Tusk/Guide

Semi-Carry/Gank Specialist
Tusk usually serves as ganker in the team, his goal is to obtain items to boost his ganking and initiation capabilities. Tusk truly shines during early-mid game as most of the heroes are fragile during this period and a successful early game shutdown will allows Tusk to create space for his team's hard carry. However, although he has good potential to semi-carry the team early game, he isn't a hard carry and you should end the game as soon as possible. As with any of Dota matches, a good early game does not guarantee a win as if your team were slacking due to a good early game and allows your opponent to rise up thus results in a throw.

General

 * Beware that while Tusk is a strength hero with strong disables, his mediocre strength growth means that his HP pool will not improve drastically with levels, which inhibits his ability to survive initiations. As such, Tusk benefits from building durability items to give himself more HP and armor, allowing him to do more in fights.
 * Tusk's reliance on mana-expensive abilities in order to be effective means that he requires a source of mana replenishment in order to keep him in fights. The low cooldown on all of his abilities except Frozen Sigil means that he can greatly impact fights so long as he has the mana to cast his spells.
 * Keep in mind that Tusk has a near-instant 0.1 second cast animation, allowing him to get his spells off very quickly. Good reflexes are necessary in order to make the most of Tusk's spells.
 * Beware that while Tusk has a strong arsenal of disables, all of them are very short in duration. As such, while Tusk is a strong initiator, he cannot lock down enemies solely by himself, and requires additional disablers on his team in order to take advantage of the disruption he creates amongst the enemy.
 * Due to his strong array of disables and an ultimate that scales with his damage, Tusk can be played in any number of ways.
 * Because he can be strong with only levels and does not explicitly require gold, Tusk can be a good support who gets his gold and levels by assisting his carries and setting up kills for them. Because of lack of farm priority, a support Tusk should focus on building cheap utility items and extending the size of his mana pool in order to take utmost advantage of his spells.
 * Tusk's powerful disables allow him to be played as a roamer who can initiate and set up ganks for teammates. A roaming Tusk is much more active on the map and, given the proper circumstances, can get good gold and levels through kills and assists, hampering the enemy's early game and creating space for his allies to secure an early advantage in a match.
 * Played as a semi-carry solo off-laner, Tusk can get fast early levels and gold, transitioning into becoming an effective ganker early in a game. He can use his gold to purchase items to give him more fighting power, increasing the potency of and improving his ability to initiate and survive in fights.


 * Ice Shards is a potent nuking spell that deals damage in its path and then creates a barrier at its destination that persists for 7 seconds.
 * Despite not directly disabling enemies, Ice Shards is considered a very potent disable due to the barrier it creates, which cannot be pathed through except through forced movement items and abilities. Cast properly, Ice Shards can block an enemy's escape path and secure a kill.
 * Because of its nuking and disabling potential, Ice Shards should be maxed out first among Tusk's abilities. Reducing the cooldown on Ice Shards also allows it to be more readily available for gank opportunities and teamfights.
 * Ice Shards has an extremely long cast range, able to be cast from just within any enemy's visual range. Take advantage of this by casting it through the Fog of War, or to block an enemy's escape route even when they think that they're safe.
 * Keep in mind that Ice Shards will form its barrier at the targeted location, so aim and timing are crucial in order to make the most of the barrier. If Ice Shards lands short of its target, it will deal no damage and the barrier will only inhibit pursuers' pathing. If it is targeted too far, then the enemy can simply sidestep the barrier.
 * The best-case scenario is to target Ice Shards so that its destination lines up exactly with where the enemy will be, trapping them within the barrier. This will force them to walk backwards, towards Tusk and his teammates, in order to escape the barrier.
 * Try to use the terrain to your advantage when casting Ice Shards. Remember that trees will not be destroyed by the barrier, and that the projectile can travel over cliffs, so you can completely immobilize enemies by using ledges and trees to close up the gaps in the barrier.
 * Due to its low cooldown, Ice Shards can be used as an imperfect nuke for farming and pushing. The projectile's long cast range allows it to hit multiple neutral camps or creep waves in a single cast.
 * In a pinch, Ice Shards can be used to hinder pursuers' approach path, forcing them to walk around the barrier. Try to use choke points to your advantage, completely cutting pursuers off.
 * Remember that Ice Shards provides vision around the projectile, and within the barrier for a short duration after forming. This allows the spell to be used to scout high ground or inside treelines, potentially pinning down any waiting enemies in the process.


