80%/160%/240%/320% to 320%/640%/960%/1280% of your or (if cast on a friendly, their) primary attribute. Just so you can see the math here Level 4 when you first learn Inner Vitality assuming no Strength items 28 strength x 320% (3.2) + 160 = 250 HP (182 if greater than 35%) To compare that Omniknight's Purification heals 90/160/230/300 Level 25 with Treads, EOS, Satanic Heaven's Halberd 160 Strength x 1280% (12.8) + 160 = 2208 HP (672 if greater than 35%) To compare that Chen's Hand of God heals a total of 1000/1500/2000 This is the only skill that requires mana and it makes it a great level 4 skill because of that. Many guides tell you to save it until later and focus on dps, but that ruins your durability in trade of a small amount of attack ability. When you dive on opponents, you will want that extra survability especially if it takes you under a tower or within an extra enemy. Some guides say to wait until you are less than 35%, this is not true! If your health drops less than 35% while this is active, it will beef up to what it should be. Note that this can be cast on allies too to keep them in the fight if you don't need it. And if you do cast it in the beginning or midgame, make sure you tread switch to intelligence before you do it to offset the 170 mana cost.

Burning Spear This is one of the two steroids Huskar has. It does magic damage over time and can easily overwhelm an enemy and it can't be dispelled. In the beginning it is your orb walking harassment and later on it makes running from Huskar hopeless as you burn to death on your way to safety. Even if you find yourself in a bad situation where you probably won't survive, lay on stacks on your enemy and take them down with you. Deals a total of 40/80/120/160 {240} magic damage per burning spear instance and has an extra 50 range when you manually cast it. Melts Armored enemies like nothing else. It does not cast on spell immune enemies and can't be used when silenced.

Berserker's Blood This makes Huskar who he is. Simply, the more health he has missing, the more attack speed and magic resistance he has. This ability has made many Snipers, Zeus's, and Lion's go home unhappy when they try to finish you off with their ults. At its maximum when you are less than 10% health you will have 340 attack speed and 62.50% magic resistance. This will let you brush off a magic damage like it was nothing while at the same time have the attack speed of a Troll Warlord. This makes Huskar a great counter against Heroes that primarily do magic damage.

Life Break This skill is your initiation and is terrifying to other heroes. The damage and slow are really not impressive on paper, but it puts Huskar right on top of his opponent. It reduces the opponents and your health by 35% which again sounds terrible, but Huskar becomes more deadly with lower health while your opponent just becomes more dead. This will not cause any damage to yourself if you are spell immune and therefore brings down your damage output for survivability. It will also cause no damage to your opponent if they are spell immune, but it will still slow them. You can use the leap on this to your advantage such as dodging a Call Down from Gyrocopter or getting out of Puck's Dream Coil without stun since you are spell immune during its duration. This will also get rid of most debuffs placed on Huskar. <--This is IMPORTANT, that means you can dispel things like disarm from Heaven's Halberd Crystal Maiden's Frostbite and Track from Bounty Hunter. Use this to your advantage. Also if you are at low health, this ability practically causes no damage to yourself, so don't be afraid to spam it. You will notice throughout this guide, I will mention the utility of this ability more than its damage. While in your leap, you can use items (like Armlet) and abilities. So here is a pro tip, You an cast Inner Healing on yourself in the middle of the leap if you don't have time to cast it before. If you have many tanky heroes on the enemy team, an Aghanim's Scepter may be worth a thought since it allows you to cut their HP in half and allows you to leap every 4 seconds. Just be careful, One enemy with blade mail can destroy you. I normally recommend against it since the damage increase is not that much and you can get a lot more out of different items. Current Health as Cost: 34%/38%/42%% Target's Current Health as Damage: 34%/38%/42%% (65%*) Move Speed Slow: 40%/50%/60% Slow Duration: 4/5/6

Talent tree

Most of Huskar's talents are relevant, so don't blindly follow a guide, pick them according to what best adapts to your game.

Level 10
+20 Attack damage vs 175 health

+20 Attack damage goes very well with Huskar's attack speed and makes last hitting and overall farming easier. Overall it is the superior choice. Seldomly should you pick health since raw health does not do much for Inner Vitality

Level 15
15% Lifesteal vs +10 Burning Spear DPS

This is the most contested talent. My rule of thumb here is if you do not plan on building a Satanic or the enemy has a lot of magic resistance/immunity, get the lifesteal. Otherwise always get the extra Burning Spear DPS. It is essentially an additional 80+ armor-piercing damage on all your attacks. Dotabuff shows this talent is the least picked, yet has the highest winrate. Inner vitality and Armlet toggling makes up for the lack of lifesteal.

Level 20
+400 Life Break Cast range vs +15 Strength attribute
the additional Life Break range allows you to go after those squishy heros in the back of teamfights. It makes up for his lack of mobility and makes getting pickoffs easier. It also makes dodging abilities (such as Ravage) less challenging. I personally get this talent most of the time. The extra Strength shouldn't be overlooked though since it gives you more damage, more hp, more disable resistance, and more HP restoration with Inner Vitality

Level 25
+0sec Inner Vitality cooldown vs +125 Attack Range
Even though Huskar is a ranged hero, he is an up and close fighter so the attack range won't have as much value with Huskar as compared to someone like Sniper or Viper However if you are fighting enemies that will counter your Life Break or kill you close up *cough* Ursa go for the attack range to help you kite. The 0 cooldown Inner Vitality is good if you have a coordinated team. Imagine it as a huge regen buff that you can place on your entire team before (and during) a teamfight. This combined with items like Guardian Greaves Assault Cuirass Pipe of Insight and Crimson Guard can make your team nearly impossible to kill....But it is pretty useless if the enemy team has manaburn and/or your team doesnt have much coordination.

Items

Power Treads These give you more attack speed, damage, and survability while also allowing you to tread switch to save mana when casting Inner Vitality. This is honestly one of the easiest times to tread switch so try practicing it if it’s not quite your strength.

Phase Boots With the attack speed given by your Beserker's Blood, these are an alternative especially if the enemy has high magic resistance/spell immunity. Also they can give a speed burst to catch up to enemies and to Life Break to.

Morbid Mask This is your choice of lifesteal since you are ranged, it builds into a Satanic and gives you extra damage. If you are low in HP, Simply turning your Burning Spear off will restore a significant amount of health.

Armlet of Mordiggian "Ahh yes Armlet of Mordiggian, the poor man’s Devine Rapier." -Stanley Parable announcer This gives you more damage, more health, more armor, more attack speed and makes you more of a monster. Right after you jump on someone, turn this on and let them have it. If you ever find yourself in a bad situation where your health is low and the enemy is attacking you, try to toggle your armlet between attacks to survive, it takes practice, but doing this can make you nearly invincible. This item alone can have you solo Roshan before Ursa. It is so good, it should be your first item sometimes even before boots.

Assault Cuirass This is simply an amazing item on Huskar, it gives him a ton of much needed armor when all the same time reducing the opponents which means more lifesteal and more damage. Building Huskar's Armor is important against teams with high physical damage output since Huskar's low agility gain and low starting armor is a huge weakness. This of course benefits your entire team as well with its aura.

Heaven's Halberd This item increases your survivability and increases your kill potential greatly. The stats and evasion are a great help combined with the maim and active, its almost unfair to give to Huskar. Its been buffed many times and now BKB wont even dispel it. This is a go to item against heroes that would otherwise be a problem.

Eye of Skadi If you are doing very well you might want to consider an Eye of Skadi. Its a unique attack modifier that stacks with your lifesteal so no worries there. It gives you great stats, great surviability and makes it impossible for enemies to run away. Typically, I would only get it vs heroes you want to kite such as Ursa

Lotus Orb This item works quite well with Huskar. It gives armor and health regeneration that make Huskar tanky and has an active that makes opponents skills work against them. Cast this while you are in your leap and let the enemies destroy themselves. It also has a dispel to get rid of those silences and slows. This is a great tool to prevent those long channeled stuns from Bane, Pudge, and Shadow Shaman

Silver Edge This is purely used as an initiation to remove passives from Phantom Assassin and Bristleback. It also greatly reduces their damage so they can't fight back.]

Moon Shard This item increases your attack speed greatly and allows you to see better at night. More Attack speed means more Burning Spear Stacks which means a ton more damage. It’s a great item if you are almost six slotted since you will be able to consume it.

Satanic So you are at that point were the enemy just lock stunned you, your health is dangerously low and Huskar is attacking as fast as he can. Then you Activate Satanic and watching everything fall and you come out with full health. Don't initiate with this active. Use it to recover and not to maintain high health. Trust me, Activating a Satanic and then getting stuck in Shadow Shamans Shackles for its duration is not enjoyable.

Maelstrom Maelstrom is Huskar's only defense against cancer heroes. It helps identify the real Phantom Lancer, Naga Siren, Terrorblade, and destroy Broodmother’s Spiderlings. It works well with Huskar's attack speed and if you decide you will purchase this item it would be best to do it right after your finish your armlet since it will aid you in farming.

Monkey King Bar Obviously useful against evasion heroes such as Phantom Assassin and Windranger. The extra attack speed an pure damage procs help you dish out more damage. However most of the time Solar Crest is a better alternative to face evasion heroes.

Solar Crest With Huskar, Solar Crest gives you everything. Armor ✔, Mana Regen ✔, Evasion ✔, DPS ✔ With its active, you can reduce an enemy's armor by 12 points and reduce their evasion by 35%! Unlike Medallion of Courage, this cannot be purged off with Life Break.

