DotaStrategy.com - View topic - Knowing Your Role [Updated to 6.56]

Wii<R>venom

Mega Kill Posts: 631 Joined: 28 Oct 2007 gold

Knowing Your Role [Updated to 6.56]

Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 9:37 pm

Hey guys, I found this article on GotFrag which would be very helpful for beginners and maybe even some people who've been playing for a while already. It's one of the installments of the DotA 101 series and it was written by Jaclyn Lo.

As suggested by one or two other members, here's the CMA (cover my ass) link Cool

http://www.gotfrag.com/dota/story/41025/

Knowing Your Role

The most daunting task of a first-time player is choosing a hero to play. With more than 80 heroes to choose from, it’s certainly a difficult choice to make.

The task of pinning down the heroes in distinct categories is tricky. The heroes are so complex that they sometimes overlap each other. But in a very loose nutshell, we can separate it into four main categories: Carry, Tank, Gank and Support.

These separations will help players to determine which kind of heroes they would prefer to play that fits their personal playing styles best. Additionally, it helps you know your role in the game.

CARRY HERO

A carry hero can be considered as the superman of the team. They are the ones who basically, as the name says, “carry” the team to victory. They are able to take down most heroes by themselves, and even more devastatingly when with their allies. Carry heroes are often farmers, they usually stay in lane as much as possible and does not roam the map or initiate ganks.

A good example of a carry hero is The Faceless Void. This hero has the ability to slow (Timewalk) and stun his opponents (by bashing), along Timewalk being his makeshift escape route. His Chronosphere Ultimate allows him to freeze a large area around him for a couple of seconds to allow him to focus his efforts to one target without fear of retaliation before moving to the next victim.

Terrorblade (Soul Keeper) is another carry hero. He can tank and deal damage at the same time. His ultimate allows him to exchange his hitpoints with another hero, so he can take damage until he’s close to dying, then use his ultimate against an enemy hero with full life. With the right items, Terrorblade is a devastating hero. He can cast Metamorphosis on himself to turn him to a ranged hero, along with being able to duplicate himself to deal more damage and confuse enemy heroes.

The carry hero is what the other team fears the most, being able to dish out a lot of damage. Some can isolate heroes to finish them one by one. But of course, this hero requires careful playing and takes a high level of skill. He’s only effective as far as how the person uses the hero.

Most carry heroes are extremely hard to play and can be fragile early game. The Silencer is an extremely strong late game carry hero, but he’s easily targeted and killed. A player who can’t handle the fragility of this hero cannot turn it to a carry hero late game.

The Shortlist

The "superman" of the team
Requires high skill level to pull off
Can take down more than one hero
Usually a farming hero
Less roaming and ganking

GANK HERO

A Ganking hero plays a large part on how a DotA game turns out. These heroes usually run around the map to take an enemy by surprise and kill them on their own or in tandem with an ally. They have nuking or disabling skills that can immobilize a hero, making them an easy target to kill.

One of the popular ganking heroes is Lina. Lina has a wide array of spells in her arsenal – a stunning spell, a direct damage and of course, her powerful massive single-target ultimate. A well-placed stun can totally catch an enemy hero off-guard, spelling a kill for her team.

Another good ganking hero is the Vengeful Spirit. He has a high damage stunning spell to disable enemies, and he can turn the tides to his team's favor with his ultimate -- Nether Swap -- which allows him to change position with the target hero. This can be used to put an enemy hero in a very uncompromising position.

Some heroes can also just roam the jungles (forest creeps) instead of laning. This helps the team by giving another hero a higher level due to having a solo lane. They have skills to take down creeps easily, giving them bounty on top of experience.

Chen is a popular jungle hero because his skills allow him to dominate creeps. This way, he can creep the jungle as well as help allies gank, as he has a slowing spell; and some creeps have Warstomp to stun enemy heroes.

The Shortlist

Roams the map to find a potential kill
Teamwork and communication with allies essential
Timing is key
Usually dependent on skills (nuke, stuns, slows)

TANK HERO

A Tanker is the hero which survives the longest in battle. He has high hitpoints and/or armor that allow him to take more damage than other heroes. These predominantly Strength heroes have high base damage, although attack slow. His role in the game is very important, as he usually leads the battle and be the first one in to protect his more fragile allies.

The perfect example of a tanking hero is the Centaur Warchief. His ultimate is passive – it adds strength to boost his hitpoints, health regeneration and attack damage. He has an area of effect stunning skill to disable enemies surrounding him, and he usually initiates the battle by going right in front of battle to stun and take damage for his team.