 * Snowball is an initiating and mobility spell that lets Tusk close the distance to enemies, bringing teammates along for the ride and damaging and stunning any enemies it hits along the way.
 * Snowball's primary use is to help low-mobility allies get within melee range of enemies during initiations. This is particularly useful in the early game when powerful allied initiators have not purchased a Blink Dagger yet, as the initiation assist can help to get off powerful but short-ranged area disables such as, , , , and so on.
 * Next to Ice Shards, Snowball is a strong candidate for a spell to max out early in the game, due to its nuking and disable potential. The damage it deals early in matches makes it a very potent spell to have handy.
 * In a pinch, Snowball's gathering and rolling time can be used as shelter against enemy attacks and spells. Because units inside the Snowball are invulnerable, it can be used to grant up to 3 seconds of invulnerability to Tusk and any nearby allies, and then stun nearby enemies upon launch.
 * Be extremely careful about which unit is targeted for Snowball, as highly mobile enemies can simply kite the Snowball back and force Tusk and any allies within to emerge in an extremely disadvantageous position. Try to target slower enemies with no mobility spells or items, or target them from the Fog of War in order to give them as little warning as possible.
 * Tusk is muted and disarmed during Snowball, but is not silenced, meaning that while he cannot use items or attack, he can still cast spells. This means that Tusk can ready a while rolling towards a target, or block off their retreat with Ice Shards during approach.
 * Unlike most other unit-targeted spells, Snowball is not blocked by Linken's Sphere, and will target, chase and stun enemies regardless (beware, Lotus Orb will still reflect the spell upon impact). Use this to your advantage to initiate on slippery foes and use a cheap unit-targeted ability or item to break their Linken's Sphere while they are stunned.


 * Frozen Sigil summons a flying, controllable ward that reduces the movement and attack speed of all enemies within its radius.
 * Frozen Sigil applies a strong slowing debuff to all nearby enemies. The sigil can be moved to apply its aura more precisely during a teamfight or to slow enemies who are either fleeing or pursuing.
 * Due to its poor scaling, Frozen Sigil should generally be maxed out last, however, an early value point should still be taken to provide vision and a ranged slow. Its slows become potent only later in matches when attack speed starts increasing to meaningful values.
 * Because it is a controllable flying unit, Frozen Sigil should be assigned a command group in order to allow easier positioning of both the sigil and Tusk himself. Both need to be constantly controlled and moved during engagements in order to make the most out of the ability.
 * Due to its flying movement and vision, Frozen Sigil can be used to scout out enemy movement and dodge enemy attempts to destroy it. In particular, the sigil can be used to safely scout inside Roshan's pit.
 * Beware that Frozen Sigil grants a substantial gold bounty to enemies who successfully destroy it, so take special care not to feed it to the enemy.
 * Unlike other wards, Frozen Sigil can be loaded into Snowball and will emerge at the destination; the load command must be issued from Tusk rather than from the sigil. This can be an effective way to save time, as Frozen Sigil's long duration means it will likely persist for longer than the engagement requires. Alternatively, Frozen Sigil may be cast en route to the target, as Tusk is not silenced during Snowball.


 * Walrus PUNCH! allows Tusk to uppercut the target enemy, or the next enemy he attacks when auto cast, stunning them for 1 second and dealing tremendous physical damage, then slowing them for a short duration afterward.
 * Because Walrus PUNCH! allows Tusk to land a guaranteed 3.5x critical hit on an enemy, it can scale with his physical damage. Increasing Tusk's physical damage or decreasing the enemy's armor will allow him to deal more damage with the ability, which can increase his initiating alpha or finish off enemies at low health.
 * The spell's greatest strength is that it can uppercut enemies through spell immunity, stunning them even through Black King Bar or abilities like and . This can be useful for interrupting enemy attempts to use Town Portal Scroll during spell immunity to escape, or if they are channeling powerful ultimates such as  or.
 * In concert to the above, it can be wise to leave your punch in reserve when ganking an enemy. Enemies may attempt to simply teleport to safety after an initiating alpha strike if Tusk lacks damage output or the enemy is very tanky, so saving your ultimate for such situations can prevent them from escaping.
 * At level 18, its cooldown shortens down to 12 seconds, allowing the spell to be used to start and finish an engagement. Be mindful, however, that its mana cost also increases with level, so be sure to increase the size of Tusk's mana pool to account for this.
 * Remember that Tusk will always be commanded to attack any enemy that he targets with Snowball upon emerging. Because Tusk can still cast spells inside Snowball, casting during the approach, or activating auto-cast, will cause him to automatically uppercut the Snowball target upon arriving.
 * It is an active attack modifier and thus simply modifies Tusk's next attack, meaning that it is not blocked by . However, this also means that it cannot hit units in Ethereal form.
 * Additionally, it is not affected by blindness or evasion, so the resulting attack will always connect, making it particularly useful against Heroes like and.
 * As it is an active attack modifier, it cannot be stolen with.
 * Despite behaving like an active attack modifier, Walrus Punch will trigger all on-cast effects like.


