In this video I will be going through
the roles or what I consider sub roles
or types that each hero can be
categorized by. By the end of the video
you should know the various types of
heroes that exist and an idea on how
each one may be used or picked in a team
composition. Having knowledge of the sub
roles is super useful if you want to
pick heroes that work well together but
also counter what the enemy might be
trying to do. Alright so if this video
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so yeah cool. Alright let's go. So last
week I explained the competitive
positions or roles of each player and
how this differs to sub roles which I'll
talk about today. Now the player position
or role is more like a job title you
might hold whereas the sub role is more
like a task you perform within that role
or job. This is how heroes are actually
categorized within the game and inside
DotA itself you can filter the heroes by
clicking on the little icons and
selecting from the different categories.
Now these categories are carry, support,
nuker, disabler, jungler, durable, escape,
pusher and initiator. Each hero is
assigned at least one of these sub roles
but they usually have around three or
four so just remember that heroes are
versatile and can often be selected for
different jobs. Now while the heroes are
classified in DotA by these filters, it
doesn't mean that heroes that don't have
these filters applied to them can't
perform that role. For example I consider
Lina to be a pusher hero as she can
quickly clear waves and her high attack
speed can shred towers very quickly but
she's not actually listed as a pusher hero. Alright now let's get started with
the carry hero. Now I covered the carry
position last week but the carry class
of hero is essentially one that scales
and gets stronger compared to other
heroes in the late game. There are
typically two types of carry heroes: semi
carries and hard carries. Semi carries
usually have a reasonable start and
scale well throughout the whole game.
These guys generally have some form of
crowd control spells and they are
usually picked when you want to end the
game earlier rather than later as they
will be beaten by hard carries.
Now examples of semi carries are Razor,
Mirana and Bloodseeker. Hard carries on
the other hand are usually very fragile
early-game and can't do much without
several items. They almost always need a
babysitter or a very favorable matchup
to be useful early. Now late-game these
guys will beat almost any other hero,
especially if they are six slotted. Examples
of hard carries include Antimage
Spectre and Terrorblade. A support hero
generally does not rely heavily on items
or gold. They are useful all game but
especially early game as their spells are
quite often much stronger than carry
heroes and contain many disables. Some
supports scale better than others and
can almost be classified as semi carries.
An example of this might be Silencer sort
of Mirana as these heroes can fulfil
both roles.
Other examples of support heroes are
Crystal Maiden, Dazzle and Witch Doctor.
Nuker heroes are heroes that have
spells which can deal large amounts of
burst damage.
These guys are ideal if you need to
bring a target down fast before they get
a chance to cast their spells or escape.
They are extremely useful with disabler
heroes in ganks as they can kill a
disabled enemy before they have a chance
to cast their own spells and get to
safety. Many nuker heroes are single
target but sometimes they may also have
AoE abilities allowing them to clear
waves faster and push out lanes. Examples
of nuker heroes are Lina, Queen of Pain and
zeus but there are many many more. The
disabler sub role classifies heroes
which have a spell that hinders the
enemy. There are many different types of
disables including stuns, slows and
silences. Now these guys are very useful
in catching enemy heroes or controlling
certain heroes in teamfights and thus
are usually geared towards ganking or
team fighting. Quite often they will also
be classified as initiators as they have
great potential to catch escaping
enemies and hold them down until the
team shows up to finish them off.
Examples of disabler heroes are Lion,
Shadow Shaman and Clockwork Goblin. A
jungler hero is usually one which can
fight neutral creeps in the jungle from
level 1 instead of going to a lane. Many
jungler heroes can dominate a
neutral creep to claim them as their own
or they can otherwise spawn their own
controllable creeps to tank the neutrals.
They may also have lifesteal abilities
which help them to sustain the damage
they may take. At the moment, this is not
often a strategy used as it reduces the
strength of one of your lanes. Examples
of jungler heroes include Nature's
Prophet, Enigma and Chen. A durable hero
is one which can sustain high levels of
damage and last longer in teamfights
than other heroes. Many of them are
strength heroes simply because they have
larger health pools
due to their high strength gain. These
guys may also have abilities which help
them to replenish health or reduce
incoming damage to help them survive
longer. A durable hero is often also an
initiator as they are often in the
middle of the action tanking the damage
inflicted upon them. They are great
heroes to pick if you want to bait
enemies into throwing their high damage
spells on you rather than your
squishier teammates. Durable heroes
include Bristleback, Mars and Viper.
Escape heroes have abilities that help
them get to safety quickly. Many of them
have blinks, teleports or invisibility
abilities to help them escape. They are
also often classified as initiators or
pushers as their quick movement allows
them to get in and out very fast. These
guys are extremely mobile heroes and
great for split-pushing however they
become vulnerable if they are locked
down and caught. Heroes that can be
classified as escape types include Antimage,
Ember Spirit and IO. Pushers, well,
they do exactly what the title says they
do. They push creep waves and damage
buildings very quickly and are ideal
picks if you want to end a game quickly
before the enemy can come online. Their
abilities generally include some sort of
AoE waveclear and they may also be
classified as nukers as their abilities
can be used to damage enemy heroes or
enemy creeps or structures quickly.
Pushers are also very useful for counter
push as their wave clear abilities can
shut down an enemy push. You may even
split push lanes to force enemies back
into defense and gain map control for
your own team. Shadow Shaman, Tinker and
Pugna are all examples of pusher type
heroes.
Now the last one on the list
the initiator is someone who is good at
catching enemies off-guard and starting
or participating in large team fights.
Often also classified as disablers,
their abilities are suited towards
jumping into battle to lock down an
enemy or gain an advantage with the
element of surprise. Many have large AoE
stuns or damage and sometimes have
powerful long cooldown ultimates. these
are the guys you want to have in your
frontline to catch enemies and absorb
damage while the rest of your heroes
engage shortly after. Initiator heroes
include Axe, Centaur and Puck. If you enjoy
the video make sure you hit the like
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up. Hopefully you got something out of
the video and if you think it might help
someone else please go ahead and share
it with them. Let me know what your
favorite sub role is in the comment
section below.
Other than carry I love nuker heroes
as I love to gank enemies and snowball!
Alright thanks everyone for watching. I'm
Blake Unlively and happy gaming!
