Best Dota 2 Offlane Heroes in Patch 7.36

The new Dota patch is a treat for players, eager to experiment, innovate and elevate their gameplay.

It is fun, especially for theory crafters, always looking for optimal strategies and tactics. With every game patch, comes a flurry of buffed and nerfed heroes, and this time is no exception.

Today, we highlight the best offlane heroes in Dota 2 Patch 7.36.

Dota 2’s best offline hero: Sand King

Sand King is one of the most popular offlane hero in patch 7.36. And certainly currently one of the best offlane Dota 2 heroes. Currently, he’s the most picked offlaner in high level pubs and arguably Dota’2 best offlane hero in the current patch. But why?

Thanks to Sand King’s Facet Dust Devil which is making him the talk of the town. But what does Dust Devil do? Sand King’s ability Sand Storm follows him when he moves or Burrowstrikes. However, with the latest patch .36b update, Sand Storm no longer centers on Sand King after Burrowstrike and its radius is also significantly decreased.

Nonetheless, we’ve Burrowstrike and Stinger – the former stuns and deals damage and also applies Caustic Finale poison to heroes hit with it, whereas the latter deals bonus damage and slows down the enemy. His ultimate, Epicenter, sends waves of pulses and deals high damage while slowing the enemies down. Each subsequent pulse increases the radius of damage dealt, thus making the spell lethal.

But the star of the show is Aghanim’s Scepter upgrade which allows Sand Storm to create 3 burrowstrike spines at 0.4s intervals, applying 70% of the burrowstrike damage and stun to enemies hit.

As for item builds, Phase Boots, Aghanim Scepter, Blink Dagger and Aghanim’s Shard are trending in the current patch. Then there’s Bloodstone, Eternal Shroud and Shiva’s Guard as late-game item builds. All these builds give Sand King movement speed, universal attributes and tankability, allowing him to create openings for his team, especially in team fights, where he flourishes the most.

He lanes well against almost every hero but the learning curve isn’t easy on Sand King. In the right hands, he’s a beast but in the wrong hands, he’s a bust. That’s why… learning is a must.

Judging by the meta trends, he has a high win rate, especially in higher ranked games. However, Sand King’s win rate has significantly dropped the past week owing to players figuring out how to counter the devil.

Best Dota 2 offlane hero: Tiny

Tiny is one of the best dota offlane hero in the current patch. He features in pro games frequently and is a staple pick. But what makes Tiny a popular pick in patch 7.36?

Tiny is a versatile pick in the current meta and can feature in all three lanes; carry, mid or offlane, as per the situation. But in this patch, he’s primarily played as a carry or offlane because of three things – nuke, push and initiation.

Tiny’s spells and damage provide immense nuke potential. The Avalanche + Toss combo deals 690 raw damage when maxed out, capable enough to eliminate a squishy support hero or clear out an entire creep wave. Thus it also makes him great at pushing lanes, securing objectives and creating openings as an initiator.

As a strength hero, Tiny is also efficient at farming, courtesy of Tree Grab, which provides him additional damage and bonus attack range. His ultimate, Grow, transforms Tiny into a giant, increasing his attack damage, movement speed and armour while slowing his attack speed. These abilities, along with proper itemization, make him an effective nuker.

Looking at the primary stats in the early game, Tiny has a base strength of 30, making him a durable hero, especially in the early game. Interestingly, the newly introduced Facets also play a crucial role in making Tiny a go-to pick.

Crash Landing or Insurmountable – two of Tiny’s facets – can provide more damage, or gain more status and slow resistance from strength. Along with the Talent tree options, Tiny has everything in his arsenal to be one of the best strength heroes in the current patch.

Coming to item builds; Power Treads, Aghanim’s Shard, Blink, Echo Sabre, Shadow Blade/Silver Edge and Daedalus/Assault Cuirass are popular, especially in pubs. These item builds are lethal as they provide health points, damage, armour, manoeuvrability and initiation. It transforms Tiny into a giant and a nuisance to deal with.

Tiny also lanes well against meta heroes such as Axe, Chaos Knight, Legion Commander, etc., to name a few, and very well against squishy heroes with low health points.

Axe - one of the best Dota 2 offlane heroes

Are you having a good day sir? Axe begs to differ as he systematically cuts down his foes. The prolific star in the offlane is one of the most popular and best offlane heroes in Dota 2 Patch 7.36.

Axe’s Facets; Call Out and One Man Army is the cause behind his popularity. One Man Army is a game changer as compared to Call Out because Axe gains strength based on his armour as long as he’s away from his allies. Increase in strength enhances durability, thus making Axe a deadly force.

He brings a lot of strength to the table, literally speaking, and is a natural frontline tank and initiator. His ability, Berserker’s Call, forces the enemy to attack him while Axe gains bonus armour for a short duration. The call is enough to change the course of a fight and might as well win you a few million dollars (remember Ceeeeeeeb?).

