Payday!-A guide to Juggernaut [7.01]

Introduction

Hello! I am SatomiCappucino and this is my guide to Juggernaut! He is a very versatile hero and extremely fun to play. I see many people seeing Yurnero as a hard carry...well in my opinion his role is different. He is a ganker and a semicarry, with a strong presence later on, but not a true hard carry. The midgame-this is Juggernaut's time to shine.
Anyway let's go to the guide!

7.00

7.00 is here and Juggernaut wasn't touched at all, except the talent tree.
Just going to point out, you are supposed to level your talents at 10,15,20,25 levels. I am saying that because I cannot write it in the skills section. Also your ultimate is now leveled at 6,12 and 18 levels.

I am going to talk about talents in a separate section.

Role

Safelane

Juggernaut is not the hardest carry, but he can be played at the safelane if there is another carry on the team(example is Lone Druid at the jungle). However if there is another harder carry than Yurnero you gotta leave the safelane to them (if they want). Also while playing as the main carry do not farm all game. You shine most at the mid game and you should end the game fast if you are the main carry as the real hard carries are going to show up with their items farmed.

---

Midlane

This is kind of interesting but viable option for Juggernaut. He is melee and can be harassed by ranged heroes like Queen of Pain, Puck and these can also dodge his ult( Blink, Phase Shift). But if you are versus a Pudge(oh please pick juggs vs pudge) you are going to dominate your lane, because you can just mess his whole combo with your Blade Fury. When going mid rush a Bottle, because it lets you control the runes and also regain your mana and hp!

---

Solo offlane

Juggernaut in the offlane is very strong, because of the fact that you will be extremely hard to kill. With your spell immunity with Blade Fury, healing with Healing Ward and somewhat easy last hitting with Blade Dance the lane will be yours.

---

Trilane(carry)

In pro games Juggernaut is often picked as a part of a trilane. Again I recommend going in the trilane only if there is another carry in your team which can secure your late game. If you have good supports you are going to free farm(only if vs 1 hero) and pretty much get items faster.

---

Support

What the hell... Juggernaut as a support?
Well if you max ward and buy a Soul Ring your carry will be healed all of the time!
Buuuut you will fall off late game as without farm and kills you won't be able to do anything except healing.

---

Jungle

With recent patches jungling has been more and more common, but I won't reccomend it for Juggernaut. You are way better at lane and with more kill potential.

Pros/Cons

Pros:
+Built in spell immunity with Blade Fury
+A spell acting like a AoE Heart of Tarrasque
+Amazing damage early game with Blade Fury(300/375/450/525 magic dmg after reductions)
+ Blade Dance is a CRIT!. Who does not like crits? The proc chance is very high making it a viable passive early.
+Omnislash, if executed properly can one shot most squishy heroes at lvl 6(eg no creeps nearby)
+AMAZING base attack time
+Very versatile hero able to be built in many ways!

---

Cons:
-This sexy samurai is SO squishy
-This sexy samurai is SO mana dependant(well, at early game)
-Low base damage :/
- Omnislash can be countered by Ghost Scepter, Ethereal Blade, Decrepify, invulnerablity( Astral Imprisonment, Phase Shift, Waveform), disarm( Heaven's Halberd, Deafening Blast), invisibility( Ghost Walk, Skeleton Walk AND Shadow Dance(this is worse, will explain later)) and Guardian Angel.
-His massive team healing is countered by Ancient Apparition's Ice Blast.
-Needs items to do something late game as Blade Fury and Omnislash's damages drop off.

When to pick

Juggernaut has no real counters, besides from these that can nulify the effects of his ultimate, but there are still situations which you should not pick this hero...

When to pick:
+You need a carry(not hard) which deals crazy damage at the early and mid stages of the game
+They have slow heroes with no escapes allowing for early first bloods if you are with a good support on lane( Earthshaker) or you are vs a REALLY slow and squishy hero( Crystal Maiden)
+You know how to play aggresively as Juggernaut's playstyle is not like pure farming. If you are going to afk farm better pick someone else like Anti-Mage.

