Analysis / MOBA Character Theme Archetypes

Character Theme

This deals with more the thematic feel of the character, as opposed to the 'gameplay feel', this leans more into the 'aesthetic feels' of the character, one that can attract players to the characters before they start learning how to play the character. And with each archetype, there's also several set of traits that define the archetype, but doesn't always have to adhere to the strict gameplay/skillset archetype.

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Fantastic Creatures

One of the bigger appeals to MOBA is that you don't always play as humans, but also varying fantastic creatures or beasts you find in other stories, which comes in many flavors and invocations of creatures. Of course, some of them also had humanoid forms, but it's the fantasy element that is more highlighted here.

The Medusa
Slithery snakey lady based on the mythological figure herself. Tends to have a petrification eye for their Ultimates.
Medusa	Cassiopeia	Medusa	N/A
N/A* Despite having a snake lower half of the body, Donghuang Taiyi does not take after the legend of Medusa, he's based on the Chinese Mythology where Snake People is sometimes the form taken by respected deities. He also lacks the petrification eyes power, as he only has a normal (long) surpression which does not use glares. And while Zhong Wuyan has petrification powers, she's not a Snake People nor does she glare people into stone.	N/A	N/A	N/A
N/A * (although Midas has an alternate skin Medusa Midas that turns him into one)	N/A	N/A	N/A

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The Spider Queen
There's always those scary Giant Spider found on the MOBA. If they are not being The Poisoner, they are probably utilizing their webs to various effects. Spawning mini spiders are also a staple of their abilities too. Like the name indicates, they're Always Female.
Broodmother	Elise	Arachne	Neithis (announcer of the Tomb of Spider Queen)
N/A	N/A	N/A * Don't put Spider-Man here, even if he'd be The One Guy, his skillset only consist of webbing, no poisons, no spawning broodlings.	N/A
Arachna	Qi'Tara* She's a praying mantis instead of a spider, but the concept remains	N/A	N/A

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The Dragon Hero
Because dragons are inherently awesome, there are naturally playable characters that are associated with dragons: Either they are inherently dragons, or they are Weredragons: They look human, but they have temporary access to their draconic form in an Ultimate, which gives them access to different skillset during that phase. The literal dragon examples tend to be lore-wise one of the most powerful beings to embrace the setting, but they're just as killable as the rest, gotta follow the rules of MOBA gameplay fairness.
Weredragon examples
Dragon Knight	Shyvana	Ao Kuang* He starts out humanoid, but turns into a dragon only if his Ultimate kills his target... for cosmetics only. Fafnir	Alexstrasza Chromie * She's a dragon in lore, but she never actually becomes a dragon in-game, preferring to remain shapeshifted as a gnome
N/A	Yu Zhong	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Literal dragon examples
Jakiro Winter Wyvern	Aurelion Sol	Tiamat	Deathwing
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Draconis	Nibbs	N/A	N/A
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES
N/A	N/A	Drogoz	N/A

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The Wolf Hero
Savage Wolves. Brutal hunters that pounce their prey with unprecedented savagery. And we've got stories such as the Werewolf. And that translates into a cool hero concept, the hounds of war that will hunt down heroes with impunity. Takes form in either actual wolves (or Wolf Man) or a werewolf, the latter will usually be accompanied with the ability to switch between human form and wolf form.
Literal wolves examples
N/A	Warwick* A Wolf Man / werewolf stuck in wolf mode forever, can't change back to human. Naafiri	Fenrir	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Gemini	N/A	Fortress	N/A
Fenrir
Werewolf/Shapeshifter examples
Lycan	N/A	N/A	Greymane Rehgar
N/A	Roger	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Fenmore* (commands spirit wolves, large number of wolf motifs otherwise (including being the enemy of a Red Riding Hood-themed character.)

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The Bear Hero
Wanna know how to make your laning phase worse? Spot a bear suddenly chasing you and trying to maul you. Bears are one of the most popular animals to feature in a MOBA (aside from dragons and wolves) largely due to their ferocity and deadliness and their size, they're almost always a bruiser type. Like the two above, these are either those who shapeshift into a bear, already being a bear, or sometimes crosses over with the One True Pet Master and has a bear for a pet. Always remember, when traversing the lanes, never trust a... BEAR (Pandas do not count as they are less ferocious and often more technical)
Ursa (already bear) Lone Druid (shapeshift to bear, bear pet)	Volibear (already bear)	Artio (shapeshift to bear)	Rexxar (bear pet)
Ah Gu Duo ((very fluffy) bear pet)	Masha* An unique example that she's fully human, but emulates the attitude of a full-on bear, and invoking bear imageries a lot.	N/A	N/A
Wildsoul	N/A	N/A	N/A

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The Minotaur
The minotaur is the most frequent mythical creature to become a popular recurring type of hero featured in MOBA games. They're often featured with a way they could bull-rush forward, preferably with their horns on, as well as mostly geared for being tanky disruptors.
Spirit Breaker Elder Titan* In the past, he used the Tauren Chieftain model and was literally a famed Tauren from Warcraft lore, Cairne Bloodhoof. He got redesigned in Dota 2, but the bull horn and motif remained.	Alistar	N/A	E.T.C
Toro Niu Mo	Minotaur	N/A	N/A
N/A	Deadlift	N/A	N/A

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The Burrowing Terror
A hero whose trait is that they are non-human creatures, either a giant burrowing insect, arthropods or serpentine (usually worms, but snakes are fair game) and they channel the power of Earth to burrow themselves to the ground, mostly dash forward and anyone that gets in the way of their burrow dash gets popped to the sky and then landing stunned. Of course, burrowing attacks aren't the whole sum of their powers...
Sand King Nyx Assassin (with Aghanim's Scepter)	Rek'Sai	Jormungandr	Anub'arak Dehaka
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Geomancer Tremble	N/A	N/A	N/A

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The Scorpion Stinger
Arthropodic heroes that takes form of one of the feared arthropods aside of Spiders, and also fairer in gender: scorpion. Not always a Burrowing Terror like above, but there's something about their tail that they'll utilize to either sting you with poison or something else. Like the Wolf Hero, they can range between a literal Scorpion or Scorpion People.
Sand King	Skarner	Serqet	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

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The Rock Monster
Giant monoliths that can break down anything in its path. They are giant rock that are slow but can deal devastating damage, or being sturdy enough to take a lot of punishment. They can kind of count as the Earth part for the Elemental Heroes. (See below)
Tiny Earth Spirit	Malphite	Geb	N/A
Lumburr Dun Shan	Grock	N/A	N/A
Pebbles	N/A	N/A	N/A
Desecrator* More of a walking graveyard/mausoleum, but is still a tank with a rock monster-esque aesthetic.
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES
N/A	N/A	Terminus* He's part of (or used to be) the Stagalla, golem-like creatures. In other words, he's an axe-wielding zombie golem.	N/A

