Huskar, the Sacred Warrior Guide

Hero Statistics


Huskar, the Sacred Warrior
Affiliation: Sentinel
Range: 350 | Move Speed: 300 | Primary: STR
Str: 18 + 2.4 | Agi: 20 + 2.4 | Int: 18 + 1.5
Damage: 39 - 48 | HP: 492 | Mana: 234
HP Regen: 0.79 | Mana Regen: 0.73
Attack Speed: 1.06 (+ 20% IAS) | Armor: 1.8

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The Trolls of the Darkspear tribe, long since exiled from their ancestral lands in Stranglethorn Vale, are considered by many to be the most savage race of creatures to ever grace the battlefield. This reputation is well earned by their Sentinel representative Huskar, who's abilities revolve around shortening his own lifespan to spear his foes to burning pieces. Considered a blessed martyr by his people, the Sacred Warrior is not afraid of death, and will even run towards it willingly, sometimes desperately, in order to bring the Undead Scourge to an end.

Why choose Huskar?

So why choose Huskar anyway? Well, I find Huskar to have very good lane control in early game, having a damaging harassing skill as well as inner vitality which can heal him alot. Plus, he is semi-flexible, able to be a tanker, assassin, and even semi-support.

Pros
- High damage harassing skill
- Tanking ability
- Good lane control
- Ranged strength hero
- Ultimate which is good for supporting or killing.
- Good strength and agility gain.

Cons
- Low base damage
- No escape skill
- Needs damage items to kill lategame
- Skills are a double edged sword

Skills

Inner [V]itality



Magically unlocks the potential regenerative power within a target unit, healing its life force based upon its primary attribute. If the target is below 40% it will heal faster. Lasts 16 seconds.

Level 1 - 5(15)% of main attribute + 2 hp regen per second.
Level 2 - 10(30)% of main attribute + 4 hp regen per second.
Level 3 - 15(45)% of main attribute + 6 hp regen per second.
Level 4 - 20(60)% of main attribute + 8 hp regen per second.

Cooldown: 30
Manacost: 170 at all levels

Information: This skill is extremely useful, mostly in lategame, because it can heal high amounts. In early game, if you do get this skill, it will definitely help against nukers and harassers, and overall lane survivability. It's great to heal a dying teammate too.

Bu[r]ning Spear



Using his own life force to set them aflame, the Sacred Warrior can cause his spears to deal stackable damage over time as they impact the foe. Cannot cast if Huskar's HP is lower than 100. Stacks up to 5 times. Lasts 6 seconds.

Level 1 - 6 damage per second.
Level 2 - 8 damage per second.
Level 3 - 10 damage per second.
Level 4 - 12 damage per second.

Cooldown: 0
Healthcost: 15

Information: Huskar's only harassing skill at the start, but quite a deadly one. This would be your main killing skill, and lane control skill. The stacking ability of the skill makes it great, because it can easily lower an enemy's hp to red in a short time. Don't hesitate to spam this on a lower hp hero or a hero without regen items, because this skill has no manacost and the healthcost hurts you less than it hurts them. Max this skill ASAP. With this, you can cause up to 60 damage per second, which is quite a lot at early game.

Berserker's Blood



Huskar feels each of his wounds and channels the pain, increasing attack speed and damage for each 7% missing health. Stacks up to 7 times. First bonus starts at full health.

Level 1 - 2% IAS and +2 damage.
Level 2 - 4% IAS and +4 damage.
Level 3 - 6% IAS and +6 damage.
Level 4 - 8% IAS and +8 damage.

Information: Amazingly, this skill actually does synergize well early game, as it does lategame. If you do choose to level up this skill in the beginning, it synergizes well with Sacred Warrior's ultimate and burning spear.

Li[f]e Break



Huskar reaches into the well of his own life force to potentially destroy an enemy. Huskar's target takes damage equal to 40% of his HP. Slows target by 50% for 5 seconds. Huskar pays a certain percentage of his HP to cast this.

Level 1 - Huskar pays 40% of his current HP.
Level 2 - Huskar pays 33% of his current HP.
Level 3 - Huskar pays 25% of his current HP.

Cooldown: 45

Information: This skill does not kill the enemy, and the damage done is 40% of the enemy's hp, so increasing your own hp will not really help this skill. However, it has a very good slow, which makes it great for starting fights, supporting allies, or even finishing off remaining heroes. The thing to note is its relatively short cooldown and good slow, meaning it can be used in conjunction with harassing enemies.


