First of all, be aware that this guide is aimed towards the beginners, to help them with one of their biggest problems - what to pick? This comes as a really hard question to answer without putting some time into thinking, so in order to avoid the future confusion, I have decided to finally make a complete guide to answer it once and for all. Whether you just want to play another support or carry, or make the transition from one role to another, the following list will be a great way for you to find a perfect Hero. Make sure to favorite the guide (if you liked it) in order to find the Hero list in the future. Mentioned Heroes will be divided into the several groups (roles) and introduced to you; their pros, cons and other important stuff that you should know before picking them. I repeat, the Heroes that I do not plan to mention are probably too advanced for somebody who still doesn't know the intermediate gameplay, so please don't ask the questions like - why didn't you mention Puck being the great offlane or Chen being the great jungler. With that being said, I believe we can start with what I believe to be the most important role in the game - Supports!

With the recent changes in the game, this particular role has become pretty powerful. Cheap items like Tranquil Boots or Drums and the changes in the experience gain and the assist gold have resulted in Supports being more powerful than ever. Supports are here to, well, support. They are here to ward, to de-ward and to support the useless farming asses in their team - called Carries and make the space for them to win the late game. Supports are designed to work without the farm, having pretty deadly spells that can burst down enemies in a few seconds. So, here is the list of the Supports that are fairly easy to play with and are in the same time very useful to the team.

Abaddon (S/M) - A melee lane support that is often played as a semi-carry. Has a cheap and spamable healing spell and the ability to cast the shield which absorbs some damage and then explodes right back into the enemy face. Once you get the ultimate, you can dive into the enemy without the fear of being burst down, since all the damage that you get will heal you, while having the activated ultimate. His pros are his durability and the ability to keep anyone in his lane alive. His cons are his melee range and the mana dependence.

Omniknight (S/M) - A Hero very similar to Abaddon, with similar pros and cons. Has the ability to heal and deal the damage in the same time. He is also a famous free BKB (Black King Bar) spammer, what works great in the mid and late game. His aura that slows the nearby enemies is great for chasing or escaping and the ultimate which gives the physical immunity can't be missed. All you need to do is - cast the Repel (BKB) on your main carry before the fight, wait for the big mess to cast the ultimate and then keep your eye on the allies that need heal. His pros are his durability and the ability to keep anyone in his lane alive. His cons are his melee range and the mana dependence.

Treant Protector (S/M) - Is the last easy support within the Strength Heroes company and fairly similar to the last two mentioned Heroes. His global and spamable healing spell does wonders in the early game and can be of the huge help to your Mid Hero or someone else, even towers. His second healing spell, which slows in the same time, is a great offensive spell. So this big guy has two excellent healing spells, one for the defensive and one for the aggressive playstyle. If something goes wrong, he can always make people invisible, as long as they are near the trees. His ultimate is here to render the late game carries almost useless, since they won't be able to attack for a few seconds, but to cast the spell, you will need some practice. His pros are his durability and the ability to keep anyone in his lane alive. His cons are his melee range and the mana dependence.

Vengeful Spirit (A/R) - While wondering through the battlefields, she seeks her vengeance and will gladly kill anyone who dares to opose her. A stun that can not miss is one of the best single target stuns in the game. She also has the ability to lower the armor of the enemies and the passive ability to increase the damage of the nearby allies. The trick in her playstyle is to land a good swap. Ability to instantly swap the place of the Spirit and the enemy (or ally) can sometimes prove to be an excellent move, but sometimes you will just end up dying without doing anything good. Her pros are the fairly big Strength gain what makes her slightly tanky in the mid and late game and the ability to isolate the most dangerous targets in the enemy team, or save the team mate running for his life. Her cons are her fairly low HP pool (as it is for the most supports) and a chance to bring a mess with a bad swap.

Crystal Maiden (I/R) - It's true that she is the slowest Hero in the game and the Queen of the paper Heroes, but with some practice, you will know how to position yourself in the team fights and enjoy seeing enemies hate you for your awesome "stun" and slow spell. Spamable AoE (Area of Effect) slow, cheap Frostbite that holds the enemies, a global Mana regeneration aura for your allies and a devastating ult which can deal tons of damage makes the CM a viable pick in almost every game! Her pros are her cheap spells, slow and "stun" and the awesome aura, while her cons are her lowest movement speed and a pretty low HP pool.

