Best Dota 2 Carry Characters in Current Meta (7.35d Patch)

In Dota 2, choosing a hero is a critical decision that determines the game’s outcome. As we recently wrote, some of the many available characters are clearly OP, but some stand out due to their popularity and the frequency of players’ choices. This review is dedicated to seven carry heroes often picked by players in the current meta, according to their rates and usage.

These characters possess unique abilities and playing styles, distinguishing them from other heroes and making them preferable for many players. Understanding their tiers, strengths, and weaknesses will help players fully unlock the potential of the chosen character and increase their chances of winning.

Highlights

• Top 7 carry heroes for patch 7.35d
• Rates and tiers for each
• Description of their advantages, disadvantages, and abilities

Top 7 Carry Heroes of Current Meta

• Luna
• Faceless Void
• Razor
• Lifestealer
• Morphling
• Anti-Mage
• Phantom Assassin

To be sure that our Tier List is valid for today, you can check live tournaments on Dotabuff, where the heroes from our list are often found in the top picks of professional players. But don’t forget that there is a character ban system, so strong characters are often banned so the opposing team doesn’t have a significant advantage.

Luna

Luna

A carry with high farming potential and damage to buildings thanks to her ultimate ability and the ability to deal damage to multiple targets. However, she is vulnerable in the early stages of the game.

Tier: A

Rates

Win Rate: 49.37%

Pick Rate: 10.55%

KDA Ratio: 2.86

Advantages

• It is an excellent farm thanks to the “Lucent Beam” ability.
• Substantial area damage with the ultimate ability “Eclipse”.
• Increases damage to the entire team with “Lunar Blessing”.

Disadvantages

• Quite vulnerable in the early stages of the game.
• Luna needs a good start and stacks from support in the jungle for maximum effectiveness.

Abilities

Lucent Beam: Deals magical damage and stuns the target.

Moon Glaives: This ability allows Luna’s attacks to bounce from target to target, reducing damage with each bounce. Aghanim’s Shard creates Moon Glaives to create four glaives that rotate in a 175-radius around the hero and reduce the damage she takes. If attacked, the enemy hero will get 75% of Luna’s attack damage.

Lunar Blessing: Increases physical damage of nearby allies.

Eclipse: Periodically triggers Lucent Beam on random enemies around Luna. With Aghanim’s Shard, Luna can cast her ultimate on an allied unit or herself or use it as an area cast, increasing total beams, CD reduction, and removing the limit of the beam per unit. The beams appear twice as fast.

Faceless Void

Faceless Void

He is a unique carry with the ability to stop time, which makes him dangerous in team fights. His dependency on his ultimate ability can be both a strength and a weakness.

Tier: A

Rates

Win Rate: 47.47%

Pick Rate: 14.06%

KDA Ratio: 3.15

Advantages

• The ability to control time and disable opponents in battle with the “Chronosphere”.
• High survival potential thanks to “Time Walk”.
• Strong single-target damage.

Disadvantages

• It strongly depends on the successful use of “Chronosphere”.
• Can be vulnerable without support.

Abilities

Time Walk: Instantly moves a short distance, healing recently received damage. Aghanim’s Scepter applies Time Lock to all units in the landing destination. With the help of Aghanim’s Shard, it increases the Time Walk range and gives a new ability, Reverse Time Walk, which allows you to teleport back to the point from where Time Walk was used.

Time Dilation: Slows down the recovery of enemies’ abilities around.

Time Lock: Gives a chance to stun the target with each attack.

Chronosphere: Creates a large area where everyone except Faceless Void is slowed down in time.

Razor

Razor

Razor is a hero capable of stealing attacking power from his opponents, making him strong against physical carries. However, due to his relative vulnerability, he requires good positioning.

Tier: A

Rates

Win Rate: 49.33%

Pick Rate: 8.42%

KDA Ratio: 2.94

Advantages

• Can steal damage from opponents with “Plasma Field”.
• Good mobile damage ability, “Eye of the Storm”.
• Effective against physical carries.

Disadvantages

• Relatively fragile in the early stages of the game.
• Requires good positioning.

Abilities

Plasma Field: Deals damage to enemies at a distance. Damage increases with distance.

Static Link: This steals attack power from the target and transfers it to Razor, allowing him to attack while moving. Aghanim’s Shard increases cast range and lets Razor pull targets towards each other with 100 speed.

Storm Surge: Increases movement speed of Razor and allies, releasing forked lightning that strikes nearby enemies when the hero is attacked.

Eye of the Storm: This ability automatically attacks enemies with lightning, reducing their armor. Aghanim’s Scepter causes the ultimate to strike two opponents at once.

Lifestealer

Lifestealer

The lifestealer is a durable melee-strength hero known for his ability to steal lives, deal immense damage, and infest allies or enemies for strategic maneuvers.

Tier: A

Rates

Win Rate: 53.39%

Pick Rate: 15.24%

KDA Ratio: 3.68

Advantages

• Excellent sustain in lane and fights due to high life steal.
• He can become magic immune with his abilities, making him hard to lock down.
• Good at isolating and quickly taking down single targets.

