The most daunting task of a first-time player is choosing a hero to play. With more than 80 heroes to choose from, it’s certainly a difficult choice to make.

The task of pinning down the heroes in distinct categories is tricky. The heroes are so complex that they sometimes overlap each other. But in a very loose nutshell, we can separate it into four main categories: Carry, Tank, Gank and Support.

These separations will help players to determine which kind of heroes they would prefer to play that fits their personal playing styles best. Additionally, it helps you know your role in the game.

CARRY HERO

A carry hero can be considered as the superman of the team. They are the ones who basically, as the name says, “carry” the team to victory. They are able to take down most heroes by themselves, and even more devastatingly when with their allies. Carry heroes are often farmers, they usually stay in lane as much as possible and does not roam the map or initiate ganks.

A good example of a carry hero is The Faceless Void. This hero has the ability to slow (Timewalk) and stun his opponents (by bashing), along Timewalk being his makeshift escape route. His Chronosphere Ultimate allows him to freeze a large area around him for a couple of seconds to allow him to focus his efforts to one target without fear of retaliation before moving to the next victim.

Terrorblade (Soul Keeper) is another carry hero. He can tank and deal damage at the same time. His ultimate allows him to exchange his hitpoints with another hero, so he can take damage until he’s close to dying, then use his ultimate against an enemy hero with full life. With the right items, Terrorblade is a devastating hero. He can cast Metamorphosis on himself to turn him to a ranged hero, along with being able to duplicate himself to deal more damage and confuse enemy heroes.

The carry hero is what the other team fears the most, being able to dish out a lot of damage. Some can isolate heroes to finish them one by one. But of course, this hero requires careful playing and takes a high level of skill. He’s only effective as far as how the person uses the hero.

Most carry heroes are extremely hard to play and can be fragile early game. The Silencer is an extremely strong late game carry hero, but he’s easily targeted and killed. A player who can’t handle the fragility of this hero cannot turn it to a carry hero late game.

GANK HERO

A Ganking hero plays a large part on how a DotA games turn out. These heroes usually run around the map to take an enemy by surprise and kill them on their own or in tandem with an ally. They have nuking or disabling skills that can immobilize a hero, making them an easy target to kill.

One of the popular ganking heroes is Lina. Lina has a wide array of spells on her arsenal – a stunning spell, a direct damage and of course, her powerful massive single-target ultimate. A well-placed stun can totally catch an enemy hero off-guard, spelling a kill for her team.

Another good ganking hero is the Vengeful Spirit. He has a high damage stunning spell to disable enemies, and he can turn the tides to his team's favor with his ultimate -- Nether Swap -- which allows him to change position with the target hero. This can be used to put an enemy hero in a very uncompromising position.

Some heroes can also just roam the jungles (forest creeps) instead of laning. This helps the team by giving another hero a higher level due to having a solo lane. They have skills to take down creeps easily, giving them bounty on top of experience.

Chen is a popular jungle hero because his skills allow him to dominate creeps. This way, he can creep the jungle as well as help allies gank, as he has a slowing spell; and some creeps have Warstomp to stun enemy heroes.

The Shortlist

• Roams the map to find a potential kill
• Teamwork and communication with allies essential
• Timing is key
• Usually dependent on skills (nuke, stuns, slows)