Juggernaut, Yunero Guide and Walkthrought

Yurnero is a DPS hero who is remarkably strong throughout the entire game, as opposed to many other Agility heroes. His Blade Fury is easily capable of killing enemy heroes early game with the combination of any other disable, and also allows him to escape readily with its Magic Immunity; in contrast, Healing Ward has the most potential of any healing ability in DotA, but is only truly effective late game. His most famous skill, however, is his Ultimate Omnislash, which can singlehandedly kill one or two enemy heroes if they're caught alone. Slicing through armor with the greatest of ease. Whirling, dancing like a dervish, swiping foes with a flick of the wrist. Poetry in motion, slashing enemy upon enemy in the blink of an eye. Yurnero seeks perfection. Seeks to become one with his blade. All to fulfill his destiny as the unstoppable Juggernaut.

Contents:
I. Basics [Stats + Skills]
II. Skill-Build
III. Item Build
III-2. Alternative Items and Bad Items
IV. Strategy Section
V. Allies and Enemies
VI. Conclusion



I. Basics [Stats + Skills]

At Level 1:

Name: Yurnero Strength: 20 + 1.9
Affiliation: Sentinel Agility*: 20 + 2.85
Damage: 44 - 48 Intelligence: 14 + 1.4
Movespeed: 305 HP: 530 Range: 100 (melee)
Mana: 182 Attack Time: 1.42 (+20%)
Armor: 3.8

Slightly above average MS and decent starting HP. His starting damage is low, so it's a bit hard to last-hit.



At Level 25:

Name: Yurnero (This does not change)
Strength: 65 Agility*: 88
Damage: 112 - 116 Intelligence: 47
HP: 1385 Mana: 611
Attack Time: 1.10 (+88%)Armor: 13.5

Quick Facts:
Primary Role: Carry Hero
Secondary Role: Ganker
Survivability: Moderate, due to skills
Farming Ability: Decent
Disabling Ability: Nonexistent
Overall Skill Requirement: Low-Moderate

Skills:
For more information, refer to the DotaPortal page; I will reference it.


Blade Fury


Causes a bladestorm of destructive force around Yurnero, rendering him immune to magic and dealing damage to nearby enemy units.
Lasts 5 seconds.

Level 1 - Deals 80 damage per second
Level 2 - Deals 100 damage per second
Level 3 - Deals 120 damage per second
Level 4 - Deals 140 damage per second

Cooldown: 30 seconds
Mana Cost: 110 mana

Bladefury can put out some serious damage earlygame if used properly. If Yurnero dual-lanes, it should be with a disabler; the two may be able to go for first blood.

This provides magic immunity, essentially like a decayed BKB with a better cooldown and some AoE damage. It can be used to escape.

Yurnero can apparently attack buildings while using this. This is a slight boon to pushing, because if you get surrounded with creeps, you can theoretically Blade Fury and still retain DPS on the tower or racks or one of those filler buildings in the bases. Note that the correlation does not imply causation; Your attack is damaging the building, not the Blade Fury.

You can use abilities during the duration of this; while it dispels buffs, you can activate... let's say, Boots of Travel or a TP scroll during the duration and escape. This makes it an excellent idea to keep some method of teleport on hand.

Healing Ward

Summons a Healing Ward that heals all nearby allied units' life.
Lasts 25 seconds.

Level 1 - Heals 1% of hit points per second
Level 2 - Heals 2% of hit points per second
Level 3 - Heals 3% of hit points per second
Level 4 - Heals 4% of hit points per second

Cooldown: 75 seconds
Mana Cost: 140 mana

Healing Ward can eventually increase the longevity of your team considerably: A 1500 HP hero will recover 60 HP per second at the maximum level, a 2000 HP hero will recover 80 HPS, and so on. This does not negate lategame damage, but it can allow a hero to live the extra 2-3 seconds required to pull off something drastic that turns the game around.

Healing ward can move at 150 MS; take advantage of it.

