Hero
Tusk | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Snowballs into his enemies to stun. | |
Amidst broken stools and shattered bottles, the bewildered barkeep issued Ymir his greatest challenge. Find a proper battle, and win it for whichever side he chose. With that, the champion brawler strode forth, bringing with him the northern elements in the form of a frozen sigil. Able to instantly corner an enemy with a wall of Ice Shards, cutting off all retreat. He understands a Tag Team is only as strong as its weakest member. Gathering both snow and allies, he rolls into battle as an unstoppable Snowball at will, stunning foes in its path. For a finale, the Tusk winds up his drinking arm, and launches his opponent into orbit with a mighty uppercut — his solid signature Walrus PUNCH!.. though his KICKS! are also to be feared. | |
Roles: | Initiator Disabler Nuker |
Complexity: | |
Adjectives: | Legs ( 2 )
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Bio[]
▶️ "After a bar brawl it's customary, as a courtesy, to buy everyone who's still standing a round of drinks."
Lore:
It had been a brawl to remember. There stood Ymir, the Tusk, the Terror from the Barrier, the Snowball from Cobalt, the only fighter to have bested the Bristled Bruiser in a fair fight, and now the last man standing in Wolfsden Tavern. What started as a simple bar bet of supremacy ended with four regulars, a blacksmith, and six of the Frost Brigade's best soldiers writhing against the shards and splinters of almost every bottle, mug, and chair in the building. The Tusk boasted and toasted his victory as he emptied his brew.
No sooner had the defeated regained consciousness than the cries for double-or-nothing rang out. The Tusk was pleased at the prospect, but none could think of a bet bigger than the one he just conquered. Horrified at the damage to his tavern and desperate to avoid another brawl, the barkeep had an idea. As skilled as he was, Ymir had never taken part in a real battle, never tested himself against the indiscriminate death and chaos of war. He proposed a wager to the fighter: seek out the biggest battle he could find, survive, and win it for whichever side he chose. The stakes? The next round of drinks.
No sooner had the defeated regained consciousness than the cries for double-or-nothing rang out. The Tusk was pleased at the prospect, but none could think of a bet bigger than the one he just conquered. Horrified at the damage to his tavern and desperate to avoid another brawl, the barkeep had an idea. As skilled as he was, Ymir had never taken part in a real battle, never tested himself against the indiscriminate death and chaos of war. He proposed a wager to the fighter: seek out the biggest battle he could find, survive, and win it for whichever side he chose. The stakes? The next round of drinks.
Alias:
Ymir
Voice:
Abilities[]
Tusk compresses shards of ice into a ball of frozen energy that damages all enemies it comes in contact with. When the ball reaches its target destination the shards are released, creating a barrier that lasts for 4/5/6/7 seconds.
Shards Spawn Radius: 200
Shards Spawn Angle: 40°
Damage: 75/150/225/300
Shards Duration: 4/5/6/7
Increases depth of Ice Shards, and enemies trapped within an ice shard are slowed and take damage per second.
Modifiers [?]
modifier_projectile_vision
Undispellable
modifier_tusk_ice_shard
Undispellable
modifier_tusk_ice_shard_slow_aura
Undispellable
modifier_tusk_frozen_sigil
Undispellable
In the frozen tundra near the Barrier, after the last sun of autumn has set, ice can form with alarming speed.
- The projectile has ≈100 radius flying vision, and travels at a speed of 1200 until reaching the targeted point.
- This vision last for 2 seconds at the targeted point upon reaching it.
- Ice Shards are always created in the same formation.
- The open side of the shards circle is always facing towards Tusk's position upon cast.
- The shards' formation is a 200 radius circle with one open side. The center of the circle is 200 range before the targeted point.
- The first shard is always created at the targeted point, in one line with Tusk's position upon cast.
- The next shards are placed 40° further to the left and the right respectively, up to 6 shards (9 shards would form a full circle).
- Each shard's radius is approximately 61, and the distance between them is about 14.8, which is too small for most units to move through, except Wraith King Skeletons and Undying Zombies.
- 4 additional shards are placed to the left and right side of the last shards at the semi-circle's opening, forming a U-shape.
- The shape has a width of 200, and has a length of 480.
- This effectively increases the length of Ice Shards' formation by 280 from the tails of the open circle.
- Non-player-controlled units (i.e. lane creeps) do not try to path around Ice Shards, but simply walk against them as if they are not there.
- This effectively causes them to get stuck, until they change directions (e.g. when being aggroed), or until the shards dissipate.
