The offlane in Dota is known to be the hardest lane and role in the game. Yet it is highly unappreciated for what it's worth. The offlaner brings a ton of value to the team, providing initiation, crowd control, and utility!
We bring you the best 10 Offlaners in the current meta who can singlehandedly win you the game with their spells and toolkit. These heroes are guaranteed to snowball if they win their lane and consistently are picked in pro games.
10. Pangolier
The flamboyant swashbuckling Pangolier is a relatively new hero to the game but players quickly recognized it as one of the vital counters to most illusion heroes. There are a lot of factors for this, one of them includes the Disarm mechanic and the extremely high physical AoE damage dealt by him in team fights. Illusions will disintegrate and be reduced to rubbles quite quickly! It is a given that Pangolier farms way better and more efficiently compared to most of his enemy laners and carries.
Why is Pangoler a great offlaner?
- High AoE physical damage and disarm
- Immense control with Rolling Thunder
- High wave clear potential
- Quite a slippery fish!
Items to Buy on Pangolier
- Maelstorm
- Abyssal Blade
- Shiva's Guard
- Aghanm’s Scepter and Shard
9. Doom
Feared by both angels and devils, Doom is known to dominate the battlefield with his terrifying spells and animosity. Though the laning phase may be rough on Doom against most heroes, he hits his item timings quickly, thanks to Devour and Scorched Earth. Being more level reliant over the farm, Doom must constantly gank other lanes to secure farm and space for his team! He shreds through his enemies due to his high magic damage and disables, rendering them useless.
Why is Doom a great offlaner?
- Doom can shut down enemy heroes easily with his ultimate, muting their items and silencing them while they take insane damage over time.
- Along with the ultimate, Doom also can devour creeps to get their abilities, allowing him to stun or deal damage during team fights.
Items to Buy on Doom
- Silver Edge
- Black King Bar
- Shiva’s Guard
- Pipe of Insight
8. Magnus
The strength of the hoof and horns has bestowed Magnus with a great ton of power. Magnus can be picked first as he can be mended and put into any lane. He works best in the offlane where he can compete and quite effortlessly out farm his enemy carry with empower. In the later stages of the game, Magnus is more spell and level reliant as opposed to farm, as all it takes is one Blink Dagger to ruin the enemy’s tempo. A successful blink into RP followed up by his team can guarantee the game victory.
Why is Magnus a great offlaner?
- Requires minimal farm to get online
- Immense crowd control
- Great laner
Items to buy as Magnus
- Blink Dagger
- Aghanim’s Shard
- Black King Bar
- Force Staff
- Eul’s Scepter
7. Axe
Doing immense physical damage right off the bat is quite unheard of in the early stages of the game, but Axe is one noble exception! A few Counter Helix spins and boom you’re dead! It gets messy to communicate with your team as you have more units around you, the more damage the Axe Call does. No matter how farmed you are as a carry hero, all it takes is one Axe Blink Call to get you down to 0 HP in no time.
Why is Axe a great Offlaner?
- Berserker's Call helps to lock down multiple enemy heroes at once
- Counter Helix combined with Blade Mail clears waves quickly.
- Talents that scale well against illusions
- Offers great initiation, allowing his team to follow up.
Items to Buy on Axe
- Blink Dagger
- Blade Mail
- Aghanim’s Scepter and Shard
- Force Staff
- Crimson Guard
6. Timbersaw
Other than hating trees for a living, Timbersaw loves hating on melee strength heroes, something that he is himself! Apart from this, he is quite a dominating force against melee heroes, his immense damage can not be negated very early into the game. Timber can triumph undoubtedly if he is put in a 1v1 matchup against most strength and melee heroes, the strength disparity damage is just intense and the nuke damage is why he is considered to be one of the best in the business.
Why is Timbersaw a great offlaner?