 * Walrus Kick, unlocked by purchasing Aghanim's Scepter, allows Tusk to kick an enemy unit away, stunning and slowing them.
 * Unlike Tusk's other spells, Walrus Kick has a 0.2 second cast animation, twice his standard cast animation but still faster than the standard 0.3 seconds. Keep this in mind when using the spell, as the windup time can still give enemies a window to act.
 * Forcibly re-positioning the enemy can make a huge difference in teamfights or ganks, as the target will be stunned and then slowed on top of the knockback. Melee carries can be sent far away into their back lines, gank targets can be knocked in the direction of allies, and so on.
 * With a 12 second cooldown, Walrus Kick has a very short downtime, allowing Tusk to use it multiple times in a single engagement. However, its high mana cost relative to his mana pool means that repeated casting can render him unable to cast his other spells.
 * Like, Walrus Kick will stun and slow its target through spell immunity. However, unlike the punch, it is treated as a unit-targeted spell, meaning that it can be blocked by Linken's Sphere or reflected with Lotus Orb.
 * Try to exploit terrain when using Walrus Kick. Kicking an enemy over ledges and cliffs can lock them completely out of fights, as they will be forced to traverse the terrain to return to the battlefield. However, be mindful that trees in the travel path are destroyed, so kicked victims can return through the path created.
 * Keep in mind that enemies will be knocked in the direction that Tusk is facing upon targeting them, so positioning is crucial. Initiating on an enemy with Snowball or immobilizing them with your punch can buy enough time for Tusk to re-position for Walrus Kick, particularly if he uses to move through the target to reach the desired angle.
 * Although being a regular single-target spell (unlike Walrus Punch, which is an active attack modifier) Walrus Kick cannot be stolen with.

Items
Starting items:
 * s and give Tusk HP sustain in-lane, allowing him to survive enemy harass and continue gaining gold and experience.
 * allows Tusk to replenish his mana pool from casting spells, important since all of his basic spells are very expensive and will consume a sizable fraction of his small base mana pool. In particular, can consume almost half of Tusk's mana pool, so having enough mana to cast his full combo can make or break getting First Blood.
 * and give Tusk all-around attributes, important for beefing up his HP, base damage and mana to increase his survivability in-lane. They allow Tusk to immediately build a Magic Wand from the Side Lane Shop once he has enough gold.
 * is a useful starting item to purchase, as it gives Tusk some passive HP regen, mitigating harass damage, and a way to instantly replenish mana for casting his spells in a pinch.
 * is particularly useful if Tusk is played as an off-laner, as the damage block will give him increased resistance to enemy harass. It can be upgraded later into a to increase Tusk's beefiness and increase his survivability during initiations.

Early game:
 * is important to purchase early on, as Tusk relies on good positioning in order to make the most of his spells. He can more easily chase down enemies during ganks, or escape pursuers.
 * can be immediately built using already-purchased attribute items. The charge storage allows Tusk to immediately replenish his HP and mana, which can make or break fights or ganks given his powerful spells.
 * provides Tusk with an assortment of attributes, primarily strength for increased HP and base damage. It can later be used to build a Drum of Endurance.
 * is a strong pickup in any situation, but particularly if Tusk is a roamer. Applying the slow debuff can reduce an enemy's chances of escaping, and stacks alongside Frozen Sigil to help chase down fleeing enemies.
 * is very powerful on mobile initiators like Tusk, since he can roam and set up kills for his team, and as such benefits from always being at full HP and mana should a gank opportunity arise. As well, he can take advantage of runes to increase his initiating power.

