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Dota Underlords builds: the best comps to win matches (August, 2019)

Looking for the best team compositions and builds in Dota Underlords? Here are the strongest combos around

best dota underlords builds

The best Dota Underlords builds will help you get wins in Valve’s official autobattler by combining the game’s core mechanics: the strongest heroes from the most powerful and versatile alliance synergies. The best players will never aim to create one specific Dota Underlords build as the game’s RNG means you have to be flexible to be efficient. However, knowing a few powerful Dota Underlords comps means you can react to the heroes and items the game puts in front of you switch builds accordingly.

There are already heaps of viable Dota Underlords builds and comps, so finding one that suits your playing style or counters a comp that you’re having particular difficulties against is easy. As Underlords is still in Early Access, you can also expect the meta to shift around weekly as patches and Dota Underlords updates rebalance heroes and alliances, so there’s no one build to rule them all.

To help you decide how best to set up your Dota Underlords comps we’ve put together this handy list of builds covering some of the most powerful, popular, and achievable builds. You’ll still need to be smart with your Dota Underlords gold and know when and how to upgrade units, but these are a great first step towards victory.

Dota Underlords builds

These are our pick of the best Dota Underlords builds around:

Dota Underlords Knight-Dragon build

Heroes

  • Omniknight
  • Viper
  • Abaddon
  • Dragon Knight (x2)
  • Luna
  • Lich
  • Chaos Knight
  • Batrider
  • Witch Doctor

Alliances

  • 6x Knight
  • 2x Dragon
  • 1x Demon
  • 2x Human
  • 2x Heartless

items

  • Vanguard
  • Bracers of Desperation
  • Pipe of Insight
  • Scythe of Vyse

With the release of the August Head to Head update for Dota Underlords a new meta has cropped up – Knights are still boss, but now the Dragon alliance is as well. Dota Underlords builds like this one make the most of this powerful combination by maxing out both alliances and pairing in a few key items.

You’ll want to start by saving up for a lose streak around level four or five, using the new free roll mechanic to start building up to as many two-star Knight units as possible while maintaining a decent economy. You can play any cheap early game alliance at the start of the game to mitigate losing too much health while you’re building your comp. However, you’ll want to keep an eye out for Batriders and Chaos Knights, which you’ll see much more often at this stage in the game.

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As you enter mid-game you want to have the 4x Knight alliance bonus active and as many two-star units as possible. The next phase of the game is about building to level 8, which is when you’ll want to start rolling to fill out your roster and start working towards a three-start Luna or Chaos Knight. You’ll also want an economy of roughly 50 gold between rounds 15 and 25, allowing you to hammer re-rolls once you’re happy with your build.

The late game is all about re-rolling based on where you’re health is at – if you’re really low you need to go all in and hope to get your first three-star unit, but if you’re at around half health you can be a bit more conservative with your spending. Positioning is also important now as those three-star units and their whopping health pools are key to your success. You’ll want an Assassin or Dragon in the far corner to distract any AoE or stun spells, while surrounding your Luna and Lich with plenty of tanky Knight units.

Dota Underlords Knight-Mage Build

Heroes

  • Abaddon
  • Omniknight
  • Batrider
  • Chaos Knight
  • Dragon Knight
  • Lina/Keeper of the Light
  • Luna
  • Crystal Maiden
  • Puck

Alliances

  • 6x Knight
  • 4x Human
  • 3x Mage
  • 2x Dragon
  • 1x Demon

Items

  • Refresher Orb
  • Scythe of Vyse
  • Octarine Essence
  • Vanguard

Simple and effective, this build makes use of a lot of powerful synergies without placing too much emphasis on getting any particular hero up to three-star. As both Knight and Mage alliances struggle early on you’ll want to go for a loss streak and use the free re-rolls to build your economy and roster slowly as you approach rounds 15-20. In the meantime, any cheap and ineffective board will suffice, so long as it stops your from losing too much health each battle.

