Community Guide to Spirit Breaker (Support)

Introduction

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

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


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

Abilities

Charge of Darkness - Make sure to always charge when out of enemy vision and be wary of the route you’re going to charge trough. Think about possible warding spots that could catch you while charging or maybe obstacles that might cancel your charge (e.g. charging through Roshan and getting bashed). When you’re in a fight, it’s important to quickly scan the enemies surrounding you and their positioning. You can be extra efficient by charging a target that’s behind the enemy lines so you pass through their team, stunning all of them in the process, instead of charging the closest enemy hero and only stunning that target. However, you must be careful as most team compositions have at least one stun to cancel your charge. When you’re charging a target, there will be a buff indicator that appears above your health bar, next to all the other auras and buffs. You can ALT-click on this indicator to signal your teammates that you’re charging a target - this information is useful as they can focus on your target or if they’re not around, they can teleport or move there until your charge lands. Can also be used defensively - if you’re in a sticky situation and you might get killed, you can quickly move your camera on other lane and charge on any enemy unit at all to quickly charge away. If enemies stay too close to you, they might even get stunned by the charge. Be aware of enemy stuns, it’s usually better to wait them out and charge afterwards, but the situation might not always permit such luxury. Great ability to remove Linken's Sphere Spell Block, as you can do it instantly from any point on the map. Keep this in mind if your team is planning to take down an enemy hero that is shielded by Linken's Sphere, you can assist without even being there! You can be slowed while charging, lowering your damage and your initiation potential, or at times not allowing you to get where you want to, so keep that in mind before you charge an Invoker who is at high levels because Ghostwalk will slow you to the point you will be unable to get to him in the majority of situations.

---

Bulldoze - Most effective while charging to increase the speed and damage dealt. The effect is very powerful during fights as well, since the status resistance bonus will make stuns and slows very ineffective against Spirit Breaker. The status resistance provided by Bulldoze stacks with other sources of status resistance, meaning disables are almost entirely negligible against you for the duration of Bulldoze. Even though you can cast Bulldoze while charging, you must keep in mind that it cancels other channeling abilities (e.g. casting Bulldoze while teleporting will cancel the teleport). Can be casted when a stun projectile is chasing you to reduce its duration (e.g. you can cast it while Vengeful Spirit’s Magic Missile is traveling towards you). Shouldn’t be too difficult to time, but some disables such as Lion’s Hex are harder to predict.

---

Greater Bash - The magical 17% chance might not seem like a very reliable chance to bash, but you’ll be surprised how many bashes will be going around throughout the whole match. The chance can be increased to 37% at level 25, with one of the talent choices available. Very effective disable in the early game, especially against heroes with slow movement speed and preferably armor. The bashed units will be pushed in the opposite direction of Spirit Breaker. This is important to know because some times bashes can save enemies if pushed in the wrong direction. For example, if your target is near a cliff and you bash them, the push might drive them on the cliff or even on the other side of the cliff. Usually it’s best to position yourself in such a way that if you’re going to bash, pushing the target will put them out of position even more than they already are. The damage dealt is based on your movement speed, meaning the initial bash applied on the target hit by Charge of Darkness will deal an increased amount of damage based on the charge’s speed. This can also be boosted even further by casting Bulldoze right before the charge impact. Doesn’t stack with other types of bash (e.g. Skull Basher and Abyssal Blade) and has a cooldown of 1.5 seconds. When Greater Bash is level 3, the stun will last for 1.5+ seconds meaning you can permanently bash a target despite the cooldown, if you’re lucky (or they’re unlucky) enough!

---

Nether Strike - Same concept as Greater Bash when talking about positioning - try to be careful and anticipate the direction towards the target will be pushed to. You’ll appear behind the target, pushing them back towards your initial position before striking. Use this to your advantage to get enemies out of position and in the claws of your allies. Relatively long cooldown early on, only use on highly valuable targets. As soon as you’re level 6, it’s best to go for a charge and use your Nether Strike immediately so it has time to recharge before going again. Can also be used on couriers to snipe them, but only do this if you’ve checked the items they’re carrying and you can deny valuable items to the enemy team (e.g. expensive items from the Secret Shop). You can use it to escape, if there are heroes trying to kill you, try ulting someone or something that is far away, or at a different ground level, so you can escape. Creeps are quite often the best choice, but creep camps and heroes also work pretty well at times.

