As a safelane carry, it is your job to get fed and carry your team into victory. Whether it be in the early or late game, the job is the same. But most of the time, games can tend to drag on back-and-forth until the late game, when most heroes have reached their peak. Some carry heroes are better early, while some thrive in the late game. With this, let’s talk about the top ten carry heroes in DotA 2 that are unstoppable in the late game.
10. Drow Ranger
Drow Ranger is an agility-based ranged hero who goes insane with good positioning and teammates with crowd control abilities. Her abilities allow her to get a good distance between her and her opponent, while also dealing a ton of damage. In terms of late game, Drow Ranger excels in extended team fights, due to her consistent DPS and range. Her late game talents greatly improve her main damage abilities such as Marksmanship and Multishot, giving her more avenues to deal damage.
Due to her high damage and range, Drow Ranger is able to transition well into the late game. Her abilities ramp up the more she progresses in levels and experience. Her abilities allow her to stay away from enemies at a considerable distance and still do damage. With her consistent damage and attack speed, Drow Ranger is excellent in team fights.
What Makes Drow Ranger a Strong Late Game Carry:
- Her Marksmanship’s passive grows stronger and gives her more bonus agility the more she progresses in the game. This added bonus gives her more damage and attack speed.
- Her Aghanim’s Scepter upgrade gives her the ability to deal Hypothermia to enemies, reducing their regeneration. This is most especially useful in situations where the enemy has a ton of regeneration, especially in tanks.
- Being an agility-based hero, Drow Ranger gains more offensive stats the more she builds her main attribute. Building more agility gives her armor, attack speed, and damage. Coupled with defensive items such as Black King Bar and Satanic, Drow Ranger will be unkillable in team fights.
See Drow Ranger in Action:
Drow Ranger gameplay.
9. Chaos Knight
Chaos Knight thrives in team fights. With his tanky nature and burst damage, Chaos Knight excels in crushing squishy targets and taking aggressive fights. His skill set allows him to overwhelm opponents with sheer force and power. When in the late game, he’s an unkillable force with an army of illusions to back him up. With his army of illusions, he charges onto the battlefield and doesn’t stop chasing.
Because Chaos Knight is tanky, he already is unstoppable in the late game. Despite being the main damage dealer, his tanky nature allows him to give room for his allies to also deal damage. When talking about his damage, Chaos Knight deals one of the most devastating blows in the late game due to his Chaos Strike, which scales more as he gets more damage from items. With this, comes also his ultimate, Phantasm, which spawns illusions that deal 100% the damage that Chaos Knight has.
What Makes Chaos Knight a Strong Late Game Carry:
- Being a strength-based hero, Chaos Knight gains damage and max HP per point of strength. This gives him more damage and health the more he gets his main attribute. The later the game goes, the more unstoppable the knight will be.
- With his Chaos Strike and Phantash, Chaos Knight scales well into the late game. Both these skills scale with his attack damage, giving more critical strike damage and illusion damage respectively.
- His talents greatly give him a late game capability. His Reality Rift has the talent upgrade to pierce spell immunity, a crucial talent to take when fighting enemies with BKB, a common item among core heroes. With this, he can easily reach them despite a game-changing item. His talents allow Phantasm to have a chance for his illusions to fight for longer, and his Chaos Strike to deal more damage. His talents allow him to become unstoppable in the late game.
See Chaos Knight in Action:
Chaos Knight gameplay.
8. Juggernaut
Juggernaut has been one of the most consistent and stable carry heroes in the game. The carry has been a staple in team comps due to his reliable damage, sustain, safe playstyle, and late game potential. Being an agility hero, Juggernaut can scale into the late game with the added bonus damage and attack speed he gains from building agility. But even without it, Juggernaut has a great base attack speed rate, which scales well into the late game, buffing his ultimate skill.
Juggernaut’s kit allows him to dominate the early game, which makes it easier for him to become unstoppable in the late game. If he seems aggressive in the early game with his Bladefury and Omnislash, wait till you see him in the late game. With a single well-targeted ultimate, Omnislash can execute and heavily wound several heroes. Because the damage scales with Juggernaut’s attack damage and attack speed, the ultimate is a threatening skill to use in the late game.
What Makes Juggernaut a Strong Late Game Carry:
- His Blade Dance scales well with his attack damage and attack speed. The more attack damage he has, the stronger the critical strike will be. More attack speed will be able to proc the critical strike chance even more.
- Juggernaut’s talents greatly improve his skills. His Omnislash can be extended to one more second, which is a huge buff to his kit.