- Units with flying movement (e.g. Arctic Burn) or unobstructed movement (e.g. Spectral Dagger) are not blocked by Ice Shards.
- They still are fully affected by it otherwise when hit. They will be either pushed aside or inside and damaged.
- Two 200 radius auras are now created at the centerline of the formation.
- The first source is placed at the center of the default shards formation, 200 range before the targeted point.
- The second source is placed 200 range behind the first source, between the additional 4 shards.
- Since both sources overlap, the auras cover a total length of 600.
- The damage per second and movement speed slow effects are provided by the auras and its debuff lingers for 0.5 seconds.
- Deals damage in 1-second intervals, starting 1 second after the debuff is placed, resulting in up to 4/5/6/7 instances.
- Can deal up to 240/300/360/420 damage (before reductions) to a single unit within the area for the entire duration.
Tusk begins rolling into a snowball. Allies within a 350 radius can also be added to the snowball by right-clicking on them, even while the snowball is moving. Once launched, any enemies caught in the snowball's path will be stunned and take damage. Each allied Hero in the snowball will add to its damage.
Max Stationary Time: 3
Max Chase Duration: 3
Damage Bonus per Gathered Hero: 40/65/90/115
Snowball Speed: 575/600/625/650
Stun Duration: 0.6/0.8/1/1.2
Spell Block / Reflection Notes:
Ability is reflected, regardless of when Tusk or target is invulnerable, hidden, or spell immune, upon the Snowball reaching its target.
Modifiers [?]
Tales are still told of the wild feat that ended the grand brawl at White Fields.
- The Snowball chases the target for up to 3 seconds and travels at a speed of 575/600/625/650.
- It can travel for up to 1725/1800/1875/1950 range.
- Upon cast, a Snowball target indicator appears only visible for allies, and exposes the affected target, but does not provide True Sight over it.
- Reveal units affected by Shadow Dance despite not providing True Sight.
- The target indicator lasts for 6 seconds until Tusk's death, the Snowball disappears, or when the Snowball misses its target.
- Only heroes, illusions, and clones will display hero icons, other units gathered display a black-circled question mark.
- Snowball destroys trees, and increases its radius by 40 per second up to 240/280/320 as it rolls forward.
- Tusk can Right Click on ally heroes and clones to gather them into the Snowball at any point, even if they are invisible or invulnerable.
- Vice versa, allies can also Right Click the Snowball, within ≈100 range, to jump inside as well.
- Can gather invulnerable allies but not hidden ones.
- Cannot gather allies who have ☐ Disabled Help from Tusk.
- Allies affected by Flaming Lasso, Black Hole or Chronosphere cannot be gathered.
- However, attempting to gather in any ally affected by the aforementioned abilities still adds the gathered damage to Snowball.
- Only gathered ally heroes and clones increase its damage.
- Can gather summoned units, Tusk's Courier, illusions and creep-heroes, but it does not increase its damage. Cannot gather wards.
- Does not disjoint projectiles for gathered targets.
- Units inside Snowball are invulnerable, hidden and spell immune. Allies inside the Snowball are fully disabled and are prevented from acting.
- Tusk cannot be forced out of the Snowball, while other units within can still be forced out by teleporting abilities, without reducing the gathered damage.
- When Snowball connects with its target, Tusk is given an attack order on the target, regardless of auto-attack settings.
- Snowball first applies the debuff, then the damage.
- Tusk is not counted, so if no ally heroes are gathered, only the base damage is applied.
- Can deal up to the following amount of damage (before reductions) with a certain amount of heroes including Tusk:
- A hidden debuff provides shared vision over the target until the Snowball stops. Does not provide True Sight.
- Snowball disappears upon losing ability.
- Only affects the primary target.
Ability
No Target
No Target
Affects
Self / Allies
Self / Allies
Launch the snowball toward the target.
- Replaces Snowball until the sub-ability is used, or Snowball reaches its target or expires.
- Tusk is unable to ⇧ Shift-queue this ability.
- Tusk is unable to level Snowball up while this sub-ability is active.
Passive Component
Aura Radius: 350
Attack Speed Slow: 20/30/40/50
Aura Linger Duration: 0.5
Move Speed Slow: 75%
Slow Duration: 0.5
Active Duration: 5
Modifiers [?]
modifier_tusk_tag_team_aura
Undispellable
modifier_tusk_tag_team_attack_slow_aura
Undispellable
modifier_tusk_tag_team
Death
modifier_tusk_tag_team_slow
modifier_tusk_tag_team_attack_slow
Death
Even far from Cobalt, Tusk carries the 'Barrier Chill' in his very bones.