Maxing your Greater Bash first will have its damage and stun duration increase with each point. This will go well together with Charge of Darkness and Nether Strike, as both abilities apply Greater Bash once. The second ability that should be maxed out is Charge of Darkness, which will increase its speed and stun duration while decreasing its cooldown.

This will allow you to reach your targets faster and to keep them under control more. Having the shorter cooldown will also make Charge of Darkness usable more times during fights. The last abilities to max out are Bulldoze and Nether Strike - make sure to place a point in Bulldoze at least one until level 4 and once the first two abilities are maxed out, always place points in Bulldoze and Nether Strike whenever available.




+500 Night Vision - The bonus armor is nice to have, but ppSpirit Breaker does well enough and the night vision bonus could make a significant difference during night time (e.g. spotting enemy heroes before they spot you and give vision to your team when chasing). However, if you have heroes such as [[Night Stalker and Luna in your team, consider going for the bonus armor instead.

+10 Health Regen - You’re going to be fighting enemies head-on, meaning you’ll be taking a lot of damage. Having extra health regeneration will help you quickly heal instead of always going back to base. Feel free to go for the other talent if you feel like you could use some extra damage.

-5.5s Bulldoze cooldown - This is a tough choice because both options are strong. Most of the times, it’s better to go for the cooldown reduction on Bulldoze, because this way you’re going to have it available for use actively and the bonuses it grants will make you very difficult and annoying to deal with. If you feel like enemies don’t have enough resources to deal with you, or maybe you need some more damage when locking down your enemies when bashing, go for the bonus Greater Bash damage instead.

+650 Health - We’re again in a tough spot, as both talents we have to pick from at level 25 are great. Having more health is always great, because it means you’ll be lasting more in fights and you have more time to cast your abilities. This bonus will also benefit from all the armor you have. If you’re having a match where you can’t effectively reach your enemies and constantly hit them, it’s probably better to go for the bonus health. Otherwise, if you have a good time and you can get enough hits in during fights, you can go for the bonus Greater Bash chance.

Items

The regeneration offered by two sets of Tango and a Healing Salve should be enough to keep your health up during the laning stage. The Orb of Venom will be great to have when chasing your enemies, as slowing them will help you land more hits and potentially bashes on your enemies. You’re going to be going back to base using Teleport Scrolls and coming back to lane quickly using Charge of Darkness, meaning you’ll have multiple chances to buy more regeneration if you need it!



Common choices for support heroes that have high kill potential. Since you’re going to be all over the map, the Boots of Speed will increase your mobility while Urn of Shadows will always collect charges whenever you participate in a kill. Make sure to build Urn of Shadows only if nobody else on your team is buying it! The Magic Wand is great to have in every match as it’s going to be a valuable reserve of emergency health and mana whenever you need it. Always get Magic Stick early whenever you’re against heroes that tend to spam their abilities on lane (e.g. Skywrath Mage, Phantom Assassin, Zeus).



You’ll be upgrading your Boots of Speed to Power Treads when you have enough gold, which will grant you bonus stats and attack speed, everything that Spirit Breaker could use more of. The Blademail is great in most situations, since you’ll be charging and fighting in the frontlines, meaning you’ll be returning a lot of damage back to your enemies.

You can choose to skip this item if the enemies are ignoring you or if there aren’t great targets for Blademail in the match. The Black King Bar is a must in almost every match, as it’s going to make you invulnerable to most magical abilities and disables, meaning you’ll be able to be as disruptive as possible during team fights. The more time you’re alive charging and bashing enemies, the more valuable your Spirit Breaker pick is!

If you don’t have any other heroes in your team that has any invisibility items or abilities, this can be a very strong item to pick up. It’s going to force your enemies to spend gold on detection items while giving you the ability to charge undetected through enemy wards (you can use Shadow Blade / Silver Edge while using Charge of Darkness to roam the map while invisibile). Also gives you some bonus attack speed which is always great to have on Spirit Breaker. Can be upgraded later on to Silver Edge, giving you the ability to Break enemy passives, which is very strong against heroes that rely heavily on their passive abilities (e.g. Tidehunter, Timbersaw, Spectre).

Very strong upgrade to Urn of Shadows. Good to have in every match if you can afford it and you don’t need other items urgently. Great counter against heroes like Alchemist, Necrophos and Morphling, as it punishes them for having a lot of health and it reduces their healing and regeneration. The damage from Urn of Shadows and Spirit Vessel is amplified by magic reduction (e.g. Hood of Defiance) - watch out for what items or abilities your allies have that could increase your Spirit Vessel’s effectiveness!

