Those who are given more in life must not cling to it but risk it all in every moment."

Huskar the Sacred Warrior is a ranged Strength hero who is an effective ganker and carry, with both great benefits and risks offered. He is known to be a powerful adversary in most games, as his damage per second can easily kill other heroes at any point in the game assuming no one is near by to save them. Unlike most heroes, he doesn't use mana much to use his abilities, rather, he sacrifices his own health to inflict the highest damage possible. His passive Berserker's Blood defines the power of sacrifice; he gets more dangerous the more he gets hurt. This gives him increased magic resistance and attack speed depending how much life is missing, and the given magic resistance and attack speed are staggering, potentially having the highest damage output in the earliest stage. Huskar can use his own life force to attack using Burning Spears which scorches foes and gives him an advantage early on. Due to the health cost of Burning Spears, his Berserker's Blood sets on, granting him power to decimate any target. Inner Vitality magically heals Huskar after he is injured, regenerating health each second based upon its primary attribute, and heals more when the health is on a critical level. It can be used to heal allies as well. His Life Break is his most dangerous ability and a risky one too. Charging towards his target, Huskar sheds a large amount of life force to cut a target's current HP to fractions. This is great to use as an initiation spell, as it deals immense damage based on the target's current health, breaking it down, allowing Huskar and his allies to feel the pain that the Sacred Warrior felt. Courageous and fearless, Huskar is powerful at any stage of the game, and is willing to suffer and face death, for him to contribute and deliver a marvelous victory to his team.

Introduction

Many players(pros included) still misunderstand the hero and fail to utilize him to his full potential. The hero might seem very simple at first glance, especially when it comes to mechanics(i.e. you occasionally cast ult and heal while orb-walking/right-clicking), but the concept, skillset and stats make him quite complex and often difficult to use in organized games as many teams simply cannot find a good role for him.

I'm not claiming that the hero is top tier pick but it can certainly be used effectively as a second tier/situational pick(e.g. pocket strat) that will often surprise the opponent in the last pick phase.

Competitive Huskar Build

Pros and Cons

Pros

Ranged(albeit not very long one :))
BAT 1.6(one of the few heroes with BAT lower than 1.7,increases DPS by 6.25% compared to if you had BAT 1.7)
Good Missle Speed(helps with last hitting/denying)

Cons

Below Average Initial Stats
Terrible Stats Growth(among the 10 worst)
Very Low Starting armor(among the 20 worst)
Low Starting Damage(among the 25 worst)
Low Range for a Ranged Hero(remedied somewhat by the ability to orb-walk)

Skill Build Competitive Huskar

Berserker's Blood

Berserker's Blood is by far Huskar's most unique and defining ability, so to fully understand and successfully use Huskar, you MUST make sure that you get the most out of this skill. The skill gives you 2 benefits that become more potent as you lose a bigger percentage of your health.
1. Increase in IAS
2. Increase in Magic Resistance
Because the benefits increase greatly as you lose more and more HP, our main objective is to maximize the time in teamfight at low HP(i.e. 30-40% range). To put it in perspective, staying in the 30-40% HP range translates roughly to increase of IAS of 180-200% and increase in MR of 60-70%(that's an avg of 90-100% increase in DPS! and avg. of 200% increase in magical EHP!). We will see how we will be able to take advantage of this with the help of our skillset and item build.

Burning Spear

Burning Spear synergizes well with BB as it imbues your physical attack at the cost of 15 HP with magical damage over time. Everyone knows that the skill is very good early game but I would argue that it's not bad late game either despite enemy heroes having high hp pools and health regen. To put it in perspective, a lvl 16 huskar with some basic items and 30-40% HP will do 300 magical damage every second(that 300 is after magic reduction and will be spread over 8 seconds)only because of this skill. This is big as many players underestimate the value of magic damage late game(when bkbs are low duration and armor values are high due to stats or armor auras). The only downside is the fact that it is damage over time. We will reduce this disadvantage through our item build.