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The Monkey King
A character who is based on the monkey king, Sun Wukong, or sometimes literally is the very Monkey King himself. They often have a skill that leaves behind a decoy, overlapping with The Illusionist archetype.
Monkey King	Wukong	Sun Wukong	N/A , but Samuro has a Monkey King skin.
Sun Wukong Sun Wukong	Sun	N/A	N/A
Monkey King	N/A , but Skree has a Skree Wukong skin	Ozo	Sun Wukong
Gokong
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES
N/A	N/A	Talus* While not very obvious unlike the rest, Talus, as a Ska'drin, has monkey-ish attributes around him. He is very mischievous, based on a Stock Shōnen Hero which was codified by one of the most famous examples of the Monkey King Lite, and he dabbles in Confusion Fu, teleporting here and there to catch his enemies off guard. He also has a skin based on Wukong himself.	N/A

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The Giant Insect
Heroes that are the personification if an insect gets enlarged to giant-sized to bring terror to you. A beetle is the most common forms, but sometimes there are also other kinds of insects, like mantises. Their styles may vary, from being powerful tanks or even squishy but deadly assassins. Either way... you're gonna need a bigger swatter.
Nyx Assassin	Kha'Zix	Khepri	Anub'arak
Kriknak	Zhask	N/A	N/A
Pestilence Tremble	N/A	N/A	N/A
Blue Beetle Dibs* Has a beetle motif and develops spectral wings during his ultimate; otherwise a support. Flin and Sgt. Buttersworth* Small creature of Dibs' species riding a giant beetle

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The Centaur
Half horse, half men heroes. Because of their hooved lower body, you can expect that they have pretty good movement speed. For the most part they would be tanks, but there are some who are instead nimble ranged attackers.
Centaur Warrunner Enchantress Leshrac Magnus* His 'human half' is actually an anthropomorphic rhinoceros, but otherwise fits the bill.	Hecarim Lillia	Chiron	Lunara
Baldum Peura	Hylos	N/A	N/A
Emerald Warden	N/A	N/A	N/A
Lillin
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES
N/A	N/A	N/A	Orisa

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The Double-Headed
For some reason, having one head is not enough. These heroes happen to have two heads, sometimes with distinct personalities for each heads. Their heads can be used to either argue at each other, or just give a booming presence overall. As extra flavour, their skills will sometimes incorporate two motifs. If one wants to go to the next level, one can always go for Triple-Headed: Instead of two heads... have three heads instead.
Jakiro Ogre Magi	N/A	Agni Cerberus	Cho'Gall* The straightest example possible. He has two distinct move sets and is controlled by two players
TeeMee* Basically two critter siblings riding a knight armor	N/A	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES
N/A	N/A	Moji* While the character herself has one head, the mount that she fights with has two.	N/A

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The Vampire, Sort Of...
This is a hero who specializes in drinking blood, using bat imagery, and casting shadow or blood magic. In short, they're themed around vampires, although for whatever reason they're rarely called as such. If they're humanoid, a Badass Cape is almost given. Otherwise, they sport literal (bat) wings. Given their theme, these guys almost always sustain themselves with Life Drain. And the funny thing is that if there's a lore going on within the game, the lore always makes sure that they just emulate vampires on a surface rather than being literal vampires. Their actual species (or job) tend to range between normal demons, 'blood demons' (a subset of demon that uses blood), hemomancer, giant bats, or the likes, just as long as they don't use the V-being.
Night Stalker	Vladimir	Camazotz	Mal'Ganis
Kaine	Cecilion Carmilla	N/A	N/A
Dampeer	Ayla	N/A	N/A
Viyana

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Celestial Angel
As the name stated, these heroes model themselves as Angels. Humanoid people with wings in varying forms (that does mostly nothing, see Aerial Combatant in the other page), sometimes with a halo above, and predominantly using the power of light. Or just evoking the image. These angels still stayed on the good side of heaven. However, Fallen Angel also occasionally pop in, although they often do not have any glaring difference than their upright counterparts, except they've fallen from grace. Unless they are already fallen, Light Is Good is in full effect here, these Angels are always trustworthy forces of good, though some may get a bit too zealous. Occasionally.
Normal Angel examples
Skywrath Mage	Kayle	Nike	Tyrael Auriel Imperius
Lauriel Xeniel	Rafaela	Angel* Technically not an actual angel, but he's a mutant who's given an angel-like appearance and power	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES
N/A	N/A	Furia Azaan	Mercy
Fallen Angel examples
Vengeful Spirit* Though not stated otherwise, Vengeful Spirit used to belong to the 'angelic' race Skywrath Mage belonged to, until she got tricked, her wings torn down	Morgana	N/A	Malthael
N/A	Argus	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

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Infernal Devils
The opposite of the Celestial Angels, naturally. These heroes are modeled after the Devils of Hell. One look and you can definitely state, "This guy looks like Satan.", usually with their horns and sometimes wings. Despite so, they tend to be more creative in their power usage, they don't always use the power of darkness. Being big and using infernal red color scheme are also oft-used themes.
Doom	Aatrox	Chernobog Surtr* While he is actually a giant/Jotnar, he's often depicted as some sort of Satanic creature in Christianity-hijacked stories. His horns and infernal theme also match the qualities of this archetype	Diablo Mephisto Mal'Ganis* He's vampire-themed but he's a demon nonetheless The Butcher
Maloch	Thamuz	N/A	N/A
Apex	N/A	N/A	N/A
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES
N/A	N/A	Raum	N/A

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Horny Succubus
A pseudo-Distaff Counterpart of the Infernal Devils, these are the seductive she-devils that don't wear much and their job is to show that evil can be sexy, so sexy it kills. They take upon the classic succubus form: An Always Female promiscuous sex bomb with bat wings who often literally sucks the soul of the people. Often comes with a way to mesmerize their enemies with a kiss (and they don't even have to get up close too).
Queen of Pain	Evelynn	N/A	N/A
Veera	Alice	N/A	N/A
Succubus	N/A	N/A	N/A
Kindra
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES
N/A	N/A	Lillith	N/A

