Carry heroes do what their name suggests, they carry the game on their backs. They’re responsible for the majority of the damage and impact in a game. To ensure that you don't feel like a liability to your team during the game, it's important to have a carry hero who is both dependable and robust. While there are many carry heroes available, not all of them are equally capable of carrying the team alone and surviving in the later stages of the game. Some heroes perform exceptionally well under pressure, while others falter. Choosing the right carry hero can quickly change the game's direction and ensure that your opponents suffer.
With so many carry heroes in the game, it is challenging to select the appropriate one for specific scenarios. To help with this decision, we have ranked the top 15 Carry Heroes for the rampage in the new meta.
15. Slark
Behold the elusive and formidable hero, Slark, whose mere presence on the battlefield sends shivers down the spines of his enemies. From the very beginning of the game, he unleashes a barrage of devastating attacks that can leave his opponents paralyzed. With an uncanny ability to evade detection, Slark is the ultimate carry hero, lurking in the shadows and pouncing from every angle to take down even the most powerful heroes. Slark may not farm as quickly if compared to his peers, but his durability and versatility make him a force to be reckoned with in the later stages of the game.
In 7.33 Slark is even tougher to catch, thanks to his choice of items and a generous buff to his Pounce and ultimate, Shadow Dance. His build includes a Diffusal Blade, which greatly boosts his power by draining enemy mana, slowing their movements, and dealing heavy damage when paired with Sange and Yasha. Furthermore, he can purify himself of numerous debuffs, giving him the ability to swing a team fight to his advantage. With his six-item inventory, Slark unleashes chaos upon his foes without hesitation.
Why is Slark a great fearsome carry?
- Slark can purge off spells, making him hard to lock down during teamfights.
- With the help of his passive, Slark can steal enemy agility, thus gaining more damage, making him stronger right from the get-go
- Immense movement speed and mobility with Pounce
- Shadow Dance grants immense survivability as well as HP regen, allowing Slark to teamfight easily.
- Aghanim’s Scepter and Shard grant him increased survivability as well as harass potential
Top 5 Best Endgame Items for Slark
- Silver Edge - Upon usage, it turns Slark invisible while increasing his movement speed. Attacking enemies will end the invisibility and will deal bonus physical damage while also disabling their passive spells. This item is good against heroes with OP passives like Bristleback, or Phantom Assassin.
- Aghanim’s Scepter - Increases Pounce distance by a huge margin, also providing him two charges of the same, allowing him to initiate or escape a bad fight.
- Eye of Skadi - Causes Slark’s attacks to lower enemy attack and movement speed while reducing their health regeneration and lifesteal by 40%. It is exceptional if you are facing tanky heroes that regen or lifesteal fast. It also provides huge bonuses such as increased stats, HP, and Mana.
- Butterfly - Provides Slark with 35% evasion and increased agility and attack speed. The evasion is highly useful in the later stages of the game to stand your ground. It is an essential item if Slark is facing multiple heroes with high attack damage.
- Black King Bar - Provides magic immunity upon usage, making Slark invulnerable during team fights. It is essential in most matchups as he has low magical resistance. It also applies a basic dispel upon usage.
Slark is strong against
- Arc Warden - Flux is dispelled by Dark Pact, which allows him to escape a sticky setup by Arc Warden.
- Luna - Luna's lack of mobility and escape abilities makes her easy to gank for Slark.
- Sniper - Sniper hugely lacks mobility and escape abilities so he is an easy target for ganks from Slark.
Slark is weak against:
- Ancient Apparition - Ice Blast stops Shadow Dance's passive health regeneration, even when Slark is not in vision.
- Meepo - Earthbind and Poof will still hit Slark in Shadow Dance.
- Axe - Berserker's Call forces Slark to attack him, even during Shadow Dance.
https://dota2.fandom.com/wiki/Slark
14. Riki
Riki, the silent assassin, has toppled kingdoms and destroyed his enemies with ease. His unparalleled swiftness and elusiveness render him invisible to all but the most perceptive of players. Novices are confounded by his ability to remain hidden, but for seasoned players, he is the quintessential carry hero. When partnered with suitable lane support, Riki becomes an unstoppable threat, easily bulldozing through his enemies after just a few early kills. His invisibility is his most compelling trait, particularly to newer players who find it fascinating. With the help of his Blink Strike, he frequently roams to other lanes in the early game, pouncing upon unsuspecting foes with deadly precision.
Riki's potential as a carry hero doesn’t just rely on his abilities but his true potential is unleashed with the right items. With items like Diffusal Blade, Riki can amplify his physical damage output and mana-burn enemies, depleting their mana and slowing them down. Abyssal Blade grants him additional lockdown and control, allowing him to stun and paralyze enemies easily. The combination of these items can make Riki an unstoppable force, a terrifying prospect for the enemy team to face.
Why is Riki a great fearsome carry?
- Riki's ultimate allows him to move around the map unseen, making him an excellent team fighter.
- His Blink Strike ability allows him to quickly close the gap between himself and his targets, dealing significant physical damage.
- Riki's ability to purge debuffs with his Tricks of the Trade can turn the tide of team fights in his favor.
- With items such as Diffusal Blade and Abyssal Blade, Riki's damage output can become lethal, making him a threat in the late game as well.
Items to buy on Riki
- Diffusal Blade - Allows Riki to slow the targeted enemy for 4 seconds, while also passively burning mana upon each physical attack. It is a much-needed item against high mana spell-casters or even against pesky heroes.
- Abyssal Blade - Stuns the targetted unit, it pierces spell immunity. Hence, it can be a useful item to temporarily disable any heroes under the effect of Black King Bar as it pierces spell immunity.
- Eye of Skadi - Causes Riki’s attacks to lower enemy attack and movement speed while reducing their health regeneration and lifesteal by 40%. It is exceptional if you are facing tanky heroes that regen or lifesteal fast. It also provides huge bonuses such as increased stats, HP, and Mana.
- Black King Bar - Provides magic immunity upon usage, making Riki invulnerable during team fights. It is essential in most matchups as he has low magical resistance. It also applies a basic dispel upon usage.
