Troll Warlord
Troll Warlord | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Jah'rakal, the Troll Warlord, is a ranged agility hero able to output mighty damage competitively at range and in melee. His Berserker's Rage gives him the unique ability to change his attack position from ranged to melee and back at will as the situation warrants. When in close combat, his stats are increased accordingly: he gains bonus armor, movement speed, reduced base attack time, and the ability to root. Not only does this greatly improve the Troll Warlord, but allows him to overpower most other carries, as well as permanently ensnare a target for extended amounts of time. The Troll Warlord is an axe specialist, using them in his unique Whirling Axes, which has two variations: the first is available to his ranged form wherein he throws axes in a cone formation to damage and slow enemies. The second is available to his melee form, whirling axes around himself in a small radius to damage and blind nearby enemies. In keeping with his savage nature, Fervor builds up the Warlord's momentum, granting him attack speed with each consecutive hit on the same target, though the momentum is lost upon switching targets. His Ultimate, Battle Trance, increases his attack speed further, boosts his movement speed, prevents death and grants lifesteal at the expense of almost complete loss of control when enemies are nearby, mindlessly attacking them. Notorious for his superbly fast attack speed that can be matched by few, Jah'rakal is truly a force to be reckoned with.
Contents
Bio[edit]
As much as trolls love to argue, imagine how rare it is for a troll to be driven from his own kind for being too difficult to get along with. Such was Jah'rakal's fate, a monger troll from deep in the Hoven. So deluded was he, so bitter and abrasive, that even other trolls found his company intolerable. After one particularly vitriolic outburst in which he claimed the lion's share of loot from their latest raid, his cohorts finally snapped. They turned on him, beat him with clubs, and drove him from the encampment. Enraged at his banishment, he returned the next day, armed with steel, and slew them all, one by one. He then swore a blood oath: he would ever after be a fighting force unto himself. Now he roams the world as the Troll Warlord, bitter and angry, the Imperial high commander of an army of one.
Abilities[edit]
Whirling Axes has different functionality while Berserker's Rage is active.
Notes:
- Berserker's Rage does not interrupt Troll Warlord's channeling spells upon cast.
- When toggling on, disables Whirling Axes (Ranged) and then enables Whirling Axes (Melee).
- When toggling off, all changes are reverted and he becomes a ranged unit again.
- Turns Troll Warlord into a melee unit with 150 attack range, meaning items treat him as such (e.g. Battle Fury, Skull Basher).
- When toggling on while a ranged projectile is flying, it is treated as a melee attack by items, but cannot root with Berserker's Rage.
- When the attack connects on the target, the area in front of Troll Warlord will receive cleave damage if he has Battle Fury, and items such as Orb of Venom and Skull Basher use the melee attack values. However, Quelling Blade uses the ranged values if Troll Warlord was ranged at the start of the projectile.
- Berserker's Rage persists through Troll Warlord's death. If Berserker's Rage was active upon death, he respawns with it activated.
- The proccing attack first applies the debuff, then its own damage.
- The root of Berserker's Rage uses pseudo-random distribution.
- The root of Berserker's Rage provides True Sight over the target for it's duration.
- This ability is not available in Ability Draft.
Notes:
- Whirling Axes (Ranged) is only available when Berserker's Rage is toggled off.
- In Ability Draft, both Whirling Axes abilities are separate, stand-alone spells that can be drafted and skilled independently.
- The axes travel at a speed of 1500, taking 0.63 seconds to travel the full distance.
- Spawns 5 axes which spread up to 25 degrees and affect units within 100 radius around them.
- Has no starting radius, the axes spawn at one point in front of Troll Warlord. So the total area is shaped like a cone.
- Can hit units up to 1050 range away (travel distance + axes radius).
- The axes first apply the damage, then the debuff.
- With Aghanim's Scepter, they first apply a basic dispel, then the damage, then the debuff.
- Does not affect Roshan.
- During Battle Trance this ability has an instant cast time, and does not require Troll Warlord to face the targeted direction.
Notes:
- Whirling Axes (Melee) is only available when Berserker's Rage is toggled on.
- In Ability Draft, both Whirling Axes abilities are separate, stand-alone spells that can be drafted and skilled independently.
- Interrupts Troll Warlord's channeling spells upon cast.
- With Aghanim's Scepter, applies a basic dispel on Troll Warlord upon cast.
- If Troll Warlord dies, the spell ends and the axes disappear.
- The axes always spawn towards east and west at Troll Warlord's position and rotate clock-wise.
- The axes travel at a speed of 1250 and move out at a speed of 233.33 until reaching the max distance in 1.5 seconds, and then move back to Troll Warlord at the same speed.
- Only units within 100 range of an axe get damaged and blinded.
- Whirling Axes' blind uses pseudo-random distribution.
- Can hit units up to 450 range away (max spin radius + axes radius).
