Huskar the Huscarl

Huskar the Huscarl, Unstoppable Tanking Machine of Death

Ever since the recent buff he received in the large update, he has become an absolute boss. He lost his damage bonus (which was not needed) and instead received near magical immunity. You'll see spells dealing close to 10 damage to you when they are attempting to last hit you, the only way to bring this machine of death down is with physical attacks, and we build into counteracting just that. The whole point of this build is to maximize DPS by being a man, and standing on the border between life and death.

The absolute core of this build is the armlet. That is why it absolutely must be rushed first and as fast as possible. The large amount of regen you buy will help you get there, and with a decent lane partner and the help of your burning spears, you will be able to control you lane long enough to get the gold for your armlet. Do NOT buy boots except for extraordinary circumstances where you are forced to abandon the build! Rush the armlet first. Now that you've gotten the armlet, let me explain how ****ing bad *** it is.

Armlet of Mordiggiggiaigan - Potentially the most OP item in DoTA.

Lets go over the armlet, shall we?

By default, PASSIVELY you get:

• +7 HP regeneration
• +9 Damage
• +5 Armor
• +15 Attack speed

The HP regen will be glorious all game long for keeping you at maximum HP, allowing you to spam your ultimate whenever you please, even if it is to simply speed up your farming. Not only that, but that 9 damage goes much farther than you would think when you are throwing spears like a super saiyan. The attack speed helps you start rolling before you take damage, and of course, the armor is one of the most important, as you are nigh immune to anything but physical damage, which the armor will help you with.

Now if that wasn't enough, here comes the active ability of the armlet, which almost makes you into a god, but we're not quite done here yet.

• +31 damage
• +10 attack speed
• +25 strength
• Drains 40 HP/s (but will not kill you)

Do you see what just happened here? Your damage just got buffed by 56 points, not to mention the +475 HP you just got. When you are throwing spears like a ****ing mad man, that bonus 56 damage turns your spears into flaming (actually not really flaming) spears of doom. But we AREN'T DONE YET FOLKS.

ARMLET TOGGLING

For those of you who have heard of this, you can just move on forward, for those who haven't you better give this a read.

If you turn off and on your armlet, while it is already active in quick succession, you will give yourself a FREE 475HP due to the bonus 25 strength! This ability will keep you flinging spears and light speed, and refusing to die even in the most grim circumstances. For most heroes this just means they get to survive just a little bit longer. For Huskar the manliest (skinned) man in DoTA, this means he gets to make good use of his beserker rage, staying alive while at low HP.

Now, here's another trick some of you may not know about. Following this order, with power treads, you can increase your HP regen from +7hp/s to +30hp/s.

• Change Power Treads to a stat other than STR. (You lose 152 MAX HP)
• Turn on Armlet. (You gain 475 HP)
• Change Power Treads to STR. (You gain 152 HP)
• Turn off Armlet. (You lose 475 HP)
• Repeat

On average, you'll gain about 30hp/s. I'm sure my math here is broken and hard to follow, but as of now, this works, try it out. The effect will drop off as you reach a higher percentage of HP. But when you are sitting at 1hp, and suddenly jump up to 200hp in a matter of about 4 seconds, it's quite the trick.

Item Build Explanation

Rush armlet. If my explanation above wasn't good enough for your slimy hands, then just get out of here you rotten human. If you're wondering why you aren't getting boots yet, it is because you are farming. If you ever enter a fight, it will be in the lane, near their tower. Chasing is futile before your armlet as the tower will kill you, thus boots are useless. As for running, you should have wards and have plenty of time to get back to your tower. Boots are generally bad on carries until the lane phase ends.

Get Power Treads. Without power treads you cannot do the second healing trick of armlet, not to mention you need that speed. Don't forget, you can use power treads to regen your mana. Simply set them to INT before casting, or when requiring additional mana regen. Don't forget to toggle it back to STR before a fight!

Helm of Dominator next. Generally you want this next, unless you think a Black King Bar would suit you best early on. The lifesteal from Helm of Dominator will give you the much needed survivability from physical damage during engagements. DO NOT USE YOUR BURNING SPEARS! Burning spears and Helm of Dominator are both orb effects. Your spears will take precedence and remove your survivability. And if you are following my guide at all, your spears are at level 1, definitely not worth it for the lifesteal.

