Teleporting Ganking Drop Bear of Terror: A Guide to Ursa.

Introduction

Ulfsaar the Ursa Warrior is a simple and powerful mid-game carry hero.

He is easy to learn how to play, and is only modestly farm and mana dependent. He is an excellent hero for players new to DOTA to start with.

His greatest strength is close range one-on-one combat, and the ease in which he can kill Roshan.

His greatest weakness is his vulnerability to disables, and the ease in which he can be 'kited' in large teamfights. For this reason, Ursa's influence weakens in the late game when items such as Force Staff, Diffusal Blade, Rod of Atos and Scythe of Vyse can easily disable you, and items such as Eye of Skadi, Shiva's Guard and Sange and Yasha can slow you and prevent you from reaching enemies. He is also weak against illusion heroes such as Phantom Lancer.



Due to Ursa's inherent weaknesses my view is he is best played as a position 2 or 3 carry, with more reliable carries (ie. Shadow Fiend, Anti-Mage, Phantom Lancer, Spectre taking the position 1 slot).

Ursa can be played as a position 1 carry, however this strategy ideally relies on Ursa snowballing out of control and the game ending very rapidly. He can either lane (ideally with supports with reliable disables or slows) or jungle.

Ursa has some initiation potential ( Blink Dagger and Overpower can rapidly turn a 5v5 fight into a 5v4 fight) but it is probably best to have a dedicated initiator on your team.

Ursa is also moderately tanky with the equal 9th highest strength gain in the game, and an ultimate, Enrage, which reduces all damage by 80% for 4 seconds. For these reason he can serve the role of tank as well, allowing other more fragile teammates to perform their role.

He has an excellent win rate (59.19%, 3rd on Dotabuff for patch 6.84) which I believe is because he is very easy to master and modestly farm dependent.

This is my second guide on DotaFire, my first guide being on Sniper. I have played approximately 200 games with Ursa, mostly ranked. There may be more experienced Ursa players reading this guide, and their comments I would consider valuable. This is a guide in progress, and as time progresses one should expect more media (screenshots and videos) associated with this guide.

Ursa: a summary

A summary of Ursa:
- Extremely powerful close range single target combat
- Very strong against tanky heroes ( Fury Swipes)
- Tremendous burst damage ( Overpower)
- Modestly gold dependant
- Useful damage from level 2 onwards provided allies have disables or slows
- Very strong 'mid-game' once a gap closer item (ie. Blink Dagger) is obtained
- Can solo Roshan from level 4 onwards, level 1 Roshan is possible with the right team composition
- Can jungle from level 1
- Easy to learn
- Can be extremely fun to play

- Moderately tanky (Strength gain of 2.9, the highest for an agility hero and equal 9th highest overall),
- 6.84's Enrage means he can tank early punishment from enemies in teamfights (80% damage reduction for 4 seconds).
- Earthshock is a useful area of effect nuke and slow.
- Modestly mana dependent

- Potentially easily 'kited' by ranged carries
- Weak against disables and slows
- Countered by physical damage immunity (eg. Guardian Angel, Ghost Scepter)
- Weak against illusion heroes
- Outcarried by other heroes late game
- Reliant on 'gap closer' items ( Blink Dagger, Shadow Blade)

Ganks and teamfights
A gap closer item such as Blink Dagger is essential to be effective.

With his burst damage Ursa is excellent at assisting with ganks on enemies who stray out of position. Teammates who can disable the enemy are very helpful.

Ursa's teamfight strategy is to either co-initiate with the team's initiator by providing tremendous burst damage to make the fight 5v4 (or less). As you are a terrifying high-damage bear, teams can be initially tempted to focus you down, creating space for other teammates to use their abilities. This is where the new 6.84 Enrage truly shines, as you receive damage reduction of 80% for 4 seconds. Try to soak up as much damage as you can for the team during this time. For these two reasons you can also act as a reasonable tank for your team.

