Ursa - Fuzzy Wuzzy no more
For the longest time in all of Dota, 
Ursa has been considered a pub hero through and through. His ability to be self sustainable and dominate a game is to be feared across multiple skill brackets. Yet, the hero has never really taken off in the pro meta and stayed a very, very niche pick for the longest time until recently. In the current meta, Ursa has found a place in the pro scene and has become very situational and we break down the hero, its viability and why you don’t want to mess with “Fuzzy Wuzzy” right now.
Why is Ursa good right now
As always, there are multiple reasons why a hero is popular in the meta. The first and most simple one is the fact that he is a strong counter-pick against the currently popular 
Enchantress. 
Overpower allows Ursa to attack Enchantress reliably despite her Untouchable, making it more difficult for her to lane in the offlane or to stand her ground in teamfights.
Obviously, Ursa is much more reliable outside of that. He can take Roshan very quickly, he can push quickly and provides the much needed initiation in teamfights without putting himself too much at risk. The rework to his ultimate in 6.84 has made him much stronger, as it allows him to not be bursted down as easily without investing heavily into HP related items. In addition, you can now itemize in a more damage efficient way, as you can solely focus on increasing your agility, rather than your HP gain.
The final nail in the coffin that sealed the deal for Ursa was his 
Aghanim's Scepter bonus added in 6.86 and the fact that 
Enrage is no longer dispellable. With Agh’s, you can activate Enrage even while stunned.
There are even some more reasons as to why he is viable, some of which have always been beneficial factors for him: he can transition from the lane into the jungle seamlessly, creating space for your supports. Whenever he does jungle and thus vanishes off the map, it creates pressure onto the enemy team, as Ursa is a hero capable of picking off squishy supports by himself.
Meta Statistics
Ursa is amongst the most popular heroes in Dota 2 (16th this month), but is especially popular in the <2k MMR bracket. His pickrate decreases until the 4k bracket, where it rises again and in 5k MMR games he is still picked in 14.72% of the games, his second highest pickrate. Despite being so popular there though, his winrate in the 5k bracket is the lowest of all (47%) in contrast to his highest in the <2k bracket (58%).
It makes sense to see him both popular and successful in the lower brackets: Ursa is a classic “pubstomper” and his concept is easy enough to understand and play, but requires more coordination and especially map awareness to play against.
In the higher brackets, players are, as usual, more aware of the strengths and weaknesses of a hero. Strong counters to the hero are much more prevalent and successful there, but more on that later.
Role
Ursa is versatile and can be played in the jungle, the safelane but even the midlane. His jungling is quite sufficient and there are ways to sneak an early Roshan. In fact, as mentioned above, it is beneficial for your team to spend a lot of time off the map. Even if you start out as a mid or safelaner, you want to farm a lot in the jungle to apply pressure to the enemies. Much like Clinkz, which we discussed earlier, he forces the opponents to stay closer together and to spend more gold on vision, or worst of all it forces vision in places specifically just for Ursa, such as the Roshan pit - a place you don’t always want to ward 10 minutes in.
“Guys, we need to do something about their Ursa, he’s farming” - admit it, how often have you heard or said that sentence? Ursa is a midgame dominator that still transitions well into the late game. You do not want to give him free farm, as he can be deadly with only a few items. As a jungler and midlaner, you want to play as safe as possible to secure early farm and levels. Especially as a jungler, life will be rough as supports will roam to keep you in check. Ideally ask your support to provide you with a ward at the entrance of the jungle to force the opponents to at least utilize a 
Smoke of Deceit for their ganks.
In the midgame, Ursas will want to look for pick-offs. Items at this point should include a mobility item that allows you to find kills or open up team fights. Ursa can and should transition kills into tower pushes with Overpower.
In teamfights, Ursa should initiate to create space for his team, while also focusing the supports and potentially bursting one down with Overpower and 
Fury Swipes, thus creating a favorable 5v4 situation.
Skill build
If you looked at just pub games, the answer would be pretty straight forward. Max Fury Swipes, then Overpower and you’re good to go. In professional games, that answer looks a bit more complicated, rightfully so. A value point in 
Earthshock at level 3 is almost necessary when you have an offlaner to deal with. It makes killing them much easier.
There are cases where some pros would even skill up Earthshock further to at least level 2. It is a very situational upgrade though, although the damage and slow increase are not to be neglected. Maxing it first or second is viable in certain match-ups, especially in the midlane with a Bottle.
A jungling Ursa or a safelaner that does not expect to face any opponents anytime soon can and should of course maximize efficiency by leveling up Fury Swipes and Overpower first.
Item build
As previously mentioned, the new ultimate opens up new avenues for Ursa. Fury Swipes are also no longer a Unique Attack Modifier (since 6.81), allowing Ursa to build multiple items that still seem somewhat odd but make a lot of sense.