Disadvantages

• Kiteable by enemies with mobility or slow abilities.
• He relies on Rage for debuff immunity and 80% magic resistance.
• He can struggle against heroes who excel at controlling or bursting him down before he can sustain through damage.

Abilities

Rage: Grants temporary immunity to magic spells, increasing attack speed.

Feast: Passively life steals HP based on the target’s health, making him stronger against bulky foes.

Open Wounds (Aghanim’s Shard) slows an enemy significantly, allowing the Lifestealer and allies to catch up and attack while also life-stealing from the target.

Infest: The lifestealer can enter an ally or enemy unit, heal himself, and prepare for a surprise attack or strategic movement. Aghanim’s Scepter now buffs Infest with increased cast range, reduced cooldown by 20s, and the ability to target enemy heroes, disarming and attacking them from the inside while increasing LS regen.

Morphling

Morphling is one of the most flexible heroes, thanks to its ability to change attributes between strength and agility. It can mimic opponents’ abilities but requires a high skill level for practical use.

Tier: S

Rates

Win Rate: 47.26%

Pick Rate: 8.69%

KDA Ratio: 3.13

Advantages

• Morp has exceptional flexibility thanks to the ability to change attributes between strength and agility.
• The ability to copy opponents’ abilities with “Morph”.
• High survival potential and mobility.
• He has a decent instant damage.

Disadvantages

• It is complex to master and requires a good understanding of the moment to change attributes.
• Vulnerable to control and sudden damage at a low amount of strength.

Abilities

Waveform: Instantly moves Morphling to the specified point, damaging all enemies on the path.

Adaptive Strike: This attack deals with damage and has an additional effect depending on the prevailing attribute (strength or agility).

Attribute Shift: Switches attributes between strength and agility, changing the balance between health and damage.

Morph: Copies the ability and appearance of the target enemy hero, retaining its abilities. Aghanim’s Scepter now buffs Morph, creating a strong illusion of the target hero that can cast all basic abilities.

Anti-Mage

Anti-Mage

The current hero is oriented towards fast farming and destroying magically vulnerable opponents thanks to his unique ability to blink and Mana Void. He is weak in the early phase of the game.

Tier: A

Rates

Win Rate: 52.24%

Pick Rate: 15.04%

KDA Ratio: 3.28

Advantages

• Excellent farm and mobility with “Blink”.
• Strong against magical heroes thanks to “Spell Shield”.
• The ability to quickly deprive mana and deal significant damage with “Mana Void”.

Disadvantages

• Weak in the early game and requires time to farm.
• Vulnerable to physical damage and control.

Abilities

Mana Break: Burns opponent’s mana with each attack.

Blink: Instantly teleports the hero to a short distance. Aghanim’s Shard grants a new ability called Blink Fragment, which creates an illusion near the enemy that attacks for a brief time.

Counterspell: Increases magical resistance and allows AM to reflect the enemy spell cast on you. With the help of Aghanim’s Shard, AM can use Counterspell on the ally hero.

Mana Void: Deals colossal damage to an enemy based on the amount of missing mana.

Phantom Assassin

Phantom Assassin is a melee agility hero infamous for her ability to deliver devastating critical strikes, making her one of the most feared late-game carries.

Tier: A

Rates

Win Rate: 48.04%

Pick Rate: 19.65%

KDA Ratio: 2.95

Advantages

• She possesses one of the highest physical damage outputs in the game with critical hits.
• Blur makes her elusive to enemy heroes and towers when not directly attacked, enhancing her survivability.
• PA can blink at the target enemy or an ally, allowing her to initiate or escape.
• Due to her low health pool, PA is highly vulnerable to magic damage and control.
• She requires items to be truly effective, making her early game weaker.
• She relies heavily on RNG for her damaged output, which can lead to inconsistency.

Abilities

Stifling Dagger: Throws a dagger that slows and deals a percentage of her attack damage to the target, also applying attack effects.

Phantom Strike: Blinks to an enemy or ally, granting attack speed for a few subsequent attacks.

Blur: Passively increases evasion against attacks and actively hides her from the enemy minimap until near enemy heroes. Aghanim’s Scepter causes Blur to have an instant cast time and applies to dispel; if you kill a hero, her abilities are refreshed.

Fan of Knives: Aghanim’s Shard ability that releases sharp blades around her, dealing damage to enemies based on their HP percentage.

Coup de Grâce: Grants a chance to deal with a massive critical strike, defining her reputation as a fearsome assassin.

These heroes demonstrate the diversity of playing styles and strategies in Dota 2, offering players a wide range of possibilities for dominating the map.

Summary

In addition to the carry mentioned above heroes in Dota 2, several other remarkable characters deserve attention due to their unique abilities and contribution to team victories. Heroes such as Phantom Assassin, Broodmother, and Terrorblade stand out due to their potential for dealing immense damage, survival in difficult situations, and mobility on the map. They can quickly shift the balance of power in their favor significantly when they acquire the necessary items. Their effectiveness in battle makes them valuable assets for any team striving for victory in the match.