Best Long Range Heroes in Dota 2

Dota 2 is full of excellent heroes that you can pick to fight at close range. But there aren’t that many heroes that you can pick to fight at long range. And sometimes, keeping your distance is crucial for success.

Some heroes, such as Troll Warlord, Sven, and Ursa, are very difficult to fight directly. But if you manage to keep your distance and attack from afar, they are often easy to kill.

In this guide you will discover some of the best long range heroes in Dota 2.

Sniper

Sniper is famous for his attack range. He starts with the ability to attack targets from a range of 550 but quickly reaches a range of 950 by maximizing Take Aim. When this ability is activated, Sniper’s attack range becomes 1150. If you also buy a Dragon Lance, which you should, it becomes 1300, which is absolutely enormous.

From this range, you are more than one Blink Dagger distance away from your targets. This means that unless they get an amazing initiation, they will generally need to run away once you start shooting.

Sniper’s ability to slow movement speed by 30% using Shrapnel further complicates matters for his enemies. Then there’s Headshot, which slows movement speed and attack speed by 100% for 0.5s, in addition to knocking enemies back.

When Sniper is well-farmed and has a mobility item like Blink Dagger, fighting against him becomes extremely challenging. You can still do it if you have an easy way of closing the distance. But most heroes don’t.

In Dota 2, you often get initiated on while you’re far away from the enemy’s main source of damage. The fact that someone can destroy you from 1300 range while you’re getting chain-stunned is quite scary. But you could employ the same tactic by picking Sniper for yourself.

This hero won’t do much on his own. He usually needs a good initiator or some kind of front-liner who can distract the attention of the enemy team while he deals damage from the backline. If you pick him, always keep an eye on your enemies and don’t let them get too close to you.

Zeus

Zeus is similar to Sniper but his main source of damage is his spells. His Arc Lightning can be cast from 850 range, which is further improved by Aether Lens. So the final number is actually 1075, which is more than enough. You can hit frequently from a safe location and just blink away if the enemies start to get close using a Blink Dagger.

Zeus can also use his Heavenly Jump to get himself away from a bad position. Its range is 1000, which is quite a lot when facing melee heroes. Such heroes tend to commit using a Blink Dagger. After that, there’s not much that they can do if you create a big distance between yourself and them.

To cast your W or Lightning Bolt, you can stay at 850 range or 1075 with Aether Lens. This means that both of your core abilities can be used from a very safe distance. This makes Zeus an attractive hero to pick in the current meta.

When used quickly, before the enemy can initiate, Arc Lightning will deal lots of damage to multiple targets and prevent them from blinking away or toward you. Because of this, Zeus can often win fights on his own by initiating them. Another option would be to make the initiation using your ultimate, which is guaranteed to hit and reveal every visible enemy hero on the map.

Lina

Lina’s attack range is 670. If you use this hero as a right-clicker, which you should in the mid game, you can buy Dragon’s Lance and have a total range of 820. That’s very impressive and will allow you to both attack and cast abilities from afar.

Lina’s Dragon Slave can be used to clear creep waves but it is also good against multiple heroes that stand close to each other. Its 300 damage, combined with Light Strike Array’s 260 damage, is a veritable nuke. And you can follow it with basic attacks.

One more thing that you can do when playing Lina is to buy Eye of Skadi and then ruin melee heroes from afar by reducing their movement speed by 20%. Against ranged heroes, the same item has a much bigger impact: 50%.

Clinkz

Clinkz has a natural attack range of 600 but can be upgraded using Dragon Lance. He also gains 200 attack range from Strafe when the ability is activated. This brings his total attack range up to 950. When playing against opponents with low attack range, this hero can be devastating.

When playing Clinkz, it’s a good idea to buy damage items that will help you maximize your surprise element. This is a hero that usually initiates out of invisibility. This gives him 1-2s during which he can attack before the opponent sees him and reacts.

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