While Ursa could benefit from Tread Switching, he does not benefit as much from Attack Speed granting items like other carries, making Power Treads less efficient. Thus 
Phase Boots are the go-to Boots upgrade for Ursa. They provide him with the mobility to not get kited and chase supports even through creepwaves.
The next item is always dependant on the state of the game. Generally, acquiring a Morbid Mask into a 
Mask of Madness is the trend these days. It is an efficient item to farm with that increases the movements speed and allows you to deal much more damage for pick-offs as well and enables Ursa to take down Roshan early on.
Mobility is definitely the biggest issue Ursa needs to address early on, thus 
Blink Dagger and or 
Shadow Blade are must have items for the midgame. Buying both is generally too greedy though, but there are situations where it can be justified.
From here on out, everything is really situational. Generally you want to purchase items that either ensure a kill upon initiation or something that makes you more sustainable. 
Diffusal Blade and 
Abyssal Blade make it very easy to secure kills, especially against 
Ghost Scepters. Even a 
Scythe of Vyse is appropriate as it also addresses Ursa’s inherent need for mana.
If you want to be more sustainable, 
Black King Bar is the most obvious choice, to not get locked down. However, Aghanim's Scepter is definitely a strong pickup as described above that adds a lot of good stats and doesn’t lose value over time. Having both certainly will make you close to invincible.
How to counter Ursa
While Ursa may have changed as a hero bit by bit, the way to counter him has not changed all too much. Locking him down or kiting him around is the way to deal with him. Strong, BKB piercing slows (
Venomancer’s Gale for example) or disables (Abyssal Blade, 
Beastmaster’s Primal Roar) are good, just not as good as they were before. His new Agh’s allows him to even sustain through those disables and slows, which is why it’s important to address Ursa early on to gain an item advantage.
Fighting Ursa when behind is an uphill battle and your supports will be snacks for him. Warding him early on, blocking camps or ganking him is vital in making sure your team stays ahead. Not allowing him to kill Roshan as he pleases is a must to not let him get out of control. If killing him once seems like a rough task, killing him twice will be nigh impossible.
Closing thoughts
It is good if the meta allows heroes such as Ursa to be viable. Ursa is a hero whose concept is easy to understand and the basics are easy to pick up. Dota has always had a steep learning curve and for players that are intrigued by the competitive scene and get into the game, it can be disheartening to not be able to play the same heroes as your idols do. Seeing Ursa succeed in pro games gives you a sense of accomplishment when you succeed with the hero yourself and it also makes it easier to improve your game when you see how the likes of Arteezy or
Liquid.MATUMBAMAN play him.
FIRST! THIS ONE IS FOR YOU TRUE BEEG!!!
I really dislike how you didn't go deeper into mask of madness.
That is still so strange to me, considering damage reduction/amplification stacks additively, instead of multiplicatively.
Ursas ignored damage during ult goes from 80% to 50% with mask of madness on, it also costs more mana than you would need if you got a regular morbid mask/vlads.
Mask of madness is a pretty shit item in pub as well as pro games. I was excited about this article because I was an ursa spammer once, but this article man... It's sooo bad
Because you can kill fast if the overpower CD and move speed advantage
ursa is so fucking op that its disrespectful for me to pick him.noob hero with a lot of kills and if u get in a fucked up situation theres ur ult.
nothing can stop him heroes like venomancer or oracle or sd or so on just slow him down to not kill his team or just run away
anyone picking ursa in +5k mmr is like sayin hey guys im noob as fuck so i pick ursa :/
this hero used to be op from Dota and its opier even now
your dotabuff profile is an insult to the community bruh
lol ursa picker spotted have fun bruh
The thing that bugs me about Ursa is that you can be brainless for the most of your game and still do well. You could walk into most fights, and still come out on top, or, at the very least, with your team intact and with the most gain. Playing against Ursa, on the other hand, requires a lot more effort. Honestly wish they would rework this hero a touch more to make him more interesting and require a bit more skill to play.
veno's gale doesn't go through bkb, only the passive and the ulti.
in old days you don't pick str carry hero because you can get "kited".
but we all know most people are dumb and no way can execute perfect kiting in the game, and when comps player picking that hero, and they lost their shit.
more than this “Guys, we need to do something about their Ursa, he’s farming” , i hear "Guys, ursa might be roshing " :P
I am honestly pretty suprised to hear that MoM is done in pubs nowadays...
It was mostly done by pros to counter Enchantress even further as it gives attack speed and movespeed, therefore making attacking her and chasing her even easier... Also while yes you can evaporate her HP at almost any point in the game with just W, its still not enough as she is incredibly fast early and her passive slows you down so much.