Skill Build

Harassing build (my build)

1. Burning Spear
2. Berserker's Blood
3. Burning Spear
4. Berserker's Blood
5. Burning Spear
6. Life Break
7. Burning Spear
8. Berserker's Blood
9. Berserker's Blood
10. Inner [V]itality
11. Inner [V]itality
12. Inner [V]itality
13. Inner [V]itality
14. Stats
15. Life Break
16. Life Break
17. Stats
18. Stats
19. Stats
20. Stats
21. Stats
22. Stats
23. Stats
24. Stats
25. Stats

Information: You all are probably wondering why I only got 1 level of life break. This is because I feel that his ultimate is mostly used as the ignition skill because it has the 50% slow, so other levels of Sacred Warrior's ultimate wouldn't really help that much. With this build, berserker's blood is learned early because with using the ultimate, 40% of hp gone means an extra 6 benefits from his berserker's blood, which can equal 12/24/36/48% apsd and 12/24/36/48 damage, enough to kill early game. Also, the level 2 ultimate isn't that good of a benefit for me, because it only reduces damage loss by 7%. By that time, he also has a level 2 inner vitality with this build, and that makes up for the lost hp. Note, this build is for the purposes of harassing, assuming the opponents aren't two harassers themselves.

Survivability

1. Inner [V]itality
2. Burning Spear
3. Inner [V]itality
4. Burning Spear
5. Inner [V]itality
6. Life Break
7. Inner [V]itality
8. Burning Spear
9. Burning Spear
10. Berserker's Blood
11. Berserker's Blood
12. Berserker's Blood
13. Berserker's Blood
14. Stats
15. Life Break
16. Life Break
17. Stats
18. Stats
19. Stats
20. Stats
21. Stats
22. Stats
23. Stats
24. Stats
25. Stats

Information: Like the build above, we don't get life break again at level 11, because level 1 of it would benefit berserker's blood the most. Instead it is gotten at level 15/16, to lower damage taken by Huskar. However, this time burning spear becomes only the secondary skill, because assuming there are harassing opponents you would not want to put yourself at risk by harassing opponents. By level 6, there are 3 levels of inner vitality to allow Huskar to have more lane control, while still having some ability to harass. If you are facing off against heroes like QoP, Tinker, or Viper, stats are also an alternative early on.

Item Build

Core Build:
1. 2x Tangoes of Ancient Essification (3x in AR)
2. 2x Gauntlets of Strength (3x in AR)
3. Power Treads
4. 2x/3x Bracers / Tangoes
5. Sacred Relic
6. Radiance
7. Messerschmidt's Reaver
8. Vitality Booster
9. Heart of Tarrasque
10. Messerschmidt's Reaver
11. Vitality Booster
12. Heart of Tarrasque
13. Boots of Travel (optional)

In short:
1. 2-3x tangoes
2. 2-3x gauntlets
3. Power treads
4. 2-3x bracers / tangoes
5. Radiance
6. Heart
7. Heart (if game persists long)
8. Boots of Travel (optional)

Optional items:
1. Assault Cuirass
See section on Alternative/Additional Items for more information.

or
Final core items: BoT/Treads, Radiance, Heart, Heart, 2x Bracer


Optional items: Assault Cuirass - See Alternative/Additional Items for more information on items.

Item cost without optional recommended items: 1530 + 5325 + 5500 + 5500 + 510 + 510 = 18875
Item cost with all additional items: 2700 + 5325 + 5500 + 5500 + 6320 = 25345

Item Build Justification

This build allows you to kill early as well as in lategame. At first, with 2x tangoes and 2x Gauntlets survivability shouldn't be an issue because he has a total of 700 HP in regen items as well as additional HP and damage. With this build, melee heroes should be no problem to face because you a ranged hero and have extra strength. If there are ranged heroes or harassers you will have regeneration items to help you survive. At the start, you won't really need damage because of your orb skill. Power treads gives you that little extra boost in MS and AS which is really useful for Huskar because of his high dps early game. In the mid and lategame, his orb skill is not that damaging anymore so his role is the tanker and secondary dps hero.

Power treads at the start is sufficient because you don't need such a high MS from BoT; you have your ultimate to slow heroes. Also, the cheap cost of power treads is preferable because you want to have as much DPS early game, because your orb skill is the most effective at this time. It gives a reasonable amount of attack speed too.