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Sleeping With Fish and Merfolks
Sometimes doubling on the Sea Masters, these creatures are sometimes the reason you wouldn't like the body of water. Either they summon it, or they're at home with that because they're based on one of the most common creature in the water: Fishes. Bipedal Fish People or Mermaid-like people that lurk in the water (they either float or slither like the Medusas), if they're not dousing water to you, they're using their body parts or elements of the sea, sometimes up to and including sharks. Note that size may vary, they can range from small, dodgy fish-like people into gigantic fishes (Sharks are rarely used, however).
Bipedal Fish examples
Tidehunter Slark	Fizz Tahm Kench	N/A	Murky
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
N/A	Vinnie & Spike Admiral Swiggins	N/A	N/A
Merfolk examples
Slardar Naga Siren	Nami	N/A	N/A
Kil'Groth Cresht	N/A	N/A	N/A
Myrmidon Riptide	N/A	N/A	N/A

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Chaos Faeries
The Fair Folk. Masters of making chaos and pranks that takes form on flying humans with small wings, and sometimes dimunitive nature. But sometimes, they take another form, with faerie motifs slapped around them. But if there's one thing is constant: They always keep their capricious nature capable of wreaking havocs. An almost always mage type hero/champions, be it for support or ability-based heroes, they carry their playful nature to always mess around with the heroes. Occasionally, Cute and Psycho apply too: Sometimes they get a little wee bit too eager to kill others in a bloody mess. After all, even in the original sources, faeries don't always equate good guys, they can be nasty.
Puck Dark Willow	Lulu* She herself is a Yordle, a non-faerie species, but she is accompanied with a honest to god Fae, Pix, her title is 'Fae Sorceress' (spent too much time in Fae realm to learn its magics), and her spells tend to be capricious in nature	Discordia* One rare Fairy Sexy example, she looked more adult than the rest, but the rest of the qualities still apply	Brightwing
Krixi* One of the few Token Good Teammate of the archetype, as she's a playful, but good hearted pixie instead of reveling on the chaos she makes Aileen	N/A	N/A	N/A
Nymphora	N/A	N/A	N/A
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES
N/A	N/A	Willo	N/A

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Cunning Fox Spirits
Ever since League of Legends, the term 'nine-tailed fox' gains a lot of popularity amongst MOBA. And so, many MOBA follow suit in putting up foxy ladies with sex appeal and fox tails, mostly multiple tails in one body, but sometimes they just stick with one tail (Because Kitsune originally wasn't putting too much focus on how many tails they had). They can be based from actual Japanese Kitsune, or the Korean version (Gumiho), or even the original Chinese version (Huli-Jing). One thing that's for sure is that these foxes are one of the more cunning heroes to play, they're never straightforward and there's some sort of trickery involved when facing these.
N/A	Ahri	Da Ji	N/A
Liliana Da Ji	Nana* Younger than most, and only had one tail. But generally, she also applies trickeries aplenty in her skills	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

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Primeval Brute Monster
The definition of these monsters can be many. But what we know is that these beasts possess great power... at the cost of vocabulary. Pick any speech-pattern that can be said to be lacking in eloquence, or they just can't speak at all, they just roar to put more emphasis in their monstrous nature (don't worry, they're not that kind of monster due to lack of maximum sentience). Some walk in all four, but some can stand on two feet. Their strength is unquestionable, though. More often than not, they have an ability to rip away the ground into a boulder and toss it to the enemy, just as one of the showing of strength.
Primal Beast	Gnar	N/A	The Butcher
N/A	N/A	Hulknote He does look more humanoid than the rest, but he's on his more brutish Savage Hulk personality that popularized the trope Hulk Speak, and he also throws giant rocks as his skill.	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

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Mummies With Wraps
If the game's lore has a desert and perhaps human civilization existed there (even better if it's based on Egypt), the best way to represent it is to have the popular undead creature there. Not just zombies... mummies. The way to differentiate them is their Mummy Wrap: They mostly always find a way to make use of it and ensure that it's just not for show. Even if there may be other characters who somehow weaponizes Mummy Wrap, to fit with this, they have to be also mummies or have designs of it (bonus points if they come from Egypt or its Fantasy Counterpart Culture).
N/A	Amumu	Osiris	N/A
N/A	Khufra	N/A	N/A
Pharaoh	N/A	N/A	N/A

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Weapon Masters

Occasionally, a few weapons get repeated a lot and certain archetypes can be found within those who wield certain weapons. ^* (This is not about merely 'This Hero/Champion wields a certain weapon', they need to have another element shared together with their weapon)

The Blademaster
A master swordsman who fights with just their blades, and maybe some willpower. Usually the blade will be Oriental/Eastern style, katana is the most common. They have great focus in their sword play that has emphasis on accuracy, so if they're carries, they will benefit from auto attack-boosting items - especially ones that grant better critical strikes.
Juggernaut Ember Spirit	Master Yi Yasuo Yone	Susano	Samuro Genji
Tachi Ryoma* Has the element of the trope and the oriental looks, but uses a different type of blade from the same region: Naginata Miyamoto Musashi Ukyo Tachibana	Ling* Based on Chinese Wuxia swordsmanship than Japanese Samurai	N/A	N/A
Swiftblade	N/A	Kensei	N/A
Katana
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES
N/A	N/A	Zhin	N/A

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The BFS Knights & Kings
A Foil of The Blademaster above, more likely to be Unskilled, but Strong with their BFS unlike The Blademaster's focus on skill, though they may compensate with some minor magic. If the Blademaster has Eastern style, then the BFS Knight would be something of a Western knight. They tend to have a knightly personality to them, though morality is another story. Occasionally can also overlap with Kings, where their personalities became more of royalty but still nonetheless geared to knighthood, and occasionally treats their sword like a One-Handed Zweihänder as a form of Rank Scales with Asskicking. Some of them form their own archetype in terms of being an undead or having a ghastly outlook. They are more likely to be a close range Bruiser or Tank, with swords as big as theirs, it looks more imperative to help their puny allies when they can.
BFS Knights
Sven	Garen Riven* her sword was broken, and it takes an ultimate to reshape it to a real BFS	Tyr	Tyrael
Arthur Astrid Xiahou Dun Li Xin	Alucard	Heimdall	N/A
Kane	The Scoop of Justice	N/A	N/A
Voluc* Undead with a good deal of magic, but maintains the noble personality and BFS.
BFS Kings
Wraith King	Tryndamere Viego	King Arthur	Arthas Varian (with Colossus Smash)
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

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Gallant Dueling Fencers
The rapier, the sword especially made for fencing and stabbing. If this gets into a MOBA, then you can expect them to be one who overfocuses on skill and gallantly dashing around the battlefield, zipping to spot your weak point and poke it repeatedly with its pointy end. They tend to be great duelists that meeting them alone has a high chance to spell death on you, but when surrounded in a team fight, their effectiveness MIGHT falter if they don't have any other options. Due to the air of grace and style for this style, you can expect some fabulous European elements in those who wield this. French may be the most common, but sometimes, Spanish count too.
Pangolier	Fiora	N/A	N/A
Florentino Charlotte	Lancelot	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

