When picking up items for your heroes in Dota Underlords, it is probably better to focus on the defensive ones. Fortunately, there are many great defensive items in the game that will most likely find their way into all your match-ups.
However, if you want to win consistently, you need to balance your defense strategy with solid attack power.
Below you will find a top-tier list of both defensive and offensive items that will get you the most wins. Don’t be surprised that most of these are higher in level!
Shiva’s Guard
- Type: Defensive
- Effect: +10 Armor. Emits a freezing wave that deals 250 damage to enemies within 3 cells and slows their movement and attack speed for 4s
If you want to effectively deal with any type of units, while you’re playing with either Inventor or Knight units, then Shiva’s Guard is the item you will need the most.
The damage is really great here, but the movement and attack speed reduction is absolutely essential. This is especially important before enemy units get the chance to attack, as in this case, the speed reduction basically works like a stun mechanic.
Heart of Tarrasque
- Type: Defensive
- Effect: +1000 Health. Regenerate 2% of Max Health every 1s
Items that add health are crucial for tank units, but items that regenerate health constantly are even more important. Heart of Tarrasque does both of those things.
For example, if you have a hero with 5,000 HP and give it this item, it’ll have 6,000 HP and regenerate 120 HP every second.
That is simply huge for anyone who is interested in keeping their characters alive for a long time.
Expanded Roster
- Type: Global
- Effect: +1 Unit cap
Just like the flair text mentions, this item is simply unfair. When you get to level 10 and you have Expanded Roster, it means that you can play one extra unit, which will bring your total to 11 units.
This is incredibly valuable even though this is quite the high level item (check that 5). It’s worth the effort though and it guarantees a tremendous power spike when you really need it.
Assault Cuirass
- Type: Defensive
- Effect: Equipped hero and adjacent allies have +15 Attack Speed and +10 Armor. Adjacent enemies have -15 Attack Speed and -10 Armor.
This is probably one of the most versatile items in Dota 2, and further here in Dota Underlords.
It has everything that you need: attack buff, armor buff, ally buff, and enemy nerfs.
Assault Cuirass is an incredible item that will fit the front units as well as back units. You can also swap the item during the match-up as you see fit.
Vanguard
- Type: Defensive
- Effect: +250 Health. 50% chance to block 70 damage when attacked
This is a perfect defensive item for any tank character, such as Alchemist, Pudge, or Doom.
The ability to block damage is huge, since it can prevent the enemy unit from gaining mana and cast a successive spell. So there is a double effect in play here.
The +250 HP is also great, but since tanks already have a lot of health, it’s not as important as the blocking ability.
Skull Basher
- Type: Offensive
- Effect: +25 Attack Damage. 25% chance to stun targets for 1.5s
Hunters are so overpowered right now that players who choose heroes like Wind Ranger, Mirana, and Sniper simply ought to play with Skull Basher.
The damage will do the trick in any match-up, but the stun ability will prove great against enemy Hunter units and Assassins alike.
In this meta this is definitely one of the best offensive items you can get.
Divine Rapier
- Type: Offensive
- Effect: +330 Attack Damage. If Divine Rapier is in combat and you lose the round to another player, they get the Divine Rapier.
Just like in Dota 2, Divine Rapier is a risky but powerful item. A very tricky choice, but extremely powerful nonetheless.
This one should be used in match-ups that you know you can win, but still need that extra power boost to ensure victory.
The attack damage buff is so high and so tempting that many players may find themselves using it inappropriately. This is another item best suited to Hunters, especially if you have them stacked for their potential multi-attacks. Just be mindful with this one!
Battle Fury
- Type: Offensive
- Effect: Melee attacks cleave 30% damage to nearby units
The more damage you hero deals, the more cleave damage Battle Fury will distribute to nearby enemies. That is why this item fits such heroes like Doom, Slardar, and Juggernaut, and (of course) Axe.
If your lineup is almost all ranged and your tanks are equipped with critical items, Battle Fury isn’t quite as valuable as it would be in other circumstances. However, if you’ve got someone melee who needs an equip, Battle Fury should be your go-to.
Radiance
- Type: Offensive
- Effect: Burns enemies up to 2 cells away for 60 damage per second
If you want to turn your tank unit into a DPS unit, then Radiance is a great way to do so.
This item is especially effective against enemies that tend to circle around a certain unit, which often is one of your tanks that has a huge health pool.
There are some other ways you can use Radiance, such as on an Assassin in an Assassin stack or an Anti-mage or other Evasion hero, just be careful who you put this on so they don’t go out into battle and die right away before Radiance can do its thing.
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These were some of the best items you can get in Dota Underlords. If you’ve been looking for the best heroes list, then check out this guide instead.
