The Best Dota 2 Heroes - Pros & Cons, Useful Tips

Dota 2 is an emotional game with many heroes and unconventional situations, but all the players strive to win despite everything. Heroes that help players to win change through annual updates. In July, Valve released the latest Dota 2 update - 7.27, which gave players many features, general upgrades, heroes and items changes. In previous periods there have been heroes that helped players to win their matches. If you want to find the best Dota 2 heroes to help you win in 2024, then this article’s for you.

It isn’t enough to choose the right hero to become a winner. Your teammates must interact, give the right calls, and help each other — this is only the way to become a winner in Dota 2. But the right choice will help you to feel confident and make you head and shoulders above your enemies.

1. Wraith King

Wraith King - is a strong character with a large scale of health and is one of the best Dota 2 hero play. He’s a shield between his team and enemies, and can also be a good damage dealer. He feels good against many characters in the laning stage, can farm effectively in the forest even from the start phase of the game, and has an important advantage due to his ultimate - two lives.

Tips on How to Play Wraith King

There are several different strategies for Wraith King in Dota 2. You can develop more on your own, but these are most effective in a lot of cases.

If your team doesn’t have enough damage, you can be one of the dealers. There are two ways of dealing the damage to your enemies: by yourself or by your skeleton. Today, Skeleton isn’t famous, and for this strategy, you need to have different summoners in your team. If you want to do it by yourself, equip the items for damage such as Radiance, Echo Saber, Titan Silver, etc.

WK can be the shield of his team. This hero has the ability to lifesteal and ultimate that gives him a second life. WK has a large scale of health and you can improve it by increasing STR. If you want to be a tank, you must buy items such as Assault Cuirass, Paladin Sword, Titan Silver, etc.

Wraith King Pros

Two Lives with Reincarnation: Wraith King’s ultimate ability, Reincarnation, allows him to come back to life after being killed, giving him and his team a significant advantage in team fights.
Strong Pushing and Farming: With Vampiric Spirit, Wraith King can push lanes and farm jungle effectively, thanks to the lifesteal and the skeletons spawned from it.
Simple to Play: Wraith King’s simplicity and straightforward skill set make him an excellent choice for newer players learning the carry role.
Versatile Itemization: Wraith King can adapt his item build to suit the needs of the match, whether it’s focusing on durability, damage output, or utility.
Reliable Stun: Wraithfire Blast is a reliable, targeted stun that also deals damage over time, making Wraith King effective in ganks and skirmishes.
Sustain in Fights: Vampiric Spirit provides lifesteal, allowing Wraith King to sustain himself in fights and stay in lanes or jungles without needing to return to base often.
Late-game Scaling: Wraith King scales well into the late game, becoming a formidable presence with the right items and levels.
Initiation and Frontlining: With his ability to reincarnate and his built-in lifesteal, Wraith King can initiate fights and absorb significant amounts of damage for his team.
Teamfight Presence: Reincarnation slows and damages nearby enemies when Wraith King revives, which can turn the tide of a team fight.
Flexible Role Potential: Though often played as a carry, Wraith King can be adapted to different roles, including support, making him a versatile pick in various team compositions.
Mana Burn Resilience: With the talent or Aghanim’s Shard that makes Reincarnation have no mana cost, Wraith King becomes resilient against mana-burning abilities and items which are traditionally his counters.

Wraith King Cons

Mana Dependency (Early to Mid Game): Initially, Wraith King is quite dependent on mana to use his Reincarnation, making him vulnerable to mana-burning abilities and items, such as those from Anti-Mage, Keeper of the Light, and Diffusal Blade. However, this can be mitigated with his level 20 talent or an Aghanim’s Shard.
Kitable: Wraith King can be easily kited due to the lack of mobility skills, making him susceptible to heroes with slows, stuns, and escape mechanisms.
Early Game Vulnerability: Wraith King can be vulnerable in the early game due to the lack of mobility and the long cooldown on his Reincarnation.
Less Versatile Skill Set: Compared to other heroes, Wraith King’s skill set is less versatile, primarily focusing on single-target damage and lacking any area of effect (AoE) damage or control abilities, barring the slow from Reincarnation.
Limited Area Control: Wraith King lacks abilities that control areas or push lanes quickly, making him somewhat reliant on his team for controlling space on the map.