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The Shield Sentinel
Similar to the BFS Knight, only mostly done in a rather defensive tank manner. These knightly characters use both sword (though other weapons can apply) and shield... and yet their swords usually do nothing except for normal attacks (granted, with proper item, it can be just as deadly). However, their shield is one that must be watched out for, they often have the ability to bash their enemies, mostly stuns or disables. As stated, their toughness is usually more displayed than their brute strength, so the shield may be a symbol of that. Unlike the BFS Knight, they don't exactly eschew magic; most of their damage skills are usually magical in nature. There's also a variation where someone specs too much on their shield, preferring to wield nothing but their shield, resulting an even more potent Stone Wall.
Weapon + Shield examples
Dragon Knight Mars	Leona	Bellona* by default she looks more like a BFS Knight, but her shield stance makes her draw shield and be more defensive	Johanna* uses flail instead of sword Varian (with Taunt)
Thane Wonder Woman Arthur	Tigreal* Pre-rework, he's using sword and shield, but afterwards, he settled with a hammer, but the core style stayed intact	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Raina* Uses hammer instead of sword
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES
N/A	N/A	Fernando	Reinhardt
Pure Shield examples
N/A	Braum	Cabrakan	Olaf (Lost Vikings)
Lian Po	Baxia	Captain America* He's more offensive than the usual pure shielders though	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

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The Tanking Axe Brute
An axe signify a big, intimidating brute, and this genre showcase it by having someone who's big, wields a Big Frackin' Axe and possesses intimidating build, more likely taking the tank role to either soak up damage or control the area. A favored technique of those in this archetype include either a spin attack with their axe (usually just once) or a clean overhead strike with their axe, usually either to control an area, or straight up kill weakened enemies.
Axe	Darius	Chaac Xing Tian	Garrosh
Arduin	Balmond	Executioner	N/A
Legionnaire	N/A	N/A	N/A
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES
N/A	N/A	Terminus	N/A

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Frenzied Killer Axe
As a brother archetype of the Tanking Axe Brute, this is when someone decides that one axe is not enough and decides to wield two at once and for good measure, tend to also throw them around, making them more fit as an ADC. They also tend to possess a frenzy trait, one of their trades is that they either swing or throw their axes in an increased speed, outmatching those who wield bows, as well as to show that they're rather... unhinged. They may hit harder and faster than their brother-archetype, but they're more likely to go down quicker. Sometimes, they can opt for both melee and ranged depending on their stance (using the Melee-Ranged Switcher archetype).
Ranged examples (and the ones with both modes)
Troll Warlord	Draven	Heimdallr* Only throws one axe at a time.	Zul'jin
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
N/A * Moraxus is somewhere in between this and the above.	N/A	N/A	N/A
Melee examples (and the ones with both modes)
N/A	Olaf	Ullr* Only on axe mode, and he's more subdued.	N/A
Dian Wei	N/A	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	Rona	N/A
Freia, Basko

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Hammer-Mace Stunner
Something of a distant sibling of the Tanking Axe Warrior, who's instead speccing more on they can bash their hammer on the ground or the enemy's skull, causing stun effect or if hitting the ground, causing the earth to erupt and then stunning them (Note: The hammer is literally used that way, not to as a conduit to cast spell to cause the effect). If they don't stun, they'll be sure to hinder your movement with slow because a few bash in your head will make you groggy enough you might not move at optimal speed. Usually just as tanky as their axe siblings, but sometimes a slightly squishier version can exist. The brother of this archetype is one that uses maces, where one's brute strength is also in display and also gives a good stunning just as much as their hammer brothers. Hammers also occasionally become subject of a magic or tech empowerment, so they're instead used for power conduit... that sometimes stuns, but it doesn't come from the bashing themselves. Pretty popular for archetypes of 'Hammer Paladin' that inhibit medieval settings.
Normal Hammer examples
Dawnbreaker	Poppy	Thor* He's the squishy one since he's an Assassin, but he still possesses enough stun effects.	Thrall Yrel Muradin
Taara* She does not stun, but uses slow Ormarr Zhong Wuyan	Tigreal Terizla Lolita	Thor	N/A
Hammerstorm	N/A	N/A	N/A
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES
N/A	N/A	Azaan* His stun actually didn't involve hammers	Reinhardt
Magic/Power Hammer examples
Omniknight	Jayce	N/A	Uther
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Mace examples
Slardar	Mordekaiser, Jax	Hercules	Leoric
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

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The Sticky Spear Warrior
When you have a spear fighter in a MOBA, and we mean for close range, there is a chance that the user is seriously sticky. As in, they will do their best to stick close at you, and unload a lot of (mostly) normal attacks to kill you while preventing your escape via slowing, body-blocking, etc. If that is the case, sometimes they have a steroid to make their normal attacks hurt more. They do like their stabbings too much and draws an irony: An inherent advantage of spears is that they've got longer range amongst melee weapons, they're not making full use of that. In the latter days, as the genre gained popularity in China as well as the extreme popularity of League of Legends, there's a sub-archetype of this whereas the character from Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Zhao Yun, becomes inspiration for the character, and thus possessing designs from Imperial China (mostly) as well as the personality of a honorable warrior of justice.
Normal Examples
Phantom Lancer	Pantheon	Guan Yu Erlang Shen Cu Chulainn Achilles	Imperius Cassia* She's actually ranged, but her range is shorter than most ranged characters, encouraging her to stick close.
Zephys Han Xin	Silvanna	N/A	N/A
Lord Salforis	N/A	N/A	N/A
Cerulean* Downplayed, acts as more of a tank than a damage dealer but indeed has the spear.
Zhao Yun Clones
N/A	Xin Zhao	N/A	N/A
Zanis Zhao Yun	Zilong	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

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Reaper Scythe
You've got a hero/champion that you want to look very sinister at. How to complete this process? Give them a scythe. It works great to evoke the imagery of death, and darkness. It can also be thrown around like throwable sickles, or being dual-wielded (in which it becomes a sickle/kama). There's a lot of these champions that also had execution style ultimates (instant-kill on a certain HP threshold). They're mostly Glass Cannons but occasionally comes with some manner of sustain. They don't always have to be Ninja like above, but sometimes they overlap.
Necrophos* Downplayed in that his scythe is just used to hurl magic bolts, but it's his Ultimate, the Reaper's Scythe that utilizes an actual scythe and has execution style	Akali Kayn	Thanatos Izanami	Xul
Mina Bai Qi* Downplayed, despite the death and darkness imagery, both are actually tanks.	N/A* Ruby wields a scythe, but she doesn't have a death and darkness imagery on her.	N/A	N/A
Fayde	N/A	N/A	N/A
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES
N/A	N/A	Vora	N/A