When to pick Ursa

Pick Ursa when:
- your team needs a secondary or tertiary carry
- your team needs a 'tank'
- your team needs a stronger mid-game
- your team would benefit from a jungler
- your team has good disables or slows
- the enemy team lacks disables or slows
- the enemy team has picked mostly single target melee carries
- the enemy team has picked tanky melee gap closers (ie. Clockwerk, Pudge, Axe)

Avoid picking Ursa when:
- you have enough carries
- you are expected to solo carry - you are not the best late game carry
- you have enough tanky heroes
- the enemy has a lot of disables or slows
- the enemy have strong illusion heroes, and your team has no counter
- the enemy has a lot of escape heroes, such as Storm Spirit

Skills

I generally level skills in the following priority:

> > > >


Enrage gives you 80% damage reduction over 4 seconds. Use this to tank damage for your team and create space for your allies to use their abilities. The Fury Swipes damage bonus is also extremely helpful and you can certainly cast this to help you secure a gank. With Enrage active can continue hitting heroes with Blade Mail on, walk through Land Mines without taking any damage, get Laguna Blade'ed or reposition yourself if Bloodseeker uses Rupture on you.

Fury Swipes gives you tremendous damage potential against a single target if you can hit them long enough, and I try to max this as soon as possible.

Overpower gives you maximum attack speed for up to 6 attacks. The cooldown is 10 seconds but the duration is 15 seconds. This is a 5 second window where you can use your initial Overpower attacks, and recast it, allowing you to stack up to 12 hits at maximum attack speed. This is tremendous burst damage combined with your Fury Swipes (2340 damage alone from maximum level Fury Swipes by your 12th hit, plus any other base and item damage you deal). This is obviously very useful when farming jungle or ganking enemy heroes. (1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9 + 10 + 11 + 12) x 30 = 2340

Mastering the concept of rapid succession Overpower is key to mastering Ursa, as this allows you to burst down any single target enemy hero without an escape extremely rapidly and turn a 5v5 fight into a 5v4 fight.

Earthshock is a useful area of effect slow which also deals magical damage. I use this if I see the enemy trying to run away. I level this at level 9, but it isn't wrong to maximize Overpower first before leveling this ability.

Starting items, starting lanes, farming priority

Starting items: Jungle

Acknowledgement: Unscathed for suggesting discussion on Quelling Blade in jungle

My goal whilst jungling will be to obtain Morbid Mask and Ring of Basilius as soon as possible as this will allow you enough health and mana regeneration to survive in the jungle as well as enough mana to use Overpower to increase your farming rate. After this the priority is to get Boots of Speed and Blink Dagger.

Ursa deals a lot of damage to single targets but needs a lot of regeneration if he is to jungle successfully. Regardless of which starting items are chosen I generally find I will need two Tangos and a Healing Salve to comfortably obtain Morbid Mask.

I would propose there are two acceptable starting item sets when jungling:

Non- Quelling Blade start




Quelling Blade start





I did in-game testing of time to Blink Dagger with both starting items sets in bot games. Below is listed game times to purchase of certain items purely on jungle farm (no gank attempts).





Even though the Quelling Blade build test had slightly inferior runes for farming (one less bounty rune - missed, one invisibility rune) it obtained Blink Dagger slightly faster than the non Quelling Blade build. And you also get a Quelling Blade on top of all your normal items. This is reliant on unrestricted access to 2 additional courier usages to get additional regeneration.

I would suggest choosing Quelling Blade if you have unrestricted courier access as this appears to be superior. If there is restriction on courier access, a non- Quelling Blade build would be a better choice as it allows you to carry all your necessary regeneration right from the beginning.

Starting items: Lane

My suggested starting items, if you are laning are:



Ursa if he is adequately supported will rely much less on health and mana regeneration. One set of Tangos is usually adequate to start with, although more regeneration is always useful to stay in the lane. Stout Shield will help against harassment and allow you to tank creep damage somewhat. Orb of Venom allows you to slow the enemy and land more hits, making you more threatening in lane.

