Grimstroke received significant buffs in Patch 7.29, elevating him to one of Dota 2's most powerful Intelligence heroes. Unlike 7.29, In Patch 7.29b, Grimstroke received some nerfs in Dota 2; however, it didn't stop his dominance.

Grimstroke is a ranged Intelligence hero in Dota 2 who specialized as an offensive hero. He deals a significant amount of damage with his abilities and has a major impact on the game, even against hard matchups. Grimstroke is one of those heroes who require the assistance of a Core ally to kill opponents. Any hero combined with Grimstroke is considered powerful.

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All of his spells grant his teammates the ability to do whatever they please. Stroke Of Fate inflicts significant damage while also slowing the target. Phantom's Embrace incapacitates the enemy, allowing your Core to deal with him easily. If you cast Ink Swell on an ally and approach the enemy, the nearby units will get stunned. Soulbind enables your team to throw all of their single target spells on two chained enemies.

Here are some pointers to help you improve your performance.

Grimstroke's Abilities

Stroke Of Fate

Grimstroke draws a path in the direction you specify, slowing and damaging enemies in that direction. Its damage increases proportionately with each unit it hits.

Stroke Of Fate has a cast range of 1,400, which increases to 2,200 with Talent. This ability deals 300 damage and 420 with Talent at max level, and it also slows you by up to 80%.

Tips:

• Stroke Of Fate is a reasonably effective ability against illusion heroes and pushers such as Nature's Prophet. If you're up against Phantom Lancer or Naga Siren, you can send Grimstroke into their lane to deal with their illusion. These heroes are vulnerable to spell damage, and their primary farming and lane pushing ability is illusions.
• Stroke Of Fate has a long range; use this ability to stack two or three camps simultaneously.
• If the enemy has Catch heroes, such as Earth Spirit, Grimstroke can use Stroke Of Fate to push out lanes from a distance due to its long range and low cooldown.

Phantom's Embrace

This ability summons a phantom that flies to and latches onto the target. It inflicts damage and silences the enemy unit for the duration of its latched state.

After three hero attacks at the maximum level or four hero attacks with Talent, the summoned phantom dies. With an upgraded Talent, Phantom's Embrace deals 90 damage per second and has a five-second latch duration.

Tips:

• Phantom's Embrace is vulnerable to attack and can be destroyed by enemy attacks. To overcome this weakness, use Phantom's Embrace on the enemy while they're disarmed to prevent them from attacking it.
• Activating Black King Bar or becoming invisible while it is latched on enemy instantly destroys the phantom. Therefore, use it on targets that lack Black King Bar or invisibility, unless they have already used them.

Related: Dota 2: How To Play Phantom Lancer Like A Pro

• You can use Phantom's Embrace in conjunction with Soulbind to silence two enemies at once.
• If the phantom survives the spell's duration, it returns to Grimstroke and resets the cooldown. However, only the primary phantom's return will reset the cooldown.

Ink Swell

Grimstroke shrouds an ally in ink, accelerating their movement and inflicting damage on the area around them. When the Ink Swell duration expires, it will stun the area around that unit. Stun duration is determined by the amount of damage dealt during that time.

When cast on an ally, Ink Swell grants them an 18% movement speed bonus at max level and a 38% bonus with Talent. At max level, the enemies around that ally will be stunned for 3.7 seconds.

Tips:

• You can use Ink Swell on Spell Immune allies, but the ability will not affect Spell Immune enemies.
• The duration of the stun effect is increased solely by damaging real enemy heroes and clones, not on illusions.
• If an ally dies while Ink Swell is active, the effect no longer stuns or damages enemies.
• Aghanim's Shard: At the end of its duration, it increases its damage and heals an ally unit for 40% of the damage it deals, as well as applying a strong dispel to the ally unit it affects.
• Aghanim's Shard Tip: Ink Swell Damage and heal also work against illusions, which means it's effective against illusion heroes, particularly Phantom Lancer, who creates a significant number of illusions; therefore, Ink Swell heal will greatly benefit your ally.

Soulbind

It binds two targets together and prevents them from moving apart. What makes Soulbind such a strong ultimate is that any ability you or your allies cast on one of them also applies to the other. Soulbind connects two targets within a 600 radius of one another for 6/7/8 seconds at each level.

Tips:

• If one of the enemy heroes dies or somehow their connection is severed before the Soulbind expires, the Soulbind will be attached to the nearest enemy hero.
• If you have a Beastmaster or a Keeper of The Light on your team, they must be cautious because any source of force movements, such as a primal roar or blinding light, can break the Soulbind chain.
• Some spells don't work with Soulbind, including Omnislash, Static link, Charge of Darkness, Nether Strike, Focus Fire, Soul Assumption, and Snowball.
• Even if the primary target has a Spell Block ability, such as Linkens Sphere, the secondary target will be affected by spells.

Dark Portrait

This ability unlocks when you buy Aghanim's Scepter on Grimstroke. Dark Portrait creates the illusion of an opponent hero with increased movement and attack speed. The illusion deals 150% more damage but takes 350% more damage.

