Bristleback

Bristleback

The Radiant

22 + 2.2 17 + 1.8 14 + 2.8

Level 1 16 25 Hit Points 568 1233 1936 Mana 182 754 1313 Damage 52-62 87-97 124-134 Armor 3.38 7.44 12.2 Attacks / Second 0.68 0.85 1.05

Movement Speed 295 Turn Rate 1.0 Sight Range 1800/800 Attack Range Melee Missile Speed Instant Attack Duration 0.4+0.3 Cast Duration 0.4+0.51 Base Attack Time 1.7

Rigwarl the Bristleback is a melee Strength hero famous for his array of synergistic spells with low mana cost and cooldown. He is able to slow his enemies down and reduce their armor with Viscous Nasal Goo, then hit them with a barrage of Quill Sprays, making him an effective chaser when ganking enemies. His low strength gain makes him less tanky than most strength heroes, but he becomes substantially more durable when he turns around due to his passive Bristleback, which reduces damage taken from behind. In the right hands, Bristleback is a powerful ganker in the early stages of the game, and a powerful semi-carry in the later stages depending on how much farm he gets.

Bio

Rigwarl, the Bristleback Play "It was a barkeep that got me into this mess. Yeah, I think I'll pay him a visit when this is done." Role: Durable / Initiator / Disabler Lore: Never one to turn his back on a fight, Rigwarl was known for battling the biggest, meanest scrappers he could get his hands on. Christened Bristleback by the drunken crowds, he waded into backroom brawls in every road tavern between Slom and Elze, until his exploits finally caught the eye of a barkeep in need of an enforcer. For a bit of brew, Bristleback was hired to collect tabs, keep the peace, and break the occasional leg or two (or five, in the case of one unfortunate web-hund). After indulging in a night of merriment during which bodily harm was meted out in equal parts upon both delinquent patrons and his own liver, Bristleback finally met his match. “Your tusks offend me, sir,” he was heard to drunkenly slur to one particularly large fellow from the northern wastes whose bill had come due. What followed was a fight for the ages. A dozen fighters jumped in. No stool was left unbroken, and in the end, the impossible happened: the tab went unpaid. Over the weeks that followed, Bristleback's wounds healed, and his quills grew back; but an enforcer's honor can be a prickly thing. He paid the tab from his own coin, vowing to track down this northerner and extract redemption. And then he did something he'd never done before--he actually trained, and in so doing made a startling discovery about himself. A smile peeled back from his teeth as he flexed his quills. Turning his back to a fight might be just the thing. Voice: TJ Ramini (Responses)

Abilities

Viscous Nasal Goo Q G Ability Affects Target Unit Enemies Covers a target in snot, causing it to have reduced armor and movement speed. Multiple casts stack and refresh the duration. Range: 600 Duration: 5 Armor Reduction: 1/1/2/2 Movement Speed Reduction per Cast: 20% and +3%/+6%/+9%/+12% 1.5 30

Notes: Stacks a maximum of 4 times, meaning it can at most reduce armor by 4/4/8/8 and movement speed by 32/44/56/68%.

Quill Spray W R Ability Affects Damage No Target Enemies Physical Sprays enemy units with quills dealing damage in an area of effect around Bristleback. Deals bonus damage for every time a unit was hit by Quill Spray in the last 10 seconds. Radius: 625 Duration: 10 Base Damage: 20/40/60/80 Stack Damage: 30 Damage Cap: 400 3 35

Notes: Damage is not reduced by damage block abilities (such as Vanguard, Kraken Shell, etc.) Stacks are independent, not refreshing, which means that normally You can deal at most (10s duration / 3s cooldown) 90 bonus damage. To reach the damage cap you need additional Quill Sprays from Bristleback passive. The stacks do not have a buff indicator and cannot be removed by Purge or other buff removing abilities such as Kraken Shell. 13/12/12/11 stacks are required to reach the 400 damage cap, which so require 10/9/9/8 sprays from Bristleback (which takes 2500/2250/2250/2000 damage taken from the rear), since only 3 stacks can be achieved with Quill Spray alone.

Bristleback E K Ability Passive Bristleback takes less damage if hit on the sides or rear. If Bristleback takes 250 damage from the rear, he releases a Quill Spray of the current level. Reduced Damage (Rear): 16%/24%/32%/40% Reduced Damage (Side): 8%/12%/16%/20% The self-titled ability.