Black King Bar Whatever you like to think, BKB is not core on Huskar. I used to have it as highly situational item before the 6.86 nerfs to his magic resistance and now I placed it as just situational depending on the heroes. I know, I am going to get some people saying NOOO Huskar Black King Bar OP TOO STRONG. The truth is, yes Black King Bar on Huskar is useful. It prevents you getting chained stunned and in certain situations, I would even recommend it against heroes like Outworld Devourer ( Heaven's Halberd is better tbh), Lion, Timbersaw and Shadow Shaman but Huskar is built as a tanky carry. Help out your team by soaking up as much magic damage as you can, having all your allies and supports alive can be very useful in a fight. If you are having problems with nukers and CC, it probably is better to go more tanky, than Black King Bar. I am not saying never get BKB, but so many people think it's a must. Look at your opponents and decide whether or not BKB is necessary. A BKB will not help you against many of the spell immune piercing ults. 3975 gold can help you buy items that let you tank a lot. A Lotus Orb in many cases is better than a BKB and if its tons of magic damage such as a Zeus or Venomancer try a Pipe of Insight instead.

The "Core" item I don't recommend.

Heart of Tarrasque Another core item on Huskar for many players. The extra health is great, It gives you 1150 extra HP and 45 attack damage. It also heals you up completely after a fight and allows you to leave your armlet on. BUT there are better alternatives Assault Cuirass is cheaper and gives you more effective HP in armor and aids your team with extra armor and reduction of armor to enemy heroes. Eye of Skadi is more expensive, but gives you 725 health, 0.75 health regeneration, 3.57 armor, 25 attack speed, 550 mana, 1 mana regeneration and 25 attack damage. Not to mention an amazing attack modifier that slows the enemy's movement and attack speed. Satanic gives you 475 health, 0.75 health regeneration, 5 armor and 45 attack damage for 1400 less than a heart. The biggest difference though is that the hearts passive is useless in a teamfight and the Satanic's passive and active are incredible. Satanic's and passive also makes the heart's passive obsolete if there are any creeps nearby, not to mention Huskar can always heal himself. Alright lets talk about Heart of Tarrasque vs Assault Cuirass

Assault Cuirass Cost is 5250 relatively easy build 15 Armor, 55 attack speed Allows faster farming and more DPS Aura benefits allies and reduces Armor of enemies Provides more EHP against physical damage Provides no EHP against Pure Damage and Magic nukes

Heart of Tarrasque Cost is 5500g more difficult to build 1150 health, 45 attack damage (from Strength) Slows Farming by constantly keeping Health full Passive has no use in fights and takes 7 seconds to work on ranged heroes Provides less EHP against physical attacks Provides more EHP against magic and pure damage 45 Strength helps Inner Vitality heal an extra 576HP

If you are not quite sure what EHP is proceed onto the next section.

Armor and Health and EHP (Effective Hit Points)

The Effective Hit Points or EHP is when you calculate armor damage reduction along with your Total Health. The equation to figure out your EHP is:

Health x (1 + Armor x 0.06) = EHP

Therefore Huskar who has the Total HP at level 25 of 2160
and armor of 8.8 has an EHP value of

2160 x (1 + 8.8 x 0.06) = 3300.48 EHP

EHP is something that can take an entire guide to cover and why it is important, but it is especially important with someone that manipulates his health as much as Huskar. Also EHP does not take account magic damage and is strictly physical damage based. This makes it apply even more to Huskar who naturally has a high magic resistance to negate this discrepancy.

Raising just your health or just your armor is inefficient and should be raised together gradually. A good rule of thumb is a 1-100 method. For every 100 HP you have, you should get 1 armor for maximum efficiency of your EHP. This graph below is from a player named lawsford and is a great explanation on increase in EHP with armor and Health.

Take note that every time the graph reaches a 1-100ratio, it has the greatest increase in EHP. I know the graph is small, but you can click on the link.

Now back to Huskar

Lets take at two similar builds with the difference being a Heart of Tarrasque and an Assault Cuirass

Assault Cuirass Power Treads 180 HP Heaven's Halberd 400HP Satanic 500 HP Assault Cuirass 15 armor Armlet of Mordiggian 500 HP 9 armor Huskar natural 2160 HP 8.8 armor 3740 HP x (1+37.8x0.06) = 11,100.32 EHP

Heart of Tarrasque Power Treads 180 HP Heaven's Halberd 400HP Satanic 500 HP Heart of Tarrasque 1150 HP Armlet of Mordiggian 500 HP 9 armor Huskar natural 2160 HP 8.8 armor 4890 HP x (1 + 17.8x0.06) = 10,112.52 EHP

As you can see in this situation the Assault Cuirass has more EHP and is closer to the 1-100 armor health ratio.

However, if you were to change the Heaven's Halberd for a Lotus Orb

Assault Cuirass 3330 HP x (1 + 37.8 x 0.06) = 10,882.44 EHP

Heart of Tarrasque 4490 x (1 + 23.8 x 0.06) = 10901.72 EHP

In this case the Heart of Tarrasque has the higher EHP and for many other heroes, would be the better choice.

Now lets talk about what Huskar needs for his game play.

Towards the late game, you will be a monster. Its not unlike a Huskar to jump on an enemy with just the health from a toggled Armlet of Mordiggian to quickly smack them down and go to the next. Your Magic resistance will be around 60% and with an armor of 32.8 and an evasion of 25% (Heaven's Halberd) Your Physical damage resistance will be around 85%

I know I have smacked down hard on Heart of Tarrasque compared to Assault Cuirass but what if someone already has an Assault Cuirass on your team and you are a firm believer that it would be a waste for both of you to get one. Then my advice is get an Eye of Skadi

Eye of Skadi compared to Heart of Tarrasque

• Slightly more expensive than Heart 5675 vs 5500
• Amazing Passive that allows you to dominate Carries
• 725 health, 3.57 armor, 25 attack speed, 550 mana, 25 attack damage
• ^^ This gives you more EHP
• Arguably an easier build up with most expensive item being 2100 vs 3000

Beginning and Laning

The art of last hits and denies

I usually start off with a Blades of Attack, Iron Branch, and a Tango unless I am expecting a lane with little harrassment and I will swap the tango for two Fire Faeires for better last hitting and clutch saves.

Blades of Attack will give you a little extra attack damage to help you last hit creeps since Huskar's attack damage is awful. Last hitting will mean to wait until there is almost a sliver of HP left on the creep, or stacking some Burning Spears on it as you try to kill it. If you are laning against a strong last hitter, such as Shadow Fiend or Bloodseeker, you may need to put a lot of effort keeping them away from the creeps using your Burning Spear. Also, it may be more ideal to put in your first level into Beserker's Blood, the extra attack speed makes denying and last hitting much easier and the little bit of magic resistance helps brush off harassment. Maintaining HP around 70% will give ~ 73 attack speed. If you can harass a melee or need extra range go Burning Spear first, if you want to deny farm and get more last hits, go Berserker's Blood. I get a lot of controversy when players on my team see me when I level beserker's blood first, but it is just superior for lane control. I can get my last hits and deny their creeps under my tower with the additional attack speed. Choose whichever one will work best depending on the situation.

Huskar is pretty decent during the laning phase, especially against melee heroes. Their little Stout Shield does nothing against the 3 stacks of Burning Spear that you just gave them. Huskar is not a strong manbeast for his first few levels and shouldn't solo offlane since he has no escape unless its against two weak melees, however he works well mid or a lane with a support. If you are lined up with a mana battery such as KOTL or a support that gets mana boots quickly, you can keep both of your HP up with Inner Vitality. (Again make sure you tread switch before casting it)

Harass your enemies with Burning Spear once its at level two. Make sure you are manually casting them on targets and not autocasting it to avoid creep aggro and to increase its range by 50.
Buy what you need to finish off your Armlet of Mordiggian in whatever order that suits you. Jumping on enemies is very risky without it.

Jungling and Roshan

There are several videos out there to show how to jungle with Huskar at level 1. They all pretty much have the same idea, buy a Quelling Blade cut down trees and use the high ground as an advantage. Even though these videos show how fast Huskar can farm, its very dangerous and highly situational since you will be a 1 hp for most of it and just one stray creep attack can kill you, not to mention a Bloodseeker, Zeus, or even a curious Bounty Hunter can find you. When no one sees Huskar in lane and knows this method of jungling, they will immediately punish you for it. ( Its like how Necrophos used to jungle ancients except he is at full health) So I really don't recommend it.

Once you have an Armlet of Mordiggian you can jungle as much as you want. Toggle it between camps. Know that you Burning Spear will eventually kill the creep so you can start attacking another creep before it dies.

However, Huskar is a strong laner and should not normally jungle.

Roshan

All Huskar needs to Roshan is an Armlet of Mordiggian. Stick yourself in the corner of the Roshan pit and keep attacking him toggling your armlet between attacks. This however is pretty risky because all it takes is one misclick and you just die and tell the enemy team what you were doing. It takes a lot of practice to get this right and even then I would recommend bringing a teammate in to help tank Rosh after you are low while you heal them. It is much easier to toggle between attacks once you have a Talisman of Evasion

Note: Roshan, has 55% magic resistance so your Burning Spear which cost 15hp will do an extra 22, 44, 66, 88 extra magic damage. Know when to turn them off to heal yourself.

Don't forget to Smoke in when you go and be extra careful if there is a Bloodseeker or Zeus around.

Mid Game

Now is your chance to shine. Now you have your armlet and boots. You can pretty much solo most heroes. Get in a lane where some unfortunate soul is and jump them. Your typical 1 vs 1 fight will go like this. Use Inner Vitality if possible. Life Break on the enemy, activate your Armlet or Mordiggian, enemy tries to run because OH **** A Huskar JUST JUMPED ON ME. Now they have two options, die while running away or die trying to fight back. With Inner Vitality you can even tower dive if you have to. If your health gets low, toggle your Armlet of Mordiggian which is easy between tower hits.

If you are ganked during the midgame and have a small chance to survive, you have two options, use Inner Vitality and try to Armlet toggle your way to safety or take as many down with you as you can. Spirit Breaker players often make the mistake in thinking a half health Huskar pushing a creep wave is an easy target, but they don’t realize that Bara's Stuns are magic damage and Huskar becomes much more dangerous with low health.

