Bristleback stats, abilities and strategy
Takes reduced damage when facing away from enemies
When it comes to a fight, Bristleback really puts his back into it. Reducing all damage arriving from the rear or from the sides, he wades into battle with barely a care, spraying enemies with damaging quills and slowing snot.
Win Rate 47.6%
Pick Rate 8.8%
Attributes
604 +59.4/lvl
243 +33.6/lvl
22 +2.7/lvl
17 +1.8/lvl
14 +2.8/lvl
Stats
Damage:
53 - 59 + 2.7/level (145 - 151 at level 30)
Range:
150
Armor:
3.8 + 0.3/level (14.9 at level 30)
Movement:
295
Roles
Carry
Durable
Nuker
Pusher
Support
Escape
Disabler
Initiator
Facets
Snot Rocket
Win Rate: 48.2%
Pick Rate: 65.5%
Bristleback now fires Viscous Nasal Goo instead of Quills when damaged. Viscous Nasal Goo effects are stronger.
Patch 7.39b
- Bristleback: Nasal Goo Radius decreased from 900 to 750
Seeing Red
Win Rate: 46.5%
Pick Rate: 34.5%
Warpath can be activated to gain extra bonuses. While Seeing Red, Bristleback's vision is limited and he does not receive vision from his allies.
Patch 7.39
- Warpath: Vision cone increased from 90 to 110 degrees
Abilities
ABILITY: Passive
DAMAGE TYPE: Physical
PIERCES DEBUFF IMMUNITY: No
PASSIVE: Breakable
DISPELLABLE: Yes
Bristleback has 10% damage and debuff duration amp against enemy heroes that are behind him.
Viscous Nasal Goo
AFFECTS: Unit
PIERCES DEBUFF IMMUNITY: No
PASSIVE: No
DISPELLABLE: Yes
DEBUFF: Yes
Covers a target in snot, causing it to have reduced armor and movement speed for 6 seconds. Multiple casts stack and refresh the duration.
BASE ARMOR LOSS: 1.5 / 2 / 2.5 / 3
ARMOR LOSS PER STACK: 1.5 / 2 / 2.5 / 3
BASE MOVEMENT SLOW: 10%
MOVE SLOW PER STACK: 3% / 6% / 9% / 12%
STACK LIMIT: 4
1.75
12 / 16 / 20 / 24
650
FACET: Snot Rocket
Max stacks and armor reduction per stack increased.
LEVEL 15 TALENT: +250 Goo Cast Range
Patch 7.39
- Base Armor Loss decreased from 2/2/3/3 to 1.5/2/2.5/3
- Base Movement Slow decreased from 15% to 10%
Having caught a cold while stuck in the snow, Bristleback turns it to his advantage.
Quill Spray
DAMAGE TYPE: Physical
PIERCES DEBUFF IMMUNITY: Yes
PASSIVE: No
Sprays enemy units with quills dealing damage in an area of effect around Bristleback. Deals bonus damage for every time a unit was hit by Quill Spray in the last 14 seconds.
Quill Spray damage is not reduced by damage block abilities.
RADIUS: 700
QUILL BASE DAMAGE: 25 / 45 / 65 / 85
QUILL STACK DAMAGE: 30
STACK DURATION: 14
MAX DAMAGE: 500
3
35
LEVEL 20 TALENT: +20 Quill Stack Damage
Patch 7.39
- Added an auto-cast. Right-click the ability to make Bristleback automatically cast it whenever it's possible
An enforcer's honor can be a prickly thing. So can his quills.
Bristleback
ABILITY: Passive
PASSIVE: Breakable
Bristleback takes less damage if hit on the sides or rear. If Bristleback takes 275 / 250 / 225 / 200 damage from the rear, he releases a Quill Spray of the current level.
Bristleback's rear is considered to be within 70 degrees from the back.
Bristleback's side is considered to be within 110 degrees from the back.
SIDE DAMAGE REDUCTION: 8% / 12% / 16% / 20%
BACK DAMAGE REDUCTION: 16% / 24% / 32% / 40%
DAMAGE THRESHOLD: 275 / 250 / 225 / 200
FACET: Snot Rocket
Instead of releasing Quill Spray from taking damage, he instead launches Nasal Goo of the current level at all nearby enemies.