When playing AGAINST Jugg, make sure the Healing Ward dies. Otherwise, you're letting the other team dance on your grave.

Blade Dance

Yurnero's cunning blade gives him a chance to deal double damage on each attack.

Level 1 - 10% chance
Level 2 - 18% chance
Level 3 - 26% chance
Level 4 - 36% chance

Passive

Blade Dance improves your damage by 36%. This is not as immense as... let's say, Mortred's crits (45% total), but they come out much more often. It's nice.

Blade Dance should not be skilled early to make last-hitting easier.


Omnislash

Yurnero moves around the battlefield, slashing many enemies. Yurnero becomes invulnerable while Omnislashing.

Level 1 - Attacks 3 times. 200 mana, 130 sec cooldown
Level 2 - Attacks 5 times. 275 mana, 120 sec cooldown
Level 3 - Attacks 8 times. 350 mana, 110 sec cooldown

Omnislash is very powerful, but it's not your only way of killing.

With enough IAS, Yurnero can fit in his normal attack between Omnislash's normal hits. This considerably increases its damage.

Clear out any creeps before using Omnislash, otherwise Yurnero will most likely attack the creeps instead, pissing you off.

This skill is taken from Final Fantasy VII: It is Cloud's ultimate limit break. Whatever. It's deadly enough.


II. Skill-Build

1. Blade Fury
2. Stats
3. Blade Fury
4. Stats
5. Blade Fury
6. Omnislash
7. Blade Fury
8/9. Stats
11. Omnislash
12-15. Healing Ward/Blade Dance
16. Omnislash
17-20. Blade Dance/Healing Ward
21-25. Stats


Earlygame, Yurnero suffers from a mana problem, due to his low starting mana and intelligence growth. It's not major, but you have to manage your mana.

Blade Fury is maxed out immediately because it's your best source of damage earlygame, allowing you to deal several hundred points of damage to an area by level 7.
Healing Ward does not heal enough HP at the beginning of the game to be cost-effective. It's more useful later when your team pushes; Get it at 12-15 if your team has started pushing, otherwise get Blade Dance.

Blade Dance is often added lategame, when you have higher DPS. Some people advocate getting it earlygame to assist with last hits, but I'd rather get stats: Would you rather have 2 assured damage, 38 HP, 26 mana, and a bit of armor, or a small increase in your chance to crit? Besides, critchance isn't that great if you don't autoattack, and you shouldn't autoattack earlygame (See strategy section for explanation).

I have reconsidered. With the levels of stats provided, Yurnero has enough mana to do a Bladefury-Omnislash combo at level 6; adding Bottle + Bracers + further Stats solves his mana problems. Get this when whenever you can get it. Level 1 does damage somewhat comparable to level 4 Blade Fury early on, but costs more mana and has a much longer cooldown. It could net you an early kill or save your life.

III. Item Build

REGULAR CARRY BUILD:
Generally, I would build Yurnero, a DPS hero, as a DPSer. Profound, isn't it?


Ring of Basilus is seriously considerable as a starting item. It's not worth upgrading to Vlad's, but the mana regen, armor, and damage are great. Personally, I don't feel it's worth in a lane, but it's an excellent jungling item. I usually go tangos/branches for my starting build, but what you get is up to you.


To resolve mana issues, I use a combination of Bottle + Stats. I get stats earlygame because Blade Dance is pointless without autoattack (Last-hit/deny allows you a much more favorable balance of gold and exp). The bottle + innate regen, when completely consumed, provides 210+ mana, more than enough for two Blade Fury castings, or nearly one Omnislash. I don't get Healing Ward until level 12-15, so I don't have to worry much about it. In addition, you can refill it with runes, so etc.


Yurnero's HP growth isn't that great. A pair of Bracers not only solve it, but aid last hitting, armor, and any residual mana problems you may have through the game. They're also dirt cheap, coming in at only 1020 for both.


