Alchemist
Alchemist is a melee strength semi-carry, with powerful farming and skirmish abilities, his ultimate gives him incredible survivability and offensive advantages. His first skill
Acid Spray is an AoE that deals Damage over Time to any units standing in it, the AoE is quite large and the damage is significant, more importantly it also reduces the armor of units. This skill is great for harassing early game, as well as doing passive damage in a team fight, or used simply as a farming tool. His second skill
Unstable Concoction is a single target stun, it works in a unique way as the skill is initially channeled then released, the damage done as well as stun duration is based on how long the channel was, Alchemist can still move and perform actions while channeling, however if the channel duration lasts too long the concoction will backfire and stun / damage Alchemist instead. His third skill
Goblin’s Greed is a passive, that causes Alchemist to gain bonus gold for every consecutive unit killed, this skill makes him an amazingly good farmer, especially when paired with items like Radiance or
Acid Spray.
Chemical Rage is Alchemists powerful ultimate, and gives him his amazing carry / survivability potential, it transforms him giving him various buffs, increasing his Attack Speed, Movement Speed, Hit Points and Regeneration, the cooldown on the skill is really low so it should be used liberally, the skill works extremely well with
Unstable Concoction due to the bonus movement speed allowing Alchemist to catch up to any non-blink hero.
Alchemist Playdota Guide
Anti-Mage
Anti Mage is one of the best melee carries in the game, his abilities focus on exploiting enemy mana pools, and has a fair amount of survivability with
Blink and
Spell Shield. His first skill
Mana Break is a passive which drains mana of the target that he is currently attacking and dealing a % of the mana drained as damage back to the target, this is one of his most powerful abilities, he is able to completely nullify a team’s ability to cast by draining their mana. His second skill
Blink is similar to Queen of Pain’s
Blink providing him with mobility and an easy escape tool.
Spell Shield is another passive which reduces the damage that Anti Mage takes from spell damage, this provides him with some early survivability, and scales into the late game stacking with items like
Hood of Defiance. His ultimate
Mana Void produces an AoE around the target that does damage based on the amount of mana that the target is currently missing, best used on heroes that have large mana pools such as Storm Spirit, it also has a mini stun component.
Anti-Mage PlayDota Guide
Bounty Hunter
Bounty Hunter is a melee carry / ganker, focused on stealth and high burst damage on a single target. His first skill
Shuriken Toss is a single target nuke that deals high damage and has a mini stun on impact, making it good for finishing off enemies or interrupting channels.
Jinada is his second skill that gives him a passive critical attack and passive chance to maim a target reducing their movement speed.
Shadow Walk allows Bounty Hunter to go invisible for a short duration, and phase through units, the first attack following the wind walk will deal additional damage, this synergises well with
Jinada as the critical hit can occur on a
Shadow Walk bonus damage attack. His ultimate
Track puts a debuff on the target, revealing them and granting bonus damage to allies under the Track buff on its death, this skill also provides bonus movement speed to nearby allies and also reduces the targets armor. This skill should be used every time a hero is about to die, as the cooldown is extremely short, the bonus gold is instrumental in increasing the Bounty Hunters gold per minute, and the cast range is large.
Gondar PlayDota Guide
Broodmother
Broodmother is a melee Carry / Pusher with powerful skills that make her an extremely hard hero to gank, and allowing her to maintain lane control, push down towers, and deal a large amount of damage. Her first skill
Spawn Spiderlings is a single target nuke, that spawns spiderlings if the target is killed within a few seconds of the cast, these spiderlings also spawn more spiders when they kill a unit, this propagation of units gives her the ability to push towers.
Spin Web lets Broodmother place webs on the map that buff her, her and her spiderlings gain invisibility, increased movement speed, and increased health regeneration within the webs, the webs also provide a small amount of vision.
Incapacitating Bite is a passive that gives Brood a chance on hit to slow her target as well as cause it to miss on attack, it also provides her with bonus damage.
Insatiable Hunger is her ultimate, it provides her with a large amount of bonus damage, as well as lifesteal, the lifesteal from this stacks with items such as
Vladimir’s Offering, this gives her some sustainability in a fight as well as bonus damage without requiring items.
