The Easiest Heroes to Play Who Actually Aren't: Mid and Carry
We are continuing our series discussing heroes who, in our opinion, are not a great fit for newer players. Today, we are going to concentrate on the mid and carry roles. Some people might disagree with the idea of newer players playing high-impact DPS roles in the first place, but maybe we will retain a higher number of newcomers if they think the game more closely resembles the action RPG you play as a DPS core, rather than the survival horror you play as a support.
Range is overrated
At some point, Sniper was one of the introductory heroes in the tutorial, and we believe it is partly the reason for his popularity in the lower level brackets and his popularity as a mid hero. While we can’t deny the fact that Sniper is mechanically undemanding and for this reason alone might be a decent fit for newcomers, there are several problems with the hero worth pointing out.
One of them we already discussed the last time around: Sniper is really squishy and positioning is a relatively hard and broad concept. Given the hero’s win rate, we might be overvaluing its importance and the hero does win a respectable amount in lower level brackets. However the hero has a lot of certain matchups newcomers might not be aware of that can lead to a lot of frustration. Most gap-closing heroes will be a death sentence to this hero, especially given how lower level players are usually considerably more spread across the map and don’t help each other out as much.
The second problem slightly follows from the first one: while Sniper positioning is incredibly important, it is still easier than for most other ranged heroes, hence switching from Sniper to any other hero in the future can be really problematic.
Finally, we don’t think Sniper scales as well as people think he does and that can be a problem in the later portions of the game. Everything else equal, Sniper will have a hard time getting through massive amounts of armor and HP on most other carries. Though to be fair, it can also be a great starting point to discuss Armor, EHP and why sometimes having magic damage procs through Mjollnir and MKB is a must.
Suggesting another hero is definitely a preferred option when it comes to learning Dota, however, this time around the answer isn’t as simple. Just like Offlane, mid requires versatility, but it also requires mechanical skill to go toe-to-toe with an opponent on equal ground and the understanding of where and when to rotate, and what kind of pressure to apply.
We honestly think that Death Prophet is one of the best fits for newcomers, but we are also definitely expecting counter-arguments in the comment section below.
The reason we think the hero is good is because she teaches a little bit of everything to the player. She is not tanky enough to ignore positioning, but not squishy enough to blow up in a second, especially if she gets to use Spirit Siphon. She isn’t a lane dominator like Viper is, but she also has a waveclear that ensures she never comes out of lane too poor and can stand her ground against most heroes.
Depending on the situation, she can gank, she can teamfight and she can push. All of the above can be achieved with more or less the same starting build as well. The hero can also absolutely go late: while she doesn’t scale in a typical manner, she does scale decently well.
Unlike many other mid heroes, she also comes with built-in utility, potentially teaching newcomers that sometimes dealing damage isn’t the only thing you do. Her silence is actually one of the strongest silences in the whole game and should not be underrated, especially with its massive cast range.
In our opinion all of the above qualifies her as a great starting hero for newcomers, especially given how the hero has been trending upwards recently, both in terms of popularity and win rate.
Default carries
Juggernaut is a go-to carry for all new players and we have absolutely zero problems with it: the hero has a good mix of offense and defense, brings some utility in the form of Healing ward, scales well, and never feels out of place. More or less the same can be said about Wraith King — he is a good beginner hero. You really can’t go wrong with these two.
There is another somewhat popular couple of Anti-Mage and Phantom Assassin, the flashy squad, which are not necessarily the best heroes to start learning Dota with. Especially right now, while both heroes are somewhat underpowered.
However, there is a subsection of heroes who always creep up in beginner games, have decent popularity, win a respectable amount of their games and are still, in our opinion, a bad fit for newcomers. We are, of course, talking about invisibility-based heroes.
Heroes like Clnkz and Riki have always been pubstompers. After countless changes over the years IceFrog managed to make them balanced in both lower-level pubs and the highest level of pro play simultaneously, which is an incredible feat on its own, but we still don’t think they should be the default heroes to learn Dota with for newcomers.