Another great Tank hero is Axe. His skill Berserker’s Call gives him bonus armor to make him more resilient in battle. On top of the bonus armor, it also forces enemy heroes to focus their attacks on him, which helps trigger his passive Counter-Helix spell that deals AoE damage around him.

The most important thing of a player using a tank hero is to know his heroes’ limits. The tanking hero takes longer than any other type of hero to kill – but they are not invincible. He has to gauge his opponents ability to deal damage to him and/or the presence of stuns and disabling skills to know when to pull out of battle when necessary.

The Shortlist

Mostly strength-based heroes
Very high hitpoints and/or armor
Resilient and hard to kill
High base damage but slow attack speed
"In-your-face" hero, leads the battle
Positions himself in front of battle to receive the bulk of damage

SUPPORT/PUSH HERO

A Support hero stays in the back of the battle more often than not. They aren’t the ones who jumps into battle to fight, but rather stays behind and tries to assist the team during battles. Mages are usually classified as "support" heroes, with their plethora of spells.

One of the best Support heroes is the Shadow Priest. His ultimate can be cast on himself or an allied hero, which results in a lesser time to revive along with not losing any gold upon death. This can be incredibly useful during pushes, if he casts the ultimate skill on a Tank/Carry hero who gets focused fired on a lot. He revives half the time and can potentially teleport or return back to battle with full health, especially if he has Boots of Travel!

On top of this, Shadow Priest also has a healing spell to aid his allies along with two other good spells. His Poison Touch deals damage along with slowing the enemy target and his Weave either adds armor to allies or depletes it for enemy heroes. He also has a healing spell that also damages surrounding enemies.

Another kind of support hero has the ability to quickly push towers down by sheer amount of summoned units or being able to quickly take down incoming enemy creeps. The Undying is a good pushing hero, as he can summon zombies to tank enemy creeps and quickly take down the enemy tower. The Warlock has an Infernal as his ultimate (two -- with Refresher Orb) which is also a great ability to push lanes.

The Shortlist

Not a good head to head fighter
Dependent on skills to outwit his enemy
Easily killed if not careful
Helps ally heroes with auras and/or spells

List of Heroes and their possible roles:

SENTINEL HEROES

Morning Tavern:

Vengeful Spirit – Gank/Support hero, lane with ally
Lord of Olympia – Gank/Support hero, solo
Enchantress – Gank/Support/Push hero, solo
Morphling – Carry/Tank hero, solo or lane with ally
Crystal Maiden – Gank/Support hero, lane with ally
Rogue Knight – Gank/Carry/Tank hero, lane with ally
Naga Siren – Gank/Carry/Push hero, lane with ally
Earthshaker – Gank/Support hero, lane with ally
Stealth Assassin – Gank/Carry hero, lane with ally
Lone Druid – Carry/Push hero (Bear tanks), solo
Slayer – Gank/Support hero, lane with ally
Juggernaut – Gank/Carry hero, lane with ally or jungle

Sunrise Tavern:

Silencer – Carry/Support hero, solo or lane with ally
Treant Protector – Tank/Support hero, lane with ally
Enigma – Gank/Support hero, lane with ally
Keeper of the Light – Support/Push hero, lane with ally
Ursa Warrior – Gank/Carry/Tank hero, lane with ally or jungle
Ogre Magi – Gank/Support hero, lane with ally
Tinker – Gank/Carry or Support/Push hero, solo
Prophet – Gank/Support/Push or Carry hero, lane anywhere or jungle
Phantom Lancer – Carry, lane with ally
Stone Giant – Gank/Support hero, lane with ally
Goblin Techies – Support/Push/Defend hero (gank with Suicide), lane with ally
Holy Knight – Gank/Support/Push hero, lane with ally or jungle

Light Tavern:

Moon Rider – Carry or Gank/Push hero, lane with ally, jungle or solo
Dwarven Sniper – Gank/Carry hero, lane with ally or solo
Troll Warlord – Carry hero, solo
Shadow Shaman – Gank/Support/Push hero, lane with ally
Bristleback – Gank/Carry/Tank hero, lane with ally or solo
Pandaren Brewmaster – Gank/Carry hero, lane with ally
Centaur Warchief – Gank/Carry/Tank hero, lane with ally or jungle
Bounty Hunter – Gank/Carry hero, lane with ally
Dragon Knight – Tank/Carry/Push hero, lane with ally
Anti-Mage – Gank/Carry hero, lane with ally
Drow Ranger – Gank/Carry hero, lane with ally or solo
Omniknight – Gank/Support/Tank hero, lane with ally

