Dota 2: Suitable heroes for new players

Today we will take a look at the most suitable heroes for new players, especially if you don’t know anything about MOBAs.

Crystal Maiden is not for new players

First, new players should avoid choosing Crystal Maiden. Of course CM is a great hero, especially in the current meta. With a starting health of only 560, armor and movement speed at 280 but a win rate of over 50%, there’s something wrong with this female character’s skill set. Specifically, Crystal Maiden has a lot of ‘quite buggy’ points. The all-map Aura gives the team an advantage, Frostbite handles many hero summons well, and Crystal nova is among the most annoying slows in the game thanks to its low cooldown and extended duration. Ultimate is… no doubt about it.

The problem lies here. Despite the strengths mentioned above, there is no skill that really helps new players feel strong or useful. They can be powerful and useful, at least in the aura part, but for new players, you won’t feel it. And yet, CM trades off a strong skill set with a very poor base stats.

Back to the original topic: Crystal Maiden isn’t exactly balanced, but it’s fine. This may be one of the reasons why CM is the iconic Dota hero: she has obvious strengths as well as obvious weaknesses, compared to most of the rest of the heroes in the game. However, CM’s strengths require players to understand the game well to promote them, while her weaknesses are easy to exploit, specifically extremely difficult for new players to control. Obviously, Crystal Maiden is not a suitable hero for newbies.

So where is the strong support that newbies should practice playing? Maybe it’s Warlock or Ogre Magi. These two heroes are very strong even as supports, somewhat overcoming the constant death that new players often face. Living longer means you stay in the game longer, get into the game more, and learn Dota faster. These two heroes possess strong skill sets that are easy to understand to use. They can help teammates by healing or increasing attack/movement speed, which is helpful in co-op.

Warlock’s weakest point is that the opponent can dispel fatal bonds and the Chaotic Offering cooldown is quite long. However, these two weaknesses are not much countered at ranks below Legend.

Ogre has no obvious weakness: perhaps the low cast range for stuns is the hero’s biggest weakness right now and this could be an opportunity for new players to understand why Aether Lens is so useful, also like the perniciousness of the Glimmer Cape. This is a good starting point for new players to think about when they need to overcome those weaknesses and when they need to supplement their strengths more.

Position 3 is core, not carry

Speaking of offlane roles, it is difficult to guide new players. Over the years, this role has changed countless times, but all require one thing: the offlane needs versatility and knowledge in many different roles. Depending on the situation, the offlane can take on lane dominating, initiating teamfights, tanking in the lead, catching the hero alone, or in some special cases dealing damage. The end point is what the article wants to focus on in the new player guide.

The most popular offlane hero at low rank right now is Bristleback. BB is also a hero with a high win rate in this rank: 52%. This is a hero that does not need high skill to play, while BB’s weakness is also not easy to exploit. Obviously, this is a “newbie-friendly” hero, but according to the article, that’s not exactly the case.

Bristleback is a hero that doesn’t necessarily create bad habits, but it doesn’t help new players much. This hero does not force newbies to learn the game. When facing other new players, all Bristleback needs to do is run ahead and spam W when health is above 50%, then run back to spam W when health is below 50%. 99% of Bristleback’s gameplay in every match is the same. Hero may be suitable for the highest arena of the game, but not good for learning Dota 2.

The article does not think that Underlord should be for new players – the hero is having the most success at low ranks. The reason is the same as above: these heroes are not challenging enough for the player. They are great when you just want to have fun, but are not beneficial when you want to improve your playing skills.

Speaking of offlane, the article recommends choosing Ax, Legion Commander, Tidehunter and similar heroes. These heroes can initiate fights with good stamina, require a bit of mechanical skill and understanding how the game works, but don’t require too much. This is a prime example of an offlane role. We won’t see “position three with carry” in Legen rank, from people who only know how to spam Bristleback from start to finish.

So what do you think of these tips? Do you agree with your assessment? Please share a comment at the end of the post!

According to dotabuff

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