Good option when your team is doing well and you’re planning to take down towers quickly and have early fights. Make sure to buy this item only if nobody else on your team is getting it instead. Great to have in most situations if there are no other items that are more important.

Vital choice against heavy basic attack damage dealers like Phantom Assassin, Outworld Devourer and Morphling. Disarming them for a few seconds might give you enough time to take them down or at least reduce their damage output during the fight. You can also ask more teammates to get this item, as chaining them is very effective (be careful not to use them together in the same time and overlap the effect!). Does not pierce spell immunity, but the disarm persists if it was placed before the spell immunity began.

Good item choice to increase your own durability against magical damage and also to protect your teammates. Get this item only if there is no one else in your team getting it, usually the offlaner. Strong against heavy magical damage dealers such as Zeus, Puck and Keeper of the Light.

Even though this item can be costly, it’s going to greatly increase your durability to basic attacks while also protecting your teammates. Especially effective against heroes that deal large amounts of damage from illusions, such as Phantom Lancer and Terrrorblade, since the Crimson Guard active effect will block most damage dealt by illusions (but not Mana Burn in case of Diffusal Blade)

Gameplay

In the early game, it’s important to keep in mind which are your main responsibilities: annoying the enemies and denying as much experience and gold as possible to the enemy carry. You’ll be able to do this thanks to your Greater Bash which is tough to deal with, especially for melee enemies.

You can also apply pressure and catch fleeing enemies by using your Charge of Darkness, meaning any potential low health hero that normally would escape, won’t be able to against you. Whenever you’re bashing an enemy and they’re already low health, you can chain-stun them by using your Charge of Darkness immediately, increasing your damage output from an additional Greater Bash and increasing the stun duration as well.

This is a good tip to keep in mind throughout the game - always try to use Charge of Darkness on the backline from the right angle, to charge through the enemies sitting in the frontline and stunning them all in the process. However, be mindful of enemy heroes that can disable and cancel your charge, such as Lion and Nyx Assassin.

You’re very durable and you can trade efficiently, since enemies hitting you will deal lower damage thanks to your high armor, while always risking getting bashed by you and maybe even killed. This will force them to use their health regeneration earlier than you and they’ll either have to spend more gold on regeneration or return back to base, wasting time, gold and experience.



In the mid and late game you should be always aware of what’s happening on the map and use your Charge of Darkness wherever you’re needed. For example, if your team is preparing for a fight or a gank, make sure to prepare your Charge of Darkness and use it when enemies are in vision, before they manage to hide.

Vision is important, most especially in the later stages of the game, as the more vision you have, the better fights you’ll be able to take. Also, having vision over your enemies will mean that you can use Charge of Darkness on them at anytime, potentially leading to a kill if your team joins you.

I want to emphasize the importance of vision and wards. It's crucial at EVERY stage of the game to always have vision and to reduce the vision of the enemies as much as possible. Purchase Observer Wards and Sentry Wards and make this happen! If you don't have gold for them, don't feel bad to ask your teammates nicely to buy them for you, in most cases they will help as long as you place them. Remember to place your wards in places where the enemies don't expect it. They will be way harder to be found while they'll provide vision of areas where the enemies won't expect to be seen. I always carry on me at least one Sentry Ward just in case I notice an area is warded or if I spot an enemy hero that has just placed a ward. Let's not forget that it's also useful against invisible heroes and surprise Shadow Blades.

It will be tempting at some points to charge by yourself and maybe kill an innocent support that seems to be alone. However, be mindful of your enemies’ positions and invite your team to help, it’s usually safer and everyone will benefit from the extra experience and gold. Try to play smart, no matter how easy the situation may seem. It’s easy to overextend with Spirit Breaker and finding the sweet spot between aggression and smart decisions is key!

If the enemy team is doing a great job securing the map vision and you don’t have any invisibility in your team, considering picking up Shadow Blade that you can use while charging to turn invisible. This will allow you to successfully surprise your enemies by charging through the map while invisible. However, this can be countered by Sentry Wards, as previously mentioned above.

Always play with your team and for your team! Maintain map vision and control, only fight when the odds are in your favor, get objectives and don't waste time, sacrifice yourself for your cores and for the better outcome of the fights, play smart and have fun!

Conclusion

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

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