Broodmother Guide
Dragon Knight
Dragon Knight is a melee carry, with the ability to transform into a dragon, he has high armor and HP regen giving him lane sustainability, with a passive that allows him to push towers. His first skill
Breathe Fire is a conal nuke that deals damage to all units in a large range, perfect skill for pushing a lane or farming.
Dragon tail is a melee stun, with a very long duration.
Dragon Blood is Dragon Knight’s only passive, it gives him additional health regen and armor, giving him some early lane survivability and makes him quite difficult to kill with physical attacks.
Elder Dragon Form is his signature ability which transforms him into a dragon with different abilities depending on the level of the ultimate, as well as a passive speed boost, and turns him into a ranged attacker.
Dragon Knight PlayDota Guide
Doom Bringer
Doombringer is a melee Semi-Carry with a very powerful ult, that has the ability to shut down heroes in any situation. His first skill
Devour lets him eat a creep giving him extra gold for the creep as well as gaining any ability that the creep had, this is useful when eating a neutral creep with a useful ability.
Scorched Earth is an AoE centered around Doom that increases his movement speed, gives him additional regeneration, as well as dealing damage to heroes that stand in it.
Lvl ? Death is his nuke that works in a unique way, it does bonus damage based on the current level of the enemy hero.
Doom is his ultimate and one of the best single target skills in the game, it puts a debuff on the target making them unable to cast or use items for a long duration, as well as dealing magic damage over time, perfect to use on heroes that are reliant on casting skills, such as Anti-Mage or Weaver.
Doombringer PlayDota Guide
Drow Ranger
Drow Ranger is a Ranged Carry that is fairly easy to play but powerful with very little items. Her first skill
Frost Arrows gives her ranged attacks an attack speed and movement speed slow component, this skill lets you maintain distance on your target as well as kiting away if an escape is needed.
Silence is an AoE target silence with a long duration.
Trueshot Aura is the passive that gives Drow her early damage, increasing her base damage, this helps her not be as item reliant as other carries early on.
Marksmanship is another passive which gives Drow agility increasing attack speed and damage.
Drow Ranger PlayDota Guide
Faceless Void
Faceless Void is arguably the best melee carry in the game, he has great utility as well as lots of passive survivability and an escape, he is heavily reliant on items though. His first skill
Time Walk is a leap, that slows targets at the arrival point, this skill is a great for initiating with
Chronosphere and as a useful escape.
Backtrack is a passive that gives Void the ability to dodge any damage, this is a good survivability passive because it can trigger off any skill.
Time Lock is another passive which gives Void a chance on hit to stun, dealing additional damage.
Chronosphere is Void’s ultimate and gives him amazing utility, an AoE that causes all units inside it to be stunned for the duration, because of the short duration of this skill, Void is best paired with attack speed / high damage items such as
Daedalus and
Butterfly
Faceless Void PlayDota Guide
Huskar
Huskar is a ranged Carry with the potential to deal damage very fast but can be difficult to use for beginner players because of the need to maintain a low enough health pool to gain the damage bonus from his passive.
Inner Vitality is Huskar’s first skill is a single target heal with unique properties, it heals faster when the target drops below an HP threshold.
Burning Spear is Hauskar’s main sustained damage ability, applying a stacking Damage over Time effect on the target while at the same time damaging huskar.
Berserker’s Blood is Huskar’s passive ability, it causes him to attack faster when he is at lower HP amounts, this synergizes well with all his damage abilities which lower his HP.
Life Break is his ultimate and causes the target to take half of their current HP in damage as well as lose half their movement speed, Huskar loses health when this ability is cast, this skill synergizes with all his abilities as it puts him at a lower health amount giving him increased attack speed right away, and putting his HP low enough to make
Inner Vitality useful within its duration.
Huskar PlayDota Guide
Juggernaut
Juggernaut is a melee carry, with good early, mid, and late game presence. He is very effective in the early game due to his first skill
Blade Fury, which is an AoE damage skill centered around Juggernaut, it does very good damage in the early game, and is especially useful when paired with a slow or stun partner. It’s also useful due to it providing magic immunity, during the duration of the skill, items such as Teleport Scrolls can be used during the skill duration.
