[Top 5] Dota 2 Best Neutral Items For Every Tier

Neutral items are specific items that are distinct from the usual 6 items that a hero carries in the game. This houses a different slot for the user and enables advantages for the hero depending on which he/she chooses among the 5 available ones per tier. 

Tokens for neutral items will spawn once neutral camps are killed, and this rate is doubled for ancient camps. These tokens will give the user 5 choices of neutral items. Only 5 tokens are available to collect per tier, allowing each member of the team to get one. Tier 1 tokens can be obtained at the start of the 7-minute mark. Tier 2 starts at 17 minutes, tier 3 at 27 minutes, tier 4 at 37 minutes, and tier 5 at the 60-minute mark.

Tier 1 

Tier 1 neutral items are the first items that could be obtained by farming in the jungle. These create little early advantages in the lane and in team fights. These allow carry heroes to farm and lane more efficiently and give support heroes more utility to work with. While the upgrades may not always seem game-changing, the additional stats and abilities provided by tier 1 items can certainly make something happen on the map.

Tier 1 - best item: Occult Bracelet

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• + 4 all attributes
• + 5% magic resistance
• Passive: Rites of Eloshar - grants 0.4 mana regen per stack (max 5 stacks)

Occult Bracelet takes the No. 1 spot in the tier 1 list. This neutral item gives a balanced amount of stats for each attribute, while certainly buffing universal heroes. In the early game, stats make the difference. With the added attributes, magic resistance, and mana regen, Occult Bracelet slams the competition with its versatility.

Occult Bracelet is very well suited for universal heroes, but the sheer attributes allow any user to benefit from it. Melee universal heroes such as Timbersaw, Pangolier, and Magnus can fully benefit from the stats and abuse the mana regeneration it gives once the item reaches full stacks. This allows them to use their abilities more often when laning or farming.

Tier 1 - 2nd best item: Fairy’s Trinket 

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• + 75 health
• + 5% spell amplification
• + 5% mana cost reduction

Early-game scenarios involve trading and surviving. Fairy’s Trinket gives just about a good amount of health to survive the lane while also giving supports and cores who have devastating early-game abilities more power with their skills. The added spell amplification and reduction in the mana cost allow users to expend cheaper but more devastating blows.

Fairy’s Trinket is a spellcaster’s dream. Heroes who rely on abilities such as Zeus, Queen of Pain, and Storm Spirit can make great use of this item. With the added health and firepower, their laning phases would go smoother and would allow them to maximize their abilities.

Tier 1 - 3rd best item: Duelist Gloves

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• + 12 damage
• Passive: Boldness (grants 20 attack speed)

Having the 2nd highest damage bonus in tier 1 items, Duelist Gloves gives high damage and attack speed at this stage of the game. The added damage and attack speed are great for a plethora of heroes since a ton of damage comes from auto attacks. Cores and supports alike can make use of this item to efficiently poke out enemies, farm lanes and neutral camps, and play team fights.

Duelist Gloves added damage and attack speed attracts carry and core heroes who want to fight and farm. This bonus gives them a direct buff in their endeavors. The most suitable users would be Anti-Mage, Sven, and many more core heroes. The wide range of heroes that can benefit from this is one of the reasons why this item is one of the best tier 1 neutral items.

Tier 1 - 4th best item: Seeds of Serenity

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• + 150 health
• + 4 health regeneration
• Active: Verdurous Dale - provides 10 health regeneration at a 400 radius for 14 seconds 

Laning is one of the hardest things in DotA 2. With constant harassment and poke, health declines quickly. With the limited amount of healing resources, gold and time are wasted in the process. This is where the Seeds of Serenity come in. This neutral item gives the user 150 health and 4 health regeneration. As if this isn’t enough, it has an active healing ability with only a 35-second cooldown. Surviving lane has never been easier.

Offlaners tend to have the most trouble surviving the lane. With this, the Seeds of Serenity give many laners a higher chance to stand their ground without having to purchase any healing items or waste any time. Heroes such as Centaur Warrunner, Tidehunter, and Axe all need healing in order to tank all the damage that comes their way. 