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2. Zeus

Zeus is an intelligent character with powerful abilities that can damage enemies, even from its early stage. His skills are simple in use but unpleasant for the enemy. Usually, Zeus is a midlaner that feels good against many heroes in Dota 2. He doesn’t need many items to be useful to the team and can impact only with abilities. It’s the right choice for people who don’t want to be in the epicenter of the fight but still want to damage their enemies.

Tips on How to Play Zeus

Depending on the situation, you can characterize your Zeus as you want, with unique items or skill ups. However, there’s one robust strategy that would be useful in different matches.

If you’re going to see a mighty Zeus, you must equip items that increase INT, magic damage, and mana pool. Zeus’s most popular items are Aghanim’s Scepter, Aether Lens, Arcane Boots, Refresher Orb, etc.

Zeus can impact the game even without items, but each of these improves his opportunity to kill many enemies. To get the maximum damage in the fight, this hero needs to live for as long as he can. Keep it up with the near-fight strategy when you don’t go into the epicenter of the fight, but carry on to damage your enemies.

Zeus is an intelligent character, but without a big scale of health points and strong defense. He’s a little bit slow, and it’s easy to kill him. Take care of heroes with invincible abilities, blink dagger, abilities that slow you down: such as Anti-Mage, Templar Assassin, Riki, Axe, Bounty Hunter, etc. These heroes can irritate Zeus during the whole game.

In a nutshell, Zeus’s a perfect hero to damage enemies from the start of the game. He can keep his line without any help and be a good nuker.

Zeus Pros

High Magical Damage: Zeus is renowned for his ability to deal substantial magical damage with his abilities, allowing him to burst down enemies quickly, especially those with low magic resistance.
Global Presence: His ultimate, Thundergod’s Wrath, has global range, allowing Zeus to contribute to fights and secure kills from anywhere on the map.
Map Vision and De-warding: Zeus’s Lightning Bolt and Thundergod’s Wrath provide temporary vision around the targeted area, allowing Zeus to scout enemies and destroy Observer Wards and Sentry Wards without needing True Sight.
Area Denial and Crowd Control: Abilities like Arc Lightning and Lightning Bolt allow Zeus to control areas and harass enemies in lane effectively, making him strong in the laning phase.
Percentage-Based Damage: Static Field deals damage based on enemies’ current health, making it effective against heroes with high HP.
Strong Laning Phase: Zeus has a powerful laning phase due to his ability to consistently harass opponents with Arc Lightning and secure last hits.
Scales Well with Levels and Items: Zeus benefits greatly from levels and items that boost his magical damage, mana pool, and mana regeneration, allowing him to scale well into the late game.
Effective Against Illusions and Summons: Zeus’s high area damage is very effective against heroes that rely on illusions or summoned units.
Flexibility in Roles: While typically played as a mid laner, Zeus can also be effective in other roles, such as a support or offlaner, depending on the team’s needs.
Enemy Position Reveal: Thundergod’s Wrath reveals the position of all enemy heroes when cast, providing valuable information to Zeus’s team about enemy movements.
High Burst Damage: Zeus’s ability to deliver high burst magical damage makes him a threat to squishy heroes throughout the game.
Punishes Melee Heroes in Lane: Zeus can be particularly strong against melee heroes in lane as it is easier to harass them with his abilities.

Zeus Cons

Lack of Mobility: Zeus has no inherent escape or mobility skills, making him highly susceptible to ganks and highly dependent on positioning.
Squishy: Zeus has a low health pool and is vulnerable to burst damage and crowd control, making him an easy target if caught out of position.
Vulnerable to Gap Closers: Heroes with abilities or items that can quickly close the distance to Zeus can be particularly problematic, as they can bypass his team and target him directly.
Needs Levels to be Effective: Zeus is level-dependent, requiring experience points to level up his abilities and unlock his full damage potential. He may struggle if he falls behind in levels.
No Hard Crowd Control: He lacks any form of hard crowd control, like stuns or roots, which limits his ability to control enemy heroes.

