Dota 2 is the most difficult exemplar of the MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) genre. The game has an infamously steep learning curve thanks to all the different mechanics and game states that one has to grapple with. A common advice given to beginners is to take a simple hero and spam it so they can focus more on learning the macro-mechanics rather than the hero itself.
The heroes of Dota 2 vary greatly in levels of complexity. Irrespective of role, many of them have a straightforward set of skills and cookie-cutter builds that work in most games. On the other end of the spectrum, some heroes can take hundreds of matches to master.
5 most difficult Dota 2 heroes to learn in 2023
1) Invoker
Looking for Crossword hints & solutions? Check out latest NYT Mini Crossword Answers, LA Times Crossword Answers, and Atlantic Crossword Answers
Many MOBA characters will fit the bill of an egoistic grand vizier stereotype, and their kits will usually reflect the height of their sorcery. Invoker, however, takes a unique place within this archetype. Unlike any hero in any popular MOBA, Invoker has access to 10 different spells at his fingertips.
Invoker has three elemental orbs that he can mix and match: Quas, Wex, and Exort. Not only do they provide their own set of benefits and stats while they are maintained, but the spells are produced based on the combination of these elements you have when you "Invoke."
Mastering Invoker means not only turning the spell combination list into muscle memory but also knowing the right time and place to use each of them.
The spells also gain enhancements to damage, duration, and range depending on the level of progenitor orbs you have. Because of this, only a long-time Invoker spammer will have a complete understanding of the limitations and powers of their spells at any stage of the game.
2) Earth Spirit
There are four Spirit heroes in Dota 2—Earth Spirit, Ember Spirit, Storm Spirit, and Void Spirit. They all function through a variation of a "Remnant" spell that creates their elemental image. The rest of their spells are intentionally designed around their remnants, often interacting with them in some form.
All of these Spirit heroes come with some degree of complexity. Arguably, Earth Spirit is the hardest to get a grip on among them. While the other Spirit heroes can get away with relying on their stats and right clicks to a varying extent, all of Earth Spirit's impact in a Dota 2 match comes down to raw skill.
Earth Spirit's Stone Remantants are add-on elements to all of his spells rather than being a spell of its own. In turn, Stone Remnants directly interact with all of his spells, granting him more mobility and, sometimes, becoming the very vehicle of the other spells.
All three of his basic spells are skill shots that a beginner can easily whiff. When you miscast them on Earth Spirit, your impact is severely neutered. On the other hand, an expert Earth Spirit is a menace to the opponent team due to his high skill ceiling. This is why, despite his mechanical difficulty, Earth Spirit seldom gets buffed in a patch.
3) Morphling
An elemental manifestation of oceanic tides, Morphling, all under the ranged Agility carry archetype in Dota 2. However, he is more than a by-the-numbers physical damage core like Drow Ranger and Luna.
First and foremost, the Attributes of Dota 2 themselves are in flux when you play Morphling. He starts the game with a very meager amount of base stats but can allot his Strength attributes toward Agility and vice versa through Attribute Shift.
Changing attributes as the occasions arise is not unique to Morphling in Dota 2, as it can be explained away as a more engaged version of timely Power Tread switching. The more difficult part of Morphling is his ultimate, which makes him get a copy of the basic abilities of a targetted enemy hero.
Morphling himself is a good Agility-based right-clicking core with built-in mobility, a nuke, and a stun. But often, Morphling will be picked with the express intent to Morph into a specific enemy hero to cast their abilities.
While playing Morphling as a token Agility core is viable without ever using Morph, utilizing his full potential is much more difficult. Only a player with a higher overall game sense and understanding of his opponent's abilities can thrive on this hero.
4) Chen
The original inspiration for Dota 2 was a custom map on Warcraft 3, the first-ever prototype for the MOBA genre altogether. Owing to the genre's lineage to miro-heavy APM games like Starcraft 2, there are naturally some heroes with micromanagement elements.
While the bulk of them are illusion heroes, there are unique cases with fresh takes on the idea of a micro-heavy hero. Meepo, for example, is a set of multiple hero-creeps with shared stats, while Arc Warden can create a temporary copy of himself with all his items and abilities.
Chen is arguably the most difficult of them to master. While the likes of Meepo take a great deal of getting used to, a series of quality-of-life changes have made them easier to pick up and learn. Chen, on the other hand, is much more reliant on neutral creeps.
Successfully playing Chen depends on knowing about and getting the right creeps from neutral camps. You also micromanage an entire legion of them while keeping an eye on the entire map to use his global healing spell.
5) IO
Some would call IO the most unique character within the whole MOBA genre. For all of the other Dota 2 heroes on this list, the bigger part of the challenge is learning the mechanics of the hero. In the case of IO, however, mechanical mastery is only a small part of the equation.
IO, also known as the Wisp, is a pure support hero by design. There have been famous instances of the hero being successfully adopted into a carry role, but IO's identity usually revolves around latching on to a carry, literally and figuratively.
Mastery of IO requires developing a rapport with the core you are supporting. Communication in public matchmaking is often not easy or symmetrical, meaning that IO players will need to intuitively read their own core's moves.
This entails knowing when to link to your carry to provide healing, attack speed, or spell amp, when to relocate them into a fight or get them out of a fight, and when to leave them altogether so you do not leech experience.
Are you stuck on today's Wordle? Our Wordle Solver will help you find the answer.