Dota – How to jungle with Ursa

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I asked a similar question some time back, about how to Jungle with Natures Prophet, which turned out great. But I recently started to jungle with Ursa, as I read that he becomes very powerful later on in the game, and are less reliable on others, as he can take a lot of damage and deal an incredible amount himself.

My issue though, is the path of Ursa throughout the game. Sure you can find what to buy and not too online, and how you should take your abilities.

What is is the optimal way to Jungle with Ursa, in regards of gaining as much XP and Gold as possible?

And furthermore, when should Ursa start to gank?

Best Answer

TL;DR Iron Talon

Jungling with Ursa is quite easy once you get used to it. Ursa does not have any AOE damage apart from Earthshock which isn't really a farm skill. That's why his jungling is more reliant on "lucky spawns" than Batrider for example. Batrider will stack a big camp and uses Sticky napalm and Firefly to clear the 5 or 6 stacks whereas Ursa will mostly jungle by going from camp to camp hoping to not get Hellbear Smashers on big camp at level one.

Since you can't predict what neutrals will spawn, you can't have a "typical perfect jungle" with Ursa. That's one of the reason I'm not a big fan of Ursa in the jungle (and in general I'm not fan of Ursa at all). However his great survivability and his huge damage potential on solo target can make him a good jungler, you just have to be careful about some little things.

Let's start with the items and skills

Starting items

  • Iron Talon: you will face only neutral creeps so +32% dmg for 225 gold is very cost efficient and the active does wonder to accelerate your farm speed. In the current patch, I don't see any jungler not going for Iron Talon.
  • Stout shield: damage block will be a savior
  • Tango: For early regen

Core items for early jungle

  • Ring of Basilius: will help you cast Enrage more often and offer some welcome armor.
  • Mask of Death: it's core to rush lifesteal since Fury Swipe is no longer an orb effect and Mask of Death allows early Solo Roshan attempts.
  • Boots (simple): travel faster between camps. Since the 6.79 patch, tranquil boots can no longer be disassembled and are disabled when you attack so I advise to not build tranquils.

Your objective is to get a Lifesteal as fast as possible > Go kill Roshan (see efficient strategy later in the post) > upgrade boots into phase boots > start roaming

Skills

  • Max Fury swipe by level 7
  • Get 1 point Overpower at level 2
  • Get 1 point Earthshock at level 4
  • Grab ulti whenever you can
  • Max Overpower

Why get an early point in Earthshock if you jungle? Because a 25% AOE slow can save you if the enemy team thinks "Hey, we should gank Ursa while he jungles!” Plus when you are done killing Roshan and start ganking you will want Earthshock because people tend to run away from Ursa when you go all ROAR! on them.

Efficient jungling

Early levels in jungle are often hard. I advice you avoid the Ghost camp (the slow is a real pain) also, you want to jungle mainly medium/large camps.

You can start big camp from level 1 if you learn how to: choke point jungle and use your Iron Talon properly. This technique will really improve your jungle skills.

Do not hesitate to use Overpower in order to quickly stack Fury swipes on a big target (just save 75 mana for an Earthshock if needed) and remember: your ulti has no mana cost: cast it every time it’s on cooldown.

Efficient Roshan Killing

  • Since Fury Swipe is no longer an orb effect, any kind of lifesteal helps.
  • Get a smoke of deceit and go in the pit while smoked: this will help you avoid being ganked at Roshan after having been seen by a ward
  • Before attacking him: first use Overpower > wait for the cooldown to reset > you have 5 sec to use the Overpower until the buff ends > cast Overpower immediately a second time: This technique will allow you to stack a lot of Fury swipes in a minimal amount of time which is pretty nice
  • You can do it at level 6 but level 8 (with maxed Fury swipe and 2 levels in Overpower) will be way easier
  • Remember: you are Ursa so everybody expect you to go Roshan at some point. Keep that in mind if you don’t want to give a free Roshan to the enemy team.

Things to keep in mind

  • Choke point jungle is important with any melee jungler
  • Rushing lifesteal allows really early Roshan attempt (even level 3 if you get lucky with bashes)
  • I would advise against Mask of Madness: it sounds good on paper but when a person starts kiting you later in the game, you just suffer from the extra damage. Situational, I'd say.
  • Be aware of the map to avoid being ganked
  • Use smoke of deceit when you go Roshan
  • Being in the jungle doesn't mean ignoring the lane. If an enemy is out of position and you can cut his retreat by coming out of the forest, go get a kill. However keep in mind that this will remind them of your presence in the jungle thus increasing the risk of being ganked.
  • After Roshan you are the ganking machine: Enemy should fear being in lane. You might want a Blink dagger after the phase boot and surprise gank someone in order to reinforce the feeling of insecurity in the enemy team.
  • You are Ursa not God: good players don't fear Ursa since a little slow and some kiting get rid of the problem easily. To avoid you running around not hitting anyone in team fight, get a BKB.
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