You could swap the Orb of Venom for more regeneration items, or Magic Stick. Stout Shield can also be swapped for other items if you feel you will not be harassed at all (rare in public games). You could use Quelling Blade if you feel you need help with last hitting. It will be also helpful if you need to jungle for a significant period of time. You can use it to build Battle Fury (highly situational against illusion enemy heroes) or you need to deal with Nature's Prophet's Sprout.

Starting lane

The best lane for Ursa is safe lane provided you have a support with some disables or slows. I would advise against Offlane or Middle Lane unless you have a particular strategy in mind and/or excellent supports.

Farming priority

Position 1-5 is the order of farming priority on your team. 1-3 are usually core heroes, 4-5 support heroes. Position 1 is played as the 'hard carry', position 5 the 'hard support'. The rest are in between.

As mentioned Ursa does not carry so well in the late game so he is best suited to a position 2 or 3 role. That being said, Ursa can play as a position 1, however if this is the case I would strongly suggest against the game going late, as Ursa is easily kited, and heroes will purchase many disabling and slow items to limit your effectiveness.

Further item progression

Critical priority items

> AND/OR


Ursa needs to be close to the enemy to deal damage, keep them still so you can continue to hit them, and avoid being disabled so you can continue to hit them. These three items (or similar items) I find critical to perform your function as Ursa.


Blink Dagger (Essential - get ASAP)
Ursa needs to be close to the enemy to deal damage. I find Blink Dagger to be the best item to achieve this. You need this as soon as possible. Blink dagger gives you immense ganking potential and I find this item so critical to making a contribution in fights. If you don't have Blink Dagger, your teammates will need to provide the gap closing ability (ie. Meat Hook, Toss) or disable for you. If your team cannot provide this you will need to keep farming until you get Blink Dagger, otherwise you may find you make no contribution in teamfights (except receiving damage). The alternative gap closer ( Shadow Blade) is a useful item but I find in teamfights is easily countered by vigilant support heroes with Sentry Wards, Gem of True Sight or other detection (ie Necronomicon). There is nothing wrong with getting Shadow Blade but I find Blink Dagger is better. There is also nothing wrong with getting both Blink Dagger and Shadow Blade (an invisible teleporting burst damage bear???) but it may also be worth buying more damage, more tankiness or Black King Bar instead.

Skull Basher
Once you blink onto the enemy, you need to keep them still long enough to land all your hits. For this reason I would describe Skull Basher as a core item, especially against heroes with escapes (eg. Ember Spirit). Combined with Overpower you are pretty much guaranteed a Black King Bar piercing stun. Teammates can subsequently help chain stun, and you can cycle your stuns until the enemy is dead. The alternative to Skull Basher is Scythe of Vyse which is double the cost but makes you tankier and gives you ridiculous mama regeneration. If there are no escape heroes, other items (eg. Diffusal Blade against Omniknight or Warlock) can be used to slow your enemy to land your hits.

Black King Bar
Smart teams will do their best to disable, slow and kite you in fights. If there is a high likelihood of this, this item is essential so you can actually land your hits. An alternate item is Linken's Sphere but this will only block one disable every 16 seconds.

Getting these items

Jungle

My item order in jungle is:

> > > > >

Morbid Mask gives you lifesteal, allowing you to continually jungle farm without buying further regeneration. It allows you to eventually solo Roshan and helps with survivability in teamfights.

Ring of Basilius gives you extra armor and mana regeneration. It allows you to tank more damage from creeps and in battle, and allow you to use Overpower more frequently whilst jungling, increasing your farming rate.

Boots of Speed I get next. You will need Boots of Speed to ensure you can get close to your enemies.

Town Portal Scroll allows you to teleport to towers and help your team defend them, if they are being pushed.