Life Break and Inner Vitality

Life Break and

Inner Vitality are pretty self-explanatory and synergize well with our main skills. They both scale well since they are percentage based. It's important to note that when you get your Aghanims,Life Break becomes a really good reposition/escape spell that creates chaos, deals good damage, has low cooldown, and removes most of the debuffs.

Pros

Cons

Role in the Team

Here are some of the main strengths and weakness of Huskar in regard to what he contributes to the team.

STRENGTHS

WEAKNESSES

Look at Huskar as a hero similar to Viper but slightly weaker in lane and early game, however quite a bit stronger/more useful mid/late game.

The Order of Positions Huskar is Most Effective in:

Position 2 (Solo Sidelane or Mid) Huskar dominates or does well in almost all solo matchups(exceptions areLone Druid/Razor/Viper), especially if solo sidelane. He needs to solo because this is the only way to ensure he gets quick levels and gold as he does not have a flash farming ability.

Position 3 (Utility/Offlaner/Solo vs Solo Sidelane) Can work as a utility/offlaner but only on Radiant, or solo vs solo in a tri-core line-up with less farm as the game progresses. Should be able to win lane or do well against most of the popular solo sidelanes (e.g. Prophet, WR, BH, Bat, Voker, Tide etc.)

Position 4 (Rich Support) Can work in specific situations as a hybrid of utility, anti-tank, anti-carry, initiator with a few items - it needs to be in games where you can make the most of IV and LB(e.g. against high HP and physical EHP line-ups and with high primary attribute carry like Morphling,Phantom Lancer,

Medusa, Riki etc. on your team). Still, very situational(you need to make sure you don't get aggressive trilaned) as Huskar does not contribute anything to the teamfight before level 6.

Position 1 (Main Carry/Main Farmer) - most teams try to use him in this role but he is simply NOT made for it.. Here is why:
***Does not farm fast (especially if you go for lifesteal)
***Does very low physical damage which means that,although lifesteal seems to synergize with his skillset, is difficult to make effective
***BKB is not an optimal item for him because of his incredibly high magical EHP

Position 5 (Poor support) - does not work well at all since you need some basic items to be useful(e.g. at least mekansm)

Item Build Huskar Competitive

Through the item build we will try to reach our main objective(maximize the time in teamfight at low HP), as well as try to work on our weaknesses, so we can more effectively contribute to the team and fulfill our role as a tanky, utility, initiator type with great magic DPS.

Era's Huskar Vs Alliance

Core item

Tranquil Boots : For boots you have 2 options, either Tranquils or Power Threads. I prefer Tranquils because they provide us with a little more physical EHP(the thing we need badly), are a lot cheaper, and the extra movespeed is handy to land that first LB.

Magic Stick : Very cheap and provides us with a potential burst of 150 hp, which gives us an additional means to keep ourselves in the 30-40% HP range. No need to upgrade, should be sold later anyway.

Mekansm : Mekansm is one of the best items for Huskar. It provides a lot of the things he lacks - armor, stats, and burst regen(another mean to keep ourselves in the 30-40% HP range), as well as utility for the team. Can be used freely as Huskar is very mana independent.

Extended Core item

Maelstrom : Maelstrom is gotten as quickly as possible after Mekansm because it allows you to farm and push/anti-push a bit better and is the one of the best DPS/cost item in the game. Lifesteal is not gotten because Huskar has too low physical damage to utilize HOTD/Satanic well. E.g. A level 16 Huskar with PT/HOTD/Armlet will lifesteal only 20 HP a sec when at full and 40 HP a sec when at 30-40% HP. Thus, to make lifesteal worth, you will need at least Armlet+Crit(over 8k in items without any inherent stats or utility). Plus, without Maelstrom it will be even more difficult to farm those late game damage items. The end result will likely be a relatively low DPS/low lifesteal carry/tank that survives and stays at high HP but can be largely ignored.