- Interrupts Tusk's channeling abilities upon cast.
- The debuff placed on enemies is provided by another aura and lingers for 350 seconds.
- Tag Team only triggers on attacks of ally heroes, including illusions and clones, but excluding creep-heroes.
- Also triggers on attacks of any non-hero unit controlled by Tusk.
- Although illusions trigger it, they cannot make use of the attack damage bonus, effectively only applying the slow.
- Attacks triggering Tag Team first place the slow debuff, then the attack damage.
- Tag Team's damage is considered as incoming conditional attack damage bonus.
- Although the attack damage bonus values are not displayed in the HUD, it is still considered and directly added to the attacking unit's attack damage.
- The attack damage bonus is considered by critical strike, lifesteal, cleave and flat reductions (e.g. damage block).
- Unlike outgoing conditional attack damage sources, it is also affected by percentage-based total attack damage bonuses or reductions.
- The movement speed slow from multiple attacks and/or attack sources fully stacks, with each attack placing a separate debuff.
Walrus Kick
Kicks the closest enemy unit in a targeted direction, stunning, damaging, and slowing them. Also deals damage to all heroes within 250 radius of its landing area. Cooldown is reduced by 6 if kicking a creep.
Knockback Distance: 1400
Damage: 350
Move Speed Slow: 40%
Slow Duration: 4
Stun Duration: 1
Creep Cast Cooldown: 6
Requires drafting Walrus PUNCH! to be unlocked.
Tusk may have made his name with his fists, but the wise enemy is wary of any and all limbs.
- Requires Aghanim's Scepter to be unlocked.
- Can be cast on any enemy unit, including enemy Couriers, excluding buildings and wards.
- However, when cast on Roshan, he does not get moved, but all other effects still apply, including the area damage.
- Walrus Kick has a 6-second cooldown when cast on creeps.
- The target is kicked away from Tusk in an arc 1400 range far and 360 range high, while rotating 180° on the x-axis.
- Walrus Kick cannot be overridden by any other forced movement.
- While in the air, other units may pass below the kicked unit.
- The slow has a total duration of 5, but it is applied at the same time as the stun, therefore effectively lasting 4 seconds.
- For the primary target, Walrus Kick first applies the slow debuff, then the knockback debuff, then the damage.
- Upon the primary target landing, Walrus Kick first applies the damage, then the slow debuff to secondary affected units within the damage radius.
- Destroys trees within a 100 radius around the affected unit during the knockback.
- The secondary target is kicked in the opposite direction of the primary target.
Walrus PUNCH!
Affects
Self / Enemies
Self / Enemies
Tusk connects with his mighty Walrus Punch, a critical strike so powerful it launches its victim into the air. The victim is slowed upon landing.
Self Attack Animation Speed Bonus: 40%
Enemy Move Speed Slow: 40%
Slow Duration: 2/3/4
Grants the Walrus Kick ability.
Modifiers [?]
modifier_tusk_walrus_punch
Undispellable
modifier_tusk_walrus_punch_air_time
Undispellable
modifier_tusk_walrus_punch_slow
It never matters who throws the first punch, only who throws the last.
- Walrus PUNCH!'s cast range can only be further increased by attack range bonuses of the same range type as the caster. However, it is not affected by cast range bonuses.
- Both Autocast and manually casting it uses Tusk's current attack range.
- Grants Tusk's next attack True Strike when not on cooldown. The cooldown triggers upon successfully landing an attack on an enemy.
- Despite being an active attack modifier, manually casting Walrus PUNCH! procs all on-cast effects like a regular ability.
- Can be cast on every enemy unit, including enemy Couriers, except wards, buildings, and allied units.
- However, when cast on Roshan, only the stun and movement speed slow are applied.
- The affected target is hurled 650 range (or 1200 range if lethal) into the air during the stun duration, while rotating 180° on the x-axis. The speed adapts to changed stun duration.
- Can be cast while the enemy target(s) are affected by Flaming Lasso, but not Pulverize.
- Walrus PUNCH! cannot be overridden by any other upward movement sources.
- While in the air, other units may pass below the hurled unit.
- The slow has a total duration of 3/4/5 ( 3.5/4.5/5.5), but it is applied at the same time as the stun, therefore effectively lasting 2/3/4 seconds.
