Disables enemies with a swipe of his brush
Skilled at manipulating battle from the outskirts, Grimstroke studies every movement and assesses each line, deciding when to emerge from inky darkness to disable his victims and bind them together with a swipe of his brush. He delights in unleashing phantom thralls to vex opponents, as he carefully considers how to dispatch multiple enemies with one fateful stroke.
Win Rate 48.6%
Pick Rate 5.1%
Attributes
462 +52.8/lvl
300 +45.6/lvl
21 +2.4/lvl
18 +1.9/lvl
25 +3.8/lvl
Stats
Damage:
21 - 25 + 1.9/level (76.1 - 80.1 at level 30)
Range:
600
Armor:
0 + 0.3/level (8.7 at level 30)
Movement:
290
Roles
Carry
Escape
Nuker
Initiator
Durable
Disabler
Support
Pusher
Facets
Inkstigate
Win Rate: 48.5%
Pick Rate: 81.9%
Ink Swell can be manually detonated early.
Ink Swell
Ink Swell can be manually detonated early.
BUFF DURATION:
1
Fine Art
Win Rate: 48.7%
Pick Rate: 18.1%
Stroke of Fate can now be vector targeted to manipulate the ink's travel path.
Stroke of Fate
Stroke of Fate can now be vector targeted to manipulate the ink's travel path.
BONUS DMG PER TARGET:
0/5/10/15
Abilities
Ink Trail
Adds an effect to Grimstroke's attacks that causes enemy heroes to leave a trail of ink behind them for 4s.
Stroke of Fate
Grimstroke paints a path of ink with his brush, damaging and slowing enemies. The damage is increased with each enemy the ink hits. Applies Ink Trail on hit.
PASSIVE:No
DISPELLABLE:basic
start radius:120
end radius:160
damage:100 / 160 / 220 / 280
bonus damage per target:20 / 30 / 40 / 50
movement slow pct:50 / 60 / 70 / 80
slow duration:1.75
vision duration:2
AbilityCastRange:1400
projectile speed:2000
+75% Stroke of Fate Damage
+70% Stroke of Fate Speed and Travel Range
11 / 9 / 7 / 5
100 / 110 / 120 / 130
Phantom's Embrace
Summons a phantom that moves quickly towards the target, latching to it when she arrives. Once latched, the phantom damages and silences. If she survives the full latch duration she rends her victim for heavy damage and refreshes Phantom's Embrace's cooldown. Hero attacks against the phantom count as 3 attacks each.
AFFECTS:unit
PASSIVE:No
DEBUFF:yes
speed:1150
latch duration:5
destroy attacks:6 / 6 / 9 / 9
hero attack multiplier:3
damage per second:10 / 20 / 30 / 40
enemy vision time:4
tick interval:0.5
infection search radius:1000
pop damage:120 / 200 / 280 / 360
return projectile speed:1150
latched unit offset:130
latched unit offset short:95
+65 Phantom's Embrace DPS
+3 Hits to Kill Phantom
36 / 30 / 24 / 18
80 / 100 / 120 / 140
Ink Swell
Grimstroke shrouds an allied unit in ink, increasing its movement speed. Enemies in range of the allied unit are damaged with inky tendrils over time. After 3 seconds it applies damage and stun in an area around the unit in proportion to how long ink tendril was near any hero.
AFFECTS:unit
PASSIVE:No
DISPELLABLE:basic
BUFF:yes
buff duration:3
movespeed bonus pct:20
radius:375
max damage:90 / 180 / 270 / 360
max stun:1.3 / 1.8 / 2.3 / 2.8
damage per tick:5 / 8 / 11 / 14
tick rate:0.2
tick dps tooltip:25 / 40 / 55 / 70
max threshold duration:2.5
Aghanim`s Shard Upgrade
Causes Ink Swell to deal 30 more damage and heal the target for 30 of the damage Ink Swell deals. Upon expiration, the target will receive a strong dispel.DISPEL TYPE: Strong Dispel
+12% Ink Swell Movement Speed
+150 Ink Swell Radius
27 / 24 / 21 / 18
120 / 130 / 140 / 150
Soulbind
Binds a targeted enemy hero to its nearest allied hero within the bind radius, preventing both from moving away from each other. Any unit-targeted ability that either bound hero receives also gets cast on the other hero. If the bind is broken before the duration expires, the initial target will be bound to its nearest allied hero in the radius.
