Why Sniper is the perfect midlaner for beginners

Dota 2 boasts over 120 heroes. Each hero excels in a specific role, thanks to their unique strengths and weaknesses. For newcomers, the sheer variety and complexity of these heroes can feel overwhelming.

In this article, we’ll introduce you to a beginner-friendly hero that excels in particular roles. These choices are perfect for easing your entry into the game. Without further ado, let’s dive in, starting with our first pick: Sniper.

Why Sniper is great for beginners

Sniper is one of the most popular heroes among beginner-level ranks, thanks to his straightforward playstyle and impactful abilities. True to his name, Sniper specialises in taking down opponents from a safe distance.

As an agility-based hero, Sniper boasts high damage output, making him an excellent choice for securing last hits and dominating the laning phase.

One of the coolest Sniper skins.

His strengths are particularly appealing to newcomers, as he is easy to execute and highly rewarding to play.

If left unchecked, Sniper can carry his team to victory with his consistent damage and range advantage.

With his simple mechanics and game-changing potential, Sniper is a fun and effective hero to start your Dota 2 journey.

Easy Spells and Approachable Facet

Sniper is a less contested hero in higher-level ranks and professional play but remains a staple mid-lane pick in beginner-level public matches, thanks to his versatile abilities.

His first ability Sharpnel allows him to zone out his laning opponents easily. This ability is extremely reliable during the laning stage as it allows Sniper to last hit and deny with ease.

This Sniper skin goes hard.

As the game progresses, Shrapnel becomes a valuable tool for providing vision in fights and scouting dangerous areas.

When paired with one of Sniper's facets, Scattershot, it can deal significant burst damage, adding another layer of utility. However, the duration of the ability will be reduced.

The second ability, Headshot, enhances Sniper's ranged attacks with improved accuracy, bonus damage, and a knockback effect.

This ability not only increases his damage output but also makes it harder for enemies to close the gap on him.

Sniper being a lane bully with Shrapnel.

Sniper’s third ability, Take Aim, passively increases his attack range, allowing him to harass enemies from a safe distance.

When activated, Take Aim temporarily sacrifices Sniper’s mobility by reducing his movement speed to zero but guarantees a 100% knockback chance on his attacks.

This ability is especially useful for maintaining distance from melee heroes or for peeling off aggressive opponents during a skirmish.

Sniper’s ultimate, Assassinate, is a long-range targeted ability that delivers a powerful single-shot attack.

This attack deals Sniper’s base damage along with bonus damage and applies a mini-stun to the target.

Notably, if the target is killed by Assassinate, the ability is instantly refreshed, allowing Sniper to chain multiple kills during team fights or skirmishes. It is also a good ability to ks.

Among Sniper’s two facets, Scattershot is the more popular choice over Ghillie Suit.

While Ghillie Suit may seem like the better option in theory due to its defensive utility, Scattershot provides unparalleled offensive capabilities, making it a preferred choice despite its limited duration.

Moreover, with Scattershot, Sniper can become a flex pick – even a support. Thus, in the end, players end up taking this facet more than their counterparts.

Easy Itemisation

Itemisation is one of the most challenging and nuanced aspects of Dota 2. A standard itemisation may be sufficient in some games.

However, there are instances where a tailored approach is necessary to address the unique demands of a specific match.

Copy's itemisation for midlane Sniper.

For many heroes, finding the right itemisation strategy can be a daunting task.

Nevertheless, in the case of Sniper, his itemisation path is often straightforward, making him a beginner-friendly choice.

This simplicity ensures that newcomers are less likely to be overwhelmed while learning the game.

Starting Items

For Sniper, beginning with the basic components of Wraith Band is a solid choice. In some matches, players choose to complete the Wraith Band early, while in others, they prioritise rushing Power Treads instead.

While skipping Wraith Band completion might make last-hitting harder for some heroes, Sniper doesn’t face this issue thanks to his Headshot ability, which provides bonus damage and knockback.

Core Items

The three core items for Sniper in most games are Dragon Lance, Maelstrom, and an item for lifesteal.

• Mask of Madness (MoM):

For lifesteal, players often opt for Mask of Madness. In addition to providing lifesteal, its active ability significantly increases Sniper’s attack speed, which synergises well with Headshot, enhancing its proc rate.

• Dragon Lance:

This item is a common pick for Sniper because it not only increases his attack range but also makes him slightly tankier in the early game—an important consideration given Sniper’s natural fragility.

• Maelstrom:

Maelstrom is highly favoured for its attack speed boost and bonus magical damage from its lightning proc. The increased attack speed also improves the chance of Headshot procs, making it an excellent synergy item.

As the game progresses, Maelstrom can be upgraded into either Gleipnir or Mjollnir, depending on the match’s specific needs.

After securing his core items, players often turn to situational items to enhance Sniper’s utility, survivability, or damage output. Popular choices include Black King Bar (BKB), Silver Edge, and Daedalus.

BKB provides Sniper with spell immunity, allowing him to survive lockdowns and instant spell bursts during crucial skirmishes.

Silver Edge offers invisibility and is a great item for Sniper to reposition himself if he ever gets caught. It also gives him additional damage and the ability to break enemy passives, making it particularly effective against heroes reliant on passive abilities.

Daedalus significantly boosts Sniper’s damage output through critical strikes, allowing him to shred enemies quickly in the late game.

As the game progresses, players often upgrade Dragon Lance into Hurricane Pike.

This upgrade not only extends Sniper’s attack range further but also provides an active ability that allows him to reposition himself during skirmishes or escape dangerous situations.

Situational Items

For added survivability, players may consider items like Satanic, Eye of Skadi, and Butterfly. Satanic grants lifesteal and an active ability to restore health, helping Sniper sustain himself in prolonged fights.

Eye of Skadi provides stats for Sniper. It also slows down the regen of his opponents and the movement speed of range heroes.

Butterfly increases Sniper’s attack speed, damage, and evasion, making it harder for enemies to hit him while amplifying his offensive potential.

Why Sniper is not seen often in high-level ranked games?

Sniper is rarely contested in high-level public matches or professional play due to the exceptional focus required for precise positioning.

Sniper is perfect entry level hero for midlane.

In higher ranks, out-of-position heroes are heavily punished, making Sniper a challenging and risky pick.

However, this issue is far less significant in beginner-level matches, where positioning mistakes are more common and less exploited.

As a result, Sniper excels in beginner-level pubs. His itemisation is straightforward, making him a beginner-friendly hero. In addition to that thanks to his versatile toolkit, Sniper can easily secure objectives.

If left unchecked in skirmishes, Sniper has the potential to wipe out entire enemy teams with his long-range and high-damage output. He can even come back from unwinnable games with the Divine Rapier.

Nevertheless, Sniper is an extremely fragile hero. Despite his high physical damage output, he lacks mobility, has a low health pool, and is highly vulnerable when engaged by enemies.

As a result, heroes like Spectre, Morphling, Anti-Mage, and Phantom Assassin are among Sniper’s biggest counters. These heroes can close the gap quickly and punish Sniper’s lack of mobility and defences.

Additionally, Blink Dagger is an excellent item for opponents to use against Sniper. It allows the bearer to blink directly in front of him, which can be troublesome for the old dwarf shooter.

Another item that severely threatens Sniper is Blade Mail. Since this item reflects the damage dealt back to the attacker, beginner-level Sniper players often end up killing themselves by unintentionally dealing high amounts of damage to Blade Mail bearers.

Sniper is the fifth most popular hero in Dota 2. In beginner-level ranks, he has a 48.67% win rate.