Dota 2 hero roster - Find the character that's right for you

Warlock

Shadow Word: The Warlock whispers an incantation, healing a friendly unit or damaging an enemy unit over time (10/20/30/40 damage/health a second). Lasts 9 seconds.

Upheaval: A powerful slowing current that grows stronger as it's channelled. Lasts up to 10 seconds, slowing enemies up to 84%. Enemies are slowed for 3 seconds after leaving the area or the spell ends.

Chaotic Offering: Summons a Golem from the depths, dealing 100 damage and stunning enemies for one second. The Golem lives 60 seconds, takes reduced damage from spells, and has Permanent Immolation (burns nearby units for 30/40/50 damage each second) and Flaming Fists (60% chance to deal 100/150/200 bonus damage on attack).

Roles: Initiator, Disabler, Support, Lane Support
Difficulty: Easy

Windrunner

Powershot: Windrunner charges her bow for up to 1 second for a single powerful shot. The arrow deals damage to enemy units and destroys trees in its path. Damage (120/200/280/360) is greatest on first target, and reduces by 10% for each target it pierces thereafter. If the channeling is cancelled early, the shot will still occur but deal less damage.

Windrun: Increases movement speed by 50% and adds evasion from all physical attacks, while slowing movement (8%/16%/24%/30%) of nearby enemies. Lasts a few (2.75/3.5/4.25/5) seconds.

Focus Fire: Windrunner channels the wind, gaining maximum attack speed on the enemy unit or structure, although with reduced damage (50%/40%/30%), including damage from unique attack modifiers and item effects. Once Windrunner switches targets, the speed is lost. Lasts 20 seconds.

Roles: Disabler, Nuker, Support, Escape
Difficulty: Hard

Witch Doctor

Voodoo Restoration: Witch Doctor focuses his magic to heal nearby allied units. This is a toggled ability, which costs (25/50/75/100) mana to activate initially, then (8/14/20/26) mana per second after that. Heals (16/24/32/40) HP per second.

Maledict: Curses all enemy Heroes in an area, causing them to take damage (5/10/15/20) every 4 seconds, adding bonus damage for every 100 HP lost since the curse began. Lasts 12 seconds.

Death Ward: CHANNELED - Summons a deadly ward to attack enemy heroes. The Death Ward has attack range of 700, and attacks every 0.3 seconds for (60/90/120) damage. Level 3 Death Ward has multishot and attacks multiple targets. Lasts 8 seconds.

Roles: Support, Disabler
Difficulty: Medium

Zeus

Lightning Bolt: Summons a bolt of lightning to strike an enemy unit, causing damage (100/175/275/350) and a ministun. Lightning Bolt also provides True Sight around the target in a radius of 900.

Static Field: Zeus shocks all nearby enemy units whenever he casts a spell, causing damage proportional (5%/7%/9%/11%) to their current health.

Thundergod's Wrath: Strikes all enemy heroes on the map with a bolt of lightning, dealing massive damage (210/335/460). Thundergod's Wrath also provides True Sight around each hero struck. If an enemy hero is invisible, it takes no damage, but the True Sight is still created at that hero's location.

Roles: Nuker, Support
Difficulty: Easy

Invoker

Wex: Allows manipulation of storm elements and grants a permanent agility bonus. Each Wex instance provides increased attack speed and movement speed. Can be leveled 7 times, with a maximum of 3 instances.

Exort: Allows manipulation of fire elements and grants a permanent intelligence bonus. Each Exort instance provides increased attack damage. Can be leveled 7 times, with a maximum of 3 instances.

Invoke: Combines the properties of the three elements currently being manipulated, creating a new spell at the Invoker's disposal. The invoked spell is determined by the combination of Quas, Wex and Exort. Past level 2, Invoke allows two available invoked spells at a time.

Invoked spells:

Cold Snap (3 Quas): Invoker draws the heat from an enemy, chilling them to their very core for a duration based on Quas. Further damage taken in this state will freeze the enemy again, dealing bonus damage. The enemy can only be frozen so often, but the freeze cooldown decreases based on the level of Quas.

Ghost Walk (2 Quas, 1 Wex): Invoker manipulates the ice and electrical energies around him, rendering his body invisible. The elemental imbalance created as a consequence slows nearby enemies based on the level of Quas, and slows Invoker as well based on the level of Wex.

Ice Wall (2 Quas, 1 Exort): Generates a wall of solid ice directly in front of Invoker for a duration based on the level of Quas. The bitter cold emanating from it greatly slows nearby enemies based on the level of Quas and deals damage each second based on the level of Exort.

EMP (3 Wex): Invoker builds up a charge of electromagnetic energy at a targeted location which automatically detonates after a duration based on the level of Wex. The detonation covers an area, draining mana based on the level of Wex. Deals damage for each point of mana drained.

Tornado (2 Wex, 1 Quas): Unleashes a fast moving tornado that picks up enemy units in its path, suspending them helplessly in the air shortly before allowing them to plummet to their doom. Travels further based on the level of Wex. Holds enemies in the air for a duration based on the level of Quas. Deals damage based on the levels of Quas and Wex.

Alacrity (2 Wex, 1 Exort): Invoker infuses an ally with an immense surge of energy, increasing their attack speed based on the level of Wex and their damage based on the level of Exort.

Sun Strike (3 Exort): Sends a catastrophic ray of fierce energy from the sun at any targeted location, incinerating all enemies standing beneath it once it reaches the Earth. Deals damage based on the level of Exort, however this damage is spread evenly over all enemies hit.

Forge Spirit (2 Exort, 1 Quas): Invoker forges a spirit embodying the strength of fire and fortitude of ice. Damage, health, and armor are based on the level of Exort while attack range, mana, and duration are based on the level of Quas. The elemental's scorching attack is capable of melting the armor of enemy heroes. If both Quas and Exort are level 4 or higher, Invoker will create two spirits instead of one.

Chaos Meteor (2 Exort, 1 Wex): Ability invokes if Invoker has 2 Exort and 1 Wex instances. Invoker pulls a flaming meteor from space onto the targeted location. Upon landing, the meteor rolls forward, constantly dealing damage based on the level of Exort, and rolling further based on the level of Wex. Units hit by the meteor will also be set on fire for a short time, receiving additional damage based on the level of Exort.

Deafening Blast (1 Quas, 1 Wex, 1 Exort): Invoker unleashes a mighty sonic wave in front of him, dealing damage to any enemy unit it collides based on the level of Exort. The sheer impact from the blast is enough to knock those enemy units back for a duration based on the level of Quas, then disarm their attacks for a duration based on the level of Wex.

Roles: Carry, Initiator, Nuker, Escape
Difficulty: Insane

A never-ending battle

If you love browsing through awesome character rosters as much as we do, then we highly recommend checking out our wishlist for Super Smash Bros Wii U inclusions, as well as the franchise brawlers thatll face off in the PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale roster.

Lucas Sullivan

Lucas Sullivan is the former US Managing Editor of GamesRadar+. Lucas spent seven years working for GR, starting as an Associate Editor in 2012 before climbing the ranks. He left us in 2019 to pursue a career path on the other side of the fence, joining 2K Games as a Global Content Manager. Lucas doesn't get to write about games like Borderlands and Mafia anymore, but he does get to help make and market them.