Valve’s initial foray into the auto-battler market puts Dota Underlords front and center. In this competitive strategy game, players must command several heroes and lead them to victory.
The heroes available are pooled from a roster of over 60 characters, so learning which heroes are inherently good or bad can be overwhelming.
Luckily, we’ve compiled a tier list that ranks all Dota Underlords heroes from best to worst.
Read on to start learning how best to optimize your team and which heroes will help you secure a win in the game.
Table of ContentsShow
S-Tier

These are the best heroes to use in the game’s current meta. They have great individual hero abilities and their alliances are generous enough to let you create decent decks centered on them.
Hero | Alliances | Ability |
---|---|---|
Disruptor | Brawny Warlock | Static Storm: Disruptor creates a damaging static storm. |
Doom | Demon Brute | Doom: Damages enemies while preventing them from casting spells or using items for 20 seconds. Also disables passive buffs and Alliance passives. |
Keeper of the Light | Human Mage | Illuminate: A charged magical attack that sends forth a wave of energy that deals damage by the second. |
Luna | Vigilant Knight | Moon Glaives: Passive ability that allows her glaive to bounce between enemies two cells away. The glaive deals 30% less damage with each bounce. |
Templar Assassin | Vigilant Void Assassin | Refraction: Allows Templar Assassin to avoid damage while getting a bonus to her damage. |
Troll Warlord | Troll Warrior | Fervor: A passive ability that increases Troll Warlord’s attack speed every time he hits a target. |
Warlock | Blood-bound Warlock Healer | Shadow Word: A spell that either heals allies or damages enemies. Effect ticks every second for 3 seconds. |
A-Tier
These are excellent heroes with very useful abilities and alliances. These heroes could match S-tier ones with the proper setup.
Hero | Alliances | Ability |
---|---|---|
Axe | Brawny Brute | Berserker’s Call: Axe taunts enemies that are one cell away, forcing them to attack him. While the ability is active, Axe gains bonus armor. |
Bloodseeker | Blood-bound Deadeye | Bloodrage: Takes damage equal to 7% of his total health, gains 5% attack speed and 35% of his health back upon killing a target. |
Lifestealer | Heartless Brute | Feast: A passive ability that allows Lifestealer to damage enemies and heal himself for a percentage of the target’s health. |
Lone Druid | Savage Shaman Summoner | Summon Spirit Bear: Brings a bear spirit companion to the board. |
Medusa | Scaled Hunter | Stone Gaze: Enemies up to four cells away and looking at her will move and attack slower before ultimately turning to stone. Petrified foes take 20% more damage. Split Shot: Medusa shoots between two and four extra arrows that hit additional targets one cell away from the original target. Additional arrows deal 20% less damage. |
Mirana | Vigilant Hunter | Sacred Arrow: Fires a long-range arrow that deals damage and stun. |
Necrophos | Heartless Warlock Healer | Death Pulse: Damages and heals enemy and friendly units, respectively, within three cells. |
Shadow Fiend | Demon Warlock | Requiem of Souls: Damages all nearby foes. |
Storm Spirit | Spirit Mage | Ball Lightning: Storm Spirit becomes volatile electricity, charging across the battlefield and damaging each unit he passes through. Damage increases while he traverses more cells. |
Tidehunter | Scaled Warrior | Ravage: Tidehunter slams the ground, causing tentacles to rise, deal damage and stun enemies. Range, damage and stun duration increase with Tidehunter’s level. |
Treant Protector | Shaman Healer | Leech Seed: Plants a seed in an enemy that saps their health every 1.5 seconds. Slows their attack and movement speed by 50%. Sapped health can heal allies one cell away for 5 seconds. |
Witch Doctor | Troll Warlock | Paralyzing Cask: A paralyzing ability that bounces between enemies, inflicting damage and stun. |
B-Tier
Good heroes that are good for avoiding the complete meta, thus taking your opponent by surprise.