- Juggernaut’s Aghanim’s Scepter upgrade gives him Swiftslash, a mini Omnislash that is capable of executing squishies and dealing immense damage in one second. With this, he gains a new avenue of dealing damage while being safe from damage. This scale with his stats, which gives him even more potential the more he gains items.
See Juggernaut in Action:
Juggernaut gameplay.
7. Troll Warlord
When talking about rage, Troll Warlord’s your guy. This agility-based hero mows down his enemies with rage-fitted attacks. The more he hits you, the more aggressive he becomes. When it comes to his late game potential, Troll Warlord obviously fits the job description. His skill set is filled with life steal, crowd control, attack speed, and anything he needs to survive a fight. His damage in the late game spikes tremendously due to his ramping attack speed. The longer you fight this troll, the worse it is for you.
Troll Warlord’s kit is especially great for the late game. He can switch between melee and range, giving him options to fight in the late game, especially when charging uphill towards the enemy’s base. But what really makes him viable in the late game is his Fervor. Fervor allows him to stack attack speed the more he hits an opponent. This, coupled with damaging and defensive items, allows him to furiously chop down any foe quickly. Pair him with his signature BKB, he’ll be an unstoppable force in team fights.
What Makes Troll Warlord a Strong Late Game Carry:
- His Fervor ability allows him to gain stacking attack speed every time he hits an opponent. With the tremendous increase in attack speed, a focus on building attack damage would be a huge advantage for the hero. The more he attacks, the greater the chances to proc attack modifiers such as his passive root, as well as bash from Skull Basher. Lifesteal would also be amplified due to the abundance of attacks.
- Troll Warlord’s ultimate, Battle Trance, allows him to gain life steal, attack speed, movement speed, a basic dispel, and invulnerability from death for 6.5 seconds. This state is important in ensuring Troll Warlords’ continued activity in the game. This prevents him from dying and getting kited. The sheer force of stats in this ultimate makes him dominate team fights. Once he gets his level 25 talent, his Battle Trance gives him a strong dispel, literally removing a huge debuff.
- With late game items such as BKB, Abyssal Blade, and Satanic, Troll Warlord is literally an unstoppable force in the game. Coupled with his team’s abilities and items, the hero literally never stops pounding and chasing, all while being fully healthy. The late game is where Troll Warlord thrives, once he gets his items.
See Troll Warlord in Action:
Troll Warlord gameplay.
6. Morphling
Morphling is another one of those multi-attribute-based heroes. Despite being an agility-based hero, Morphling benefits from gaining strength, which gives him a variety of options on how to play the game, as well as more benefits when he purchases items with strength and agility. His late game potential is clearly shown in his ability to change between having more strength or agility, and having the abilities of the enemy.
Morphling is mainly focused on bursting enemies in the early game while dealing consistent DPS in the late game. His high stat gain for strength and agility allows him to shift between these two attributes depending on the situation of the game. One of the main advantages to this hero is when building items. Building items with multiple attributes benefit him greatly, giving him more room to shift towards more strength, or more agility. With a mobile skill set that allows him to use his enemy’s abilities for his own use, empowering his offensive power, Morphline is a versatile late game carry that is really hard to predict.
What Makes Morphling a Strong Late Game Carry:
- Morphling can Morph into an enemy hero, gaining the basic abilities of that said hero. Having more skills can greatly give Morphling a new avenue to deal damage. His Aghanim’s Scepter upgrade allows him to create an illusion of an enemy, gaining access to his/her skills, and the possibility of integrating the enemy’s skills into his own.
- With his high base stat growth, Morphling grows tremendously stronger the more items he gets. The more stats he gets, the stronger his abilities become, giving him more offensive power. This, coupled with consistent DPS from his auto attacks, makes Morphling one of the best late game heroes in the game.
- His pushing power, tanky nature when strength is shifted, high damage when agility is shifted, and powerful ultimate all make Morphling a very versatile late game carry.
- He becomes online once he gains essential items such as Eye of Skadi, Manta Style, and BKB. The added security and stats from these items empower Morphling even more, helping him thrive in the late game.
See Morphling in Action:
Morphling gameplay.
5. Terrorblade
Terrorblade is one of the most favored late game heroes in the game throughout the years. His ability to farm fast and deal incredible damage in fights at a distance is one of the most overwhelming things the enemy can experience. His agility growth is the best in the game, gaining 4 agility per level. Terrorblade can farm efficiently and safely with his illusions, which drastically speeds up his resource gathering. When it comes to team fights, Terrorblade turns into a literal demon and shoots down his enemies, turning every enemy into ash.