- Aghanim’s Shard - Enemies in the smoke screen have their armor reduced and cannot be targeted by their allies. This is an effective upgrade in the new meta as it assures your enemy can’t escape so easily from the Smoke Screen.
Riki is strong against
- Anti-Mage - Anti-Mage can use neither Blink nor Manta Style to escape from Smoke Cloud.
- Clinkz - Smoke Cloud prevents the use of Death Pact, Searing Arrows, and Skeleton Walk, so Clinkz can neither defend himself against Riki nor fight back effectively.
- Sniper - Sniper has no natural escape and relies on his range and slows to keep himself safe, which Riki can bypass with Blink Strike and quickly deplete his miniature HP pool.
Riki is weak against
- Axe - Axe can disable Riki’s Cloak and Dagger's invisibility with Berserker's Call, which forces Riki to attack him at a very bad angle.
- Bounty Hunter - Track reveals Riki while invisible and gives him a hard time, as it prevents much of his ganking capabilities. This can force Riki to buy Manta Style to dispel it.
- Meepo - Root is a deadly threat to Riki, disabling both Blink Strike and Tricks of the Trade while making him fully revealed, making Earthbind a good ability against him.
13. Bloodseeker
In 7.33, Bloodseeker is a lethal hero who can deal significant damage right from the laning phase, especially when paired with solid support. Even if the game does not go well, he can always retreat to the jungle where he can farm and sustain himself with his spells. Along with that, Thirst can reveal enemy heroes on low health, granting him increased movement and attack speed. Bloodseeker is one of those carry heroes who are powerful right from the early game and do not require multiple items to cause chaos in the game. This meta has seen immense buffs to his Aghanim’s Shard along with his ultimate, Rupture.
The cold-blooded hunter Bloodseeker is known for his mania and vigor. His blades cut deep into his foes, he leaves them bleeding and heavily wounded. He is a lethal force that can never go unnoticed. Bloodseeker can effortlessly jungle or lane, as he is blessed with high base armor as well as high attack speed. His passive sustain him in the lane, allowing him to play aggressively. He can gank other lanes with the availability of his ultimate, often removing heroes from a team fight.
What Makes Bloodseeker a fearsome carry hero?
- Thirst provides increased movement speed and vision to hunt and kill low HP enemies.
- Gains a maximum of 25% of unit health as heal after killing them, which makes him sustainable as a carry.
- Massive AoE with Blood Rite, if used efficiently, can lead to both enemy and neutral kills.
- High base attack speed is amplified by Bloodrage.
- Rupture can immobilize enemies in the early game, leading to their deaths within no time with ample follow-up from Bloodseeker’s allies
Top 5 Best End-Game items for Bloodseeker
- Mjolnir - Provides a chance to do lightning AoE damage to enemies that attack Bloodseeker, while also dealing damage when he is attacking others.
- Black King Bar - Provides spell immunity from all enemy magic damage spells, making Bloodseeker invulnerable in the fight.
- Sange and Yasha - Provide decent stats, agility, strength, and physical damage. SnY also provides status resistance and increased movement speed, making Bloodseeker fast and stronger against his foes.
- Abyssal Blade - Upon cast, it stuns the targetted hero for 2 seconds. Can be used to quickly lock down enemies, allowing Bloodseeker to beat them down with the physical damage
- Monkey King Bar - Provides a chance to truly strike upon physical attacks while also providing increased damage to Bloodseeker.
Bloodseeker is strong against
- Clinkz - Skeleton Walk is not enough to outrun Bloodseeker, and is detected by Thirst.
- Meepo - Bloodseeker can chase down retreating clones when Meepo tries to cycle weaker clones away from combat.
- Slark -Bloodseeker is one of the hardest counters to Slark. Thirst prevents Slark from healing in the lane with Shadow Dance and may set him up for a kill while in the jungle, or retreating.
Bloodseeker is weak against
- Tinker - Laser blinds Bloodseeker, preventing him from getting last hits and denies during the laning stage and preventing him from finishing off enemies.
- Faceless Void - Chronosphere prevents Bloodseeker from running down and picking off weak enemies during teamfights.
- Omniknight - Guardian Angel's near invulnerability denies Bloodseeker the bonuses from Thirst, preventing him from gaining the upper hand in teamfights.
https://dota2.fandom.com/wiki/Bloodseeker
12. Lifestealer
Lifestealer is an incredibly dangerous hero in the current meta, he is capable of tearing apart enemies in mere seconds with his immense damage. He's a hard-carry hero, and when facing squishy foes, he's a powerful force that can carry his team to victory. With his carefully chosen arsenal of items, he's pretty much unstoppable, leaving his enemies with no chance of victory. Additionally, Lifestealer's Rage can make him invincible to enemy magic attacks, rendering spell-casting heroes useless against him. His items supplement his toolkit, making it worse for his enemies to have any impact (if at all) against him.
Lifestealer is a highly aggressive hero that relies on kills to get gold to further acquire items. He's a ruthless fighter, capable of obliterating entire enemy teams with his immense strength and damaging attacks, especially as he accumulates more and more items. Lifestealer's incredible damage output begins early in the game and stays through the late game, where he becomes even more powerful and almost unstoppable.
What makes Lifestealer a fearsome carry hero?
- Has immense lifesteal (duh) from physical attacks, which allows him to sustain his ground in teamfights.
- Rage provides decent magic immunity which helps him in teamfights.
- He can escape or initiate with his Infest, allowing him that extra mobility and initiation.
- High base damage and armor along with movement speed.
Top 5 Best Endgame Items for Lifestealer
- Armlet of Mordiggian - Provides increased HP and damage, and is toggleable. Lifestealer benefits highly from this toggleable HP mechanic.
- Desolator - Provides increased damage along with armor corruption on physical attacks. It can also gain stacks and increased the mentioned perks with the increase in stacks. Desolator is ideal to mow down the squishy supports.
- Abyssal Blade - Upon cast, it stuns the targetted hero for 2 seconds. Can be used to quickly lock down enemies, allowing Lifesteaer to beat them down with physical damage.
- Sange and Yasha - Provide decent stats, agility, strength, and physical damage. SnY also provides status resistance and increased movement speed, making Lifestealer fast and stronger than his carry counterpart.