They play differently and their strength of invisibility has completely different uses in low and high level play. In the former, it is mostly a tactical retreat tool. In the latter, it is mostly an initiation and strategic positioning tool. Both of them are effective under the right circumstances, but only one will keep on working consistently as players improve.
In some ways, the problems these heroes have are similar to the problems Bristleback has: they don’t teach players Dota in a holistic way. They just give tools to easily exploit weaknesses of other beginner players. Once players start getting out of the trench through spamming this type of heroes, they don’t even actually know how to play Bristleback, Riki or Clinkz well. They just know how to win against weak players and that stops being a helpful skill at around Archon level.
So we are mostly in complete agreement with the community on both Juggernaut and Wraith King, a little bit suspicious of Phantom Assassin and Anti-Mage, but only because they are slightly underpowered right now, and very much against teaching new players to play invisibility heroes first.
Do you agree or disagree with us? Feel free to propose your own heroes that can be a great fit for potential newcomers.
Nice one, Well done!!
Keep em' coming!!
Good article, some solid arguments here. I would also like to propose QoP as another good starting hero for midlaners (since you've mentioned at least 2 heroes for every other role except mid). She has decent stats and laning tools, a mobility spell, and significant amount of burst damage. Playing Queen could teach new players about powerspikes, applying pressure on the map, and her item build is quite flexible so there is definitely room for experiments. Her winrate seems to drop at lower ratings though.
Great explanation ! I do believe Death Prophet is good to learn for beginners
For newcomers you're probably right, DP is a fairly safe choice, but it comes with the caveat that you're not playing with anyone above your level too much. I've got over 200 games with DP and the majority of them were at the beginning of my....'career'? Not sure what to call it but definitely not that....where hitting that R button scared people.
But.
DP gets bullied out of lane early and fast. Terrible attack animation and poor base damage mean it's fairly frustrating to get farm early, especially because your level 1 swarm is really weak and higher levels really drain your mana so you have to be considered with it. Spirit Siphon doesn't do quite enough to keep you alive a lot of the time if the enemy is smart enough to delta split, and having 'charges' basically means in a fight 'this cooldown is 3x as long to actually be effective'. The worst offender of all, however, is the ultimate. It lasts approx. 3-5x the time of a regular fight, which is nice for hitting buildings after the fight but shortsheets your utility within the fight when you need larger bursts of damage. It also means you aren't going to get that life saving heal until well after you need it, which leads to a lot of wasted ultimates and high cooldowns.
For this player, at least, this makes DP feel like a crisis of identity. She can survive a little without farm, so she isn't a safe laner. She needs levels, but can't always survive the mid lane well enough, and doesn't provide the tempo that a lot of lineups are looking for in a mid lane hero. Offlane makes the most sense for what she provides, but there's no question that she will get bullied out. I still think you're right: the hero is great to teach you a lot of things about the mid lane. But, later, I think players will learn to see what DP doesn't provide, which, again, is a fantastic learning device. Even further down the line, they could learn when she REALLY works with a lineup, and is a perfect candidate for beginning to be mindful about the overwhelming advantage communication provides.
Solid article. I think DK is a good beginner hero for mid. Teaches positioning especially as a melee midlaner, trading last hits for harass, the concept of "can farm to become carry, but better off making space", an early understanding of power spikes (level 6, I ult, I'm strong. Blink dagger, I am very strong.) Also has the three things you mentioned: can gank, can teamfight, can push. Then again, he might cause lazy habits by being tanky enough (people won't ferry out regen).
For pos 1 carry, wouldn't a ranged hero facilitate their learning of the game better? Maybe Drow or Luna, who has enough clear to keep up with melee carries who can battle fury/radiance, and also can show up to fights early
@ET
I'd say Sniper would make even more sense. Doesn't have to step up to creep wave, ultimate isn't contingent on nearby creeps, doesn't lose damage if someone is too close, and makes it abundantly clear why positioning is important. I'd put razor and dusa in the mix as well for ranged.