---

When not to pick:
-They have Pugna( Decrepify), Omniknight( Guardian Angel), Morphling( Waveform + he often gets Ethereal Blade).
-You don't have a hard carry
-You love to afk farm
-They do not have interrupts that go through magic-immunity.( Berserker's Call, Flaming Lasso), because they will be able to ruin your escape attempts.

Abilities

Blade fury
This is your main damage early in the game. Besides from doing amazing damage it also renders you magic-immune so you can escape or chase someone without being interrupted(but be careful because most ultimate disables go through magic-immunity-ex. Fiend's Grip).
The bad thing about this abilty is that it costs SOO much mana early game AND silences you. You can still use items however.
You max this first as the reduced cooldown and mana cost lets you use it more often.

Tips
Almost everyone knows this but I will still explain it- for a clean escape with a tp scroll first use Blade Fury and then teleport to safety. This gurantees an escape only if you can survive enemy right clicks for 1-4 seconds, because of your magic immunity.

Blade Fury does not affect buildings, wards, spell-immune heroes and siege creeps. Unaffected enemies will take full attack damage from Juggernaut during Blade Fury. You can use this to finish off a tower without getting stuned or nuked down. Also you can bash with your attacks during the spell, however not doing any damage to heroes and creeps.

---

Healing ward
This ability is AMAZING. It heals in an AoE a percent of healed units's maximum hp. Also the ward can be controlled. The heal is provided by aura and lingers for about 2 seconds more. You are going take an early point(25% of max hp healed), but max it last as the mana cost is very high at higher levels. You can max this earlier if you are doing something like a 5 man push strat very early. The heal is very useful. Careful though because your ward has only 1 health, which means it is going to be one-shotted.
You max this last.

Tips
Control your ward!Position it so it is not focused in teamfights. The heal is so broken you cannot even imagine. It is almost impossible to lose a teamfight with the ward alive the whole time(almost-im looking at you Ancient Apparition)

If you bought Soul Ring- use it before the ward, because it will basically do not cost mana and the hp loss is healed back!

---

Blade dance
This is a simple steroid ability which gives you a chance to deal 200% of your damage on each attack. This is like a free Daedalus- with a lower damage but a higher chance to proc. You max this second.

---

Omnislash
This is Juggernaut's ultimate ability. When you cast it on someone you jump on him various times-becoming invulnerable and dealing damage with each jump. However the target for each remaining jump after the first is selected randomly from the 450 "dota meters" radius meaning that this spell is not very effective near creeps. There is almost no hero who can survive the Omnislash followed by Blade Fury combo at level 6. Be careful though, because this combo eats ALL of your mana (without stats or Power Treads it cannot be casted). You get this at levels 6,12,18.

Tips
Creeps are one-shotted by Omnislash(only if not ancient or controlled).

Use Omnislash early in the game to kill the squishy heroes without escape mechanisms. This way you are going to be fed easily.

When about to cast Omnislash+ Blade Fury CHECK YOUR MANA POOL! And I mean it, because with your little mana pool you will remain on about 70 mana after your ult. You can fix this problem with Power Treads or Soul Ring(or getting stats in place of crit like most players, but I don't do it because ward and crit are very effective and I just cannot skip them for later).

With a decent attack speed you will be able to attack during your Omnislash triggering on-hit effects( Desolator, Diffusal Blade, but not lifesteal :/).

Omnislash deals physical damage. What about that? You can cast it on AND damage magic-immune enemies. However your ult does not go through Decrepify and other ghost form spells. To fix this you will need to purge their ghost form with a Diffusal Blade. If you have Oracle and/or Shadow Demon you do not need to buy this item as the heroes I listed have a purge already.

You can use items during your ultimate.
That's why Blink Dagger is so good on Juggy. You can reposition yourself if you ****ed up your Omnislash(eg started slashing creeps).

Omnislash makes you invulnerable. You cannot take damage and be CC-ed while under this effect.

Don't worry. Linken's Sphere blocks the damage only from the FIRST slash.