Is upcoming election is something else eh...
is enrage dispellable with diff? i didnt know that
^ Used to be.
Ursa has been exactly the same stupid as ever, its just now that he is picked more often in pro games. Its more a shift in state of mind, not 'meta' or hero power.
Why is this arcticle seems like produced half ass? We need more detail thats why we choose dotabuff/blog. Come on now.
Me - I think he's referring to every single one of your games being normal skill making your opinion mean nothing. Could be wrong tho
This hero might need to be reworked a little bit,a slight nerf would be justified,since a retard can just go into a fight,right click the supports,and pop ult or bkb if he's going to get stunned,and he do there's his entire team backing him up,lol even PA requires more positioning,farming,etc skills than him
I SIMPLY CALL URSA KING OF PUBLIC MATCHES EVERY ONE CAN MAKE A RAMPAGE WITH THAT HERO
чё пишут то ?
ursa's overpower is literally OP
I only clicked on this article because of the name. =p
And hi, I'm the worst Dota player in existence and only do well with Ursa versus easy bots. :/
"he can push quickly" no he cant. Actually he can barely push at all compared to actual pushers.
"In addition, you can now itemize in a more damage efficient way, as you can solely focus on increasing your agility, rather than your HP gain. " Are you retarded. Mask of madness, aghanims, blink, basher OR RARELY difusal, where u see agi items so much in 2k somewhere?
Strong bkb piercing slow; You forgot sd. Everyone has forgot sd.
"ME" i think it clearly says that ursa is not as much picked in lower than 2k bracket
@2DG MoM doesn't reduce damage taken to 50% from 80% fyi... it amplifies all damage taken after reductions.
So if you're taking 1000 damage -- 200 under ult -- it becomes 260 ; not 500.
You have no clue about what you're talking about. I dislike you elaborating shit & spreading ignorance while saying you disllike how he doesn't elaborate on MoM.
Never saw a ursa with a Mask of Madness, i always see vlads and build vlads
@YotKa
I think you should first look at things before you try to one up other commenters, as I tested (http://puu.sh/nWmnN.jpg) that Ursa ultimate reduces QoP ultimate damage by 80% when normally activated but only by 50% when you have turned on MoM.
counter ursa is easy if u know how to play , u can counter every heros
what is unbalanced is alchemist with bonus gold taking bounty runes
Anyone who said ursa is an OP hero obviously hasn't played him enough. He gets kited so easily with just a force stuff and any disables make him literally useless in the early to mid game. Those who cry ursa is an OP hero, go play him more and you know how easy he gets kited. Kited=no damage=useless. FYI, I've played close to 700 ursa games.
URSA FTW!
No oracle in counter lol
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For the 2k games..i have no problem facing alchemist because it is full with noobs trying to follow meta build(rad+manta) without knowing that it is meant to replicate naga farming style..all they were doing is taking rune>farm rad>farm manta>farm BoT>running around map and only popping manta when pushing down tower...thus reducing full potential of this build
In higher rank however, the bounty rune bonus can be a bit problem because they know what they were doing...and the only solution to this that i can think of by warding the enemy jungle and gank him because that is the most common place/ safest place gor him to farm after lvl 6
Ursa doesn't need to be nerfed. He's not op. they reworked his ult because he needed more. They gave him ags because he needed more. and he is still just a single target hero. If you complaining about ursa take it up with your supports or support better yourself.
I think he's a much better hero to play now than he was, stands a better chance against other hard carries like troll, sven etc.
Use slows to counter him, i'm an ursa picker
I don't care what RTZ is building, Mom on ursa is really bad: costs you mana (the real problem for ursa) and gives you useless attack speed since your gonna burst anyone down in 3 secs anyway. Vlad is definitely better: gives you enough mana regen and helps the whole team with armor, damage and lifesteal/regen.
im lose game while using MOM, better with VLAD. of course RTZ using MOM, see his support 1st.
The core concept of Ursa is broken.
Ursa is the result of atrocious design philosophy.
Ursa got nerfed in 6.87 😫
MoM is pretty viable on Ursa if you've got good defensive supports that also provide you with decent mana regeneration, because the main problem for Ursa is its abysmal mana pool and it being kited. The supports can help with the mana regeneration and MoM can help with increasing AS and MS if Overpower is in cooldown. And those who say Ursa is an OP hero, pretty much don't know the concept of kiting or shutting a hero down in the early game. I picked a solo offlane Weaver against an Ursa solo safelane, and I pretty much destroyed Ursa. There was also a jungling Lifestealer in the enemy team which also thrives in the early killing potential which was destroyed by me and a roaming teammate of mine. So it is pretty easy both to play as and against an Ursa, if you know its strength and weaknesses.