Dazzle (I/R) - Is a Troll with a bunch of offensive and defensive spells. He has a slow that stuns, a healing spell that also damages nearby enemies and the ability to make anyone invulnerable for 5 seconds. The ult which decreases the enemies and increases the allies armor is a great spell for the mid and late game; your carries will simply love you while they one-shot the enemy team! His pros are his cheap healing spell and the great ways to turn around the fight with his aggressive spell(s). His cons are his low MS (Movement Speed) and the low HP pool.

Jakiro (I/R) - A two headed Dragon with fire and ice abilities - what more do you need? One head is here to cast the great Ice path to stun, while the other is here to harass the enemy melee carries in the early game. Once you max out your nuke and the ultimate and in addition with some AoE stunner in your team like Enigma, Void or Magnus, Jakiro can literally melt down 5 man teams in a few seconds. His pros are his great offensive and defensive spells and the biggest STR (Strength) gain of the Intelligence Heroes, meaning he gets pretty tanky in the mid and late game. His cons are his costly spells, the horrible cast time and the low range. In addition to his pretty low MS, he can be somewhat hard to play.

Lich (I/R) - Is a great lane support who can deny his creeps to keep the creep wave closer to the tower and make enemies lose the experience and the potential gold from the denied creep. His nuke becomes the great spam-able skill due to the fact that the denied creep also restores the Lich's Mana Pool. Frost Armor skill is here for the mid and the late game to counter the enemy melee carries, while his ult, with some luck, can bring so much chaos in the team fight, while dealing enormous amounts of damage. His pros are his deny (Sacrifice) spell and the spam-able nuke. Furthermore, he is one of the fastest supports in the game and has a solid range for harassing. He scales well into the mid and late game due to his armor and ultimate and makes one of the safest lanes for their carries. In the same time, his ultimate is his biggest con; if you get unlucky, and you often will, your team will end up lacking an ultimate skill in the team fight.

Lion (I/R) - Probably one of the best disabler supports in the game; having an AoE stun and a single-target Hex can render a lot of Heroes useless and is specially painful versus Heroes who rely on the blink and the invisibility spells. The ability to drain mana makes his spells spam-able and the ultimate is here to deal massive damage to the single target - but NEVER use it to last hit the Hero! His pros are his great CC (Crowd Control) spells, a large range and the best single target nuke in the game. His cons are very similar to Crystal Maiden and Shadow Shaman; he is rather slow and easy to be killed - so he needs a lot of practice with the positioning in the team fight and requires a rather defensive play style.

Since these paragraphs have a limited amount of the characters, I won't be able to go through each and every easy support Hero, but can only mention that you should also try out Necrolyte (healer and anti/tank), Ogre Magi (durable nuker who makes his carries more powerful), Shadow Shaman (similar to Lion + Pusher) and Warlock (healer who summons Balrog).

The thing with carries is slightly more complicated; there are mid-game carries, who mostly rely on their abilities to deal the damage and do not need too much farm and the late-game carries who rely on both their abilities and the farm - but are among the most powerful Heroes in the late game. Farming is all they do in the early and often in the mid game, trying to get the experience and gold to wreck the enemy team in the later stages of the game. However, if your team ends up losing an early game, make sure to stop with the farming to help them out or there won't be a late game for you.

Mid game carries

Huskar (S/R) - A strength ranged Hero capable of locking down the single target. Works great versus the teams full of nukers (Heroes who rely on the magical damage) due to his passive which gives him the Magic Resistance proportional to Huskar's missing health. The same passive gives him the extra Attack Speed! The Burning Spears is a great harassing tool and the Regeneration spell (the only that requires mana) acts as a pocket fountain. His pros are the spells for which he doesn't need mana; a great way to harass the enemy in the early game and a passive that gives him the tankiness and the extra Attack Speed. His cons are other right clickers who rely on the physical damage, such as Lone Druid, Razor, Sven, Weaver and others.

Kunkka (S/M) - Although it's pretty hard to land his spells, he is mentioned for his Tidebringer, one of the best early game harass spells that renders the enemy Heroes useless in the later stages of the game, since they won't be able to get any farm. Even though his spells are hard to land, they are cheap and have the low cooldown, so it's not a big deal if you miss them. Pros are the best harass ability in the game in addition to the cheap spells with the low cooldown. He is also pretty fast and durable. Cons are his spells - if you end up missing all of them in the team fight, your team will have a hard time.

