Dota 2: What You Didn’t Know About Grimstroke’s Soulbind (Part 1)

Valve continues to release new heroes, this time Grimstroke, the hero introduced in the TI8 tournament. Grimstroke’s most interesting feature lies in his ultimate Soulbind: tying two heroes together and causing both sides to be affected by each other. Soulbind has a lot of weird interactions and today, we’re going to look at Terrorblade’s Sunder, Vengeful Spirit’s Nether Swap, Huskar’s Life Break, Rubick’s Spell Steal, and Spirit Breaker’s Nether Strike when it comes to Soulbind-affected heroes.

In this article, we will call hero A and hero B two heroes who are stuck by Soulbind.

1. When Terrorblade Sunder one of the two heroes is hit by Soulbind, Sunder also affects the other hero that is hit by Soulbind

Sunder works in sequence and in laps. Sundered target’s health goes to Terrorblade, while Terrorblade’s health goes to the second hero affected Soulbind. If the low health Terroblade Sunder hero is affected by Soulbind, that low health will be transferred to the remaining Soulbind affected hero. Watch the clip above to understand more

2. Terrorblade can swap health for heroes affected by Soulbind with Sunder, but must Sunder hit a high health target.

In case the TB is full of health and one of the two heroes hit by Soulbind is also full of health. Terrorblade can trade health with the affected hero. This only works if Sunder is used on a high health hero. But if Sunder is used on a low health hero, TB will get low health! So, whatever it is, never aim for a low health hero.

3. Using Nether Swap on either hero will cause the other hero to be Swap

Nether Swap works the same way as Sunder – in order. The three affected heroes, Vengeful Spirit, and the two Soulbind-hit heroes swap places. Finally, the Hero unselected by the Nether Swap will swap places with the Vengeful Spirit’s original location. So if you want to swap hero A, make sure you aim for hero B!

4. If Swap breaks Soulbind’s bond, Soulbind-affected hero will link to a nearby allied hero since the skill’s effect still persists

There are certain skills like Swap and X Marks the Spot that can break the link. In this case, the second hero is completely free from the effects. But the main hero, the hero that Grimstroke cast Soulbind on, will be affected by the slow. Also, if another hero approaches the target while the spell is active, that hero will be Soulbind bound.

5. Huskar’s Life Break affects both heroes, moving to the first hero affected and then to the second target affected by Soulbind.

Huskar’s Ultimate affects both. The first Huskar flies into the hero targeted by Life Break, and immediately moves to the second hero. This is a good way to chase heroes like Sniper standing in the background. Both lose HP, but Huskar does not. The second Life Breaker has less effect since magic resist is activated.

6. Rubick’s Spell Steal Works Like No Soulbind

Rubick’s spell steal only affects the hero he clicks on. If Rubick tries to steal hero A’s move, then Rubick will only receive hero A’s ability. Hero B is unaffected.

7. Nether Strike will affect untargeted heroes

Nether Strike disobeyed Spirit Breaker. If SB targets hero A, hero B will be hit by Nether Strike.

These are just a few interesting interactions about Grimstroke’s ultimate. We will continue to learn more about Soulbind in the near future.