Tips:

• Apart from high damage output, the most significant advantage of the Dark Portrait illusion is its spell immunity, which makes it frightening for supports and heroes with low attack damage and attack speed.
• We recommend using this ability on an enemy team with the highest damage output or a target with few practical Aura abilities.
• Visual effect of the illusion is recognizable for allies and the enemy heroes.
• It becomes available in ability draft mode for the player who possesses Soulbind.

Ability Builds for Grimstroke

Grimstroke is currently being played in both the Midlane and Support roles, which means he has two distinct Ability builds.

The image below is for Support Grimstroke. You should put more levels on Ink Swell because it enables your Core to deal more damage by gaining bonus movement speed and stunning enemies nearby.

For Midlane Grimstroke, simply put more levels on the Stroke of Fate, as you'll be farming, harassing, and killing enemies.

Grimstroke's Talent Tree

Grimstroke is currently being played in both the Midlane and Support roles, which means he has two distinct Talent Tree builds. Support Grimstroke Talent Tree is shown in the image below. With one point on the -6 second Ink Swell Cooldown, you can use Ink Swell twice or three times in a team fight. Ink Swell provides radius stun and increased movement speed, which is critical in team fights, and should be preferred over the +50 DPS of Phantom's Embrace.

• At level 15, +25% Ink Swell Movement Speed is significantly more advantageous than +15% Spell Amplification, unless you're a Midlaner who needs to deal damage to enemies.
• At level 20, +3 Hits to Kill Phantom is preferable to +800 Stroke Of Fate Cast Range, as it makes it more difficult for enemies with a high attack speed to break Phantom's Embrace silence.
• At level 25, +150 Ink Swell Radius is superior to Stroke of Fate because your primary objective with Phantom's Embrace is to cast Ink Swell on allies and silence enemies.

• At level 10, choose +50 Phantom's Embrace DPS for Midlane Grimstroke.
• At Level 15, opt for +15% Spell Amplification, as you are a team's primary damage dealer.
• Level 20 is dependent on the game matchup; if you're up against a lineup with a lot of mobility, you can choose +800 Stroke of Fate Cast Range to engage an enemy from afar and avoid death. +40% Stroke Of Fate Damage is critical because, once again, you are your team's damage dealer.

Difficult Matchups For Grimstroke

To win games, you must first understand your hero's flaws. Understanding your weaknesses enables you to identify which heroes you are vulnerable to and how to counter them. We're going to discuss how to play against Grimstroke's most difficult heroes.

Vengeful Spirit: She can break the chain by using her ultimate (Nether Swap) on one of his allies affected by Soulbind. There is no way to counter this unless your Carry first kills Vengeful Spirit, as Carries always prioritize Support.

Riki: Cloak And Dagger is a passive ability that allows him to remain invisible even when silenced. Use Dust or Put Sentry first, then cast your spells on Riki.

Omniknight: Heavenly Grace removes the stun caused by Ink Swell and shortens the duration of the Soulbind. Utilize Phantom's Embrace whenever you encounter Omniknight in combat.

Silencer: Grimstroke will find it challenging to cast Stroke of Fate repeatedly if he is hit by Silencer's Arcane Curse. Additionally, Silencer's Global Silence momentarily removes you from the fight. If Silencer is zoning you, purchase Eul's Scepter of Divinity to dispel Arcane Curse and other silence spells.

Strong Matchups For Grimstroke

Broodmother: Because she creates a large number of spiders, Grimstroke can inflict significant damage with Stroke Of Fate.

Phantom Lancer: He creates illusions during combat, which you can quickly destroy with Stroke Of Fate. Additionally, you can stop him from using Doppelganger with your Phantom's Embrace, or if you time it correctly, you can stun him immediately after he uses Doppelganger. As previously stated, Grimstroke's Aghanim's Shard effect on Ink Swell can deal significant damage to the Phantom Lancer illusion while healing your ally.

Timbersaw: Timbersaw is reliant on his spells, so if he is silenced, he cannot kill your allies. Because Timbersaw cannot attack while using Chakram, he must use Return Chakram to attack, so use Phantom's Embrace immediately after he uses Chakram to silence him and prevent him from killing the Phantom's Embrace in order to escape Silence.

Io: Because this hero is always close to his Core, you can Soulbind both of them while also preventing Io from relocating with your Phantom's Embrace silence.

Phoenix: Icarus Dive isn't capable of breaking the Soulbind,  You can also purchase Rod Of Atos to address Icarus Dive even without Soulbind. Supernova is the only ability that shields Phoenix from spell damage.

Crystal Maiden: Her Freezing Field is cancellable by Grimstroke's Phantom's Embrace, and her slow movement speed makes her an ideal target for Ink Swell.

Grimstroke's Best Allies

Doom: This hero can use the Doom spell on one of the targets after Grimstroke's Soulbind to Doom both of them at the same time.

Bane: He possesses excellent single target spells, making him the perfect ally for Grimstroke.

Bloodseeker: He can use Rupture on two people following the Soulbind. Additionally, Ink Swell increases his movement speed and helps him catch enemy heroes.

Tip: Any hero with strong single-target abilities, such as Lion, Necrophos, or Pugna, can be an excellent ally for Grimstroke.

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