Tier 1 - 5th best item: Spark of Courage

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• Passive: Courage - provides 16 damage above 50% health and 7 armor below 50% health

While most auto attacks deal considerably lesser damage than early-game abilities, they are still fundamental in poking and getting ahead with creep kills. Spark of Courage gives just about the highest attack damage among the tier 1 items. With a 16 damage buff when your health is above 50%, the item is a go-to for most carry heroes who want to speed up their farm and lakers who want to continually harass their enemies. In addition to this, when your health goes below 50%, you gain 7 armor instead, a big amount in the early game.

Spark of Courage is best for carry heroes who want to farm quickly. Juggernaut, Drow Ranger, and many more farming heroes can quickly take advantage of the 16 damage bonus in laning, farming, and fighting. When trouble comes, the added armor would effectively save the hero and prevent any wasted time from the death counter.

Tier 2 

Tier 2 neutral items can be obtained from neutral camps once the timer hits the 17-minute mark. These give a surge in stats, abilities, and advantages that can be quickly abused by any core or support in order to win early-game skirmishes. These offer something better than tier 1 items.

Tier 2 - best item: Specialist’s Array

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• + 7 all attributes
• + 12 damage
• Passive: Crackshot - the next attack fires projectiles that deal 20 damage at 2 additional targets with a 225 range bonus (ranged only)

Specialist’s Array is the best neutral item at this tier. With a high damage bonus and 7 additional stats for all 3 attributes, there’s no wonder why most users quickly scale up into the mid-game with this item. Its passive further gives more avenues for the user to deal damage, making early-game team fights a breeze.

Users of this item would most likely be ranged cores who have to farm up and team fight from time to time. But even melee heroes find this item more appealing than most neutral items because of the immense stats it gives. Universal heroes would benefit more from this compared to single-attribute heroes. Examples of users would be Windranger, Drow Ranger, and Gyrocopter.

Tier 2 - 2nd best item: Vambrace

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• + 8 main Vambrace attribute
• + 2 other attributes
• Provides bonus stats depending on Vambrace’s main attribute is strength (+8% magic resistance), agility (+10 attack speed), or intelligence (+6% spell amplification)

Vambrace is also a semi-balanced neutral item that gives whatever the user wants to have. With a bonus of 8 points, the selected attribute comes with a specific additional benefit. Choosing the desired attribute still comes with huge benefits even if the selected one is not the main attribute of the hero. 

Being such a versatile item, Vambrace is good for mid-game team fights and skirmishes. The item favors heroes such as Void Spirit, Puck, and Juggernaut. Many more heroes can benefit as this is a very versatile item that gives the hero more room to work with.

Tier 2 - 3rd best item: Orb of Destruction   

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• Passive: Impending Corruption - Reduces 3 armor and slows the target’s movement speed depending on whether the wearer is melee (20%) or ranged (10%)

Chasing and extending team fights is a common occurrence in DotA 2. While some have sufficient crowd control and armor reduction to wear their enemies off, some don’t. Orb of Destruction is a popular item amongst most carry heroes who need to wear down their enemies. The armor reduction and slow benefit heroes who have sufficient damage but need more ways to bring their enemies down.

Usually, this item is great for laning and teamfighting but not so much when farming. Early-game heroes who snowball well can abuse this item to take leads and advantages for their team. Such heroes are Ursa, Monkey King, and Slark who all benefit from the slow in order to stack up their passives more easily. 

Tier 2 - 4th best item: Philosopher’s Stone

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• + 75 GPM bonus
• + 200 mana
• - 30 attack damage

Supports usually don’t get a ton of resources, as some of the gold they get becomes gold for their teammates through wards, consumables, and other supporting items. With this, supports don’t have enough to sustain themselves and usually get the short end of the stick. Philosopher’s Stone allows them to gain increased gold generation and mana capacity at the same time.

Despite its 30-attack damage loss, it’s still a very good item for supports as they don’t usually get the chance to last hit. The mana increase helps greatly in allowing for skill usage, and the increased GPM gives them more chances to purchase items. Supports who benefit from this are Rubick, Oracle, and Lion.

Tier 2 - 5th best item: Grove Bow

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• + 100 attack range (ranged only)
• + 20 attack speed
• Passive: Magic Amp - reduces the magic resistance of the target by 15%

Grove Bow is an insanely good item for ranged heroes but doesn’t really do anything to melee heroes. Its 100 bonus attack range helps greatly in allowing ranged heroes to keep their distance while also furthering their damage output. Its attack speed bonus greatly increases the hero’s damage output in the early game, while also reducing the target’s magic resistance.

