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25 Votes

Juggernaut - Do I Put This In My Jug Or Not?

October 9, 2012 by ScienceMTP
Comments: 8    |    Views: 387006    |   


Build 1
Build 2

Standard Build

DotA2 Hero: Juggernaut




Hero Skills

Blade Fury

1 3 5 7

Healing Ward

13 14 15 17

Blade Dance

8 9 10 12

Omnislash

6 11 16

Talents

2 4 18


Juggernaut - Do I Put This In My Jug Or Not?

ScienceMTP
October 9, 2012


Introduction to Juggernaut

"By the Visage of Vengeance, which drowned the Isle of Masks, I will carry on the rites of the Faceless Ones."
Role: Carry / Pusher

Lore: No one has ever seen the face hidden beneath the mask of Yurnero the Juggernaut. It is only speculation that he even has one. For defying a corrupt lord, Yurnero was exiled from the ancient Isle of Masks--a punishment that saved his life. The isle soon after vanished beneath the waves in a night of vengeful magic. He alone remains to carry on the Isle's long Juggernaut tradition, one of ritual and swordplay. The last practitioner of the art, Yurnero's confidence and courage are the result of endless practice; his inventive bladework proves that he has never stopped challenging himself. Still, his motives are as unreadable as his expression. For a hero who has lost everything twice over, he fights as if victory is a foregone conclusion.
(From the DotA 2 wiki: http://www.dota2wiki.com/wiki/Juggernaut)

Juggernaut is a Agility Hero on the Radiant side in DotA 2. His primary role is that of a carry, however he does bring along a few unique skills that allow him to fill a broader role than just that of a carry.
Here is a simple guide explaining the basics of Juggernaut, and suggested items and strategies to use with him. Feel free to leave questions or comments.

*UPDATE*
Juggernaut's Base Attack has been decreased from 1.7 to 1.6, meaning his basic attack speed was increased by .1 seconds.

Pros / Cons

Pros:
Decent stat gain (1.9 Str/2.85 Agi/1.4 Int per level)
Built-in magic immunity skill
Built-in critical hit skill
Strong throughout the entire game
Good farmer
Good pusher
Good escape mechanic (Blade Fury + Town Portal Scroll)

Cons:
Ultimate is very random
Blade Fury is fairly simple to dodge
Low mana pool early on
Very item dependent late game

Juggernaut's Skills

Juggernaut has four skills.

Blade Fury
Radius: 250
Duration: 5 Seconds
Damage Per Second: 80/100/120/140
Cooldown: 30/28/26/24 Seconds
Mana Cost: 110
Juggernaut spins around dealing magical damage to enemies within a 250 unit radius. While spinning, Juggernaut is immune to most forms of magic.
In the early game, this is Juggernaut's Bread and Butter. The damage it deals, when combined with another player or a weakened enemy, is generally enough to secure a kill. This is the first skill you want to pick up, and the first skill you want to max. Throughout the game, it will provide a large amount of AoE damage, as well as providing you with a 5 second magic immunity buff akin to Black King Bar. Because of the similar effect, you can use it as an escape mechanic against ganks by carrying a Town Portal Scroll, performing Blade Fury, and then teleporting away.


Healing Ward
Range: 350
Radius: 500
Duration: 25 Seconds
Heal Per Second: 2%/3%/4%/5%
Cooldown: 60 Seconds
Mana Cost: 80/100/120/140
Juggernaut will place a Healing Ward on the ground that will heal nearby allied units for a percentage of their life every second. The heal from this skill is extremely good at rank 4, however other than that, this skill is generally not that useful early game. During the mid to late game, you'll find that the heal allows for excellent lane pushing, and can do wonders when killing creeps. Alternately, you can use it to heal yourself while jungling or killing ancients. The biggest plus of this skill is the fact that the ward itself is small, and generally in a large team fight, hard to spot. Best left til late game, however picking one rank before 10 isn't a bad move.

Blade Dance
Chance: 15%/20%/25%/35%
Provides Juggernaut with a chance to deal a critical strike for double the damage of his normal attack. While not exactly amazing at the start of this game, this skill will quickly, and reliably, add much more damage to Juggernaut's auto attack, outshining his Blade Fury damage in the later game. This skill is generally leveled after maxing Blade Fury.

