Spirit Breaker/Guide

General

 * Chaining together Charge of Darkness with Nether Strike can deal high amounts of burst damage in a very short amount of time.
 * Spirit Breaker has very little teamfight presence due to his specialized abilities, but he can still be useful at neutralizing targets and forcing enemies back.
 * When charging enemy heroes in mid game, be 100% sure that they are alone. A lone enemy may wait out in the open while their ally hides in the trees, waiting for you to charge the bait hero, and finally be ganked. Therefore, can greatly reduce uncertainty before charging.
 * Despite being classified as an initiator Spirit Breaker is more of a hunter who takes out lone targets or chases down fleeing enemy heroes after a team fight. To actually initiate you will either need an so that your ultimate has an AoE presence which in turn weakens your carry potential or use Charge of Darkness in a way that would let you bowl through all of the enemy team heroes (such as aiming for the furthest enemy hero while the enemy team is standing close to a line formation).
 * is a fair pick on Spirit Breaker, as the bonus move speed improves the damage of his Greater Bash as well as his general speed, improving his chasing ability even further in conjunction with its maim.
 * Because triggers on cast, Charge of Darkness can be used to instantly and globally put an enemy's sphere on cooldown.
 * With the use of all of your abilities and some lucky bashes, you can keep a single target stunned for 8 seconds. This is a huge stun duration even late game and allows lucky Spirit Breaker to snowball out of control on lone ganks.
 * Due to the massive speed boost Spirit Breaker receives while charging (288 more than maximum movement speed), he can catch up to a team fight fairly quickly, even from across the map. While preparing for a team fight you might want to stand at the back of your team and let your allies begin to draw out disables and initiation spells from the enemy, then use Charge of Darkness on your target, this will disorient the enemy team as you are likely to be hitting a few of them on the way to your target not to mention that they will be left with no disables to stop you.


 * Use Charge of Darkness to get close, stun your target, and make him vulnerable to your attacks.
 * can be used without interrupting your charge, activate it just when you get close to the enemy to take advantage of its duration during the fight.
 * can also be activated while charging, greatly increasing the surprise factor of his charge and preventing easy charge interruption such as . In addition, the Shadow Blade bonus damage will be applied to the first attack from invisibility.
 * Charge of Darkness allows Spirit Breaker to run through units, trees, structures and terrain. It does not indicate your enemies when targeted either, letting you setup ganks.
 * Although Charge of Darkness is typically used to get into fights, it can also be used to get back out in a pinch; by targeting a creep in a different lane Spirit Breaker can move quickly to avoid death, then cancel the charge when he is out of danger.
 * While it does not provide True Sight, the indicator will follow the invisible unit being charged and the charge will still hit an enemy that has gone invisible after being charged. This will cause the ability to interrupt channeling spells being performed by invisible heroes such as Sand King's Sand Storm.
 * During teamfights you can spam Charge of Darkness in order to create chaos and disrupt your oponent's formation, try to target the backliners in order to get the most stuns possible.
 * As Spirit Breaker’s DPS is poor, he can use Charge of Darkness to stomp creeps.


 * Empowering Haste active spell increases your move speed, making it handy for reaching the front lines quickly or for quick escapes (for example after charging into enemy territory).
 * The move speed increase also synergizes with your passive, potentially increasing your damage output for a short time. Consider using it in order to quickly dispose of lone enemy heroes before they acquire backup.


 * Greater Bash deals more damage depending on Spirit Breaker's movement speed. Getting items that increase movement speed, such as and  or a simple, will greatly improve your damage.
 * Always try to angle Spirit Breaker in a way that you may push your enemy away from safety, the chances that you will get multiple bashes are slim but should still be considered.