Core items:
 * gives Tusk an assortment of powerful benefits, making it the best boots for him. The increased movement speed allows him to position more easily to cast his spells, and allows him to more easily chase down fleeing enemies in combination with . The bonus damage improves Tusk's ability to last-hit to farm, and increases the damage done with
 * gives Tusk all-around stats that give him more HP, damage, and a larger mana pool to work with. The aura improves his mobility and gives his team a fighting edge when engaging the enemy.
 * is important to carry at all times. Tusk's strong crowd control and initiation abilities makes him a powerful ally to have when ganking a lone enemy, or starting a teamfight on his own terms.
 * gives Tusk many benefits for a cheap price. As a highly mobile ganker, Tusk can easily get charges with which to heal himself and teammates or deal more damage in ganks; as well, Urn charges can instantly put enemy Blink Daggers on cooldown from a distance. The item also provides strength, giving Tusk more HP and base damage, and scaling mana regen to help him to cast spells more easily.

Situational items:
 * gives Tusk increased bonus damage, and allows him to apply an armor debuff to enemies, particularly when combined with.
 * increases Tusk's physical damage output, and gives him yet another initiation ability. Shadow Walk can be used to deal tremendous physical damage to a gank target with, or can be cast to escape in a tight situation.
 * is very expensive but increases Tusk's HP significantly, allowing him to stay alive for much longer after initiating with . The increased strength also gives Tusk more base damage, improving the potency of.
 * ensures Tusk is protected from most disables, allowing him to continue fighting and casting his spells after a successful initiation. The extra strength gives him more HP and damage, while the extra damage gives him more physical damage output.
 * helps make Tusk a better all-around fighter through its various bonuses. It grants more HP and evasion for increased survivability, more base damage and bonus damage to make his attacks hit harder, a Lesser Maim that can debilitate enemies in fights, and a Disarm that can outright prevent enemies from using their right-clicks.
 * is a strong aura and fighting item that, while expensive, can greatly improve Tusk's damage output. The increased armor makes Tusk much tankier, and the attack speed helps him to deal more damage. The aura can be easily utilized due to Snowball giving Tusk a way to get close to enemies, and its armor debuff can increase the hitting power of.
 * is a very cheap utility item that gives Tusk many strong benefits for its price. The armor helps make Tusk tankier, and the mana regen helps to sustain his expensive but powerful spells. Using the active on an enemy during initiation can increase the amount of damage they take from.
 * unlocks, greatly increasing Tusk's impact in fights and ganks. The item also makes Tusk tankier and improves his mana pool to sustain his spell casting.
 * gives Tusk increased survivability when initiating against powerful enemies. Besides giving him more armor to aid survivability, Echo Shell allows Tusk to use the enemy's unit-targeted spells against them should they attempt to target him during initiations, and can otherwise give him a larger window to act while the enemy hesitates. The scaling mana regen also helps Tusk to maintain casting his spells.
 * Upgrading Shadow Blade into a can greatly augment Tusk's initiating power. Besides improving Tusk's damage output, applying a Break to an important target can disable their passive abilities and cripple their damage output, making them a much smaller threat in an engagement.
 * is powerful in many situations. As Tusk requires good positioning to use his spells, Blink Dagger can allow him to immediately get within range to cast a disable. In a pinch, it can also be used to jump on top of a beleaguered ally to protect them with Snowball, or as an escape mechanism after casting Snowball to protect himself long enough for it to come off cooldown.
 * is a powerful survivability item that fills in many of Tusk's deficiencies. The armor makes him tankier, the intelligence shores up his small mana pool, and the damage improves the potency of . Using the active can discourage enemies from attacking Tusk, and can allow him to use his HP pool offensively against gank targets who try to fight back.
 * is a cheap fighting item that gives Tusk an assortment of bonuses. It provides armor and HP regen, aiding Tusk's survivability, and the active gives him bonus strength and damage, giving him more HP and damage output in an engagement, particularly increasing the damage that deals.
 * is an all-around fighting item that improves Tusk's ability to engage enemies in teamfights. The improved movement speed allows Tusk to position for his spells and chase down fleeing enemies, and the strength and bonus damage give him better battlefield presence. The Greater Maim also allows him to debilitate enemies' attempts to fight him and his team.