---

Note:
The gifs are not visually like the original ones(they are achieved only with custom sets of items)

Talents

The talent tree is a new feature added in version 7.00.
You are able to put a point in your talent tree at levels 10,15,20 and 25. You WILL use up one of your ability points if you put it in your talent tree. So you cannot level up an ability and a talent at level 10 for example.

At level 10 you can either get 150 hp OR 20 dmg. The damage is preferred. If you have a hard time at surviving you can get the health too.

At level 15 you can get 20 attack speed OR 6 armor. Juggernaut has a good armor gain so you would be taking the attack speed here. If you are facing very hard physical damage and armor reduction you can consider getting the armor.

At level 20 you can get 20 movement speed or 8 to all stats. The movement speed is useless. With Mask of Madness and Yasha you movement speed is already high enough. Get the stats.

At level 25 you can upgrade your Blade Fury to deal 175 more dps or you can get 20 agility. Late game your attacks do way more damage than your Blade Fury. It is mostly used for the magic immunity. The extra agility is the better option.

Items

Starting items

These are your starters. With the Stout Shield you can mitigate some of the harass, with the Tango and Healing Salve you can keep yourself healthy. The branches are for the extra stats meaning easier last hitting and denying.
If going mid vs an easy matchup( Pudge) you can do the standart Bottle rush starting items~ Tango and 3x Iron Branch

Early game

These are some early game items. Boots of Speed-essential for every hero, because of the movement speed increase. Morbid Mask- gives you lifesteal, meaning you will be healthy and ready to fight xD. It is later upgraded into Mask of Madness or Vladmir's Offering.

Optional early game

This is a very good pickup as the increased mana and hp regen as well as the free 150 mana(for 150 hp but naah who cares) are very good. You WILL have enough mana to cast your Omnislash+ Blade Fury combo and everyone is going to be happy. However I get this only when there are many early game fights and I just don't have the time to go to base(or if roaming).

Makes last hitting super easy. Ez farm=ez life
If you get this along with your core items you can solo Roshan with healing ward placed(around lvl 13).

Provides you with stats and a burst heal which is very useful. This item is good on every hero, but I think it is not a "must have early game item".

A good item providing you with some stats and mana regen+armor aura. Turn it off in the laning phase as that way the lane won't be pushed and farming for you will be easier. If there is someone who usually buys it( Morphling), don't take it as the aura does not stack.

This item is gotten if you are going in the midlane. Get it asap-right after your starting items. Fill your bottle with the runes. If you have a tough matchup where getting runes will be hard( Queen of Pain) use the courier for refilling.

One very nice and cheap consumable. Useful if you are going to roam. It is just like a single-use Soul Ring but without the hp cost. However unlike other consumables, it does not stack in the inventory :/

Makes your ultimate deal more damage by reducing enemy's armor. Makes killing people easier but also makes you squishier.
Buy it only if a support can't.

Core

VS
Power Treads
Treads! They give you some nice stats, aswell as very good attack speed bonus. With this you are going to be a little bit more tanky and you will hit pretty fast. When you switch them to intelligence the Omnislash+ Blade Fury combo is possible even at lvl 6. If you get a Soul Ring even with Phase Boots you will still be able to cast this combo.

Phase Boots
Phases! They give you insane amounts of movement speed and damage bonus(well the dmg bonus is not that big...). With these boots you are going to hit pretty hard and move very fast. I prefer treads over these as they allow me to tread switch, but these days I almost always get phases, because of the extra speed.

The choice of boots is purely self explanatory. Get the ones that fit your playstyle best.

The rework of Mask of Madness made it kind of better? The silence means that you cannot cast it to chase someone and then ult but the armor reduction is not a problem at all as you have lots of armor. You get it because it helps you farm, kill and move around the map faster.
You can also get Vladmir's Offeringinstead of MoM. Get it only if no one else got it first.

Core

Manta vs SnY

It gives stats and good movement speed. The active creates two illusions and dispells debuffs. Your illusions should hit pretty hard at the late game. I prefer buying this over Sange and Yasha.


