Dota 2 is one of the most complex games to get into, especially if you have never played a MOBA game before. Riot Game’s League of Legends and Mobile Legends offer much more beginner-friendly experiences to new players but there is no such thing in Dota 2.
Although Valve has recently added a New Player Mode for beginners, it only lets you pick your hero from a limited pool. So, when you finally get to play the normal match, most players will be overwhelmed by the number of heroes you can choose from.
Also, all of the heroes are different from each other and require different skill levels to play. Some heroes are easy to play and execute while some take months if not years of practice for you to be better at playing them.
As a beginner, you’ll want to pick a hero that has no complex mechanics and win most of your matches. Here are the best heroes to pick if you are a beginner in Dota 2.
Axe
Axe is a tanky hero who is very easy to understand and play even for a beginner. The hero does well in any situation and only keeps getting stronger as the game goes on.
He can play as both front liner and initiator for his team and is very difficult to kill. He also has very few item variations in every game, making it easier for new players to get the hang of the hero.
Bristleback
Bristleback is another tanky hero who is very hard to kill and can dominate in almost every match. His skill sets are very easy to use and he also comes online very early in the game.
When he is ahead, he can fight against the entire enemy team alone and can make space for his team till they are ready to fight. He is also one of the heroes who aren’t afraid to dive into the enemy base for kills.
Chaos Knight
Chaos Knight is a carry/offlane hero with good damage and survivability. All his skills have low cooldowns and are easy to use which makes him the perfect hero for a beginner who likes playing the damage dealer.
With his long-duration stun, and armor reduction skill, he can easily zone out his enemies in the laning phase. Being a strength hero, he has a good amount of HP.
He can also life steal with his passive ability, so you won’t be punished heavily even if you are playing a bit aggressively.
Crystal Maiden
Crystal Maiden is a support hero who has both slow and stun abilities. As a beginner, she is also an easy hero to play.
She has a slow movement speed which can be the cause of her death in most cases, but if you learn to position properly, she can dish out a lot of damage and offer a lot of control in team fights.
Doom
Doom is another offlane hero that is fairly easy to play. Although I wouldn’t recommend it to a total beginner, you can play it after you have learned about basic controls and items.
He farms very quickly so he can buy his items and make plays from early on in the game. His ability is also very easy to use and he has one of the best ultimates in the game.
Dragon Knight
He is very tanky with high HP regeneration, and the ability to kill heroes and push towers . If you want to carry the game from the offlane, Dragon Knight’s got your back.
He is very durable in the laning phase, and can lane against multiple heroes. He can also reduce the farm of the enemy carry with his first skill as it allows him to easily deny his creeps. He can also play as both initiator and tank for his team.
Drow Ranger
Drow Ranger is weak in the laning phase but if you managed to survive the laning phase without dying too many times, she can bounce back pretty quickly.
Her skills are very easy to use and understand, and in team fights, she can dish out a lot of damage. However, she is very squishy so you need to always be aware of your positioning when you are fighting without vision.
Enchantress
Enchantress is a support hero who can dominate her lane with her enchant ability. With this ability, she can take control of a creep and use it to attack enemy heroes.
She can also use the creep’s ability on them. She also has a healing ability that heals her and her allies. She is a great hero to learn if you want to explore the support role while not feeding too much.
Juggernaut
Juggernaut is one of the few heroes that is suitable for players who have just started playing Dota. This hero has a lot of armor and survivability. He also has a passive skill that lets him do critical damage so he can last-hit creeps better.
His first ability makes him immune to magic damage so he can engage and get out of fights more safely. His ultimate also dishes out tons of damage.
Lich
Lich can spam his nukes by sitting at a safe distance and all of his abilities are point targets. This means that his abilities can’t be dodged by enemies unless they have a BKB.
On top of high-damage nukes, he also has an ability that reduces incoming damage from enemies. And his ultimate has one of the highest magic damage in the game.
Lion
Lion is a fun hero to play if you are a beginner in Dota 2. He has a stun, can disable his enemies, and deals heavy magic damage with his ultimate.
With this, he can set up a lot of kills for his team, and he can also control multiple heroes in a team fight. All his skills are easy to learn and it doesn’t take much practice to be better at this hero.
Luna
Luna is very easy to play because two of her abilities are passive and the remaining two are nukes. Although she has fallen as a carry in this patch, she can be a great hero if you’re just learning the game.
She can also farm very fast and her ultimate ability has the potential to deal heavy damage to enemy heroes. On top of that, she is a ranged hero so she can stay behind her teammates to deal damage during team fights.