Jokes apart, Berserker’s Call synergizes effectively with Counter Helix – an ability where Axe deals pure damage to all nearby enemies after a set number of attacks. His second ability, Battle Hunger deals damage and slows down enemies facing away from Axe.

However, his ultimate, Culling Blade, catches the eye. If an enemy hero’s health is below a certain threshold, Axe’s Culling Blade deals pure damage and instantly kills it, with its cooldown being reset and all nearby allies gaining bonus movement speed and armour. The ability pierces BKB, Shallow Grave and other items having immunity.

The most popular builds on Axe are Phase Boots, Blink, Blademail and Aghanim’s Shard. These items provide Axe with movement speed, damage and initiation, coupled with his Area of Effect (AoE) abilities like Berserker’s Call or its shard ability upgrade. With the activation of Blademail, an item that deals 85% return damage upon activation, it’s a near-death sentence to enemies caught in the trap.

Besides the above item builds, BKB, Heart of Tarrasque, and Aghanim’s Scepter are also an option as the game goes longer.

Axe’s primary stats in the early game, while lesser than Tiny’s, are decent enough to make him a foe to be feared. With high movement speed, a decent chunk of armour and good base strength, Axe is one of the most popular strength heroes in Patch 7.36.

Axe can certainly hold up on his own in any lane, but is highly lethal against melee heroes, becoming a true menace. However, with the gameplay update 7.36b, Axe’s Facets; One Man Army has taken a slight hit. Bonuses now start fading immediately after approaching an ally, and Bonus Strength can also be broken.

With Coat of Blood and Berserker’s Call armour now being reduced, it’ll be interesting to watch if Axe in dota, best offlane hero.

Centaur Warrunner - one of the best offlane heroes in Dota

Centaur Warrunner is another popular offlane hero in the current Dota 2 patch 7.36. He’s the master of both; inflicting and absorbing damage. He is a pure offlane hero who becomes an annoyance to deal with. His abilities make him the beast he truly is.

Hoof Stomp stuns and damages nearby enemies while Double Edge strikes a mighty blow, dealing extra damage based on Centaur’s strength, but also causes self-damage. These two spells deal 580 raw damage when maxed out.

How does an in-built Blademail sound? Centaur’s Retaliate does just that as he counters all attacks, dealing damage back to the attacker. This ability also deals damage to towers but in half of what it deals to the enemy units.

Stampede is a great tool to set up a team fight or escape it. It’s an excellent fight-or-flight mechanism since it allows you to either chase a target(s) or run away from it. Talk about duality, eh?

Stampede leads Centaur and its allies to charge through units at max speed, slowing down any enemy units they trample, while the trampled enemies take damage based on Centaur’s strength.

If that’s not enough then Aghanim’s Shard upgrade gives Centaur the ability to stack up his Double Edge up to five times and deal more damage to the enemy. However, the most fun part is his Aghanim’s Scepter ability – Work Horse.

Work Horse is Uber at your service. As the lore says: Centaur hitches a cart behind him. While active, Centaur gains the benefit of Stampede for the current level of Stampede and can cast Hitch a Ride on a target ally.

Who is the best offlane in Dota 2?

As you can see in the image above, Centaur has a high base strength, which gives him enough health points in the early game. As the game progresses, he can scale up his HP with proper itemisation and become a nightmare for his opponents.

Like Axe, Centaur has a similar item build. Phase Boots, Blademail (synergizing well with Retaliate), Blink Dagger (for initiation), Heart of Tarrasque (for increased strength and hp), BKB, Shivas Guard, Eternal Shroud, Vanguard/Crimson Guard, etc., to name a few.

Although as the situation demands, Centaur can also opt for Pipe of Insight and Lotus Orb, to protect his teammates from incoming damage.

With Patch 7.36b update, Centaur’s Facet; Horsepower, basis which he was picked so often has undergone a slight nerf. Before the mini-update, Centaur’s movement speed increased significantly with his strength, giving him the incentive of building Bracers and not purchasing Boots (Bracers increases the primary attribute of a strength hero but does not provide Movement Speed).

Or else, just build a Crimson Guard and be the new meta trendsetter! Guard Damage Block now equals to 70 + 2.5% of caster’s max health, instead of strength. Imagine a 4k hp Centaur and a 170 damage block in mid/late game. Game changer?

But now, the Horsepower movement speed has decreased to 35% from 40%, with other abilities taking a slight nerf in damage reduction as well. However, the change is unlikely to make any significant impact on his popularity.

As an offlane, he’s good against heroes with low damage output in the early game, ranged heroes, as his high strength allows him to farm/deny with ease, and squishy heroes he can kill at will.