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3. Clinkz

Clinkz’s a ranged damage dealer, with quick movement speed and the ability to be invisible. Clinkz’s a perfect choice for people who can feel what to do: whether they should be in a shadow or attack enemies from the back. This hero needs to find the moment for attack because he doesn’t have enough HP to fight face to face, but he has solid arrows to kill any of his enemies in just a few seconds.

If you choose Clinkz, be ready to stand for some time. This character can’t impact the game from the first level, but it’s convenient to stay on the line and kill creeps with his Searing Arrows that give him bonus damage for each attack. You must pay attention to your HP bar because of Clinkz’s very skinny character, which means it’s easy to die, even from the supports.

Tips on How to Play Clinkz

The best way to get success for Clinkz is to wait for the first items such as Desolator, Bloodthorn, Orchid Malevolence, and start looking for the victim. Skeleton Walks allows Clinkz to move quickly around the map and change the lines and position in a short time. With his ability Strafe and ultimate, he can fight in a short distance and with several enemies, but only lasts around 3-6 sec.

The best strategy for Clinkz is to seek out skinny enemies such as Zeus, Puck, Weaver, Storm-Spirit. Go around the fight, and attack them from the back when enemies can’t understand who’s attacking and from where they will have no HP. With Skeleton Walks, Clinkz has an opportunity to escape from bad situations. It’s difficult to stop this hero if he reaches a killstrike.

Clinkz’s the best choice for people who want to have a strong attack potential to kill everyone on the map. This hero can die quickly, but also can kill several enemies in a few seconds. The main rule for Clinkz is that you should be in shadow until the moment you’ll be able to kill everyone.

Clinkz Pros

High Physical Damage Output: Clinkz can deal significant physical damage with his Searing Arrows and can eliminate enemy heroes quickly, especially when coupled with damage amplification from Death Pact.
Good Split Pusher: With his ability to deal high damage to structures and quickly clear creep waves, Clinkz is excellent at split pushing lanes and forcing enemy rotations.
Excellent Pickoff Potential: Clinkz excels at isolating and eliminating single targets, making him effective at picking off out-of-position enemy heroes.
Invisibility & Mobility: Skeleton Walk provides both invisibility and increased movement speed, allowing Clinkz to roam the map, gather information, and position himself advantageously.
Tower Pressure: Clinkz can apply immense pressure to enemy towers, forcing reactions and creating space for his team.
Strong Laning Phase: Clinkz can be strong in the laning phase due to the harassment potential of Searing Arrows and his ability to secure last hits.
Scaling: Clinkz scales well into the late game with items, maintaining his relevance throughout the game due to his high physical damage output.
Burning Army: His ultimate, Burning Army, can deal a significant amount of damage in team fights if positioned correctly, especially against enemy heroes that lack mobility.
Flexibility in Itemization: Clinkz has a flexible item build, allowing players to adapt to the needs of the game, whether it is prioritizing damage, survivability, or utility.
Objective Control: Clinkz is great at taking down Roshan and other objectives due to his high damage output, making him valuable in securing map control.
Map Control: The mobility and invisibility provided by Skeleton Walk allow Clinkz to control the map, create space for his team, and restrict the enemy’s movements and farming areas.

Clinkz Cons

Squishy: Clinkz is quite fragile due to his low base health and lack of escape abilities, making him susceptible to crowd control and burst damage.
Dependent on Positioning: Positioning is key for Clinkz, and poor positioning can lead to quick deaths. He needs to position himself well in fights due to his squishiness and the need to be at the right distance to maximize damage.
Mana Dependent: Clinkz’s abilities, especially Strafe and Burning Army, consume a lot of mana. Without sufficient mana regeneration or management, Clinkz can find himself unable to use his abilities effectively.
Detection Vulnerability: Clinkz relies on his Skeleton Walk for mobility and escape, but this can be countered easily by detection items like Dust of Appearance, Sentry Wards, or Gem of True Sight, making him an easy target.
No Crowd Control: Clinkz lacks any form of crowd control, which limits his ability to control enemy heroes in skirmishes and team fights.
Early Game Vulnerability: In the early game, without items and levels, Clinkz is extremely vulnerable and can be easily bullied out of the lane.

