The Dota 2 Competitive Hero Tier List for April 2020 includes data from patches 7.25b, 7.25c, 7.26, and 7.26a, for a total of 629 games. The heroes are split in five groups.

All heroes are arranged in five tiers based on their draft rate. The tiers are viewed as clusters of data, and each hero is placed in the one they are closer the most.
The requisites for each tier never change. The goal is offering a neutral comparison that shows how the meta evolves over time.
The win rate has no effect on the tiers, but is included for further info. The tiers depend only on drafts (picks + bans), and aren’t affected either by the win rate of a hero, or by their performance in pub matches.

This tier list contains all pro matches played from April 1st to 27th during versions 7.25b, 7.25c, 7.26, and 7.26a.

Past Tier List: March 2020

More: Updated Dota 2 Hero Tier List

All tables are responsive and sortable. If you are using a phone, turn it sideways for a full view. Otherwise, zoom in or click the grey area of each table to swipe and sort them.

Tier 1

Name	P+B	P+B%	Picks	Picks%	Bans	Bans%	Win%
Timbersaw	550	87.4%	70	11.1%	480	76.3%	40.0%
Death Prophet	549	87.3%	123	19.6%	426	67.7%	53.7%
Ember Spirit	475	75.5%	229	36.4%	246	39.1%	52.4%
Phoenix	431	68.5%	162	25.8%	269	42.8%	47.5%
Keeper of the Light	429	68.2%	124	19.7%	305	48.5%	60.5%
Mars	401	63.8%	170	27.0%	231	36.7%	52.4%
Pangolier	358	56.9%	162	25.8%	196	31.2%	55.6%
Chen	355	56.4%	90	14.3%	265	42.1%	53.3%

The division in tiers is never perfect, and sometimes the heroes at the limit between the highest tiers have similar draft rates.

Tier 2

Name	P+B	P+B%	Picks	Picks%	Bans	Bans%	Win%
Batrider	326	51.8%	68	10.8%	258	41.0%	55.9%
Centaur Warrunner	324	51.5%	137	21.8%	187	29.7%	43.8%
Shadow Demon	321	51.0%	132	21.0%	189	30.1%	53.8%
Lycan	298	47.4%	77	12.2%	221	35.1%	53.3%
Nature's Prophet	296	47.1%	107	17.0%	189	30.1%	43.0%
Void Spirit	284	45.2%	133	21.1%	151	24.0%	46.6%
Dragon Knight	283	45.0%	163	25.9%	120	19.1%	59.5%
Tusk	263	41.8%	152	24.2%	111	17.7%	53.3%
Grimstroke	256	40.7%	188	29.9%	68	10.8%	46.8%
Oracle	255	40.5%	108	17.2%	147	23.4%	57.4%
Rubick	241	38.3%	145	23.1%	96	15.3%	49.0%
Morphling	240	38.2%	91	14.5%	149	23.7%	46.2%
Beastmaster	235	37.4%	93	14.8%	142	22.6%	53.8%
Ancient Apparition	224	35.6%	58	9.2%	166	26.4%	46.6%

Death Prophet

Death Prophet is the second most banned hero in pro games during April. Instead, Timbersaw is the top one, and I talked about him in February.

In my opinion, she is also an exceptional pick in pubs at most ranks, so today we will learn gameplay, item and skill builds used by pro players, and how to behave when there is a strong DP in the enemy team.

Early and mid lane goals

Death Prophet can have the upper hand against most mid lane matchups. Last hitting and harassing the opponent is a piece of cake thanks to her 51-63 attack damage at level 1 and a proper usage of Spirit Siphon and Crypt Swarm.

Securing the runes grants a considerable advantage, particularly if you bought Bottle, but otherwise you can just rely on Mangoes and Clarity Potions for mana.

As soon as you get Exorcism, destroying the tier 1 mid tower is the main goal. Afterwards, continue farming the creep waves while also cleaning the adjacent jungle neutrals.

The next ultimate must be used to bring down the tier 1 safe lane tower (preferably around 10-12 minutes maximum). Call for help, and with a few teammates you will able to capture it quickly, especially if the opponents do not react (honestly, most often than not, their teammates will ignore the threat).

By the end of the laning stage you must have acquired Eul’s Scepter of Divinity and destroyed all the tier 1 towers.

