Bristleback

Bristleback #99 22 + 2.7 17 + 1.8 14 + 2.8
	Grants the following bonuses per point of attribute:
	+22HP and +0.09HP regeneration; +1 main attack damage
	+0.17 armor and 1 attack speed
	+12MP and +0.05MP regeneration; +0.1% base magic resistance
	Release Date: 2013-03-28
L0	Base Hero Values
L1	⤷ + Base Attributes
L15	⤷ + Attribute Gain
L25	⤷ + 6 levels of Attribute Bonus
L30	⤷ + 7 levels of Attribute Bonus
	All values shown are without talent bonuses.
Attack Animation	0.3 + 0.3
Gib Type	Goo
Internal	npc_dota_hero_bristleback

Hero

Strategy

Equipment


Takes reduced damage when facing away from enemies.
The enforcer at a local pub, Rigwarl's never failed to collect a tab. That is, until he met one tough customer from the north. For the first time in his life, Rigwarl felt the need to train. His Thorny Back deters attacks while peppering foes with constant barrages of Quill Sprays. From his nose he blows Thick Gobs of Snot, slowing and covering opponents in goo. When it comes to a fight, he really puts his back into it. With every volley and every Sneeze, Rigwarl works himself into a fury, adding rage to each blow as he goes on the Warpath in search of a rematch.

Roles:	Carry Durable Initiator Nuker
Complexity:
Adjectives:	NicePecs, Nose Legs `( 2 )`

Bio[]

Rigwarl, the Bristleback

▶️ "It was a barkeep that got me into this mess. Yeah, I think I'll pay em a visit when this is done."

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.

Aliases:

Rigwarl, BB

Voice:

TJ Ramini (Responses)

Abilities[]

Viscous Nasal Goo

▶️

▶️QG

Ability
Target Unit

Affects
Enemies

Covers a target in snot, causing it to have reduced armor and movement speed. Multiple casts stack and refresh the duration.

Cast Animation: +

Cast Range:

650 (

900)

Max Stacks: 4 (

6)

Base Armor Reduction: 2/2/3/3

Armor Reduction per Stack: 1.5/2/2.5/3

Base Move Speed Slow: 15%

Move Speed Slow per Stack: 3%/6%/9%/12%

Hero Duration: 5

Creep Duration: 10

1.75

12/16/20/24

Aghanim's Shard Upgrade:

Increases stack limit by 2.

Modifiers []

Any

Having caught a cold while stuck in the snow, Bristleback turns it to his advantage.

The goo travels at a speed of 1000.

Places one debuff on the enemy. This debuff gets stronger when it gets refreshed with successive casts.
- A number on the icon shows how many times the debuff was refreshed, including the first cast.

Grants 1 Warpath stack upon cast.

For how much bonus armor and movement speed Viscous Nasal Goo reduces up to 4 ( 6) stacks on each level, please refer to the chart below.
- Reduces affected targets' armor by 8/10/13/15 ( 11/14/18/21) at max stacks.
- Reduces affected targets' movement speed by 27%/39%/51%/63% ( 33%/51%/69%/87%) at max stacks.

Treats creep-heroes as heroes.

Quill Spray

▶️

▶️WR

Ability
No Target

Affects
Enemies

Damage
Magical

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 14 seconds.

Cast Animation:

+

Radius:

700

Base Damage: 25/45/65/85

Stack Damage: 28/30/32/34 (

48/50/52/54)

Damage Cap: 500

Stack Duration: 14

3

35

Aghanim's Shard Upgrade:

New Ability

Grants the Hairball ability.

Modifiers []

Ability Draft Notes:

Toggling Autocast on swaps this ability out with

Hairball. Their cooldowns are separate.

An enforcer's honor can be a prickly thing. So can his quills.

Interrupts Bristleback's channeling abilities upon cast.

Grants 1 Warpath stack upon cast.

The quills spread at a speed of 2400 and take 0.29 seconds to reach maximum range.

The quills do not form a ring. They affect every enemy within the expanding area of effect, so it cannot be avoided by blinking towards Bristleback.

The effect is centered at the cast location, it does not follow Bristleback.

Places one debuff on each hit enemy and a stack debuff on each cast on each hit enemy.
- The first debuff shows the number of stack debuffs on the status icon. The stack debuffs are hidden.
- The stacks' durations are independent of each other. Successive casts do not refresh previous stacks' durations.
- With the current cooldown and stack duration, it can be stacked up to 5 times. To reach the damage cap, additional passive procs from Bristleback are required.