Slardar (S/M) - Great AoE stun, extra Movement Speed, a passive bash ability and the ultimate for scouting and melting the armor down makes him a great mid game carry. Slardar works great versus the invisible Heroes, since his ultimate reveals them (if it's cast on them) and versus the agility carries with the big armor in the mid and late game. Pros are his cheap spells; on level 1 he has enough mana to cast 3 stuns, what's great for a strength Hero. He also has one of the biggest base armors in the game what works great with the Stout Shield, making him almost immune to the right click harassing. Cons are his first skill which makes him faster, but in the same time more vulnerable to the damage and his passive bash ability for which you need some luck.

Spirit Breaker (S/M) - A space cow who runs across the battlefield and snipes off the lone Heroes with the great combo. If he gets a few kills in the early game, he becomes almost impossible to kill off without the good combo in the mid game. The only way to counter him is by going in the pairs; solo supports who are warding are the free food for him.

Sven (S/M) - You didn't get enough farm in the early game? No worries! His ultimate will give you the free damage, his passive will give you a "free" Battlefury while his Battlecry skill will give you the extra movement speed and armor! Try to get the critical strike item and one shot rampages won't be uncommon for you. His cons are his skills that require some considerable mana in the early and mid game, making you buy Soul Ring that slightly delays the normal carry items.

Juggernaut (A/M) - Can score so many early game kills if he is has a support with a stun/slow. The Bladefurry ability deals a huge DoT (Damage over Time) and the stun or slow gives him a chance to use it to the full potential. It also gives him a magic immunity, great for running away from the ganks. The Healing Ward acts as a mobile fountain and is great for pushing while his passive critical strike boosts up his damage. If he manages to find the lone targets, his ultimate can kill them off in a few seconds! His cons are his spells that need a lot of mana.

Razor (A/R) - Having problems with the farming? However, enemy carry doesn't? NP! Just steal his damage and use it against him. That's right! The ability to steal the damage from the most dangerous targets makes him a great anti-carry and makes a great carry out of Razor. A passive ability which increases his MS and the ultimate that melts down the armor of the nearby target does wonders in the mid game. He also gets pretty durable due to his great STR gain. His biggest con is his early game, since he is very vulnerable to the ganks.

Ursa (A/M) - A rather unconventional agility Hero who has more use of building the STR items, since his ultimate gives him the damage based on the Ursa's HP pool. Obviously, he gets pretty tanky, while his other spells cover up for his STR build. One gives him the additional damage every time he hits, while other increases his Attack Speed. The first skill is to slow down the targets while Ursa rips them apart. He is also the best Roshan killers in the game - as soon as he makes Vladmir's (min 6-10), he can kill him off due to his stacking damage. His biggest con is his early game, since he is very vulnerable to the ganks.

Viper (A/R) - Probably one of the easiest Heroes to score the last hit. Most of us know him as one of the most irritating bots to play against. His poisonous nature melts down the single targets as well as makes him more durable versus the magical damage and the right clickers who dare to confront him - since their attacks will be slowed down. Great harasser in the early game and one of the best mid game carries. His biggest con is his early game, since he is very vulnerable to the ganks.

To save up some space, I will only mention Tiny, Doom and Gyrocopter as the great mid game carries for the beginners.

Late game carries

Remember that the mid game carries can turn into the pretty excellent late game carries, if they had an opportunity to snowball - scoring a lot of kills or getting a lot of farm in the early and mid game.

Alchemist (S/M) - Designed to farm 24/7, he becomes unkilable if left alone. An ultimate that gives him more HP, HP and Mana regeneration, MS and AS covers up for his early and mid game till he gets farmed - and he gets farmed very fast. He also has a stun ability and a great AoE skill for melting down the enemy armor. His biggest con is his early game, since he is very vulnerable to the ganks and the mana dependence.

Chaos Knight (S/M) - If one Hero is not enough, Chaos Knight brings 3 more illusions in the late game fights which deal the same damage as the main Hero. Has the great single target stun, the chase ability and the passive critical strike which works on the illusions too. He is very mana dependent in both the early and mid game and is vulnerable without it.

Anti - Mage (A/M) - Also known as anti-fun due to his blink ability. If he survives your gank with 5 HP, he will just blink away and make you pay for the "wasted" time. His attack animation gives him an ability to farm like the beast and get his items pretty soon. Designed to work great versus the nukers, since he has the mana burn, extra magic immunity and the spell to deal the AoE damage proportional to the enemies missing mana makes him pretty tanky and perfect in the certain games. To counter him, you will need a lot of disables, bashes and silences.