From this point onwards, keep farming while your ultimate is on cooldown, and group up with your team to push more towers whenever it is available: Exorcism is able to dish out an absurd amount of damage for most of the match.

Generally, you have power spikes whenever you close one of the main expensive items - such as Shiva’s Guard and Aghanim’s Scepter - but in the late game you will fall behind the hard carriers. It is important to exploit your early power and play around the ultimate cooldowns to acquire as many objectives as possible in the mid game.

Skill Build

In the image below, you can find the most popular skill builds used by pro players on Death Prophet during April.

Silence is not required in the laning phase, and it will just slow down your potential. Only pick it if you badly need a silence for survivability or to gank an opponent with a strong escape skill.

Crypt Swarm is an amazing ability to harass and farm in the lane phase, and it is often levelled up on par with Spirit Siphon. I suggest prioritizing Crypt Swarm if you are able to secure the runes as its mana costs doubles from level 1 to 4.

Spirit Siphon is generally the preferred choice among pros because it is a lot cheaper: it costs 80 mana at all levels. If you are able to keep the opponent mid laner in the 500 cast range, this skill lets you trade hits against almost any hero as it drains their max HP, replenishes yours, and meanwhile you can attack them with your solid auto-attack damage.

Upgrading Spirit Siphon doesn’t improve only the max health drain, but it also reduces the charge replenish time, so once maxed out you will be able to use it twice per minute.

Some players love to level up fully Crypt Swarm and Spirit Siphon first, thus getting Exorcism at around level 9-10, but this is a very niche choice that I do not recommend: you need your tower destroyer tool as soon as possible. Pro players get it at level 6 in the great majority of games.

Most bought items by pros

These are the most bought items on Death Prophet by pro players during April:

Eul’s Scepter of Divinity: 96
Power Treads: 75
Black King Bar: 74
Shiva’s Guard: 42
Phase Boots: 33
Blink Dagger: 28
Aghanim’s Scepter: 25

The list doesn’t include consumables and basic items.

Death Prophet’s item build is quite standard and you will rarely need different core items.

Eul’s Scepter of Divinity provides movement speed and mana regeneration, and it gives you a disable at a cheap cost. You can use it on yourself when Exorcism is active to disappear from the combat while continuing to damage the enemies - it can make the difference between life and death.

Power Treads and Phase Boots are both viable choices depending on your preferences. Personally, the extra movement speed given by the latter works well with my aggressive gameplay.

Death Prophet is always in the middle of the team fights as she must deal damage with Exorcism and drain health and movement speed with Spirit Siphon. Black King Bar is a must have to boost your survivability: it prevents nukes and disables, so you can move freely on the battlefield and dodge quickly any dangerous auto-attacker.

Shiva’s Guard gives you another nuke, a slow, and it is one of the items that grants the most armor in Dota 2.

Aghanim’s Scepter is the least picked item among the popular ones, but its upgrade should not be underestimated because it gives you extra damage and sustainability.

Loading Screen of the Mothbinder for Death Prophet - Valve

How to counter

Avoid her ultimate. DP has a great skillset, but Exorcism makes the difference in teamfight: disengaging skills such as Centaur Warrunner’s Stampede and Naga Siren’s Song of the Siren will waste Exorcism as the team will have the time to escape and wait for a better opportunity.
Split pushing indirectly counters her because she won’t have the chance to shine in team fight or to demolish towers.
Get armor. Exorcism inflicts physical damage, so armor directly reduces its damage, and this is one of the reasons DP falls off in the late game, especially versus agility-based carries who have innate armor gain.
- Prioritize armor aura items on tanks and compatible supports.
- Blade Mail is a great choice on beefy strength heroes, if activated at the right time.
Block her regeneration. Death Prophet steals health points via Spirit Siphon, and regenerates at the end of Exorcism: buy Spirit Vessel to reduce her healing capabilities, and nuke her with Ancient Apparition’s Ice Blast if he is a good fit for the team.
Burst damage in the laning phase. You want heroes able to stay at a distance, burst her, and disengage.
- Shadow Fiend is an optimal choice thanks to Shadowraze’s high damage in the early game, and he can easily out-farm DP.
- Queen of Pain is also excellent because she slows DP, nukes her, steals farm, and finally blinks away before she can react.
Disables. Death Prophet is very susceptible to disables because she relies on movement speed for survivability.
- Among the potential pub picks, consider Bloodseeker as he can prevent any movement with Rupture.