- Assault Cuirass - Increases armor and attack speed while reducing the same for enemies in an AoE. This along with Desolator help Lifestealer in demolishing his low armor foes.
Lifestealer is strong against:
- Tinker - Lifestealer's Rage makes him immune to all of Tinker's damage and debuffs.
- Invoker - Rage protects Lifestealer nearly from all of Invoker's spells.
- Silencer - If Lifestealer can Infest himself on any unit, he can avoid being affected by Global Silence.
Lifestealer is weak against:
- Ancient Apparition - Ice Blast prevents Lifestealer from life-stealing and healing with Infest in fights.
- Beastmaster - Primal Roar pierces Rage and can disable Lifestealer in fights.
- Ursa - Lifestealer can't fight Ursa at any stage of the game because of his high physical damage with Fury Swipes and Overpower.
https://dota2.fandom.com/wiki/Lifestealer
11. Faceless Void
Faceless Void is a hero that requires a great deal of skill and strategy to master, especially when it comes to manipulating time with his ultimate ability. Despite the learning curve, he is a solid pick among players all across the world due to his reliability when it comes to catching agile opponents. During the recent International, he was a highly sought-after hero thanks to his exceptional crowd control and damage potential. Faceless Void's mid-game is particularly the peak for him, as he only needs a few items and his ultimate to become a chaotic force on the battlefield.
Most carry heroes can’t match Void’s efficient and fast-paced farming skills. The latter works best if paired with heroes that supplement his Chronosphere ultimate ex. Kunkka, Invoker, Skywrath Mage. His late-game potential allows him to essentially 1v5 enemy heroes if he is farmed enough. There is no way you can escape the wrath of the mighty Faceless Void in the late game! In 7.33, Void is even more ruthless thanks to the buffs to his Chronosphere and Time Walk, that is why he is seen in pretty much every pub game these days.
What makes Faceless Void a fearsome carry hero?
- Mobility with Time Walk and Reverse Time Walk ability. (Aghanim’s Shard Upgrade)
- Chronosphere ultimate stops all TPs and reveals invisible heroes.
- The Time Dilation ability prevents the enemies to cast spells for a certain period depending on the cooldown and the ability level.
- Time Lock passive bashes and stuns a target while dealing increased damage per bash, this can turn deadly if combined with a Monkey King Bar or other damage items.
- Aghanim’s Scepter allows him to all bash units and heroes in his path while using the Time Walkability.
Top 5 Best Endgame items for Faceless Void
- Shadow Blade - Provides invisibility upon cast which can be used to escape or set up on enemies. Breaking the invisibility by attacking deals extra physical damage to foes.
- Monkey King Bar - Gives increased physical damage and also provides a chance to true-strike on physical attacks.
- Butterfly - Provides Faceless Void with increased evasion, agility, and movement speed. Butterfly essentially makes him untouchable in the late game due to the high miss chance and physical damage.
- Eye of Skadi - It reduces HP regen and healing upon physical attacks from the Void. It helps reduce enemy regen. Eye of Skadi also provides increased stats and HP to Faceless Void.
- Satanic - Allows Faceless Void to lifesteal and sustain himself in teamfights. This item also dispels any negative buffs, quickly life-stealing from 0 to 100 in no time.
Faceless Void is strong against:
- Lifestealer - Chronosphere provides an excellent lockdown against Rage.
- Juggernaut - Faceless Void can Time Walk out of the range of Omnislash at all points of the game and with ease.
- Anti-Mage - Time Dilation, while Blink and Counterspell are on cooldown, will make these abilities unusable for a long time, shutting down his mobility and defensiveness.
Faceless Void is weak against:
- Chaos Knight - Faceless Void's lack of strong area-of-effect spells makes it difficult for him to fight against Chaos Knight and his Phantasms.
- Monkey King - Monkey King’s clones from Wukong’s Command and Aghanim’s Scepter are immune to Chronosphere, so it is a very bad idea to Chronosphere Monkey King with his clones around.
- Nightstalker - Crippling Fear can silence Faceless Void for a long time, preventing him from using his Time Walk and Chronosphere.
https://dota2.fandom.com/wiki/Faceless_Void
10. Alchemist
Alchemy and greed go hand in hand for our fellow Alchemist. He controls the game with his powerful Orc who guides him around the battlefield. With his Greevil’s Greed talent, it’s expected that he has at least 2 items before the 20-minute mark in-game. With armor reduction from Acid Spray and Unstable Concoction, he can lock enemies down and give them a run for their money with his ultimate. His enemies find it quite impossible to out farm him, his pace is quite unparalleled if he is having a good time. With Greevil’s Greed now being an innate ability, Alchemist enjoys the surge of gold right from level 1.
Alchemist's potential is not only limited to his abilities but his items as well. With the help of Manta Style, he can dispel any debuffs or silence and create illusions to further confuse his enemies, Shiva's Guard gives him a powerful AoE slow armor, making it difficult for enemies to approach him. Overwhelming Blink is another great item for Alchemist, as it provides him with a long-range initiation tool, allowing him to catch enemies off-guard, deal damage to them, and take control of the fight. These items complement his abilities and make him an even more dangerous hero to deal with.
Why is Alchemist a fearsome carry?
- Alchemist farms quickly due to innate ability, Greevil's Greed, which provides him with extra gold for every last hit.
- He can scale well into the late game with his ability to gain bonus stats from his ultimate, Chemical Rage, making him an incredibly tanky and hard-hitting carry.
- Alchemist's Acid Spray is a powerful AoE ability that reduces enemy armor and allows him to take down towers and objectives quickly if combined with Assault Cuirass or Shiva’s Guard.
- He can provide utility to his team with powerful items such as Aghanim's Scepter, and Moon Shard.
Items to Buy on Alchemist
- Radiance - Deals 60 damage per second in an AoE, while also causing them to miss 15% of their attacks. It also makes enemies miss 15% of their attacks. Radiance is an exceptional item on Alchemist as it allows him to deal high damage in fights and also farms fast with the help of his items.
- Assault Cuirass - Assault Cuirass grants increased armor and attack speed which makes Alchemist extremely tanky. It also reduces enemy armor in an AoE, increasing its threat potential.
