Ignoring pseudo-chance thing cause I hate it, 80% damage block of 20 loses to 7 armor at damages larger than 54. Glhf
I don't see the point of it. Poor Man's Shield will give you 20 block 100% of the time. Vanguard is only 40 block 80% of the time and due to PRNG it is only 66% block, so it's barely better than a PMS! Farm another 1k and buy a Reaver, buy Sange, buy anything but Vanguard. It gives you not a lot and builds into nothing.
If you could disassemble it, Vanguard would not be a bad item.
Another thing to note, is that Mek is providing everyone with 250 HP in the AOE, while Vanguard does the same for a single person. Lategame 7 armour > Block chance + Mek should be used after 3-4 Heroes in your team have already lost 250 HP and one should not wait with it for a "surprise" save for a teammate - activating it will grant bonus armour that is really neat in teamfights, and getting it ASAP without the waste of 250 HP boost potential is necessary.
then y does every BB player(almost) build vanguard and not meka especially blunt :D... mana managment maybe an issue though...
Vanguards effectiveness is based on the time in which you get the vanguard.
When i play bristle, i tend to try and complete my vanguard even before i complete boots, especially when offlaning. A vanguard acquired at the 9 minute mark is incredibly powerful.
Mek is the better item of course both in terms of team fight and in terms of mid-late game survival, however a BB with a very early mek will not be as threatening as a BB with a very early vanguard because the BB will not have the mana to sustain the mek properly while spamming quills, and the BB wont have the health pool to maximize the effectiveness of the +armor on mek. Vanguard + basi + treads at 12 minutes is much stronger than a naked mek and brown boots.
People who hate on vanguard often do so because it is a popular opinion rather being accurate. Bristleback is similar to timbersaw in that he is incredibly strong between levels 6-11, and picking up an early vangaurd allows him to maximize his effectiveness during this critical period, avoid deaths while diving, and ensure a proper snowball that will win him the game. Bristleback is a bully, and vanguard allows him to play that role perfectly.
on a side note, when i choose to go meka as offlane bristle, i often get arcane boots to start, turn the arcanes into a soulbooster after the mek, and then finish treads. It is a very odd build for sure, but it personally works for me. Allows me to spam quills endlessly, making flash farming jungle/ancients easier with the vanguard, and allows me to permanently keep 4-5 stacks of ulti up without worrying about mana for mek.
Mek is better as long as you can benefit from the 250 heal. If someone else has mek and already used it, your mek is not that good.
1 point of armor increase your effective hit points by 6% against physical damage. So 1k hp and 5 armor is as good as 1.3k hp with 0 armor against physical damage.
^
armor increases of EHP are based on the amount of health you have to begin with.
and the %block on bristle can be more than 250 hp worth.
Vanguard is good on heroes that have a way to use it effectively AND get it early.
Heroes like Axe make great use of the tankiness and hp regen and Axe is also able to get a Vanguard before 5 min since he's all about getting early kills and towers.
Vanguard is a completely shit item but 5 min into the game it's HUGE, it will make you pretty much unstoppable when ganking from both the regen and damage block.
It's a lot like battlefury. If you don't get it before the 20 min mark, it's usually a better idea to move on to another core item as Battlefury's farm helping characteristics won't have time to pay off.
tl;dr
Very situational, only good early game and certain heroes.
^axe doesn't get vanguard in 5 minutes unless his opponents are retarded. 8-9 minutes is solid.
@Concede
Yeah I think I exagerated on that one. It's because I recently went as Axe against Wraith and Slark (wut is laning?). Vanguard by 4 min, T1 by 6, 5 kills by 10 min.
Spin to win.
@DK.peniel:
Bcause when i play bb, i dont have the manapool to support the mek. Its as i said, as long u do have the mana its fine to get it, since i play really agressive as bb i use alot of mana.
Side note: I hate blade mail on BB. He needs strait regen, not extra int and damage. Much cheaper sources of armor out there as well.
The IQ is high in this one
http://dotabuff.com/heroes/slark WOW PEOPLE NEVER GO SHADOW BLADE ON SLARK
http://dotabuff.com/heroes/gyrocopter WOW PEOPLE NEVER GO BFLY / MKB ON GYRO
IT'S NOT ON THE MOST USED DOTABUFF ITEMS
How does the block chance on bristle work with his dmg reduction from sides/rear? That I think is why shields are so good on him, once that dmg is already reduced by 40% blocking another 20/40 dmg might be half or more of the remaining dmg. It's a unique case for bristle.
I don't really like vanguard on anyone else, sometimes it's good on axe.
Vanguard is terrible on viper because he is ranged.
vanguard is only good for first 20 mintues. before Deadalus & MKB are picked up. Mek provides team with 200+ HP during team fights with heal along with regen & armor.
It's like force staff vs. blink dagger. FS can be used to help all allies and can be used during attacks, which blink can't.
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in competitive scenes... semi carries such as viper and brisstleback choose mekansm over vanguard... so is mekansm better than vanguard in most aspects?
vanguard cost =2225
+ 250 Health
+ 6 HP Regeneration
BLOCK CHANCE: 80%
mekansm cost=2300
Active: Restore - Heals 250 HP and gives +2 armor in an area.
Passive: Mekansm Aura - Bonus HP Regen in an area.
Multiple instances of Mekansm Aura do not stack.
+ 5 All Attributes
+ 5 Armor
BONUS HP REGEN: 4
obviously in terms of mid game oriented team fights i think meka > vanguard... that +250 health has the same life as of a vitality booster
but in terms of tankiness? block must be better than the +7 armor of meka?
situations?
i see 1 position vipers on competitive scenes ,of course build meka as a core... next is aghanims... then dps items after that...