Smoke of Deceit can be used to sneak into Roshan, or can be used to help with

After I get these items I rush Blink Dagger and start getting more involved in teamfights.

Safe Lane

My item order in lane is:

( > > ) > >

My item order in lane is slightly different. I get Boots of Speed first, which combined with with Orb of Venom and a support with a disable, means you are highly threatening in lane by being able to move and use Overpower on your enemy.

Sometimes my supports provide me enough kills that I do so well that I am able to skip both Morbid Mask and Ring of Basilius and go straight to Blink Dagger. I would highly recommend this if you do that well. If you don't do so well, certainly purchase both Morbid Mask and Ring of Basilius so you can jungle adequately when the lane is either pushed or unsafe to farm in to get your Blink Dagger.

Once you have Blink Dagger

I usually always get:

> OR > > Other items >

I personally upgrade my boots very late, and go straight to Boots of Travel. This is because I find other items ( Blink Dagger, Skull Basher, Black King Bar, even Desolator) too important to delay. If you prefer to upgrade your boots early, Phase Boots or Tranquil Boots would be the boots of choice for the extra movement speed.

Every team should carry a Vladmir's Offering it is simply too good an item to pass up. Gives whole team lifesteal (including ranged heroes), extra damage, mana and armor regeneration. It gives you lifesteal that doesn't count as an orb, allowing you to get lifesteal and Desolator. The Vladmir's Offering's lifesteal also stacks with your other carries items such as Helm of the Dominator and Mask of Madness. And it frees you a slot previously held by Morbid Mask and Ring of Basilius.

Boots of Travel makes you move very fast, frees up a slot previously used by Town Portal Scroll and gives you tremendous map influence by being able to teleport to any friendly creep. As mentioned I get this late and rely on Blink Dagger, Earthshock and teammates to keep the enemy close.

Damage item options

Desolator is a great item on Ursa. The armor reduction scales well with your Fury Swipes and allows your team to deal more damage to your target. You can get lifesteal from Vladmir's Offering and use the Desolator orb, something not possible for other lifesteal items ( Mask of Madness, Helm of the Dominator). Since you are a natural Vladmir's Offering carrier it makes sense you get Desolator.

Monkey King Bar is another excellent item. Take this item if they have their heroes have a lot of evasion abilities (ie Phantom Assassin, Windranger, Riki) or you see them trying to purchase Butterfly.

Assault Cuirass every team should get, the team armor bonus, team attack speed increase and enemy armor reduction is exceptionally helpful. You will be in the middle of fights, and you are the perfect Assault Cuirass carrier. The armor reduction increases your damage from Fury Swipes and the armor gives you survivability. The attack speed is a bonus when you are not using Overpower.

Abyssal Blade is the natural upgrade from Skull Basher. Certainly worth getting eventually.

Moon Shard gives you extra attack speed. I would only use this to consume if the game goes ultra late and I have excessive farm. Otherwise I would get one of the other items listed.

Butterfly again this gives you extra attack speed, damage and evasion. It is a good item on Ursa but I rarely get it.

Tank item options

Eye of Skadi makes you tanky, gives you damage, gives you a slow. It won't stack with Desolator but will stack with Assault Cuirass. If you want a super tanky bear and another teammate has Desolator this is a very good choice.

Heart of Tarrasque is still a good item as it will make you extremely tanky and allow you to not have to carry lifesteal anymore, but is not necessarily the best item anymore since the 6.84 alteration to Enrage. I get this ultra late game to replace Vladmir's Offering, if I have very excessive farm.

Satanic makes you tanky, gives you lifesteal and its active can greatly restore you health in team fights. Like all frontline carries this is a good choice.

Sange and Yasha makes you fast, do more damage, gives you a slow, gives you more health and is cheaper than the above. It's a good item. You can later disassemble it to Heaven's Halberd/Silver's Edge and Manta Style if you wish.

Shiva's Guard gives you armor and an area of effect slow. It's a good item but perhaps there are better choices.