- Shiva’s Guard - Upon usage, it emits a freezing wave that deals 200 damage and slows the enemy for 40% of their movement speed. This slow is impressive and lasts for 4 seconds. The increased armor and survivability ensure Alchemist stays durable in fights while reducing enemy healing in an AoE.
- Manta Style - Creates two illusions of Alchemist on usage, also allowing him to dispel certain spells or dodge if he times it right. It can also be used to split push lanes and farm efficiently. It also provides him with increased stats, agility, and attack damage.
- Black King Bar - Provides magic immunity upon usage, making Alchemist invulnerable during team fights. It is essential in most matchups as he has low magical resistance. It also applies a basic dispel upon usage.
Alchemist is strong against:
- Doom - The health regeneration and bonus movespeed from Chemical Rage allow Alchemist to survive through Doom very easily.
- Broodmother - Alchemist's Chemical Rage nullifies Broodmother's, Insatiable Hunger.
- Nature’s Prophet - Acid Spray and Greevil's Greed will quickly destroy pushes with treants.
Alchemist is weak against:
- Axe - Axe can force Alchemist to attack him with Berserker's Call. High attack speed from Chemical Rage will cause Counter Helix to proc multiple times.
- Ancient Apparition - Ice Blast cancels out Chemical Rage's rapid health regeneration.
- Necrophps - Ghost Shroud can prevent Alchemist from attacking Necrophos, as well as make him immune to Acid Spray and Unstable Concoction damage.
9. Troll Warlord
For the longest time, Troll Warlord has been the obvious pick against squishy carry heroes. Troll Warlord is a force to be reckoned with, especially during the laning stage. He can secure creeps and push back any enemy laners with ease, thanks to his abilities. He is a hard-carry hero, meaning that he becomes even more powerful as the game progresses. With his ultimate ability, Troll can become an unstoppable force, life-stealing his way through fights and making it incredibly difficult for enemies to take him down. Troll has been blessed with massive buffs to his lifesteal mechanic in 7.33, making him a formidable force in the meta.
In the late game, Troll is a force to be feared. His attack speed and range advantage are unmatched, making him a deadly opponent for any hero. His Battle Trance ability can turn the tides of a team fight in a matter of seconds, allowing him to take down multiple enemies at once while making him go from 0 to 100 in literally a matter of few seconds. Additionally, Troll is one of the few heroes in the game who can solo Roshan, making him a valuable asset for any team looking to secure the Aegis of the Immortal.
Why is Troll Warlord a fearsome carry?
- Troll Warlord has a strong early game with abilities that help him secure creeps and ward off enemy laners.
- Most heroes in the early game cannot go one on one against Troll Warlord as Troll Warlord will overwhelm them faster than the other way around thanks to Whirling Axes (Melee) that will cause his attacks to miss, and Fervor that can give Troll Warlord huge amounts of attack speed to outmatch them.
- Troll has both attack speed and range advantages over many other heroes, making him a formidable opponent in the late game.
- He is capable of solo-killing Roshan, giving his team an advantage in obtaining Aegis.
Items to buy on Troll Warlord
- Skull Basher - Provides Troll with a chance to Bash (Mini Stun) on physical attacks. It can further be upgraded into Abyssal Blade later on in the game to lock down Terrorblade completely.
- Satanic - Provides increased lifesteal on physical attacks upon activation, also provides basic dispel from the latter.
- Sange and Yasha - Provide decent stats, agility, strength, and physical damage. SnY also provides status resistance and increased movement speed, making Troll faster and stronger against Terrorblade.
- Battlefury - Provides cleave on physical attacks which can be essential to split push and farm quickly, mirroring Terrorblade’s farm pattern.
- Diffusal Blade - Slows down Terrorblade by 100% upon casting and physical attack. It also burns his mana and dispels any buffs that he may have.
- Monkey King Bar - Provides increased physical attack damage, also provides true strike upon physical attacks
Troll Warlord is strong against:
- Huskar - Whirling Axes (Melee) provides a 60% miss chance, resulting in Huskar's attacks missing a lot of the time if it isn't dispelled.
- Juggernaut - Battle Trance, when activated during Omnislash, allows Troll Warlord to survive the full duration of Omnislash and retaliate once it is over.
- Sven - Berserker's Rage together with Troll Warlord's high attack speed gives Troll a high chance of rooting enemies, which allows Troll Warlord to man-fight Sven.
Troll Warlord is weak against:
- Axe - Troll Warlord has significant attack speed due to Fervor and Battle Trance, giving Axe a higher chance to proc Counter Helix and seriously injure Troll Warlord due to his relatively low maximum health.
- Shadow Shaman - Mass Serpent Ward are especially effective against Troll Warlord during Battle Trance, as trapping him inside them during the duration is effectively another hard disable, as Troll cannot attack the wards or use Phase Boots to escape.
- Chaos Knight - Phantasm increases Chaos Knight's physical damage output up to 4 times and can easily kill Troll Warlord before he has a chance to use Battle Trance or a Black King Bar icon.png Black King Bar.
8. Luna
Luna, the Moon rider, is a popular hero for beginners and pros alike. Her farming abilities and massive AoE damage output make her a force to be reckoned with. Although laning can be tough for Luna, she can fall back on the jungle to farm with the help of her Moon Glaives and decent early-game damage. Luna is a great pick for dealing with hybrid damage as her ultimate Eclipse deals an ungodly amount of magical damage which complements her physical damage. In 7.33, we see Luna back in action as she is constantly picked due to the buffs to her ultimate and also to the general items she builds in the late game.
Luna's quick farming abilities and massive AoE damage output make her a prime pick for dealing with enemy heroes. She clears waves quickly, allowing her to farm and split push at an impressive pace. Other carry heroes often struggle to keep up with Luna if the game goes on for more than 40 minutes. Additionally, Luna can be paired with heroes who have massive crowd-control abilities, giving them an advantage over their weaker opponents.
What makes Luna a fearsome carry hero?
- Lunar Blessing ability offers increased night vision and bonus damage for allies.
- Immense farming potential thanks to the Moon Glaives passive.
- Usually known for hitting the item timings early due to her incredible farming speed.
- Luna has high armor and HP for an agility hero.
- Eclipse deals magic damage, which is essential for heroes with high armor/HP.
