Dota 1 vs dota 2 heroes comparison chart

Big strategic differences:

Before we dive into some specific strategies, I’d like to discuss two factors which I believe are a major driving force in the difference between Dota Underlords and Auto Chess strategy principles.

Global items in Underlords make a big difference compared to Auto Chess, but they are quite intuitive to include in your strat so I won’t focus on them here (we’ll discuss them in-depth in another article).

Having only one item per hero, however, also makes a big difference but less obviously so.

In Auto Chess, some strategies have an easily identifiable “main carry”. This would be the Dragon Knight in the (6) Knights + (3) Dragons strat, or e. g. a three-star Phantom Assassin in (6) Assassin + (3) Elf strats, Terrorblade in Demon strats, etc.

These units are your main damage dealers, so you would often put most of your high-value items on them. Having Madness, Battlefury and ideally a survivability item like BKB on your Phantom Assassin is the dream (not easy to achieve, but still something you strive towards).

In Underlords, however, you can only put one item on a unit. Battle Fury is great on PA, but it gives only splash, no bonus damage. Putting it on her means you wouldn’t have space for a damage or attack speed item, etc.

Similarly, if Bloodseeker is your main damage dealer, you would have a choice to make. BKB is amazing on him, but so are DPS items – you have to make a choice.

All of this means that strategies that heavily focus on one unit (Terrorblade, Dragon Knight, etc.) are a bit weaker in Underlords compared to Auto Chess. Your builds are more efficient when you have a few tanks and a few damage dealers on which you can distribute a couple of high-value items.

Proximity Auras and items (that take effect if the units are standing right next to each other) are relatively common in Dota Underlords. This gives an advantage to ranged lineups because they don’t move much during the round, while melee lineups can easily get dragged away from each other and lose the aura buff quite randomly.

This is a major reason why e. g. Hunters were (and arguably still are) much better in Dota Underlords than they are in Auto Chess. Sniper and Medusa stay put right next to Drow, who gives them her aura and increases their DPS tremendously.

This is also a major reason why Knights are arguably a bit weaker in Underlords compared to Auto Chess – they need to stay next to each other to retain the buff, which makes them vulnerable to AoE. If they separate, they might lose the buff. Moreover, the last Knight standing is guaranteed not to have the buff.

This also has an effect on AoE spells and positioning:

In Auto Chess, in the late game, some lineups work best when you spread them out on the board so that it is less likely that multiple units get hit from the same AoE spell. This is also possible in Underlords, but often you want to keep heroes right next to each other because of the proximity auras, which in turn makes them more vulnerable to AoE spells.

Because of this, Kunkka, Tide, Medusa, Enigma, Disruptor (who are already S-tier in Auto Chess) are arguably even stronger in Dota Underlords, and BKB is probably one of the most important items in the game to put on a damage-dealer.

On top of that, Refresher is more common in Underlords, and all of the above units with Refresher (especially Kunkka for control and Enigma for damage) can single-handedly win you fights vs clumped-up enemies.

Dota Underlords Strategies:

Hunters + Warriors Strategy:

Hunters + Warriors were broken when the game came out, but it is arguably still one of the good strategies in Underlords. There are a couple of reasons for this:

• Pudge is arguably the most cost-efficient tank in the game (great HP pool for the 2g cost). Moreover, he is Heartless (Undead), which means that Pudge + Drow is a super easy way to get the (2) Heartless armor reduction bonus.
• Drow + two ranged Hunters (most important of which Medusa, followed by Sniper, followed by Windranger) deal tremendous damage because of Drow Ranger’s proximity aura. Dota 1 vs dota 2 heroes comparison chart Moreover, Medusa has Split-Shot, which means that she not only provides crowd control as in Auto Chess (from her Stone Gaze) but also great DPS.
• The Warrior bonus is more reliable than the Knights bonus because Warriors don’t lose their armor when they move away from each other. Moreover, Warriors’ global item (Unstoppable, which allows them to survive for an extra 2 seconds before dying) buys a lot of extra time for the backline damage dealers, which is what they need most. Last but not least, Kunkka and Doom are still some of the best utility units in the game.