Dota 2: The Top Five Mid And Safelane Heroes In 2020

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Dota 2: The Top Five Mid And Safelane Heroes In 2020

Let’s take a look at some of the best Dota 2 heroes that you can use to get a lot of MMR.


Even though some Dota 2 players don’t care so much bout their MMR, the last majority of us do. That’s why we always try to find which are the strongest heroes that we can use so that we can win our pub games easier. However, the answer to this question is not that easy because it depends on a lot of factors. Of course, the biggest one has to be the meta and what were the changes in the most recent patch.

Needless to say, every single patch has his own meta. This means that some heroes that were really strong a few months ago might not necessarily be the best right. Nonetheless, there are some names that we’ve seen a lot throughout the year, which is why we’ve decided to show you some of the best mid and safelane heroes of 2020.

Let’s check them out.

Top 5 mid laners that you should pick in 2020

Before we start to list the best heroes and how you can utilize them properly, there is one important thing we need to say. No matter how good a given hero is, if you can’t play them, it’s probably not a good idea to pick them. So, always make sure that you know how to utilize the hero that you’re planning on playing with.

If you really insist on spamming the best heroes right now, at least make sure that you practice with them a little bit. You'll find that some of them are not too hard to master, so with perseverance, you should be able to find a way.

Zeus

Even if you don’t like playing him, you can’t deny the fact that he is really, really strong.

Zeus is one of those heroes that’s capable of absolutely demolishing the enemy lineup. He is really easy to play with, even for people who don’t have much experience in the mid lane. Sure, it can get a lot harder during the later stages of the game but until then, all you have to do is just run around and kill people.

During the laning stage, Zeus can easily farm on his lane due to his first skill. It allows him to last hit and even harass the enemy at the same time. As a result, he can quickly get that precious bottle and then, once he gets a few levels, he can begin the Lightning Bolt spam, which will force the enemy to use a lot of HP regen.

Unless you get ganked a lot (which can happen), you should be able to win your lane. As a result, you will become the strongest hero on the map during the mid-game, which is where you need to make space for your carry. You can do that by constantly ganking the side lanes, especially when you have your ultimate up. The idea is to get as many kills as possible so that you can help your team and yourself for the late game.

Finally, once the late game arrives, your job will be to do as much damage as possible without dying. You can try to achieve this by getting an Aether Lens, which will give you a lot of range. Don’t forget that every wrong move in this stage of the game will result in death. Just try to stay away from your enemies and you should be fine.

Bloodseeker

The second hero on our best mid heroes is Bloodseeker. Some people might say that this hero can be played as a carry too, which is true. However, the vast majority of Dota 2 players tend to go mid with him.

Bloodseeker is, similar to Zeus, a really strong laner who can win his lane in most cases. Of course, it really depends on what kind of heroes you’re playing against. Generally speaking, Bloodseeker wins against melee heroes because he can zone and harass them with these right-clicks. Speaking of right clicks, Bloodseeker is one of the “evergreen” heroes when it comes down to pub games. That’s due to the fact that the hero benefits a lot whenever there are other heroes running on low HP. Needless to say, this happens pretty often, especially in the lower-MMR brackets. As a result, BS might just be one of the best heroes to use if you want to escape from the “abyss.

After you enter the mid-game, your job will be to try and farm as much as you can, while participating in a team fight. To do that, you always have to have a TP scroll, regardless of where you are on the map. You can even try to do some solo kills, but in most cases, it’s not really going to be worth it, unless it’s on the enemy mid or safe lane hero.

Since Bloodseeker is a right-clicking core, his late-game performance will depend entirely on what item he has. If he buys proper carry items, he can easily deal loads of damage and be really strong in the late game. However, if he got stomped previously, he’s not going to be that useful.

Necrophos

We’ve decided to put this hero in the mid-list because the time when he was an offlaner is long gone. Sure, you can see people still taking that route from time to time. However, the is way more useful when he gets the needed space in mid.

Necrophos is yet another lane dominator who can easily crush the enemy laner. However, instead of doing a lot of raw damage like the previous two heroes, Necrophos’s strength is in his survivability.

As you know, each last hit/deny will give him HP and mana regen. On top of that, he can use his first ability to heal himself and also do damage to the enemy hero. Let’s also not forget the incredibly-annoying Heartstopper aura, which is always there drilling a hole in your health bar.

Even though people think that Necro is only good during the laning stage, that’s far from the truth. In fact, this hero is one of the best team-fight cores in Dota 2 because he does loads of healing. On top of that, his ultimate is capable of making the life of every core hero a living hell. As you know, apart from killing everyone who is on low HP, this ability also adds extra seconds of respawn time, which makes it even worse.

