There are three types of heroes in Dota 2. Strength, Agility, and Intelligence-based heroes. Strength heroes in Dota 2 tend to be tankier, have more HP regen, and have a greater HP pool.
Each category of heroes specializes in one fundamental element of the game. Similarly, their roles within the game are defined based on these categories. Based on that, strength heroes are more suited for the offlane position and are usually the initiators in a team fight.
Currently, there are a total of 40 strength heroes. In this article, we will identify the top 10 best Strength heroes in Dota 2 that should be a part of your hero pool.
Axe
Axe is a melee strength hero. His ability to call enemy heroes to attack him as he deals them damage with Counter Helix is remarkable. The best thing about this ability is that the more heroes Axe manage to bait, the more chances he has of killing them. So if you are really careful with your timing you could take down 5 enemy heroes at the same time!
Enemy heroes turn to run the other way when they see Axe walking towards them. He is a durable initiator and disabler. His Counter Helix also allows him to cut down creep waves and farm jungle creeps efficiently. Gold is rarely a problem when playing this hero.
When Axe gets his Blink and Blade Mail that’s when he really comes online. The added mobility allows him to gank heroes, especially if he is smoked and invisible.
Bristleback
Bristleback is another great durable melee strength hero. He specializes in being the team’s tanky initiator. His Bristleback ability allows him to take less damage if his back is turned towards the enemy. So while the enemy spends time and spells trying to take him down, your allies can ambush them in return and get easy kills.
What makes Bristleback even better is that he delivers damage simultaneously. The more he is attacked, the more Quill sprays are released. The more stacked these get, the higher damage they deliver. So by the time the enemy stops to notice the damage being dealt against them, it’s too late.
Using his Viscous Nasal Goo allows him to slow down enemy heroes from escaping so his team can pick them off. Overall he is a great hero, especially for beginners, as you don’t have to worry about positioning and items too much.
Tiny
Tiny is a carry strength hero, whose ultimate helps him grow stronger and bigger after each upgrade. He has an amazing AoE ability called Avalanche that damages enemy units while stunning them at small intervals. This means that tiny can initiate fights by blinking into enemy heroes and stunning them, allowing his team to follow up with nukes and spells.
His second ability toss works for both enemies and allies. This is especially great for heroes like Axe. Tiny can simply toss him into enemy heroes, who he can then call and counter. This makes tiny an exceptional hero who works well with his allies.
Tiny works well in the Mid game once he gets his blink dagger. He can catch unsuspecting enemy heroes, disabling them and dealing high damage from his Tree Grab. His overall abilities and large HP pool make him one of the best strength heroes in Dota 2.
Elder Titan
Elder Titan is not a hero that’s often seen in the lower brackets of Ranked Matches. That is because his moves are hard to land, and beginner players often underestimate him. Like every good strength hero, he has a good team fight initiator and disabler. Using his Echo Stomp to dish out damage and stun enemy heroes.
What makes him hard to play is his Astral Projection. Timing it right is essential to dealing with enemy heroes’ damage as well as a stun. Since Elder Titan and his astral projection execute the move, it can effectively deal with double damage and stun.
His final and ultimate ability is the Earth Splitter. This is a move that works against both physical and magic damage heroes. It also slows enemy heroes down, allowing them to be picked off by your ally. Be careful, however, that this move has a time delay meaning that similar to the echo stomp, it has to be timed right.
Dawnbreaker
Dawnbreaker is a new addition hero that was released with patch 7.29. She’s the latest strength carry hero added to Dota 2 in a long while. Although she does not have a disable or a stun, her AoE and team-based abilities make her an exceptional hero.
Most of her abilities revolve around helping allies, therefore, she is a good pick when the enemy has high team fight capabilities. The ability to slow and stun heroes means that she is best drafted when your team has nukers such as Drow Ranger or Sniper.
Since she is a pretty new hero, there are playstyles, and tactics still being introduced for her character. Nevertheless, she is quite durable when dealing with enemy nukers which is why she is one of the best strength heroes in Dota 2.