 * is an unorthodox but useful item for a roaming Tusk. While it is generally considered a core farming item, it provides Tusk with many useful benefits. The HP and mana regen allow him to roam more independently, while the cleave can help him to farm more items for himself. The ability to cut trees allows Tusk to position himself for casting his spells from unorthodox locations, or simply path through the jungle more easily, and the increased damage allows him to deal more damage with.
 * is expensive to farm, but allows Tusk to fight more effectively against enemies. The area burn allows Tusk to damage all nearby enemies in the midst of initiations, particularly as he can easily get into the middle of their formation with Snowball, and the induced miss chance also gives him survivability against auto-attacks. The bonus damage also allows him to deal tremendous damage with.
 * drastically improves Tusk's damage output, and allows him to hit enemies through evasion and blind. The raw damage increase makes Walrus PUNCH! much stronger as well.
 * gives Tusk attributes across the board, making him much tankier and giving him a bigger mana pool to work with. The Cold Attack modifier also allows him to slow enemies with his attacks, stacking alongside Frozen Sigil to magnify his battlefield presence.
 * gives Tusk a chance to bash enemies he attacks while the active can give Tusk even more lockdown on top of his other disables, particularly as it can stun through spell immunity.
 * Tusk's spells allow him to provide strong utility for his team when not built to take advantage of his ultimate. Several items can help him to this end:
 * is very cheap and can be easily purchased in the early game. It provides mana and HP regen, allowing Tusk to roam more independently, and lets Tusk dip into his HP pool to cast his spells, allowing him to be more active on the map.
 * increases the size of Tusk's mana pool and gives him a means with which to replenish it, along with that of his teammates. Being able to easily sustain his own mana pool allows Tusk to stay on the go and use his spells to set up kills for his team.
 * is a strong utility item that increases Tusk's mobility. It provides intelligence, improving his mana pool, and gives him HP regen to keep his health topped up. The active can be used as an initiation booster to help Tusk position himself to cast his spells, as a quick escape, or can be used on allies to re-position them for various purposes. It can also be cast on enemies to dis-position them, or to break an enemy Linken's Sphere during initiation.
 * is a useful mid-game utility item that provides Tusk with a strong teamfight aura. It provides Tusk and allies with additional armor and HP regen, improving their survivability, and some mana regen to allow Tusk to maintain his mana pool more easily. The increased damage also provides Tusk's team with an edge in fights, and helps Tusk to deal more damage with.
 * gives Tusk increased casting ability, along with providing other strong bonuses. Its intelligence and scaling mana regen bonuses solve all of Tusk's casting problems, allowing him to always have a full mana pool to deal with any situation, and its movement speed bonus increases the potency of Phase Boots and Drum of Endurance, allowing Tusk to be far more mobile. The cyclone can be used to provide Tusk with another invulnerability ability on top of Snowball, purging debuffs from himself at the same time, or can be cast on enemies as an additional disable during initiations.
 * can be upgraded from Medallion of Courage, and provides Tusk with many of the same benefits. The extra armor and evasion make him increasingly tanky during initiations, and applying the debuff to an enemy will cause them to take even more damage from.
 * is well-suited to improving Tusk's survivability and casting potential. It greatly improves Tusk's HP pool, making him tankier and more able to survive during initiations, and a large amount of intelligence to drastically increase the size of his mana pool. The extremely long range on the active allows Tusk to drastically slow a target enemy from a great distance, and the slow can be combined with that of Frozen Sigil, enough to almost completely immobilize an enemy. As well, the long cast range allows it to be used to paralyze an enemy prior to casting Snowball, preventing enemies without blink or haste abilities from outrunning it.
 * is a strong utility item that can give Tusk increased survivability against magic nukes. The magic resistance helps him to survive during initiations once his HP pool is large enough, and the active can shield him and his teammates from enemy magic nukes for a time.
 * can be upgraded from Vanguard, and allows Tusk to increase his team's resistance to physical damage. The additional armor greatly improves Tusk's tankiness on top of the increased HP and damage block, and using the active can further protect him and his teammates against the enemy's physical attacks.
 * is an expensive utility item but synergizes strongly with Tusk's ability to disable enemies. It provides a great amount of armor, making Tusk more tanky, and drastically improves his mana pool through bonus intelligence, ensuring that he can always have enough mana to cast his spells. The aura and active can slow enemy movement and attack speed even further on top of Frozen Sigil, and the active can be used prior to casting Snowball in order to apply the blast to the entire enemy team during initiations.