By mid game, your role as a tanker/secondary dps hero comes into play, which is why radiance is a preferable first expensive item. Its benefits are truly invaluable - since you are the tanker of the team, the 35 damage per second to enemies draw their fire on you, leaving your teammates to take out dangerous enemy heroes. The immolation effect and damage also increases potential damage per second to 155+. You can farm easily with radiance too.

In the last part of mid game, hearts are definitely needed because if you follow my first skill build, this is where your inner vitality is the most effective. Increasing strength will compliment his tanking ability, and opponents will want to focus fire on you, because you have the radiance. This will allow your teammates to kill the other heroes. Plus, with the hearts, you can easily use your ultimate without fear of dying in order to eliminate the enemy's disablers/stunners.

In late game, Boots of Travel is optional because it allows you to move faster, enabling you to use your ultimate on slower heroes and also defending base, since Huskar doesn't have any MS increasing skills. But you can still rely on Scroll of Town portals.

That's it for the core build. All the items are already quite expensive, costing over 17k. If the game lasts really long, I recommend farming for an assault cuirass as it will give an edge in your team's pushing, and the extra 15 armor can make a difference in his tanking ability. Also, the 55% attack speed boost also allows him to be a great DPS hero as well.

Remember, there are also alternative items listed to purchase which is meant to make this item build flexible. For example, getting BKB instead of a second heart will help against nukers and disablers, and so you don't have to worry about spells. Lastly, I cannot guarantee that this item build will ensure victory all the time, but I have tested it myself and found it to fit his role as a tanker efficiently..

Alternative/Additional Items


Assault Cuirass
I don't really play this style often, but the attack speed bonus can really help at the start, especially if you are going to buy hyperstone in early game to land more hits in with burning spear. It can benefit your team lategame also. I don't really use this item but I don't disagree with it either.


Butterfly
Like assault cuirass, you can get a lot of attack speed from this, but this item is really only if you already have high damage items such as your hearts and radiance. It's pretty good lategame because you can also tank using its dodge. But Assault cuirass is better for me because it supports the team, and is less expensive too.


Hood of Defiance
This can help if you are having trouble early game. Get this item only if you are facing heavy nukers, otherwise going straight to complete hearts will benefit him more because it also helps hi inner vitality skill.


Hand of Midas
Attack speed can be useful early on, and with excess mana you can also use this to farm. However, you should probably sell it because other damage or tanking items are much better than 30% attack speed.


Black King Bar
If the other team has a lot of disablers, you may want to consider getting BKB, so that you can deal full damage to your opponents.

Items not recommended


Mask of Madness
Some people have said this is good early game, just because you can land in more hits with frenzy mode and thus increase the stacking effect of burning spear. However, lifesteal is overrided by burning spear, and lategame although 75% increase in attack speed may be nice, you would be better off with an item like heart or damage items. Regardless, it still can help in early game so you can buy it, but I do not recommend it.


Eye of Skadi
This item also does not stack with Huskar's orb, but the slow can be quite nice if chasing heroes. I do not recommend it though because Huskar's range is only 350 and thus harder to slow heroes. Also, Huskar has a 50% 5 second slow ultimate which is already suitable for taking out one hero.


Linken's Sphere/Perseverance
I don't really suggest buying mana boosting items, because by the time you've completed them you would already have enough mana (170 is all you need per 30 seconds). You also get enough hp regen from hearts and inner vitality.


Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyse
It synergizes well with his skills, but there is just too much mana included and you are basically paying 5k+ for hex and 35 damage. I would never get this unless no one on the team has bought one.

Strategy

Now that we've established the item builds, here are the strategies throughout early, mid, and late game. This is the only ranged strength hero, so strategy lane-wise would be a bit different.

Early game - Level 1 to 10

You've already seen Huskar's stats and I can tell you it is not one of those godly solo heroes like enchantress, viper, or warlock. However, Huskar can survive pretty well, and is quite okay at harassing and lane control. If you can get a solo lane and you think you can handle it, then it is very beneficial for you. Don't hesitate to unless your enemies are all nukers. If you can't get a solo or you are facing enemy problems, pairing up with a slower/stunner is also advantageous.

Get your starting items which would be the tangoes and gauntlets, or if you think you would have a hard time, get a ring instead. It's easier to go bottom for sentinel or top for scourge, but you should try going to a side lane. If you can, creep slow to push the enemy's creeps toward your tower, making it easier to farm.

Soloing

As I said earlier, Huskar is not the best hero to solo. He doesn't have a direct slow other than his ultimate, so it may be tough. If you are facing off a melee hero, you're in luck, but if you are facing two ranged heroes you may want to ask for a teammate's help later.