The damage cap can be reached with 18/17/15/14 ( 11/11/10/9) stacks.
- To reach it, 13/12/10/9 ( 6/6/5/4) passive casts are required without considering cooldown reduction sources.
- SCEPTER
  The damage cap can be reached with 7/6/4/3 passive casts.
- TALENT
  With the stack damage increasing talent and Bristleback Ability Upgrade, Quill Spray can reach its damage cap without any passive casts.

Quill Spray checks how many stacks units have first and deals damage based on that, then increases the number of stacks.
- The first hit only deals the base damage.

For how much damage Quill Spray deals with a certain amount of stack on each level (before reductions), please refer to the chart below.

Fully affect Couriers.

Bristleback

▶️EK

Ability
Passive
(

Target Point)

Affects
Self
(

Enemies)

Damage

Magical

Bristleback takes less damage if hit on the sides or rear. If Bristleback takes 275/250/225/200 damage from the rear, he releases a Quill Spray of the current level.

Passive Component

Rear Angle: 70°

Side Angle: 110°

Rear Damage Reduction: 16%/24%/32%/40% (

24%/32%/40%/48%)

Side Damage Reduction: 8%/12%/16%/20% (

12%/16%/20%/24%)

Damage Threshold: 275/250/225/200

Cast Animation:

+

Cast Range: Global

Effect Delay: 0.5

Number of Quill Sprays: 6

Spray Interval: 0.35

Spray Angle: 45°

Self Move Speed Slow: 40%

24

100

Aghanim's Scepter Upgrade:

Adds active ability to Bristleback. Bristleback rotates towards the targeted direction and, after 0.5s, forcefully ejects 6 sequential Quill Sprays in a tight conical pattern out of his back every 0.35s. Bristleback's facing is locked during this time, he is disarmed, and his speed is reduced by 40%.

Break Notes:

Does not disable the damage accumulation counter.

Illusion Notes:

The incoming damage reduction works for illusions.

Does not proc passive Quill Sprays.

Modifiers []

Ability Draft Notes:

Quill Spray must be drafted as well for them to passively proc.

Turning his back to a fight might be just the thing.

Bristleback Bristleback angles — Bristleback's angles visualised.

A visual effect and sound play whenever his back receives damage if Bristleback has learned Quill Spray.
- Taking damage from the sides shows no effect.

Applies generic incoming damage reduction on Bristleback. Stacks additively with other sources of generic incoming damage manipulation.
- Reduces all damage types Bristleback receives, except from damage flagged as HP removal (e.g. Sunder).
- When taking rear damage, his effective health increases by 19%/32%/47%/67% ( 32%/47%/67%/92%).
- When taking side damage, his effective health increases by 9%/14%/19%/25% ( 14%/19%/25%/32%).

Checks the damage source's current position and compares it to Bristleback's facing angle on each damage instance.
- This means on damage over time effects (e.g. Liquid Fire), damage of an instance is only reduced when within the reduction angle.
- Damage from Death Ward, Proximity Mines is reduced when facing away from them since they are their own source.

Passive Quill Sprays based on its current level proc when Bristleback's back (not sides) collectively receives 275/250/225/200 damage (after all reductions).
- Passive procs do not interrupt Bristleback's channeling abilities.
- If Quill Spray is not learned, no quills are procced.
- The damage counter accumulates damage from the 3 damage types, but not from HP Removal sources or from the no-reflection flag (e.g. Blade Mail).
- The damage counter has no time limit and only resets once a passive spray occurs.
- Any exceeding damage is accumulated, a single damage instance can trigger multiple passive Quill Spray procs per damage threshold.
- These sprays are independent of the cooldown, they do not trigger the ability's cooldown and work while on cooldown.
- They do not cost mana or proc on-cast effects either.

Grants 1 Warpath stack per passive proc.

SCEPTER
Adds an active component to Bristleback, with the passive effects still present.
- Upon cast, Bristleback is disarmed and rotates gradually with a turn rate of 5 until its back completely faces the targeted direction.
- 0.5 seconds after cast, Bristleback launches 1 Quill Spray based on its current level per 0.35-second intervals up to 6 sprays, for a total duration of 3.5 seconds.
- Grants up to 6 Warpath stack per cast.
- Gets interrupted only when hexed. Other disables like stuns, taunts, cyclones or fear may change the direction sprays are fired at.
- Keeps spraying when hidden by any source.