- The full damage and debuff is dealt the first time a unit comes in contact with an axe, being hit by the other axe does not deal extra damage or reapply the debuff.
- The axes first apply the damage, then the debuff.
- The visual effects of this spell are offset and do not reflect the actual currently affected area.
- Does not affect Roshan.
Passive
Self
Notes:
- Troll Warlord gains or loses stacks as soon as his attacks land on the target.
- This means that missed or disjointed attacks do not count, and in ranged form, it reacts on projectile hit, not launch.
- This is how much attack speed Fervor grants with a certain amount of stacks on each level.
- Level 1: 15/30/45/60/75/90/105/120/135/150/165/180
- Level 2: 20/40/60/80/100/120/140/160/180/200/220/240
- Level 3: 25/50/75/100/125/150/175/200/225/250/275/300
- Level 4: 30/60/90/120/150/180/210/240/270/300/330/360
- This is how much attack speed Fervor grants with a certain amount of stacks on each level with the Fervor attack speed
talent.
- Level 1: 20/40/60/80/100/120/140/160/180/200/220/240
- Level 2: 25/50/75/100/125/150/175/200/225/250/275/300
- Level 3: 30/60/90/120/150/180/210/240/270/300/330/360
- Level 4: 35/70/105/140/175/210/245/280/315/350/385/420
- When already having stacks, the first attack against a new target removes the previous stacks, without granting a new stack.
No Target
Allies
Notes:
- Requires Aghanim's Shard to be unlocked.
- Switching stances immediately updates the buff to provide the intended benefit, both for allies and for Troll Warlord.
- Despite what the tooltip says, the buff is dispellable by any dispel.
- Despite what the tootlip says, the buff fully works on spell immune allies.
No Target
Self

Notes:
- Battle Trance interrupts Troll Warlord's channeling spells upon cast.
- Applies a basic dispel (
strong dispel) on the target upon cast.
- Battle Trance first applies the buff, then the dispel.
- When cast while not attacking, the buffed hero automatically chooses an attack target within the search radius.
- Prioritizes heroes over other units. Uses default auto-attack rules to decide for targets.
- Does not target Roshan, buildings, wards, allies, or invulnerable or attack immune enemies.
- When cast while already attacking a target, the buffed hero sticks to that target, even if it is Roshan, a building, a ward, or an ally.
- The buffed hero only switches the current attack target when it becomes unattackable (turns invulnerable or attack immune, or dies).
- Grants shared vision over the current attack target as long as it stays within 900 range of the buffed hero, revealing it through the fog of war. Does not provide True Sight.
- While attacking, the buffed hero becomes almost fully uncontrollable, and can only be ordered to to toggle Berserker's Rage, or cast Whirling Axes.
- Prevents Troll Warlord from dying by setting his minimum health to 1.
- This means he cannot die to damage, not even damage flagged as HP removal, so that it prevents him from dying to False Promise's delayed damage.
- Does not protect him against a lethal Culling Blade, or the expiring of
Wraith Delay.
- Stops Ice Blast from shattering Troll Warlord when in Battle Trance while below the shatter threshold.
- Damage taken is technically not reduced, so any damage event still registers the full damage.
- The level 25
talent turns the basic dispel into a strong dispel.
- Also allows Battle Trance to be cast while stunned, cycloned, slept, hidden, or during Forced Movement.
- Does not allow it from being cast while silenced, taunted, hexed or prevented from acting, and also makes it impossible to shift-queue it.
Talents[edit]
Hero Talents | ||
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Battle Trance Strong Dispels | 25 | +2s Battle Trance Duration |
+30 Damage | 20 | 20% Evasion |
+90 Whirling Axes Damage | 15 | +5 Fervor Attack Speed |
+225 Health | 10 | +7 Agility |
- The health talent increases maximum health capacity, and keeps the current health percentage.
- The agility talent effectively grants Troll Warlord 1.17 armor, 7 attack speed, and 7 attack damage.
- This attack damage talent is added as raw attack damage, so it does not benefit illusions, and is not affected by most percentage-based damage increasing or reducing effects.
- The evasion talent stacks multiplicatively with other sources of evasion.
Recent Changes[edit]
- Increased turn rate from 0.5 to 0.6.
- Whirling Axes (Ranged)
- Reduced axe travel distance from 1000 to 950.
- Increased mana cost from 50 to 60.
- Rescaled Berserker's Rage armor bonus from 6 on each level to 4/5/6/7.
- Reduced Battle Trance movement speed bonus from 30%/35%/40% to 25%/30%/35%.
- Reworked Aghanim's Shard upgrade:
- Old: Battle Trance now provides a global aura that grants allied heroes, including self, 60 attack speed.
- New: Grants Troll Warlord the Rampage ability.
- Rampage
- Globally causes all allied heroes to gain bonus attack speed or bonus status resistance based on whichever stance Troll Warlord is currently in. Ranged form provides attack speed while Melee form provides status resistance.