Tier 3

Name	P+B	P+B%	Picks	Picks%	Bans	Bans%	Win%
Phantom Lancer	198	31.5%	88	14.0%	110	17.5%	45.5%
Snapfire	189	30.1%	116	18.4%	73	11.6%	47.4%
Bristleback	188	29.9%	89	14.2%	99	15.7%	52.8%
Earthshaker	185	29.4%	100	15.9%	85	13.5%	57.0%
Riki	180	28.6%	74	11.8%	106	16.9%	44.6%
Nyx Assassin	169	26.9%	76	12.1%	93	14.8%	63.2%
Pugna	169	26.9%	90	14.3%	79	12.6%	48.9%
Monkey King	149	23.7%	78	12.4%	71	11.3%	52.6%
Queen of Pain	148	23.5%	74	11.8%	74	11.8%	51.4%
Storm Spirit	148	23.5%	85	13.5%	63	10.0%	49.4%
Templar Assassin	146	23.2%	68	10.8%	78	12.4%	55.9%
Clockwerk	145	23.1%	76	12.1%	69	11.0%	48.7%
Puck	142	22.6%	62	9.9%	80	12.7%	35.5%
Alchemist	140	22.3%	45	7.2%	95	15.1%	51.1%
Dazzle	139	22.1%	52	8.3%	87	13.8%	59.6%
Mirana	136	21.6%	83	13.2%	53	8.4%	62.7%

Tier 4

Name	P+B	P+B%	Picks	Picks%	Bans	Bans%	Win%
Troll Warlord	127	20.2%	74	11.8%	53	8.4%	54.1%
Legion Commander	126	20.0%	79	12.6%	47	7.5%	57.0%
Naga Siren	125	19.9%	35	5.6%	90	14.3%	51.4%
Lich	120	19.1%	102	16.2%	18	2.9%	51.0%
Weaver	116	18.4%	75	11.9%	41	6.5%	52.0%
Faceless Void	115	18.3%	56	8.9%	59	9.4%	51.8%
Slark	114	18.1%	47	7.5%	67	10.7%	36.2%
Kunkka	114	18.1%	61	9.7%	53	8.4%	47.5%
Gyrocopter	111	17.7%	76	12.1%	35	5.6%	47.4%
Winter Wyvern	107	17.0%	66	10.5%	41	6.5%	43.9%
Shadow Fiend	103	16.4%	53	8.4%	50	8.0%	41.5%
Razor	102	16.2%	37	5.9%	65	10.3%	48.7%
Terrorblade	96	15.3%	52	8.3%	44	7.0%	53.9%
Huskar	93	14.8%	21	3.3%	72	11.5%	42.9%
Wraith King	90	14.3%	58	9.2%	32	5.1%	37.9%
Meepo	89	14.2%	15	2.4%	74	11.8%	66.7%
Necrophos	89	14.2%	51	8.1%	38	6.0%	54.9%
Outworld Devourer	85	13.5%	33	5.3%	52	8.3%	36.4%
Lina	81	12.9%	50	8.0%	31	4.9%	54.0%
Underlord	79	12.6%	54	8.6%	25	4.0%	46.3%
Io	79	12.6%	21	3.3%	58	9.2%	66.7%
Axe	77	12.2%	48	7.6%	29	4.6%	39.6%
Invoker	74	11.8%	37	5.9%	37	5.9%	56.8%
Dark Seer	67	10.7%	32	5.1%	35	5.6%	40.6%
Ogre Magi	59	9.4%	56	8.9%	3	0.5%	37.5%
Ursa	59	9.4%	37	5.9%	22	3.5%	59.5%
Juggernaut	58	9.2%	27	4.3%	31	4.9%	51.9%
Enchantress	57	9.1%	24	3.8%	33	5.3%	41.7%
Earth Spirit	55	8.7%	46	7.3%	9	1.4%	37.0%
Anti-Mage	55	8.7%	24	3.8%	31	4.9%	70.8%
Bounty Hunter	53	8.4%	24	3.8%	29	4.6%	41.7%
Disruptor	51	8.1%	43	6.8%	8	1.3%	55.8%
Abaddon	50	8.0%	32	5.1%	18	2.9%	43.8%
Leshrac	50	8.0%	29	4.6%	21	3.3%	58.6%
Medusa	44	7.0%	21	3.3%	23	3.7%	38.1%
Spectre	40	6.4%	28	4.5%	12	1.9%	42.9%
Lifestealer	38	6.0%	21	3.3%	17	2.7%	66.7%
Vengeful Spirit	38	6.0%	36	5.7%	2	0.3%	38.9%
Broodmother	37	5.9%	5	0.8%	32	5.1%	60.0%
Tidehunter	37	5.9%	33	5.3%	4	0.6%	51.5%
Undying	36	5.7%	23	3.7%	13	2.1%	52.2%
Brewmaster	36	5.7%	29	4.6%	7	1.1%	37.9%
Witch Doctor	34	5.4%	32	5.1%	2	0.3%	31.3%