 * Nether Strike deals major damage to the target enemy and teleports behind them, wherever they go. You can use this to catch blinking or teleporting enemies before they get away.
 * Sometimes it might be a good idea to use Nether Strike on a spell immune hero to interrupt their actions as the greater bash will hit them regardless. Situations where for example your team gets caught in a by a spell immune  you can turn the tide of the fight if you can stop him right at the beginning.
 * Avoid stealing kills from carries! Do not use Nether Strike when the enemy is already doomed.

Items
Starting items:
 * helps Spirit Breaker sustain during the laning phase, preventing him from returning to base due to enemy harassment.
 * restores health as well.
 * will greatly reduce incoming damage from physical damage during the laning phase. This is most helpful when the lane has one or more ranged heroes harassing consistently.
 * is a cheap and effective way to improve Spirit Breaker's low mana pool, as well as his health pool.

Early game:
 * are essential for Spirit Breaker, as the improved speed will allow him to escape deadly situations, as well as catching up to an escaping enemy. The bonus movement speed will also provide additional damage because of Greater Bash.
 * is a useful burst health/mana item if the enemies in lane will be casting many spells. It can later be built into a.
 * aids ganking as it grants mana regeneration and healing. The damage over time can also cancel enemy healing items like and.

Mid game:
 * give additional attack speed, as well as durability and damage, all of which increase the effectiveness of Greater Bash.
 * is good for burst health/mana while providing a boost to his attributes compared to the.
 * gives bonus attack speed and movement speed when activate, increasing both the damage and frequency of Greater Bash attacks.
 * makes you immune to many abilities that interrupt your Charge of Darkness, allowing you to engage and damage your target unimpeded.

Late game:
 * will give Spirit Breaker a large increase in attack speed, as well as providing an attack speed/armor aura to nearby allies. The extra attack speed will cause Greater Bash to occur more frequently.
 * grants you invisibility which could be useful for escape or to further increase your ganking/roaming capabilities. Attacking to break invisibility will disable enemy passives, reduce their damage, and give you a powerful damage strike. It also grants a decent amount of attack speed, attack damage and attribute bonuses, it can also be used during charge before hitting your target in order to avoid getting disabled and thus avoiding breaking your charge.

Situational items:
 * improves Nether Strike by greatly reducing its cooldown, as well as increasing its range. It also causes all nearby units to be hit by Greater Bash. This can be a good choice if your team needs a powerful initiation spell.
 * will not only increase Spirit Breaker's durability from physical attacks because of the added evasion, its active ability can disarm enemy carries relying on physical damage.
 * grants Spirit Breaker additional attack speed and damage output at the cost of his health every second. However, the life drain can mostly be countered by the lifesteal given by, making it a useful purchase when used correctly.
 * increases attacks damage and allows Spirit Breaker to hit enemies with evasion.
 * increases the movement speed and attack speed of both himself and his team. The bonus movement speed and attack speed synergize well with Greater Bash.
 * gives Spirit Breaker the largest single-item-slot increase in attack speed in the entire game, which causes Greater Bash to occur very frequently. Thus, it should be considered to keep it through the majority of the game until a more effective item can be purchased, at which point the Shard can be consumed and replaced - The attack speed bonus will be halved, but having a permanent attack speed bonus without needing an inventory slot for it is extremely useful.
 * also gives you invisibility while also making you much more magic resistant during the invisibility, making escapes significantly easier, and can be activated before using Nether Strike to avoid being interrupted without needing a . It also gives him magic resistance, making him a stronger tank.
 * gives you good survivability stats and mana regen to allow you to use Charge of Darkness with little need to ever return to base for more mana. Its active will also make your initiation abilities stronger as spellcasters will need to think twice before attacking to nuke you or shut you down.
 * should be carried against invisible heroes and heroes that tend to build into such as Slark or Shadow Fiend. Not carrying dust allows such enemies to easily escape your ganks. However, Charge of Darkness will outline an enemy even when they are invisible, so allies can still chase and utilize AoE abilities even without detection.

Spirit Breaker/Руководство 裂魂人/攻略