In general, Treads are good on Yurnero. When you initially buy these, buy the STR recipe; once your HP hits... I'd say 1500, convert them (Right click) to Agility treads. Boots of Travel are an option too, as they add considerable mobility (Good for Blade Fury and escapes), and help with your farming, but Yurnero doesn't have an IAS-based steroid skill; Power Treads in AGI form can give 40% IAS. I choose Treads mainly for the statistical support and the IAS.

After these basics, which fortify your MP/HP, give you slight damage, and other useful benefits, you have to choose your core DPS item. I take into consideration not only raw DPS, but cost and other factors.

DPS is computed with a level 16 Yunero with level 4 Blade Dance and AGI power treads. Note: Attacks Per Second (APS) x Damage x Crits.

Attacks per second formula = (IAS + 100)/170
Critical hits add an average of 36% damage; 36% to deal 100% more damage (2x total).

At level 16, assuming you have two Bracers and Agility Power Treads:
([102 IAS + 100]/170) = 1.188 APS
1.188 attacks per second x 98 average damage * Blade Dance Crits (36%) = 158.4 average DPS.

The items I feel may benefit Yurnero the most Mjollnir, Butterfly, and Monkey King Bar.

MKB has 80 damage, 15 IAS, and 35% chance to deal 100 damage, which is averaged to 115 damage.
([117 + 100]/170) = 1.276 APS
1.276 APS X 213 average damage x BDCrit = ~369 DPS (MKB gives approx 211)
Costs 5400 gold. (2600 + 1400 + 1400), 0.039 DPS/gold
MKB also has a ministun.


Butterfly has 30 AGI + 30 damage/30 IAS. 60 damage/60 IAS.
([162 + 100]/170) = 1.541 APS
1.541 APS X 158 damage x BDCrit = 331.168 DPS (Butterfly gives approx 172.77)
Costs 6000 gold. (3300 + 900 + 1800), 0.029 DPS/gold
Also has 30% evasion.


Mjollnir has 35 AGI, 35 Damage, a 20% chance to proc a 200 damage Chain Lightning. The Chain Lightning will be reduced to 150, assuming 25% magic resistance. This will average out to 30 per attack on the first target after formula.
35 IAS, 70 damage, 30 magical after fact.
([137 + 100]/170) = 1.394 APS
(1.394 APS X 168 damage x 1.36BDCrit) + 30 average magical damage to initial target = 348.5 DPS (318.5 without counting lightning, 190 total)
Costs 6550 gold (3250 + 3300), 0.029 DPS/gold
Also has a Static Charge proc.
The actual damage is higher due to the fact that Chain Lightning hits more than one unit.



MKB has the highest damage and gold-efficiency, however it has a poor buildup and is slightly annoying to farm. It does have a ministun, to its credit.


Butterfly adds the least DPS, and is less gold-efficient, and is a bitch to farm (at least early-midgame). However, it adds evasion, armor, and much attackspeed to Omnislash.


Mjollnir is probably the easiest to farm up (Due to having Maelstrom as an ingredient), adds some armor-bypassing magic damage, has decent damage, and so forth. It chews up an orb effect and is slightly inefficient (mainly because Eaglehorn has a crappy DPS/gold ratio). Butterfly and Mjollnir add some degree of armor.


MKB provides the most efficient DPS/gold, doesn't chew up an Orb like Mjollnir, and so forth. It's your first DPS item. Note: The 6.58 change made MKB even better, so there's less contest.


I consider these items the core of the build; they only cost 8870 (barring any price changes), and everything is easy to farm (MKB has even been made slightly easier to farm with its recent buff).


Next, I buy Stygian Desolator. Desolator provides no IAS, but the armor reduction is handy, especially if you have to Omnislash in the middle of a 5v5. And you probably will. It's also quite cheap. The armor reduction on Desolator should add about 20-30% damage against most players; your mileage may vary with their armor development.

In most cases, this will be superior to Butterfly as a second DPS item. I assume, for these calculations that Yurnero is level 25, has all the items mentioned, and the next item bought.