Some psychology does go in with playing Huskar. Baiting with Huskar's low health nets many kills, but be careful, it can backfire as well. Huskar's best fights are when the teams are spread out. He can burst many heroes down quickly but he is terrible when the entire team is there to chain stun. Many players who fight Huskar will notice their health is low and the Burning Spear is quickly draining their health. They will run away burning hoping to live vice trying to finish you off.

Look at the enemy line up and determine what late game items you need. Also look at your team. If you have a Phantom Assassin or a Windranger evasion items might not be the best way to go since their carry will probably get an Monkey King Bar

Late game

Huskar according to some, falls off late game but in reality, building up your attack speed and tankiness along with grabbing the right items will allow you to one on one an enemy hard carry if you get the jump. A great deal of your damage is magic which has its pros and cons. It stays relevant late game where many heroes have higher armor but the typical 25% magic resistance. But it’s useless against enemies with an active Black King Bar. Life Break still slows through BKB and your attacks speed will make up for your lousy attack damage, but some hard carries will still be able to give you a hard time.

If you have Power Treads, Assault Cuirass, and Armlet of Mordiggian you will reach maximum attack speed when your health is low with Beserker Blood. All other attack speed increasing items will help when you do not have low health. And perhaps damage or tanky items will better suit your needs.

Friends

Dazzle
One of your best friends, he gives you a ton of extra armor, he makes you able to survive while you are most dangerous with shallow grave and heal you while damaging enemies around you when jump into a fight. Midgame, a lone Dazzle and Huskar can take on an entire enemy team. Make sure you toggle your armlet when Shallow Graved since you will be safe to. A Dazzle pick usually means the enemy will try and counter with Axe. This however will make safelane easy for Huskar and slow down the timing on Axe's items.

Omniknight
His heal, spell and physical immunity work well with Huskar YOLO life, giving the enemies every attempt to kill you the middle finger.

Oracle
He brings two major abilities to the table. He can make you invulnerable for a short time with False Promise and he can make you almost impossible to kill with an insane amount of health regen from Purifying Flames. The latter has much of its magic damage nullified by Huskar's Beserker's Blood A Huskar with 1 hp and a single cast of Inner vitality will come out of False Promise with full health with no other damage or healing.

Wraith King
His Lifesteal Aura and tankiness lets helps you survive in teamfights and share some of the damage.

Undying
Combined with his tombstone and damage amplification, Undying can also heal you in the midst of a battle. Undying enjoys long team fight, With Huskar being able so difficult to kill, they will excel together.

Drow Ranger
This girl gives you a much needed attack damage boost with her Aura. It will be significant enough to make a difference in your gameplay. If you see her on your team and you are looking for a ranged carry, Huskar is not a bad choice.

Lich
Lich is my personal favorite as a support, even if he cant keep Huskar alive with a Shallow Grave or False Promise Casting Ice Armor on Huskar is so dangerous. You can't burst him down with magic and now you are doing little damage to him with lowered attack speed. Enemy teams tend to bunch together trying to take out Huskar and Lich will either kill them all with Chain Frost or spread them out so Huskar can finish pinking them off. He solves Huskar's biggest problem; crowds.

Necrophos
Another Hero that likes to keep the fights to last a while, he will help maintain your health while his Reaper’s Scythe and your Life Break can bring many tanky heroes down quickly.

Skywrath Mage
His slow with Concussive Shot allows you to catch up to, and kite enemies and his Ancient Seal silences and increases the magic damage you dish out. Just building an Aghanim's Scepter with Skywrath's silence, throw in a Veil of Discord and you are trolling the enemy team.

Bounty Hunter
Huskar has the most kills and deaths out of any other heroes in Dota. Bounty makes trades always in your favor with his Track. The extra gold causes you to snowball out of control.

Hero Counters

In this section I am going to discuss different strategies to be used against various heroes. Huskar only needs a few core items to be deadly and the rest are flexible depending on your opponents.

I will give a number system on these Heroes 1-5. 1 being difficult and I don’t recommend and 5 being Huskar food. 3 is neutral.

Abaddon (3)

Abaddon is difficult to kill but generally doesn’t do much damage. You have a few things you can do about him. A Silver Edge is an amazing item against him, as it makes him have to manually cast his ult. No need to sneak up on him, just use your silver edge during your Life Break or when his health is low. He will die so quickly and blame Dota for being buggy. Get an Eye of Skadi stops him from running away. If you are going to encounter a fight with him, reduce his health down so his ultimate activates and try to do it without using your using Life Break (Unless you have Scepter, then go and spam it) Once Borrowed Time actuates he most likely is going to run away, chase after him and Life Break on him once his Ultimate is down. If your team accidentally brings up his health to nearly full, go ahead and throw a bunch of stacks on top of him so when Borrowed Time goes away his health will rapidly burn off. At any point if you think he is getting away, ult him anyway to give him that slow.

Items
Heaven’s Halberd]
Silver Edge
Eye of Skadi
Hurricane Pike


Alchemist (3)

Just like Huskar, Alchemist is a snowball hero. He can get out of control if the player is farming properly. Try to get a few smoke ganks in the jungle while he is farming his items to destroy his farm. If he is giving your team problems, consider building a Heaven's Halberd and Assault Cuirass. Look at his items to figure out was his strengths and weaknesses are. If he is building Radiance be careful whenever you armlet toggle. You can time your Life Break so you are spell immune when he throws his Unstable Concoction.

Items
Heaven’s Halberd]
Assault Cuirass
Satanic
Solar Crest
Lotus Orb

Ancient Apparition (1)
This guy can really hurt you if you get caught in his Ice Blast. You naturally have your health low and almost completely rely on lifesteal and health regen. Try to get in teamfights when his ult is down and try and get a pick off on him. If you do get hit and can run away, try your best, you are at a disadvantage. Black King Bar wont even help you against his Ice Blast. And whatever you do, don't toggle your armlet on or off when affected. Hurricane Pike is good here, as it allows you to dodge his ult and shake off his Cold Feet. Getting the lifesteal talent when facing an Ancient Apparition may seem counter-intuitive, but since building a Satanic is not recommended against AA, I would get the lifesteal talent just to have a the little bit of lifesteal when not affected by Ice Blast

Items
Hurricane Pike
Lotus Orb
Hood of Defiance


Anti-Mage (3.5)

Anti-Mage is not a problem when laning and if you have a friend with a stun or silence, you can generally get some pick offs early game. If you attack him he will just blink away and with his extra magic resistance, your Burning Spear will do less damage late game. You might get lucky (or unlucky) and you will Life Break on him right as he blinks and chase him down to finish him. Late game however, he will not be easy. Mantastyle will hurt you bad. You will have to wait for him to blink in, Mantastyle, figure out which one is the real AM and Life Break him followed by a Disarm with Heaven's Halberd. Assault Cuirass, Satanic, and Eye of Skadi are all good choices against AM. AM is considered a hard carry whereas Huskar is considered more of a typical Carry/semicarry. One on one however with both heroes fully 6 slotted, it will be a long fight and primarily will depend on how each other uses their items ( Black King Bar, Satanic, Heaven's Halberd, Mantastyle, Silver Edge). Be aware however, if given the space, Anti-Mage can flash farm jungles and will reach his 6 items before you. Make sure your team puts a lot of pressure on him and make him feel unsafe in his jungle.

Items
Heaven's Halberd
Satanic
Assault Cuirass

Arc Warden (3)

Arc Warden isn't too difficult to deal with. If he puts up a Magnetic Field, just Life Break into it and quickly destroy him. Most of his damage is magic. His biggest threat is his ability to out push you and kite you.

Items
Heaven's Halberd
Satanic
Assault Cuirass
Lotus Orb

Axe (3)

Many Players think Axe is a counter to Huskar which makes sense on paper. Huskar likes to have his health low, He has high attack speed to proc more Counter Helix. Axe can just use Culling Blade to finish off Huskar's low Health. In the beginning of the game where Axe, Huskar can just kite him with Burning Spear. If Axe uses Berserker’s Call, that 40+ Armor is huge....for a hero that does primarily physical damage. In Huskars case this is not true. Huskar being a strength hero will have plenty of health in midgame to make Axe's Culling Blade a mere memory. The only thing you need to look out for then is his Blade Mail. Consider getting a Satanic to keep your health up when he lands a Berserker’s Call and so you can continue attacking with his active Blade Mail. If you see he has an Aghanim's Scepter, don't go near him with low HP.

Items
Satanic
Hurricane Pike


Bane (3)

Bane is difficult because of his disables and pure damage. Enfeeble won't make your attacks useless since a lot of damage is magical, but watch your health since a great amount of your lifesteal will be gone. Don't bother using Life Break on him if you are alone, you will quickly be put in Nightmare Unlike BKB, a Lotus Orb will save you from his Fiend's Grip and his Nightmare. It will completely negate his Fiend's Grip and it will cause his Nightmare to affect both of you. Most Bane players reaction would be to immediately wakeup with Nightmare End, which will also affect both of you.

Items
Lotus Orb

Batrider (4)

His damage is all magical, and its going to be difficult for him to get away from you from the slow of your Life Break. Just hope he doesn't blink into an area that is inconvenient for you if you are in the middle of a jump. ( Life Break -->Blink to Cliff-->Forcestaff or fly off Cliff--> Huskar regrets not having a TP scroll.) and of course, remember that Life Break will dispel his Sticky Napalm

Items
Lotus Orb

Bloodseeker (2)

Bloodseeker is not a huge problem for you but mostly for your teammates. Your health is generally going to be around 3/4 to 1/2 most of the time and Bloodseeker thrives on it. If you get ruptured, cast Inner Vitalityand walk to a nearby safe place if there is one. (Under a tower) If not, make sure you cast Inner Vitalitybefore he silences you. Attack him as soon as he is in range. You have strength on your side, but if you don't survive, at least you both will die. You can also try to toggle your armlet between his attacks if your heath is low and you can use it to move some if you absolutely need to. Toggle on move a little, Stop, Toggle off and back on, and move more. The most basic defense is to use Inner Vitality and TP away. You can also troll him and buy blade mail and walk away until he dies.