Even in the early game, Terrorblade has great stats. With this early strength, Terrorblade is able to farm fast with the help of his illusions. His illusions from Conjure Image deal a ton of damage at 60% of his damage. His already great stats such as agility and attack speed are shared by his illusions. When it comes to his team fighting, Terrorblade is able to metamorph into a powerful demon with a ranged attack. His illusions also follow suit, granting them even more damage. The duration is enough to deal significant damage to the enemy, especially in the late game. And when he gets low enough, Terrorblade can simply swap out his life for the healthy enemy with his Sunder, a life-saving ultimate.
What Makes Terrorblade a Strong Late Game Carry:
- Terrorblade’s illusions deal a great ton of damage, which helps in farming and fighting. This makes it safer for him to deal damage and gather resources.
- Terrorblade has a handy skill set that allows him to survive dangerous encounters with Sunder and Reflection. These skills can literally save his life and endanger the enemy’s. Reflection makes a copy of a nearby enemy hero which deals 100% of that unit’s attack damage to him/her. The stronger your enemies get, the stronger your Reflection gets.
- With core items such as Manta Style and Eye of Skadi, Terrorblade can already dominate fights with extra illusions, insane stats, and a slowing attack from these items. These core items make it possible for Terrorblade to transition into the late game while still being an effective farmer and fighter.
- His insane stats grow more and more effective, giving Terrorblade an insane amount to have, which increases his late game capabilities. Paired with an Aghanim’s Shard upgrade, Terrorblade gains even more movement and attack speed. While being a tanky late game carry, Terrorblade is more mobile and agile than most heroes.
See Terrorblade in Action:
Terrorblade gameplay.
4. Phantom Lancer
When we’re talking about overwhelming, Phantom Lancer comes into the conversation. This agile hero runs rampant toward any enemy, making quick work of them. With his entire army of illusions, Phantom Lancer scales into the late game with them. A hard-to-catch hero, Phantom Lancer thrives in chaotic team fights. The more chaos there is, the better.
Phantom Lancer gets his power spike once he gets his ultimate, Juxtapose. From there, he can farm the jungle, push lanes, become slippery, and impact team fights. With this powerful ability, he can translate well into the late game. As he grows stronger, so do his illusions, making an army of himself. Even if you defeat one of his illusions, he can quickly gain more just by attacking. With a great set of stats, Phantom Lancer’s early game is quite balanced. But once he gets his core items, he becomes unhinged. His talents make him and his abilities stronger, his army more slippery, and his enemies more dead.
What Makes Phantom Lancer a Strong Late Game Carry:
- Phantom Lancer thrives in team fights due to his army of illusions. Overwhelming opponents with illusions can be bothersome for the enemy, as they would have trouble finding the real hero, wasting their skills. Juxtapose also applies the effects of Diffusal Blade, a great item for reducing the mana of your enemy. The more hits, the more mana lost. Once Phantom Lancer scales in the late game, so do his illusions.
- His Doppelganger and Phantom Rush are great for escaping and chasing enemies, giving Phantom Lancer a wide range of options. Paired with core items such as Manta Style, Heart of Tarrasque, and Eye of Skadi, a late game Phantom Lancer is very hard to kill and shut down. With this amount of protection and sustain, the late game is exactly where he wants to be.
- His talents also greatly improve his abilities and stats. With talents that give him a 24% critical strike chance at 200% damage, lesser cooldowns, increased Juxtapose damage, and Phantom Rush range, once he gets levels in the late game, he’ll essentially be a monster.
See Phantom Lancer in Action:
Phantom Lancer gameplay.
3. Medusa
When we think of unreachable, we think of Medusa. This unkillable archer is a beast in the late game. While relatively weak in the early game, Medusa becomes unstoppable in the late game due to her insane tenacity from her Mana Shield. Paired with a good amount of stat growth, this agility-based hero is the go-to for anyone looking to go and farm until the late game.
Medusa is a great farming carry due to her Split Shot. She can easily push lanes, farm neutral camps, and shred entire heroes in team fights. Paired with this, is her Mana shield, making her take a lot more attacks than any carry should. With core items such as Manta Style and Eye of Skadi, Medusa becomes unstoppable and unreachable in the late game. Enemies have a hard time reaching this gorgon as she will literally continue to hit you even if you manage to reach her.