Veil of Discord : Veil is also one of the best items for Huskar. Similar to Mekansm it provides needed armor, stats, utility. Instead of burst regen, it provides the team with magic damage amplification. Considering the fact that about 80% of Huskar's damage in this case will be magical(BS, Mael, LB), Veil will essentially give us a 20% increase in overall DPS (without considering the benefit of team). It will also help with those pesky TPs as it will increase our burst.

Armlet of Mordiggian : Many people will disagree with the timing of the Armlet, claiming that Armlet is core on Huskar and that it should be gotten quickly. In this case I don't think so, since Huskar will not be the primary carry and getting Armlet without BKB or lifesteal is simply too risky(you need at least one of the items to make armlet effective if you plan to use it as a main damage item). In this build, Armlet is used slightly differently - mainly for the armor and burst hp that it provides i.e. you can toggle it on while pushing but don't toggle it immediately when in teamfight(wait for the 25-35% HP threshold)

Late game item

Boots of Travel : Self-explanatory, you need BOT late game when you don't have slots to carry TPs and there are no towers to TP to defend/split push/help.

Aghanim's Scepter : Aghanim's is a very good late game item on Huskar. It reduces greatly the cooldown and increases the damage(synergizes further with Veil). Additionally, because of the low cooldown and the removal of debuffs of LB, the spell can be used as a repositioning spell.

Mjollnir : Self-explanatory, upgrade the Maelstrom to Mjollnir eventually. The static charge is excellent on Huskar and provides additional synergy with the Veil of Discord.

Situational item

Black King Bar : BKB can help against either very stun heavy line-ups or line-ups with a lot of pure damage(e.g. Timbersaw, Spectre)

Ghost Scepter : GS can help in cases where you are relatively poor but need that protection against physical damage. Can be important against certain heroes with physical disables(e.g. Sylla, Naga Siren)

Heaven's Halberd : Provides a lot of good things to Huskar(str, evasion, damage and disarm). Evasion/Disarm is good against stat based carries that don't buy BKB or MKB often(e.g.Medusa,Morphling). Situational because too expensive to be gotten before core and worse than Aghanim's late game. However, in certain situations can be gotten over Aghanim's.

Eye of Skadi : Provides excellent stats, nice HP boost, and good slow that goes through magic immunity. Stacks fully with BS and Maelstrom/Mjolnir. Quite expensive, but in some cases can be gotten over Aghanims or in place of Armlet in the really late game.

As you can see, boosting your physical EHP, farming/aoe capability, magical damage, burst regen/hp is key to effectively use Huskar's skill set, reduce his weaknesses, while at the same time provide utility to the team.

Gameplay Tips

Cast IV ahead of teamfight/initiation if possible or as early as possible
Don't be too quick to use mekansm/stick/armlet - use/toggle when around 25-35% in that order if possible to make sure you get the most out of the Berserker's Blood without risking death
Get a tp as soon as you hit level 6-7, you can easily gank or anti initiate on diving enemy heroes
Don't be too aggressive in early game ganks - use LB sparingly, especially before you get your mekansm and stick and/or when you don't have complete vision of surroundings
After you get your core/extended core, try be in front of the team, you need to be the one to initiate or get initiated on (with this build you will be very tanky and difficult to burst down without a great deal of pure damage)
After you get your mekansm/stick, you can start pushing tier 1s/initiating teamfights and putting pressure on their lanes. If the enemy team is dodging teamfights and trading, complete maelstrom and continue finishing your extended core. Once you have your extended core though, you should try to find a way to fight as you are strongest at that point of time(in the midgame of 25-40 min), so either try to get Rosh and push tier 2/3 or smoke gank. Use Huskar in conjuction with heroes that have good push/antipush and decent control/stuns(heroes that have heals are a plus but not necessary!!!).
After you get Aghanims, use LB as a reposition spell
If possible try to use LB on carry or highest HP hero

Source

Breaking News

Competitive Huskar | Build Guide Dota 2 (Pro Players)

Introduction

Competitive Huskar Build

Pros and Cons

Pros

Cons