It gives 16 to almost everything. If you are having a hard time surviving you can get this. The slow can help you chase too. However late game the better option is to disassemble it and build the Yasha into a Manta Style.

You will get only one of these items okay?
The movement speed bonuses do not stack.


This may sound strange on Jugg but it is indeed a very good option. The purge can be used on enemies for ultimate chasing and the stats are not bad at all. The mana burn provides you with extra attack damage and annoys the hell out of mana dependant heroes.
The purge can be used on ethereal heroes if they are trying to block your ultimate with it.


This item is overall great on most melee heroes. It provides good stats and an amazing passive for the low cost of 2650. If you are low on money for expensive items like Manta Style you can consider getting this.

Other items

Defensive options

One of the best items in the game. Wait... we have magic immunity right? Than why is that needed??? In the late game your Blade Fury deals nothing so you will have to right-click to do damage which you cannot do while Blade Fury is active. That's why we get bkb.

Armor? Attack speed? Along with the same aura this is an amazing defensive option. If you are running a minus armor strat getting this after cores should be good. Be careful to not have two cuirassess in one team as the auras do not stack.

With this you are going to be SOO tanky and the slow is super useful. It is an orb but stacks with lifesteal so you are okay.

LIFESTEAL LIFESTEAL LIFESTEAL. This item can be gotten in place of Mask of Madness. In the late game you have attack and movement speed so mask can be replaced. Replace MoM ONLY with this item okay? You need lifesteal.

Offensive options

No miss=no problem. If you are playing vs a Phantom Assassin, Brewmaster, Troll Warlord or a Butterfly(or Heaven's Halberd) carrier getting this should fix your problem. The mini-bash is very effective too as with your amazing attack speed and high proc chance you should triple-shot most people. Situational, but still a very good pickup.

MOAR DAMAGE MOAR ATTACK SPEED. Also evasion xD. This item is good on every agility carry. The evasion helps vs their carries and the bonus movement speed(if you are not having enough) is good too. The bad thing is that Butterfly's evasion is countered by Monkey King Bar.

Bash? Yeah bash. You will have a chance to stun on each attack. The item gives 85 damage too which is good. The active is a bkb-piercing stun! You are litterally becoming Earthshaker!!! THERE CAN BE MANY EART... uhh sorry I love stuns.

Amazing attack speed and a chain lightning passive. Makes pushing and farming alot easier. The bad thing about this item is the low proc chance for the passive.

OH MY GAWD. This item gives so much attack speed, it is not even funny. The bonus night vision is useful too. Pick it up right after your cores and consume it when you run out of item slots!

Super situational

If you REALLY need the silence buy this item(eg you need to shut down this Storm Spirit before he gets his bkb). It will also fix your mana problems forever and give you some attack speed and damage.

This is the same as Orchid Malevolence, but the disable is better. Just pop it and wreck face.

Makes your ultimate amazing and decreases cooldown. It is very situational though, because your ult does not do THAT much damage late game.

Two times ult? Yeah. Get this item if you really want to get a rampage. Be sure that you have mana to cast 2x Omnislash and Refresher Orb

upgraded boots of travelAllows you to teleport to allied heroes. This is one of the items you buy just to get rid of your money. It is viable only when both teams are left with an ancient and you need massive backdoor.

Blink dagger

This item is way too cool. You can basically blink during your Omnislash. Allows you to chase people(without Radiance) with ease and get in strange places. For me it is not a situational item. I get it almost every game after manta/sny. It is not a "must have" though(well, vs Sniper it is).

Do not buy:

This item is for farming. You are not going to farm only, because you are not a hard carry. If you want aoe damage, buy this Mjollnir!

These are the easiest items to counter. Almost everything can reveal you. You can still gank efficiently without them. The attack speed and damage are not that much so it is just a waste of money.

DagonIf you are running some troll strategies

If you want to throw the game you can buy this

This is item for farming and money. Your hard carry needs money. You are okay with just cores in the mid game, but your carry needs money. So don't buy this.

