Which Hero to Start With

Arthur

Fighter / TankEasy

Arthur uses no mana and regenerates health every two seconds, so he can simply stay in lane. Losing a trade is recoverable by waiting for the regen, which means the game does not fall apart while you are still learning when to back off. His third skill is targeted — it cannot miss — and deals 16% of the target's maximum health, so it stays relevant against tanks.

Know going in — Ranged heroes can kite him down before he closes the gap, and with no shield or immunity, healing is his only answer to focus fire.

Bai Qi

TankEasy

His first skill fires automatically when he takes damage, so he starts doing his job without any input from you. The area taunt scales with bonus health up to 2.5s, long enough to swallow an entire enemy combo. He is designed to get tougher the deeper into the fight he stands, which teaches the frontline role well.

Know going in — Early on he has little bonus health, so the taunt lasts only about a second — diving towers before that scales tends to backfire.

Hou Yi

MarksmanEasy

Landing basic attacks alone builds him into an empowered state that fires three arrows at once. Nothing needs to be aimed or timed, so your attention can go to positioning instead. His second skill grants vision at range, which makes checking bushes safe. At 2.94% he is also the most-picked marksman in the game.

Know going in — He has no movement skill at all. If someone reaches him he cannot escape on his own, so Flash has to be saved for that.

Di Renjie

MarksmanEasy

His second skill grants invulnerability and clears debuffs, so reacting after you notice the danger is often still fast enough. It hands you a personal answer to the marksman's core problem — dying the instant you are caught. Attacking also ramps his attack and movement speed, so kiting becomes natural.

Know going in — He also has no way through terrain, and missing his third skill costs both the crowd control and the defense shred.

Zilong

FighterNormal

His damage reduction rises as his health falls, so he survives dives that were misjudged. Missing his third skill still refunds half the cooldown, which means you can afford to test ganks aggressively. His 53.40% win rate is the highest of any hero on this page.

Know going in — At full health that reduction is thin, and heavy burst can remove him before it ever ramps.

Dian Wei

FighterNormal

He clears the jungle quickly and tends to lead on levels, so even ganks that go nowhere do not leave you behind. When his second skill connects, his attack speed goes up 200% and lifesteal keeps him healthy through a straight fight.

Know going in — Missing that second skill halves the payoff, and with few gap closers he is helpless against kiting.

Daji

MageNormal

Her second skill is a targeted stun that cannot miss, so once the combo order is memorised the damage is repeatable. It pairs with her magic-defense-shredding passive to give her the sharpest single-target burst in the game. One ambush out of a bush can settle a fight before it starts.

Know going in — Her fox fires land randomly, making her poor at multi-target fights and wave clear. With no movement skill, the long cooldown after a full combo leaves her helpless.

Xiao Qiao

MageEasy

Her first skill out-ranges and out-damages most laners, and every hit speeds her up, so while you keep connecting you are hard to catch. Her second skill knocks up quickly enough to work as both an opener and an escape. A straightforward kit for learning what a mage actually does.

Know going in — She has no blink, so a targeted stun leaves her nowhere to go, and her first skill loses power through minions.

Cai Yan

SupportNormal

Her third skill automatically heals whichever ally in range is lowest, so there is no target to pick in the middle of a chaotic fight. Her bouncing stun hits more the tighter the enemy clumps, which makes her strong at breaking up tower dives.

Know going in — She has almost no damage of her own, so she needs teammates who can convert. Anti-heal cuts her value roughly in half.

Liu Shan

SupportNormal

He chains a knock-up into a stun by himself, so the crowd control lands without waiting on anyone else. His first skill gives a shield and a speed boost for stepping into a fight safely, and hitting structures heals him, which teaches how to actually close out towers.

Know going in — Every one of his skills is short range. Kited, he cannot touch anyone, and his own damage is modest.