Anti-disable item options

If you need anti-disable, there isn't really any better item than Black King Bar in teamfights. 5-10 seconds of magic immunity allows you to land all those damaging hits until either they die or you do.

Linken's Sphere is useful if there are single, powerful disables that go through Black King Bar (ie Doom) but be aware this can be countered by activating your Linken's Sphere first with another ability.

Situational item options

Diffusal Blade's Active is obviously useful for heroes such as Omniknight's Guardian Angel and Warlock's Chaotic Offering. It's active can be used to slow enemies so you can finish them off, provided they don't have an escape. Ursa is a reasonable (but not the best) Diffusal Blade carrier.

Blade Mail you can activate during fights once your ultimate has worn off. If there are a lot of enemy ranged carries and you are struggling to hit them in fights, this is not a bad choice, but you should be aware if you are purchasing this item for that purpose, your Ursa might be struggling to have an impact.

Heaven's Halberd you can use to disable the enemy carry.

Shadow Blade / Silver Edge makes you invisible and potentially tanky. Both are good items. Both can be used with Blink Dagger as well to make you especially sinister.

Medallion of Courage / Solar Crest gives armor reduction. Stacks with Desolator. Not a bad choice.

Rod of Atos is a strange item but will make you tanky, give you mana and seriously slow the enemy so you can keep hitting them.

Scythe of Vyse gives you a disable, tankiness and mana regeneration, allowing you to keep hitting them.

Battle Fury is highly situational. Certainly don't use it to farm ala AFK farming Anti-Mage. Use it against illusion based heroes ie Phantom Lancer if you feel it is necessary.

Jungling and laning

Jungle

Jungle Ursa is reasonably straightforward. The possible problems you may face are:
- getting ganked
- not enough regeneration
- taking on camps which are too large
- forgetting to help with rune control

At level 1 you should be able to farm all the camps except the Hellbear Smasher and Wildwing Ripper camps. Centaur Conqueror and Alpha Wolf camps might be a little tricky, but can be farmed if needed, but preferably done at level 2. At level 2 with Overpower and Fury Swipes you could do any of the camps with varying levels of difficulty.

For difficult jungle creeps, Overpower can potentially be used twice within a few seconds. This is because the duration of Overpower is 15 seconds, while the cool down is 10 seconds. Cast Overpower, wait 8-9 seconds, hit the creep then cast Overpower again. This can help minimise your regeneration consumption. This concept can also be used during gank attempts. Timely recasting of Overpower is a key concept to mastering Ursa.

It is vitally important to stay on top of health regeneration. This will protect you from ganks. Heroes such as Bounty Hunter, Weaver and Techies can make your life very difficult and you may need help from your supports to help secure your farm.

Ursa does not benefit from stacked camps in the early game - in fact they can make it harder for you to farm. However I personally will stack the large camp while I am jungling for allied heroes who can rapidly farm stacks ( Sand King, Shadow Fiend, Lina, Axe). If the team is stronger, the higher chance of winning.

As a jungler you have a responsibility to help maintain rune control. If it is safe to help get runes this takes precedence over farming. Haste Rune or Invisibility Rune on Ursa in conjunction with your teammates will usually guarantee a gank in safe lane or middle lane. It is highly preferable you take these. Other runes can be taken by your your bottle carrier. Cast Overpower if you collect a regeneration rune so you can make use of a free Overpower on creeps.

The other aspect to a jungle Ursa is as you are expected to be not be visible in lane, the enemy have to be somewhat vigilant around Roshan after level 4 when you are able to solo him. Smoke of Deceit will allow you to walk past both observer and sentry wards without being detected. For the majority of heroes (exception of heroes such as Templar Assassin) this means an actual physical check by a hero every so often. This obviously uses up time and resources that could be used doing something else (farming, ganking, pushing). This also gives your team ganking opportunies around the Roshan pit as well if they are smart. If you see the enemy are distracted elsewhere on the map and you are farmed enough to solo Roshan it is often a good time to sneakily do it.