However, Necro has one main issue he can die pretty easily if he’s disabled or caught off-guard. This means that you need to be really careful when you’re playing with this hero because you can get three-shot by a farmed carry.

Nonetheless, as long as you have at least one defensive item and good supports, you should be just fine. Having said that, always be aware of your position.

Alchemist

The second-last mid hero that we recommend you pick in 2020 is none other than Alchemist. This is a hero that has proven himself as one of the best pub game stompers in the last couple of years.

Of course, his true power is entirely based on his farming speed. As long as he gets a good start, it’s pretty much impossible to lose with this hero. He can farm as much as an item every five minutes once he gets his Radiance. As a result, the hero is capable of getting six slots by the 25th-minute mark, which means only one thing – there is no way for the enemy team to kill him, regardless of how hard they try.

So, as we’ve said, the main problem with this hero is the laning stage. That’s why it’s always a good idea to talk to your supports before you pick Alchemist. If they are ready to help you when it’s needed, this hero can be one of the easiest ways of getting MMR.

However, it’s worth mentioning that whenever you’re playing against good players, most of them will try to shut you down. In order to prevent this from happening, you always have to have good vision and be aware of the position of your enemies. So, if you’re in a situation where you the enemy hero is missing, you can simply go to the jungle and farm the camps there. In fact, the jungle plays a major role for Alchemist because it gives him a place where he can freely get gold.

Once you feel like you’re ready to fight, start joining your team and slowly push towers. You can even try to kill Roshan if you want to be sure that you won’t die.

Sniper

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPY5VnrcZT8

Last, but definitely not least, we have a hero that is extremely popular in the last couple of years Sniper. This is a hero that can be an absolute hell to play against, as long as the player who picks him knows how to utilize him properly. At the same time, Sniper can be one of the worst heroes in the game if he gets ganked all the time because he just can’t survive.

That’s why one of the most important things in the laning stage is to have good vision. Pretty much any gank will result in a kill, so you have to try to avoid dying as much as possible.

If you manage to survive the laning stage massacre, you should have a pretty good game ahead of you. Similar to any other right-clicking monster, this hero becomes very strong later on, especially when he gets the needed items. In fact, a well-farmed Sniper, combined with good defensive support, is capable of bringing down the entire enemy team.

However, 2020 was a really strange year for this hero because some players decided to try and use him as a support. Even though this experiment was successful up to a point, we don’t recommend you try it out. Sniper is and always has been a very strong mid laner.

If you want to try something different, you can play using the magical-damage build. There, you will need to get an Aghanim’s Scepter, as well as an Ethereal blade. However, it’s just not worth it in the long run because you won’t be able to do that much damage.

Top 5 carries that you should pick in 2020

After we’ve covered the mid laners, it is now time to take a look at the carries. The vast majority of players are always trying to play this role because they believe that it has the largest impact on the game. While this can be true up to a point, that’s not always the case.

However, let’s take a look at five of the strongest carries in 2020 that can help you reached your desired MMR.

Wraith King

The first hero that also happens to have one of the highest win ratings is Wraith King. This might come as a surprise to some of you but those who’ve played Dota 2 for a long time will probably understand why this is the case.

You see, Wraith King is a unique Dota 2 hero because he basically has a free aegis. As a result, he has can safely jump into a fight, kill at least one support, and then be ready to fight again with full HP and mana.

What’s more, if you’re playing in lower-MMR brackets, most players tend to use their spells only on WK. This means that his entire team is left to do whatever they want, so by the time WK is back again, the enemy has no spells to kill him the second time.

Another really good reason why WK is so strong is the changes that IceFrog made to him. Now, his third ability gives him the power to summon small skeletons. Even though those units might not seem that strong at first, they are an excellent way for WK to increase his farming speed, which has always been an issue for him. In other words, he can now farm a lot faster, which means that he becomes online faster. As a result, he can buy that Radiance really fast, which will instantly make him the strongest hero on the map.

Remember to carefully look at what heroes you are going to play against. Despite being really strong, WK has a lot of counters as well. The last thing you want is to pick the hero against something like a Phantom Lancer because you just won’t be able to do much.

Spectre

The second hero on our list is different in comparison to WK. Spectre is widely regarded as one of the strongest late-game carries in Dota 2. As long as she manages to get a good start, this hero is just unkillable once she gets all of her items. However, this is not as easy as it sounds, especially during the laning stage.

Spectre is by far one of the worst heroes in the laning stage. She has two passive skills that don’t really do much early on, plus an active one that does little to no damage. To make matters worse, her spell consumes half of her mana. That’s why your main goal during the laning stage has to be to get as much farm as possible.

Sadly, most enemies know how to deal with this hero. As a result, you will often have to lane against really strong enemies that won’t allow you to be free farm. This means that you need really strong support by your side who will help you when things get rough.