Dawn Tavern:

Beastmaster – Gank/Support/Tank hero, lane with ally or jungle
Twin Head Dragon – Gank/Support hero, lane with ally
Alchemist – Gank/Carry hero, lane with ally or jungle
Priestess of the Moon – Gank/Carry hero, lane with ally or solo
Storm Spirit – Gank/Carry or Support hero, lane with ally or solo
Sacred Warrior – Tank/Carry hero, lane with ally or solo
Templar Assassin – Gank/Carry/Tank hero, lane with ally or solo
Faerie Dragon – Gank/Support/Carry hero, lane with ally or solo

SCOURGE HEROES

Midnight Tavern:

Soul Keeper – Tank/Carry hero, lane with ally, solo or jungle
Tormented Soul – Gank/Support/Push hero, lane with ally or solo
Lich – Gank/Support hero, lane with ally
Death Prophet – Support/Push hero, lane with ally
Demon Witch – Gank/Support hero, lane with ally or solo
Venomancer – Gank/Carry/Push hero, lane with ally
Magnataur – Tank/Carry hero, lane with ally or solo top/bottom
Necro'lic – Gank/Tank/Push hero (Gargoyles scout), lane with ally or solo
Chaos Knight – Gank/Carry/Tank hero, lane with ally
Lycanthrope – Tank/Carry/Push hero, lane with ally or jungle
Broodmother – Gank/Carry/Push hero, lane with ally, sometimes solo or jungle
Phantom Assassin – Gank/Carry hero, lane with ally

Evening Tavern:

Gorgon – Gank/Carry hero, lane with ally or solo
Night Stalker – Gank/Carry/Tank hero, lane with ally (gank at night)
Skeleton King – Tank/Support or Carry hero, lane with ally
Doom Bringer – Tank/Carry hero, lane with ally or solo
Nerubian Assassin – Gank/Support hero, lane with ally or solo
Slithereen Guard – Gank/Carry/Tank hero, lane with ally
Queen of Pain – Gank/Carry or Support hero, lane with ally or solo
Bone Fletcher – Carry hero, solo
Faceless Void – Gank/Carry hero, lane with ally
Netherdrake – Gank/Carry/Support hero, lane with ally or solo
Lightning Revenant – Carry/Push hero, solo any lane
Lifestealer – Gank/Carry/Tank hero, lane with ally

Twilight Tavern:

Oblivion – Gank/Support/Push hero, lane with ally
Tidehunter – Gank/Carry/Tank hero, lane with ally
Bane Elemental – Gank/Support hero, lane with ally
Necrolyte – Support/Push/Carry hero, lane with ally or solo
Butcher – Gank/Support/Tank hero, lane with ally or solo
Spiritbreaker – Gank/Carry/Tank hero, lane with ally
Nerubian Weaver – Gank/Carry hero, solo
Shadow Fiend – Gank/Carry hero, solo
Sand King – Gank/Support/Tank hero, lane with ally
Axe – Gank/Tank/Carry hero, lane with ally or jungle
Bloodseeker – Gank/Carry hero, lane with ally or solo
Lord of Avernus – Gank/Carry/Tank hero, lane with ally

Dusk Tavern:

Spectre – Carry/Tank hero, lane with ally
Witch Doctor – Gank/Support hero, lane with ally
Obsidian Destroyer – Carry hero, lane with ally or solo middle
Warlock – Gank/Support/Push/Carry hero (Infernal tanks), lane with ally or solo
Geomancer – Gank/Carry or Support/Push heroes (max of 4 heroes at level 16), lane with ally or jungle
Shadow Priest – Gank/Support hero, lane with ally
Pit Lord – Carry/Tank hero, lane with ally or jungle
Undying – Carry/Push hero (Zombies tank), lane with ally or jungle
Dark Seer – Gank/Carry hero, lane with ally or jungle

___________________________________________________________
(End of original)

There have obviously been changes since this article was first posted and since it is not my work, I don't feel I have the right to make direct edits. So I decided to add the the new heroes separately.

NEW TO THE SENTINEL

Dawn Tavern:

Rattletrap - Gank/Tank hero, lane with ally
Kunkka - Gank/Tank/Push/Support/Carry hero, lane with ally or solo
Alleria - Gank/Carry hero, lane with ally or solo

NEW TO THE SCOURGE

Dusk Tavern:

Kael - Support/Gank/Push/Carry hero, lane with ally or solo (preferably solo)
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Last edited by Wii<R>venom on Fri Nov 07, 2008 3:42 pm; edited 4 times in total