Laning

Lane Ursa is also reasonably straightforward, provided you have disabling supports to help you. Shadow Shaman/ Ursa and Lion/ Ursa lanes are extremely strong. They give you the capacity to double stun and burst down an enemy hero if they are caught out of position. Other good lane combinations are Crystal Maiden/ Ursa, Ogre Magi/ Ursa, Dazzle/ Ursa. Basically any support with stuns or slows.

Focus on getting last hits. If the enemy come near, let your supports initiate with disables or slows, and try to burst them down with Overpower combined with Fury Swipes. You will heavily damage them, or even kill them if you are lucky.

Your emphasis should be on getting Boots of Speed and Orb of Venom, allowing you to keep those damaging hits going and killing them before they can escape to their tower. If you do extremely well you should rush Blink Dagger before upgrading your boots, or getting Morbid Mask or Ring of Basilius. Blink Dagger makes Ursa a completely different and terrifying hero, as previously discussed.

Melee heroes, even tanky heroes, generally will struggle in lane against Ursa and a good support. Ranged heroes will have a much easier time against you and you will rely on your support to help you scare them out of lane.

Roshan

When to Roshan

As Ursa you will want to take Roshan at some stage. The big question is when and this is a judgement call. You can solo Roshan as early as level 4 and Morbid Mask, but I find it easier and safer to wait to at least level 7-8 when you have maximum Fury Swipes. With team backup you can Roshan as early as level 1 (ie. the famous Ursa, Wraith King level 1 Roshan strategy, but other strategies exist). This can be a game winning strategy, but a game losing strategy if the enemy pick up on it.

Smoke of Deceit will allow you to walk past both Observer Wards and Sentry Wards into Roshan without being detected.

Just because you can solo Roshan doesn't mean you should. In low skill games it is easy to Roshan with Smoke of Deceit however at higher skill levels, heroes will check Roshan frequently once you are able to solo him. This could lead to you being easily ganked, or worse, also giving Roshan and the Aegis of the Immortal to the enemy team if he is low, and a tremendous gold, experience and teamfight advantage to them.

If you think they are checking Roshan frequently it is best not to try to Roshan, and to keep farming or ganking elsewhere. They will be expending significant energy and time checking Roshan while you are doing something else, time which could been used doing something else (ie. farming, ganking or pushing).

Certain heroes also have abilities which should deter you from making risky solo Roshan attempts (even with Smoke of Deceit). For example, Templar Assassin has Psionic Traps which can provide vision of the Roshan Pit, and Techies has Remote Mines which can give vision. Heroes such as Bloodseeker can detect you if you get to low health, and Zeus and Spectre have global ultimates which can give away your position. Enchantress, Chen or heroes who purchase Helm of the Dominator can leave dominated creeps in the Roshan pit to check for your arrival. Beastmaster can send hawks to check the Roshan pit.

If your team wins a team fight, or has complete map control of the Roshan pit, taking Roshan is usually an excellent decision.

When your team has some degree of map control, or has created some sort of distraction on the other side of the map, an attempt to solo Roshan with smoke may be a good idea. Heroes will also collect runes at each 2 minute interval. It is easy for the enemy to check Roshan after collecting the rune outside Roshan. It is generally a good idea to make semi-risky Roshan attempts slightly after rune respawns, or after the enemy has clearly checked Roshan (ie you can see them check with an Observer Ward nearby)

Ganking and Teamfights

Ganking

During the laning phase, if you get a Haste Rune or Invisibility Rune, look to gank either middle or safe lane. Often this is a guaranteed kill for Ursa.

Otherwise you will need Blink Dagger (or Shadow Blade if you use that) to jump on them and kill them. Look carefully for engagements that are to your team's advantage (ie. 2v1 or 3v2 engagements), get your teammate to initiate (ie. with a stun) and blink in and burst them down. Getting Skull Basher allows you to help with chain stunning them and securing kills. Avoid engaging in fights which are clearly to your disadvantage (ie 1v3 under tower), this should be common sense.