Items
Heaven's Halberd
Satanic
Assault Cuirass
Lotus Orb
Teleport Scroll

Beastmaster (3)

This underused Hero's biggest threat to you is his Primal Roar. That followed by his Aura that increases all heroes attack speed and a PHYSICAL nuke makes him a pretty decent support against Huskar. However, if you are trying to get a pickoff on him mono on mono, you should be alright just be prepared to eat a long stun. Get a Lotus Orb for laughs

Items
Lotus Orb

Bounty Hunter (4)

Bounty Hunter is generally not a problem unless your health is dangerously low. Bring Dust, Dust him, Jump him, Burn him. If you are about to die with Track debuff on you, Use Life Break to dispel and deny the extra gold]].

Items
Lotus Orb

Brewmaster (1)

Don't fight him alone if he has his ultimate up because he will get away and possibly even kill you. You need to take him out with his ult down or hope you can burst him down fast enough before we uses it. If you don't want to buy an MKB, use Life Break or Lotus Orb after he uses his Drunken Haze to dispel it.

Items
Heaven’s Halberd
Silver Edge
Assault Cuirass
Monkey King Bar
Satanic
Solar Crest
Lotus Orb

Bristleback (3)

This guy is a pain. He does physical damage, reduces your armor and won’t die. Your Burning Spear won’t do much damage to his back. Build an Assault Cuirass to raise up your armor and keep an eye on his items. He commonly builds Blade Mail and Heaven's Halberd, so don’t jump on him when his Blade Mail is active. In a teamfight, focus on other heroes first, determine if it’s safe to go after BB. If you are low on health and he is chasing you, you will not be able to out run him but he is not too difficult to get away with just armlet toggling to safety. Consider getting an Eye of Skadi to slow him down and a Silver Edge to take away his passive.

Items
Heaven’s Halberd
Silver Edge
Assault Cuirass
Eye of Skadi
Satanic
Solar Crest

Broodmother (2)

Broodmother according to DotaBuff has decent win advantage over Huskar and there is good reason why. Broodmother is great against one on one combat. Huskar will miss his attacks with Broods passive and her life regeneration gives her a huge attack damage bonus along with a huge lifesteal advantage. If you want to have an advantage over her you will need a Monkey King Bar or a Solar Crest to prevent her passive from destroying you, dust, and even consider building a Maelstrom for her spiderlings. Use your Heaven's Halberd after she uses her Insatiable Hunger

Items
Heaven’s Halberd
Silver Edge
Assault Cuirass
Monkey King Bar
Satanic
Mjollnir
Solar Crest

Centaur Warrunner (4)

This guy does primarily Magic damage and will be doing a lot more damage to himself than to you when he uses Double Edge. If you jump on him and he stomps and stampedes away. If laning against him, zone him out with harassment to deny him any farm. Later on in team fights, save him for last, his Return will punish you too much to be a priority target. If he is level 25, you may want to prioritize him first because of his Return damage aura.

Items
Assault Cuirass
Satanic
Solar Crest]

Chaos Knight (1)

This guy is Huskar's biggest counter. He has powerful crits, armor reduction, strong illusions, and a decent stun. He can surround you with his illusions and destroy you. As with any Illusion based hero, pick up a Maelstrom to help determine which Illusion is the real Chaos Knight. Building armor items like Assault Cuirass and a Heaven's Halberd will help you tank the illusions and a Satanic will help bring your health back up after his stun his used. Only Life Break on the real Chaos Knight and pray someone gets a Medusa on your team. If you hit Chaos Knight with a Burning Spear before he uses Phantasm you will be able to tell the real one by which is burning and focus him quickly. Consider a Hurricane Pike to keep your distance. Just remember, unlike some other illusion heroes, Chaos Knight illusions are strong enough to kill.

Items
Heaven’s Halberd
Silver Edge
Hurricane Pike
Assault Cuirass
Satanic
Mjollnir
Solar Crest

Chen (4)

A good Chen player is stronger than you up until around level 8. He can ambush you with an army of creeps, has a pure damage nuke that hurts and can cause you to take more damage from all sources. His creeps will hurt you while he maintains a safe distance. Once you hit midgame however, Chen should not give you problems, try to block their teams creep camps with wards or maintain a single weak creep left in them. A Chen without creeps is almost useless. You can also make him waste his Hand of God by jumping on him first.

Assault Cuirass
Satanic
Mjollnir

Clinkz (3)

Bring Dust and buy armor. It will be difficult for him to kill you alone but not if he has a friend. Be careful if you are ganking someone alone, one little stun is all Clinkz needs to lay down a ton of physical damage before you can counterattack. However, if you are able dust him and Life Break on him, there is nothing he can do.

Heaven’s Halberd
Assault Cuirass
Satanic
Solar Crest
Dust of Appearance

Clockwerk (5)

Many people don’t realize Huskar is a counter to Clockwerk. Most of Clockwerk's Damage is magic. If he Hookshots you, he obviously has a death wish. Immediately use Inner Vitality and wait for his Blade Mail to wear off and then punish him for his mistake. You can Life Break out or into the Power Cogs if you have to save a teammate and soak up the Battery Assault damage. Also remember the Power Cogs give considerable bounty when destroyed so make sure you farm them when given a chance.

Hurricane Pike
Satanic


Crystal Maiden (5)

She won’t be able to kill you. Her biggest nuisance on you is her Frostbite which disarms you and immobilizes you and her attack speed reductions. Remember, if you are hit with Frostbite you can still use Inner Vitality. I usually walk up to her to intimidate her into using Frostbite and then immediately purge it and Life Break onto her. If she uses Freezing Field it is better for you just to attack her rather than running out of it.

Lotus Orb
Pipe of Insight
Dust of Appearance

Dark Seer (5)

He does magic damage and hero displacement. You are not really affected by either. He can run away with his Surge but if you can usually put enough stacks of Burning Spear on him during the cast time for surge. Also don't worry about that scary Wall of Replica. Huskar’s stats are terrible and his illusions will hit like creeps and won’t have his Burning Spear.

Hurricane Pike
Pipe of Insight

Dark Willow (5)

Cursed Crown is a long 3.5 second stun. However its long delay makes it very easy to purge it with Life Break a Lotus Orb is another option and can even turn it against her.

Lotus Orb
Hurricane Pike

Dazzle (2)

Your best friend can be your worst enemy. All of his spells do physical damage and his Shadow Weave exposes your weakness with low armor. His Shallow Grave will keep someone alive long enough to kill you. They will die too since your burn damage lasts longer than Shallow Grave. If the player is smart he will immediately cast shallow grave and tp once he sees a Huskar jump on him. Turn your armlet off to raise your attack speed and pile on the Burning Spear if you stacked enough, he will die in the fountain.

+10 Burning Spear talent
Hurricane Pike
Assault Cuirass
Satanic

Death Prophet (5)

Just remember Exorcism does physical damage so take her out quickly. Her silence will prevent you from using Inner Vitality Burning Spear and Life Break. Building more attack damage items rather than tanky items may need to be required to burst her down fast so she cant stay alive with Spirit Siphon

Hurricane Pike
Assault Cuirass
Satanic
Solar Crest
Lotus Orb

Disruptor (5)

His Damage is all magic so you shouldn't have too much of a problem with him. If you are not Silenced you will be able to Life Break out of his Kinetic Field. Life Break can also dispel Thunder Strike and if used at the right time, you will be spell immune to negate the affect of Glimpse.

Hurricane Pike
Satanic
Lotus Orb
Black King Bar

Doom (4)

Everyone says Doom is a counter to all Heroes. Doom can’t do much to Huskar until he gets an Aghanim's Sceptor. At that point he can make Huskar the equivalent to a Neutral creep. If his Ult is down, he will be food, If not, better hope he doesn't have backup. To prevent him from using Doom on you, you can purchase a Lotus Orb He may still use it, but it will Doom himself in the process.

Heaven’s Halberd
Assault Cuirass
Satanic
Lotus Orb

Dragon Knight (3)

Dragon Knight has a ton of Armor with means that you won’t be lifestealing much off of him, but your Burning Spear stacks are still quite useful against him. If you jump on him, be prepared to be stunned for a while. Build up armor so you can survive his stun. Silver Edge is also a good choice to destroy his passives. This is a method on how you attack him: Try to bait out his stun by using Life Break, after the stun, he will use Breathe Fire to reduce your attack damage (this can't be dispelled by Life Break now all you need to do is use Silver Edge's break and watch him drop. A Lotus Orb will pretty much negate his stun by stunning him as well.

Heaven's Halberd
Silver Edge
Assault Cuirass
Satanic
Lotus Orb

Drow Ranger (4)

Huskar melts Drow and takes away her Marksmanship buff. She will Silence and push you back if you try to Life Break on her. Try to time it so she uses Gust as you are mid air in the Life Break. If you are at the point where she is too far to hit and you silenced, Don't run away. Her slow will prevent you from fleeing. Try to run right to her. as soon as the Silence wears off you will be right there on top of her again. Bring dust if she has a Shadow Blade. Heaven's Halberd is great against her as well.

Heaven’s Halberd
Hurricane Pike
Assault Cuirass
Solar Crest
Lotus Orb

Earth Spirit (5)

He most likely won’t be able to kill you, but he can make killing others and general team fighting a pain if he is skilled. Try attacking him first, Unlike Tusk's Snowball, he is not invincible in Rolling Boulder and you should be able to put enough stacks on him to kill him or take him out of the fight.

