A Husker last pick for the enemy team is one of the worst things you can see in your Dota 2 ranked matches. Without the right counters, this hero can easily take over the game all by itself. Then again, wasting one of your precious hero bans on this hero also doesn’t feel good.
Heroes like Dazzle or Oracle can bring out the best in Husker. On the other hand, Juggernaut, Chaos Knight, or even Phantom Assassin can completely walk over him without breaking a sweat. There’s a lot to know about playing Husker in Dota 2, and we’ll dissect it all in this guide.
Dota 2 Husker Hero Overview
Husker is a ranged, strength hero in Dota 2 with a weird quirk: he doesn’t have any mana. Prior to patch 7.36, the one with the massive Crownfall event update, Husker had a very small mana pool, but because of his new innate ability, Blood Magic, anytime he uses an ability or item that would cost mana, he loses his health instead.
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This adds some extra dimensions to how you play the hero and the items you build on him, but frankly, it’s not a big change. Because of the items he builds and his passive ability, Berserker’s Blood, he gets constant HP regeneration, counteracting the negative effects of his innate ability.
Here is a quick overview of Husker’s abilities:
|
Ability Name |
How it Works |
|---|---|
|
Inner Fire (Q) |
Husker deals damage in a small AOE around him, knocking back nearby enemies and silencing them for up to 3 seconds. |
|
Burning Spear (W) |
An auto-cast ability that infuses Husker’s auto-attacks with a burning effect. The effect can stack multiple times and has a duration of 9 seconds per stack. |
|
Berserker’s Blood (Passive) |
Increases Husker’s attack speed, HP regen, and magic resistance depending on his missing health. |
|
Life Break (R) |
Husker leaps from a distance onto a targeted enemy unit, dealing damage to both himself and the target. |
Other than his basic spells, Husker has three Facets instead of the standard two that most heroes come with. Those Facets are:
- Bloodbath: Life Break ability also slows enemies in an AOE around the target
- Nothl Transfusion: Life Break ability heals allies in an AOE around the target
- Incendiary: Reduces the Burning Spear’s burn duration and causes it to deal damage based on the target’s maximum health. It also costs a percentage of Husker’s maximum health to cast.
Building Aghanim’s Scepter on Husker upgrades his Life Break ability. This ability causes the targeted enemy to attack Husker for a short duration and increases its cast range. The Aghanim’s Shard upgrade, on the other hand, upgrades the Inner Fire ability, causing it to heal Husker for a percentage of the damage it deals. It also lowers the spell’s cooldown.
Dota 2 Husker Build Guide
Husker has one of the most aggressive playstyles of all Dota 2 heroes. Here’s a complete breakdown of his build:
Ability Build and Talents
The best Facet for Husker is Bloodbath. Husker is a slow hero and quite easy to kite around. With Bloodbath, the slow from Life Break is often enough to lock a hero down and kill him. Some people have experimented with Husker as a Position 4 Support hero with the Nothl Transfusion Facet, but it isn’t very successful in the current meta.
Here’s how you want to level up your abilities and talents with the hero:
Husker’s ability and talent build are pretty much the same in most games. You start with a point in Inner Fire to secure the ranged creep in the lane. Then, you switch points between Burning Spear and Berserker’s Blood. You get your Ultimate at level 6, and by that time, you become a huge kill threat to almost any hero on the opposite side.
Item Progression:
Husker is usually played in the middle lane as a Position 2 core. His item progression is pretty straightforward and remains the same in most matchups
.
You want to start the laning phase with a couple of stat items. We recommend going with a Gauntlet of Strength and a Circlet to build into a Bracer, two Iron Branch, and a set of Tango for regen. You can also take a Faerie Fire for that burst heal when you’re making aggressive plays on the enemy Position 2.
Building an early Bracer and Boots of Speed is always a good idea for Husker. This allows you to get up close to the enemy midlaner, building up the Burning Spear stacks to force him under the tower. If you’re playing as Position 3 in the Off Lane, you need to play a bit safer. The major item you want to pick up as early as possible is the Armlet of Mordiggan. It’s one of the best items on Husker, as the Unholy Strength active from the item lets you quickly access the bonuses from your Berserker’s Blood passive ability.
Once you have your Armlet, upgrade your Boots of Speed to Phase Boots, and you’re pretty much set to kill anyone on the map. Other than the two items, Husker also benefits from Heaven’s Halberd for the extra evasion. Aghanim’s Scepter and Aghanim’s Shard upgrade also add some disables to your arsenal, allowing you to lock down an enemy hero and burn away at their health. Black King Bar is a must-have for the hero. Consider prioritizing this item after Phase Boots if the enemy team has too many disables.
Depending on the matchup, Blademail can sometimes be a good item on Husker. Combined with the health regeneration from his Passive, Husker can deal a lot of damage using this item. Satanic or Heart of Terrasque can be good if you think you need a bit more HP and sustain. To catch slippery heroes, you can consider building the Blink Dagger and upgrading it to Overwhelming Blink later on. For teams with items like Force Staff, Glimmer Cape, or Eul’s Scepter of Divinity, Nullifier can be a decent pickup on Husker in the late game.
How to Play Husker: Tips and Strategy
Playing Husker isn’t too complicated as long as you know how to manage your Health. Since Husker spends his HP to use his abilities, you don’t want to spam it too much. When you go to the lane, use your Inner Fire ability to secure last hits and pressure the enemy. Investing 1 point in this ability level 1 often pays dividends for this reason.
Once you hit level 3, that’s when you get your first power spike. Now that you have at least 1 point in both your Berserker’s Blood passive and Burning Spear, you can start playing more aggressively. Run up to the high ground and hit the enemy with a couple of Burning Spears to build up some stacks, followed by auto-attacks in between. You don’t want to spam it since it will drain your health quickly. Just a couple of stacks will be enough to trickle down the enemy’s health. Focus on last-hitting creeps and putting some pressure on the enemy hero while you save up gold for your early-game items.
Once you have your Armlet of Mordiggan, you have two options: You can continue farming and pressing the enemy hero, or you can move to one of the side lanes and look for kill opportunities. Your ultimate is extremely powerful early on, as it lets you close the distance quickly and take away a big chunk of your target’s HP in one go. Use this to go to the enemy safe lane tower and pressure the Position 1 carry.
Once you’re around levels 10-12 and have a couple of kills under your belt, you can try killing Roshan. Husker is one of the few heroes in Dota 2who can solo kill Roshan by toggling the active ability in Armlet of Mordiggan. If you manage to kill Roshan and claim the Aegis of Immortality, you can start running down your enemies even harder.
During Teamfights, Husker likes to go for the squishy heroes first. Since you can’t be disabled during Life Break’s animation, use it to break through to the enemy backline. Husker can pounce on a target and kill him before their team has time to react.
As Husker, you want to play a high-tempo game, constantly searching for kills and securing objectives. This hero doesn’t farm too quickly and loses a lot of his effectiveness as the game goes late. Build your core items, start taking the objectives, and try to close out the game as fast as possible.
That’s about all there’s to know about playing Husker in Dota 2. While managing his HP might seem tricky at first, with some practice, you’ll get the hang of it. Feel free to try out the build and let us know in the comments how it worked out for you.
Dota 2
DOTA 2 is a long-running MOBA release in which characters pick from a wide array of Heroes, each with their own unique abilities and playstyles. Players battle on teams against one another and attempt to take down a variety of defenses to end the game.