([169 + 100]/170) = 1.582 APS
1.582 APS x 255 Damage per hit x 1.36BDCrit = 548.76 DPS


With Butterfly:

([229 + 100]/170) = 1.935 APS
1.935 APS x 315 DPH x 1.36BDCrit = 829.08 DPS
Remember, 30% evasion. Again, the DPS and armor are very handy, but remember that in spite of all its advantages, it doesn't build up well and provides lower DPS/gold than the other main Tier 4 DPS items.


With Desolator:

([169 + 100]/170) = 1.582 APS
1.582 APS x 315 DPH x 1.36BDCrit = 677.72 DPS
Looks a lot lower, but don't forget that armor factors in. Against an enemy with let's say... 10 armor, Desolator improves your damage by 34%

677.72 x 1.34 = 908.1448 DPS
Not all heroes have 10 armor, but it's much better than Butterfly when you factor in cost. To exceed Butterfly's DPS with this build, Desolator must increase your damage by about 23% or more, including its base damage. In fact, it will, except against enemies with extremely high armor (such as Dragon Knight, Lich, some AGI heroes, smart tanks, etc.)

Desolator isn't great as a first DPS item for most heroes because armor reduction essentially works on a percentage-based basis. If you have a lot of DPS, armor reduction will mean more; Increasing your damage 25% means more if you have 200 damage before as opposed to 100.


An interesting note: At this point, with level 25, maxed stats, and my item build, you will have 169% IAS, which translates to between 5/6 Omnislash hits. This is hard to exceed. (Sourced from the Wiki on DotA Allstars; check the Omnislash chart).

If the game continues (kind of doubt it), you may need considerable survivability investment. Since your armor is very high already, a Heart of Tarrasque will add tremendous EHP (effective HP, check the formula in the post linked at the bottom of the page) and decent regen.

Then, the Butterfly becomes even more useful, as you're running out of good damage items and the evasion will up your EHP further.

And if the game STILL continues, an Assault Cuirass will (while giving you overkill armor) increase your damage even further due to IAS and armor reduction, while allowing you to push lanes even faster (as if you weren't already fast enough).

If the game hasn't ended after that, I don't know what to tell you. Practice pushing earlier in the game, before things turn stalemated.

GANKING BUILD:
This is another possibility. The skill build stays the same, and you still start by buying a Bottle. This focuses on pumping Yurnero's ganking skills. You gain residual pushing and farming ability from the build. Remember, if you go this way, you'll have to run around a lot and set up a ton of ganks, which will interfere with your farming. Blade Fury will be your lover; a ganking Yurnero will want to milk everything he can get from it.

WHY WOULD YOU BUILD YURNERO AS A GANKER?
- You have higher DPS carry heros on your team, like Terrorblade or an imaging hero
- Your team has huge amounts of disables, allowing you to use Blade Fury to the maximum effect. These are likely to involve many earlygame heroes; so you'll want to end it earlygame and ganking comes in handy.

- The enemy team has chosen many heroes which have to be ganked frequently to slow them down, at risk of your team being overrun lategame.


You also get Bottle as a ganker; you'll need the regen to keep up your longetivity. Besides the heal, you can pick up runes to refill your bottle, and sometimes provide other benefits. When playing a ganker, you can benefit from all the runes, but Haste and Invisibility are the best as they directly improve your ability to damage opponents with Blade Fury. Illusion helps you decieve an opponent by sending out images to various places. Regeneration is like your bottle on steroids, while Double Damage will make you much scarier.


The first major item would be Boots of Travel; combined with your above-average movespeed, allows you to Blade Fury very effectively. The teleport improves your mobility further; you can stop pushes, join your teammates, and so forth.


For this build, I would suggest Radiance as your core item. This is basically your best option for damage if you play Yurnero as a ganker; there really aren't many other options, with the possible exception of Diffusal ->? Manta (Yurnero doesn't, however, really have the stats or synergies to be a Manta bearer) This will improve your ganking ability substantially, mainly due to the immolation (adding 35 DPS to your Blade Fury adds up to about 33% more damage if you consider magical resistance). You might be able to get in a melee hit while chasing, and the +60 damage will make it hurt a lot more. Get it before the 30 minute mark if you can, as the impact of Immolation dwindles with time.

