Dota has 124 heroes and counting; which one do you play as? We have some handy and funny tips.
How many heroes does Dota 2 have? Really, Too Many. With 124+ on the roster, they are split between Strength, Agility, Intelligence, and Universal attributes (Universal heroes are versatile and like any stats).
We will help you discover someone who may become your favorite. This is useful if you're new to the game, but also if you're somewhat knowledgeable, it won't hurt to try a new one!
Reddit user StackBabber59 made a handy flow chart just to see where you will end up based on simple questions.
Which Hero Should You Play in Dota 2?
Click to zoom in, then you may use the mouse wheel to explore
All right, the chart is huge. Let me screenshot some of the good ones:
These are midlaners! So you're definitely making an impact in the game. You'll be rotating around and getting kills. Storm Spirit is a ton of fun, I highly recommend trying that hero out. Outworld Destroyer is generally hated to play against, especially in the mid lane. You can constantly imprison the opponent and take their mana. Well, you might enjoy inflicting that.
Do you want to be a pirate? No...? Well, you're wrong. Kunkka is fairly challenging to play. If you haven't used him before, I recommend getting some practice in Demo Hero. You need to land a specific combo pretty much everytime you play. You X someone, which will eventually draw them back to that spot (you can press it again to trigger it), but you want to set up the Ghost Ship and Torrent so that they get by both abilities.
Same goes for Pangolier, really. He's a pretty high-skill ceiling hero with a lot of abilities that require aiming and positioning. You need to use the terrain really well with him, too.
Sometimes, you just want to be a Chunky Boi. Dota 2's Pudge is the most popular hero in the game, ever at the top of the leaderboard of most picked Heroes. I wouldn't know personally, but I imagine the dopamine rush of hooking someone must be amazing.
Alternatively, you can go for Tusk, who is a good deal different; you snowball onto opponents and then send them flying with a single punch.
As a position 3 ("offlane") you job is to be the "tank/initiatior" for the team. They vary a lot, but they generally have high durability and offer damage in return. Legion Commander is one of the more fun ones (the "fight anything that moves") because you get to Duel people. Hold them in place, force to attack you, and get stronger if you win.
However, you can opt for Night Stalker. He is fairly tanky, but his big draw is that he gets stronger at night. If you want to feast on your opponent's fear, go for it. He's pretty unique as far as heroes go.
Ok, but which Dota Hero should I really play?
For less meme answers, you just have to try someone at first who looks appealing. You can go by positions, but also remember that Dota Heroes are fairly flexible and can fit multiple roles.
Here's some Heroes that are worth trying:
Position 5 Support
- Oracle: His new innate allows you to predict where Runes will spawn! You have some unique functionality there. Oracle is basically one of the only "true" healers in Dota. He is a bit complex, but he used to be even more. You can completely turn off Magic damage against an ally then heal them up with your E. You can make your allies unkillable if you play it right. Make sure to get Aether Lens and later you can try going for Holy Locket to really empower the heals. Your healing facet pumps up the heals even more.
- Grimstroke: Really fun support, you can combo enemies with your skills to stun, slow, and silence them. Grimstroke throws out debuffs like crazy. You do need a well-coordinated team. Sometimes it clicks and sometimes it doesn't. Voiced by Steve Blum, which is a big plus.
Position 4 Support
- Hoodwink: My personal favorite, you're a sneaky squirrel who can take out enemies with big damage. Stick to trees and always keep a distance when teamfighting. Don't stick your nose out. Really great voice actress, too.
- Spirit Breaker: See someone on the map? Start charging them. You can charge at them and stun them from anywhere.
Position 3 Offlane
- Tidehunter: He has a facet where he grows bigger throughout the game. Do you really need anything else?
- Centaur Warrunner: You can gain increased movement speed the more strength you have. You don't even need Boots! Also, your HP grows throughout the game automatically. Hello 6,000 HP Centaur at minute 50.
Position 2 Midlane
- Sand King: Sand King just got nerfed a good amount, but he may still dominate. The 7.36 patch has been great for him. Easily kill creeps with his poison, and move around in your Sandstorm. Make sure to get Aghanim's Scepter.
- Slardar: Less conventional mid character, but you have strong bashes, plus a big buff as long as you remain in the river water.
Position 1 Safelane
- Templar Assassin: The new hotness. Her laning is great now, as she has high damage resistance with her Refraction and easy farming with the Psi Blades. You can get really high damage very fast on her. Just remember to place traps and learn to attack from Meld, her invisible stance.
- Chaos Knight: Illusions galore! This is a good meta pick now. Just command all your illusions to attack vulnerable targets, and you'll snowball to an easy win.
Don't play: Slark, Morphling, Muerta, Monkey King - until they get more buffs, these heroes have a pretty low win rate and require really high execution to shine.
Have a better idea of whom to play in Dota 2? Good, now get a great SteelSeries gaming headset to improve communications with your stack. They'll thank you for it!