Spirit Breaker has long been considered one of the most annoying heroes in Dota. And for good reason – his abilities, especially Greater Bash, make Barathrum an extremely annoying and difficult to control character. He used to be very popular, but lost it for some time. Now Bara is slowly returning to pubs and continues to cause a wave of indignation from opponents
Spirit Breaker Dota 2 Character Review
Let’s look at its pros and cons:
Advantages
- Massive amount of control via magic immunity. Charge of Darkness stun with Aghanim’s, Greater Bash and Nether Strike – all these abilities will stun heroes via BKB.
- Incredible mobility thanks to Charge. In a huge number of game situations, Spirit Breaker can do without teleport scrolls and join the fight from anywhere on the map.
- Good starting stats, a large HP pool, and resistance to Bulldoze effects. It takes a lot of effort to kill Baru in lane, and it’s impossible to infuse long-term control into him without dispelling him.
Spirit Breaker Dota 2 Character Review
Let’s look at its pros and cons:
Advantages
- Massive amount of control via magic immunity. Charge of Darkness stun with Aghanim’s, Greater Bash and Nether Strike – all these abilities will stun heroes via BKB.
- Incredible mobility thanks to Charge. In a huge number of game situations, Spirit Breaker can do without teleport scrolls and join the fight from anywhere on the map.
- Good starting stats, a large HP pool, and resistance to Bulldoze effects. It takes a lot of effort to kill Baru in lane, and it’s impossible to infuse long-term control into him without dispelling him.
Mid-game
In the midgame, Barathrum begins to move around the map, which will continue until the very end of the game. This hero is effective in pushing lanes, so his team does not have to use TP to kill creeps approaching the base – Spirit Breaker will handle it himself.
While running, you can press certain items and Bulldoze, and it is better not to forget about it. To speed up in Charge of Darkness, use Phases on cooldown. Bulldoze is best used when approaching enemies to protect against the upcoming control.
Bara can highlight enemies with Charge, which makes him good against Invisibles, Tinker, and even Slark, as he continues to run up in Shadow Dance.
Spirit Breaker’s ability to absorb a ton of debuffs allows him to not worry about positioning, and he often frontlanes if there are other strong initiators on the team.
The main items of the mid-game are Shadow Blade and Echo Sabre. The first increases the impact of Charge of Darkness and gives additional escape, and the second increases the chances of Greater Bash to trigger. In the current meta, you can see a fast Aghanim’s Scepter on Spirit Breaker. It is either built after the sabre or rushed with the first slot.
Late game
Lat Barathrum tends to only get stronger when opponents without dispel skills don’t get Nullifier, Eul’s Scepter, or Witchbane.
At the current stage, Spirit Breaker’s build is variable. Typical examples include Phase Boots, Lotus Orb, Silver Edge, Black King Bar, Aghanim’s Scepter, and Sange and Yasha. Some items can be dispensed with and replaced with more useful ones. For example, SiYa can be replaced with Heaven’s Halberd if you really need the disarm.
If the opponents are crowded together in a fight, you should definitely give a boost to the farthest enemy in order to catch the rest along the way. Try to focus the highest priority target with your ultimate.
What talents are better to take?
- Level 10 – Playing against heroes who prioritize physical damage? Take 4 armor. The vision radius will increase your potential at night, but will be useless during the day.
- Level 15 – definitely -4 sec. Bulldoze. Bara is far from being the main damage dealer, so he doesn’t care about damage from his hand as much as he does about the ability to cast his second spell more often.
- Level 20 is a very situational choice. If the opponents have items and skills to reduce attack speed or disarm, then the chance of triggering a bash will lose value, rather than the additional speed with Charge.
- Level 25 – The health bonus is much more preferable if you already have enough damage
What heroes does Spirit Breaker pair with?
When picking Bara, you should think, first of all, about how and against whom you will stand in the hardlane. Therefore, it is better to take strong laners with control in pair with Spirit Breaker. This can be Lion, Lina, Witch Doctor, Lich or Dark Willow. Of the heroes for other lines, Zeus, Treant Protector, Tinker, Marci, Invoker and Spectre look good in the game with Bara.
Conclusion
Spirit Breaker, while somewhat infamous, is very strong, especially in the current patch. He’s a good tank, helps his team gain tempo, and can shut down enemy heroes in skirmishes. Baru is hard to focus due to Bulldoze and Charge of Darkness, which greatly reduces the counter pool. This hero is built for wild tempo and constant map control.