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4. Spectre

The 4th hero of our top picks is the ultimate carry - Spectre. This is a slow character without pure damage and control abilities, but with massive potential to the late game stage. If the game carries on for 40-50 minutes, Spectre will show all of her power. There are no characters in Dota 2, who can hold out against the full Spectre. However, it’s challenging to make your Spectre complete inventory. We know the only way to do it - FARM, FARM, FARM!

Items that increase the power of illusions, give damage or STR are the most popular in the Spectre inventory. Most often, players are buying Radiance, Manta Style, Abyssal Blade, Diffusal Blade, etc. Skills are another power of Spectre. With Dispersion, the hero can reflect 22% of input damage. With Desolate, Spectre can make pure damage attacks. All of this makes Spectre round the bend.

Tips on How to Play Spectre

If you choose the Spectre, be ready to stand for a long time without fighting and activities. Your teammates must support you and constantly distract enemies. Any needless fight can push you back from the items that you need. So the best way to grow your character quickly is to concentrate on farming and pay attention to enemies’ moves, avoid as many fights as possible.

Spectre’s the right choice for people who can stand for a long time, who can avoid fights, and run away from the enemies even if their teammates are dying. This a crazy carry with significant power in the late game, but you must wait for your time to become a winner. The character with unconventional abilities can both get into the fight and run away in just a few seconds. If you can wait, no one can beat the Spectre in the late game.

Spectre Pros

Global Presence with Haunt: Spectre’s ultimate, Haunt, creates illusions targeting all enemy heroes on the map, allowing Spectre to join any fight from anywhere on the map.
Exceptional Late-Game Carry: Spectre is considered one of the strongest late-game carries, with her damage and durability scaling exceptionally well with items and levels.
Durability and Dispersion: Dispersion makes Spectre very tanky by reflecting a portion of the damage she receives to enemies around her, making her harder to kill as the game progresses.
Desolate for Isolation Damage: Desolate allows Spectre to deal substantial pure damage to isolated enemies, making her powerful in one-on-one situations.
Aggressive Vision with Haunt: During Haunt, Spectre gains vision of all enemy heroes, providing valuable information and allowing her team to make informed decisions during fights.
Difficult to Kill: Spectre can be challenging to bring down due to her tankiness from Dispersion and her ability to disjoint ganks and jump to other Haunt illusions.
Good Chase Potential: Spectral Dagger provides a good chasing mechanism, allowing Spectre to move through terrain and slow down enemies.
Effective Against Squishy Backliners: Haunt allows Spectre to easily access the backlines in team fights, posing a significant threat to squishy supports and glass-cannon type heroes.
Radiance Carrier: Spectre is one of the best heroes to carry a Radiance due to her Haunt, allowing her to deal burn damage to the entire enemy team in fights.
Scales with Enemy Farm: Dispersion’s reflected damage scales with the damage output of enemies, making Spectre effective against high-damage lineups.
Strong in Prolonged Fights: With Dispersion and Desolate, Spectre excels in extended team fights, gradually wearing down the opposition.

Spectre Cons

Weak Laning Phase: Spectre is known for having a relatively weak laning phase due to her lack of strong harassment abilities or burst damage, making her reliant on supports to secure a good early game.
Low Early Game Damage Output: Her damage output in the early game is generally low compared to other carries, which can make it hard to secure kills without support.
Struggles Against Crowd Control: Like many carries, Spectre is vulnerable to crowd control abilities, especially since she does not have a built-in escape mechanism.
Specific Itemization: Spectre often requires a specific set of items to be effective, including Radiance for damage output and tankiness, and the lack of these can significantly hinder her impact.
Mana Issues: Spectre can face mana problems in the early to mid-game, limiting her ability to use her abilities frequently without proper mana management or items.