SCEPTER
The following effects are applied on Bristleback while the spray is active:
- Reduces Bristleback's turn rate to 0.
- While active, all of Bristleback's abilities, including item abilities, do not require facing the target to cast, as long as the target is within the cast range.

Quill Spray notes fully apply. If it is not learned, no sprays are launched.
- However, the other ability effects on Bristleback are still applied.

Hairball

▶️

▶️DB

Ability
Target Area

Affects
Enemies

Damage
Magical

Coughs a quill-packed hairball towards the target location. Erupts at the location, hitting enemies in with Viscous Nasal Goo and stacks of Quill Spray.

Cast Animation: +

Cast Range:

1000

Radius:

700

Number of Viscous Nasal Goo: 2

Number of Quill Sprays: 1

13

40

Ability Disjoint Notes:

Viscous Nasal Goo notes fully apply.

Modifiers []

Any

Ability Draft Notes:

Viscous Nasal Goo must be drafted as well for it to get applied.

Requires drafting

Quill Spray to be unlocked.
Toggling Autocast off swaps this ability out with Quill Spray. Their cooldowns are separate.

Requires Aghanim's Shard to be unlocked.

Grants 1 Warpath stack upon cast.

The hairball travels at a speed of 1200.

Upon reaching the targeted area, 1 Quill Sprays are released and all enemy units within 700 radius is targeted by Viscous Nasal Goo based on its current level respectively.
- Enemies in the Fog of War are also hit by the Viscous Nasal Goo as well as the Quill Sprays.
  - Viscous Nasal Goo does not target invisible units.
- Viscous Nasal Goo projectile will only hit once, but deal 2 stacks on target.
- Both Viscous Nasal Goo and Quill Spray notes fully apply.

The Viscous Nasal Goo and Quill Spray released are based on the current level respectively.
- If neither is leveled, the ball does nothing upon reaching the targeted area.

Since Quill Spray travels faster than Viscous Nasal Goo, the quills always hit enemies before the goo does, so the quills do not benefit from the armor reduction.
SPELL STEAL
The Viscous Nasal Goo and Quill Spray applied is based on Bristleback's current ability level when acquired.

Warpath

RW

Ability
Passive

Affects
Self

Bristleback works himself up into a fury every time he casts a spell, increasing his movement speed and damage.

Max Stacks: 8/10/12

Stack per Ability Cast: 1

Attack Damage Bonus per Stack: 15/20/25 (

33/38/43)

Move Speed Bonus per Stack: 2%/3%/4%

Stack Duration: 16/18/20

Illusion Notes:

Illusions gain a stack whenever Bristleback gains one.

Does not benefit from the flat attack damage bonus.

Modifiers []

'Temper, temper,' his mum always chided. But in a fight, a temper can come in handy.

Does not trigger on active item abilities, on abilities with 0 cooldown, or on abilities which do not trigger on-cast effects.

Grants Warpath stacks in the following conditions:
- Grants 1 stack per Viscous Nasal Goo, Quill Spray and Hairball cast.
- Grants 1 stack per passive Bristleback Quill Spray procs.
- SCEPTER
  Grants up to 6 stacks per upon Bristleback cast.

Bristleback's model size increases and more particles fly around him the more stacks he has.
- This has no impact on his collision size.

Grants regular flat bonus attack damage.

Grants at most 120/200/300 ( 264/380/516) attack damage and 16%/30%/48% movement speed bonus.

Each stack places a new buff on Bristleback, with each buff duration independent of the other.
- The number of stacks can be seen on the status buff icon.

Viscous Nasal Goo Calculations[]

Level	Viscous Nasal Goo Armor and Movement Speed Reductions at n^th Stack
Level	1	2	3	4	5	6
Level 1	3.5 18%	5 21%	6.5 24%	8 27%	9.5 30%	11 33%
Level 2	4 21%	6 27%	8 33%	10 39%	12 45%	14 51%
Level 3	5.5 24%	8 33%	10.5 42%	13 51%	15.5 60%	18 69%
Level 4	6 27%	9 39%	12 51%	15 63%	18 75%	21 87%

Quill Spray Calculations[]

Quill Spray Level	Number of Stacks for Max Damage (500)
Quill Spray Level	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
Level 1 ()	25	53	81	109	137	165	193	221	249	277	305	333	361	389	417	445	473	500
Level 1 ()	25	73	121	169	217	265	313	361	409	457	500
Level 2 ()	45	75	105	135	165	195	225	255	285	315	345	375	405	435	465	495	500
Level 2 ()	45	95	145	195	245	295	345	395	445	495	500
Level 3 ()	65	97	129	161	193	225	257	289	321	353	385	417	449	481	500
Level 3 ()	65	117	169	221	273	325	377	429	481	500
Level 4 ()	85	119	153	187	221	255	289	323	357	391	425	459	493	500
Level 4 ()	85	139	193	247	301	355	409	463	500