Afterwards, work on items to improve your DPS and Omnislash. I would probably go for Butterfly here, as your IAS is rather low (we didn't focus on it) and needs improvement.

III-2. Alternative Items and Bad Items

Starting with the alternatives that can be used to good effect on Juggernaut, we go into the land of crap, and then finish with some speculation.


The number one point of possible dissent, and a very good item to consider. These shoes work just like the ruby slippers in Wizard of Oz; you click your heels together three times (or is it two now?) with closed eyes, and say "There's no place like [wherever you're teleporting to]". It has great synergy with Blade Fury; if you buy it, consider Radiance to enhance your chasing powers. The drawbacks though, include less stats, weaker Omnislash, and greater cost. It's up to you, but whatever you do, play to your footgear's strengths.


Good if you go for Boots of Travel. It has to be rushed to be effective, as enemy HP gains reduce its potency. BoT + Radiance trace out an effective ganking Juggernaut; you can chase effectively, and need not even hit the enemy to do some damage. The 60 damage and 8% evasion are decent additions to your power, too. Not to mention that you can farm and push nicely with this item.


Another high DPS item. The main problem with this is that Desolator is a better orb effect in many cases, although the magical damage can help against high armor types. The other problem is price--this is usually a rather inefficient source of damage. Still worth considering as it's easy to farm and has a multitude of benefits.


Not the worst thing you could buy. Juggernaut actually needs most of what this item provides, and likes the rest. It's also VERY easy to farm, as each part is very inexpensive. The main problem with this item is that it's very unfocused and doesn't, in my opinion, give enough of anything for most heroes. This will net you a grand total of 31% IAS, 28 damage, 304 HP, 12% IAS, a decent maim, but whatver. In my opinion, the quicker you can damage an opponent, the less time it has to react, escape, be rescued by friends. Still, some people like getting it: if you have frequent success with this item and you feel it's the cause, tell me. It definitely suits a ganking Yurnero; with this + BoT/Radiance, you will move very fast and keep your opponents slowed; especially nice with Blade Fury.


As I see it, the problem with this item is, assuming you build the way I did, that you already have everything this item provides, and better too. A bottle only costs 600 and allows you to regen substantially from it, not to mention the runes. The damage is really not that impressive (4785 for 65. How about 5400 for 80 + what averages out to 35?), and while the cleaves help with farming/pushing, Yurnero is already a good farmer (decent attack animation/damage, BLADE FURY). While cleaves + crit are a good combination, I'd rather not rely on my opponents standing where they can be cleaved. Personally, I get the feeling that most people get it just to see Yurnero jump up and down constantly as if he's critting. I've heard that extra attacks in Omnislash cleave, but it's counterproductive as usually you want all your Omnislashes to hit one opponent.

NOTE: if you have Engima or Magnataur, or another hero that can forcibly cluster heroes in a small area, Battlefury will suit you much better. In that case buy Perseverance instead of Bottle, and finish Battle Fury instead of building MKB.


In some cases, it may be a good idea to get this earlier on Yurnero, but it never is to rush it. The buildup is subpar and were it not for the evasion, it would have nothing over MKB and Buriza except IAS. What sets this apart is said 30% evasion which is, to put it simply, very good. The armor's also good, but not substantial. If you're facing a very physical-DPS based team, consider picking this up instead of Desolator (However, still see "Assassination" part of strategy section).


lol no--The damage and the bash are both subpar. I've seen the occasional recommendation for this, not sure why.


A controversial item in general. The movespeed and attackspeed are very useful to Yurnero, and the lifesteal is nice, but as I see it, there are three main problems to this.
1. Yurnero is fragile, so using MoM on him is quite dangerous. The 20% damage you take afterwards could kill you, and even with the survivability items we get on Yurnero, he's not a tank.
2. It chews up an orb effect. You have Healing Ward, which offsets your need to leech.
3. This really doesn't leech all that much. Let's say you had 100 damage per hit (an easy to obtain figure); you would only net 17 per hit from this. Worse is that you have to autoattack to gain the benefit of this; which is counterproductive untill you can at least out-DPS your own Blade Fury.