- Radius: Global
- Attack speed bonus: 70
- Status resistance bonus: 25%
- Duration: 5
- Mana cost: 75
- Cooldown: 80
- Talents:
- Increased Berserker's Rage movement speed bonus from 10/20/30/40 to 15/25/35/45.
- Reworked Aghanim's Scepter upgrade:
- Old: Reduces Battle Trance cooldown from 90 to 35, and allows it to be cast on allied and enemy heroes. Has a cast range of 525, and lasts 3.25 seconds on enemy heroes.
- New: Reduces Whirling Axes cooldown from 9 to 4 and mana cost by 50%. Causes Whirling Axes (Ranged) to apply a basic dispel on hit enemies, and Whirling Axes (Melee) to apply a basic dispel on self upon cast.
- Added Aghanim's Shard upgrade for Troll Warlord:
- Battle Trance now provides a global aura that grants allied heroes, including self, 60 attack speed.
- Talents:
- Level 25 right talent changed: -5s Whirling Axes cooldown ➜ +2s Battle Trance duration.
- Talents:
- Level 15 left talent: +70 Whirling Axes damage increased to +90.
- Level 15 right talent changed: +3 Fervor max stacks ➜ +5 Fervor attack speed per stack.
Recommended items[edit]
Starting items:
- Tango sustains health so you can stay longer in lane.
- Healing Salve restores health as well.
Early game:
- Magic Wand helps to sustain in the lane against enemies that can spam spells.
- Phase Boots increase attack damage to complement Troll Warlord's high attack speed.
Mid game:
- Maelstrom increases farm speed, allowing to get more items quicker.
- Black King Bar is core on troll because Battle Trance only lasts 6.5 seconds. Every second matters, and stuns and disables potentially make you unable to do anything for several seconds, wasting the spell's potential.
- Morbid Mask provides lifesteal which works well with your high attack speed. Getting this can help you take out Roshan in the early game by yourself. It also upgrades into Satanic, which helps with survivability in the late game.
Late game:
- Butterfly provides a massive agility and attack speed bonus as well as evasion. In addition, the evasion, combined with the blind provided by Whirling Axes provides a great deal of survivability.
- Abyssal Blade provides Troll Warlord with stun and bash, which he can take advantage of due to his high attack speed. The item also gives damage block and health so he can survive in fights.
- Satanic provides an active that will allow Troll Warlord to hit enemies without the fear of dying and gain full health in a fraction of a second. The passive status resistance is what makes this item a must, as Troll Warlord doesn't like to be interrupted in fights so that he can focus one target.
Situational items:
- Battle Fury is alternative way to farm faster.
- Yasha is always a decent choice, for extra movement speed and agility. Upgrade it into either a Sange and Yasha for some durability, or a Manta Style for the illusions, dispel and disjointing projectiles.
- Shadow Blade offers cost effective attack speed and damage increases, strong initiation and mobility, and a mediocre escape. It also upgrades in the improved Silver Edge.
- Blink Dagger allows Troll Warlord to get on top of the enemies to root and kill them. Can be upgraded later to Swift Blink
- Diffusal Blade provides good agility and helps you deplete (quickly) a target of its mana.
- Daedalus gives your attacks a great deal of damage. Because maximum attack speed is easily achievable with his ultimate and passive, Troll Warlord can focus on damage and get multiple Daedalus to crit more often and lifesteal even more.
- Monkey King Bar counters evasion from the enemies due to its magical damage procs, and gives an increase to attack damage which complements attack speed bonuses from Fervor and Battle Trance.
Gameplay[edit]
Roles: | Carry Pusher Disabler Durable |
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Complexity: | ★★☆ |
Playstyle: | Jah'rakal is an intolerable scoundrel, even for a troll. As such, being kicked out of the troll encampment only served to fuel his anger. The next day, he returned with steel in hand, and slew his former comrades in a Berserker's Rage. With each passing blow, the self-styled Troll Warlord accelerates his swings in an irate Fervor. Swapping effortlessly between melee and ranged, he throws his weapons to cripple from afar, while chopping down adjacent foes with Whirling Axes. To challenge Jah'rakal is to invite one's own death. The Troll Warlord enters a Battle Trance, channeling pure hatred into unequaled speed as he decimates his opponents in a storm of bloody axes. |
Audio[edit]
History[edit]
Equipment[edit]
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Trivia[edit]
- Jah'rakal's lore and certain dialogue lines make several references to Internet trolls, a type of identity or role assumed by certain Internet users.
- Troll Warlord's alternate name in DotA was Cory Clark a nod to the famous internet troll.
- Battle Trance's ▶️ sound effect is based on ▶️ this and ▶️ this line combined.
- Troll Warlord's rare Whirling Axes cast response ▶️ "Axes of evil." is a reference to the term "axis of evil" which former U.S. president George W. Bush coined and used many times during his presidency.