Pipe of Insight
Black King Bar
Lotus Orb

Earthshaker (3)

Similar to Earth Spirit, his Magic damage won’t be too bad, but don't underestimate him with his stuns and a well placed Echo Slam. Your Magic resistance is not high when at full health and the Blink Echo Slam followed by a chain of stuns and a 4x attack with Enchanted totem to finish you off will hurt a lot. Consider a BKB depending on his teammates.

Heaven’s Halberd
Hurricane Pike
Black King Bar
Pipe of Insight

Elder Titan (5)

Elder Titan may not be able to solo kill you, but in a teamfight, he can be devastating. His abilities have a long cast time. If he is about Echo Stomp, try to Life Break to a far enemy so you are either out of the radius or invincible when it goes off.

Hurricane Pike
Black King Bar
Pipe of Insight

Ember Spirit (5)

A good Ember Spirit will be very difficult for you to kill. He is very good at running away and later on if he gets farm, he will be able to cause a ton of damage to your team. His Flameguard will expel a great portion of your Burning Spear too. A disarm, makes his Sleigh of Fist useless. Have your teammates stun or silence him so you can burn up before he runs away. Luckily, he has been going magic damage more often then physical, so he is not as much of a threat in killing you and generally uses up his escape and mana so he cant run away.

Abyssal Blade
Hurricane Pike
Pipe of Insight

Enchantress (4)

One on one Enchantress won’t be a problem. She is so squishy. One Life Break and 3 very slow Burning Spear should finish it up. However she can become a nuisance if you are in a teamfight or a gank since her slow and Impetus spears will do a ton of pure damage. Try to avoid being kited by her.

Heaven's Halberd
Silver Edge
Hurricane Pike
Assault Cuirass
Black King Bar

Enigma (3)

He has an annoying stun, a pure damage spell that punishes you for staying in one spot and a well laid Black Hole can be absolutely brutal in a team fight. If you are in a fight, most likely your health is around 1/3 to 1/2. Enigma can jump in and ruin you and no Black King Bar can save you. If Black Hole is up and you see him, try to take him down quickly alone. He probably won’t just use Black hole on you alone and you have more of a fighting chance if you are at high health. Be extra cautious when a teamfight may begin and continue to use Inner Vitality on yourself just in case you will be caught up in a Black Hole soon. Also consider making a Monkey King Bar and a Dragon Lance to stop his channeling.

Faceless Void (4)

For a good part of the game, you will be stronger than him and since you are ranged, you will be able to punish him if caught outside a Chronoshpere. Once he gets caught up on farm and can permi-bash you to death, you will be in some trouble. Heaven's Halberd comes in real handy in this situation. If you are outside the Chrono go ahead and Disarm him so he can’t do anything to your teammates. Life Break to prevent being permanently stun. Bonus points if you disarm him while he activated his Mask of Madness. Try to lane against him, since your Burning Spear punishes him hard.

Gyrocopter (4)

He deals quite a bit of magic damage and depending on how he is built, he can deal a significant amount of physical damage as well. Not much to say about this guy, just don't be over confident in the beginning of the game, you don’t have extra magic resistance and his Rocket Barrage will destroy you for your first few levels. You can use Life Break to dodge his Call Down and stun. Your attack speed can also completely negate his Homing Missile

Invoker (3)

This guy can be a nuisance depending on his skill level. He has 3 abilities that will give you some problems. Cold Snap, Sun Strike, and Deafening Blast. Cold Snap is an annoying stun, Deafening Blast, disarms you, and since you will find that there will be many times where you are just standing in one spot in the middle of a fight hitting everything you can to keep your health up, a well put Sunstrike can end you quickly since its pure damage. If you are going to gank him, take a look at his skills first. If he has Ghost Walk, use dust. Life Break on him and try to put as many stacks of Burning Spear as you can before he uses Tornado and runs away. If he tries to combo on you, use Life Break immediately after the euls or Tornado. This will put you right on top of him and possibly dodge his other spells with your immunity. Whenever you are low and in his vision, toggle your armlet to keep your health up to avoid Sun Strike.


Io (3)

Io won't be able to hurt you directly, but when paired with a carry, the combination can be terrifying. General rule with fighting Io paired up with another hero is to take out Io first.

Jakiro (5)

He does primarily magic damage and has one short stun. The most annoying thing about him is his attack speed slows. Life Break to him and show him that if he plays with fire, he’s going to get burned.

Juggernaut (3)

Laning against him is easy with having the ranged advantage, however, once it gets to midgame his Omnislash is broken. You have 3 things you can do to try and survive it. Tank up, get a Shadow Blade or use Lotus Orb, Make sure that while you watch your HP get hacked away you cast Inner Vitality to help survive the onslaught and run toward friendly or neutral creeps. Casting Lotus Orb before the onminslash will negate it completely and give you some free hits on the enemy team. If you survive Omnislash, you can usually finish Juggernaut

Keeper of the Light (5)

Only one thing you need to worry about with this guy and that is his Blinding Light. It makes you miss 80% of the time for 6 seconds. If he uses this on you, immediately Life Break on something if you want to dispel it. Lotus Orb will also dispel it along with his Mana Leak. When he has aghs, try to fight in the night as much as you can.

Kunkka (3)

Kunkka can do a ton of physical damage that ignores your armor value. He can disrupt your positioning and make the entire enemy team receive 50% less damage followed by a decent stun. My recommendation is to watch your positioning with him. He is fairly frail if all by himself, but don’t underestimate him if your health is low. One lucky crit can take you out. Life Break can dispel X Marks the Spot

Legion Commander (3)

Legion gives you trouble. She can initiate an attack on you without you having your armlet and Inner Vitality active. You will have the advantage in the beginning, but if she wins too many duels, she will become a problem. Build up your defense and evasion. The range on Inner Vitality has increased so cast that on teammates during the Duel. Bait in a Duel and activate Satanic before it starts in order to win. Heaven's Halberd is great against her now that she can be disarmed during Duel.

Leshrac (5)

Lesh can be a major pain to teams and can snowball out of control. However, picking Huskar is a huge counter to this guy since the only physical damage he does is from Diabolic Edict. In a teamfight he should be one of the first targets that you melt away to minimize is huge AOE damage to all your heroes.

Lich (5)

Lich decimates teams with his Chain Frost, but Huskar shrugs it off. The most annoying thing he can do is use Ice Armor. Not because of the extra armor as much as how annoying the slow is. You can chew through the Armor with your magic damage Burning Spear. Buy a Lotus Orb to send Chain Frost right back at him.

Lifestealer (3)

It really comes down to who has more farm, but Lifestealer can be a formidable foe. His magic immunity makes your Burning Spear useless, his feast, takes advantage of you being a Strength Hero and Open Wounds puts a 1 vs 1 battle in his favor. You can defeat him however if you are able to out lifesteal him, although it will almost seem like a stalemate. Lifestealer steals less health and does less damage as your current hp gets lower. Coincidentally, Huskar gets does more damage and steals more health with lower HP. Avoid buying a Heart of Tarrasque and other items that raise your health. Consider Phase Boots instead of Power Treads Preventing him from stealing your health with evasion is great and a Satanic will allow you to out lifesteal the Lifestealer. Damage items also will help more than attack speed items with him as well. Eye of Skadi goes through his magic immunity and greatly slows him down as he is easily kited. Once he casts Open Wounds, use your [Life Break to dispel it, even if it’s on him while he is spell immune. It will still slow him and take away the extra life steal advantage he has.

Lina (3)

Lina does a variety of kinds of damage. She has her magic nuke, a stun, physical damage passive, and a pure damage Laguna Blade (When upgraded) Early laning is hard against her since she has spammable nukes and you don’t have your magic resistance yet. Midgame, you dominate her as she has laughable physical damage and late game she becomes somewhat of pain with her powerful pure nuke and passive with some physical damage items. If you see her about to stun, you can dodge it with your Life Break

Lion (3)

Don't let the fact that he is a magic nuker fool you, Lion can mess up your day. Your magic resistance is only high when you are low on health which means if he starts off with his Finger of Death (rare for the Lions that like to KS) he can put you at half health and then give the enemy team 6 seconds of stun/Hex time to finish you off. If you try to solo gank him, be prepared to be disappointed when he Hex's you and then forcestaff's/TP's away. Depending on how the team is setup, you may want to consider buying a Black King Bar to take him out quickly so you can focus on other targets.

Lone Druid (3)

Generally speaking, the Lone Druid will not be a problem for you, it will be his bear. Focus on him during the fights, he will be squishy enough to take out without a problem, his bear however can make things difficult, especially if you get hit with Entangling Claws. If he has an Aghanim’s Scepter, be prepared to fight the bear after he dies because you won’t be able to outrun it. It will seem more tanky than most heroes due to its extra 33% magic resistance. Closing the distance his the most difficult part in fighting him. Consider a Hurricane Pike and a Shadow Blade

Luna (5)

Luna has huge potential killing power with her Eclipse. That combined with Lucent Beam provides a ton of nuke damage, something that Huskar shrugs off. Luna will not be a problem all the way up until she has a Black King Bar and a Satanic.

Lycan (3)

He is fast and deals a lot of physical damage, but lucky for you, no stuns. If a Huskar and Lycan are properly farmed up it usually will end with both dying on a 1 vs 1 fight. build up your armor and a Heaven's Halberd and there won’t be much he can do to stop you from dominating. However, he can always run away from you.

Magnus (4)

Magnus is known for his combo of his abilities on multiple opponents at once. Huskar actually is a counter to him. Magnus dominates heroes that rely on illusions or clones of themselves and carries that are squishy. Huskar is none of these. Not to mention, many Magnus players will use Reverse Polarity to save themselves to save them from Huskar's Life Break which greatly reduces his team fights and although he can Skewer away, he will still be slowed and won't be able to blink with the 8 second burn damage.