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5. Underlord

The last character in our list but not the least in importance - Underlord. This is a strong hero with the original ultimate and opportunity to live in all the fights. Underlord’s a perfect choice for players who despise to die and are attracted to be in the epicenter of the battle. This hero shields his team from the enemies and can pull away all of their teammates from the struggle.

Usually, Underlord stays on the hard lane against enemies’ doubles. It isn’t a problem for this hero to fight against two characters. He has a large scale of HP, good defense points, and regeneration. With the Pit of Malice, he can disable and control enemies. This ability is invaluable in massive fights, both with the Atrophy Aura, they allow your team to be head and shoulders above your enemies.

Tips on How to Play Underlord

The most effective strategy for Spectre is to make from your Underlord a thick barrel that can soak up a lot of damage, it helps other teammates, and torments the enemy throughout the fight. The most popular items for this hero are Guardian Greaves, Blade Mail, Pipe of Insight, Crimson Guard, Road of Athos, etc. You can’t damage your enemies (only a little bit), but you can help your teammates to do it.

The Underlord must be in charge of the fight. He must be everywhere, to help his team and be the pain in the neck of all enemies. This is the right choice for people who can lead the team and want to help each other. It’s a strong character with a big scale of HP, unpleasant skills for enemies, and ultimate that can escape all of the teammates for the fight.

Underlord Pros

Area Damage and Control: Firestorm provides substantial area damage and control, making Underlord effective in dealing with enemy creeps and heroes during skirmishes and team fights.
Tankiness: With his high strength gain and the damage reduction from Atrophy Aura, Underlord is inherently tanky, allowing him to absorb substantial damage in fights.
Wave Clear: Firestorm is a potent wave-clearing ability, allowing Underlord to push out lanes and defend towers efficiently.
Team Mobility with Dark Rift: Dark Rift grants unmatched team mobility, enabling Underlord and nearby allies to traverse the map quickly or retreat from unfavorable situations.
Damage Reduction: Atrophy Aura reduces the base damage of nearby enemy units, diminishing their damage output in fights and making Underlord a significant threat to physical damage dealers.
Versatile Itemization: Underlord can be effective with a variety of item builds, allowing him to adapt to the needs of his team and the state of the game.
Strong Laner: With the combination of Firestorm and Atrophy Aura, Underlord can be a dominant presence in the lane, securing farm and harassing opponents effectively.
Scaling Permanent Damage: Atrophy Aura’s permanent damage bonus can allow Underlord to scale and deal notable right-click damage as the game progresses.
Utility and Control with Pit of Malice: Pit of Malice offers area control and crowd control, making it a valuable tool for controlling enemy movements and setting up favorable engagements for his team.
High Ground Defense: Underlord excels at defending high ground with his area control abilities, making it difficult for enemies to siege his team’s base.
Aura Carrier: He is an excellent carrier of aura items like Guardian Greaves, Pipe of Insight, and Crimson Guard that can bolster the strength of his team in fights.
Sustainable: Underlord can be quite sustainable in lanes, with his ability to clear creep waves efficiently, securing him a steady flow of gold and experience.

Underlord Cons

Lack of Burst Damage: Underlord lacks burst damage and high damage single-target abilities, which makes it hard for him to quickly eliminate key targets.
Vulnerable to Mobility: Heroes with high mobility can evade Underlord’s abilities and can kite him easily in fights due to his lack of mobility and gap-closing abilities.
Dependent on Team Coordination: Effective use of Dark Rift requires good communication and coordination with the team, which can be lacking in solo queue environments.
Limited Offensive Capability: Underlord is primarily a defensive and utility-oriented hero and lacks the aggressive initiation tools that other offlaners might possess.
Limited Offensive Capability: Underlord is primarily a defensive and utility-oriented hero and lacks the aggressive initiation tools that other offlaners might possess.

Have you just started your Dota 2 way? We have an article with the best Dota 2 heroes for beginners with a list of the top simple but powerful heroes. You should try all of them if you want to become a winner.

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