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Assassin's Dagger
The 'Assassin' role is extremely common on MOBA: Squishy Glass Cannon hero/champions that kills people as quick as they die. So for the most part, they're often portrayed as literal assassins armed with knives/dagger for quick death and they will be very much against all those 'honor' thing, it's all about how quick you kill your enemies. Like good killers, they always come prepared with means of escape, but those can vary, it's not always stealth. The knives/daggers can be flexible too, they could use it as short range weapon or get thrown in range. And for the most part, backstabbing is often an option for these guys, often times with damage multiplier if striking enemies that wasn't facing them directly.
Riki Phantom Assassin* Downplayed that she usually uses an axe/scythe-like weapon, but she has one skill called Stifling Dagger, which is part of her overall kit and could cause bloody murder, in addition of the other kinds of escapes she had.	Katarina Talon	Loki	Valeera
N/A	Gusion Aamon	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES
The Spy	N/A	Maeve	N/A

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Master Exploder
This is a hero who's all about three things: explosions, explosions, and EXPLOSIONS! Due to their preferred method of attack, they're typically great at area damage, although don't expect a lot of precise abilities. A dose of insanity tends to come with this type of character.
Techies	Ziggs	N/A	Junkrat
Shen Mengxi	X.Borg* Trades explosions with flamethrowers, but the personality and madness remain the same. Instead of a Mad Bomber, he's a mad arsonist.	N/A	N/A
Bombardier	Commander Rocket	N/A	N/A
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES
The Demoman	N/A	Bomb King Dredge	N/A

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The Hooded Damage Archer
Usually a carry (in which it's their normal attacks that are to be feared off and scaling endgame) and depicted as an archer who wears hood, and generally adheres to the Aloof Archer personality (although there ARE exceptions). Most of the time, their arrows are magically enchanted, although ice is a common theme, which works wonders in slowing enemies and kiting. Otherwise, they work as Forest Ranger and being forest protectors... or sometimes, both. Masters of archeries that also tend to look good while they're at it, there are many archers in MOBA, but these 'hooded' archers have been a recurring staple. It can look like a Crippling Overspecialization, but in a MOBA, it's an overspecialization that works.
Drow Ranger	Ashe	Ullr* he's a guy, but handsomeness is one of his ruled domains, so... Skadi* She doesn't wear hood or bow (those go to Ullr), but otherwise fits the icy ranged fighter theme and an obviously attractive female. Bonus points: Mythologically-wise, she's married to Ullr, so the couple shared the archetype parts together	Sylvanas Valla
Tel'Annas* She doesn't wear a hood (but has a tiara instead) and has a different element, but she has the 'forest ranger' feel on her design and her bow also slows down the enemy.	N/A	N/A	N/A
N/A	Rocco* Neither hooded nor female, but he's the game's archer and has slowing arrows. Can become hooded with his Shinobi skin	Kestrel* With a hat instead of hood	N/A
Rook Kensu* Missing the hood, but has the ability to use slowing arrows.

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The Hoodless Ability Archer
With the abundance of archery opportunities within a MOBA, some doesn't want to just be stuck with the standard 'hood' uniform or always having to depend so greatly on normal attacks. Therefore, these archers break the norm by being some sort of pseudo-Mage Marksman, putting emphasis on their abilities that sometimes do not scale with their own normal attack damage... but it gives them utility in exchange, suddenly your enemies would need to be wary not to get stuck in their abilities that can give crowd control, or they have means of escaping when caught in a bad situation, more extreme than their hooded fellow archers. Combining both attack damage and ability utility, these are the archers that break out the mold, not always stuck with the hoodie look.
Windranger	Varus	Neith	Hanzo
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES
N/A	N/A	Sha Lin* He used to have a bow that pushes and stun hit enemies when they got pushed to a wall, but that was replaced to another disable that doesn't let his enemies use movement skills.	N/A

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Headhunting Snipers
One of the main Foil of the Hooded Archers, or the more 'technological' counterpart in terms of bows vs guns, armed with a Sniper Rifle. They also work the same as carries, but they put more emphasis in range, with abilities that support them (be it increasing range or some form of mobility skill or sometimes stealth) more and most likely possessing the "Sniper Shot" type of skill (see below, but not always). The one thing they're known for? Headshots. Or skills that facilitate them. While sometimes other kind of guns are present in MOBA and realistically can do headshots too, those who wield the Sniper Rifle has monopoly on the headshotting privilege in the genre. The effect may vary in each games, but they're known for aiming to the head more so than archers, because a headshot with a normal gun is deadly enough, but a headshot with a Sniper Rifle? Also takes less skills than actual FPS games to do so, so it gives a slightly better catharsis in 'landing headshots' (except for Hero Shooter types). Personality-wise, they flip-flop between being cold or being friendly, but professionalism is a great aspect, you can't be an accurate sniper if you don't have focus. This is usually a must-have archetype in Hero Shooter.
Sniper	Caitlyn	N/A	Nova
Elsu Baili Shouyue	Lesley	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES
The Sniper* Unlike most others, he's classified as a Support instead of Damage class, but he generally can rack up damage on his own.	Sova	Kinessa Strix	Widowmaker

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Agile Beast of Crossbows
If an Automatic Crossbow is related to shooting fires multiple times, the MOBA usually gives this an answer with either adhering to the rule with Attack Speed, or associating the user even more of Agility, making them usually more slippery to escape than normal archers. And additionally, it's often that the one wielding the crossbow is either associated with a beast, either being beasts themselves (because sometimes, they come with the perk of quicker fingers than humans) or being their own Beast Master without said beast taking major presence in the arena unlike the One True Pet Owner. Their gameplay is often a cross between the other bow users, half pure damage, half utility, and somehow they're some of the friendliest snipers you've met, they're rarely grim like the demon hunting examples in the below folder.
Hoodwink	Twitch Quinn* A Beast Master example with her falcon/bird Valor, and she's not too grim despite being a mostly serious character	Jing Wei	N/A
N/A	Wanwan, Irithel	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES
N/A	N/A	Cassie* Another Beast Master with her bird, Zigs.	N/A