Medusa (4)

Well first off, she will be able to out carry you, but lucky for you not by much. Medusa is scary because of the overall DPS she brings with her along with her tankiness and her powerful ultimate. However her DPS is not quite amazing in a 1 vs 1 fight. Build a Heaven's Halberd, use your Life Break to break her Linken’s Sphere and disarm her when she uses her Stone Gaze on you or whenever your health is low. Depending on the enemy line up and positioning, it can be more ideal to keep facing her than to face away during Stone Gaze since it can last up to 7 seconds and you can just disarm her while you are stoned for 3. You can try to burst her very quickly and may take away enough mana where she won’t be able to use her Stone Gaze at all.

Meepo (3)

Illusions are hell for Huskar, but lucky for you, Meepo has clones instead. Build an Assault Cuirass to lower his armor and concentrate your attacks on one Meepo. Meepo is powerful because of the high MAGICAL damage he does and his higher than normal magic resistance not to mention he will probably be 7 levels ahead of you. Poof deals minimal damage because it is 5 different instance of magic damage, each doing less and less damage. Meepo's steroid, Geostrike, also does magic damage. Meepo can be a powerful hero, however you will be able to take out one of his clones before he can kill you.

Mirana (3)

In a 1vs1 fight, Mirana doesn’t stand a chance. However, I am giving her a difficulty of 3 since she can really mess you up if she lands an arrow. When Huskar jumps on a hero, he tends to stay in one spot throwing a million spears on them or perhaps he is in the middle of a huge clash and he is attacking like crazy to keep his life up. A Mirana landing a Sacred Arrow shot could render you helpless for 4-5 seconds! A Desolator is a common item to build on her as well and it will take advantage of your low armor.

Monkey King (3)

If you don't use all of your tangos from the laning stage, save them. They may come in handy when you see him leap to a tree so you can destroy it and get a free kill. He won't be much of a problem on his own since he generally plays as a roamer so he is under-farmed. In teamfights, make him a priority so you can burst him down so he cant do much damage with his Wukong's Command. He has very little magical damage, so focus on armor such as Solar Crest or Assault Cuirass

Morphling (3)

Shotgun Morphling is something that can be devastating if you can’t get it under control, Luckily for you, Huskar's magic resistance is your best friend here. When you fight Morphling he will bring your health down quickly with his burst magic attacks but his attack damage will diminish away as he tries to survive your stacks of Burning Spear with Morph. This also causes him to do much less damage. So the longer the fight goes, the weaker he becomes and the more powerful you will be.


Naga Siren (3)

Naga will only be a problem if she is given enough space to get the farm she needs. If she gets her Radiance quickly, she will out farm you for the rest of the game with her illusions and in a battle she will be able reduce your armor as you fight her illusions and is able to set up ganks and easily run away from you with her Song of the Siren. A Black King Bar is an option if she just runs away with her song, but be careful, it will leave you vulnerable against her entire team. Ruin her farm in the beginning and midgame. If she gets a Radiance after the 30 minute mark or has lost 5 or more towers, you are doing well. Make the jungle feel unsafe and anytime you are there, farm the creeps and leave one small creep left behind. And remember, if you already hit her with a Burning Spear the real hero will still be burning after she uses Mirror Image

Nature's Prophet (4)

With no adequate escapes or real damage, Natures Prophet mostly is known for his mobility and assists in ganking/counter ganking and pushing. Nature's Wrath will do very little damage to you and his Treants give you extra farm. Being ranged, you can still attack outside of Sprout and even heal or Life Break out of it if you must. Use Heaven's Halberd to deal with his damage, and bring dust.

Necrophos (2)

Reaper’s Scythe is your biggest problem here. He will kill you if your health is below 30%. His Ghost Shroud helps him avoid your attacks. Strategies you could use here is to buy rain drops, pick up a Linken's Sphere, a Lotus Orb, a BKB, or a Pipe of Insight

Night Stalker (3)

Night Stalker is a powerful early and mid-game Hero that can semi-carry late game. He is known for his ganking and tower diving for the first few nights. If he tower dives you during the laning phase just stay near the tower and trade lives with him if you have to, you won't be able to run away, however if you have 1 level in Inner Vitality, you may be able to survive.. I recommend building a Moon Shard to help you with the reduced vision since the majority of the fight will be played at night. Build a Monkey King Bar, Black King Bar, or Lotus Orb to deal with his Crippling Fear

Nyx Assassin (4)

A magical stun, a magical nuke that deals and burns mana based on intelligence and a common carrier of a Dagon, this guy isn't bringing much to the fight against you. Just be careful because his Spiked Carapace does pure damage and a stun and his Vendetta does a large amount of physical damage. Don't let your health fall too low while you are jungling when you dont have sight on him. Otherwise, bring dust, you won’t have a problem with this guy. Do not LifeBreak on him while his Spiked Carapace is off cool down.

Ogre Magi (4)

Not a big threat damage wise, but his stuns and slows can be annoying. His Bloodlust will make enemy carries quite powerful. When you are at point where the two teams are staring at each other trying to decide if they should initiate, he will be powering everyone up. Don't give him that chance and make sure your ganks are quick and precise. Also, stay away from him for your first few levels in the game, he might not be a problem in the mid and late game for you, but he is one tanky Hero and can punish you for the first 6 levels.

Omniknight (1)

Sometimes he will give you problems and sometimes you can snowball before that. There is a reason he has such a high win-rate, he has some of the most powerful abilities. Lets start it off, You Life Break on him, he uses Repel, receives no damage, also your Burning Spear don't work and you are attacking at a reduced speed, then he uses Purification to heal and hit you with a powerful pure nuke. His Guardian Angel will also make your life hell and you would have to run away until it’s over. The most you can do is Life Break on someone to slow them and do some damage. The best thing you can do with Omniknight is have someone on your team with a decent team escape ( Naga Siren, Mirana, Centaur Warunner, Rubick) for when you see a Guardian Angel and come back after its over, or even better find a way to silence Omniknight and burst him down quickly. Abilities and items that purge buffs are great too ( Invoker, Shadow Demon, Oracle, Euls, Diffusal or a Satyr Banisher will purge his buff’s. The new Nullifier is a good option if your team doesn't have anything to deal with him.

Oracle (5)

Oracle His greatest threat his is disarm and his ability to keep a team member alive long enough to kill you. Luckily for you he is easy to kill and your Life Break can be used to dispel his abilities.

Outworld Devourer (3)

His pure damage is your worst nightmare and if you Life Break on him he will dodge it with Astral Imprisonment. Buy a Heaven's Halberd and try to kill him quickly. If that's not enough get a bkb to make his attacks useless.

Pangolier (3)

He is quite mobile with Swashbuckle so try using Life Break on him after he uses it. Heartpiercer Is dispellable with Life Break. A Black King Bar will allow you to keep hitting him without being bashed by his Rolling Thunder.


Phantom Assassin(2)

This isn't a hopeless battle, it just isn't preferred. She has your weakness built into her abilities, high physical damage while at the same time evasion so you can’t lifesteal back. This is able to be countered though with a form of armor and truestrike such as an Assault Cuirass, Solar Crest, Monkey King Bar, Silver Edge. If you are really falling behind, you can get Blade Mail

Phantom Lancer (1)

Huskar hates illusions. If you get a Burning Spear to hit the real Phantom Lancer, keep your eye open for it after he uses his Doppelganger. Doppelganger gives him a Normal Dispel, but it doesn't get rid of your burn damage so you will be able to pinpoint the real one. Another good Strategy is to get a Maelstrom, since your attack speed is incredible, you will cause many procs and destroy his illusions. Still not satisfied? Buy a Silver Edge and hunt him down. Taking away his passives and attack damage will make him useless, just make sure you hit the right PL or you will be greeted with a death worse than AIDS...Cancer.

Phoenix (5)

This bird does mostly magic damage, a little but of pure damage based on health (So don't buy a Heart of Tarrisque) and only has unreliable disables. One requires precise accuracy to slow your attack speed while the other makes Phoenix vulnerable especially to heroes with high attack speed. As great of an escape and harassment Icarus Dive is, Phoenix can still be targeted and is vulnerable so Huskar can Life Break and quickly dispose of this enemy.

Puck (5)

Huskar is Pucks worst nightmare. Aside from most of his damage being magic, Huskar's Burning Spear do constant damage over time for 8 secs which makes blinking very difficult. Also Dream Coil aside from doing little damage to Huskar can be completely negated if you Life Break out of it. However, don't underestimate Puck if you are laning against him. He can be quite formidable in the beginning and mid game.

Pudge (4)

The most commonly picked and in my opinion, overrated hero in the game. Pudge is only dangerous to Huskar up until around level 6-8, after that, Pudge players will regret hooking you. If Pudge hooks you and then follows up with Dismember and Rot, you will have the upper hand since Dismember and Rot both deal magic damage and Rot will be doing more damage to Pudge than Huskar. Immediately after his Dismember, fight back and punish him for his mistake. This all works if he initiates on you, if you initiate on him however it might not go so well. If you Life Break on him and he uses Rot and Dismember to bring your health down low, all he has to do is land a close up hook and that pure damage nuke could kill you. Many times an enemy Pudge is one of Huskars best ways to initiate a fight. Buy a Lotus Orb to prevent Dismember.

Pugna (5)

He is Huskar food. He has no escape or real disable and only does magic damage. He can Decrepify you which will disarm you and make you take some damage from magic attacks. This is the time that you heal yourself with Inner Vitalityand Life Break on an enemy.

Queen of Pain (4)

The good thing about going against QOP with Huskar is that you will never have to worry about the slow death of her Shadow Strike since at that point your magic resistance will be so high, that you will be healing as much as its taking away. QOP has two things going for her and that is her Blink to get away and her nasty pure nuke Sonic Wave. The Blink is pretty easy to get around since you can typically guess where she will be blinking to and you just have to attack her immediately after a blink or you might get lucky and she will Blink away in the middle of your Life Break. When her Sonic Wave is up just ensure your health doesn't fall too low, otherwise she may blink and finish you off with her pure nuke.