- The punch first applies the knockback debuff, the movement speed slow debuff, the damage, then the self attack animation bonus.
- Plays a sound as soon as the attack starts. The sound only stops playing upon landing the punch.
- The attack animation bonus is only granted on manual casts.
- Reduces the attack point of the next attack to 0.216+0.64.
- Does not reduce the attack backswing of the next attack.
- TALENTWalrus Punch now gains a 12% chance to passively proc on regular attacks.
- These procs do not trigger the cooldown, work while on cooldown, and do not cost mana.
- They do not proc on-cast effects either.
- The procs use pseudo-random distribution.
- When Walrus PUNCH! procs during a manual cast or Autocast order, the proc takes priority, and it does not go on cooldown or consume mana.
- Adds an average of 18%/27%/36% ( 27%/36%/45%) damage to every attack.
- Rubick throws a projectile that uses his model and spins toward the target. When used on Tusk, it would read "Sucker Punch!" in green; On other targets, it read "Stolen Punch". This only has cosmetic purposes and has no impact on gameplay.
Talents[]
Hero Talents | ||
---|---|---|
-8s Snowball Cooldown | 25 | 12% Chance Walrus Punch |
+75% Walrus Punch Crit | 20 | -6s Ice Shards Cooldown |
+120 Snowball Damage | 15 | +325 Health |
+0.5s Walrus Punch Stun Duration | 10 | +25 Tag Team Damage |
Notes:
- The health talent increases the max health capacity and keeps the current health percentage.
Recent Changes[]
<div> <div class="updatetablehead"> <div id="version">Version</div><div id="description">Description</div> </div> <div class="updatetablebody">
- Tag Team now passively grants a 350-radius 20/30/40/50 attack speed slow aura.
</div> </div>
Recommended Items[]
Starting items:
- Tango gives Tusk health sustain in-lane, allowing him to survive enemy harass and continue gaining gold and experience.
- Healing Salve also restores health to Tusk.
- Clarity allows Tusk to replenish his mana pool from casting spells, important since all of his basic spells are very expensive and will consume a sizable fraction of his small base mana pool. In particular, Ice Shards can consume almost half of Tusk's mana pool, so having enough mana to cast his full combo can make or break getting first blood.
- Iron Branch gives Tusk attributes, important for beefing up his health, base damage, and mana to increase his survivability in lane. It builds into Magic Wand later on.
- Enchanted Mango is a useful starting item to purchase, as it gives Tusk some passive HP regen, mitigating harass damage, and a way to instantly replenish mana for casting his spells in a pinch.
- Orb of Venom is a strong pickup in any situation, but particularly if Tusk is a roamer. Applying the slow debuff can reduce an enemy's chances of escaping, and stacks alongside Tag Team to help chase down fleeing enemies.
Early game:
- Boots of Speed is important to purchase early on, as Tusk relies on good positioning in order to make the most of his spells. He can more easily chase down enemies during ganks, or escape pursuers.
- Magic Wand's charge storage allows Tusk to immediately replenish his HP and mana, which can make or break fights or ganks given his powerful spells.
- Urn of Shadows gives Tusk many benefits for a cheap price. As a highly mobile ganker, Tusk can easily get charges with which to heal himself and teammates or deal more damage in ganks; as well, Urn charges can instantly put enemy Blink Daggers on cooldown from a distance. The item also provides strength, giving Tusk more HP and base damage, and scaling mana regen to help him to cast spells more easily.
Mid game:
- Phase Boots's bonus to attack damage increase damage done with Walrus PUNCH!. He can use the active to keep close to the enemies during Tag Team.
- Drum of Endurance gives Tusk attributes that give him more health, damage, and a larger mana pool to work with. The active improves his mobility and gives his team an edge when engaging the enemy.
Late game:
- Blink Dagger is powerful in many situations. As Tusk requires good positioning to use his spells, Blink Dagger can allow him to immediately get within range to cast a disable. In a pinch, it can also be used to jump on top of a beleaguered ally to protect them with Snowball, or as an escape mechanism after casting Snowball to protect himself long enough for it to come off cooldown.
- Aghanim's Scepter unlocks Walrus Kick, greatly increasing Tusk's impact in fights and ganks. The item also makes Tusk tankier and improves his mana pool to sustain his spell casting.
- Lotus Orb gives Tusk increased survivability when initiating against powerful enemies. Besides giving him more armor to aid survivability, Echo Shell allows Tusk to use the enemy's unit-targeted spells against them should they attempt to target him during initiations, and can otherwise give him a larger window to act while the enemy hesitates. The scaling mana regen also helps Tusk to maintain casting his spells.