AFFECTS:unit area
PASSIVE:No
DEBUFF:yes
chain duration:6 / 7 / 8
chain latch radius:600
chain break distance:700
leash limit multiplier:1.3
leash radius buffer:50
creep duration pct:50
+25% Soulbind Spell Damage
70 / 65 / 60
150 / 200 / 250
Dark Portrait
Creates an ink illusion of a target enemy hero. Illusion is debuff immune, has 95%% magic resistance, and has bonus movement speed and attack damage.
AFFECTS:unit
PASSIVE:No
illusion duration:25
images do damage percent:50
images do damage percent tooltip:150
images take damage percent:250
images take damage percent tooltip:350
images movespeed bonus:30
35
200
Talents
+65 Phantom's Embrace DPS
-4s Ink Swell Cooldown
+25% Soulbind Spell Damage
+12% Ink Swell Movement Speed
+75% Stroke of Fate Damage
+3 Hits to Kill Phantom
+150 Ink Swell Radius
+70% Stroke of Fate Speed and Travel Range
Strategy
Use Stroke of Faith to secure range creep last hits and hit opponents at the same time.
Communicate whenever you want to use Ink Swell on an ally so it doesn't go to waste.
Stroke of Faith can be used to stack an additional camp from distance.
Focus on using Soulbind on mobile heroes or heroes with Black King Bar.
Buy Aghanim's Shard at minute 15 as it adds even more utility to Ink Sweel.
Aghanim's Scepter allows you to scale well into lategame by creating illusions of opponents right-clickers.
Use portals to roam around the map and set up kills with your control spells.
With Aghanims Shard, you can apply and pop Ink Swell instantly on an ally to dispel off stuns and silences.
Counter Strategy
Stroke of Fate does more damage the more units it hits. Play on the side of the creep wave.
Help removing Grimstroke's Phantom's Embrace from your team mates.
The longer you were next to Ink Swelled unit the longer you will be stunned.
Against Grimstroke's Soulbind, avoid staying close to your cores, especially the mobile ones.
Magic resistance and spell immunity items are great against Grimstroke.
Lore
The people of Ashkavor crowded around the temple square, eager to witness the ascension of their new guardian -- to stand near the man as he bound their souls to his own. But as his final brush strokes fell against the runestone, and the bond of a new Ascended One was forged, everyone -- even those who'd stayed in their homes -- could sense that something had gone terribly wrong. He knew the cause instantly. The droplets of ichor he'd procured to amplify the potency of his inkpots had instead contaminated them, and the power of the binding spell he'd cast now threatened to consume him. An inky corruption snaked upward from the runestone, along the handle of his brush, soon overtaking his hands. From there it spread quickly. Once it overcame his face and his mouth, he couldn't have screamed even if he'd wanted to. All of his life he'd calculated on how to attain ever greater powers than the limits presented by his teachers would allow--going so far as to break the sacred prohibition against augmenting the inks. Indeed, with the wellspring of the Ascended bond open to him, he felt a measure of power coursing into his soul like he'd never imagined. His greatest triumph was upon him, if he could only survive it. He drew deep from the power of the bond, pushing back against the corrupted ink flow. A great moan filled the air -- the collective cry of his people. Some swayed on their feet. The weakest collapsed. Many tried to run. And still deeper he pulled from their bloodline reservoir. But it wasn't enough to stop the ink tide. It was only when the breath trapped in his lungs began to fail him, and the inkpool darkness fully encased him, that he saw his way out. The bond he'd made with the Ashkavoran people -- his people -- meant to be drawn upon only in service of their protection... It flowed two ways. With a final surge of strength -- this time directed by more than just blind repulsion -- he pushed the ink torrent into the bond itself. Slowly, he felt the tide retreat... and heard the awful wails of his people as the corruption in turn rolled over them. When at last the ink relented, his eyes opened upon a world changed. The Ashkavoran people as he knew them were gone. Every last soul was transformed into terrifying shades of their former selves -- comprised no longer of blood and bone, only viscid, tainted ink.