Grove Bow usually favors ranged heroes with magic attack modifiers such as Huskar and Viper, but it can also benefit anyone who needs the extra range. Due to its ability to reduce a target’s magic resistance, ranged heroes who can attack and spam skills can benefit greatly from this item. Its team fighting ability goes far and beyond at this stage of the game mainly due to its range increase.

Tier 3

Tier 3 neutral items are what really starts the game. These items give more firepower and defensive abilities that can really determine team fights since many heroes already have sufficient items. These are just additional items that make your gameplay easier for you and your team. Obtaining items from this tier is a crucial step in the mid-game since this is the time when most team fights really show who wins.

Tier 3 - best item: Defiant Shell

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• + 7 armor
• + 7 all attributes
• Passive: Reciprocity - when attacked, the wearer counter-attacks within their attack range

The number 1 tier 3 item on this list is Defiant Shell. Defiant Shell is an overall great item for melee heroes. Its balanced attribute and armor bonus give heroes an overall good stat line in the mid-game, while also providing a passive damage output with Reciprocity. This item allows enemies to get punished for trying to harass and poke you, while also giving you more stats to work with.

Heroes who usually can take advantage of this are melee heroes who serve as tanks. These are usually Axe, Slardar, and Tidehunter. These heroes can efficiently proc the item’s passive and fully make use of its stats in team fights, laning, and farming. 

Tier 3 - 2nd best item: Psychic Headband

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• + 15% intelligence
• + 100 cast range
• Active: Psychic Rush - pushes the target away from you by 400 distance

Getting safe from danger is always a good thing, and this is what Psychic Headband allows the user to do. Its active ability prevents any detrimental encounter with the user. When talking about its stats, it gives a very good amount of cast range. Its intelligence bonus scales well into later parts of the game when the hero gains more.

Supports usually tend to find this item appealing as the increase in intelligence and cast range gives them more room to work with. The stats alone help heroes farm up and push their lanes altogether. Not to mention, skirmishes are gonna be a lot more advantageous. Heroes who would typically use this item include Crystal Maiden, Rubick, and Zeus. 

Tier 3 - 3rd best item: Paladin Sword

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• + 16 damage
• + 16% life steal
• + 8% spell life steal
• Passive: Greater Healing - amplifies wearer’s regeneration, healing, life steal, and spell life steal by 14%

Life steal makes all the difference in fights. Carry heroes usually carry around a Morbid Mask when going into fights as this makes it easier for them to survive. And while an additional source of life steal won’t hurt, it’ll certainly benefit those who don’t have one. With its immense life steal bonus and damage bonus, this item will be one of the best neutral items for any carry hero.

Heroes such as Juggernaut, Anti-Mage, and Faceless Void would certainly make use of the life steal bonus to deal more damage due to their added insurance. Team fighting would be more advantageous and less dangerous. 

Tier 3 - 4th best item: Ogre Seal Totem

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• + 10 strength
• Active: Ogre Seal Flop - flop forward 2 times, dealing 150 damage and slowing enemies in a 275 radius by 100% for 1.5 seconds per flop at a distance of 400

Imagine getting in a team fight, trying to make the best of the situation, and someone just randomly flops like an ogre seal towards you. This is what this item allows the user to do. Gap closers are very useful in DotA 2 as they give the user more windows to set up team fights and respond to any initiation. With the added strength and damage from the active ability, Ogre Seal Totem gives the user a very capable gap closer that wreaks the enemy’s lines. 

The item is ultimately useful in team fights and chasing down enemies your team is trying to pick off. With 2 long-distance flops, the wearer is able to slow them down and deal a good amount of damage. Heroes who would benefit from this are usually tanks and initiators who want to set up the team. These are Tidehunter, Bristleback, and Tiny.

Tier 3 - 5th best item: Nemesis Curse

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• + 35 damage
• Passive: Glass Cannon - the hero takes 8% more damage
• Passive: Glassify - attacking an enemy hero applies a debuff that increases the damage taken by the target by 12% for 5 seconds

When you wanna go all out, this is the neutral item for you. Nemesis Curse is an item that solely gives you damage, with its passive giving you more damage. Its high damage boost, coupled with its passive that makes your target more vulnerable, gives you all the damage you need at this stage of the game to conquer your foes. While it also makes you vulnerable, the item’s insane damage boost mostly covers all the flaws.

