Bristleback/Guide

General

 * Bristleback is most often played in the offlane due to his innate tankiness, and ability to constantly pressure the enemy with his low cooldown abilties.
 * Mana is a necessity to make use of Bristleback's kit. In order to make use of it, Bristleback needs at least one item that offers mana regen such as, or.
 * Bristleback's lack of disables can allow enemies to teleport away rather than try and fight him.
 * Heroes that can force Bristleback to face them like and  allow their teammates to deal damage unreduced by, thus negating the primary source of Bristleback's durability.


 * Viscous Nasal Goo's cooldown is lower than Quill Spray, so in order to get as many Warpath stacks as possible, it is important to make use of this ability.
 * Viscous Nasal Goo can be used as an easy way to activate an enemy's.
 * While great at allowing Bristleback to catch up to enemies, it should be noted that Viscous Nasal Goo does not stun enemies, allowing them to safely teleport away from Bristleback if he's alone.
 * The armor reduction from the ability works great with physical attackers like or.


 * Quill Spray can be used to secure last hits, whether from range or timing it with your regular attack.
 * Quill Spray dissuades enemies from staying too close to Bristleback as it's damage is quickly amplified by the number of stacks they're affected by.
 * While a great source of damage, be careful not to overuse Quill Spray as enemies can also benefit from excessive use of the spell to gain charges.
 * Quill Spray deals physical damage, meaning armor reducing abilities such as Viscous Nasal Goo or Medallion of Courage further amplify damage inflicted.
 * Quill Spray can affect enemies hidden by the fog of war, allowing Bristleback to still apply damage to enemies trying to hide from vision.


 * Use your passive ability Bristleback to your advantage; anticipate enemy attacks and turn your back on them, so that you can reduce as much damage as you can.
 * Note that you should not turn your back towards projectiles flying towards you, but rather the original source of the damage.
 * An early point in this ability during the laning stage can help Bristleback stay in lane longer and potentially be left alone to gain an experience advantage.
 * Works fully against towers allowing Bristleback the opportunity to dive towers earlier than most heroes.
 * Damage reduced from Bristleback is done so after reductions from armor or magic resistance.


 * Warpath's movement speed bonus in combination with the slow of Viscous Nasal Goo makes chasing enemies incredibly easy for Bristleback. The armor reduction from Viscous Nasal Goo also amplifies the damage taken from Warpath's stacks.
 * Because Bristleback's kit centers entirely around dealing physical damage, the damage bonus from Warpath makes Bristleback's auto-attacks just as lethal as the rest of his abilities.

Items
Starting items:
 * keeps Bristleback healthy in lane.
 * mitigates damage from lane harassment.
 * gives passive health regeneration and burst mana when needed.

Early game:
 * gives valuable movement speed.
 * helps to sustain in the lane and builds into both and.
 * provides you with virtually unlimited mana and synergizes well with.
 * keeps Bristleback in the fight, giving him a chance to potentially use up charges twice for very large amounts of healing, and every two charges will grant him enough mana for an extra Quill Spray or Viscous Nasal Goo.

Mid game:
 * gives armor and further assists in Bristleback's ability to chase.
 * is one of a few strong early to mid-game pickups on Bristleback. It is best against teams that have a large amount of physical damage. Note that the damage block is deducted from the full attack damage, before any damage reduction (such as from armor or the Bristleback ability) takes place. It builds into a.
 * , as opposed to Vanguard, is a much stronger choice when the enemies rather rely on magical damage. It upgrades into a.
 * provides survivability with armor and attributes. The mana regeneration also helps with casting spells.

Late game:
 * further bolsters defense with armor and health regeneration. Echo Shell can also dispel silences that plague Bristleback, while reflecting many targeted spells back to enemy casters. The mana and mana regeneration also help him to continuously cast Viscous Nasal Goo and Quill Spray.
 * is another large armor item, and it fixes any mana issues Bristleback can have. The active ability also gives Bristleback more presence in teamfights, damaging and slowing enemies in a huge area.
 * grants a huge amount of health and gives you significant regeneration when not in a fight against heroes. It helps in siege situations, where you can soak up lots of damage and then wait a short time to be back at full health. The immense health boost allows Bristleback to use the passive Quill Spray to their full potential, as he can tank significantly more, retreat to heal up and then repeat.

Situational items:
 * is a hybrid pickup of damage and defense. It is strong against teams with high amounts of burst damage, either causing the enemies to take the damage themselves as well, or forcing them to not use their burst damage, giving Bristleback some time to deal with them.
 * is a strong pickup if you're not the hardest carry on your team or the enemy team only has one physical damage dealer that it can be used on. The evasion, status resistance, and strength increase can add a lot to Bristleback's survivability.
 * is built off of a Vanguard, which is also a good item on Bristleback, and is an item any team should have one of if up against a physical damage heavy lineup.
 * is built off of a Hood of Defiance, which is also a good item on Bristleback, and is an item any team should have one of if there are any dangerous nukers on the enemy team.
 * is great on Bristleback if you can get it early in the game after a couple of items to tank up. This is basically a get-more-ahead item, as if you're hard to kill despite putting so much gold into an offensive item, it can be the best item to snowball the rest of the game by farming quickly and dealing massive area damage in teamfights. However, if you get this item at the cost of being tanky, this is a terrible item to pick up.
 * greatly increases Bristleback's survivability, and increases his damage output by lowering Quill Spray's cooldown time.
 * has amazing synergy with Bristleback, as it is one of the few items that can increase the damage of his Quill Spray. It also increases his and his team's tankiness against physical damage, and the attack speed greatly increases his attack damage output thanks to Warpath. It also is a great pickup if there are other carries on your team which rely on physical attacks.

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