Earthshaker
Earthshaker is a strength-based support hero. He has a large HP pool and abilities full of stuns and disables. He can be an annoying menace to enemy heroes forcing them to buy Black King Bar to deal with him in team fights.
His fissure ability creates a wall-like ridge of stones that can trap heroes and stun them. You need to be careful, however, not to trap your allies or supports with it. The Enchant Totem allows him to deal extra damage and stun heroes for a short duration.
His ultimate ability is the best against heroes like Terrorblade and Phantom lancers. It also works best when enemies are grouped, such as when trying to take down Roshan. Pairing this hero against Axe is a great team fight initiation setup that is bound to have you winning your games.
Pudge
Pudge is a hero who can be played as a support and early game roamer or ganker. Although, the hero is pretty tricky to control for beginners. His first ability, Meat Hook makes him a great initiator. Pairing him with a hero like Techies can be advantageous as Pudge can hook enemy heroes into Techie’s bombs.
Dismember is a disable ability that keeps an enemy hero disabled for a good 3 seconds. This allows Pudge’s allies to kill the hero. The shard upgrade makes this hero even better allowing Pudge to heal allied heroes quickly.
Although Pudge is a slow hero and not much of a carry, he can still turn the game around by isolating enemy carries from the rest of the team, thereby winning the team fights. Who your allies are, is of great importance with this hero. Typically nukers and high damage heroes are best to play alongside a Pudge in your team.
Abaddon
Abaddon is one of those strength heroes that can pose both as a carry and support. He does not have any disable or stun, yet he is an excellent tank hero who can stay relevant till the late game.
His first ability, Mist coil, can be used on both allies and enemies. Only when it’s cast on allies, it heals them while, on the enemy it deals damage. Although this ability deals 50% of the damage to Abaddon too so it should be used carefully with the Aphotic shield or Borrowed Time.
Borrowed time is the ultimate ability of Abaddon, and it heals him for all the damage dealt with him by enemy heroes. It can be cast manually but also activates automatically once Abaddon’s health drops below a certain threshold. This makes it hard to kill Abaddon and can often be tricky for enemy heroes as they only end up healing him back.
Huskar
Huskar is a ranged strength hero. He is a durable carry which is an effective initiator. The tricky thing about this hero is that Burning Spear’s ability deals DPS damage on enemy heroes and costs Huskar 3% HP. Using Huskar’s own abiilty cannot kill him, but if you are not careful, his HP pool can go low to get him killed by one hit.
Having a built-in disarming ability called Inner fire allows him to knockback enemy heroes and stop them from attacking him. Meaning all they can do is stand and wait for the duration until Huskar stacks them with Burning Spears.
Berserker’s Blood’s passive ability heals Huskar while granting him additional attack speed for the amount of health he is missing. Meaning the lower his health, the greater a threat he becomes to his enemy heroes. Unless there are heavy nukers, Huskar can be very hard to deal with.
Beware of heroes like Lion, Lina and Axe. As each of these heroes can use their ultimate to finish Huskar off with one hit based on the HP he is missing.
Timbersaw
The last hero on this list is Timbersaw. He is a melee strength-based hero. Although he lacks disables or stuns, he has a nuke ability that allows him to dish out a lot of damage to enemy heroes.
His first ability, Whirling Death, deals damage to surrounding enemies based on the number of trees destroyed. This way, if you position him right, you can deal a lot of damage. The whirling chain allows him to hook to a tree from far away and pull himself towards it. This can be used to chase down heroes or escape them.
Reactive armor is what makes Timbersaw durable. The more he is attacked, the more armor and HP regen he gains. This ability can stack up to 24 times giving him a lot of HP regen. Lastly, chakram allows him to throw a whirling blade that slows enemy heroes while damaging them. It keeps on spinning where it was deployed until pulled back by Timbersaw. However, it does consume a lot of mana, so it’s important to keep an eye on your Mana pool while using this ability.
These are the ten Best Strength Heroes in Dota 2 out of the forty that are already present in-game. Hopefully, this article will help you play better as an offlaner and as your team’s tank hero.