Ogre Magi
Ogre Magi is another simple and very effective hero to play if you’re a beginner in Dota 2. He is a spell-casting hero with slow and stun abilities, but he is also surprisingly tanky for an intelligence hero.
Due to this, he can play aggressively right from the start of the match and also can get away with it. And it doesn’t take a lot of skill and positioning to be better at this hero.
Phantom Assassin
Phantom Assassin is really weak in the early game, but once she gets her items, she instantly turns into a killing machine. She gets bonus damage from her ultimate and also has an evasion skill. And the best part is, they are both passive skills so you don’t even have to activate them.
However, they do depend on RNG a lot. Her second skill, Blink, is good for both engaging and disengaging, and her shard is good against heroes who depend on passive ability.
She isn’t in the meta in this patch because of too many counters and nerfs, but she does pretty fine in the lower ranks.
Riki
Throughout the history of Dota, Riki has had multiple changes in his playstyle. He is also known as the Silent Assassin, and for a reason too. Because by the time you notice him, it’s already too late.
He can be played in multiple roles and can shine in all of them. Currently, he is mostly played as soft support because of his shard changes but he can also be played as mid or carry.
He has a good sustain and comes online as soon as he gets his Diffusal Blade or Aghanim Shard. After this, he can immediately start making plays on the map.
Shadow Shaman
Shadow Shaman has all the abilities that you want from a good Dota 2 hero. He has tons of disables, can push out lanes quickly, and also can push towers single-handedly.
He doesn’t need a lot of items to be effective. His skills aren’t too complex to understand so a new player won’t have much trouble learning this hero.
Sniper
Sniper is one of the easiest, if not, the easiest hero in Dota 2. He is also exceptionally annoying when he is playing on the enemy team.
His first skill deals AoE damage and also slows enemies within the area, which can be used to push waves or slow enemies in team fights. He also has a very long attack range so he can hit enemies from miles away with his insane damage.
Sven
Sven is another hero who completely dominates his lane. He has high damage and sustains so he can get most last hits and also deny his own creeps.
He also has good killing potential if he has a support with a stun or a slow. On top of that, he farms extremely fast. With bonus damage from his ultimate, he can wipe out the entire enemy team.
However, his ultimate has quite a long cooldown so you have to make sure that you either win a teamfight or take objectives with it. If you fail to do so, the enemy team might take this opportunity to punish your team.
Undying
Undying is like that one zombie who is always chasing you in zombie survival games. He is constantly in your face, stealing your strength and running around being a nuisance to the enemies. All his abilities either heal him or his allies, or makes him stronger.
He also gets stronger and tankier the longer you fight him. He can provide a lot of healing in the team fight, but he also needs to be in a good position to use his abilities as he can be taken out very early if enemies focus him.
Ursa
If you’ve got tanky enemy cores, then the big bad bear, Ursa has got your back. With Diffusal Blade and Blink Dagger, he can melt any hero in the game.
He is also one of the few heroes who can take Roshan by himself. His abilities are all very easy to use, making him one of the best heroes for beginners.
He can also snowball super hard and dominate the whole game if he gets a good early game. When he activates his ultimate, it is very hard to kill him and his well-timed ultimate can turn the fight around for his team.
Witch Doctor
Witch Doctor can stun multiple enemies and heal his teammates at the same time. His ultimate also deals tons of damage to the enemies.
This hero is strong from early on in the game and can help his carry get some easy kills. The hero is also not that difficult to learn and can win you a lot of games.
Wraith King
Wraith King has one active spell hero to work with, and that too is a point-target ability. This hero is one of the most beginner-friendly heroes because he has high damage, life-steal, and can summon creeps to push towers.
You can practically play this hero with just your mouse. On top of that, his ultimate revives him even if he dies. What more can you ask from a hero?
There are also multiple item choices for this hero. You can either go desolator and one-shot enemy supports or you can go Maelstorm/ Radiance and play for the late game.
Zeus
Zeus has a high magic burst that can kill heroes from full HP. He also has a global reach with his ultimate. His skills have a low cooldown so you can spam them to zone out your enemies from the lane.
He also scales incredibly well as the game goes on. And he can also escape from enemies if they try to gank him, due to his new skill called Heavenly Jump.
In the late game, he can take away most of the enemies’ HP with Refresher Orb. And his Aghanim’s Scepter can disrupt the enemy’s channeling spells and break their formation.