Since I have no more space to talk about the late game carries, I will just mention the Clinkz, Drow Ranger, Luna (mid game carry too), Phantom Assassin and Phantom Lancer as the great late game carries (for beginners).

The whole Jungle role should be avoided by the beginners, since there are tons of the unique Neutral creeps with their own abilities and other attributes that could surprise the inexperienced junglers. If you however want to try out the jungling, make sure to watch our Learn Your Role video first.

Axe (S/M) - An easy Jungle Hero for the beginners; with some luck, you won't have any problems with the jungling. Relies on his spin (Counter Helix) ability to farm. He can also gank from the Jungle with his Battle Hunger spell that slows down the targets and deals the considerable DoT (Damage over Time).

Doom (S/M) - Since he can devour any level of the unit, you can start with your farming on the large camps. The devoured units gives you their abilities; and if you get a Neutral with the extra HP regeneration, attack speed or critical strike, Doom won't have problems in the dangerous jungle. Moreover, he can actually gank if he eats the Centaur (who has the stun) or Hellbear (who has the slow ability).

Lycan (S/M) - He was a great jungler once, but now, he needs a bit more time to farm up the same items. His wolves are now pretty vulnerable to the physical damage, so Lycan will have to tank up the small and medium camps before the 3rd or 4th level, or pull the medium camp if he is able to. As soon as he gets the Vladmir, he becomes one of the fastest junglers in the game and is even able to farm the Ancients on his early levels!

Ursa (A/M) - Relies on the stack-able damage to farm up his gold and experience. As soon as he gets the Vladmirs, the Roshan is no longer safe. Ursa can also gank from the jungle with his great AoE slow.

I will just mention other great Jungle Heroes, but a lot of them are pretty hard for the complete beginners, so they should be avoided - Lifestealer, Lone Druid, Chen, Enchantress, Enigma, Nature's Prophet and others.

This role is one of the most dangerous roles in the game and thus should be avoided if you are new to the game. Offlane role means that your Hero will go solo on the suicide lane (top for Radiant or bot for Dire) versus the dual or even trilane. To survive this hostile environment, offlaners need to know the enemy Hero composition and know if they can survive by being near the creeps to get the experience or should they hug the tower. Those Heroes need an escaping mechanism such as blink, invisibility, extra movement speed, extra HP or regeneration, or something else. Since you won't be dealing the damage to the creep wave, it will get pushed with time to your tower, where you can get some experience and farm. Make sure to block the pulling camp to prevent the enemy from balance out the lane in their favor! The easiest offlane Heroes are the following:

Bristleback (S/M) - Relies on his huge HP pool and decreased damage gain (if attacked from the side or the back) to escape the danger. He also has the slow ability and the spam-able Quill Spray which can stack up to deal tons of damage. Not a great off-lane Hero, but he certainly has the ability to survive the danger.

Kunkka (S/M) - With his Tidebringer (the best harass ability in the early game), he can keep his enemies on the low health and thus preventing them from engaging. Even though his skills are somewhat hard to land, they are cheap and have the low cooldown. Relies on his harass ability and the rather big HP pool to survive.

Tidehunter (S/M) - As all Strengh Heroes, he relies on his HP pool to survive the offlane. However, he has the passive that blocks out some damage what works great in addition to the stout shield. The spam-able Anchor Smash can deal a lot of damage to the nearby enemies (also lowers their attack damage) and can turn the tides of the battle.

Bounty Hunter (A/M) - Relies on the invisibility spell to escape and Jinada to score some easy last hits. Very vulnerable to Dust and Sentry ganks, so play very defensive!

Clinkz (A/R) - Relies on the invisibility spell and his fire arrows to get the last hits. His WW (Wind Walk) spell increases his movement speed so he is not SO vulnerable to Dust and Sentry ganks as Bounty.

Weaver (A/R) - Has a cheap WW spell which can also be used to harass the enemy. He also has the free double damage ability which can deal a considerable amount of pain to the enemy Heroes. He is designed to survive; and is probably one of the best Offlane Heroes who can actually stand a chance in the suicide lane and farm. However, he needs a lot of farm to be a viable carry for the team and is squishy as hell - making him very vulnerable to the stun ganks.

