Dota 2 Dragon Knight Guide – Items, Tips and Counters

Once favoured as a midlane or offlane pick, Dragon Knight is now gaining traction as a powerful safelane carry hero in Dota 2.

Recent patches have revitalized Dragon Knight, turning him into a strong and reliable choice for the safelane.

Dragon Knight's facet makes him one of the strongest safelaners in the meta right now.

With a simple yet effective playstyle, he can contribute to early skirmishes after securing just a single core item.

In this article, we'll cover the best ways to play and itemise Dragon Knight to boost your chances of climbing the Dota 2 MMR ladder.

What Makes Dragon Knight Strong?

Before diving further into this article, we must first ask ourselves one crucial question: What makes Dragon Knight strong? The answer is straightforward—he is similar to Sven, but with certain advantages.

While Sven tends to fall off as the game progresses, the opposite is true for Dragon Knight. As the game advances, Dragon Knight continues to grow stronger.

One of the coolest skins for Dragon Knight in Dota 2.

With the introduction of Facets and Innate abilities, Davion (Dragon Knight's true name) now has access to cleave damage, significantly improving his farming capabilities.

In the past, farming was a major weakness for the Dota 2 hero. As a result, he often lacked the items necessary to fulfil the role of a true hard carry.

This would frequently allow the opposing safelane hero to outscale him as the game progressed.

Now, with enhanced farming efficiency, Dragon Knight can hit key item timings much faster. This means he can come online earlier, giving him a longer period of dominance in the game.

Due to his rework, Dragon Knight now has the potential to deal significant burst damage in the late game, further extending his in-game impact.

Dragon Knight's Abilities Breakdown

Dragon Knight is a straightforward yet unique hero in Dota 2. One of his standout features is that he has three distinct facets, but in most cases, only his Fire Dragon facet is considered viable in pubs.

The other two facets—Corrosive Dragon and Frost Dragon—are situational and rarely used, except under specific conditions.

The Fire Dragon facet, however, stands out for its utility, providing cleave damage in his melee form and splash damage in his dragon form.

It also enhances his attack damage while in Dragon Form, making it the preferred choice for most players.

Dragon Knight securing the range creep with his first ability while harassing his lanning opponent.

During the laning phase, Dragon Knight’s first ability, Breathe Fire, is a reliable tool for securing the ranged creep.

It also reduces the attack damage of his lane opponents, making it more difficult for them to secure last hits.

As the game progresses, Breathe Fire remains effective in team fights, lowering the damage output of enemy heroes and forcing them to reconsider their positioning and tactics.

When paired with his passive ability, Wyrm’s Breath (dependent on his facet choice), Dragon Knight can easily clear waves and push lanes.

His facet selection also impacts his ultimate ability, Elder Dragon Form, which can take one of three forms: Fire Dragon, Corrosive Dragon, or Frost Dragon.

The Fire Dragon form is by far the most popular choice for safelane Dragon Knights, as it grants cleave in melee form and boosts damage in dragon form.

The Corrosive Dragon form reduces the armor of enemies and deals damage over time, while the Frost Dragon form slows opponents and applies healing reduction with each attack.

Dragon Knight's second ability, Dragon's Tail, is a reliable stun. It can be used to catch retreating opponents during the laning phase and, as the game progresses, it becomes a useful tool to initiate skirmishes.

While in Dragon Form, Dragon's Tail transforms into a long-range stun, giving his team more opportunities to follow up on pick-offs.

Once Dragon Knight reaches level 25, he can upgrade this ability through his talent tree, turning it into an area-of-effect (AoE) stun, further increasing its utility in team fights.

Dragon Knight Itemisation

Being a straightforward hero, Dragon Knight’s itemisation is quite simple. At the start of the game, players often purchase a Circlet, Gauntlets of Strength, a Quelling Blade, and some Ironwood Branches.

In harass-heavy lanes, players might opt for a Magic Wand along with Ironwood Branches as Dragon Knight's starting items.

One key factor to note is Dragon Knight's innate ability, Dragon's Blood, which grants him much faster HP regeneration than most heroes in Dota 2.

This allows him to trade more efficiently, even as a core, and have better sustainability during the laning phase.

Players can upgrade Dragon Knight's starting items into a Bracer or rush to his boots of choice, Power Treads. After securing his boots, his itemisation may vary slightly depending on the game.

Situational Dragon Knight build in Dota 2 against heroes with evasion.

In some matches, Dragon Knight players will get a Dragon Lance after their boots.

However, in most cases, players prioritize an Armlet of Mordiggian, which enables him to participate in early skirmishes effectively.

In some scenarios, players may purchase an Armlet first, followed by a Dragon Lance.

Nevertheless, Sange and Yasha is usually the second core item on Dragon Knight. It increases his durability, helping him sustain better during engagements.

Sometimes, players will opt for a Blink Dagger on the hero. This item allows them to follow up on initiation and burst down squishy or key targets before a skirmish begins. It can also be used to initiate with his stun in dire situations.

Alternatively, players may choose to buy a Black King Bar, especially in matches where the opposing team has heavy magic damage. One of Dragon Knight's biggest weaknesses is his vulnerability to magic damage.

After his Black King Bar (BKB), Daedalus is often the item of choice for Dragon Knight. It pairs well with his Fire Dragon form, allowing him to deal immense burst damage.

In matches where positioning is crucial, players sometimes upgrade their Dragon Lance into a Hurricane Pike before getting Daedalus.

This provides additional mobility while maintaining Dragon Knight’s ability to dish out high damage.

Following Daedalus, Satanic is the typical next item for the Dota 2 hero. With his high damage output and the passive regeneration from Dragon’s Blood, purchasing Satanic transforms him into a nearly unkillable beast.

One of the viable itemisation routes for DK in a fast-tempo-paced game.

Unless his opponents have the proper itemisation, Dragon Knight becomes extremely difficult to bring down once he has both a BKB and Satanic.

Situational items such as Mage Slayer, Monkey King Bar, and Silver Edge can also be excellent choices for him in very specific circumstances.

Dragon Knight Counters

Dragon Knight is one of the tankiest heroes in Dota 2, and he scales well into the late game.

However, like all heroes, he is still counterable with the right heroes and items.

Among support heroes, Ancient Apparition is one of the best counters to Dragon Knight.

His ultimate ability, Ice Blast, makes Dragon Knight vulnerable by disabling his health regeneration, ignoring his armour, and in some cases, potentially killing him.

Viper is the most efficient pick against DK.

Viper is the most well-known traditional counter to Dragon Knight. His ultimate, Viper Strike, applies break, which disables Dragon Knight's passive abilities, particularly the heavily relied-upon Dragon's Blood

A lesser-known counter to Dragon Knight is Outworld Devourer. His first ability, Arcane Orb, deals pure damage, bypassing Dragon Knight’s armour and sustain. Additionally, Astral Imprisonment allows him to zone out Dragon Knight in skirmishes.

Certain items also work well against Dragon Knight. Eye of Skadi, Silver Edge, and Heaven’s Halberd are particularly effective, as they can significantly hinder his survivability and impact in fights.

With his Fire Dragon facet, Dragon Knight currently has a 50.8% win rate in 4120 matches.