Hero Selection Guide

The Hero Selection phase is an extremely important part of any Heroes of Newerth game! It is important that you know your roles and have a clear idea of what type of strategy you want to utilise. This dictates which heroes you should pick and why. Some heroes are very important to consider whilst others should not even be selected for other reasons. 

**********The Hero Lists will continue to be updated**********

Hero Roles

1. Synergy and Hero Roles

Your first priority is synergy.  Synergy is a simple concept where two or more heroes have certain abilities that can provide a very good combination.  For example, Electrician can stun an enemy and upon this stun being activated Swiftblade uses his spin to damage the enemy.  This combo is extremely effective early game and is a very good example of Synergy.  What you want to avoid is choosing a team which absolutely has no synergy, thus becoming ineffective.  In order to achieve synergy between your heroes you need to know your Hero Roles.  You should always have at least one of each of the primary roles.  Every hero has different uses and most of them, while not all, have secondary roles as well.  Your typical 5 man team consists of 2 supports, a carry, ganker and initiator.  You can play around with this as you wish but never have 2 hardcarries or more than 2 semi carries on the same team because you will be owned early and pay for it late game.  Below is the descriptions of the hero roles as well as 3 lists of heroes and their roles in the next tab:

Primary Roles

A) Carry

A carry hero can be broken into small sub-categories.  Your main role in a team is damage, the more you dish out, the more important you are.  For this reason you must be careful not to choose a 5 carry team because while this will make your team completely useless early and mid game.  You are weak early game and your strength will only pick up slightly during mid game.  Heroes who are strong during these game phases will make short work of you.  You will also be capable of chasing down survivors with ease.

B) Ganker

Gankers are extremely important during early and mid game and their power slowly diminishes in late game as the opposing team starts to gain large health pools and are more resistant to spells.  Gankers usually have a stun, slow or a silence.  They are there to give their team a small window of opportunity to attack.  Always remember that starting a battle will always give you the advantage in a fight but will not mean you will always win it.  A ganker is not item dependent and usually should spend his money to make sure he has enough mana to cast his spells.  You are not a damage dealer!!  Do NOT spend money on items which are meant for carries, they are a waste of money because you are not fulfilling your role.  This is extremely important to succeed in a game.

C) Supporter

Supporters are the most important heroes in any game.  They heal the team, provide buffs, babysit the carry and are the main targets in a team fight.  Like gankers they are not item dependent and they should spend their money on things such as Astrolabe and Nome's Wisdom.  Your main supporters are Intelligence Heroes so you will be vulnerable throughout the entire game.  It is recommended that a team consists of two Supporters because one support cannot save an entire team on his own.  Do not pick support if you want kills or you hate dying.  There are other heroes who can do the killing.  

D) Initiator

Finally, the last hero role and perhaps the least popular of the four.  An initiator is the hero who is going to start the fight.  For this reason, you will need a portal key.  It is your signature item in the game and should be bought immediately. There is only a small selection of these heroes and while not always needed, having one will help your team a lot.  For example, you want to start a fight but don't know how to start.  If you have a Tempest, for example, it's simple; you portal in, and cast your ulti.  If cast well, the entire team gets caught and your team has a 4 second time window to destroy the team while they are caught in the tornado.

Secondary Roles

A) Nuker

A Hero who has high-damage spells which are extremely effective early game.  Some of these heroes tend to lose effect in the late game phase since enemies become more resistant to these spells.  Nonetheless they are extremely viable for early game harassment.  Always remember that someone like ThunderBringer should be spamming his nukes not auto-attacking.

B) Babysitter

A Babysitter's job is to lane with a carry and provide all support needed to make sure the carry stays alive and farms well.  Most Babysitters are ranged but a few melee heroes are also extremely good Babysitters.  A hero with this role should focus on last hitting allied creeps for denying while help the carry get last hits on the creeps.  Most Babysitters are item-independent.

C) Roamer

A very rare sight in public games but extremely popular in competitive play, a Roamer is simply a hero with no fixed lane.  Your job is to stay in the forest and gank and harass as much as you can.  A good roamer frequently switches lanes, making sure all enemy heroes fall behind on their farming, while also protecting his allies.  Note that a Roamer is also in danger of getting underfarmed as well.

D) Disabler

A disabler is a hero who has one or more stuns.  Their main role is to stun an enemy and give their team a time window to attack.

