Spirit Breaker

Spirit Breaker 29 + 2.4 17 + 1.7 14 + 1.8
	Grants the following bonuses per point of attribute:
	+22HP and +0.1HP regeneration; +1 main attack damage
	+0.17 armor and 1 attack speed
	+12MP and +0.05MP regeneration; +0.1% base magic resistance ;
L0	Base Hero Values
L1	⤷ + Base Attributes
L15	⤷ + Attribute Gain
L25	⤷ + 6 levels of Attribute Bonus
L30	⤷ + 7 levels of Attribute Bonus
	All values shown are without talent bonuses.
Attack Animation	0.6 + 0.3
Gib Type	Default
Internal	Not Provided

Barathrum the Spirit Breaker is a powerful ganker type melee strength Hero that concentrates on taking out single targets, while lacking in larger team fights. His Charge of Darkness lets him charge towards any target available, while knocking off all enemies in his path. If you see the charge coming, it may already be too late. He is picked mostly for his high damage given by his Greater Bash which crushes the life out of his helpless victims. Barathrum can instantly and quickly move to his enemy via Nether Strike and shock them with a soul-bashing blow. Tanky, mobile and with an array of high-damage knockbacks, including a passive one attached to his right clicks, Spirit Breaker's ganking capabilities are second to none.

Bio

Barathrum, the Spirit Breaker

▶️ "I'm the beast of many parts; I part enemies from their lives."

Lore:

Barathrum the Spirit Breaker is a lordly and powerful being, a fierce and elemental intelligence which chose to plane-shift into the world of matter to take part in events with repercussions in the elemental realm that is his home. To that end, he assembled a form that would serve him well, both in our world and out of it. His physical form borrows from the strengths of this world, blending features both bovine and simian—horns, hooves and hands—as outward emblems of his inner qualities of strength, speed and cunning. He wears a ring in his nose, as a reminder that he serves a hidden master, and that this world in which he works is but a shadow of the real one.

Voice:

[[Voice actors#|]] (Responses)

Gameplay

Spirit Breaker plays like most ganker Heroes: he singles out a target and deals as much damage as possible while trying not to get killed himself. Charge of Darkness is the go-to gank initiator. It grants vision of the target, and causes him to move very fast towards them, then stuns and deals damage while also disabling enemies that get in his way. Although issuing a move or attack command while charging will cancel it, some items can be activated while charging (such as Black King Bar), thereby adding to Barathrum's power. If Barathrum is disabled while charging, the charge will be cancelled, meaning he needs to pay attention and avoid being stunned. Players will not see a debuff when being charged, making him more of a surprise. Charge of Darkness can also be used to grant vision of the target. If Barathrum charges an invisible enemy, they will still be stunned and will give shared vision, but will not be revealed.^[1] Once hit, he can follow up with his ultimate, Nether Strike, another disable that deals high damage and a knockback after a short delay. His aura, Empowering Haste increases his movement speed dramatically. Greater Bash has a universal 17% chance to stun the target, while also dealing damage based on Spirit Breaker's movement speed. This means any items that increase movement speed and attack speed, such as Mask of Madness or Drum of Endurance synergize perfectly with this ability. With a bit of luck, he can cause considerable damage in a short period of time without using either of his active abilities.

Abilities

Charge of Darkness

▶️QC

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Ability
N/A

Affects
Enemies

Spirit Breaker fixes his sight on an enemy unit and starts charging through all objects. All enemy units passed through and the targeted unit will be hit by a Greater Bash. If the targeted unit dies, Spirit Breaker will change his target to the nearest enemy unit to that location.

Cast Animation: +

Cast Range: Global

Greater Bash Radius: 300

Charge Speed: 600/650/700/750

Stun Duration: 1.2/1.6/2/2.4

12

100

Barathrum erupts from the darkness with unwieldy force.

Goes into cooldown once the charge ends or is canceled, not upon cast.

The charge indicator above the target is visible to allies only.

During Charge of Darkness, Spirit Breaker moves through other units and impassable terrain.

The charge is canceled when Spirit Breaker gets stunned, cycloned, hexed, rooted, slept, hidden or hit by Forced Movement (e.g. Force Staff).

While rooted, Charge of Darkness cannot be cast. On attempt, the player gets the error message "Can't cast this while rooted".

Spirit Breaker can cancel it by issuing a targeted order, like attacking, moving, casting Nether Strike or any targeted item. Activating Empowering Haste does not cancel it.

The charge is not canceled by taunts. Spirit Breaker will start attacking the taunting unit once the charge stops. During taunts, the charge can't be manually canceled.

Since Charge of Darkness is not a channeling spell, shift-queuing orders does not work and will cause the charge to get canceled.

However, when the auto-attack setting is turned on, Spirit Breaker can automatically attack units when they get close enough. This won't cancel the charge.