Friends and foes

Friends

The thing Juggernaut needs early game is someone locked in place. So he is good on lane with supports which have strong slow/stun. If you have someone listed above and you are vs slow heroes with no escapes-the first blood is yours. About Dark Seer. You do not have to get boots early if you plan to stay in lane and make kills. He can Surge so you can ensure Blade Fury deals full damage.
About Lion. His disables are more than amazing. At level 2 if you have boots Lion can give you and easy kill vs squishy targets.

Foes

The ultimate counter. You cannot deal any damage with your ultimate to people affected by ghost form. You can fix this problem with a Diffusal Blade.

Absolutely the same as ghost form. His Guardian Angel can affect more people though so it is worse. Repel will prevent you from getting first bloods and you cannot chase him because of Degen Aura(it goes through magic immunity, why volvo ;_;)

Your ultimate is countered my invisibility, right? Well if you carry some dust this won't be a problem. But Slark is not invisible, he is "undetectable". He will just pop Shadow Dance and end your ult. Also early game he will escape your first blood attempts with Pounce. He is the most annoying enemy to go against in my opinion.

They will blink away and end your ult. You can however catch them during your ult with Blink Dagger if you blink where they blinked.

Crazy jukes, invulnerablity and good harass early. You just cannot kill him. Don't even try.

You cannot kill him unless you are extremely fed. Consider getting Ancient Apparition on your team.

He is one of the most tanky heroes in the game. His Berserker's Call goes through your Blade Fury. You know what his Berserker's Call gives? Yup, that's right-40 armor. And do you know what type of damage your ultimate deals-physical. This means that if you Omnislash him he WILL survive it. You need to be fed to kill this guy and you will need help.

There are few good meepo players. But if you find one it is pretty much gg for you. If you Omnislash all of his clones will take some of the damage resulting in wasted ult. In the late game he will probably have more damage than you and you will not be able to 1v1 him. Again-there are few good meepo players so it is not that bad.

Yup, this is one very bad matchup for you. She can make herself immune to physical damage with Cold Embrace(eg pseudo-ghost form). With Arctic Burn she can kite like hell and escape Blade Fury first blood attempts. With Winter's Curse you will basically kill your support or other squishy carry. Basically this girl will wreck you.

Outworld devourerHis late-game damage is way better than yours. He can "cancel" your ult with Astral Imprisonment. And probably late-game he will one-shot-ult you, because of your low intelligence.

Gameplay

Early game

The game starts and here you are! Walking to the lane with your support(s). Your goal at the early game depends of your opponent and partner. If they have a Crystal Maiden and you have Venomancer the first blood will be very easy if the maiden is not very aware of her position. But if your enemies are smart and/or fast or VERY tanky from lvl 1(eg. Spirit Breaker) your goal will be to farm and to ofc not die. After acquiring your Mask of Madness and upgraded boots you can kill almost everyone as farmed as you without ult. After getting your Omnislash you MUST go search for some squishies to one-shot them. It does not matter if you have ult- don't play cocky when it is off cooldown. I mean that even with ult you cannot kill everybody. You should know your powers.

Mid game

Gankz and teamfightz brah. If your initiator is ready you should do a follow-up with your ult. After winning a teamfight you can go and push towers and rax or maybe get Roshan if you haven't already. If their team is not aware you can smoke and go solo him. With a Healing Ward placed you can solo rosh very easy around lvl 9-13 depending on your farm. And at the mid game please.. gank. Do not farm if you can gank someone. Juggernaut is not VERY farm dependant. Just go with your support-let him stun first and do a follow-up with Omnislash and/or Blade Fury.

Late game

Teamfights are a key to victory now. When pushing use your ward as the heal is amazing(careful as it has 1 hp). It is almost the same as mid game though. Here, a bkb probably will be needed, because you are going to be nuked down(most times). Never go solo at any point at the late game. Stay with your tanky teammate or support that can save you from death. JUST be very careful to not get ganked as Juggernaut contributes to the teamfight much more than many other heroes.

Conclusion

That's all guys. Please write comments and vote so I can improve my guide in the best way possible :D! Before downvoting tell me why are you doing it in the comments!
Have fun with Juggernaut!