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Fist Brawlers
The majority of Fantastical Creatures in MOBA means that there's a lot of Natural Weapon. The answer for that on the humanoid characters? Go Bare-Fisted Monk style, but the 'monk' job is not mandatory. They are heroes proefficient with their fist, but you may think that they will be utterly short-ranged. There are two types of this: The first is the mobile one: They zip around the battlefield to make sure they can reach you well, being Fragile Speedster at worst, Lightning Bruiser at best. The second one is the Close-Range Combatant version: They don't have much of a speed to move themselves, but they have speed in how they throw their fists, which can include Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs (or its variations, as long as it hits a lot while standing close) and a lot of times, one big powerful punch that hits many in one blow, making them some sort of Mighty Glacier, though they may have ways to keep the enemy in place, that only works if they can approach the enemy first. They are unarmed, short-ranged, but makes it up with how they throw their body and fists a lot.
Chasing Fist
Marci	Lee Sin	Ravana	Kharazim
N/A	Chou	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Close-Range Brawler examples
N/A	Sett	N/A	N/A
Qi Dharma Ji Xiaomen	Badang	Iron Fist Shang Chi	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

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Zipping Crescent Blades
Dating back since the original Defense of the Ancients, the dual crescent-blade as used by the Demon Hunter became one of the series' most iconic weapon. The weapon would be used by the Anti-Mage, who retained his weapon when he was ported to Dota 2, and ever since, weapons that emulate such form became generally more popular for agile heroes in a MOBA. Similarly to those wielding the Assassin's Dagger, they are squishy, but generally less reliant in stealth and backstab. However, they exchange it with excellent mobility, jumping around, dashing through or blinking through the battlefield with ease, while also making them a lot more home in jungles if they need to jump between one jungle minion camp to another at ease. The difficulty of facing those with these crescent blades lies on how to catch them with crowd control while they dash around and eventually, those tiny slashes will end up hurting as hell, as they're typically carry types. (Also they're not always Demon Hunters)
Anti-Mage	N/A	Tsukuyominote His weapon is generally categorized as tonfa, but is shaped as these crescent weapons	Illidan
Nakroth	N/A	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

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Paint Your Doom
When a MOBA wants to implement some artistic visuals into the hero's design, the most obvious choice for weapon always have to be a painting/calligraphy brush. The brush may be used to write some texts, or even paint pictures, but in the world of MOBA, things that come out from the brush and ink will always magically hurt. And if one doesn't want to be too dependent on the magical prowess, the brush itself can be used as a bludgeon (or a substitute for swords) for physical damage, and along the way, they paint good arts too. A brush (with a bunch of black inks) can be mightier than a sword.
Grimstroke	N/A	Zhong Kui	N/A
Yan Shangguan Wan'er	N/A	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

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(Under-)Sea Anchors
Men of seas come in many different flavor and sometimes hunt down marine creatures. And seeing that there are many sea creatures in the genre, they come to clash. But if there's one thing some of them can agree with is that they use anchors to show their strength at the seas. For the most part, if it's a sea creature, it has to be some sort of creature of the deep, those who survived the lower depth of the ocean (those on higher surfaces of water like mermen/mermaids never seemed to like this weapon, preferring something like a spear or trident). Those wielding this weapon are at home in being either a jack-of-all-stats warrior or a tough tank excelling in area control. Anchors are too heavy to use for nimble assassins after all.
Tidehunter	Nautilus	N/A	N/A
Ata Sun Ce	N/A	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Fantasy/Job Archetypes

MOBA has their own takes for class/job archetypes throughout the media (mostly the Fantasy Character Classes system), and sometimes it expands to certain positions in life. After all, the genre takes several cues from RPG. This is when their class are not too locked with their weapons.

The Musician
They're the characters that are musical-themed. They also tend to have the ability to make their targets dance to their music, but only if their game allows free dancing for everyone.
N/A	Sona Seraphine	Apollo	ETC Lucio
Paine Yang Yuhuan Gao Jianli	Grangernote A variation that he's actually a Dreadful Musician who's using his bad music to distract others while he kills them, instead of using beautiful but harmful music	N/A	N/A
Rhapsody	N/A	Vox	N/A

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Men Of Seas
Those humanoid people with sea themes. Most often a Pirate. Often possessing a lot of sea/navy themes, or Making a Splash, or just plain Pirate themes. Occasionally Talks Like A Pirate, peppering words with 'Ahoy!' or 'Mate' or things like that. In case of official navy, they may hold titles such as 'Captain' or 'Admiral', and trades the pirate talk with a sense of professionalism and dignity.
Kunkka	Gangplank Miss Fortune Pyke	N/A * There are pirate skins for several Gods: Poseidon, Tyr, Neith, Sobek, Vamana, Kali and Susano	Captain Blackheart (announcer at Blackheart's Bay)
Rourke Ata Sun Ce	Bane	N/A	N/A
N/A * there is a pirate-themed Alt Avatar for Devourer: Captain Gorebeard	Admiral Swiggins	N/A	N/A
Caprice Kahgen* Is technically a desert bandit, but otherwise fits the trope well (to the point of referencing "why is the rum gone" as one of his jokes). His kit is also themed around a giant hook. Tess* Is a sky pirate instead.
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES
N/A	N/A	Dredge	N/A

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The Ninja
Instant Awesome, Just Add Ninja also spreads into the MOBA genre. You can easily spot these ninjas if you look at them wearing the ninja hood that covers their mouth at most. They come with all the spectacles you expect from a ninja, from mystical ninjutsu, trickery, common weapons and sometimes stealth (although the latter is relatively rare). Most Ninjas tend to be Glass Cannons that excel at taking out a single target, but there are exceptions. Another common way to portray ninjas is to have them be a marksman, specializing in Shuriken/Kunai throws as normal attacks. Even so, they may even find their way to somewhere else like the mid-lane. And just because they primarily are ranged doesn't mean they don't have their ways to deal with melee harassers.
Melee Ninja examples
Bounty Hunter	Shen* Instead of being squishy, he's a Stone Wall Akali Zed	Tsukuyomi	Zeratul* He's an alien, but has this playstyle and general look. He can become a true ninja with a skin
Airi Lanling Wang	Hayabusa Hanzo	N/A	Greninja
N/A	N/A	Taka	N/A
Faris* Primarily in melee form, but is still an assassin with a resemblance to a robotic Zeratul
Ranged Ninja examples
Templar Assassin* Her range is shorter and not using basic ninja weapon, but an energy psi-blade. But otherwise, fits the rest of the requirements.	Kennen	N/A	Genji
Hayate	Hanabi	N/A	N/A
Silhouette	N/A	N/A	N/A
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES
N/A	N/A	Koga Vatu	N/A