Talents[]

Hero Talents
+18 Warpath Damage Per Stack	25	12% Spell Lifesteal
+20 Quill Stack Damage	20	+25 Health Regen
+8%/4% Bristleback Back/Side Damage Reduction	15	+250 Goo Cast Range
+1.5 Mana Regen	10	+25 Attack Speed

Notes:

Stacks additively with other spell lifesteal sources.
- Heals for 2.4% from non-hero units. Treats creep-heroes as creeps and does not heal off of illusions.

Recent Changes[]

Main Articles: Changelogs, Old Abilities and Hero Lore

Version

Description

7.35b

Reduced Bristleback damage threshold from 300/275/250/225 to 275/250/225/200.

7.35

Aghanim's Scepter upgrade:
- Increased Bristleback cooldown from 20 to 24.
Aghanim's Shard upgrade:
- Reduced Viscous Nasal Goo max stacks bonus from 3 to 2.

Talents:

LVL 10

+20 attack damage ➜ +25 attack speed.

7.34e

Reduced Quill Spray damage cap from 550 to 500.
Increased Bristleback damage threshold from 225 on each level to 300/275/250/225.
Aghanim's Shard upgrade:
- Hairball
  - Reduced cast range from 1500 to 1000.
  - Increased cooldown from 10 to 13.

Talents:

LVL 20

+25 Quill Spray damage per stack reduced to +20.

Recommended Items[]

Starting items:

Tango keeps Bristleback healthy in lane.

Enchanted Mango gives passive health regeneration and burst mana when needed.

Early game:

Boots of Speed gives valuable movement speed.

Ring of Health helps to sustain in the lane and builds into Vanguard or Eternal Shroud.

Soul Ring provides you with virtually unlimited mana and synergizes well with Ring of Health.

Magic Wand 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:

Phase Boots gives armor and further assists in Bristleback's ability to chase.

Arcane Boots is a decent alternative to solve the mana issue Bristleback has in the early game. It can be disassemble later to build Lotus Orb and Boots of Travel.

Vanguard 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 Crimson Guard.

Eternal Shroud is a good choice when the enemies rather rely on magical damage.

Solar Crest provides survivability with armor and attributes. The mana regeneration also helps with casting spells.

Late game:

Lotus Orb 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.

Shiva's Guard 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.

Heart of Tarrasque grants a huge amount of health and gives you significant regeneration. 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:

Heaven's Halberd 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.

Crimson Guard is built off of a Vanguard, which is also a good item on Bristleback, and is an item any team should have if up against a physical damage heavy lineup.

Pipe of Insight 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.

Radiance 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.

Octarine Core increases his damage output by lowering Quill Spray's cooldown time.

Assault Cuirass 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.

Dota Plus Progress[]

Main Article: Hero Challenges

Relics track a hero's actions and statistics, and display in-game notifications when a milestone is reached. They are only available to Dota Plus subscribers.

Relics	Voice Lines
Three Hero Viscous Nasal Goo Kills With Four Quill Spray Stacks Bristleback Triggered Damage Max Warpath Stack Duration Quill Spray Stack Damage Blade Mail Damage Radiance Damage Slows Leading To Kills Crimson Guard Damage Blocked Pipe of Insight Damage Blocked Triple Kills Mega Kill Streaks Kill Assists Kills	Bronze	▶️ Hehey hahaha. ▶️ Bright and breezy.
	Silver	▶️ Ah, now I feel better. ▶️ Oooh, that's lovely days.
	Gold	▶️ No way. ▶️ Oh, you want some of this... eh?
	Platinum	▶️ Well, what have we here.
	Master	▶️ Who's squealing now, eh? Ha, aha ha heh.
	Grandmaster	▶️ Oy, oy, oy, save some of that keg for me, will ya, lads?

Equipment[]

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]
- Beta information revealed that Bristleback's original name was supposedly to be "Bristlebog", probably to avoid conflict with the aforementioned Bristleback tribe in "World of Warcraft".
- According to an unused voice response, Bristleback was originally designed with tusks.^[1]
- According to Lycan's response ▶️ "A boar is a wolf's natural prey", one of Bristleback's early designs resembled a boar.