Gaming
Gaming
10 Dota 2 heroes we love to hate
After extensive research, we’ve compiled an extensive list of Dota 2’s most hated heroes.
Which heroes truly make the blood boil in Dota 2?
© ESL
After queuing and entering a game of Dota 2, most players are hoping for a game filled with jest and merriment. The reality often couldn't be a more distant dream however. We each have the heroes that we just don't want to play against, be it Troll Warlord for his ridiculously quick push, or a Bloodseeker for his 'carry a TP scroll or perish' ultimate.
Sadly it's all too often that we find ourselves staring gormlessly at our monitor as we proceed to throw away 40 minutes of our life for nothing more than a lovely minus 25 MMR at the end of it all.
In times of reflection, it's not uncommon to ask ourselves why we still play this game. Then the allure of Dota kicks in and we play another game, hoping for it to be better than the last. Spoiler alert: it's really not. There are certain heroes in the vast ocean of Dota 2 that are more infuriating than others. We chose our top 10 so that you might be forewarned – if you see these heroes in your game you know you're likely in for a prolonged period of misery.
10. Underlord
Underlord
© Valve
Whilst Underlord disappeared from pub games and the pro scene for a considerable while, he's coming back with a vengeance. Sitting with a 57.3 percent win rate in pub games at the moment, the hero is obscenely tanky – and then there's this huge blue pit that covers the bulk of a lane crossing for 12 seconds.
Step into the pit and you're rooted for 1.8 seconds. Step into it again and you'll be rooted again. Rinse and repeat. An often unavoidable problem that, when combined with a Rod of Atos has you effectively perma-rooted. Catch his team out of position? His huge AoE Dark Rift will teleport his team to safety. And it can't even be cancelled.
9. Doom
Doom
© Valve
Doom's Aghanim's Scepter stops one hero from casting spells until death (assuming he stays within range). Any hero that's widely considered useless, but has one ability on a 2m30s minute cooldown intended to purely delete a hero from the game, has to feature prominently on this list.
8. Invoker
Invoker
© Valve
Stuns, purges, ridiculous slows, huge magic damage, devastating right click? Must be Invoker.
The Invoker on your team can likely only cast Sunstrike and Cold Snap, whilst whenever he's on the other team the Tornado, EMP, Chaos Meteor, Deafening Blast (with Refresher Orb) combination is perfect. With the reduced Tornado cooldown courtesy of his level 25 talent, there aren't many heroes out there more obnoxious to deal with.
7. Outworld Devourer
Outworld Devourer
© Valve
You trundle up to the middle lane having snagged your bounty rune with two Tangos and a Healing Salve to boot, ready to outwit your opponent in a fine exhibition of one versus one skill. Hang on a second, you're playing against an Outworld Devourer.
Whilst initially it all seems hunky dory, wait until they reach level seven. Thanks to OD's Astral Imprisonment, you'll spend four seconds in proverbial jail – every 10 seconds. Suddenly, 40 percent of the laning phase is spent screaming at the monitor and taking an annoyingly large 325 magic damage when finally released back into the world. There's very few who enjoy laning against the notorious lane dominator.
6. Viper
Viper
© Valve
"I had fun once, it was awful" – Viper picker, 2016.
Viper, like Razor, and arguably Outworld Devourer, fits into the lane dominator bracket. Except it's like the hero was designed to purely frustrate people in a one versus one situation. The hero has no AoE presence, apart from anyone and everyone takes damage when they hit him.
Add to that an array of slows and a passive ability that provides bonus damage when both creeps and heroes drop lower in HP, and you have a hero that is obnoxiously frustrating. You'll be hard pushed to find a highlight clip of flashy Viper plays, and with good reason: they don't exist.
5. Naga Siren
Naga Siren
© Valve
A popular saying as old as time in Dota 2: The only player that has fun in a Naga game is the Naga player.
Their opponents meanwhile can do little but watch as creep camps, creeps and towers disappear slowly but surely. It's often a painful death in which you find yourself halfway down a lane only to see two Naga illusions knocking on the base front door. For supports, once the Octarine Core, Radiance and Heart/Butterfly is up, a single illusion could spell the end.
If you have a Naga on your team, it often goes one of two ways. The first is you get stomped as your Naga appears with Boots of Travel and a Radiance after 28 minutes, and is hopeless. The second is that you don't get to kill a creep again as Naga engulfs the map, and you simply have to wait until the player is 'ready to fight'.
4. Bristleback
Bristleback
© Valve
This hero's re-emergence in the professional scene has propelled him towards the top of this, the official-no-comebacks list of heroes we absolutely detest. Two spells that are ridiculously spammable, an ultimate that increases his power as he spams them, and he takes 40 percent less damage from behind? It's likely you'll spend more time feeding to a Bristleback who's running away from four heroes than you will actually trying to kill him.
3. Riki
Riki
© Valve
At the lowest level of play, where people don't know how to buy detection, this hero runs riot. In the middle bracket, where people don't want to buy detection, this hero excels. At the highest level, where players can manoeuvre around detection, this hero is at the very least a huge drain on the enemy's economy.
The invisible pest has a silence and with his ultimate is annoyingly evasive. One Dust of Appearance is often not enough.
2. Silencer
Silencer
© Valve
Ever been to a party where someone continuously changes the music mid-track, and it makes you incandescent with rage? Scrap that. Imagine a creature that turns off the music for six seconds every two minutes. That's someone who picks Silencer.
Everyone in Dota wants to have fun and use their abilities. Enigma doesn't want to have to rush a Black King Bar so their (fun to watch) ultimate can't be cancelled from anywhere by one button. That's without even discussing the hero's ability to permanently steal your intellect and slow you for an ungodly percentage that stacks whilst you cast spells.
1. Techies
Techies
© Valve
We can't even claim this was in any way a difficult decision. There should be no hero who can be standing in one corner of the map yet able to get a rampage in another, and yet here we are. Techies' plethora of explosives allows him to be deadly from the earliest levels.
The miner is yet to reappear in Captain's Mode, and it seems more gimmicky than ever. A sound cue will now alert you when you're in the vicinity of a Proximity Mine, but it's often too late.
Have you ever played against a Bloodseeker, Techies lane? Bloodrage with Blast Off is arguably the most obnoxious combination in the wonderful game of Dota 2. 300 magic damage from level one, with a 25 percent damage amp and an ability to self-heal when he decimates the creep wave and any enemy hero.
If you hadn't seen it, we're sorry for even bringing it up.
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