With 119 heroes immediately available to play after installing the game, Dota 2’s hero pool can be intimidating to a lot of players. We’ve broken down the complexity of the best Dota heroes to help you decide which Dota hero you should play based on your skill level.
Learning heroes
The best way for anyone to really learn how to play Dota 2, is just to play Dota 2. I know that seems like a simplistic answer, and you’d be right. In its own unique complexity, there’s a right way and a wrong way to play Dota, but there is no better place to start than by just playing it.
For brand new players, my advice would be to jump into unranked single-draft games, which allows you and your opponents to choose from three different heroes each. Playing this mode will expose you to a wide variety of heroes and force you to play multiple heroes. This will give you a little taste of the plethora of choice that will open up to you in all-pick (a game mode where you select your own heroes).
Without making things too complicated to start, it’s also worth thinking about how well suited each hero is too specific roles. You don’t need to worry about that just yet, but we have got an article that explains the Dota 2 roles to help with that when you’re ready.
Once you feel confident enough to step into ranked or all-pick play, here’s a breakdown of some of the heroes, their key strengths and which skill level they are best suited to:
The best Dota 2 heroes for beginners
Sniper
Role: Mid
Skill level: 2/5 ⭐⭐
Win-rate: 51.04%
Sniper is the ultimate mid for beginners to start with for a few reasons. His tool kit includes a super long attack range, a 100% slow passive ability and has an extremely fast attack animation. All these advantages are balanced out by his low starting attack power, often being lower than his opponents, and his innate squishiness.
Playing Sniper will teach new players how to position effectively in team fights and how to play Mid with a disadvantage – this might sound counterintuitive but it will help you in the long run.
Crystal Maiden
Role: Support
Skill level: 1/5 ⭐
Win-rate: 51.87%
When you say “Dota Support”, many players’ heads will auto-complete to Crystal Maiden (CM) and there’s a reason why. Her tool kit includes a strong stun, mana replenishing passive and a high DPS ultimate that will destroy team fights.
Similar to Sniper, playing CM will teach new players positioning with team fights and the importance of the now FREE wards.
Chaos Knight
Role: Carry
Skill level: 1/5 ⭐
Win-rate: 49.01%
Chaos Knight is one of the most famous Carries within Dota 2. Along with Sven, he’s probably one of the first carries any new player will play. His strength lies in his ability to come online and fight effectively earlier than his contemporaries.
Playing Chaos Knight, with his innate tankiness, will help new players survive through scenarios where other carries would die. Longer game time is obviously better for those new to Dota 2, and in this instance it will provide a better understanding of the laneing phase as well as team fights.
Heroes for intermediate Dota 2 players
Arc Warden
Role: Mid
Skill level: 3/5 ⭐⭐⭐
Win-rate: 45.85%
Arc Warden doubles the complexity of Dota 2, mainly because his tool kit enables players to control two units with his ultimate ability. This hero has a weak laneing stage and is very susceptible to ganks from the enemy team.
In order to play Arc Warden well, you require a greater understanding of timings and superior map awareness. Playing this hero from the get-go is not advised as it can quickly become frustrating and you’re better served starting with someone like Sniper (listed above).
Dazzle
Role: Support
Skill level: 2/5 ⭐⭐
Win-rate: 51.00%
Dazzle is an all-round good support. Whilst he does not excel at a specific aspect of support, his toolkit provides a strong slow, healing and a save mechanic. Dazzle fits well into an anti-armour strategy and due to a long cast point, his W spell can take a few games to get used to.
Lifestealer
Role: Carry
Skill level: 2/5 ⭐⭐
Win-rate: 46.66%
Recent buffs/nerfs to this hero has made his position in the meta unstable, but the increase to his attack speed has made Lifestealer (LS) an indomitable hero at this skill level. LS is a hero that wants to fight and continue fighting and then fight some more, as long as he has something to attack, Lifestealer is a threat to his enemy team.
Heroes for advanced Dota 2 players
Meepo
Role: Mid
Skill level: 5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Win-rate: 58.69%
On your way up the Dota 2 ladder, you will encounter a Meepo spammer or two. Meepo’s strength lies in his ultimate which allows the player to permanently control up to five copies of the hero, including the Aghanim’s upgrade. Because of this, you can easily gain an advantage over your enemies by split pushing, farming the jungle and ganking other lanes, all at the same time.
Chen
Role: Support
Skill level: 4/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Win-rate: 49.31%
Chen is an extremely storied hero in Dota 2. Regularly coming in and out of fashion in the professional meta, Chen’s strength is drawn from the strength of jungle creeps. Ultimately, if the jungle creeps get buffed, so does Chen. Therefore, understanding the advanced niche of jungle camps is essentially to play him effectively.
Faceless Void
Role: Carry
Skill level: 4/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Win-rate: 49.11%
Faceless Void can seem like a simple hero on the surface, but look a little deeper and the complexity of this hero is revealed. Faceless Void’s ultimate is one of the strongest crowd controlling abilities in game, this is because it freezes any hero in the area of effect (AoE) for an extended period, including your team mates.
When using this ability, you have to quickly identify the heroes active in the team fight, track the spells that have been used, capture the enemy heroes in the AoE and avoiding trapping your teammates.
Which Dota 2 hero should I play?
Our suggestions are for generic Dota 2 play but Dota is a reactive game. Knowing these heroes will take you to a level where you will become more comfortable experimenting with other heroes and different playstyles.
Depending on your playstyle, the Dota 2 hero you should play will vary wildly. With almost 120 heroes for you to experiment with, you’re likely to find a hero that suits your style or perhaps you find an item that helps you decide which hero to pick.
