Strategies in Dota Underlords

Butcher79

23 June, 2019

Strategies in Dota Underlords vs. Auto Chess

Author of this article: Sapphire

In this article, we will talk about some of the common strategies in Dota Underlords and compare them with known Auto Chess counterparts to get a basic idea of the emerging Underlords meta.

The game is new and balance patches are released regularly, so do not take the information below as a guide for the game, but as an opinion that you can compare with your own experience and knowledge of the game.

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Main differences

Before we dive into some specific strategies, we would like to discuss two factors that I believe are the main driving force behind the difference between strategies. Dota Underlords и Auto Chess.

Items:

Global items in Underlords matter a lot compared to Auto Chess, but they are simple enough to understand how they work for every player, so we won't focus on them in this article.

However, the presence only one item for each hero is of great importance, it decently affects the construction of strategies in the game.

В Auto Chess some strategies have an easily identifiable "main carry". It will be Strategy Dragon Knight (6) Knights + (3) The dragon or, for example, a three-star Phantom Assassin in strategy (6) assassins + (3) Elusive, Terrorblade in strategy with demons etc.

These units are your main sources of damage, so you often put all your valuable items on them. Availability masks of madness Battle Fury and ideally a survivability item such as Staff of the black king, on your To the Phantom Assassin, it's a dream (not easy to achieve, but you strive for it anyway).

В Underlords you can only give one item to a hero. Battle Fury is good for Phantom Assassin, but only gives a splash, no additional damage. Putting it on her leaves no room for a damage item, attack speed, etc.

Likewise, if Blood Priest is your main hero that deals the most damage, you will have a choice. The staff of the black king looks great on him, but the damage items will be just as good - you have to make a choice.

Aura of Proximity:

Proximity auras and items (which take effect if units are standing next to each other) are relatively common in Dota Underlords. This gives an advantage to ranged heroes because they don't move much during the round, while melee units can easily get separated from each other and accidentally lose the aura buff.

This is the main reason why, for example, Hunters were (and probably still are) much better at Dota Underlords, than in Auto Chess. Sniper and Medusa stay close by A drow guardian that gives them an aura and greatly increases their damage.
This is also the main reason why Knights , perhaps a little weaker in Underlords compared with Auto Chess - They need to stay close to each other to keep the buff. If they disperse, they may lose him. Moreover, the last knight surviving in battle is guaranteed not to have a positive effect.

It also affects mass abilities and positioning:

В Auto Chess in the late game, some hero sets work best when you distribute them across the board so that multiple units don't get the same AoE spell. This is also possible in Underlords, but often you want to keep heroes close to each other due to the proximity aura, which in turn makes them more vulnerable to area-of-effect spells.

Because of this, kunkka, sea tyrant, Jellyfish, Enigma, Disruptor (which are already at S-level in Auto Chess), perhaps even stronger in Dota Underlordsand The Staff of the Black King is probably one of the most important items in the game, especially for your carries.

Additionally, Renewal sphere is more common in Underlords, and all of the above units with

renewing sphere (especially Kunkka for control and Damage Enigma) can single-handedly win you fights against grouped enemies.

Stronger than in Auto Chess:

Hunters + warriors

Hunters + Warriors were absolutely broken before the patch, but it's probably still one of the best strategies in the game. Underlords. There are several reasons for this:

Page, perhaps the best tank in the game for its cost (excellent amount of health for 2 coins). Moreover, he Heartless (Undead), which means that Paj + Drow is a super easy way to get a (2) bonus on heartless.
Drow + two Ranged Hunter (the most important of which is Medusa Then Sniper and then Wind Archer) deal massive damage due to proximity aura Drow guards. Moreover, at Jellyfish has Split-Shot, which means it provides more than just crowd control as in Auto Chess (because of her Stone Gaze), but also great DPS (damage per second).
bonus Warriors is more reliable than a bonus Knights because Warriors do not lose armor when they move away from each other. Moreover, the global subject Warriors (unstoppable, which allows them to stay on the battlefield for an extra 2 seconds after dying) gives a lot of extra time for your cores dealing damage behind them, which is what they need the most. And last but not least: Kunkka and Doommaster is still one of the most useful heroes in the game.