Razor (3)

The ultimate anti-carry hero. Razor is not as punishing to Huskar as he is to someone like Ursa. If you get in a mono on mono fight with Razor, you will have the upperhand in that most of your damage does not come from physical damage and that your Burning Spear does not trigger is Unstable Current passive. However if you don't finish him off quickly, the combination of his high physical attack and your 0 lifesteal with reduced armor will turn the tide in his favor. If he has a Black King Bar, make sure you have a way to escape his grasp; otherwise you won't do any damage to him.

Riki (3)

Riki is an easy target if you are laning against him since you can harass him bad with your Burning Spear and his Smokescreen is so small, you can easily walk out of it. He gets bad once he has a Diffusal Blade and can keep you in his Smokescreen long enough to kill you. Buy dust and a Monkey King Bar when possible and you will be able to out man him in his Smoke. Otherwise Heaven's Halberd is great since it makes him useless throughout the duration of his Smokescreen and you can always just face him to prevent the backstab damage.

Rubick (4)

Even though Rubick doesnt do any physical or pure damage and there are no good spells to steal from Huskar, he can aid is team quite a bit by having him around. He has a decent long disable that can also misplace you. He has an Aura that gives his team magic resistance against your Burning Spear and Life Break and he has an attack reduction skill to make your attacks par of a ranged creep. With all that said however... Huskar will eat this guy alive and typically has a decent percentage win-rate over him.

Sand King (5)

Tons of magic area magic damage is all he deals and the most annoying ability he has is his stun. He may not be a danger to Huskar, but he can decimate an entire team. Bring dust and shut him down when he thinks he is safe in his Sand Storm.

Shadow Demon (4)

No he wont be able to kill you, but his disable will make you useless. His Demonic Purge will take away your Inner Healing. An Aghanim’s Scepter upgraded Demonic Purge will take away your powerful passive and combine that with Damage amplified by 50% you will be taken down so fast you didn't know it was possible. Also if you try to Life Break on him, he can dodge is with his Disruption or even worse, he will use Disruption on you and TP away. More mobility to escape or engage would advised. Otherwise, try to keep him out of the fight. He is not a problem when alone. A Lotus Orb will help purge his Soul Catcher since Life Break won't.

Shadow Fiend (3)

He is hard to lane against since you won’t have the magic resistance you need to put up with his Shadowraze and he will quickly be able to deny you any farm if he gets ahead. If you are mid against him, try to keep the creep equilibrium near your tower as much as possible as ask for ganks to put him behind in his Necromancy. You can also kind of bluff and get between him and the creeps and hit him with Burning Spear if he comes near. I put my fist level in Beserker's Blood first to deny him last hits. If you see an opportunity to trade deaths, buy your items and trade. He may come out with more XP if you die first, but he will also be with less gold and souls.

Shadow Shaman (2)

Welcome to disables. Hope you are okay with being disabled for 8 seconds. As much as I dislike Black King Bar on Huskar, it may be required here. If you don't have a team that can stun him out of shacking you, you can be a sitting duck for a while. Not just that, his Mass Serpent Wards do physical and magic damage. That means that they will hurt you quite a bit. If you are going the Black King Bar route if your team isn't able to get rid of his shackles, then great. If not you can also go Lotus Orb instead since it will completely negate shackles. Otherwise Shadow Shaman is one of the most frail heroes in the game and you should try to get rid of him before he has a chance to disable you. Also, do not chase a Shadow Shaman in the trees or side shop, all he has to do is get in a corner and unleash his serpents to trap you and kill you. ~The more you know.

Silencer (4)

Silence prevents you from using Burning Spear, but you aren't useless since you can tank it out lifestealing with just your physical attacks. Later on in the game, his Pure damage from his Glaves of Wisdom will hurt with the amount of intelligence he has incurred. But he has no disables and a lack of an escape so ganking him will not be hard. Its much better than the alternative in having a team fight while your entire team is silenced. Try to target him first if possible, no need to have him steal intelligence from your team if they die.

Skywrath Mage (5)

Magic nuker with no hard disable and is incredibly frail. Laning against this guy is annoying, but afterwards he shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Even though he is not much of a problem for you, you still should focus on him in the beginning since he is glass cannon and can make things difficult for your team if not put down quickly. If his slow or silence and magic damage reduction is giving you problems, opt for building a Lotus Orb to dispel and possible even reflect the silence from Ancient Seal. BKB is also relevant if the enemy hero line up requires it.

Slardar (3)

Your Magic Resistance means nothing to this guy since all his attacks are physical including his stun. He has an area stun and a passive stun in his attacks meaning that you can be disabled for a long period of time while he pounds on you with your reduced armor. Don't make the mistake to Life Break on this guy by yourself if you are not farmed up more than him because he will quickly finish you. Build up armor and evasion. Luckily for you, Laning against a Sladar is hell for him and should give you a farm advantage and your burning Spear will make it impossible for him to run and armlet toggle. If you are faced to fight him, only Life Break after he uses Amplify Damage You will dispel it and greatly reduce the damage he can do to you. Then its all up to luck for the stuns. It might sound counter intuitive, but the break from Silver Edge will take away his bashes making him much easier to deal with. Heaven's Halberd and armlet toggling will be your friend.

Slark (3)

While some games Slark may seem out of control, it most will depend on whether or not he is able to get pick offs on your teammates. Similar to Huskar, Slark is a snowball hero. Once he has enough buffs from his Essence Shift, he can be a powerful foe to stop. If he targets you he will normally start it off with a Pounce. Go ahead and manfight him. His Dark Pact will do magic damage to you and himself and will strong dispell him of any debuffs. That means your slow, but not your Burning Spear. Once he uses Shadow Dance to get a few more hits in you, use Inner Vitality to tank it and as soon as he is visible again, try to finish him off. Don't worry too much about the attributes that he is stealing from you, Huskar has pretty laughable attributes to begin with, he is not really going to lose much when he loses some. Against a Slark make sure you frail teammates travel in pacts so he doesn't get pick-offs and he shouldn't be able to get out of control. Buy a Heaven's Halberd Also don't be one of those people that get pounced on and just go to the end of the leash until it’s over. Fight Back!

Sniper (3)

Sniper is not a difficult hero to kill by himself, but if you are in a fight, his constant right click damage will hurt and he won’t be in range for you to do anything about it. Sniper's range is 950, Life Break is 550. Close the distance with flanking or getting a Shadow Blade or Hurricane Pike. The best feeling as Huskar is walking back with only 5% health to have a Sniper desperately try to finish you off with an Assassinate only to laugh at his futile attempt when you toggle your armlet. I have seen players also build Blink Dagger on Huskar to get in range of heroes like this. I personally think its too expensive and flanking with smoke is cheaper. Heaven's Halberd will make him useless for a few seconds.

Spectre (5)

What? How does a supercarry that does pure damage get countered by Huskar? There is a good reason behind it. First of all Spectre is useless in the beginning of the game and laning against a Huskar would be hell for poor Spectre. This disadvantage will allow Huskar to dominate midgame. Many players afk farm her until they have a Radiance which still does not do much to a Huskar. Spectre is not typically a Black King Bar hero so all of Huskars magic damage is going to hurt and he will be doing more damage to her than she will be able to dish out to him. Heaven's Halberd and Satanic are great pickups against her. With the updated 6.85 Dispersion he becomes even more of a monster since the damage being reflected back to him will be mostly magical.

Spirit Breaker(5)

He may not look like it, but all his damage is Magical. His stuns will be annoying, but as a carry he won’t be able to do much damage to you. If you see him charging you, go ahead and use Inner Vitality and tank his typical combo. Then punish him for underestimating the power of Huskar. He has very slow attack animations so its not difficult to armlet toggle between attacks if needed.

Storm Spirit (5)

Another Hero that primarily does Magic Damage with high mobility. He better have reserve mana to run away after he comes to gank you, otherwise he will be very unhappy. Your Burning Spear will make him using Soul Ring risky. Even though he takes a carry roll, all he will be able to do is disable you with his Electric Vortex and Sheepstick. If your team can disable him for at least 2 seconds, he is frail enough for you to finish him off quickly. Your biggest help here will be Heaven’s Halberd] to help save your allies.

Sven (2)

Its hard to manfight Sven. He has a great stun, amazing attack and armor. If you are against him, raise your armor and evasion, and work on an Eye of Skadi as a core. It’s expensive but it is a huge weakness to Sven since you will be able to kite him much better when his buffs are active. If Eye of Skadi is too expensive for you, Silver Edge will do wonders to dodge his stuns and make him useless, just make sure you right click him to get the full effect. Heaven’s Halberd] is a great pick up as you can make him useless long enough to kill him. Lotus Orb Is also a great pick up since it will greatly increase your armor and survivability, and you can initiate on Sven and reflect his stun right back at him (and hopefully his team) giving your own team time to react. Hurricane Pike will also help you kite him and keep him at a distance.

Techies (4)

Techies have been nerfed to the point they are almost unplayable. He doesn't have the suicide attack ability that would do PHYSICAL damage and you can usually kill him before he gets his Blast Off! landed. You can Life Break out of his roots from Stasis Trap and you can gain a ton of gold demining his Proximity Mines. Your Magic resistance will help you survive his Remote mines. You are perfect to tank the mines for your team, so don't be afraid to lead. Techies games usually are the longest, so you should plan and itemize for that. Bring a sentry to Roshan before you try taking Aegis to look for any vision for remote mines.


Templar Assassin (3)

When I see people posting questions on how to counter Huskar, Templar Assassin pops up for good reason, She can do high physical armor reducing burst damage before you have the ability to counter. She has a strong early midgame like Huskar and can give her team tons of room if not stopped. However, a good way to counter this is have a mid game hero that can shut her down. Along with a heroes like Viper, Huskar is very difficult for a TA to lane against. This comes from his Burning Spear and that Templar Assassin's range is laughable. Her Refraction is also completely negated by one Burning Spear, not to mention later on its going to make it difficult for her to blink. Just make sure you raise your armor and bring dust with her around. Your Life Break can be dodged by her Meld and negated by Refraction. However, sentries and Heaven’s Halberd] will give you the upper hand in every fight.