At mid-game you should be able to get hold of a two-star Lina, Puck, and Crystal Maiden, while also having a decent start on your 6x Knight bonus. Provided you haven’t lost too much health getting to this stage, you can start conservatively spending your gold to start fleshing out those alliance bonuses. The neat thing about this build is that most of the heroes you need are in tiers two and three, but you can easily flex out to some tier four heroes by trading Lina for Keeper of the Light, or by adding a Lich as your tenth hero.

As you approach the later stages of the game you need all of your heroes at two-star, and as many at three-star as possible. In terms of positioning, cluster all of your heroes in a corner and rely on your Human alliance bonus to silence the majority of the enemy’s comp.

Knight comp in dota underlords

Dota Underlords Knight-Hunter build

Heroes

  • Medusa
  • Drow Ranger
  • Tidehunter
  • Luna
  • Chaos Knight
  • Omniknight
  • Dragon Knight
  • Abbaddon
  • Batrider
  • Troll Warlord

Alliances

  • 6x Knight
  • 1x Demon
  • 2x Human
  • 3x Hunter
  • 2x Scaled
  • 2x Troll
  • 2x Heartless

Items

  • Pipe of Insight
  • Vanguard
  • Force Staff
  • Eye of Skadi

The alliance spread of this Dota Underlords build unlocks an impressive nine alliance bonuses, including a maxed out rank for Knight, which halves all physical and magic damage provided your Knight is one cell away from another Knight. The three Hunter heroes and two Troll heroes will help with your DPS, making this a strong and versatile build capable of taking plenty of punishment.

As for the hero picks, Tidehunter is a key addition as it will help you unlock the Scaled bonus, reducing magic damage even further – Tidehunter’s ability is also superb for crowd control. Troll Warlord and Medusa are key to pumping out plenty of damage while your stack of six Knights aggro the entire enemy team.

Dota Underlords Warrior-Assassin build

Heroes

  • Tiny
  • Juggernaut
  • Axe
  • Slardar
  • Tusk
  • Lycan
  • Doom
  • Slark
  • Morphling
  • Bloodseeker

Alliances

  • 2x Brawny
  • 2x Savage
  • 1x Demon
  • 6x Warrior
  • 2x Scaled
  • 2x Primordial
  • 3x Assassin
  • 2x Human

Items

  • Blink Dagger
  • Pipe of Insight
  • Vanguard
  • Black King Bar
  • Dagon

This Dota Underlords build mixes DPS and defence making it versatile and effective against pretty much any comp, especially with the magic resistance bonus from Scaled, too. There are some changes you can make depending on your preferred heroes, such as subbing in Sand King or Templar Assassin for Bloodseeker, so there’s some flexibility when it comes to building your crew.

Place your Assassins in a clump at the back so they immediately teleport and start shredding through the enemy’s backline. Meanwhile, your several Warriors are up front soaking up damage and aggro, plus dishing some back thanks to the slight Savage alliance bonus.

Dota Underlords Hunter build

Heroes

  • Wind Ranger
  • Drow Ranger
  • Medusa
  • Tidehunter
  • Sniper
  • Mirana
  • Doom
  • Tusk
  • Tiny
  • Phantom Assassin

Alliances

  • 6x Hunter
  • 3x Elusive
  • 3x Warrior
  • 2x Scaled
  • 1x Demon

Items

  • Mekansm
  • Black King Bar
  • Vanguard

This Dota Underlords build offers a versatile blend of offensive and defensive potential, with the full Hunter Alliance bonus giving you plenty of burst damage, while Scaled, Elusive, and Warrior keep everyone safe during the initial damage.

Some of these units will not be easy to recruit, and you’ll need a degree of luck to level them up, too. Early on you’ll want to take a losing streak, build your economy and pretty much only spend to upgrade your 1-cost units.

Read more Underlords guides:

The final piece of the puzzle is the Phantom Assassin, which you can sub out for any unit with an Elusive, Primordial, Heartless, Deadeye, or Savage.

And there you have it, some of our most successful Dota Underlord builds to help you on your way to the highest ranks. Bear in mind that balance patches are rolling out regularly for Underlords, leading to a highly volatile meta. These builds aren’t exempt from that, but are very flexible, so you should have no issues climbing the Dota Underlords ranks using these.