Top 5 Best Endgame items for Luna
- Eye of Skadi - Reduces regen and healing upon physical attacks. It helps reduce enemy regen. Eye of Skadi also provides increased stats and HP to Luna.
- Satanic - Provides increased lifesteal on physical attacks upon activation and also provides basic dispel from the latter.
- Black King Bar - Provides spell immunity, making you invulnerable in the fight against magic spells.
- Butterfly - Increases evasion, agility, and movement speed. Butterfly essentially makes Terrorblade untouchable in the late game due to the high miss chance and physical damage.
- Manta Style - Creates two illusions of Luna on usage, also allowing her to dispel certain spells or dodge if she times it right. It can also be used to split push lanes and farm efficiently.
- Hurricane Pike - Allows Luna to close the gap and deal immense damage to enemies, also provides decent stats
Luna is strong against:
- Arc Warden - Luna's short range and fast movement speed allow her to fight Arc Warden inside his Magnetic Field.
- Enchantress - Though Enchantress's Untouchable can greatly reduce Luna's attack speed, and can go through any form of Spell Immunity, she has a pitiful HP so Lucent Beam and Eclipse can kill her very quickly.
- Arc Warden - Luna's Moon Glaives allow her to clear Arc Warden's Tempest Double.
Luna is weak against:
- Ancient Apparition - Despite Ancient Apparition's fragileness, he can easily harass Luna on the lane with Chilling Touch due to its high range and damage. This can get even worse if Ancient Apparition buys Aghanim's Scepter and combines it with items that can give him bonus attack damage and attack speed.
- Juggernaut - Both Blade Fury and Omnislash are direct counters to Eclipse, offering Juggernaut spell immunity and invulnerability. Therefore, Luna will need assistance in taking down Juggernaut as going solo will not be successful.
- Zeus - His highly damaging nuke spells with low cooldowns are not something Luna wants to go against.
7. Phantom Assassin
The lethal and cutthroat damage of Phantom Assassin is often praised by many and feared by all. She is known to rip through her enemies like it's no big thing. Most heroes can’t survive the onslaught of Phantom Assassin due to her high physical damage right from the laning phase. The lack of mobility in enemy heroes makes it easy for Phantom Assassin to catch up to them and turn them into dust. She also farms extremely well due to her mobility. Her damage just gets out of hand in the late game as she acquires more items and gets more kills due to it.
The recent meta has seen Phantom Assassin obliterate squishy supports in just a few hits. She is agile and silent in her moves, as an assassin generally is, while also being one of the most-played carry heroes in the game due to her ease of spells. Phantom Assassin has great base movement and attack speed, which is rarely found in a carry hero. Her spells may seem underwhelming in the early game but as she reaches the late-game mark, she can do a lot with just one Stifling Dagger.
What makes Phantom Assassin a fearsome carry hero?
- Phantom Assassin has one of the highest damage potentials in the game, thanks to her ultimate ability, Coup de Grace.
- She is a natural carry hero, who can easily scale into the late game with items like Desolator and Black King Bar.
- Phantom Assassin can jump on unsuspecting enemies and take them out with her burst damage, it also allows her to pounce on allies to escape sticky situations.
- Her ability, Blur, allows her to dodge enemy attacks, making it difficult for the opposing team to kill her.
Top 5 Best Endgame Items for Phantom Assassin
- Desolator - Provides increased damage along with armor corruption on physical attacks. It can also gain stacks and increased the mentioned perks with the increase in stacks. Desolator is ideal for Phantom Assassin to mow down the squishy enemies.
- Abyssal Blade - Stuns the targetted unit, it pierces spell immunity. Hence, it can be a useful item to temporarily disable any heroes under the effect of Black King Bar as it pierces spell immunity.
- Satanic - Allows Phantom Assassin to lifesteal and sustain herself in teamfights. This item also dispels any negative buffs, quickly life-stealing from 0 to 100 in no time.
- Butterfly - Provides Phantom Assassin with increased evasion, agility, and movement speed. Butterfly essentially makes him untouchable in the late game due to the high miss chance and physical damage.
- Black King Bar - Provides magic immunity upon usage, making Phantom Assassin invulnerable during team fights. It is essential in most matchups as she has low magical resistance. It also applies a basic dispel upon usage.
Phantom Assassin is strong against:
- Crystal Maiden - Crystal Maiden's low health pool and slow movement speed make her a tempting and easy target.
- Sniper - Sniper's lack of mobility and reliance on attack range makes him an easy target for Phantom Assassin to jump on.
- Anti-Mage - Blur makes Anti-Mage unable to deal significant damage to her.
Phantom Assassin is weak against
- Axe - Most of Axe's abilities pierce Black King Bar, allowing him to lock down Phantom Assassin at any time.
- Omniknight - Most of Axe's abilities pierce Black King Bar, allowing him to lock down Phantom Assassin at any time.
- Tinker - The blind from Laser can render Phantom Assassin useless if she is not protected by Black King Bar.
https://dota2.fandom.com/wiki/Phantom_Assassin
6. Sven
Sven, the rogue knight, is a deadly carry hero who deals ungodly physical damage. His toolkit allows him to lock down enemies or charge at them with increased movement speed, making it impossible for them to escape his wrath. Sven's abilities are enough to dominate the battlefield, with items only complementing his strength in team fights. Sven’s pub appearances were low before this patch, but with the buffs to his cleave and ultimate, he has quickly risen through the ranks as one of the most-played carry heroes in this meta.
There are several reasons why Sven is considered a powerful carry hero. His kit allows him to dominate and lock down even the toughest enemies, while his farming ability and item progression enable him to gain a significant advantage as the game progresses. Sven is capable of taking on entire teams by himself, especially in the late game, making him a nightmare for weaker opponents. His strength lies in his ability to face multiple heroes at once without crumbling, thanks to items like Satanic, Daedalus, and his massive physical damage.
What makes Sven a fearsome carry hero?
- Aghanim’s Scepter allows him to pounce on enemy heroes and stun them at the same time, a great gap closer.
- His cleave is great with God’s Strength which can mow down heroes easily.
- Sven is frequently picked in pro games due to his versatility and ability to adapt to different situations.