Hero | Alliances | Ability |
---|---|---|
Abaddon | Fallen Knight | Aphotic Shield: Protects friendly units and absorbs damage for 10 seconds before bursting and dealing damage to any enemy units within 2 cells. Removes negative effects and stuns upon casting. |
Bristleback | Brawny Savage | Quill Spray: Bristleback sprays quills from his back, damaging all enemies 2 cells away. Enemies take initial plus stacked damage for each stack of Quill Spray they have been hit with during the round. A maximum of 5 stacks is allowed. |
Crystal Maiden | Human Mage | Arcane Aura: A support ability that grants mana to friendly units every two seconds. |
Dazzle | Troll Healer Poisoner | Shadow Wave: Dazzle sends out a bolt of power that arcs between allies that are 3 cells apart, healing each ally while damaging enemies 1 cell away. Dazzle is always healed by this skill. |
Earth Spirit | Spirit Warrior | Geomagnetic Grip: Summons a stone remnant off the map and pulls it towards his current target. Enemies struck by the incoming stone are silenced for 3 seconds and take damage. |
Enigma | Void Primordial | Midnight Pulse: An attack that steals a percentage of an enemy’s max health for ten seconds and deals it as damage to enemy units in an area. |
Lich | Fallen Mage | Chain Frost: Releases an orb that bounces between enemies, dealing damage alongside attack and movement speed reduction. |
Morphling | Primordial Mage | Waveform: Morphling dissolves into liquid, surges forward and damages anything in front of it. Morphling is invulnerable to damage during this skill. |
Nyx Assassin | Insect Assassin | Spiked Carapace: Nyx Assassin pops spikes out of its carapace, negating and reflecting 100% of the damage dealt (for only one target). Also stuns the attacking targets. Vendetta: Teleports to attack an enemy for 200 bonus damage. Nyx Assassin’s next attack will apply Break to the enemy for 4 seconds, disabling all passive effects. |
Sand King | Savage Insect | Burrow Strike: Sand King burrows into the ground and tunnels forwards, damaging enemies and stunning them for 2 seconds. Caustic Finale: Reduces the attack speed of enemies Sand King strikes by 35% for 3.5 seconds. If a target dies while under the effect of Caustic Finale, it will explode and damage its allies within one cell. |
Shadow Shaman | Troll Summoner | Hex: Transforms enemies into harmless creatures for four to eight seconds depending on Shadow Shaman’s level. |
Slark | Scaled Assassin | Essence Shift: Lowers a target’s damage and attack speed, while buffing Slark’s. Pounce: Slark leaps to a target, disarming them for 3 seconds. |
Spirit Breaker | Savage Brute | Charge of Darkness: Spirit Breaker charges towards a distant enemy, hitting it and enemies along the way and stunning them. |
Terrorblade | Demon Hunter Fallen | Metamorphosis: Terrorblade transforms into a demon, changing his melee to a ranged attack, buffing damage and increasing his attack speed. Terrorblade also trades health values with another ally when this ability starts. |
Viper | Dragon Poisoner | Viper Strike: A poison attack that slows down enemy movement and attack speed while dealing damage over time. Corrosive Skin: Available through Dragon Alliance. Viper exudes an infectious toxin that deals damage per second. |
Windranger | Vigilant Hunter | Powershot: Windranger charges her bow for up to 1.5 seconds for a single powerful shot, dealing damage depending on the level. For each enemy Powershot hits, the damage is reduced by 10%. |
C-Tier
Average heroes that take significant investment and mastery to equal those in the higher tiers.