To properly use Overpower, you want to cast this ability approximately 5-10 seconds before you Blink Dagger in. You can immediately start hitting them at maximum attack speed, and this allows you to recast Overpower pretty much straight away after you use your first Overpower, potentially allowing you to hit a single target 12 times at maximum attack speed (2340 damage alone from your Fury Swipes on your 12th hit, plus any other damage you deal), and at the end of your hits, or if you see them trying to run away, you can also cast Earthshock to slow them down and additionally nuke them for a further 240 damage. Then try to cast Overpower again to if needed. This is a lot of burst damage. If they start casting nukes, activate Blade Mail or damaging hits against you, you can cast Enrage to massively reduce the damage dealt to you, but also massively increase the damage dealt by your Fury Swipes.

If you find you are not doing enough damage afer you get Blink Dagger and Skull Basher you will need another damage item. My favourites are Desolator or Monkey King Bar. Armor reduction from Desolator enhances the damage dealt by your Fury Swipes which is why I heavily favor it. Monkey King Bar gives you True Strike and a Bash, and is also a very good item, especially if a teammate already has Desolator.

If you find you are dying or getting close to dying during these gank attempts get tank items as described (ie. Eye of Skadi, Assault Cuirass). If you find you are getting disabled, you will need Black King Bar or Linken's Sphere.

Teamfights

Work with your initiator. Co-initiate with them. For example, when Earthshaker goes for a Blink Dagger/ Echo Slam, Blink in and help kill them. Use the same technique described. Cast Overpower 5-10 seconds before you blink in. Use Earthshock to slow and magically nuke your enemies. Use Enrage to soak up damaging nukes and Blade Mail damage for your team. Activate Black King Bar if you think they will try to disable you. You will be the focus of attention, allowing your teammates to use their abilities and help your team win the team fights.

If you need a good example, have a look at the Rampage gameplay footage where I Blink in with Earthshaker at the end of the guide.

Enemy Heroes Ursa Likes

Essentially these are tanky melee heroes without escapes.

Pudge
You will tend to burst damage this poor chap down with Fury Swipes/ Overpower. He has no escape and Meat Hook brings you even closer. Once you have Blink Dagger if you see Pudge you should take every opportunity to try to gank him.

Clockwerk
This poor chap also has no escape, and even worse, cogs which lock you in with him, and Hookshot which potentially brings him close to you. Again you should try to take every opportunity to try to gank him. If he uses Blade Mail cast Enrage and continue hitting.

Axe
Axe also has no innate escape and has to fight close up. Ursa will tend to kill Axe very quickly. If he uses Blade Mail cast Enrage and continue hitting.

Juggernaut
If he uses Omnislash cast Enrage and watch as he does minimal damage. Then continue hitting him. Preferably with Skull Basher.

Lifestealer
Given comparable farm, Lifestealer generally will die to Ursa due to Fury Swipes and Overpower. Again preferably hit this guy with Skull Basher.

Legion Commander
She has to fight close up, which is good for Ursa. Skull Basher highly recommended. Avoid getting dueled with Overpower active, she may have Blade Mail.

Phoenix
If he casts his ultimate, burst the egg down with Overpower. Tank the damage with Enrage.

Ursa Counters and how to deal with them

Drow Ranger / Any ranged carry with Eye of Skadi
The slow from Frost Arrows or Eye of Skadi is highly problematic for you. To deal with this, you need to Blink Dagger in with your initiator, allowing you to try to burst down the most problematic hero while they are disabled. Frost Arrows is blocked by Black King Bar but Eye of Skadi is unaffected by magic immunity. Just remember against these heroes, if you don't win the fight, you are usually dead.