Omnislash
Range: 450
Jump Radius: 425
Number Of Attacks: 3/6/9 (6/9/12*)
Damage Per Attack: 175-250
Cooldown: 130/120/110 (110/100/90*) Seconds
Mana Cost: 200/275/350
Juggernaut's ultimate ability, Omnislash, is an extremely strong single-target ultimate that has a myriad of uses. The first strike of the ultimate will cause a mini-stun, allowing the player to interrupt channeled abilities. When done against a player who has no other enemy targets near him, the ultimate will strike only that player, dealing full damage to them. During Omnislash, Juggernaut is completely invulnerable, and is granted a small radius of flying vision. This ultimate can be used to dodge enemy ultimates, such as Sand King's or Rooftrellen's. In a one-versus-one scenario, it makes a formidable weapon that at rank two, will generally out-right kill most weaker heroes, and leaver stronger ones very low on life.
This skill is always taken at 6/11/16.

*UPDATE*
After the recent 6.75 patch in DotA 1, DotA 2 was updated to reflect the changes made. Juggernaut's Omnislash now kills creeps and neutrals in one hit.

Item Build

There are a myriad of ways to start Juggernaut off, however there's a few key things to remember when purchasing initial items.
Always remember some form of health regenerating item.
Iron Branches are generally a better gold investment than Slippers of Agility.
Do not buy Boots of Speed first unless you have a VERY specific strategy in mind.
It's usually a safe idea to grab a Clarity or two.

Here's my suggested starting items.
Starting Items
x1
Self-explanatory
x1
Generally a safer bet than buying two sets of Tangos, a Healing Salve allows for rapid health regeneration, extremely useful in a pinch.
x1
Early game harassment is always a pain, a stout shield helps reduce it, and it can easily be turned into a
x3
I generally prefer three iron branches over Slippers of Agility, as for the cost, you gain the same amount of agility, as well as three strength, and three intelligence.
However, if you have no intention of buying a magic wand, you can easily sub these out for Slippers of Agility.

I generally avoidat the start as Juggernaut doesn't particularly need the extra creep damage, and doesn't have many defensive mechanisms that other heroes that would pick it up have.
Some people also prefer fitting aearly on, to turn into a, the choice is of course personal preference.

Early Game
Depending on how your lane is going, and how your farm looks, you may want to pick up items in a different order. For example, if your lane is fairly safe, and you've even secured an early first blood or kill, consider picking up aearly on. If your lane partner is keen on ganking, go straight for. If you find you're being harassed a lot by the enemy team, consider completing your. If the enemies in your lane frequently cast spells, turn the iron branches into a.

Remember, the key to DotA is flexibility. Assuming your lane is doing well, by 10 minutes in you should have at least these items:You should be on your way to completing a
Focus on completing youras fast as you can. You may elect to completeinstead, but that will cut into the rate at which you pick up your Battle Fury, which will slow your mid-game farm down.

Mid Game
By the 24 minute mark, assuming 240 GPM or so (which is on the low-side if you're farming well,) you should have these two items farmed up:This is where Juggernaut really begins to shine. Early game you had Blade Fury doing the majority of your damage to players, with the ult thrown in for good measure. However with a Blade Fury and a pair of Power Treads, Juggernaut's damage begins rapidly increasing. You'll want to frequent team fights, as your mid game presence can easily turn the tide of a fight. Make sure to continue farming, as you don't want to let your farm slack. Battle Fury will increase the speed at which you can farm, as well as providing regeneration for your hero along with the cleave. Ask a support to begin stacking your ancient camp if they all ready haven't, and begin killing stacked ancients. Some players elect to purchaseinstead of Power Treads in the early game to maximize the damage on Blade Fury. The choice is up to you which pair you decide to go with, however Power Treads are generally the favored boots, providing a stat bonus along with increased attack speed.

Late Game/Situational

Here are what I consider to be Juggernaut's two most important late game items.
Desolator provides an amazing damage increase to Juggernaut, as well as providing an armor reduction debuff to the enemy he strikes with it. With a purchase price of only 4100, Desolator makes for an extremely powerful item on Juggernaut. However, Desolator IS an Orb effect, which means Juggernaut would not be able to utilize items like Satanic, or Diffusal, or other Orb type items. Lacking a life steal on a carry can be very detrimental, which is why the second item I suggest is...
The aura effect from Vladimir's Offering provides Juggernaut with an AoE life steal, allowing it to stack with Desolator. As well, it provides mana regeneration, armor, and a 15% increase in base damage to everyone in a 900 unit radius around Juggernaut. With these two items, Juggernaut will begin seeing critical hits in the 500+ range on heroes, and tankier heroes will be less of a problem for Juggernaut.