Hero | Alliances | Ability |
---|---|---|
Arc Warden | Primordial Summoner | Tempest Double: Arc Warden creates a clone of himself that uses his items and spells but on a separate cooldown. |
Beastmaster | Brawny Hunter Shaman | Wild Axes: Beastmaster throws his axes in a straight line and hits all enemies in its path, foes take additional damage if hit by both axes. |
Bounty Hunter | Rogue Assassin | Shuriken Toss: A shuriken attack that inflicts the enemy with a mini stun. Damage increases with level. |
Chaos Knight | Demon Knight | Chaos Bolt: This attack dishes out a random amount of damage and a random duration of stun to a target. |
Death Prophet | Fallen Heartless | Exorcism: Death Prophet sends out a stream of evil spirits for 6 seconds. They roam the battlefield in a 3-cell radius, dealing damage to all enemies they pass through and returning to heal Death Prophet for 25% of the damage dealt. |
Drow Ranger | Heartless Vigilant Hunter | Precision Aura: Adds attack speed and damage to allies that are one cell away, increases with hero level. |
Ember Spirit | Spirit Assassin Swordsman | Sleight of Fist: Ember spirit dashes around with blazing speed, attacking all enemies within 2-3 cells depending on his level, then returning to his original location. Attacks deal bonus damage that also scales with his level. |
Juggernaut | Brawny Swordsman | Blade Fury: When surrounded by 2 or more enemies, Juggernaut spins his blades for five seconds, dealing damage to enemies 1 cell away while being invulnerable to magic attacks. |
Legion Commander | Human Champion | Duel: Legion Commander targets the lowest health enemy 1 cell away and they are forced to attack each other for a time. Neither hero can use abilities nor be healed. If either hero dies in the duration, the hero who wins the Duel gains a permanent bonus to damage. |
Lycan | Human Savage Summoner | Summon Wolves: Lycan summons two wolves to fight alongside him and then transforms himself, gaining buffs to health (30% of max), movement speed and critical hit chance for bonus damage. |
Nature’s Prophet | Shaman Summoner | Nature’s Call: Summons a treant from the edge of the board. |
Ogre Magi | Blood-bound Brute Mage | Blood Lust: Incites frenzy on ally units increasing movement and attack speed, Ogre Magi can also cast Blood Lust on himself for higher attack speeds instead. |
Omniknight | Human Knight Healer | Purification: Instantly heals a friendly unit while damaging all enemy units one cell away |
Queen of Pain | Demon Assassin Poisoner | Scream of Pain: Damages every enemy within a 3-cell radius. |
Pudge | Heartless Warrior | Meat Hook: Targets the furthest enemy from Pudge and brings them towards him while dealing damage. Pudge and an ally one cell away will then attack the target until it dies. |
Razor | Primordial Mage | Plasma Field: Razor releases a ring of plasma that grows in power as it expands. It will slow and deal damage to enemies up to 3 cells away. Damage and slow increases with distance from Razor. Each enemy can be hit a maximum of 2 times. |
Slardar | Scaled Warrior | Corrosive Haze: All enemies on the board will have their armor reduced for 20 seconds. The amount reduced depends on Slaradar’s level. |
Void Spirit | Void Spirit | Dissimilate: Void Spirit enters the aether, disappearing and creating 3 portals. After 1.3 seconds, he exits one of the portals and deals damage to enemies within 1 cell, reducing their armor for 5 seconds. |
D-Tier
These heroes have almost completely fallen off the meta.
Hero | Alliances | Ability |
---|---|---|
Anti-Mage | Rogue Hunter | Mana Break: The Anti-Mage burns points off the opponent’s mana on each attack, depending on its level. It deals 50% of mana burned as damage to the target. |
Batrider | Troll Knight | Sticky Napalm: Throws sticky oil and coats the ground two cells from impact, which adds damage to its attacks (depending on level) and slows enemy movement by 5%, stacks up to ten times. |
Broodmother | Insect Warlock | Spawn Spiderlings: Broodmother injects her young into an enemy unit, dealing damage. If the target is killed, spiderlings will hatch. Spiderlings are untargetable units that give low damage and have 1 health. |
Dragon Knight | Human Dragon Knight | Elder Dragon Form: Unlocked by Dragon Alliance. Dragon Knight can take the form of one of three dragons, gaining new abilities alongside a 30% buff to movement speed. Breathe Fire: Unleashes a breath of fire in front of Dragon Knight that burns enemies and reduces the damage of their attacks for 6 seconds. |