- His abilities allow him to lock down and charge enemies with increased movement speed, making it difficult for them to escape.
- Sven has the toolkit to dominate the battlefield and fight multiple heroes at once.
Top 5 Best Endgame items for Sven
- Overwhelming Blink - Increases Sven’s strength and deals damage in an AoE that deals attack and movement speed slow to enemies, while also making them take 150% of his strength as damage.
- Assault Cuirass - Immense armor gain also reduces enemy armor at the same time
- Daedalus - Daedalus allows Sven to deal critical damage. This high damage will enable him to be a devastating hard hitter, as he can also solo kill and does not always need follow-up from his team due to the items he has built earlier.
- Black King Bar - Provides magic immunity upon usage, making Sven invulnerable during team fights. It is essential in most matchups as he has low magical resistance.
- Bloodthorn - It silences the targeted enemy for 5 seconds, making them take 30% of the total damage dealt during the silence. The attacks will also have True Sight, and deal critical damage under its duration. Sven prefers this item as it provides him with much-needed disables in the early game
Sven is strong against
- Broodother - Great Cleave clears Spiderlings quickly to increase gold income.
- Meepo - Cleave will demolish Meepo's clones. Against a closely packed group, Sven does not even need to target the clone with the lowest health.
- Phantom Lancer - Storm Hammer's AoE stun will hit Phantom Lancer and his illusions.
Sven is weak against
- Axe - Berserker's Call prevents Sven from bursting his targets before Axe can interfere. The worst kind of opponent for Sven is one who can stop him from attacking who he wants to, which is exactly what Axe does.
- Medusa - Mana Shield makes it very hard for Sven to burst her within Storm Hammer's stun duration.
- Templar Assassin - Sven has no easy way to burn Refraction charges and needs help from teammates to kill TA successfully.
5. Morphling
In the recent meta, Morphling jas proved to be quite a lethal hero, which most people find hard to counter. As boring or complex as Morph may appear, he is quite impressive right from the laning phase and stays relevant throughout the late game. Most people shy away from Morphling due to the complex nature of his abilities, but if you can master him, there is no way your enemies can have an upper hand! Morphling is a nuisance to enemy supports due to the infamous “shotgun” combo. Mastering Morphling requires quick decision-making skills, which only come with time and experience.
Morphling can be an excellent addition to the team if you want a carry that can fight from the get-go and is tanky. His physical damage ensures he can mow down enemies while also staying tanky enough with Attribute Shift. Everyone knows about the infamous Shotgun combo, which takes just two clicks to bring down the venomous beast. In the late game, enemies struggle hard to match Morphling’s pace as their damage simply isn’t enough to cause a dent in Morphling’s health pool (courtesy of Attribute Shift) Morph (the ultimate) can be used to give enemies a taste of their own medicine and have them taken out from teamfights.
What makes Morphling a fearsome carry hero?
- Can “Shotgun” enemy heroes with the Adaptive Strike ability and Ethereal Blade.
- Morph allows him to turn into enemy heroes (or allies if you purchase the Aghanim Scepter), which can often lead to deadly combos or allow him to escape team fights.
- Can easily survive long team fights with the Attribute Shift ability.
- Attribute Shift ability makes him either gain strength or agility, both can be useful depending on the situation.
- Impressive level 1 attributes and stats, allows him to be extremely sustainable in the laning phase.
Top 5 Best Endgame items for Morphling
- Ethereal Blade - Upon usage, it disarms the targeted unit, making them take 40% more magical damage while also slowing them and dealing initial damage based on the enemy’s primary attribute. This combined with Adaptive Strike can devastate the targeted hero.
- Dragon Lance - It increases the attack range for Morphling while increasing his stats, allowing him to deal more damage and increasing his survivability. Morphling benefits heavily from the early-game stats that this item provides, allowing him to withstand long fights.
- Linken’s Sphere - Great spell block which blocks single-targeted spells and items
- Satanic - Allows Morphling to lifesteal on physical attacks upon activation, and also provides basic dispel from the latter. Great to sustain in the ultra-late game as you can be surrounded by multiple enemies at once.
- Butterfly - Provides Morphling with increased evasion, agility, and movement speed. Butterfly essentially makes him untouchable in the late game due to the high miss chance and physical damage.
Morphling is strong against:
- Lifestealer - Lifestealer is a great target for Morphling to use Morph, as he can use Rage to gain spell immunity and a movement speed boost.
- Razor - Morphling can break Static Link with Waveform. Alternatively, Morphling can Morph into Razor and use the same ability against him.
- Phantom Assassin - Morphling's naturally high armor thanks to his high agility makes it hard for Phantom Assassin to take him down with Coup de Grace.
Morphling is weak against:
- Meepo - Earthbind disables Waveform, effectively keeping Morphling in place for an extended time, allowing Meepo to deal considerable damage with Poof.
- Ancient Apparition - Ice Blast stops Attribute Shift (Strength Gain) from recovering additional health, and using it will even bring Morphling closer to the shatter threshold.
- Anti-Mage - Mana Break combined with Manta Style can quickly burn away Morphling's mana, leaving him unable to use his spells. Black King Bar can no longer be reliably used against Anti mage due to its 50 mana cost.
https://dota2.fandom.com/wiki/Morphling
4. Naga Siren
Not even the water gods can handle the havoc of this breathtaking siren. Naga emerges from the deep seas as a beautiful yet threatening entity whose voice can cure the worst diseases! She deals some heavy physical damage right off the get-go, her looks can deceive you! Along with her damage, she can also lock enemies down with her net or the ultimate. You may pierce the ultimate with BKB, but with her Aghanim’s Scepter, you can’t pierce the net! She can pin you down and rip you into pieces with the assistance of her mirror illusions.
The devastating force of Naga Siren is felt from the mid-game as she acquires certain items which help her farm quickly as well as stand her ground, making her tanky. Naga indeed requires more of her items to have an impact, but when she does acquire those items, there is no way you can put an end to her destruction. She cuts deep and drowns her enemies with her Rip Tide. In the current meta, Naga has been the rage due to the buffs to Rip Tide and her ultimate, which make her a dominant force, as she is also seen in the pro games.
What makes Naga Siren a fearsome carry hero?