Terrorblade (3)

Illusion heroes are bane for Huskar. Getting a Maelstrom after your core items is an option. Don't worry about his Sunder, its honestly going to do nothing for him unless you are at full health and he is almost dead, but if your Huskar is at full health you are playing him wrong. Just target the real Terrorblade and dispose of him quickly. Lots of armor and evasion, including the disarm from Heaven’s Halberd] will help you do this.

Tidehunter (4)

This guy is one tanky hero against phyical attacks. as long as he doesnt get a pipe, you should have no problem cooking this fish. But be careful, he shines in a teamfight with his game-breaking stun and his armor reduction followed by damage reduction can make you hurt quite a bit. As soon as he blinks in a teamfight, Life Break towards him and you may get lucky and dodge his Ravage and make everyone think you are pro.

Timbersaw (3)

This is a stalemate. Timber does tons of pure damage, can me quite mobile and gains a ton of armor when you attack him. Huskar does a lot of damage to high armor foes but is very weak to pure damage. Build a Satanic to keep yourself alive while he does his best to try and take you out. Make sure you always have Inner Vitality active. In the comments I showed some math on how much Huskar can tank Timber's pure damage but R-Conqueror suggested a Black King Bar. This can help if he is getting out of control and the enemy team has other Heroes countered by BKB. I suggest trying to lane against him to deny him the farm he needs to hurt you.

Tinker (4)

Tired of being burst down by this guy? Get yourself a Huskar. You will have to worry about his laser since it is pure damage and completely blinds you so consider a Monkey King Bar to be at your side. Shadow Blade will also be a good way to sneak up on him if he is becoming a problem. If he tries to burst you down and hits you with his laser, you can Life Break on him. Life Break will dispel the blind and give him one hell of a slow. Lotus Orb, Blade Mail and Black King Bar are also good options. You will force him into building a Ghost Scepter

Tiny (4)

Tiny is almost overpowered thanks to his strong nuke and stun potential. You have the advantage however with being able to deal out more continuous magic damage. Survive his initial onslaught and you will be able to take him out. Build tanky items that increase your armor and evasion since late game he hits like a bus.

Treant Protector (5)

His living armor is heavily countered by your Burning Spear. Be careful if you get caught up in Overgrowth and remember you can still use your Inner Vitality and Life Break out of his roots. Once he has a Scepter have your team cut down any trees they see that looks like a good spot for him to put eyes on until you are able to get a gem. Also carry dust, people tend to forget Treant is an invisible Hero and he easily runs away.

Troll Warlord(1)

According to Dotabuff, this is one of Huskar's greatest counter for good reason. Life Breaking on him is a death wish with his fast physical damage output combined with being stunned and reduced accuracy. He will destroy you. There is however some ways to get around this. First of all Silver Edge will allow you to gank him. It will stop his bashes reduce his attack and take away his Fevor. Then he will use Whirling Axes and make you miss right? Wrong! After he uses Whirling Axes, Life Break on him and it will dispel the debuff on you and slow him, now just finish him off. Items to use against him are Silver Edge, Monkey King Bar, Hurricane Pike, and Heaven's Halberd.

Tusk (3)

Tusk He can be an annoyance if he goes Silver Edge, Desolator, and takes you out when you are at low health. Otherwise whenever you see him get in his little snowball, run to safety or wherever your team will be able to take him down. If its just you and him, Use your Inner vitality when he is in Snowball. A huge counter to him is using Lotus Orb on whatever target he is snowballing to. You can use Inner Vitality and Life Break while in snowball.

Underlord (5)

Underlord has nothing against Huskar, His aura reduces only a small amount of your damage output, his root from Pit of Malice and magic damage from Firestorm does little against you. You also burst enough damage to kill him before he can escape with Dark Rift. If his Atrophy Aura is giving your team problems, you can watch Underlord melt with a break from Silver Edge


Undying (4)

Being a Strength Hero, Undying is even more annoying to Huskar, however with most of Undying's damage magical, you shouldn't have too much of a problem. Just be careful under prolonged fighting under his Tombstone and Life Breaking on him while he has Blade Mail available. You can take out his Tombstone incredibly fast with ease. Watch out if he gets Blade Mail. Counter with a Satanic.

Ursa (1)

The new Ursa is very powerful. He is one of the ultimate manfighters able to take down Roshan with ease at low levels. His Enrage reduces incoming damage by %80 and makes his Overpower well...Overpowered makes Life Breaking on him suicide. But there are some strategies to beat him. Laning against him is easy since you have the range and harass advantage, but as soon as he gets blink he will be able to burst you down so quickly you won't have time to react. First, get your core items, make your third item a Heaven's Halberd. Silver Edge is another option as it will allow you to kite easier and wait off his Enrage and then break his Fury Swipe Passive. A Hurricane Pike and an Eye of Skadi can help you kite him.

Vengeful Spirit (2)

Her stun with increased attack damage and armor reduction make her one of the best supports to counter you. Even after you are able to kill her, you will be punished by her Vengeance Aura.

Venomancer (5)

He literally can't do anything to you. Feel bad for the player as his team bashes him for feeding. Just be careful about armlet toggling, he takes that away. As long as you keep casting Inner Vitality, You cant be killed.

Viper (3)

He takes reduced magic damage, slows your attack speed, prevents you from armlet toggling, and has does more physical damage as your health decreases. Almost sounds like a perfect counter. He will have the advantage laning against you. Once you get armlet, you can trade with him, and once you get Heaven’s Halberd] you can win every fight. Silver Edge will take away his annoying passive. You can remove the debuff from his poison attack with Life Break. If he is chasing you, just fight it out, you will not be able to get away from his slows without your teams help.

Visage (4)

You eat away his Gravekeeper's Cloak and his Soul Assumption won't do much to you, however he will be able to do tons of damage to your teammates. His Summon Familiars will be an annoyance with their stuns and can keep you stunned long enough for the enemy carry to pick you off.

Warlock (3)

He causes you problems with his Fatal Bonds since it will share the type of damage to all that are affected, which makes physical and pure damage to your teammates bad for you. His golems also do a decent amount of pure damage and can overpower you in a teamfight. Best suggestion is to not jump in YOLO on their team since his Golems can punish you hard and prevent you from Armlet Toggling. Spread the team out so you can fight them and the golems one by one. Extra lifesteal from a Satanic will be very helpful against him.

Weaver (3)

Weaver does a lot of physical damage, reduces armor and is extremely hard to kill with his numerous amount of escapes. Your only hope is for someone to stun or silence him long enough for you to kill him. Early game he is very frail and if you are laning against him all you have to do is get a few Burning Spears on him to kill him. Your ranges are similar Weaver:425 Huskar:400-450, but you have the advantage of because of your manual cast of Burning Spear. Later on, his Time Lapse can make him quite slippery. He becomes dangerous late game but mostly just an annoyance early and mid. If your team has no good disables to shut him down, you may need

Questions

Really? Beserker Blood first? You are so noob, Burning Spear
is so much better.

I have made the conclusion that beserker blood is a great alternative to level up first for lane control. The amount of attack speed you gain from one level is enough to out hit your opponents. However, if I am laning against a solo melee hero, I will level Burning Spear first. I just want players to realize that Huskar is not a rigid build.

For Huskar when should I build attack speed and when should I build damage items?

I usually side with attack speed items as it will allow you to throw a ton of your Burning Spear on opponents while still maintaining a high rate of lifesteal. However, with the new buff to Berserker's Blood your attack speed can be maxed out with your core items and an Assault Cuirass Concentrate on attack damage items when the enemy has lots of spell immunity such as Omniknight or Lifestealer since your Burning Spear will not be able to do much.

When should I get a Black King Bar for Huskar?

When you are against a team with tons of disables such as a Lion or Shadow Shaman, or when you are the only carry on your team and you already have a tank.

What counter's Huskar?

Disables: specifically stuns, breaks, and disarms. Pure and physical damage. If you have high burst magic damage, use it when his health is full and he as the least amount of magic resistance. Black King Bar significantly reduces the amount of damage he does to you and Blade Mail can make him kill himself if you use it as he Life Breaks on you. And whatever you do, don't stop attacking him.

I'm told that Burning Spear fall off late game, shouldn't I focus on a attack damage items like a Daedalus instead?

Though it is true that Burning Spear is much more powerful midgame, they are still very much relevant late game as well. This is because as the game goes on, enemies armor keeps on going up but magic resistance typically stays the same. 160 magic damage minus 25% magic resistance is an extra 120 overall damage, compare that to Shadow Fiend's 72 attack from Necromancy which gets reduced by 10 armor to only 45 damage and you can see the difference is quite large. Also with Huskar's less than impressive attack damage, Daedalus crit's wont be high. Attack Damage items are good for teams with high magic resistance or lots of spell immunity.

The enemy countered me, HELP!

I normally try to prevent this by trying to ban Chaos Knight and/or Ancient Apparition. If you had a really bad lane and have a line up where two other heroes on your team can carry well, you may want to coordinate with your team to put yourself down in a position 3 role. Huskar is sometimes hard to comeback from a bad start since he doesn't farm quickly and by the time he does, fights are more teamfight orientated. A position 3 Huskar is the only time I would buy an Aghs and possibly even combine that with a Veil of Discord, blademail or a disable item. This would allow you to burst a high priority target when a fight begins.

Final Words

As you can see, this is one long guide and I put a lot of time and effort into it. I am open to extra strategies and tips for different heroes and if you can think of ways I can improve the layout. I am constantly upgrading the guide so I am open to answer any questions.

This guide was put together with the experience of over 300 Huskar games, watching pro players, and research on the mechanics of each individual hero.


Thanks!