- High pure damage that pierces boat buff and messes up with enemies’ strength
- Absurdly high armor that can negate heaps of physical damage
- Good at chasing and slowing enemies, helpfully specifically against escape heroes
Items to Buy on Timbersaw
- Eul’s Scepter
- Pipe of Insight
- Crimson Guard
- Blade Mail
- Lotus Orb
5. Beastmaster
Beastmaster is a force of nature, his ferocious abilities and vigor have made him into a primal killing machine! He is by far one of the most threatening heroes in the game! Beastmaster is primarily played in the offlane due to his split pushing and initiating abilities, though he can also jungle effortlessly thanks to his Wild Boar. His attack speed is also amplified by his abilities, allowing both him and his allies to hit faster. Beastmaster snowballs right after a few kills, his ganking potential is insane after a few essential item purchases.
What makes Beastmaster a great offlaner?
- Mostly builds utility items, supplementing his team’s abilities.
- Wild Boar helps with jungling and the Hawk provides vision that can alert Beastmaster or his allies from enemy invasion.
- High base attack speed, damage, and armor.
Items to buy on Beastmaster
- Aghanim’s Scepter
- Blink Dagger
- Helm of the Overlord
- Solar Crest
- Aether Lens
4. Centaur Warruner
The war chieftain has seen many strong enemies, his forces have destroyed empires and defeated great warriors. Centaur is naturally a great counter to any ranged hero due to his ability to gap close with both his ultimate and the Blink Dagger. He can return some serious damage back to his enemies and it is further amplified with the Blade Mail. Sniper can not fight alone or target a farmed and fat Centaur.
Why is Centaur Warruner a great first-pick hero?
- Blink Dagger combined with Hoof Stomp can be used to catch heroes.
- Centaur can also utilize Stampede to cover the distance.
- Double Edge can easily finish off enemies after Centaur initiates on him.
Items to buy on Centaur Warruner
- Blink Dagger
- Blade Mail
- Force Staff
- Aghanim’s Scepter and Shard
- Crimson Guard
3. Batrider
Batrider is quite the favorite of most offlaners in the current meta, as he is picked to provide great early game domination and control potential. His laning phase is quite impeccable due to the sheer amount of magical damage output that he provides. If you aren’t careful enough, then you may be susceptible to heavy damage courtesy of the napalm stacks! Along with dominating the laning phase, Batrider is successful in dominating the late game if not contained!
Why is Batrider a great offlaner?
- Low CD on spells, effectively spamming and slowing his foes.
- High AoE magical damage that can further be amplified.
- Great flex pick, can initiate well regardless of the role
Items to buy on Batrider
- Blink Dagger
- Black King Bar
- Boots of Travel
- Force Staff
- Aghanim’s Scepter
- Refresher’s Orb
2. Bristleback
Bristleback has quite literally been a thorn in the side for every other hero in the game in the recent meta. He takes no damage while dealing quite a ton of damage and neutralizing his foes! Often considered to be an obnoxious laner, he is hated with passion by millions of dota players all over the world! He is quite the fun hero to play since all he does is spam his spells, which he can do effortlessly as he is backed by his insanely high armor!
Why is Bristleback a great offlaner?
- Low CD on spells
- Only has two active abilities
- High kill potential and sustainability
Items to buy on Bristleback
- Ethereal Shroud
- Kaya and Sange
- Octraine Core
- Blademail
1. Tidehunter
Tidehunter does exceptionally well against melee heroes, especially against the squishy ones with low armor. With little to no damage being dealt by his laning carry due to Anchor Smash and high base armor, they have no choice but to ignore this melon man during teamfights! But this does not mean that Tide ignores them, he ferociously pounces on him to ravage and decimate his carriers and eventually wipe off the entire team.
Why is Tidehunter a great offlaner?
- Kraken Shell and Anchor Smash make it very difficult for enemies to damage Tidehunter.
- Ravage will lock the whole enemy team down.
- Anchor Smash reduces base damage, which is the majority of a carry hero’s auto-attack damage.
- An Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Gush slows down and reduces the armor of all heroes.
Items to Buy on Tidehunter
- Blink Dagger
- Shiva’s Guard
- Lotus Orb
- Aghanim’s Scepter and Shard
- Force Staff
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