Honestly, it's not THE worst item you can get, but it's not a good choice.


This is the worst item. Not that you would consider it, but I do like to bash on Dagon. It just doesn't synergize with many heroes.


Popular and bad on most heroes. This is a good item for Yurnero, but only if someone else wears it. While this has 3 auras that could possibly be of interest to you, they really aren't worth it. Firstly, lifeleech is of little use to you for reasons already discussed--to this item's credit, it doesn't take up an orb. Secondly, Command Aura adds damage. But it doesn't add enough--If we had 100 damage, this would add 15. But we already get MKB, which adds 80 (+ 35 unreliably). A bit more efficient, even when you consider the damage per gold. Brilliance Aura is negated by our bottle. Devotion Aura is useless to Juggernaut. Leave this to the rare hero that can use it. In public games, leave it to every other sucker.


The "Dominate" ability intrigues me on this item, but does that justify getting it? I don't think so, but having a centaur War Stomp an enemy could come in handy for ganks. Try this item out, folks, tell me your opinions. It's better than Vladmir's Offering, or so I think. It can be upgraded to Satanic later.

IV. Strategy Section

EARLYGAME:

In the earlygame, Yurnero is already fairly useful due to Blade Fury. This allows him to gank heroes, lane decently, or play in the forests.

When laning normally, buy 5 GG branches and 3 sets of tangos. If you randomed Yurnero, exchange 2 of your branches for circlets.

Where to Lane:
It's best to lane Yurnero with some sort of disabler--the lane control you will gain from this is considerable, and you may be able to go for an earlygame kill.

Don't solo with Yurnero if you can. He's not horrible at it, but he lacks fire-and-forget harassing like a ranged attack, an orbwalk, a targeted nuke. Blade Fury is dangerous, but someone like Lich or Warlock is more so earlygame.

Jungling:
Suffice it to say that Yurnero is a capable jungler, again due to Blade Fury. However, like everyone else, you will have pull creeps from your lane early on, at least for the first few levels.

Don't jungle if you have someone like Terrorblade, Chen, etc. in your lane.

The screwball text refers to Roshan. I apologize for my demented sense of humor.

The white circles are camps where you can easily pull your lane's creeps to early on. In fact, they seem to be the only place where it's worth doing, but I'm not sure about that. These contain most anything, but if you creep-pull well you can take them.

Buy a Ring of Basilus and some healing salves; the mana regeneration, armor, and damage will be extremely helpful in neuting. You also want to be able to recover from damage, and salves are great in the jungle, not to mention that you can save friends with them if need do.

Neutral creeps initially spawn 30 seconds into the game, and respawn every minute. If you have vision of a camp, it will not spawn creeps. From there on, it takes about [time? Please tell] seconds for your creeps to arrive. When your creeps are in the center of the lane (either center top or center bottom depending on your side), you lure the neutrals out (Be warned, you have to be fairly close to get them to attack you) into your lane. They WILL go back, but if you time it right, your creeps will attack and chase the bastards. They will act as tanks, and all you will have to do is last-hit the neutral creeps. It takes some time for the neutrals to respawn.

The second camp that I would hit would be the level 2 "weak" camp, which is indicated with a square on the map.
In my experience, one of five creep combos appears:
1. Forest Trolls + Priest
2. Forest Trolls + Kobold
3. Kobolds
4. Ghost + Felhounds
5. Gnolls

These are very easy to kill; one blade fury will leave them very weak. From then on, you should be level 2 (maybe closer to 3 in EM); once you reach level 3 and level Blade Fury to 2, you should take off.

If you have to go to the fountain, you have to go to the fountain. Remember, though, that you have clarity potions to chug, extending your longetivity. This is also why we do creep-pulls to avoid damage.