Other great Offlaners are Dark Seer, Batrider, Magnus, Timbersaw, Slark, Windrunner, Puck and similar; but they are not the best beginner Heroes, so it's better if you avoid them.

There are tons of the Heroes that can go to the Mid lane, depending on what your team needs and wants. Since the Mid Hero gets the most experience, his job is to max out his main skill, farm up Bottle and Boots and then gank during the first night. The whole role is very hard to master, since you have to think about tons of things - you have to get the farm for your Bottle and Boots, deny the creeps to hurt the experience gain of your opponent, be careful since you can get ganked from 2 lanes, know which lane is the best to gank and of course - have luck with the runes. The "easiest" Heroes to master your mid skills are the following:

Night Stalker (S/M) - Even though he is a melee Hero, he has a great base armor to survive the harass. He also has a great base damage to last hit and deny and will have no problems to farm up Bottle and Boots before the first night, when he becomes the ultimate terror for the enemy team.

Spirit Breaker (S/M) - If Night Stalker can go to the mid, why SB can't too? They both have the great armor and damage and the ability to gank the hell out of the people. If you get into the trouble, you can always use your Charge ability to run away from the danger.

Gyrocopter (A/R) - A great mid Hero who will surely know how to use the extra experience gain. Even though his skills are somewhat hard to land, they are cheap and have the low cooldown. His Flak Cannon can be a great harass spell, while you farm the creeps in the same time. The only problem is his low range and is, sadly, very vulnerable to any form of stun/slow gank.

Luna (A/R) - Not only she has a great ass, her spells are here to deal tons of damage in the early/mid game and the passive which increases her damage makes a farm machine out of her. Furthermore, it also gives her a great vision during the night, so the night ganks are the best, since enemies won't be able to see you, till it's too late.

Death Prophet (I/R) - Her great range and the spam-able nuke will inflict tons of damage to the enemy mid Hero. Her passive that gives her extra MS and the Phase Boots as the core item will give her the chance to farm up the gold and experience to push almost all out-base towers. Very viable mid Hero!

Outworld Devourer (I/R) - Great versus the other Intelligence mid Heroes, since he has an ability to steal their intelligence (lowering their mana pool and damage) and thus dominate the lane. The same skill used for stealing the intelligence is a great offensive and defensive ability, in case your team decides to gank the mid, or you end up being ganked. His ultimate can't be missed and the Orb which deals the pure damage makes the OD one of the best mid game carries, but easily countered with BKB (Black King Bar), or other form of magical immunity.

Queen of Pain (I/R) - She has it all - the looks, the survivability and tons of magical damage. She is also one of the easiest Heroes for having the complete rune control, due to her Blink spell which is also a great tool for escaping, chasing and positioning yourself for the devastating Scream of Pain and Sonic Wave. Her dagger deals an irritating DoT (Damage over Time) and slows the target for some time. Personally, this is the best Mid Hero for you to learn the Mid role!

If you end up wanting some Heroes who need somewhat more skill for the mid Role, try out these - Magnus, Pudge, Nyx Assassin, Shadow Fiend, Slark, Batrider, Puck, Storm Spirit, Tinker and others.

The mentioned Heroes are objectively the easiest Heroes (though there is no such a thing as the "easy" Hero, since they all have a certain combo which needs less or more practice) for you to practice the Dota 2 roles. The mentioned roles are among the most popular roles in the game, but there are a few more roles that could be seen as the sub-roles, like Initiators or Roamers. Initiators are either Mid Heroes, like Magnus, or Offlane Heroes like Tidehunter, or Junglers like Enigma or Supports like Warlock.


This list of the Heroes comes out from my 7 years of Dota, thousands of games and tens of thousands of hours; but I am always open for the suggestions and will gladly admit my mistakes, if you see anything that should or should not be mentioned or changed. Keep in mind that I won't respond to things like - why didn't you mention Visage as one of the great lane supports, or Lone Druid being one of the best carries in the game. As mentioned a few times already, the guide is aimed towards the beginners, so the Heroes who weren't mentioned are probably either too hard, or too useless (like Skeleton King or Venomancer) to be mentioned.

D2P also runs a pretty successful Youtube channel, mostly devoted to the beginners. We have a Learn to Play show, a show with Dota 2 tips & Tricks, a Learn Your Role show and other stuff that could be of some help to all of us. Link to the channel - http://www.youtube.com/user/Dota2PortalTV

Have fun in your games and let the Crits be with you!

- D2P.Nexus