Tusk

Ymir the Tusk is a melee Strength hero whose array of icy spells pack great potential to grant the advantage in a gank. Tusk is both an effective team fight hero and initiator, whose signature Snowball has the unique ability to bring along teammates into the fight. His Ice Shards block off the area immediately surrounding enemy heroes and Frozen Sigil summons a glyph of arcane frost to slow targets, constricting their movement, and his ultimate, Walrus PUNCH!, is a powerful blow that inflicts devastating melee damage and a slow. Snowball alone can give a successful gank if Tusk brings any nearby teammates with him, and Walrus Punch knocks his target cold. He is a very dangerous assailant from which it is hard to escape. Though he is usually played as a support, one can in fact benefit reasonably well from additional attributes and farm, and can be a great semi-carry as well. Equipping with damage-boosting items can greatly increase the critical damage brought by Walrus Punch, allowing him to fight on his own in the later stages.

Tips

 * When being pursued by numerous heroes, you can cast Ice Shards toward them to limit the pursuer to one, as the barrier greatly hinders any hero behind the first affected target.
 * Ice Shards' missile cast is delayed; keep this in mind when you are targeting distant, fleeing heroes.
 * When pushing, defending, or farming, Ice Shards is an effective area-of-effect skill to damage multiple creeps in a straight path.
 * Aid your team's initiator by pairing up with him/her and casting Snowball on the group of enemies; the movement makes both Tusk and his teammate invulnerable, and any target that is hit by it gets stunned for a brief second, giving the initiator some time to act.
 * Be careful when using Frozen Sigil, as it gives a large bounty when destroyed. Only direct it toward enemy heroes when they are too busy to pay attention to it (i.e. when being pursued by your allies). It has a relatively fast speed and can catch up to most enemies.
 * Purchase mana boosting items to supplement all of your 4 active spells, since Tusk is incredibly skill-dependent.
 * Walrus Punch deals 4x critical damage when enemies are 50% below their maximum health. Similar to Bounty Hunter's Jinada, it also maims the target to a crawl, so use this to knock out an enemy before they can retaliate. However, this move can accidentally steal the kill due to its potential critical damage, but nevertheless it is acceptable, since Tusk benefits from additional items.

Trivia

 * In DotA, he was known as Tuskarr. The Tuskarr are a race of humanoid walruses in the Warcraft universe.
 * His accent is modeled after the Swedish.
 * His response "Falcon Punch!" is a reference to Captain Falcon's signature move in the Super Smash Bros. franchise, which has also become a popular internet meme.
 * His response "Bang! Zoom! To the Mad Moon!" is likely a reference to The Honeymooners' character Ralph Kramden, who would frequently say "Bang! Zoom! Straight to the moon!".
 * Every time Tusk lands his Walrus Punch, a caption in blue text will be displayed depending on the target:
 * When landed on a creep whose health is above 50%, the caption will be "Penguin Punch!" in small letters.
 * When landed on an enemy hero whose health is above 50%, the caption will be "Polar Punch!" in medium letters.
 * When landed on any target whose health is below 50%, it will display "Walrus Punch!" in large letters.
 * If Walrus Punch is stolen and used by Rubick, he will throw a projectile form of himself, spinning toward the target. When targeted on creeps, the caption "Stolen Punch!" will be shown, in green-colored text. On heroes, the caption "Sucker Punch!" will be shown, in the same format.