What Makes Medusa a Strong Late Game Carry:
- Medusa’s Mana Shield has a strong damage reduction that greatly lets her take more attacks. This makes her harder to kill and shut down. The more the game progresses, the more Medusa gains more agility and intelligence stats, growing more powerful and tougher with a higher mana capacity for her Mana Shield. Paired with her devastating attacks that hit multiple targets, Medusa can mow down creeps and heroes alike, allowing her to gain resources faster for the late game.
- When Medusa gets BKB, Manta Style, and Eye of Skadi, she becomes a killing machine that doesn’t stop. Paired with her ultimate Stone Gaze, enemies trying to reach her will surely meet their demise as they hopelessly throw themselves upon the gorgon.
- Her talents are some of the most late game oriented talents in the game. Her Split Shot gains a lesser damage penalty, as well as the ability to proc attack modifiers. This tremendously increases her utility and damage just by her Eye of Skadi.
See Medusa in Action:
Medusa gameplay.
2. Faceless Void
Faceless Void is an agility-based hero that scales well by building attack speed and agility. His safe but impactful play style translates well into the late game. He can go in and just get out without any significant repercussions. With an agility gain of 3 per level, Faceless Void has one of the highest agility gains in the game, making him a great late game carry.
One of the most impactful skills in the game is Faceless Void’s ultimate, Chronosphere. This AOE ability stuns all heroes in the field, making Faceless Void move faster within it and freely deal damage to enemies. When placed well, this can also allow allies outside the Chronosphere to help Faceless Void execute all caught in the sphere. Along with his ultimate, are Faceless Void’s basic abilities which are very handy in the late game. His skill set, along with his damage, makes him one of the best late game carry heroes in the game.
What Makes Faceless Void a Strong Late Game Carry:
- His Chronosphere is a big AOE ability that locks in enemies that are hit. This is a big AOE ability that gives Faceless Void and his allies freely kill core enemies and anyone else stuck in the zone. In the late game, his Chronosphere has the capability to become bigger, having a bigger window to catch important heroes and kill them for the win.
- Faceless Void is able to get in and out with Time Walk, which lets him get back any health lost in the last two seconds. This, coupled with his Time Lock, allows him to get in and out and still deal damage. Time Lock is a very useful skill for disrupting and killing enemies as the bash has a very high chance to hit especially when he gets more attack speed in the late game.
- Faceless Void in the late game with BKB, Mjolnir, and Skadi is a very unstoppable force to deal with. He is tanky and hard to catch in the late game, all because of his Time Walk. He literally makes space for himself and his team to deal damage. Once he gets these items, the carry would run rampant across team fights, freely hitting time-frozen enemies.
See Faceless Void in Action:
Faceless Void gameplay.
1. Spectre
Spectre is always considered as the best late game carry at different times and different metas. This monster of a late game carry is the best carry hero as of the moment. With a very tanky nature, one of the tankiest in the game, Spectre dominates the late game like it’s nothing. Her skill set scales very well into the late game, especially her global presence pressure.
Spectre’s most sought-after characteristic is her global presence. With Haunt, Spectre can farm anywhere and still be present in fights, easily executing squishy heroes in the backline. This ability to just appear in team fights allows Spectre to take desirable fights in the late game when she finally has her core items. Despite going in deep, Spectre doesn’t go down easily. Being a reflective tank, Spectre adds another reliable damage source to her arsenal, adding to her already strong auto attacks.
What Makes Spectre a Strong Late Game Carry:
- Spectre’s Haunt allows her to pressure the map on a global scale, which helps in the late game as the team tries to take two different lanes. Her ability to be anywhere anytime translates well into joining crucial fights that occur in the late game. Her Haunt illusion deals immense damage, especially once Spectre reaches the late game.
- Spectre’s late game items revolve around Radiance, Heart of Tarrasque, Eye of Skadi, and Manta Style. These items help her get even more tanky, while still being able to deal a ton of damage to enemies. The late game suits her well as she can easily get in the backline and start from there.
- Her Desolate and Dispersion are her two main damage abilities. While Desolate is more of an isolated attack pure damage source, Dispersion works if enemies attack you. The damage is reflected, leaving her unharmed. Getting tankier in the late game allows Spectre to proc this more often, making it hard for enemies to take her down.
- Her talent upgrades give her more sources of damage as they both upgrade her damage and survivability. Pair this with an Aghanim’s Shard, Dispersion becomes a built-in Blade Mail, making it even harder for her to take damage and die.
See Spectre in Action:
Spectre gameplay.