Heroes that would want to abuse this are mostly ranged heroes who want to pack a punch. While melee heroes can also use this, ranged heroes can effectively negate the Glass Cannon passive due to their proximity to the enemy. Heroes such as Drow Ranger, Windragner, and Sniper can abuse this item to the max.

Tier 4

Tier 4 neutral items spawn at minute 37 and are the last items before the tier 5 items which spawn at minute 60. This means that these are the last items you would expect to obtain before the far-off tier 5 items. While these items don’t usually give a huge spike in power as compared to tier 3, these items are always nice to have as they give more options to boost your abilities and playmaking.

Tier 4 - best item: Timeless Relic

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• + 20% debuff duration
• + 15% spell amplification

Spells and abilities don’t fall off the game. With talents, items, and upgrades, neutral items only add more firepower to the ever-growing capabilities of skills. Timeless Relic gives the wearer a stronger debuff duration for his/her skills, which means stuns, slows, and other debuffs last 25% longer. The spell amplification also aids greatly in ensuring these skills scale up in damage the longer the game goes on.

Spellcasters and heroes with tons of abilities make good use of this item. Supports usually find this more appealing as their kit involves important skills to help their team. Some of these heroes are Rubick, Lion, and Grimstroke.

Tier 4 - 2nd best item: Mind Breaker

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• + 45 magic attack damage
• + 30 attack speed
• Passive: Silence Strike - the next attack silences the enemy for 2 seconds

Mindbreaker has been changed lots of times over the different patches, but this still is a great item to start the late game with. Its high magic attack damage bonus gives a greater advantage toward already farmed-up carry heroes. Coupled with its attack speed bonus, the item is well-suited for most carry heroes.

With a silencing attack, Mindbreaker does exceptionally well against mages, disarming their abilities and making them vulnerable for 2 seconds, which is pretty long if we’re talking about DotA 2. Heroes such as Anti-Mage, Riki, and Phantom Assassin can make use of the bonus stats, and can also easily apply Silence Strike due to their blinking abilities. 

Tier 4 - 3rd best item: Havoc Hammer

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• + 16 damage
• + 16 strength
• Active: Havoc - pulls enemies in a 400 range towards you, slowing them by 50% for 3 seconds and dealing 175 + 1.5x of your strength as magic damage

When the late game comes, initiators need to have more tricks up their sleeves if they want to set up and survive. While items give adequate survivability, with the enemy cores now farmed up, your items may not be enough. Havoc Hammer is a neutral item that gives you more options to survive and set up for your team. It has a damage and strength boost as well as an active ability that pulls enemies towards you, dealing immense damage based on your strength.

Havoc Hammer is well-suited for strength-based heroes, due to its passive and bonus strength. While it can also work on non-strength heroes, it works tremendously well with Earthshaker, Axe, and Tidehunter. These heroes have AOE skills that work greatly when enemies are closer to them. Team fighting will be a swift one with this item.

Tier 4 - 4th best item: Telescope 

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• Passive: Prescient Aura - lowers scan cooldown by 50%, increases attack range (ranged heroes only) and cast range of allies by 125 around a 1200 radius

Now onto another item for supports, Telescope. It’s pretty much self-explanatory. This item gives your team increased attack range and cast range. This essentially buffs your team up for fights and skirmishes. With its 50% decrease in scan’s cooldown, Telescope gives your team more information about things around the map, allowing you to make more calculated plays.

Heroes like Zeus, Lich, and Shadow Shaman can benefit greatly just from the cast range bonus, and they can also buff their allies as well. With these bonuses, wearers will allow their team to become more efficient at a further distance in team fights.

Tier 4 - 5th best item: Trickster Cloak

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• + 17% magic resistance
• + 17% evasion
• Active: Cloak - become invisible for 6 seconds

Trickster Cloak is a great item for supports. While this may not be the best in stats, it is a great item to evade damage. With its bonus magic resistance and evasion, the item allows you to dodge damage from most sources. 