There is the possibility you will be ganked; very low in public games, but much higher in higher level play. If you get ganked, and you have Blade Fury up, use it as an escape tool; the magic immunity will save you from nasty disables.

Laning:
Again, don't solo if you have the option of not doing so. Yurnero thrives in a dual lane with a disabler like Rhasta or Lion.

You will have to last-hit/deny. Yurnero has a decent attack animation, but his base damage is low. However, your damage grows quickly due to the fact you're pumping stats and have high AGI growth. He's got a bit of a backswing, so after executing an attack, spamclick on the ground somewhere to avoid it. If you don't last-hit, you'll miss out on lots of gold as creeps will steal your damage. If you don't deny, your opponents will level up faster and earn more gold; making them deadlier, earlier.

You also want to avoid using Blade Fury on lane creeps early on just for farming's sake. Blade Fury is a very potent pushing tool, but if you push earlygame you will make yourself vulnerable to ganks. If you're deep in enemy territory with little ability to escape, you can say goodbye to the money you earned from your tower kil/creep kills.

GANKING IN GENERAL:

If you get ganked, Blade Fury may save you from whatever nasty nukes you're targeted with. 5 seconds of magic immunity from level 1 is nothing to scoff at. Standard escape rules apply--try to flee TOWARDS help, not away from it; if you can juke opponents by suddenly changing direction, consider it.

Yurnero does not openly seek out ganks (unless you build him as a pure ganker), but when the opportunity arises, he should consider it. When ganking, you want to sneak up on your enemy, and if possible, cut off their escape route. Yurnero should not initiate the gank, having no disables or snares. He should sneak up behind the opponent and cut off escape. Consult this diagram.



A NOTE ON ASSASSINATION:
Yurnero has SOME 1v1 potential, but he's not a hero I would usually have "duel" a hero; i.e have them attack each other and not neccesarily have one running away from the start. Therefore, I generally feel that Yurnero needs to focus on his DPSing abilities, which is why I try to build up Yurnero's damage abilities quickly.

Let's say your core item was Sange and Yasha. Your chasing abilities would be great, and you'd be able to kill any hero in (for convenience reasons) 20 seconds. However, in 20 seconds, an enemy hero could easily come to your victim's rescue, possibly leading to your death. Now, let's say, instead of S&Y, you bought a Monkey King Bar. You would not chase as well, but you would be able to bring a hero down in (again for convenience reasons) 8 seconds. 8 seconds is much less time for enemies to save your victim from your wrath. The chances of them getting away are higher, but that's why they invented teamwork: Have a friend help you unless your opponent is truely unable to escape.

MIDDLE GAME:

Carry Yurnero mainly needs to farm during this stage of the game. Ganker Yurnero needs to continue ganking, and kill creeps whenever he can. Both builds have an effective Blade Fury; this can take out an entire creep wave if you position it properly.

If your team is pushing agressively by this point, you need Healing Ward. If you don't have it, start leveling it. Try to lay it down just behind your team so that they get the full benefit, but it's difficult for enemies to get at and destroy. Remember that the ward can be moved, so as your push continues, bring the ward up. However, if nobody's really pushing, you can probably skill Blade Dance without fear of reprecussions. 36% increased DPS comes in handy if you have some items.

Continue to gank, either when you smell easy money as Carry, or all the time as Ganker. By now, you will have Omnislash, which will do a LOT of damage to one hero if you aim it properly. Essentially, that means make sure nothing's around. If you Omni in the lanes, watch out for creep waves. They spawn every 30 seconds, so you have to develop some awareness of the time. Of course, if you Omnislash in the jungle, you'll be a happier Yurnero (and maybe also a richer one).

In team battles, do not initiate. Yurnero is the type to go in while heroes are distracted and deal some heavy damage. Place a Healing Ward if possible/neccesary. You can use Omnislash to pick off stragglers and escapees, but you may not have the opportunity.