Black King Bar You are essentially magic immune, but not quite. It's magic RESISTANCE. Meaning they can still cast on you, and the related effects will still work. Huskar doesn't give too much of a **** about most effects, but the core of staying alive is being able to armlet toggle and lifesteal. Because of this, stuns will decimate Huskar, and are really the only way to stop him. A BKB counteracts this.




The Rest

*Platemail - Gives you additional armor that is much needed to survive physical damage. The entire assault cuirass however, is not necessary. Your attack speed is off the charts.

*Talisman of Evasion - Again, reduces incoming physical damage by about 15%, not bad.

*Heaven's Halberd - Builds off of the Talisman of Evasion, and gives you strength, not only that, but the ability to disarm that nasty carry.

*Satanic - Will make you essentially invulnerable for a couple seconds if not healing HP, so long as you don't get stunned or otherwise disabled and as long as you are attacking something.

*Heart of Tarrasque - Is just for the added HP and damage. This is the absolute last thing I get. Generally I'll just save for buyback.

Situational Luxury

*Monkey King Bar - Only get this if they have a strong evasion hero like Phantom Assassin, Pandaren Brewmaster or someone who builds Butterfly.

*Mjolnir - You attack very fast already, yes. But the chain lightning can be very effective against illusion heroes such as Phantom Lancer. Not to mention because of his illusions he has a higher chance to kill you while toggling. Thus, staying at a higher health would be advisable and the attack speed from Mjolnir can come into use.

*Daedalus - Just more damage. I generally won't get this, as this build is tailored towards being an unstoppable tanking machine, and dealing DPS based on the fact you simply will not die.

*Assault Cuirass - A bad item unless you already have everything else you need. Build this off of the platemail you already have for some additional armor and the IAS aura for your teammates.

*Desolator - Again, simply more damage. May be advisable against other tanky carries.

*Vanguard - Strong against illusion heroes such as PL and Naga.

Skill Build Explanation

Burning spears first.
If it isn't obvious, it is for the early game harassment. You deal a little bit more damage, and you get a orb effect for only the small cost of some HP. If you don't already know about orb-walking, by MANUALLY casting your orb, you will avoid creep and tower aggro and get to freely attack enemy heroes without drawing the aggro of creeps.

Beserker's Rage/Inner Vitality
Try to avoid using your inner vitality at level 1, as it costs almost half of your mana pool for one cast, and is quit useless at level 1. Of course, it can easily be the turning point between life and death early on, so don't hesitate to use it if needed. Simply avoid it at level 1 if at all possible.

Late game you'll want to cast Inner Vitality when you drop below 40% HP as you enter a fight. This regen, coupled with your lifesteal will keep you hovering at near fatal HP levels, but dishing out enormous amounts of damage.

Burning Spears and Lifebreak at Level 1 only OMG?!?!

Burning spears do not work with lifesteal. This is pretty straight forward. Once the lane phase ends and you acquire your Helm of the Dominator, you'll almost never use your burning spears again throughout the game.

Lifebreak deals 50% of the opponents HP in damage at LEVEL ONE. The only advantage you get on next levels is a 15 reduction in cooldown, and a reduction in damage you take yourself. Once you get a BKB, you will not take ANY damage, so the later part is nullified. As for the cooldown, it is very rare you'll need to cast lifebreak TWICE in 45 seconds early game. Not to mention that one lifebreak will put you into a beautiful HP level for dishing out damage. But doing it twice may make your HP dangerously low.

By skipping burning spears and lifebreak you have earned yourself +12 to ALL STATS by LEVEL 16 that nobody else will have. That's an ultimate orb and a half. This will make you extremely powerful midgame.

Lategame, Lifebreak is leveled up, simply for the cooldown so that you can jump on people in quick succession in team fights.

Playstyle

Farm farm farm.

Early game, in the lane phase, Farm like never before. Practice your last hits. That armlet is crucial.

Mid game start trying to gank, but farm is still crucial. This is a carry build. As a carry, if you aren't assisting your team, you are farming. Never go too long without farming. when transferring between lanes, hit the jungle.

Some fun tips to know is that clearly, you are at your strongest when at low HP. But some people don't realize this. They will see you at low HP and engage you, only to get themselves slaughtered. Many-a-time I have turned a 4v1 into a ultra kill simply because they thought Huskar would fall easily.

Try not to intiate FIRST, as if you get stun locked you will fall easily, but you are a god when they run out of disables. You will heal faster than they can possibly damage you. And they can no longer finish you with a magical effect. Huskar is the new REAL anti-mage.