The 5 Best Offlaners of Dota 2 Patch 7.35b

In Dota 2, the offlane hero plays a huge role in his team’s success. His job is to tank damage, initiate, buy as many utility items as he can, and make space for his other cores immediately after the laning phase, when the mid and the carry typically start their solo farming routines in the jungle.

Like all patches, 7.35b has around a dozen different heroes that are perfect for this role and can help you to improve your Dota 2 rank. In this guide, you will discover four of the best offlaners of Dota 2 patch 7.35b.

Spirit Breaker

Spirit Breaker is one of those rare Dota 2 heroes that need levels more than they need items in the early game. He’s very tanky and can easily go back to lane if he needs to teleport to base to regenerate thanks to his Charge of Darkness, which gives him 275 – 425 bonus movement speed.

If you get to level 20, SB’s +17% Greater Bash chance turns him into a bashing machine because the total bash chance is suddenly 34%. That’s one in three hits, so if your attack speed is decent, you will bash a target every 2 seconds for 1.5s. On top of that, you also have Charge of Darkness and Nether Strike.

Most heroes hate playing against Spirit Breaker because it’s so easy for him to target someone and then never let him breathe during fights. At the same time, he’s very hard to kill because he can either teleport away or simply use his Charge of Darkness.

Not to mention his Bulldoze, which gives him +20% movement speed and +70% status resistance for 8s. Against stuns, slows, and other disables, this ability is practically a full-duration Black King Bar.

Historically, people picked heroes like Bloodseeker against SB, as well as Faceless Void, Puck, and various other natural Linken’s Sphere buyers. But it’s still a tough offlaner to face after the first few minutes of the game.

When combined with other Dota 2 heroes that have a global presence, SB becomes even stronger. Zeus, Spectre, and Nature’s Prophet are perfect. Sniper is also a good pick if he’s close enough to use his ultimate.

When playing Spirit Breaker, you should consider buying items like Shadow Blade, Octarine Core, and Blade Mail. Because your objective is to make sure that you can successfully charge enemies as often as you can, and then discourage them from damaging you while you're on the retreat.

Sand King

Despite the nerfs he received in Dota 2 patch 7.35, Sand King continues to be one of the best offlaners of Dota 2 patch 7.35b. His toolkit gives him the possibility to deal a lot of damage to the enemy carry, especially if he’s melee.

Sand King applies Caustic Finale to each target he hits. This passive ability slows movement speed by 14 – 26% and causes creeps to explode in a 500 radius when they die. So a melee carry that wants to last-hit will generally take a lot of damage from the explosions.

Sometimes, a chain reaction is triggered and multiple creeps explode almost instantly. If the enemy carry is trapped between them, his chances of surviving the assault are slim.

Sand King is hard to target because of Sand Storm, This ability affects all targets in a 425 – 650 radius, dealing 25 – 85 damage per second. In recent patches, IceFrog made Sand Storm follow SK at a speed of 100 units per second, so Sentry Wards will no longer solve the problem.

In team fights, Sand King can use his Burrowstrike, which can stun multiple targets for 1.8s and deal up to 260 damage to them. The ability can be cast from a range of 750 units, which makes SK very dangerous. Furthermore, if you buy a Blink Dagger, you become a reliable initiator and also a great source of damage.

SK’s ultimate, Epicenter, slows movement by 30 – 50% and attack speed by 30 – 60 for 3s. It deals a total of 6 – 10 pulses and has a damage of 110 – 130 per pulse. That’s 1310 damage at level 3 in a 500 radius!

Underlord

Underlord received phenomenal buffs in patch 7.35, which is why he’s easily one of the best offlaners of Dota 2 patch 7.35b. His Pit of Malice deals 20 – 50 damage whenever it roots a target, and its cast point is now just a quarter of a second instead of 0.35s.

Thanks to his Atrophy Aura, which gives him a lot of bonus damage and reduces enemy damage by 6 – 30% in a 900 radius, Underlord tends to have an easy laning phase. And if you master his movement and attack animation, you can time his Firestorm in a way that guarantees last-hits for you.

At the same time, your enemy will find it difficult to prevent you from denying his creeps without taking massive damage. Firestorm’s six waves of fire are quite painful. Each wave deals 30 – 90 damage plus an additional 1.5 – 3% max HP as damage per tick. Each time a hero is touched by a wave, he suffers two ticks of percentage-based damage.

The numbers don’t seem high at first, but they add up quickly. And since this is a 16 – 13s cooldown ability, you can use it frequently enough to send enemies to base a lot more often than they would like to return to it.

Against Underlord, heroes who like to blink have a big problem. His Pit of Malice damages and roots them for 1.8s. The pit’s duration is 12s and the effect gets triggered every 3.6s. When combined with a strong slow, this ability will keep people trapped for two durations of 1.8s. In team fights, that’s devastating.

Underlord’s ultimate, Fiend’s Gate, provides an easy escape for his allies, with the possibility to reengage the enemy just seconds later.

Axe

Axe is a very reliable offlaner. He can easily cut creep waves and guarantee himself a lot of last-hits by using Counter-Helix.

After Vanguard, you buy some boots, a Blink Dagger, and a Blade Mail. And you will find plenty of ganking opportunities during the early part of the mid-game.

In team fights, if two or more enemies get trapped by Axe’s Call, they will generally die quickly, especially if their physical damage is high. Blade Mail alone will solve the problem.

Axe’s HP regen is absurdly high: 5. Add to it a few more items and you have all the sustain you will need for the laning phase. Thanks to Counter Helix, which deals 95 – 170 pure damage per swing, enemies will not want to be near you in the first 5 – 10 minutes.

Usually, an enemy offlaner cannot afford to hit the enemy carry while being surrounded by his creeps, because he will cause them to attack him.

But if that happens to Axe, he can just use Berserker’s Call to gain 16 – 25 bonus armor and potentially trap his target. With a few more Counter Helix procs, enemy heroes will run as fast as they can.

Axe’s ultimate, Culling Blade, instantly kills a target if its HP is below 275 – 475. It deals pure damage, so not even buying a Black King Bar cannot help.

Whenever such a kill takes place, Axe gains permanent bonus armor (+1 / 1.5 / 2), while his allies receive a temporary bonus to their movement speed (20 – 30%) and armor (20 – 30). These buffs last for 6s.

Conclusion

The offlaner role is very impactful in the current meta, and learning how to play it properly will greatly improve your chances of winning. When picking a hero for this position, take into account what the enemy team has picked but most of all, do not neglect the overpowered heroes.

READ MORE

1. Best Mid Heroes of Dota 2 Patch 7.35b
2. Best Carry Heroes of Dota 2 Patch 7.35b
3. Best Position 4 Heroes of Dota 2 Patch 7.35b

Featured Image Source: Valve