- Naga Siren is an excellent farmer and can quickly accumulate gold by utilizing her illusions to clear multiple camps at once.
- Her ultimate, Song of the Siren, is a powerful crowd control tool that can disable enemies for a long duration, providing enough time for her team to set up kills or disengage from fights.
- Her illusions also provide a way to scout and provide vision, making it easier for her team to spot enemy movements and set up ganks.
- She can also split push with her mirror illusions, while she farms away securely in the jungle.
Top 5 Best Endgame items for Naga Siren
- Diffusal Blade - Slows down enemies by 100% upon casting and physical attack. It also burns their mana, making them useless as they are unable to cast any spells. Diffusal helps Naga burn down enemy mana and negate any potential impact that they would have had in the fight.
- Butterfly - Provides Naga with increased evasion, agility, and movement speed. Butterfly essentially makes her untouchable in the late game due to the high miss chance and physical damage.
- Manta Style - Creates two illusions of Naga Siren on usage, also allowing him to dispel certain spells or dodge if he times it right. It can also be used to split push lanes and farm efficiently.
- Eye of Skadi - Reduces regen and healing upon physical attacks. It helps reduce enemy regen. Eye of Skadi also provides increased stats and HP to Naga Siren.
- Heart of Tarrasque - Provides increased health regen along with HP. Makes Naga highly tanky in the later stages of the game.
Naga Siren is strong against:
- Sniper - Ensnare with her attacks allows Naga Siren to gank Sniper easily, while Rip Tide removes Sniper's very little armor.
- Lone Druid - Unless Lone Druid purchases a Black King Bar for his Spirit Bear, Ensnare will easily kite the Bear.
- Lycan - Lycan is a hero focused entirely on single-target physical damage and lacks disables or AoE damage. Due to this, he will have difficulties dealing with illusions or Naga Siren's Ensnare.
Naga Siren is weak against:
- Earthshaker - Earthshaker's strong AoE abilities can clear Naga Siren's illusions, or at least make it easier to distinguish the real one by the damage they take.
- Lion - Both Hex and Mana Drain destroy Naga Siren's illusions in an instant, making it hard to team fight or push against a team with Lion. If Lion chooses the AoE effect talent for Hex or the shard for multi-target Mana Drain, it can negate her pushing potential entirely.
- Axe - Axe will destroy her illusions by proccing Counter Helix more often due to him being hit by more attacks.
3. Monkey King
Monkey King is a powerful carry hero who can dominate games with his mobility and burst damage. His toolkit includes an incredible amount of mobility that allows him to evade incoming attacks while simultaneously dealing out massive damage with his Jingu Mastery. Monkey King's Boundless Strike ability can be used to initiate fights and control the battlefield while his ultimate, Wukong's Command, can turn him into an unkillable clone army. He is a popular choice in both competitive and pub games in the 7.33 meta due to his massive buffs.
One of the main reasons why Monkey King is a powerful carry hero is his mobility and fight potential. He can be played as a roaming carry, making him a versatile pick for any team composition. Additionally, he is a strong laner and farmer, allowing him to gain an early advantage over his opponents. Monkey King's ultimate is especially potent in team fights, as the clone army can absorb incoming attacks and deal significant damage. He is a hero that can easily snowball out of control and take over a game, making him a nightmare for any unprepared enemy team.
Why is Monkey King a fearsome carry?
- Monkey King has a versatile toolkit that allows him to initiate, escape, and deal significant amounts of damage in team fights.
- His Boundless Strike ability deals massive critical damage, making it an excellent tool for bursting down enemy heroes.
- His ultimate, Wukong's Command, also provides him with additional armor and magic resistance, making him extremely difficult to take down during team fights.
- With his Tree Dance ability, Monkey King has massive mobility and can easily move around the map, gank unsuspecting enemies, and escape danger.
Top 5 End Game items on Monkey King
- Eye of Skadi - Causes Monkey’s attacks to lower enemy attack and movement speed while reducing their health regeneration and lifesteal by 40%. It is exceptional if you are facing tanky heroes that regen or lifesteal fast. It also provides huge bonuses such as increased stats, HP, and Mana.
- Butterfly - Provides MK with 35% evasion and increased agility and attack speed. The evasion is highly useful in the later stages of the game to stand your ground. It is an essential item if Slark is facing multiple heroes with high attack damage.
- Black King Bar - Provides magic immunity upon usage, making Monkey King invulnerable during team fights. It is essential in most matchups as he has low magical resistance. It also applies a basic dispel upon usage.
- Abyssal Blade - Stuns the targetted unit, it pierces spell immunity. Hence, it can be a useful item to temporarily disable any heroes under the effect of Black King Bar as it pierces spell immunity.
- Silver Edge - Upon usage, it turns Monkey King invisible while increasing his movement speed. Attacking enemies will end the invisibility and will deal bonus physical damage while also disabling their passive spells. This item is good against heroes with OP passives like Bristleback, or Phantom Assassin.
Monkey King is strong against:
- Alchemist - Alchemist has very bad armor and does not build armor items for the large majority of his build, so Jingu Mastery and Wukong's Command can be very deadly.
- Drow Ranger - Monkey King can scout Drow Ranger's positioning from the trees and can jump on her without much trouble, disabling Marksmanship
- Faceless Void - Monkey King’s clones from Wukong’s Command and Aghanim’s Scepter are immune to Chronosphere, so it is a very bad idea to Chronosphere Monkey King with his clones around.
Monkey King is weak against
- Batrider - Firefly allows Batrider to gain vision of Monkey King while he is on a tree, as well as destroying any nearby trees, denying Monkey King spots to jump to, or causing him to fall.
- Beastmaster - Wild Axes can chop down trees, making it difficult for Monkey King to utilize Tree Dance well.
- Mars - Monkey King's natural reliance on trees makes him an exceptionally prime target for Spear of Mars. Should Monkey King use Mischief to disguise himself, it will still hit him, stunning him in the process.
2. Medusa
The stone-cold, serpentine warrior is quite a hard nut to crack, her identity and prowess cement her as one of the most lethal and tanky carry heroes in the game. Medusa is an ultra late-game hero, even if her early game is disastrous, she can bounce back and turn the game around just with one fight. Her tankiness allows her to be the center of the fight without worrying much about her enemies, which she can still crack down on thanks to her immense attack damage. If not ganked, she can perpetually farm and destroy all enemies and win the game even in a 1v5 situation.