Faceless Void | Void Assassin | Chronocube: Creates a blister in spacetime, stunning all units caught 2 cells away from the center of the cube. Faceless Void moves very quickly inside the cube and gains 75 attack speed. Only Faceless Void is unaffected. When cast, Faceless Void attempts to teleport all friendly Assassins out of the cube. |
IO | Primordial Druid | Tether: Io tethers to the nearest allied hero and pulls itself towards it. Io and the tethered hero gain attack speed and damage reduction. The tether will break if Io is more than 4 cells away. Relocate: Io teleports away for 4 seconds to revive a dead hero. The two units return with full health and are purged of negative effects. |
Kunkka | Human Warrior Swordsman | Ghostship: Kunkka summons a ghostly ship that sails through the battle before smashing apart, dealing damage and stunning all enemies up to 3 cells away from the wreckage. |
Magnus | Savage Shaman | Empower: Magnus enrages a friendly unit, granting it additional damage and Cleave for 20 seconds. |
Shadow Demon | Heartless Demon | Demonic Purge: Repeatedly purges the target enemy unit, removing positive buffs, applying break and slowing the target for 5 seconds. The unit slowly regains its movement/attack speed until the end of the duration, upon which damage is dealt. |
Snapfire | Brawny Dragon | Ol’ Scatteblast: After 4 basic attacks, Snapfire readies her shotgun, blasting an enemy within 2 cells in a cone 3 cells wide and slows the attack of affected units. |
Sven | Rogue Knight Swordsman | God’s Strength: Sven enrages and gains damage for 60 seconds. Cleave: A passive ability that allows Sven’s attacks to strike nearby enemies as well for a percentage of the damage. |
Tiny | Primordial Warrior | Toss: Tiny picks up a random adjacent enemy and launches it at the farthest enemy target. At impact, the target deals damage to all enemies 1 cell away and stuns them. |
Tusk | Savage Warrior | Walrus Punch: A critical strike that launches an enemy into the air and inflicts a 40% slow effect after landing. |
Venomancer | Scaled Summoner Poisoner | Plague Ward: Venomancer summons a Plague Ward to fight alongside. |
Weaver | Insect Hunter | Shukuchi: Weaver shifts out of visibility, becoming untargetable and quickly moving through a target up to 3 cells away. Weaver deals damage to each enemy it passes through. |
F-Tier
These are the worst heroes in the game right now. Use them if you want a significant challenge.
Hero | Alliances | Ability |
---|---|---|
Alchemist | Brute Rogue Poisoner | Acid Spray: This ranged acid attack affects enemies within three cells, and reduces the armor of any foe who steps in it thereafter while dealing damage over time. |
Lina | Human Mage | Laguna Blade: Lina casts a bolt of lightning that deals damage to a single unit. |
Meepo | Rogue Summoner | Poof: Meepo teleports to a random enemy, dealing damage to all adjacent enemy units. Divided We Stand: Whenever Meepo casts an ability, he creates a copy of himself with the same health he currently has. If Meepo or any clone dies, all Meepos die. |
Pangolier | Savage Swordsman | Shield Crash: Pangolier jumps in the air and slams back into the ground, dealing damage to enemies within 2 cells and gaining 8% damage reduction per enemy for 10 seconds. After the jump, all enemies in attack range focus on Pangolier. |
Puck | Dragon Mage | Illusory Orb: A magic orb that floats along a straight path, damaging enemies as it goes. Phase Shift: Unlocked by the Dragon Alliance. Just before taking damage, Puck briefly shifts into another dimension where it is immune from harm for 0.5 seconds. |
Rubick | Mage Magus | Fade Bolt: Rubick creates a powerful stream of arcane energy that strikes a target and jumps 4 additional times, dealing damage and reducing their attack damage by 20% for 5 seconds. |
Spectre | Void Demon | Spectral Dagger: Spectre flings a dagger at an enemy hero, dealing damage and drawing a Shadow Path which slows the movement speed of enemy units by 50 and Attack Speed by 50 for 4 seconds. Spectre runs to attack this unit and gains 200 Attack Speed and 100% bonus movement speed and phasing movement for 4 seconds. |
Techies | Scrappy Inventor | Remote Mines: The Gang plants explosives that detonate after three seconds and deal damage to anyone within a 3-cell radius. |
Vengeful Spirit | Fallen Heartless | Wave of Terror: Vengeful Spirit lets loose a wicked cry in a straight path, damaging enemy units along the way and reducing their armor for 6 seconds. |
Wraith King | Fallen Swordsman | Wraithfire Blast: Wraith King sears an enemy within 3 cells with spectral fire, stunning them for 2 seconds and dealing damage per second for 5 seconds. |