Necrophos is even easier hero to play than DP.. but it has lower ganking exposure..
Good article. But what I would love next would be an article on weaver. Weaver's build has changed a lot since the new 7.28 items have been introduced, and there are so many great midgame options for him, Sange and Yasha, Diffusal blade, Desolator, Maelstrom all of those with the option of falcon blade beforehand. I would love an article on when to buy these items.
Hit the nail on the head with death prophet. I pretty much learned how to play dota only playing death prophet, taught me a lot about what's important in the game.
Антимага рекомендовать новичку? Ребят, вы с дуба рухнули? На этом герое мало того что надо уметь как минимум фармить, так ещё и грамотно перемещаться по карте и понимать что делать когда что-то пошло не по плану и это я молчу про грамотное прожатие кнопок да понимание силы своего героя на линии (а ведь выжигание маны далеко не самый бесполезный скилл). В целом новичку порекомендовать но роль кора можно МК (особых мозгов не требует+ стоит практически с любым миллишником в харде)
Because Sniper is much less reliable due to the heavily reliant on positioning, I'd like to add a point that Drow and Luna are one of the safer picks for beginners.
Drow and Luna's skillset are very simple. The former has a great attack speed, silence to prevent ganks, slows, and once she reaches lvl 6, and Multishot allows to clear camp stacks very fast, also she is one of the best ranged pushers in the game for beginners who wants to play carry: excellent damage output from long range, multishot, and buffs any other ranged cores (e.g. DK with dragon).
Luna, on the other hand, have a great mix magical and physical damage output, easy to push, easy nukes, and easy to farm. Despite she is generally played as a physical-damage pusher carry, on the other hand, if she wants to go magical damage, she can be terrifying threat for high-armor melee heroes and heroes that tends to stay on the backlines (DK, TB, Sniper, Snap, etc.)
QOP is difficult. Even for upper level, one death = gg. QOP is that kinda hero.
i didnt think i gonna comment in this but i dont think dp is a easy hero lol
void spirit or zeus is better is probably way more braindead and easy
void spirit is super strong at lane too and spells are easy to land except remmant but you can just always go 2 3 build anyway
^I think KawaiiSocks's point in this article was guiding beginners towards heroes are "easy" but also teach you the proper way to play Dota, not just relying on stupid shit that can be countered starting Legend and above. Not saying that Void Spirit and Zeus won't teach you how to play Dota, but that DP is the right mix of easy enough yet won't blatantly carry the player.
>IceFrog managed to make them balanced
Actually, I've stopped reading the article after this.
Icefg can't balance anything for years.
sniper and DP are both decent heroes beginners need to grind more in the process so that they can coup up DOTA scene whether pub or pro players DOTA will be and always be a team played game for them to succeed... to wrap up beginners should coordinate and teach, learn TEAM PLAY DOTA. it is the core structure of the game beginners should embed as their CREED for DOTA.
In pubs, heroes like DP or Leshrac are only reliable if you use them to push objectives. In the case of DP, exorcism can be extremely underwhelming in team fights when your team in not in sync with you. It is just better to use it to push objectives and Roshan. If the new player understands that (which they absolutely do not), then yeah, it is a good beginner hero (so, it isn't).
Jug has higher skill ceiling than WK but both heroes can be punished for using their abilities wrong. Jug requires basic skill and mana management, which a lot of new players do not have. It also requires you to know how to manage your healing ward, which low mmr players cannot do. WK, when he has ulti up, he should be the first person to die in a fight. Try to convince your low mmr WK to just walk in there die and trust his team will not bail while he is reincarnating (they will bail).
All heroes can be hard to play if things around you are incoherent, which they mostly are. Any PA player can seem godlike when his offlaner Tide or Underlord buys greaves/pipe and his support Tusk or Dazzle buys a medallion into solar crest and knows how to use it. Try to play PA when your Pango, Weaver offlaner is farming your jungle, not pushing towers, buying all carry items and zero auras, or your DK mid is getting a freaking radiance and hitting camps. It all is relative in dota.