Healing Ward summons a unit that provides an AoE heal to allied units, the ward can be moved, but can be easily killed with one hit.
Blade Dance provides Juggernaut with passive chance to Critical Attack, removing the need to get items such as
Daedalus, it also allows him to scale a bit in the mid-game with very little items.
OmniSlash is his ultimate and signature ability, it’s a targetable ability that causes Juggernaut to attack random units in the vicinity of the original target, dealing damage and making juggernaut invulnerable. This ultimate is very powerful, if a unit is alone they will take all the damage, items can also be used while the duration of the ultimate is going. This skill is best used when no creeps are around as the skill can target enemy and neutral creeps.
Juggernaut PlayDota Guide
Lifestealer
Lifestealer is a melee carry / ganker that is heavily designed around his ability to increase his and his allies lifesteal on targets. His first skill
Rage is a buff that increases his attack speed by a large percent but more importantly makes him immune to magic and removes majority of debuffs. This skill is excellent when paired with items that have a chance on hit to proc an effect, for example Cranium Basher, or Mjollinir.
Feast is a passive that gives N’aix lifesteal.
Open Wounds is a target slow that also allows allies to life steal off of a unit, this ability is great for catching up to enemies as well as maximizing the life steal gained from the attack speed on
Rage.
Infest is Lifestealers ultimate allowing him to hide inside of an allied unit becoming undetectable, when the player chooses to reveal themselves they deal magic damage to units around them and gaining health, this skill is perfect for gaining life in lane as well as surprising enemies by hiding in allied creeps, or following up the initiation of a hero like Slardar or Earthshaker.
Lifestealer PlayDota Guide
Morphling
Morphling is a unique ranged carry that is flexible in his builds and play styles.
Waveform is essentially a long range blink that damages enemies along the travel path, this is good for farming as well as chasing down heroes that are escaping to finish them off with
Adaptive Strike, it’s also an effective way to escape ganks.
Adaptive Strike is a single target nuke that has different effects depending on how much strength or agility Morphling has, if Morphling has more strength then Agility it will stun for longer duration and deal less damage, however if Morphling has more Agility then Strength it will deal more damage and stun for a shorter duration, managing his attributes with
Morph is essential in using this skill correctly.
Morph is an active skill which changes the Strength and Agility attributes from each other, this allows him to choose between tanky or outputting more DPS, this skill can be used to save Morphling from death by granting additional Hit Points, or give him faster attack speed.
Replicate is a powerful ultimate that allows Morphling to make a copy of any allied or enemy hero, that deals reduced damage, this ultimate is extremely powerful because the illusion can ouput a lot of damage if used on the correct hero, for example Anti-Mage. A unique property of the Illusion is that Morphling can change positions with the illusion, increasing his utility, allowing him to use it as an escape or chase tool.
Morphling PlayDota Guide
Rikimaru
Rikimaru is a stealth focused hero, his ultimate allows him to go permanently invisible, letting him get the jump on his enemies. His first skill
Smoke Screen is an AoE slow that also causes enemies to have a high miss chance and be silenced for the duration they stay in the cloud, this skill is very good in teamfight situations as it forces enemies to run from the vicinity of the AoE.
Blink Strike is Riki’s only nuke, it lets Riki blink behind an enemy dealing damage to them and triggering
Backstab, it has a very short cooldown at higher levels, and deals considerable damage, it can also be used to teleport to allied heroes.
Backstab is Riki’s main damage ability and allows him carry late in the game, it causes Riki’s agility to be added to his attack damage whenever he is attacking a unit from behind it.
Permanent Invisibility is RIki’s ultimate and causes him to become invisible permanently, with a short fade time. This skill allows RIki to constantly get the jump on his opponents, as long as the enemy doesn’t have reveal items.