Disable heroes (ie. Lion, Shadow Shaman, Crystal Maiden)
Your greatest allies are also your greatest threat. Your best option in dealing with these heroes is to either use your initator to disable them and burst them down, or Black King Bar. Eliminate the disable heroes first (thankfully they are squishy) then focus on defeating the rest of the team.

Omniknight
You really need Diffusal Blade to deal with this guy. When he casts Guardian Angel, remove it with Diffusal Blade. Or see if you can burst him down quickly (a smart Omniknight will hide his position)

Evasion heroes ( Riki, Phantom Assassin, Windranger)
Get Monkey King Bar.

Illusion heroes ( Phantom Lancer, Chaos Knight), Chen
Generally you will need help from your teammates to defeat these. Earthshock is useful to help you find which Phantom Lancer or Chaos Knight is the real one. Chen's creep army is highly problematic for you early to mid game, particularly the Centaur Stun, or Troll Summoner Ensnare. You are good against single targets but weak against multiple, so treat these heroes with care. Consider Battlefury if your team is truly struggling, however Fury Swipes does not stack with Battlefury's cleave.

Escape heroes ( Storm Spirit, Anti-Mage, Queen of Pain, Ember Spirit, Mirana etc)
You really need Skull Basher and initiate first. Try to burst them down while they are stunned. If a teammate can help chain stun that is also very helpful. Abyssal Blade and Scythe of Vyse is also helpful.

Invisible heroes ( Bounty Hunter, Riki, Broodmother)
Sentry wards, gem...

Blade Mail
Cast Enrage and continue hitting them
Use Black King Bar and continue hitting them
If none of the above available, try to find another target to hit.

Force Staff
Unfortunately if they use Force Staff to get away from you there is little you can do, except hopefully your teammates can disable them so you catch up with them. Or use Scythe of Vyse if you have it.

Ghost Scepter / Decrepify
You also have limited capacity to deal with this. Earthshock will deal some extra damage to Ghost Scepter/Decreptify users. You will need to wait until it wears off before you can deal more damage. You need teammates to help deal with this item/ability. Ursa should be wary of Pugna.

Scythe of Vyse, Rod of Atos, Diffusal Blade
Use Black King Bar.

Rampage and other gameplay footage

Ultra Kill and Rampage in same game


In this video I obtain both an Ultra Kill and Rampage in the same game in an absolute stomp. Notice how I am drafted with an initator & disabler ( Earthshaker), healing support ( Undying) and two ranged carries, one with a disable, one with two slows ( Sniper and Windranger). I finish 22-2-5.


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Summary

Ursa is a simple and powerful middle game hero.

Ursa is an excellent first hero to learn and master for players new to DOTA.

Ursa is modestly farm dependent and needs:
- gap closer item (ie Blink Dagger)
- item to keep enemy still (ie Skull Basher)
- item to stop the enemy disabling him (ie Black King Bar)

In order to perform his role, which is to deal a large amount of damage at close range.

Once you have Blink Dagger look for ganks. Continue farming if none are on offer.

Ursa can also tank somewhat for his team, with his high strength gain, and Enrage ability.

Ursa is easily kited and disabled, and this is his biggest weakness.

Extra damage or tankiness can be bought from items such as Desolator, Assault Cuirass and Eye of Skadi.

Ursa can solo Roshan easily, however you need to make a careful judgement when to do this, and use Smoke of Deceit to avoid detection by both Observer Wards and Sentry Wards. Good times to Roshan are when the enemy is distracted, lacks map control, or straight after your team have just won a team fight.

Cast Overpower 5-10 seconds before you Blink Dagger into engage in fights, this will allow you to cast Overpower again very quickly, allowing up to 12 attacks at maximum attack speed with serious Fury Swipes damage.

Act as a co-initiator in teamfights and gank attempts. (ie. Blink Dagger in with Earthshaker, Axe or Centaur Warrunner ).

Enjoy playing Ursa. He's an easy hero to master. Comments welcome. More content to be added as time progresses.