The Art of Cheese 2: Huskar Guide part Two

Welcome to the second installment of the Art of Cheese. Cheesing is what narrow-minded players call using a strategy that is unconventional, and therefore forces the opposing players to adapt to something they may not be used to. In this series, we will explore unconventional heroes and tactics that, when used properly, will grant you easy mmr - and a ton of fun.

My name is Wingblade, and I'm a former professional Dota 2 player, reaching top 100

multiple times and having played in teams with players like Singsing, Seleri, and Stormstormer. Throughout my career in (semi) professional Dota 2, I've been known to dabble in cheesy heroes and tactics. Back in my day, Topson used to ban my Visage every game he faced me. But cheesing is not easy, most of the players who complain about "braindead" heroes like Huskar would feed like maniacs if they were to play the hero themselves.

Icefrog approves. - Credit: blix.gg

In this second part of this two-part Huskar Dota 2 guide, we will take a look at your game plan at all stages in the game, as well as some interesting tricks to take your gameplay to the next level! We discussed a lot of basic Huskar concepts in part one, click here if you missed it.

Early Game:

Leverage your early strength by forcing your opponents away. DON'T be over-aggressive, there's no need to be impatient and try to force kills, you will always win the trades. Forcing your opponent away without getting the kill is better than rolling the dice. This is where a lot of people go wrong, Huskar invites a lot of aggression - which is the reason that he has the highest average deaths out of any hero - but you have to be measured with it. You are a momentum-based hero; dying is disastrous.

Max Berserkers Blood first, and pick up a value point in Inner Fire if you need it. You want to buy an armlet as soon as possible. This is your timing! Once you get your armlet, you can start being more aggressive and forcing towers. The moment you get 4 levels in Berserkers Blood, 3-4 levels in Burning Spears, and your armlet, you can go rosh (check out the tips and tricks section for advice on how to do this with 100% consistency). Ask your supports to sit close by, ward, or if you're behind, you can try to sneak it with a smoke.

Don't go too ham! Go the appropriate amount of ham - Credit: AGUSSW

Use your first Aegis to take towers and ensure your team has map control. It's better to farm aggressively with Aegis (using it as a deterrent to make space for your team to use more of the map) than to waste it in a forced fight. In between objectives, you want to aggressively farm the jungle (as your farm really fast at this stage), and you want to keep your HP as low as possible when farming (by keeping your armlet on most of the time). It will take some time to get a feeling for how high your HP needs to be when engaging enemy heroes.

Mid Game:

After your early game is done, there are two paths to take. You either feel strong enough to force the game to end and spam-ping your team to follow you as you demolish the enemy base, or you recognize that you are not strong enough and instead use your early strength to take map control and empower your carry to outfarm theirs. In this second case (and when using the incendiary facet), you can opt to buy a blink dagger right after your armlet to hunt down the enemy squishes.

Lots of interesting item choices - Credit: Arch3r

In 95% of games, you want to buy a bkb after your armlet. After this, you can get BoT's if you feel like you need to be more mobile, a Satanic if you struggle with manfighting (necessary when using the incendiary facet), or an Aghanim's if you need a BKB-piercing disable or those annoying supports keep escaping. In some matchups where you can't stand your ground (like against Sven, Ursa, or Troll), a hurricane pike is also a great item to get, and it's free to use on cooldown.

Some newer players consider a Heart, but this is a trap. It gives you regen that you cannot control, so it slows down your farming tremendously; Satanic is the better option in 99,9% of all situations!

There have been some musings about glimmer cape as a first or second item in the Huskar community (yes, there is one, die 200 times diving a tier 2 at 8 minutes to get an invite), but I don’t recommend this. Without an armlet, you are only half a hero, and after your armlet, you’d rather have a bkb than a glimmer. And once you have those 2 items, you no longer have the need for the things that glimmer provides.

See, he doesn't even wear a cape - Credit: Valve

Late Game:

You will no longer be super tanky at this stage. It's likely that you won't be able to manfight the enemy carry. Try to counterinitiate or burst down supports. In the late game it's a lot harder to play super aggressively because supports will have defensive items, and the enemies will probably be able to take you down quickly. Dance around the fights and engage only when you have backup or think you can survive. Lategame is chaotic, and there is little I can give you in terms of one-size-fits-all advice. You will get a feeling for the relative strength of your hero in no time.

Tips and tricks:

• Quickly toggling your armlet (when you quickly turn it off and on again, you heal over 500hp in roughly a second) is crucial, and there's a trick to this! Dota allows you to bind both a normal- and a quickcast item hotkey. By binding them both and pressing them at the same time, you instantly toggle your armlet! I personally use a key on my keyboard, and another key on my mouse, so I don't have to press 2 buttons with the same hand.

Rosh is no match for you - Credit: Valve

• Soloing Roshan can be a bit daunting (and cannot be done with the incendiary facet), but it's quite easy, and even easier to practice. You want to toggle your armlet every 2 Roshan hits. You don't have to look at your screen; you can do this by sound alone. Bashes are always a bit scary, but by toggling every 2 hits, you will have enough HP even if Rosh bashes you twice in a row. Just ask your teammates not to stack so Rosh doesn't slam, and not to use abilities that disrupt his attack rhythm. Bonk... Bonk.... Toggle! Bonk.... Bonk....

Hopefully, this Dota 2 Huskar Guide has shed some light on one of the most misunderstood heroes in Dota. Now go on and feed while trying to apply these principles, that's called limit testing. It will all be worth it when someone calls you a smurf in all chat.

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