Bristleback is not a Tank

I think that mek would be solid, but maybe not ON him... Ask a support to pick it up. People have to put SOOOO much extra damage into hurting bristleback... my most hated thing about bristle as a support player is: When I waste all of my spells to damage him, stay on him, keep spamming on him... Then pops wand as he runs... "I've come this far. Might as well keep committing. Wand is down" keep diving, then he is meked by his support past tower.

Mek is amazing for BB, but it's not his responsibility to buy it, you know? He needs a few items to be able to survive in team fights for quill and snot spam. Try to get a support to pick it up.

I opt for a drum first item on Bristle, and for some reason I'm the only person that I know that does it. A. It solves his mana problem. B. It stacks well with him, the added movespeed helps and gives him a bit of tankability.

A good pick to make him even more durable and effective in fights, and even fix his mana problem's is Vladmir's Offering.

http://dotabuff.com/matches/300708723

TLDR: Vlad's is situational, but applicable in a lot of games.

I'd rather just get a Medallion on him if I needed mana or the armor, The Vlad's really makes you starve for mana in protracted fights, and long fights are BB's forte. That's not to say its not a decent pick up on him, a little regen for both mana and health, and an aura that his ult takes a lot of advantage from. I'd only pick it up if I had a similar team composition as you had in your game where 4 of us can make use of auto-attacks decently. That game looked like a Lifestealer stomp though, 3 enemies still had boots of speed.

I am sorry but I have to mention it. Dagon. It's the perfect item for him as it can add to his mana and stat pool as well as add a decent Nuke for Bristleback to use. It's just such an amazing item in general and on him.

And just when I thought this was going to be a reasonable thread...

What I usually build on BB
Power Treads, Drum of Endurance, Armlet of Mordiggian, Heart of Tarrasque and Satanic :d

Hand of Midas might be a nice item on him since he's very lvl dependent, and his dmg comes from ulti stacks.

Faith in humanity...fading...