Anyway, while you are in your lane, try to last hit as best as you can. If there is a melee hero, harass him with your orb skill as soon as he gets close to hitting the creeps. You don't have that much range, so you should stay as close as you can to the creeps in order to last hit and harass. For example, if a hero comes close to the creep to kill it, you can orb walk that hero about 2 times before you retreat. Don't be afraid to use your orb to harass, as although it costs health, your opponent will be damaged much more than you.

Farming is a bit hard for Huskar, especially if there are ranged enemies. You can really just practice last hitting and denying. Again, do not use burning spear on creeps as the damage is not instant.

Killing Heroes

Before level 6, killing heroes with Huskar is very hard, and that's because he has no stunning or slowing ability. Just focus on harassing heroes, denying and farming, because it'll be to your benefit to level up faster than the enemy.

Level 6 and after is the best time to go hunt heroes, because using my main skill build, all your skills you've learnt synergizes well. Don't be afraid to chase a yellow hp unless many heroes are not on the minimap or the hero can escape; you will most likely kill the hero (even some int heroes like zeus can be killed although they nuke you a lot - just depends on your hp and level). With your power treads, most heroes cannot escape death because your have +15 MS, 35% ASPD, and a 50% slow ultimate.

Supporting
If you've followed the main skill build, you haven't learned inner vitality yet, and for a pretty good reason. Although it does help in lane survivability, I believe tangoes are sufficient. However, if there are nukers, you would have followed the survivability build and have no health issues. But, since Huskar is semi-versatile, you can still support dying heroes or chase heroes using your ultimate. The thing to note about Huskar's ultimate is that it slows for 50% for 5 seconds, which is pretty good. If you can help it and see a dying teammate, don't be afraid to use your ultimate on the hero and start orb walking. One example would be a sprinting Slardar, where you could save your ally with right timing.

Dual Laning

You won't always get a solo lane in pubs or your enemies might be tough nukers, so a dual lane could work as well. Not only that, but it may also be more beneficial, especially if you got a stunner/slower to pair up with you. Good coordination and microing in a dual lane will help you to stop opponents from farming. Laning with ranged disablers like Rhasta can get you early kills as well as stopping the opponent from farming. I don't recommend charging in just alone, as they may harass you back or even stun you. If and when your opponents comes forward to farm, ask your teammate to stun/slow and you may kill the opponent or send him back to the fountain. Using this method, your lane control at the beginning will be good and you can cut off your opponents from farming.

Mid game - Level 10 to 17

If you've also followed the item build and farmed well, you should have at least a power treads and 2x-3x bracers (2600+ gold). With your main killing skill maxed and short cooldown ultimate, there should be no problem ganking or killing heroes. Remember, your enemies in other lanes may have farmed some items, so don't be too risky. You also shouldn't try to kill invisible heroes, as you do not have any stun. Focus on easily targeted heroes such as naix/zeus or low hp heroes. Your burning spear becomes powerful at this stage, able to deal 60 damage per second plus your attack damage if you manage to hit enough times.

Pushing

Right now is probably the best time to push, if you've managed to take down the enemy's carry heroes. If your team is going to push now, it's best to eliminate enemy stunners or aoe heroes to make the most out of pushing. Your role here, would be to use your ultimate on heroes while you and the other dps heroes take them out. Heal any teammates that need healing, since your inner vitality is one of the best heal skills there is. If your team is mostly pushing intelligence based heroes, try to get rid of a barracks to save you the trouble later. If not, keep farming and ganking until you've got the right items. Huskar does have the potential to be a carry hero, but unlike those like PA or Faceless Void, he does not have evasion/bash/critical. So pushing in mid game would be to your advantage.

Tanking

Also, if you have at least one heart by the end of mid game, you should be the main tanker because of your inner vitality skill. Before charging into a team battle, cast inner vitality on yourself. Don't be afraid to keep attacking, because your inner vitality at this stage can heal a lot (I will post the calculations for this skill later). You will probably kill the opponent first because of your heal, hp, and high damage from radiance.