The following items can be used during the charge without canceling it:
- Animal Courier, Arcane Boots, Armlet of Mordiggian, Black King Bar, Blade Mail, Bottle (including activation of preserved Runes), Buckler, Butterfly, Cheese, Crimson Guard, Drum of Endurance, Dust of Appearance, Ghost Scepter, Magic Stick, Magic Wand, Mask of Madness, Mekansm, Necronomicon, Phase Boots, Pipe of Insight, Power Treads, Radiance, Refresher Orb, Ring of Aquila, Ring of Basilius, Satanic, Shadow Blade, Silver Edge, Shiva's Guard, Smoke of Deceit, Soul Ring.

The charge's speed is completely unrelated to Spirit Breaker's movement speed. Slows and move speed buffs do not affect it and it does not affect the damage from Greater Bash.

Any unit which comes within 300 radius of Spirit Breaker during the charge gets hit by the current level of Greater Bash.

The stun does not stack with the stun of Greater Bash. It follows the regular rule of stuns – the longer stun overrides the shorter one.

If the target dies, the charge is transferred to the nearest valid target within 4000 range of the previous target.

When the target turns invisible, the charge continues. The target's silhouette and the indicator stay visible and vision is still granted. The stun and Greater Bash hit invisible units.

The charge provides shared vision with the targeted unit. Does not provide any vision when targeting neutral creeps.

Empowering Haste

▶️WG

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Ability
N/A

Affects
Allies

Causes Spirit Breaker to gain power with higher movement speed. His presence increases the movement speed of nearby allied units. Can be cast to improve the movement speed bonus for 6 seconds, however afterwards the passive bonus will be halved while the ability is on cooldown.

Cast Animation: +

Radius: 900

Base Move Speed Bonus: 6%/10%/14%/18%

Active Move Speed Bonus: 9%/15%/21%/27%

Inactive Move Speed Bonus: 3%/5%/7%/9%

Active Speed Bonus Duration: 6

Inactive Speed Bonus Duration: 6

12

Aspiring heroes gain speed and power from simply observing the Spirit Breaker's dominance on the battle field.

Empowering Haste does not interrupt Spirit Breaker's channeling spells upon cast.

When activating, Empowering Haste movement speed bonus increases from 6%/10%/14%/18% to 9%/15%/21%/27% for 6 seconds.

After the first 6 seconds, Empowering Haste movement speed bonus decreases from 9%/15%/21%/27% to 3%/5%/7%/9% for 6 seconds.

After those 6 seconds, Empowering Haste movement speed bonus increases from 3%/5%/7%/9% back to 6%/10%/14%/18% until activated again.

Reseting the cooldown with Refresher Orb also resets the movement speed bonus back to the standard values (6%/10%/14%/18%).

Empowering Haste is an aura, its buff lingers for 0.5 seconds.

Greater Bash

▶️ET

128x128px

Ability
N/A

Affects
Enemies

Damage
Magical

Gives a chance to stun and knockback an enemy unit on an attack, as well as gaining bonus movement speed after a bash occurs. Deals a percentage of movement speed as damage.

Proc Chance: 17%

Move Speed as Damage: 22%/28%/34%/40%

Move Speed Bonus: 15%

Speed Duration: 3

Knockback Duration: 0.5

Stun Duration: 1/1.2/1.4/1.6

1.5

The signature strike of Barathrum's ghostly ball and chain.

Does not stack with other bashes. The bash from Skull Basher and Abyssal Blade is completly disabled for Spirit Breaker.

Knocks bashed units back at a speed of 286/304/316/324 over 0.5 seconds, resulting in a distance of 143/152/158/162.

Since the movement speed limits are at 100 and 522, minimum possible damage is 22/28/34/40, while the maximum is at 114.84/146.16/177.48/208.8 (before all reductions).

Affects siege creeps. Can proc on Roshan, putting it on cooldown and giving the movement speed boost, but Roshan is neither knocked back nor stunned.

Bashes procced by Charge of Darkness and Nether Strike grant the movement speed boost as well.

Unlike most chance-based passive abilities, Greater Bash is not governed by pseudo-random distribution.

Adds an average of 3.74%/4.76%/5.78%/6.8% Spirit Breaker's movement speed as damage to every attack.

Nether Strike

▶️RE

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Ability
N/A

Affects
Enemies

Damage
Magical

Spirit Breaker slips into the nether realm, reappearing next to his hapless victim. Upon reappearing, a Greater Bash of the current level occurs and deals bonus damage.

Cast Animation: +

Cast Range: 700 (850*)

Greater Bash Radius: 0 (250*)

Damage: 150/250/350

80/70/60 (20*)

125/150/175

Aghanim's Scepter Upgrade:

Causes the Greater Bash to hit an area around the initial target, decreases cooldown, and increases cast range.