Medusa is known to farm faster than most carry heroes. Agreed, some heroes have higher mobility than her, but Medusa has sustainability and effective damage, making her an ideal hero in the later stages of the game due to how well she fares against multiple heroes. This is something that squishy carry heroes can’t excel at. All the attack modifiers and damage are too hot for the enemy team to handle even in the late game, making most players eventually tap out against this serpentine warrior.
Why is Medusa a fearsome carry?
- With the new update, Medusa barely takes any damage thanks to her reworked mana shield, making her a tanky carry hero.
- Medusa also builds tanky items, increasing her HP and her armor.
- Thanks to Splitshot, Medusa farms quickly compared to her counterparts who need way more time to fight and come online.
- Medusa’s ultimate, Stone Gaze, is highly useful right from the early levels as it makes her a reliable fighter who can fight or escape with no difficulty.
Top 5 End Game items on Medusa
- Eye of Skadi - It reduces HP regen and healing upon physical attacks from Medusa. It helps reduce enemy regen. Eye of Skadi also provides increased stats and HP to Medusa.
- Butterfly - Provides increased evasion, agility, and movement speed. It is an essential item that increases Medusa’s survivability in the late game.
- Hurricane Pike - Pushes Medusa and targeted enemy 450 units away from each other, and for 6 seconds, allows her to make 5 attacks against the target without range restrictions and with +100 attack speed. It is an essential team-fighting item on Medusa.
- Satanic - When activated, it allows Medusa to lifesteal 200% upon physical attacks and allows sustain herself in teamfights. This item also dispels any negative buffs, quickly life-stealing from 0 to 100 in no time.
- Monkey King Bar - Gives increased physical damage and also provides a chance to true strike on physical attacks.
Medusa is strong against
- Enchantress - Enchantress often has a small army of neutral creeps, allowing Medusa to hit her with a later bounce of her Mystic Snake.
- Necrophos - Mana Shield tanks most of the damage from Reaper's Scythe; with sufficient mana, the kill threshold drops significantly.
- Enigma - Medusa's Split Shot can kill Demonic Conversion creeps easier and Mystic Snake bounces off from them.
Medusa is weak against
- Anti-Mage - Mana Void is effective against Medusa's big mana pool and mana usage, presenting a huge hazard to Medusa's allies around her since her Mana Shield still gives her some protection if she has mana.
- Nyx Assassin - Level 4 Mana Burn burns of Medusa's mana every 5 seconds if Medusa only increases her mana pool with intelligence. Additionally, 70% of the Mana Burn damage gets mitigated by Mana Shield, burning even more mana.
- Invoker - EMP is a large mana burn nuke that can hit Medusa's Mana shield with enough damage to lose even more mana.
1. Phantom Lancer
Phantom Lancer is simply a menace to squish heroes if not contained in the early game. He is ever ready to fight in the late game with his numerous illusion army, whilst also being capable of farming and pushing lanes effortlessly. The countless army overwhelms towers and heroes alike, crippling them and striking them down in no time. The impact of most enemies is reduced to rubbles if the Phantom Lancer acquires all his essential items quickly. This can prove to be fatal for spell-casting heroes as well as Phantom Lancer can just mow them down due to their lack of mana availability.
On paper, it may sound like Phantom Lancer is a poor pushing hero, but in reality, the countless army of the unforgiving lancer is too powerful to be stopped. Phantom Lancer has various ways of stopping squishy heroes right in their tracks, surely most heroes can get rid of the former’s illusions but they can’t get rid of the ungodly damage he deals to them. Squishy heroes with low base armor are the most vulnerable to the devastating army of the Phantom Lancer.
Why is Phantom Lancer a fearsome carry?
- Doppelganger can be used to easily dodge spells if timed correctly, it also dispels certain debuffs while creating multiple illusions which allow Phantom Lancer to push the lanes and farm.
- Phantom Lancer can quickly deplete enemy mana pool with his illusions and deal massive damage from it simultaneously since Phantom Lancer is a natural Diffusal Blade carrier.
- Phantom Lancer also commonly builds Diffusal Blade, which poses a large problem to heroes with low mana pooll.
Top 5 Best items to buy on Phantom Lancer
- Diffusal Blade - Upon usage, DIffusal slows down enemies and burns their mana, making them unable to use any spells during a fight. It is a standard item on Phantom Lancer which is often built first to provide him with an effective way to catch enemies.
- Manta Style - Creates two illusions of Phantom Lancer on usage, also allowing him to dispel certain spells or dodge if he times it right. It can also be used to split push lanes and farm efficiently.
- Butterfly - Increases evasion, agility, and movement speed. Butterfly essentially makes Phantom Lancer untouchable in the late game due to the high miss chance and physical damage, evading most attacks of enemy heroes.
- Eye of Skadi - Reduces regen and healing upon physical attacks. It helps reduce enemy regen. Eye of Skadi also provides increased stats and HP to Phantom Laner.
- Heart of Tarasque - Heart grants immense HP and increased health regen, which helps Phantom Lancer frontline and tanks a teamfight. It allows him to soak up significant damage and quickly regen back due to the regen buff.
Phantom Lancer is strong against
- Arc Warden - One of Arc Warden's hardest counters, Arc Warden, who has primarily single target damage, will struggle tremendously against Phantom Lancer.
- Lone Druid - Lone Druid and his Spirit Bear lack mobility and are easily overwhelmed after being slowed by Diffusal Blade.
- Batrider- Doppelganger dispels Sticky Napalm and Flamebreak.
Phantom Lancer is weak against
- Earthshaker - Echo Slam deals tremendous damage when multiplied by Phantom Lancer's illusions.
- Batrider - There are usually way too many illusions for Batrider to lasso the real Phantom Lancer since the illusions' hitboxes also body block the real Phantom Lancer.
- Bristleback - Bristleback's tankiness and damage reduction from the rear make him very hard for Phantom Lancer to chase and finish off, due to his lack of burst damage.
https://dota2.fandom.com/wiki/Phantom_Lancer
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