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Spartan Warriors
MOBA is technically a battle/war between two sides. So, what better to put emphasis on that by giving a Shout-Out to the one prominent Proud Warrior Culture Nation in history: the Spartans? Muscular, geared for war and manly, they fight mano-to-mano in close range, proudly wearing the signature helm of Sparta (and often times, a spear and a shield, Sparta's favorite weapon). They may even be the literal War God of the setting, owing to how the Spartans worship the God Ares and viewed him favorably unlike the rest of the Greek cities. Don't try to call their culture madness, for this is Sparta or whatever culture counterpart the setting had.
Mars Legion Commander* Legion Commander only had the helmet, but didn't share the culture. On the other hand, Mars is the very closer counterpart to Ares and the Sparta culture, but his Spartan helmet look a lot more subtle than the rest. Both, however, had the Close-Range Combatant style.	Pantheon	Ares	Imperius
Meng Tian* Basically a Chinese take of the archetype: His helmet looks especially similiar with a Spartan helmet, he wields spear and shield and he summons up soldiers with similar weapons under his command similarly to King Leonidas and his small elite soldiers of Thermopylae	N/A	N/A	N/A
Gladiator	N/A	N/A	N/A
Achilles

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King of the Dead
Kings and Queens come in many forms. However, in terms of MOBA, there's one kind of king (they're almost Always Male): The imposing King of the Dead. Usually possessing the qualities of either Corpse Manager or the BFS King or both, these are the rulers of the realm of the underworld or the leader of a ghastly force, commanding the army of the dead (though not necessarily being necromancers). If none of the army is present, then they will make sure to use their power of the dead or the souls used. Often overlapping with Evil Overlord, but not always.
Wraith King	Viego	Hades* While he lacks a BFS nor any corpse-related skills, he's still listed as the King of the Underworld and he at least retains the tanky nature of the BFS King, being a frontline mage. Ah Puch	Arthas Leoric* Trades the BFS with giant mace
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

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Trickster Jesters
Don't like clowns? You'll hate them more when you see these kind of clowns in a MOBA. Rarely ever a straightforward character, these clowns (or those wearing a jester uniform if they don't want to use clown make ups) relish in Confusion Fu that they'll pass as a 'joke', if it comes with puns, even better. One that'll kill you instead. They really relish in being trickster, perhaps taking pages of one of the premiere Trickster God in mythology Loki. Very much a Troll character, designated to enrage the already volatile MOBA community, and it's up to you to accept their help and win you MMR/ELO by capitalizing the chaos they make.
N/A	Shaco	Loki	N/A
Mganga The Joker	N/A	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
The Joker

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Holy Paladin
Paladin is a class so common in medieval fantasy stories that the MOBA genre doesn't really need to deviate too far. They're holy knights, they wield either sword and shield, or hammer, they are also big in light magic in both offense and defense, but more geared on defense, thus they're either tanks or supports. And they follow the path of virtue to the tee that they're good and trustworthy people, a Knight in Shining Armor and guardian of your team. Considering the popularity of Paladins, adding one is one of the ways to attract players, and how they're rarely those who directly kill opposing players can also be a Gameplay and Story Integration, killing isn't the top priority of a Paladin after all.
Omniknight	Leona	N/A	Uther Johanna Yrel
N/A	Tigreal	N/A	N/A
Jeraziah	N/A	N/A	N/A
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES
N/A	N/A	N/A	Brigitte

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The Jaded/Disgraced Knight
Being a knight, paladin, or member of an esteemed combat group is hard. These warriors used to be a member of such. But somewhere in the story, something happened. They had a falling out with their otherwise 'good' organization and decided that they couldn't be with their old home anymore, or they were dishonorably discharged without them doing something deserving it. So, they departed, traveled the world, holding in whatever morals they had and still striving to do good, but generally display a more weary/cynical attitude. Because they're not too held with the boundaries of morality, however, they're using their (previously knightly) combat abilities to actively kill their oppositions; more often landing the role of a carry than a support, they are more attuned to using swords (usually big ones) to eliminate their target and their ultimate often take form in buffing themselves offensively, perhaps with the Ultimate Attack Steroid (see the other page), so they can score more kills rather than getting others to kill for them. A Foil to the Holy Paladin without going to the exact opposite such as the Dark Knight/Blackguard.
Sven	Riven	N/A	N/A
Richter	Alucard	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES
N/A	N/A	N/A	Soldier: 76* While he carries the spirit of the archetype (a jaded ex-member of an esteemed organization, the Overwatch), he's using an assault rifle instead of a sword

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Dark Hunter of the Demons
Since there's a lot of demonic entities within the MOBA genre, it takes natural course that there are those Demon Hunters to make those pesky demons think twice about considering that mankind are just puny food sources or miserable little pile of secrets. What makes this one stands out is how they dress: They take cue from one of the most famed demon/vampire hunter of literature: Van Helsing from Bram Stoker's Dracula: Trenchcoat, top hat (or sometimes just a hood), and their weapon of choice tend to be crossbows but just anything that can evoke the imagery of Van Helsing himself can work. Hating any kinds of demons regardless of how genuinely amiable or non-evil they may be is optional.
N/A	Vayne	N/A	Valla* Despite his job being classified Demon Hunter, Illidan is not amongst this because he really does not invoke Van Helsing: He's a different breed of Demon Hunters.
Valhein	N/A	N/A	N/A
Witch Slayer* Instead of hunting demons, he hunts witches instead, and he fulfills the appearance quota as well; something that his Dota origin (Lion, the Demon Witch) do not adhere.	N/A	N/A	N/A

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Tribal Voodoo Witch Doctor
There's always those tribal shaman that dabbles in voodoo magic which comes in many forms. They're almost always associated with either voodoo or witch doctor style magic, to which their official class is often put up as 'Witch Doctor'. They also come with distinct accent to show that they come using tribal magic that can be devastating. There's RARELY ever a voodoo warrior, or none at all in the genre. For the most part, they tend to be less on the offensive one and using their magic to support others, the more accurate depictions of Voodoo. But you don't want to be on their bad side.
Witch Doctor	N/A	Ah Puch Baron Samedi* He's the one who doesn't go for the typical appearance despite his association with the art and his accent, because he already has a well-known default appearance.	Nazeebo
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Voodoo Jester	N/A	N/A	N/A

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The Valkyrie
Not exactly angels, but this is when you combine the angelic creature with a Lady of War in armor. Descending from the sky, clad in shiny ornate armor (especially the headgear) and sometimes generates wings, and said to be escorting the souls of the dead... but they don't really do the last one in this genre. It's mostly to invoke celestial Lady of War without actually giving overly heavenly feels or makes obvious links with angels, so it's less confusing. Still, if it's about ass-kicking, these Valkyries will do everything they got with whatever weapon they have to wreck your day.
Dawnbreaker	N/A	Freya	Cassia
Athena	Freya	N/A	N/A
Valkyrie	N/A	N/A	N/A