Hunter-Warriors sample build

Heroes: drow, Sniper, Jellyfish, Page, kunkka, Arbiter

Synergy: (3) Hunters, (3) Warriors (2) Heartless (Undead), (1) Demon

You start with Drow + Pudge as key units and get XNUMX extra Hunters + XNUMX extra Warriors to get synergy ASAP. In the mid game, you can replace your weaker heroes with the more expensive units shown above.

At the end of the game, you have several options:

Unmercy global item ( people are considered Heartless) makes it possible to include only one heartless in your strategy (most likely Necrophos) to achieve the (4) armor reduction bonus because Kunnka is human. If you go this route, adding an extra Warlock will also give you lifesteal.
Another late game option is to go to (6) Hunters (doable at level XNUMX). If you manage to get Sea tyrant + Medusa, you will also have a bonus (2) Scaled (Naga) to Magic Resistance, which is great against mages and magic damage in general.
(6) Warriors are also a possibility if you want a stronger front line. Slardar with Medusa is an easy way to get (2) Scaled bonus while Warrior troll located next to Drow Guardian, will give you another source of heavy damage.

Originals + Assassins

Original (Elementals) are stronger in Underlords compared with Auto Chess for the simple reason that you have four non-legendary Primordial hero, which means you can collect (4) The original bonus is much easier ( baby, morphling, Razor, Shattered Guardian), himself Shattered Guardian when combined with a survivability item such as Vanguard/ Tarasque heart / etc. and his Child of Dissonance is a great front line tank you need killers.

The killers also possibly stronger than Auto Chess, because:

Do you have more killers, which means that 6 killers are easier to find.
They got a buff in a recent patch - critical hits cannot be dodged, which means they have no effect Elusive.
New the killers, Blood Priest is one of the best item damage heroes in the game.
A high-level Slark is also an insane carry if he can survive fights long enough, and can be teamed up with another Scaled (Naga) for a Magic Resistance bonus if you need it.
This is one of the few alliances that is good against hunters.

(6) Assassins (2) Originals

Heroes: baby, morphling, blood priest, Queen of Pain,
slark, phantom killer, Temple Guardian

Synergy: (6) Assassins (4) Primordial, (1) Demon

Go to Elementals + Assassin gives you two options in the early and mid game. You can choose

(2) Primordial + (6) Assassins (as in this example) or (4) Primordials (3) Killers, as in the example below.

This option is obviously more aggressive.

Morphling and The crumbs serve as your tanks, all other units are sources of damage. Still achievable (4) Primordial synergy at the ninth level, if you dare to do so. Alternatively, if you're not playing against melee strategies, you can try to get Medusa or, ideally, Sea tyrant. This will give you (2) magic resistance bonus due to Slark + some control. You can also include additional Elusive ( Ent defender, Antimage, etc.) to give an evasion bonus temple guard and Phantom killer. (9) Assassins can also be collected but are much harder to get and require level 10 if you want to keep the synergy (2) Primordial. Strategy through 9 killers is considered weaker and situational.

(4) Primordials (3) Assassins

Heroes: baby, morphling, blood priest, Queen of Pain, Shattered Guardian, Razor

Synergy: (4) Originals, (3) Assassins (1) Demon

If you are playing against other melee strategies ( Warriors knights, Elusive, others Assassins), you can first get the bonus from (4) Primordial. This will make your entire army much denser and give your killers time to deal damage.

After that you can go to (6) assassins to maximize your damage.

Disruptor is a very powerful late game unit. Shattered Guardian is a Shaman, so Ark + Disruptor will give you a bonus (2) Shaman. Instantaneous Hex is very strong in the late game and against creep rounds.

Weaker than in Auto Chess

Warriors + Mages

Heroes: baby, lycanthrope, kunkka, Razor,
darkness fiend, crystal maiden, Keeper of the Light

Synergy: (4) People, (3) Magi, (3) Warriors (2) Originals, (1) Demon

Warriors and Mages are still a good strategy. However, it is slightly weaker than in Auto Chess, because in Underlords bonus (2) It's very easy to get scaly ones - you have Slark, so you are more likely to run into assassins with a magic resistance bonus that is very difficult for mages to deal with.

