Dota 2 Heroes
When we start playing a competitive game, like a hero shooter or a MOBA, we always ask and look for the best heroes to begin with. Not always having the best hero will make us the best player, though.
What is the best hero? It is a subjective question and the answer depends on each player, but there seems to be an answer to the question of which are the most important Dota 2 heroes.
The list we compiled for you includes the most impressive heroes of the competitive scene.
Anti-Mage
Anti Mage
When the game was launched back in 2010, Anti-Mage was rated as the king of carry role. He was amongst the most popular picks of TI 1. Back in those days, BurNing, a retired professional player, was considered to be the best Anti-Mage player. To date, no heroes can stand against the might of six slotted Anti-Mage.
Miracle has made a lot of exceptional plays on the hero. Anti-Mage is one of the few champions that can easily push a lane and be clinical in team fights. Even new players can get a lot of wins if the find their way with the Anti-Mage. Anti-Mage is a decent pick in the competitive games as well.
Earth Spirit
Earth Spirit
The hero entered in the competitive season at the end of 2015. Since then, Earth Spirit has been one of the best initiators in the game. He can start a fight from a long range owing to his exceptional abilities. This makes it hard for his opponents to react. Jerax has made countless game-changing plays on the hero in the past year. He is considered the best Earth Spirit player in the world.
The most popular hero of the TI6 was Earth Spirit. He was either banned or picked in almost every game of the competition. He is arguably one of the most difficult heroes in the game to learn. However, a good player can cause havoc for the opponents.
Even though the hero is picked on the position 4, an Earth Spirit pick can change the drafting strategy for the opponents. He is in the list of top 10 supports in the pro scene. If you want to be a pro player then learning a complex and ruthless hero like Earth Spirit will surely help you.
Rubick
Rubick
One of the most popular picks of the game is Rubick. He has been a phenomenal pick in pro games since its release years ago. The hero is capable of making great rotations and can completely change the game by stealing only 1 spell from his opponents. Even though the hero is just a support, his presence stirs fear in the heart of his opponents.
Jerax, Kuroky, Yapzor, and Puppey are some of the most exceptional players of Rubick. Rubick is among the list of top 10 Dota 2 heroes picked at The International. The hero also features in the most iconic plays of the Dota 2 history. He has been the winning pick for a lot of teams in pro scene. There are tons of eye-catching plays of Rubick on YouTube.
Invoker
Invoker
Shadow Fiend was the favorite hero of the game. Now the hero in the spotlight is Invoker. Arguably the hardest hero of the game and the hero with the most number of spells. No hero can match the power of Invoker in any MOBA title of eSports.
Sumiya’s invoker is simply amazing as he holds over 3000 games on the hero. Miracle has also shown impressive skills on the hero. The hero has many fans in the community and once Invoker was in the top 5 most popular heroes of the game. Recently with the change of meta, the popularity of the hero has declined but still, no one can match a superior Invoker player in the mid lane.
There are various Dota 2 sites which offer live build guide as well as suggestions to improve the gameplay on Invoker.
Shadow Fiend
Shadow Fiend
Shadow Fiend is one of the legendary picks of the mid lane. The hero has been exceptionally popular not only in Dota 2 but in the WoW days as well. Over the years countless 1v1 competitions have been hosted for the best Shadow Fiend player of the world. Yaphets was the king of the mid lane in the DotA days. Now Arteezy, Mushi, Miracle, and Ferrari_430 are making exceptional plays on the hero.
A lot of Dota 2 heroes can be played in this position but no one can match the popularity of the Shadow Fiend. He was one of the most effective heroes in the mid lane for the first three years of the game. Even now, Shadow Fiend can make a significant impact in the game.
Chen
Chen
From 2010 to 2014, one of the most popular support heroes in the game was Chen. He is a phenomenal hero from level one. With great jungling skills, he can easily get early towers for your team. Akke, Chuan and Puppey have made some eye-catching performances on the hero.
He is also in the list of most difficult heroes to learn. But in the right hands, he held the highest win rate. He is in the list of top 15 most banned Dota 2 heroes while in the TI3 he was in the top 3. He was the core of the infamous fountain hook that was clinical in Na’Vi’s TI victory. The Meta doesn’t favor jungling so Chen is not very popular in the game. However, even the slightest change to the jungle could bring back Chen.
Nature’s Prophet
The king of the ‘Rat Doto’ is Nature’s Prophet. He is the best pusher in the game next to Lycan. He is an exceptional utility hero with the ability teleport anywhere on the map. He is lethal from level 2 and can snowball easily in the game. Many heroes have such a hard time dealing with Prophet.
Admiralbulldog is the king on this hero. He has been playing this hero since 2011. To date, he plays this hero regularly on his Twitch stream. You can also see Mind Control plays. Nature Prophet was a crucial hero to Team Liquid’s victory in TI7. He can be played as a support as well as a carry. He is the 9th most popular hero of the game. His global presence makes him possibly the most versatile hero of the game.
Dark Seer
Dark Seer was the most popular hero in the list back in the early days. The hero can single-handedly win the offlane against multiple heroes. He is in the list of the most legendary plays of Dota 2. He is not exceptional in the lane but can change the landscape of the fight with a couple of spells.
Since the game is very much split up these days, he is not a good pick of this meta. He is in top 5 list of most picked heroes. These days we really don’t see him much in the game, but his talent tree is surely impressive to make him an unstoppable force with a couple of changes in the game. Light of Heaven was a phenomenal player on the hero back in the day. Now we hardly see the hero in solo games.
Batrider
The most controversial hero of the game is Batrider. He has received tons of nerfs in the past. Still, he prevails in the competitive scene. His popularity is quite high in the party games since he can control team fights. He is great in the lane against almost all the heroes of Dota 2.
He is amongst the most popular picked and banned hero in the pro scene for five straight years. This shows how much the hero is effective. The teams like TNC Predator play Batrider every now and then. Teams still ban him every now and then which just shows how much the hero is prioritized. His mobility cannot be matched by a lot of heroes in Dota 2.
Io
The most dominant hero of competitive history is Io. The hero was key to victory for Alliance in the International 3. He can teleport anywhere on the map with an ally so there’s always a possibility for ganking. With him on the team, there are endless strategies of victory.
GH, Zai, LiL, and EGM have made historical plays on the hero at the International. It is quite hard to counter him so teams usually ban the hero. In the last TI Io was banned multiple times by the teams playing against Liquid. The hero is hard to play but with time it can win you lost games.
So, are you surprised to see Io in this list? No one plays the hero in solo games and even in the party games, you don’t see him often. But in the competitive, Io is a nightmare for the opponents.
This brings an end to our list. We hope you liked it, we didn’t include heroes like Riki or Phantom Lancer which are absolute cancer in the game.