There are many other viable options on Juggernaut, here is my opinion on a few of them.
Assault Cuirass provides Juggernaut with an extremely large increase in attack speed, as well as an increase in armor, and aura effect that increases armor and attack speed of all allies nearby, as well as lowering enemy armor by 5. This effect stacks with Desolator, resulting in a whopping -11 armor to enemies struck. This allows Juggernaut to 2-3 shot support heroes, and bring even the tankiest of heroes down quickly. A solid item choice for Juggernaut, however you may have another hero on your team that all ready plans on picking this item up, so it is not necessarily a must-have.
Abyssal Blade is an extremely powerful item that has been recently added to DotA. It allows the user to stun an enemy for two seconds, that goes THROUGH Magic Immune targets. That means against heroes like Naix, or against an enemy with a Black King Bar, you can still stun them. This effect is invaluable against heroes like Ursa who will always have a Black King Bar, allowing you to stop them mid attack. As well, Abyssal Blade provides a 25% chance to bash targets, stunning them for 1.4 seconds. Abyssal Blade also gives a whopping +100 damage. The downside? It's 6750 gold, putting it as one of the most expensive items in the game. Against heroes like Ursa and Naix, where your farm is extremely good, Abyssal Blade is an extremely strong item to pick up. If not against them? Consider a different item instead.
Butterfly is possibly the strongest weapon an Agility hero can pick up outside of Divine Rapier. It provides a whopping 30 Agility, 30 Damage, 30% Evasion, and 30 Attack Speed. All of these stats are extremely useful for Juggernaut, especially against other carries who are trying to kill you. However, Butterfly has one very large downside to it. The evasion it provides is useless against an enemy who is hitting you with a Monkey King Bar. Regardless, Butterfly is still an extremely strong item. However, if you suspect the enemy carry is going to build a Monkey King Bar, do not pick this item up, as a large portion of what makes it so excellent will be wasted.
Heart of Tarrasque is very situational item for Juggernaut, as it is mainly an item you'll see on initiator type heroes. However, if you find you are being focused down heavily by the enemy team, the large boost in health, as well as the large boost in health regeneration will help you greatly. Beware heroes like Naix or Ancient Apparition however, as Naix will gain bonus damage based on your increased life, and Ancient Apparition's ult will negate the life regeneration effect of Heart of Tarrasque.
Monkey King Bar is a very situational damage item. It provides a 35% chance on hit to mini-bash the target for 0.01 seconds, and deal 100 bonus damage. This is extremely useful when striking an enemy with a channeled skill, such as Bane, as Juggernaut has no real stuns of his own (outside of Omnislash.) The real beauty of Monkey King Bar however, is the True Strike it grants, which prevents you from missing your target. This allows Juggernaut's attacks to go through the evasion provided by Butterfly and Heaven's Halberd, as well as go through skills like Brewmaster's Drunken Haze/Brawler, and Riki's Smoke Screen. Generally, pick this item up only if encountering a hero with a skill that forces misses, or when an enemy hero picks up a Butterfly or Heaven's Halberd.
Sange and Yasha is a very situational item on Juggernaut. Generally, the items by themselves can be turned into more useful items for the hero. However SnY does have a few good uses for Juggernaut. The first being the movement slow effect, allowing Juggernaut to deal more hits to the target. On top of this, SnY provides a movement speed increase. It also provides decent stats for Juggernaut. However, the Sange can be better used as a Heaven's Halberd, and the Yasha better used as a Manta Style. Generally avoid this item, unless you find you really need the movement slow effect and move speed increase for a low price.
Manta Style is a deceptively good item, with many new players failing to realize it's full potential. The stat bonuses on Manta Style are fairly decent for it's price, however other items will provide more damage-centric stats. The real beauty of Manta Style lies in it's activated effect, Mirror Image. Mirror Image spawns two illusions that deal 33% damage and receive 350% damage that last for twenty seconds. Doesn't sound the impressive on it's own. However, when you activate Manta Style, you are invulnerable for the casting animation, roughly 0.1 seconds, allowing you to disjoint or dodge certain spells. On top of this, when using Mirror Image, nearly all debuffs currently on Juggernaut are removed. Debuffs such as the Orchid Malevolence silence are removed, making Manta Style a supremely useful item. Highly recommended as a late game item for Juggernaut.
Black King Bar provides a small damage increase, a small health increase, but most importantly, it provides a temporary buff rendering the owner immune to most magic in the game. The buff Black King Bar provides is identical to the buff provided from Blade Fury. Because of this, Black King Bar is not an item normally picked up on Juggernaut. However, against a team with an extremely large amount of disables, to the point which Blade Fury will not be sufficient, then a Black King Bar is extremely useful. Otherwise skip it.