Notes: Bristleback takes less damage from all damage types except HP removal. Damage reduction (and Quill Spray procs) are calculated by comparing the location of the damage instance's source to Bristleback's orientation. This applies to damage over time ticks as well. Bristleback's rear is considered to be within 70 degrees of being directly behind him. His side is 110 degrees.

Warpath R W Ability Affects Passive Self Bristleback works himself up into a fury every time he casts a spell, increasing his movement speed and damage. The first stack (base) provides larger bonuses. Duration: 10 Base Bonus Movement Speed: 5%/7%/10% Base Bonus Damage: 20/25/30 Stack Bonus Movement Speed: 1%/2%/3% Stack Bonus Damage: 20/25/30

Notes: Stacks up to 5 times, meaning it can give at most 9/15/22% movement speed and 100/125/150 attack damage. Illusions will benefit from the original's casts. Using items does not trigger Warpath. Gaining a stack of Warpath does not refresh the duration of previous stacks, i.e. each stack has its own duration. Quill Spray procs from Bristleback do not trigger Warpath.

Tips

• Use your passive skill Bristleback to your advantage; anticipate enemy attacks and turn your back on them, so that you can reduce as much damage as you can.
  • An early skill point on this skill during the laning phase can help you stay in the lane a while longer, especially if you are having trouble against auto-attacks.
• Even if your enemies can easily defend against you with a Magic Wand, you can still heavily damage them with Warpath; as long as you're stacking your spells against them, the bonus damage will do its job.
• Viscous Nasal Goo is an extremely useful cripple, provided that you keep casting it against your target, as it slows their movement speed for 32/44/56/68%. The cripple's duration is up to you, since you can continuously cast it to refresh the duration, and its cooldown is only 1.5 seconds.
  • This skill is very effective when combined with Warlock's Fatal Bonds, as the damage inflicted on the crippled target from other bound creeps or heroes is applied to the armor reduced hero at said reduced value. This makes the Bristleback/Warlock lane combination very potent, even into the late game. When combined with area of effect items and attacks, a lot of damage can be dealt very quickly.
• Bristleback's mana woes can easily be remedied by a Sage's Mask or a Ring of Basilius, since his skills have extremely low mana costs.
• One of Bristleback's main weaknesses is his lack of disables, meaning he cannot silence or interrupt an enemy from casting spells. You can either rely on your teammates for disables, or create an item of your own, so long as it benefits him in some way (a good example would be a Scythe of Vyse, since it gives him good mana regeneration for his skills, and a devastating hex disable).

Trivia

• In DotA, Bristleback's hero model was a quillboar, having a much more boar-like appearance. His loss of boar-like features in Dota 2 was likely made to distinguish him from the quillboar race in the Warcraft universe. [1] As well, his hero title shares the name of a large quillboar tribe in World of Warcraft. [2]
• Despite being listed as a disabler, Bristleback does not have a disable.

Update history

March 29, 2013 Patch

• Fixed Quill Spray stacks being removed by Dark Pact and Kraken Shell.
• Fixed Warpath's oldest stack duration not getting refreshed if another spell was cast with max stacks.

March 28, 2013 Patch

• Added Bristleback!

Balance changelog

6.75

• Quill Spray damage cap increased from 220 to 400
• Warpath
  • Damage per stack increased from 10/15/20 to 20/25/30
  • Base damage increased from 10/20/30 to 20/25/30
• Fixed how Quill Spray damage threshold works

Bristleback will now activate Quill Spray on the instance of damage when its threshold is breached rather than the one after that occurrence

6.74

• Quill Spray damage cap increased from 180 to 220

6.73

• Cast point decreased from 0.5 to 0.4
• Attack point reduced
• Turn Rate Increased (makes him turn faster)

6.72d

• Quill Spray is no longer blocked by Vanguard, Stout Shield, etc

6.71

• Bristleback
  • Back damage prevention from 10/20/30/40 to 16/24/32/40
  • Side damage prevention from 5/10/15/20 to 8/12/16/20

6.67

• Warpath maximum stacks increased from 4 to 5

6.63

• Warpath attack speed increase changed to bonus damage (10/20/30 base with 4/8/12 bonus per stack)

6.60

• Improved Base Intelligence growth by 0.6
• Bristleback
  • Improved side angles (90->110)
  • Returned passive Quill Spray release cap back (300->250)

6.52

• Bristleback
  • Lowered side angles
  • Increased Quill Spray release requirement from 200 to 300

6.49

• Reduced strength growth from 2.7 to 2.2

6.48b

• Slightly lowered base armor

Gallery

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  Splash artwork

See Also

• Bristleback responses