In tier 4 and 5 we find all the situational heroes. They are strong when paired with others, or against specific lineups. These heroes aren't bad, they just don't work in every game, so the pick and ban rates aren't outstanding.

Tier 5

Name	P+B	P+B%	Picks	Picks%	Bans	Bans%	Win%
Tiny	31	4.9%	22	3.5%	9	1.4%	36.4%
Silencer	30	4.8%	19	3.0%	11	1.8%	63.2%
Phantom Assassin	29	4.6%	23	3.7%	6	1.0%	43.5%
Enigma	29	4.6%	26	4.1%	3	0.5%	50.0%
Treant Protector	27	4.3%	20	3.2%	7	1.1%	55.0%
Jakiro	27	4.3%	24	3.8%	3	0.5%	37.5%
Slardar	25	4.0%	15	2.4%	10	1.6%	66.7%
Omniknight	24	3.8%	13	2.1%	11	1.8%	15.4%
Bane	23	3.7%	21	3.3%	2	0.3%	42.9%
Techies	22	3.5%	6	1.0%	16	2.5%	66.7%
Lone Druid	22	3.5%	9	1.4%	13	2.1%	55.6%
Magnus	21	3.3%	11	1.8%	10	1.6%	45.5%
Crystal Maiden	21	3.3%	20	3.2%	1	0.2%	45.0%
Skywrath Mage	20	3.2%	19	3.0%	1	0.2%	57.9%
Dark Willow	19	3.0%	16	2.5%	3	0.5%	43.8%
Venomancer	18	2.9%	14	2.2%	4	0.6%	42.9%
Shadow Shaman	18	2.9%	16	2.5%	2	0.3%	37.5%
Elder Titan	17	2.7%	13	2.1%	4	0.6%	69.2%
Sand King	17	2.7%	13	2.1%	4	0.6%	38.5%
Spirit Breaker	16	2.5%	14	2.2%	2	0.3%	57.1%
Bloodseeker	16	2.5%	9	1.4%	7	1.1%	22.2%
Viper	15	2.4%	4	0.6%	11	1.8%	75.0%
Doom	12	1.9%	12	1.9%	0	0.0%	16.7%
Arc Warden	11	1.8%	8	1.3%	3	0.5%	50.0%
Sniper	11	1.8%	10	1.6%	1	0.2%	50.0%
Lion	11	1.8%	11	1.8%	0	0.0%	36.4%
Windranger	10	1.6%	10	1.6%	0	0.0%	40.0%
Night Stalker	9	1.4%	8	1.3%	1	0.2%	25.0%
Luna	9	1.4%	8	1.3%	1	0.2%	25.0%
Sven	9	1.4%	7	1.1%	2	0.3%	42.9%
Drow Ranger	6	1.0%	6	1.0%	0	0.0%	16.7%
Chaos Knight	5	0.8%	4	0.6%	1	0.2%	50.0%
Clinkz	5	0.8%	4	0.6%	1	0.2%	25.0%
Zeus	4	0.6%	4	0.6%	0	0.0%	50.0%
Pudge	4	0.6%	3	0.5%	1	0.2%	33.3%
Warlock	3	0.5%	3	0.5%	0	0.0%	0.0%
Visage	2	0.3%	2	0.3%	0	0.0%	50.0%
Tinker	2	0.3%	2	0.3%	0	0.0%	50.0%

Heroes not drafted

All heroes were picked or banned!

Next Tier List: May 2020

Header image (Fatal Blossom Loading Screen for Death Prophet) and hero icons: Valve - Statistics: DatDota