After the laning stage is over, depending on how you’re game is going, you can either opt for a Radiance or for a Diffisual Blade. If you choose the second item, you will have to try and participate in team fights. In fact, our advice is to only join fights whenever you have Haunt on. Once the spell goes on cooldown, just go to the jungle or the lane and try to farm. Remember that you’re strong during the later stages of the game, so you need that gold.

Once the late game arrives, you'll be the strongest hero on the map. However, you’re not immortal, so don’t dive the enemies if you want to carry your team to victory.

Lone Druid

Lone Druid is by far one of the most unique Dota 2 heroes. He is the only hero in the entire game who has a companion that stays with him all the time – his Spirit Bear. Apart from the fact that the bear can deal tons of damage, it also has the ability to carry items. As a result, LD is the only hero in Dota 2 who can potentially have twelve items. Of course, this rarely happens because the games just don’t last that long.

Whenever you’re about to play Lone Druid, you have to decide one very important thing – do you want to play with the bear or not. This decision is of utmost importance because your items, laning, and everything else is different.

If you choose to play with your bear, you will want to try to get Radiance as fast as possible. Some people don’t really go for this item but the bear just isn’t that strong without it.

On the other hand, if you’re mainly going to focus on your hero, you will only need boots for the bear. Once you get that, you can start focusing on the hero itself and get those damage items rolling.

It’s worth pointing out that the meta in 2020 is more favorable towards the bear. If you get a good start with LD, which is not that hard because the hero is a really strong laner, you can get that Radiance really soon. Once that happens, you can start sieging the towers and take fights. Don’t forget that you will be the strongest hero on the map, so it will be really hard for the enemies to fight into you.

Just keep it in mind that Lone Druid is a lot harder to play than most heroes.

Anti-Mage

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2CBgS8BH78

When you hear the word “carry”, one of the first things that come to mind is Anti-Mage. This is a hero that has perhaps the largest fan-base among carry players in Dota 2. That’s not really a surprise, considering how strong AM is.

Similar to Spectre, this is a late-game monster that can carry his entire team really easily. However, unlike the alien, Anti-Mage is one of the fastest farmers in the game whenever he gets that Battlefury. That’s why this is the first and also the most important thing you need to do. You must try and get your item as fast as possible.

Once that happens, you can start farming the lane, as well as the neutral caps that are close to it. This will give you a huge advantage because you can cover a large portion of the map with your blink. As a result, while the enemy carry will be farming only one lane, you can farm the lane, as well as all jungle camps.

Of course, people know how to counter Anti-Mage. This means that you need to be really careful when you decide to pick this hero. AM has many counters, some of which make his life really hard, so you definitely don’t want to play against them.

Nevertheless, if there are a lot of intelligence heroes and no counters, this can be one of the best picks in the game. Anti-Mage is swift, deadly, and elusive, which makes him the perfect carry. Not only is he strong in team-fights once he gets items, but he is also the best split-pusher in the game. You can use this to your advantage and always force the enemy heroes back if they decide to push your base.

Luna

The last hero on our list that we want to show you is Luna. This hero is often underestimated because you don’t see it that often. However, this doesn’t mean that it’s bad. In fact, Luna is one of the best pushers Dota 2 has ever seen. Those of you who’ve played the game a few years ago probably remember the deadly Shadow-Demon/Luna combo that was nerfed numerous times.

Nowadays, the hero is still a beast when it’s time to push but it also offers a lot more. In fact, one of the most popular builds in 2020 focused on Luna’s magical damage. The recently-added Aghanim’s Scepter changed a lot of things. Now, Luna can use her ult on a hero from her team who has some sort of initiation. As a result, the hero can go in and deal massive amounts of damage.

However, if you’re not a fan of the magic-damage build, you can always go for the “good-old” right-click damage. Don’t forget that Luna has one of the best passive farming skills in Dota 2. This means that she can quickly accumulate a lot of items.

Much like the other carriers on the list, Luna also has some pretty big counters. Perhaps the most notable one is Slark, a hero that’s capable of making Luna’s life really hard. So, before you decide to pick this hero, make sure that there are no counters around.

When you get all of your must-have items, start slowly to push the enemy base. Once you kill that tier three tower things will get really scary for the enemy team.

As we’ve said at the beginning of this article, you have to be careful when you’re choosing a hero to play with. It doesn’t matter how good a certain hero is in the current meta if you can’t play with him. So, always make sure that you choose heroes that you can utilize properly.

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Dota 2: The Top Five Mid And Safelane Heroes In 2020
Zlosterr
Zlosterr has been a fan of esports for many years and mainly focuses on Dota 2. He has more than five years of experience writing Dota 2 content for numerous platforms. Besides being a passionate fan of the game, he's also played for various amateur teams.