Late game - Level 17 to 25

Now that it's late game hopefully you've completed the core items, since you would usually be the tank at the end. With your heart or two hearts, and your inner vitality skill, tanking is still your priority. By now the game might have ended, but if it hasn't ended, stick with your team and continue pushing and defending. From now on, since my guide is based on a tanker/killer Huskar, you will only serve as the secondary dps hero. Support your team using your ultimate, and heal heroes that are dying using your inner vitality. You should stand in the front, since you would have probably the highest hp among the team. By doing so, you allow your teammates to attack more while dealing 35 immolation damage per second (175 damage per second to the team plus more to creeps? It's such a great item) You should not need to farm any longer at this stage, but if you have been getting extra gold, Again, you'll have to leave all the hero killing to the other carry heroes and just support them as best as you can by tanking.

Best Allies

All heroes with slowing or stunning skills work best with him. I'll just name a few:


Rhasta, Shadow Shaman | Lion, Demon Witch
Disablers
With 2 disables and possibly even cyclone, they're one of your best allies. You'll be doing high dps because rhasta and you would slow down the enemy so much.


Omniknight | Leviathan, Tide Hunter
Slowers
Passive slow aura allows you to hit heroes more often with your burning spear. Leviathan can also slow, stun, and reduce armor.

Vol'Jin, Witch Doctor
Combo hero
He stuns and also his 3rd skill combined with your burning spear skill mean a ton of damage.


Naga Siren, Dragon Knight, Beastmaster, Priestess of the Moon, Prophet, Bane Elemental, Magnataur are also good allies for they have long disable skills.

Worst Enemies


Necrolyte
This actually depends as you can kill him early game, but with you draining your life using your skills, his ultimate can be dangerous. Avoid fighting him early game.


Antimage | Queen of Pain
Blinkers
These are also one of your worse, not only can both blink to escape, but Anti Mage can also be a deadly foe and may even kill you.


Lord of Avernus | Omniknight
Invicibility and the shield make him hard to kill for every hero, not just Huskar. Also omniknight can slow, heal, and repel. Talk about counter.


Windwalkers are also the worst enemies.

Best Enemies


Pudge, Butcher
Mid game, if he tries to hook you with him alone, you can probably just finish him off yourself.


Naix, Lifestealer
He is quite frail at start, so even if he attacks you, you would probably be able to kill him.


Lower hp intelligence heroes
Usually these will be your targets.

Extra Strategy

Orb Walking and Harassing

In this guide I would say you should know how to orb walk. Orb Walk is really just animation canceling, the process of issuing another command before one finishes to get more benefits. In cases where you are chasing a hero you would not just want to auto cast your orb and let your enemy escape. It's the same for other heroes, especially those like enchantress and viper.

Basically, what you do is manually cast your orb skill, in this case being burning spear. Right after it has fired, immediately move forward and manually cast the burning spear skill again. Keep repeating this and you'll understand what orb walking is. It cancels the rest of the animation, so that you can do other things like chasing the enemy.


In this picture, it shows you how to orb walk. As you can see, after i attacked the butcher, I immediately moved forward so as to cancel the rest of the attack animation. That's how you can cast your orb skill faster.

Secondly, orb walking can also be used to of course harass other heroes. In the next screenshot I harass the QoP, who surprisingly did not learn blink.


The QoP was left with less than half life, with 300 hp gone.


Killing or chasing enemies using ultimate and orb

This is nothing surprising - it's just here to show you how to effectively kill heroes using just your ultimate and orb skill. As you can see in the first screenshot, drow couldn't chase sniper. But since the ultimate is great are supporting allies too, here the 50% slow for 5 seconds allowed me to orb walk. Drow and I then managed to kill sniper.

Properly using your ultimate

Remember, the ultimate is very versatile - it can be used for offense or used to slow down an attacking hero. Here I'll show you how to use it to save your teammates. In this screenshot, I helped drow escape from the chasing bloodseeker.

In this first screenshot, drow was about to die to the bloodseeker.


However, using my ultimate, it helped the drow ranger to escape.


Also, here is another screenshot, where the ogre magi was too far from the zeus to kill him, but I was there so I used my ultimate on him. In fact, it can be used as a skill to start the battle.

In this first screenshot, I started the battle by using my ultimate on zeus, and then my teammates came to help.


Also, like I said earlier, the ultimate has a range of around 200-300, making it useful for chasing down running heroes (like the sniper from earlier.) This screenshot isn't too amazing - it just shows how far the ultimate can be used from.


These are the main techniques used in playing the hero.

Conclusion

With such versatility, I think Huskar should be a great hero to play - being able to support, tank, as well as hero carry for the team. My guide mostly covers tanking, but I hope my guide has helped you out a lot. Feel free to PM me for any questions, and feel free to use your own skill/item builds; this is merely a guide. Thank you for reading my guide.