LATE GAME:

In general, midgame and lategame are similar for Yurnero, but in the lategame, Yurnero can be more aggressive due to his better DPS. Your lategame begins when you have some DPS items. You won't have much time to farm further most likely; team-battles will occur all the time.

If you went Carry Juggernaut, and have a desolator, an Omnislash can spread armor reduction to the enemy team very quickly. Obviously, you won't be doing mass damage to one hero, but if your team is DPS'ing the affected heroes, they'll be happy for you.

There is very little here to say that has not already been stated. Expect further expansion, though.

V. Allies and Enemies

BEST ALLIES:

1. Stuns and Slows:

These guys are ALWAYS your best friends. Happen to be laning against that pisshole Lich? Get Rhasta to shackle him, allowing you to position Blade Fury. Victims will either die or be horribly maimed.

2. Other Disablers:

Happen to be offended by the fact that Mortred's physical attack can wear you down during your Blade Fury? Have Drow slow her attack. Have Magnix offer it some beer. Have Axe take the pressure off you with a well placed Berserker's call. These people most likely help you just as much as category 1, albeit more subtlely. Great, innerit?

3. Damage Amplifiers:
As Yurnero lives to deal damage, any hero who can increase that is welcome. Slardar's Amplify Damage is GREAT for your physical attack. Pugna can decrepify an opponent, boosting the potency of your Blade Fury as well as rendering it harder to escape.

BEST OF THE BEST:

As examples.

1. Rhasta - With Shackles alone, Rhasta can hold a hero down for almost as long as your Blade Fury lasts.

2. Lich - Frost Nova serves to further your ganking ability, and by babysitting can ensure you an easy earlygame should you choose to lane.

3. Pugna - Earlygame, Pugna + Yurnero is an extremely scary lane. Decrepify + Nether Blast + Blade Fury will send everyone pissing their pants (or at least borrowed ones). Later, add Nether Ward for good times.

WORST ENEMIES:

Yurnero does not have many hard counters, i.e. very few if any heroes can counter him completely on their own or without items. Here's some thoughts, though.

1. Mana Burn:

Sure, whatever. They're everyone's nightmare. Yurnero, by the way, is not the king of mana reserves, therefore, mana burn on him serves to deplete his mana more than kill him quicker. Either way, sucks, as you need that mana to use your cool abilities.

I'm not sure what else.

VI. Conclusion
Well, this section is sure conclusive, right?

Yurnero really IS a good hero. He IS at heart a carry, but he has some useful skills that expand him beyond mere farm-a-lot-of-items-and-then-ripthingstoshredsdom, and has a decent selection of items. His skills are just great. He's not overly difficult to play, try him out.

TO-DO LIST:
Get a good replay. If anyone wants to donate one, it'd be nice. Admittedly I don't generally play DPSers outside of pubs, so yeah.

Expand strategy section in general, as my knowledge improves.

Try out HotD and Blink Dagger. Both of them are cheap, useful items that provide another dimension to Yurnero; I don't know if they're worth expanding in that direction, but I should check.

Improve the "Ganker" build.

Wait till the fire turns green.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

Firstly, diaz_leon for writing up some information on the inner mathematics of the game. I used the formulas to compute DPS and the table to get the figure with the Desolator. Check out the information at http://forum.esnation.com/showthread.php?t=19643

Secondly, the official website's hero builder helped me determine an item build and compute DPS in some examples.

Thirdly, if you can see this statement, consider yourself acknowledged in advance. I need the readers' responses to improve the guide.

Fourthly, Fred Astaire, for being a better match for Yurnero than the usual Cloud Strife; that's the person depicted at the title.

REASONS:
1. Blade Fury is essentially a spinning dance. No musical number included, though.
2. Healing Ward, as Yurnero's dancing makes everyone feel better.
3. Blade Dance. Do I really have to explain this one?
4. Omnislash is essentially a big, elaborate, virtuoso dance sequence.
5. Yurnero lacks hair. Fred Astaire lost his with time.

"He's graceful, yet masculine. So it's OK for me to enjoy this."