Moreover, the Staff of the Black King much more common in Underlords compared with Auto Chess, and he opposes your draft very strongly even after the nerf. Hood of Defiance also gives a stronger bonus to magic resistance than in Auto Chess.

In general, you have several options for this strategy:

People: need to collect (4)

People, as in the example above. One extra

The warlock will give you some lifesteal (eg.

Necro, later in the game if you buy

Licha, you will also receive a bonus (2)

Heartless). If you don't have

Fiends of Darkness, you may take (6)

Mages at the end of the game and replace the Warrior with

Arbiter of fate.

Strong (Orcs): bonus (4)

Strong + bonus (3)

Warriors is an easy way to create a strong frontline, and the global item

Battle Hardened is a good way to make your frontline even better if you can get it early and collect it (4)

Strong units.

Disruptor is also good with Mages - its damage is improved, and silence allows your

Mages have no problem casting their spells.

Originals: Hold

Baby +

Razor, if your opponents are melee focused, you can take (4)

Primordial + (3)

Mages. This is probably the option that is stronger in Underlords, than in Auto Chessbecause it doesn't require

Enigma. This strategy still suffers from

Staff of the Black King and

Scaled bonus, also

The Originals are not very good against

Hunters, but they can give a good rebuff

Killers.

Knights + Dragons

Heroes: Chaos Knight, Abaddon, omniscience knight, Moon,

flying rider, dragon knight, Again, Viper

Synergy: (6) Knights, (3) Dragons, (2) People, (1) Demon

Harder to assemble because you don't have access to additional Dragons like the Wyvern.

bonus Knights (especially (6) Knights) is less reliable than in Auto Chess, as mentioned, due to the proximity aura of the Knights.

Harder to turn The Dragon Knight is a super carry because he can only be given one item. Moreover, when it instantly transforms, it becomes a ranged unit. This means he doesn't move forward, and easily loses the (6) knight damage reduction buff when your melee knights move forward. A small solution to this question is to put Luna next to him and hope she doesn't leave (she is also a ranged unit, but her attack range is pretty short so there are no guarantees).

Can go to (4) Knights and (3) Dragons that let you take Necrophos and get a bonus

(2) Heartless, which in turn means you can also get (2) Warlocks are relatively fast. This option is slightly more aggressive, but your front line will be weaker.

Dragon Greed is a very strong global item, but only if you are already winning and can afford to keep a lot of gold, but if the situation on your board is not so rosy, and you spend your entire bank trying to find the right heroes, this improvement turns out to be almost useless.

Coordinated attack (trolls give proximity aura with 25 attack speed) not a bad option, especially good because of Flying rider that you will take because of the bonus (6) Knights, or because Witch Doctor you can use to get a bonus (2) Warlocks and position near Dragon Knight to give him bonus attack speed.

Knights + Trolls

Heroes: Chaos Knight, Abaddon, Moon, flying rider,

shadow shaman, medicine man, troll warrior, Necrophos

Synergy: (4) Knights, (4) Trolls, (2) Heartless (Undead), (2) Warlocks, (1) Demon

The strategy is quite combat-ready, but it has two main drawbacks compared to Auto Chess:

(4) Trolls are harder to find and not as powerful because you don't have access to Dazzle, who is arguably the most valuable troll in the game. Auto Chess. You rely on fast finding A troll warrior, but no one can guarantee you this.
U (4) Knights still have the problem of randomly losing their proximity aura due to the distance between them (especially when there are only four of them)
However, this is probably the better Knight build of the two. enjoy Coordinated attack easier and bonus Warlocks are easier to get as they only require two units, and in Auto Chess - three.

Stronger in Underlords	Weaker in Underlords
Hunters: drow guard, Medusa Warriors: Pudge, Global Items The killers: Blood Priest, more units, buffed, good against hunters Primordial (Elemental): much easier to get (4) hero	Maggie: heavily countered by items, very easy to get (2) Scaled buff Knights: Proximity aura unreliable Dragons: harder to assemble, can't give multiple items Dragon Knight Trolls: Harder to get, no Dazzle.