Aghanim's Scepter
Adds active ability to Bristleback. Bristleback rotates towards the targeted direction and, after 0.5s, forcefully ejects 5 sequential Quill Sprays in a tight conical pattern out of his back every 0.4s. Bristleback's facing is locked during this time, he is disarmed, and his speed is reduced by 40%.
LEVEL 15 TALENT: +8%/4% Bristleback Back/Side Damage Reduction
Turning his back to a fight might be just the thing.
Warpath
ABILITY: Passive
PASSIVE: Breakable
Bristleback works himself up into a fury every time he casts a spell, increasing his movement speed and damage.
Bristleback's illusions will receive the bonuses.
Items will not trigger Warpath.
Break disables the gaining of new stacks.
Break does not disable the bonuses from existing stacks.
DAMAGE PER STACK: 15 / 20 / 25
MOVEMENT PER STACK: 2% / 2.5% / 3%
STACK DURATION: 16 / 18 / 20
MAX STACKS: 8 / 10 / 12
45
FACET: Seeing Red
Warpath can be activated to grant bonus attack damage and movement speed for a short duration. While Seeing Red, Bristleback's vision is reduced to a narrow cone and he does not receive vision from his allies.
LEVEL 25 TALENT: +18 Warpath Damage Per Stack
'Temper, temper,' his mum always chided. But in a fight, a temper can come in handy.
Hairball
Shard grants new ability
AFFECTS: Area
PIERCES DEBUFF IMMUNITY: Yes
PASSIVE: No
DISPELLABLE: Yes
DEBUFF: Yes
Coughs a quill-packed hairball towards the target location. Erupts at the location, hitting enemies with Viscous Nasal Goo stacks and Quill Spray.
RADIUS: 700
QUILL STACKS: 1
GOO STACKS: 2
13
60
750
Every part of Bristleback's body is a weapon -- even the parts he accidentally swallowed.
Talents
+18 Warpath Damage Per Stack
+ 4.9%
+12% Spell Lifesteal
+20 Quill Stack Damage
+25 Health Regen
+ 5.6%
+8%/4% Bristleback Back/Side Damage Reduction
+250 Goo Cast Range
+ 4.0%
+1.5 Mana Regen
+25 Attack Speed
+ 1.0%
Win Rate
Pick Rate
Strategy
If you can be aggressive in lane, take a point in Viscous Nasal Goo as it will greatly improve physical damage output when paired with your support in lane.
Turn your back to opponents, their towers or stacks of neutral creeps whenever you expect to take loads of damage. It greatly reduces the amount of damage received and procs your Quill Spray stacks.
Alert your supports to stack for you, especially ancient camps as you can clear it at level 7. This will give you the ability to scale fast into the game compared to everyone else.
Once you get 
Vanguard, play very strong in lane. Look to push the enemy out of the lane and break their Safelane tower with the help of your support.
Check opponents' inventories frequently in search for break effects and healing reductions. 
Black King Bar and dispel items counter some of them.
You can take 
Roshan down fast and early with your team thanks to Viscous Nasal Goo. Abuse these openings for an early power spike into a high ground push off the Aegis.
Use the 
Bloodstone active together with Bristleback active from 
Aghanim's Scepter upgrade to do a massive burst of damage while healing yourself quickly in fights.
Bristleback's lack of disables can allow enemies to teleport away rather than try and fight him.
Counter Strategy
Magic Stick and 
Magic Wand are must items against Bristleback's Quill Spray spam. He will use it to secure last hits so you will be able to get many charges on your magic stick or wand.
Someone should buy 
Spirit Vessel against Bristleback to counter his regeneration and healing. This makes him drastically squishier in the mid-late game phase.
If you have no good way of dealing with Bristleback, ignore him and don't waste too much resources on him. Deal with his teammates instead.
Silver Edge allows you to break Bristleback's passives. This is extremely important to make him squishy by breaking down his tankiness in fights.
Armor items are good to counter Bristleback's physical damage output.
Buy 
Shiva's Guard and 
Eye of Skadi to stop Bristleback hp regen and deal with him
If Bristleback is chasing you alone its better to just teleport.