E) Jungler

A Jungler is a hero who has the ability to immediately start killing neutral creeps from level one onwards.  They spend most of the game in the jungle farming up money and shining in their respective roles thanks to a lot of items in their arsenal!

F) Pusher

A hero who can easily push a lane and destroy a tower thanks to powerful or creep-clearing abilities.

Tanks

2. The issue of Tanks 

When is the first time you go into a game with your mates and one of you says, "We need a tank!"?  There is no such thing in HON.  This is not an MMORPG.  People believe a tank to be a beast who can simply go into an enemy team, get hammered with everything they have and still be alive.  In HON there are heroes who can absorb more damage than others but when it comes to this, they will not be focused on.  The main focus will always be on the carry and support heroes.  So you may be a tank in your mind, but only Legionnaire has a spell which forces enemies to attack him.  People such as Legionnaire, Armadon and Electrician have the necessary skills which makes them much more resistant to damage but ultimately it won't really make a difference.  Anyone can be a tank with the necessary items but don't expect to take on DeadWood, Pyro and Witch, get hammered with everything they throw at you and still be alive.  That only happens in Practice mode.  Basically there are very few heroes with potential to tank.

Agility Heroes

3. A list of Agility Heroes and their Roles 

Andromeda: Ganker/Support/Roamer

Engineer: Initiator/Semi Carry/Pusher

Night Hound: Hard Carry

Swiftblade: Hard Carry

Magebane: Hard Carry (nightmare for intelligence heroes)

MoonQueen: Ganker

Scout: Hard Carry

Valkyrie: Semi Carry/ Ganker/Disabler

Wildsoul: Hard Carry/Pusher/Jungler/Tank

Zephyr: Hard Carry/ Ganker

Arachna: Semi Carry/Ganker

Chronos: Hard Carry

Slither: Initiator/Ganker/Babysitter

Fayde: Ganker

Forsaken Archer: Semi-Carry/Ganker/Pusher/Roamer

BloodHunter: Semi Carry/Ganker

SandWraith: Hard Carry

Madman: Hard Carry/Ganker

Soulstealer: Semi Carry/Pusher

The Dark Lady: Hard Carry(probably the best carry in the game)

Corrupted Disciple: Semi Carry/Ganker

Flint Beastwood: Carry

Intelligence Heroes

4.  A list of Intelligence Heroes and their Roles

Chipper: Ganker/Support

Blacksmith: Ganker/Roamer/Nuker

Nymphora: Support/Ganker/Babysitter

Glacius: Support/Initiator

ThunderBringer: Nuker

Ophelia: Ganker/Support/Jungler/Pusher

Pollywog Priest: Ganker/Pusher/Support

PyroMancer: Ganker/Nuker/Pusher

Tempest: Initiator/Disabler/Pusher

Vindicator: Babysitter

Witch Slayer: Ganker/Disabler/Support

Wretched Hag: Ganker/Semi-Carry

Defiler: Ganker/Pusher

Plague Rider: Ganker/Support/Babysitter

Hellbringer: Initiator/Pusher/Babysitter

Soul Reaper: Support/Babysitter

PuppetMaster: HardCarry/Ganker (can fulfill both roles with ease)

Demented Shaman: Support/Babysitter

Succubus: Ganker/Disabler

Vodoo Jester: Ganker/Disabler/Babysitter

Torturer: Ganker/Disabler

Bubbles: Ganker/Support

Doctor Repulsor: Ganker/Initiator

Strength Heroes

5. A list of Strength Heroes and their Roles

Armadon: Ganker/Semi-Carry/Tank

Behemoth: Initiator/Ganker/Roamer

Hammerstorm: Semi Carry/Pusher

Jeraziah: Support/Pusher

Legionnaire: Initiator/Disabler/Tank

Pandamonium: Ganker/Semi Carry

Predator: Hard Carry

Rampage: Ganker/Initiator

Pebbles: Initiator/Ganker

Keeper of the Forest: Initiator/Support/Babysitter

Accursed: Support/Babysitter/Tank

DeadWood: Semi Carry/Ganker

Devourer: Initiator/Tank(against magic damage mostly)

Electrician: Ganker/Disabler

Kraken: Initiator/Ganker

Magmus: Initiator/Ganker

Maliken: Hard Carry/Ganker

Pharoah: Initiator/Disabler

Pestilence: Semi Carry/Initiator

War Beast: Hard Carry

Balphagore: Ganker/Support

Gauntlet: Ganker/Initiator

Gladiator: Ganker/Disabler/Initiator

Tundra: Anti-Carry