Barathrum temporarily returns to the realm from where he came, bringing with him the retribution of both worlds.

Nether Strike does not disjoint projectiles upon cast.

During the cast time, the target's model will be visible even when it moved into the Fog of War. Does not grant vision otherwise.

Spirit Breaker appears on the opposite from the target to deliver the Greater Bash.

If Greater Bash is not learned, it will do nothing but move Spirit Breaker and deal its damage. Aghanim's Scepter upgrade's area bash is also dependent on Greater Bash.

The radius from the Aghanim's Scepter area Greater Bash aspect is centered around Spirit Breaker.

Recommended items

Template:Recommendeditems

Equipment

Spirit Breaker/equipment

Tips

Sbdv — Greater Bash average defense value

Black King Bar can be used without interrupting your charge, activate it just when you get close to the enemy to take advantage of its duration during the fight.
Shadow Blade can also be activated while charging, greatly increasing the surprise factor of his charge and preventing easy charge interruption such as Rubick's Telekinesis. In addition, the Shadow Blade bonus damage will be applied to the first attack from invisibility.
Use Charge of Darkness to get close, stun your target, and make him vulnerable to your attacks.
Nether Strike deals major damage to the target enemy and teleports behind them, wherever they go. You can use this to catch blinking or teleporting enemies before they get away.
Greater Bash deals more damage depending on Barathrum's movement speed. Getting items that increase movement speed, such as Sange & Yasha and Drum of Endurance, will greatly improve your damage.
Chaining together Charge of Darkness with Nether Strike can deal high amounts of burst damage in a very short amount of time.
Spirit Breaker has very little teamfight presence due to his specialized abilities, but he can still be useful at neutralizing targets and forcing enemies back.
Charge of Darkness allows Spirit Breaker to run through units, trees, structures and terrain. It also does not indicate your enemies when targeted, letting you setup ganks.
When charging enemy heroes in mid game, be 100% sure that they are alone. A lone enemy may wait out in the open while their ally hides in the trees, waiting for you to charge the bait hero, and finally be ganked. Therefore, Observer Wards can greatly reduce uncertainty before charging.
Although Charge of Darkness is typically used to get into fights, it can also be used to get back out in a pinch; by targeting a creep in a different lane Spirit Breaker can move quickly to avoid death, then cancel the charge when he is out of danger.
Sange and Yasha is a fair pick on Spirit Breaker, as the bonus movespeed improves the damage of his Greater Bash as well as his general speed, improving his chasing ability even further in conjunction with its maim.
Despite being classified as an initiator Spirit Breaker is more of a hunter who takes out lone targets or chases down fleeing enemy heroes after a team fight. To actually initiate you will either need an Aghanim's Scepter so that your ultimate has an AOE presence which in turn weakens your carry potential or use Charge of Darkness in a way that would let you bowl through all of the enemy team heroes (such as aiming for the furthest enemy hero while the enemy team is standing close to a line formation).
Due to the massive speed boost Spirit Breaker receives while charging (288 more than maximum movement speed), he can catch up to a team fight fairly quickly, even from across the map. While preparing for a team fight you might want to stand at the back of your team and let your allies begin to draw out disables and initiation spells from the enemy, then use Charge of Darkness on your target, this will disorient the enemy team as you are likely to be hitting a few of them on the way to your target not to mention that they will be left with no disables to stop you.
Sometimes it might be a good idea to use Nether Strike on a magic immune hero to interrupt their actions as the greater bash will hit them regardless. Situations where for example your team gets caught in a Black Hole by a magic immunue Enigma you can turn the tide of the fight if you can stop him right at the beginning.
Because Linken's Sphere triggers on cast, Charge of Darkness can be used to instantly and globally put an enemy's sphere on cooldown.
While it does not provide True Sight the indicator will follow the invisible unit being charged and the Charge will still hit an enemy that has gone invisible after being charged. This will cause the ability to interrupt channeling spells being performed by invisible heroes such as Sand King's Sandstorm.
With the use of all of your abilities and some lucky bashes, you can keep a single target stunned for 8 seconds. This is a huge stun duration even late game and allows lucky Barathrums to snowball out of control on lone ganks.

Trivia

Barathrum's fun names are Roadrunner and Space-Cow, the latter of which is referenced by Earth Spirit's ally line: "▶️ You aren't half bad, for a space cow." The line about the spirit breaker being a "Space-Cow" Is likely a reference to Astral Trekker, one of the famously imbalanced DotA heroes, whose model was reworked into the original Spirit Breaker model.
"Barathrum" means "underworld" in Latin.
His response ▶️ "Rampage" might be a reference to who used to be his equivalent in Heroes of Newerth (most of the HoN hero abilities changed since the port)
Charge of Darkness' indicator is the astrological sign of Taurus, the Bull.