Heroes who are squishy and easy to kill usually wield the Trickster Cloak in order to survive. The invisibility greatly helps in escaping enemies when you’re under fire. Some of these heroes are Crystal Maiden, Pugna, and Ancient Apparition.

Tier 5

Tier 5 neutral items are the strongest neutral items in the game but will take a long time before you can obtain them. These are game-changing and can instantly turn around team fights with the versatility of these items. The bonus stats and abilities these items give can quickly translate to a 7th item in your inventory. 

Tier 5 - best item: Force Boots

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• + 115 movement speed
• + 30 health regeneration
• Active: Force - dispels the user and pushes them 750 units in the direction they are facing
• Passive: Speed Unlock - removes the movement speed limit of the wearer

Now onto the best of the best. Force Boots are considered by many as the best neutral item just because of the sheer stats they give. It gives movement speed, health regeneration, and an active ability that allows you to push yourself, your allies, or your enemy. This also allows you to remove your boots item from your main inventory, giving space for another crucial item in the late game. 

Any hero can use this item as the benefits this item gives is insane. Force Boots would most likely be the most effective on supports. The active ability on the item would be properly utilized on heroes who would have more time to read the fight such as Witch Doctor, Lion, and Skywrath Mage. Along with this, the added movement speed allows them to get to wherever they need to be.

Tier 5 - 2nd best item: Giant’s Ring

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• + 35 strength
• 50 movement speed
• + 60% model scale
• Passive: Giant’s Foot - path over any terrain and deals 100% of your strength per second to the units you are standing on top of

Giant’s Ring literally makes the wearer a giant. With a bonus of 35 strength, 50 movement speed, and an upsized hero model, the item makes the user a big scary giant. Giant’s Foot also serves as an additional form of damage that scales with your strength and is useful when you’re engaging the enemy.

Strength melee heroes would greatly benefit from the stats and passive as they need to get on top of the enemy. Centaur Warrunner, Night Stalker, and Sven are all examples of those who can abuse this item to the max. Wearers would be able to run around team fights, exploiting their massive health bars and creating space for their team to deal damage.

Tier 5 - 3rd best item: Mirror Shield

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• + 10 all attributes
• Passive: Echo Shield - block and reflect most targeted spells once every 12 seconds

With the late game containing lots of abilities and item active spells back and forth, defensive items start to take a place in our inventories. Most are very costly and can hinder your damage output, which is why Mirror Shield is a great alternative for them. Mirror shield buffs all of your attributes and gives you a passive which blocks most targeted spells.

Universal heroes would benefit more from the stat bonus while all heroes can effectively use this item to be safe from any crucial late-game team fights. With its 12-second cooldown, it’s a very desirable defensive item to have especially when there are lots of disabling items such as Scythe of Vyse and Abyssal Blade. Heroes who can abuse this are Windranger, Invoker, and Dazzle. 

Tier 5 - 4th best item: Seer Stone

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• + 350 cast range
• + 350 bonus vision
• + 10 mana regeneration
• Active: Reveal - reveal a target 800 area of the map for 6 seconds

Seer Stone is the ultimate spellcaster neutral item. Just by looking at the stats it gives you can really get a feel for the item. The immense cast range and bonus vision is a significant buff especially since the vision also aids your team. Its mana regeneration can quickly stack on top of your already-built items, adding more fuel to your firepower. 

Reveal is a broken ability in the late game as it can spot enemies when placed intelligently. Heroes who need a greater cast range in order to keep safe will benefit greatly from this item. These are Skywrath Mage, Zeus, and Shadow Shaman. These squishies usually get burst down. But with Seer Stone, they can safely dish out damage from a safe distance.

Tier 5 - 5th best item: Stygian Desolator

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• + 60 damage
• Passive: Greater Corruption - attacks reduce the enemy’s armor by 10 for 7 seconds

For the final item in this list, we have the Stygian Desolator. It works similarly to Desolator, but instead gives 10 more damage and reduces 4 more armor. Having another major damage item as a 7th one gives your hero greater offensive power into the late game.

Heroes who would greatly benefit from this item are Phantom Assassin, Monkey King, and Ember Spirit due to their abilities having physical capabilities that can easily be buffed by Stygian Desolator. Furthermore, these heroes are assassins who can easily burst down enemies, which is a great pairing with the item. 

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