Rikimaru PlayDota Guide
Nevermore, Shadow Fiend
Shadowfiend is a ranged carry, that has many nukes at his disposal, but has a very high skill cap, and can be difficult to play effectively, because of this, he is not recommended for anyone new to the genre. His first skill
Shadowraze is a nuke that fires in the direction he’s facing and damages units that are a certain distance away from Nevermore, this skill can be quite difficult to use effectively if the player is not used to the distances that the razes land at.
Necromastery is a passive that increases the damage Nevermore does based on the number of units he has killed, it also fuels the damage for his ultimate
Requiem of Souls,
Necromastery allows Shadowfiend to gain significant damage in the early and mid-game without relying on items.
Presence of the Dark Lord is an AoE debuff put on enemies that reduces their armor whenever their around Nevermore.
Requiem of Souls is his ultimate, it’s an AoE ability centered around Nevermore that deals damage and slows enemy units based on the number of souls Shadow Fiend has consumed with
Necromastery, because this ability requires Shadow Fiend to be near his enemies it’s often helpful to get an item such as Blink Dagger or Shadow Blade to assist with positioning.
Shadow Fiend PlayDota Guide
Skeleton King
Skeleton King is a powerful melee strength Carry, with the ability to reincarnate, his skill set is simple with only 1 Active skill. His first skill
Hellfire Blast is a single target stun that deals damage and slows slightly for a short duration after the stun impacts, this allows Skeleton King to close the distance on his target.
Vampiric Aura is an AoE passive that grants lifesteal to all allied melee units, this stacks with all other life steal effects, such as
Vladimir’s Offering and
Helm of the Dominator, however stacking lifesteal on Skeleton King isn’t recommended as he gains enough from
Vampiric Aura.
Crucial Strike gives Skeleton King passive Critical attack chance.
Reincarnation is Skeleton Kings ultimate and signature ability, it allows him to return to life on death with full health and mana, and slows enemy units that stand on the grave when he resurrects, he does require mana prior to death in order for the reincarnation to occur.
Skeleton King PlayDota Guide
Skeleton King Manly Guide
Sniper
Sniper is a ranged Carry with a powerful passives that allow him to put out a lot of damage if positioned correctly. His first skill
Shrapnel is an AoE damage over time skill that slows units in the vicinity, this skill also works on buildings, it’s effective during pushing.
Headshot is a passive that gives snipers attacks a chance on hit to trigger a mini-stun as well as dealing bonus damage, this skill is excellent because sniper is able to output high damage early on in the game, and causing him to excel with high attack speed.
Take Aim is another passive which increases Sniper’s attack range, allowing him to position himself far from harm but still allowing him to attack.
Assassinate is a single target nuke that deals high damage to the target, but has a very long cast range, allowing it to be used as a finisher or as nuke harassment.
Sniper PlayDota Guide
Spectre
Spectre is a melee carry, that has a very unique way of dealing damage. Her first skill
Spectral Dagger is a line nuke that slows any enemy that paths into the direction the dagger travelled, and allows Spectre to ignore all terrain that the dagger travels along. This skill is great for escaping as it allows Spectre to run in directions that would otherwise be impossible for a hero to path through, causing her enemies to go indirect routes in order to chase her.
Desolate is a passive that causes Spectre to deal additional pure damage whenever she is fighting a unit without allies around it, this skill is great when fighting an enemy 1v1 and synergizes well with
Haunt.
Dispersion is another passive and possibly Spectre’s most effective ability, it allows her to reflect a fifth of the damage she receives in an area around her, effectively reducing damage taken by 20%. This skill works extremely well with Radiance due to the damage on that stacking with the damage from
Dispersion.
Haunt is her ultimate and signature ability, it creates a copy of Spectre on every enemy unit on the map, and gives Spectre the ability to teleport to any of the images, this skill is great for many reasons. Firstly it lets Spectre farm but still participate in any teamfights because she can teleport to the illusion, and it can be used as an escape mechanism when ganked, or to chase down heroes when used in conjunction with
Spectral Dagger. Because of
Dispersion Spectre is often built as a tank in order to maximize the damage she can take which in turn increases the damage taken by those fighting her.
Spectre PlayDota Guide