Update history

Template:Update History

Balance changelog

Template:Update History

Replaced abilities

Charge of Darkness (6.66-6.72)

QC

128x128px

Ability
N/A

Affects
Enemies

Barathrum fixes his sight on an enemy and starts charging up his speed. Accelerates for up to 4 seconds. When he reaches maximum charge time, he will become immune to magic. Upon leaving the shadows, Barathrum shocks his opponent into an immobile state for some time. Enemy can only see buff indicator when Spirit Breaker is near it. Can be interrupted early to start the charge sooner.

Cast Animation: +

Cast Range: Global

Max Channel Time: 4

Movement Speed bonus per Second: 15%

Stun Duration: 1/1.5/2/2.5

40

75

Barathrum erupts from the darkness with unwieldy force.

This ability got reworked into the current Charge of Darkness in the 6.72 gameplay patch.

The charge indicator above the target is visible to allies only.

A status buff icon appears in the target's hud when Spirit Breaker is within 2500 range of it. The buff is visible to the target.

Spirit Breaker channels to charge up movement speed by 7.5% every 0.5 seconds for up to 4 seconds, so the max speed bonus is 60%.

The channel directly increases Spirit Breaker's movement speed, so it is fully affected by slows and it affects Greater Bash damage.

During this charge up time, any order given to Spirit Breaker will cancel the charge-up and he starts running towards the target.

When channeled for the full 4 seconds, he also turns black and spell immune until reaching the target or canceling the charge.

Starting to channel while rooted still allows him to charge up, however, upon start charging to the target, the spell gets wasted if he still is rooted.

Getting silenced during the channel causes him to start charging towards the target.

The speed bonus lingers for 2 seconds after reaching the target or canceling the charge.

Spirit Breaker's model appears slightly transparent during the charge.

During the charge, Spirit Breaker's collision size is reduced to 0 and he becomes phased, but he will still follow regular unit pathing.
- This means he will not charge through trees or impassable terrian.
- However, if the target can't be reached through regular pathing or when Spirit Breaker is stuck, he will charge through trees and impathable terrain.

The charge is canceled when Spirit Breaker gets disabled (except for silence).

The charge is also canceled when Spirit Breaker receives any order during the charge or when the target dies.

Only the 4 second charge-up time requires channeling. The charge iself is not channeled.

Since the charge is not channeled, shift-queuing orders does not work and will cause the charge to get canceled.

However, Spirit Breaker can automatically attack units when they get close enough. This won't cancel the charge.

The charge provides 300 radius ground vision around the target and True Sight over the target until the charge stops.

End Charge

QC

Ability
N/A

Affects
Self

Ends the Charge.

Cast Animation: +

This abiity replaces Charge of Darkness during the 4 second channel time.

Casting this causes the channel to end and Spirit Breaker starts charging towards the target.

Charge of Darkness (pre 6.66)

QC

128x128px

Ability
N/A

Affects
Enemies

Barathrum fixes his sight on an enemy and accelerates towards it. When he reaches maximum speed, he will become immune to magic. As he increases in speed, he begins to merge with the shadows around him, becoming difficult to see until he stops the charge or hits the target. Upon leaving the shadows, Barathrum shocks his opponent into an immobile state for some time. Enemy can only see buff indicator when Spirit Breaker is near it.

Cast Animation: +

Cast Range: Global

Movement Speed Acceleration: 10%/15%/20%/25%

Acceleration interval: 4

Movement Speed Bonus Cap: 120/180/240/300

Stun Duration: 1/1.5/2/2.5

40

120

Barathrum erupts from the darkness with unwieldy force.

This ability got reworked into the following Charge of Darkness in the 6.66 gameplay patch.

The charge indicator above the target is visible to allies only.

A status buff icon appears in the target's hud when Spirit Breaker is within 2500 range of it. The buff is visible to the target.

During the charge, Spirit Breaker's collision size is reduced to 0 and he becomes phased, but he will still follow regular unit pathing.
- This means he will not charge through trees or impassable terrian.
- However, if the target can't be reached through regular pathing or when Spirit Breaker is stuck, he will charge through trees and impathable terrain.

The charge is canceled when Spirit Breaker gets disabled (except for silence).

The charge is also canceled when Spirit Breaker receives any order during the charge or when the target dies.

The charge has no effect when cast while rooted, wasting the mana and cooldown.

Since Charge of Darkness is not a channeling spell, shift-queuing orders does not work and will cause the charge to get canceled.

However, when the auto-attack setting is turned on, Spirit Breaker can automatically attack units when they get close enough. This won't cancel the charge.

Spirit Breaker's movement speed increases overall 4 times during the charge. The first bonus is applied instantly, the following ones every 4 seconds.