Items to Avoid
While Aghanim's Scepter does increase the effectiveness of Juggernaut's ultimate, it's simply not worth the gold. The increase to his actual auto-attack damage is minimal, and the extra health it gives isn't particularly amazing. This is item is something you should AVOID at all costs.
Resets the cooldown on your skills. Nearly worthless, since Juggernaut has a very poor mana pool, and the stats it gives are nearly worthless on Juggernaut.
Attack Speed and Damage might seem interesting, and with the silence + damage debuff it applies to the target, might be fun to combine with Omnislash. However the item for it's cost, is an extremely poor choice for an Agility carry.
More of a joke item/pub-stomp item, Shadow Blade has very little use on most heroes. Juggernaut included. There's simply no reason to pick this item up.
While the burn ability of Radiance might sound appealing, especially combined with Blade Fury, the reality is Radiance is an item best left to heroes like Weaver and Spectre, for their ability to ensure a proper Radiance burn on targets, and to assist in their ability to farm faster. Simply not worth picking up on Juggernaut.
There's honestly no reason to ever buy a Divine Rapier other than to rub your victory into the other teams face. While the damage on it is incredible, the possibility of losing a Divine Rapier is simply too high, and can easily turn a game around.
If your team has a good early game lineup, with the ability to push towers quickly, consider investing the gold for a Soul Ring. Soul Ring can be used to cast Healing Ward, making for very strong pushes. As well, Soul Ring can be used to gain the mana needed to use Omnislash after a Blade Fury if your short on mana.

Strategies

Because of Juggernaut's skills, he has many unique strategies available to him.

Blade Fury + Town Portal Scroll:
As explained earlier above, Juggernaut is able to use items while performing Blade Fury, the magic immunity allows for Juggernaut to channel the Town Portal Scroll, allowing him to easily escape from ganks.

Blade Fury + Stun/Slow:
During the early game, laning with another hero that has a long stun, or a slow effect, allows Juggernaut to maximize his time performing Blade Fury on an enemy, resulting in easy early game kills. Good examples of heroes that are capable of this are Shadow Shaman, Lich, Lion, Ancient Apparition, and many others.

Omnislash:
Omnislash is extremely versatile; it can be used both as a form of defense for it's invulnerability it provides, or as an extremely powerful, if not random nuke. When done against a single target, it has a very good chance of killing the player before they can perform anything against Juggernaut. With high enough attack speed, Juggernaut is also capable of performing auto-attacks in the middle of Omnislash, allowing him to apply attack modifiers to the targets he's struck. It also makes for an excellent ganking tool. Beware though, the targets Omnislash jump to in it's range are random, and it can end up taking you to neutral creeps, or the creep wave, resulting in a wasted ultimate.

Healing Ward + Blade Fury + Pusher:
Healing Ward, when combined with Blade Fury and a pushing hero, such as Leshrac or Shadow Shaman, makes for an extremely fast pushing lane. Your creeps will be able to stay alive at the tower much longer, and your Blade Fury will easily clear creep waves. When combined with a pusher, you'll find you can push lanes extremely quickly.

Healing Ward for Ancients:
The Healing Ward with it's low cost, and strong heal, makes for an extremely useful took when killing Ancients, especially stacked Ancients. It allows Juggernaut to kill stacked Ancients earlier than other melee carries, who would normally be unable to take the heavier punishment from multiple Ancient camps. It's also great for when your team is fighting Roshan.

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