Beginner’s Guide: Best Dota 2 Heroes

Dota 2 is a very skill-intensive game, and mastering even some of the basic mechanics can take a lot of time and effort. Since most matches also feature a lot of fast-paced action, you need to always keep on top of your game, and every time you die you provide gold and exp for the enemy heroes, essentially making it more difficult for your team to win.

This can all sound quite scary to someone who’s new to Dota 2 and doesn’t quite yet have a grasp of the game’s complex mechanics. However, this doesn’t mean, that you should just sit back idly and watch. Here are some of the most recommended beginner heroes in Dota 2, that will allow you to easily learn how to play the game, without feeding the entire enemy team!

Also, if you ever need quick cash for items for any of the heroes on this list, make sure to visit Skincashier and sell Dota 2 items instantly, for the best possible prices!

1. Crystal Maiden

Crystal Maiden is one of the most beginner-friendly Dota 2 heroes, ideal for players new to the support role. Support is arguably one of the most important Dota 2 roles, and can decide a lot about the match’s outcome. With her abilities that include a powerful slow, freeze, and a global mana regeneration aura, she’s perfect for helping your teammates throughout the game. Her signature stun, Frostbite, is a long crowd control, that’s also targeted, meaning it’s imporrible to miss. Another plus is that she is valuable even without high-end items, emphasizing proper positioning and ability usage over intense farming. Her ultimate can wreck having in team fights, effectively taking out many heroes at once. The only downside of this hero is that she’s one of the slowest Dota 2 heroes in the game, with some of the lowest armor and health pool. Make sure to get a blink dagger if you can and watch out for nearby enemies,

2. Lion

Lion, another support hero, is excellent for novices. With two disabling skills, a nuke, and an ultimate that can instantly eliminate weaker enemies, he’s a superb hero to learn the art of controlling the battlefield and supporting the team. With the patch that added a movement slow to his Mana Drain ability, Lion now comes with a total of three crowd control abilities, allowing him to completely disable enemy heroes for over 5 seconds! While he’s normally played as a support hero, Lion can also be played in the mid lane, thanks to his crazy damage early game. His legendary ultimate hits for hundreds of damage, making him a great roaming support and ganker, allowing him to create a massive advantage for his team early on.

3. Sniper

If you’re taking your first steps in the carry role, Sniper is a great starting point. Sniper’s long-range attack ability allows beginners to stay relatively safe while dishing out considerable damage. Two of his abilities are passive, making Sniper one of the best Dota 2 carries to learn playing the role. A farmed Sniper is capable of dishing out huge damage from afar, from afar. With more straightforward abilities than many other heroes, Sniper has a lot of harassment potential with his Shrapnel early game, while being able to easily mow down enemies with hi powerful auto attack late game when he’s farmed. The only downside to playing Sniper is that the hero is quite squishy and lacks any escape abilities, which means he has to focus on positioning more than most heroes.

4. Ogre Magi

Ogre Magi is often cited as one of the most controversial characters in the game. A Dota 2 hero that’s played in virtually every skill bracket, Ogre Magi has a powerful targeted stun which, combined with his ultimate passive ability Multicast, can even be used to take out squishy support heroes with a single hit. Ogre Magi has the largest magic damage in the game, while at the same time being quite tanky and hard to kill. Regardless of the team composition, an Ogre Magi support is a strong hero that can add a lot of extra damage to virtually any team.

5. Wraith King

One of the most popular heroes chosen by beginners, Wraith King has a powerful ultimate that allows him to cheat death, because of which he’s often considered to be one of the most forgiving heroes in the game. While this isn’t completely true, his resurrection allows him to get out of unfavorable situations that would kill every other hero. Although Wraith King looks easy on the surface, he doesn’t have a lot of teamfight presence, and is highly reliant on his items, which means that you must really focus on farming early game. Still, a farmed Wraith King is difficult to stop, so if you want to learn how to play a melee carry, Wraith King is the Dota 2 hero for you.

6. Bristleback

Bristleback has one great advantage – he gets more deadly the more other players hit him. His passive ability provides him damage reduction from the sides and back, while at the same time firing a Qull Spray at anyone who hits him for more damage. His spam-heavy abilities allow him to easily take out creep waves, but also dish out a lot of damage to enemy heroes. He can easily harass melee heroes during the laning phase, which combined with his survivability makes him a great choice for an off-lane hero for any Dota 2 beginner.

7. Jakiro

One of the most popular support heroes in higher ranks, Jakrio has one of the most powerful stun abilities in the game, while also being able to deal a lot of damage to uncoordinated teams. His Ice Path, while difficult to land, is an extremely powerful AoE stun, which can target the entire team, if you can aim it well. His Liquid Fire ultimate also deals a lot of damage in a major AoE, allowing your team to easily wear down the tanker heroes. If you want to play a support hero, but do more than just place sentry wards, Jakiro is the Dota 2 hero you must try.

8. Vengeful Spirit

Vengeful Spirit, also commonly referred to simply as Venge by Dota 2 players, has been one of the best Dota 2 heroes for new players ever since the Warcraft III days. She’s most often picked for her two abilities – Vengeance Aura and Nether Swap. The first one is a unique passive that provides bonus damage and stacks with aura items. This makes Venge a great soft support to go with any auto attack carries your team might have. However, her Nether Swap is really where Vengeful Spirit shines. Her ultimate allows her to swap position with any targeted hero, allowing her not only to save her teammates, but also completely re-arrange the enemy team positioning. With a solid win rate in almost any rank in the game, Vengeful Spirit is a strength to be reckoned with, and a great Dota 2 begginer hero.

Summing Up

The heroes listed above are excellent for beginners, with a great balance of simplicity and adaptability. They can offer you a solid start to your Dota 2 adventure, allowing you to level up your gameplay as you gain more confidence and experience. If you want to start your adventure with Dota 2 ranked matchmaking, pick one of the heroes on our list and jump into the game today!