Situational items:
- Bottle is very powerful on mobile initiators like Tusk, since he can roam and set up kills for his team, and as such benefits from always being at full HP and mana should a gank opportunity arise. As well, he can take advantage of runes to increase his ganking power.
- Desolator gives Tusk increased bonus damage, and allows him to apply an armor debuff to enemies, particularly when combined with Walrus PUNCH.
- Shadow Blade increases Tusk's physical damage output, and gives him yet another initiation ability. Shadow Walk can be used to deal tremendous physical damage to a gank target with Walrus PUNCH!, or can be cast to escape in a tight situation.
- Heaven's Halberd helps make Tusk a better all-around fighter through its various bonuses. It grants more strength, status resistance, and evasion for increased survivability, and a disarm to shut down enemy carries.
- Assault Cuirass is a strong aura and fighting item that, while expensive, can greatly improve Tusk's damage output. The increased armor makes Tusk much tankier, and the attack speed helps him to deal more damage. The aura can be easily utilized due to Snowball giving Tusk a way to get close to enemies, and its armor debuff can increase the hitting power of Walrus PUNCH!.
- Solar Crest gives Tusk armor and attributes to make Tusk tankier, and the mana regeneration helps to sustain his expensive but powerful abilities. Using the active on an enemy during initiation can increase the amount of damage they take from Walrus PUNCH! and allied attacks, as well as lowering their movement and attack speed.
- Silver Edge can greatly augment Tusk's initiating power. Besides improving Tusk's damage output, applying a break to an important target can disable their passive abilities, making them a much smaller threat in an engagement.
- Blade Mail is a powerful survivability item that fills in many of Tusk's deficiencies. The armor makes him tankier, the intelligence shores up his small mana pool, and the damage improves the potency of Walrus PUNCH!. Using the active can discourage enemies from attacking Tusk, and can allow him to use his HP pool offensively against gank targets who try to fight back.
- Soul Ring provides health regeneration, allowing Tusk to roam more independently, and lets Tusk dip into his HP pool to cast his spells, allowing him to be more active on the map.
- Arcane Boots increases the size of Tusk's mana pool and gives him a means with which to replenish it, along with that of his teammates. Being able to easily sustain his own mana pool allows Tusk to stay on the go and use his spells to set up kills for his team.
- Force Staff is a strong utility item that increases Tusk's mobility. It provides intelligence, improving his mana pool, and gives him HP regen to keep his health topped up. The active can be used as an initiation booster to help Tusk position himself to cast his spells, as a quick escape, or can be used on allies to re-position them for various purposes. It can also be cast on enemies to dis-position them, or to break an enemy Linken's Sphere during initiation.
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 | |
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Bronze |
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Silver |
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Gold |
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Platinum |
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Master |
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Grandmaster |
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Equipment[]
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Trivia[]
- In DotA, Tusk's title is "Tuskarr". The Tuskarr are a race of humanoid walruses in the "Warcraft" universe.
- ▶️ "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.
- ▶️ "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!".
- ▶️ "Coulda been a contender." is likely a reference to the quote from the movie "On the Waterfront".
- ▶️ "My fight money." is likely a reference to Balrog from Street Fighter who says the same thing whenever he loses a round.
- His response to missing a Walrus PUNCH!, ▶️ "Well there's your problem." is likely a reference to Adam Savage from Mythbusters, who has made it a show catchphrase. Savage often jokes that the mustache of his co-host Jamie Hyneman makes him look like a walrus.
- His response ▶️ "Double Dragon Punch Punch!" is a reference to the game, "Double Dragon".
- In Tusk's lore, the Bristled Bruiser is Bristleback, who was ported to Dota 2 roughly a month after Tusk; Bristleback's lore makes mention of Tusk as well, and the two heroes share rival and ally lines with regards to this relationship.
- Pre-6.80, where Walrus PUNCH! dealt a higher critical damage to targets below 50% max health, the floating text above the target would change:
- When landed on an enemy creep whose health was above 50%, the caption read "Penguin Punch!" in small blue letters.
- When landed on an enemy hero whose health was above 50%, the caption read "Polar Punch!" in medium blue letters.
- When landed on any enemy whose health was below 50%, it read "Walrus Punch!" in large letters.
- In the current version, it always displays "Walrus Punch", no matter what is targeted.
- Tusk's name "Ymir" might possibly be based from the Nordic Folklore.