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Magical Stuck-Up Princess/Queen
Mostly a female with an air of nobility, which ranges between a queen, a princess or a member of nobility. Makes people want to go "YASS QUEEN" and has incredible sass. And to further back up their prowess, they're usually packing a punch with magical power, the opposite to the majorly-physical King of the Dead. If they're not being classified as Mage, they're some sort of Magic Knight who uses magic-increasing items. The catch? Their very personality can be said to be rather haughty and stuck-up, they may horribly look down whoever is beneath them, if there's an high school Alternate Universe, you can bet that they'll be first in line to take the role of the Alpha Bitch (at best, they're just Spoiled Sweet). But there's still a charm of high-ranking noble ladies who charges in battle with magical destruction, even if they could take steps to prevent others from snarking at their stuck up attitude
Mirana	Qiyana	Hera	N/A
Yue	Guinevere* The only one who's downplaying this: She's less antagonistic, but more naughty and spoiled due to her rebellious, overbearing attitude.	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Elemental Heroes

There are a lot of heroes that play up the Elemental Powers and focusing on one of them as their kits.

Earth Breaker
One of the Elemental Heroes that controls earth, in particular they like to shake the Earth and either make earthquakes or sprout out rocks to strike the enemies... without being a Rock Monster. Compared to the Rock Monsters, they may tend to be the more offensive manner, they can't take hit more than a Rock Monster, but they're more likely to disrupt or cause mass destruction better with the Earth.
Earthshaker Elder Titan	Taliyah	Cabrakan Terra	Thrall* Technically a multi-elemental hero, but both his Heroics play up his earth powers
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Behemoth	Skølldir	N/A	N/A
Renzo
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES
N/A	N/A	Inara	N/A

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Terror Sand
Another way to harness the Earth power. For MOBAs, the alternative is the power of the Desert Sand. Whether it's sand magic, creating sand storms, or providing a version of Quicksand Sucks, these heroes bring another flavor to the Earth Elemental.
Sand King	Azir	Anhur Set	Chromie* A rare example of a sand character not themed after the desert. She uses the sands of time.
Azzen'ka Bijan	Khaleed	N/A	N/A
Sand Wraith Nomad	N/A	N/A	N/A
Kahgen

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The Ice Master
A caster that uses ice powers. Their abilities are focused primarily on slows or freezing their enemies. Most of the time, they can't resist doing ice puns. They are mostly magical in nature, though some exceptions exist. For the most part, they're mages and not as durable as their ice produced, but they sure sting hard. See below for a more durable ice user. The popularity of one of the originators, Crystal Maiden, somehow created a sub-archetype of this, being the 'Ice Maiden', whereupon their skills will always involve somewhere around these or variations of thereof (having multiple of them): A circular Area-of-Effect ice blast, a skill or trait to immobilize enemies by encasing them with ice, an area-wide icicle rain which are either long range or coming from the center of the caster and had to be mostly channeled. Variations exist to ensure they don't become complete Moveset Clone. Naturally, these are used by attractive female characters (with a few exceptions), sometimes with hood.
Ice Maiden examples
Crystal Maiden	N/A	N/A	Jaina
Diao Chan Wang Zhaojun	N/A	Luna Snownote Instead of a single ice bolt, she summons five which deals more damage if more gets hit.	N/A
Glaciusnote He's a port of Crystal Maiden, but he's an old man. Ellonia is female, but uses ice differently. He has multiple Gender Flip skins to make up for it though.	N/A	N/A	N/A
Crystal (Heroes Evolved)
Normal Ice Master examples
Ancient Apparition Lich Winter Wyvern	Anivia Lissandra	Skadi* (she's an ADC instead of a mage)	Kel'Thuzad
N/A	Aurora	Iceman	N/A
Ellonianote See above on Glacius	N/A	Reim	N/A
Sakari
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES
N/A	N/A	Evie	Mei

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The Ice Warrior
A variation of the Ice Master, instead of magic, they tend to be more of an up-front fighter/tank and/or boasts strong defenses in addition of various ice-based utilities. This sometimes symbolizes the toughness of an unbreakable ice block.
Tusk	Sejuani Nunu & Willump Trundle Braum	Ymir	Arthas* mixing this with some death magic Mei* She was redesigned as a Tank for Heroes, so she fits better here
N/A	Atlas	N/A	N/A
Tundra	The Scoop of Justice	N/A	N/A
Ace

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The Fire Master
Just like the Ice counterpart, these are the characters that masters over fire, that is... FIRE. Rarely about Sun (that's another different story). Their quotes tend to contain fire puns. There are also tendencies that they leave behind a scorched ground where anyone could take damage ticks if they stay in the area of casting even after the casting has ended, or they do gradual burn damage.
Lina Ember Spirit Phoenix	Annie Brand	Agni Sol* sun-based, but is more about the burning fire than the sunlight	Kael'thas* He's styled after the sun, but his skills aren't related Blaze
Ignis Roxie Iggy Zhou Yu Angela	Valir	Human Torch	N/A
Pyromancer Amun-Ra	Smiles	Reza Skaarf	N/A
Jin She Basko
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES
N/A	N/A	Fernando	N/A

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Volcanic Magma Warrior
A sub-archetype of the Fire Master, this is when the hero takes the source of fire from one of the most famous earthly source: Magma, thus volcanoes often become a recurring element on this. This can result occasional earth elemental being mixed, but make no mistake: It's the fire that's majorly in display. With this, there are occasions that physical skills are used, making it a counterpart of the Ice Warriors.
N/A	Ornn	Pele Surtr	Ragnaros
N/A	Thamuz	N/A	N/A
Magmus	N/A	N/A	N/A

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The Thunder Master
To complete the Elemental Triad, we have those who have control over thunder and lightning. If the animator is feeling generous, a lot of these characters may have an effect that when they kill someone, usually a creep, they die with an electrocuted animation.
Zeus Razor Storm Spirit Disruptor	Kennen Volibear	Zeus Raijin * (contrary to his title, Thor does not count)	Falstad Cassia Mephisto
Tulen Sikong Zhen	Eudora	Thor Storm	N/A
Thunderbringer Corrupted Disciple Electrician* Uses science Dr. Repulsor* ditto	Coco Nebulon	Varya	N/A
Moxie
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES
N/A	N/A	Grohk	N/A

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Hero of the Wind
Another element-based hero, this hero emphasizes the element of wind, they are either agile like the wind, or capable of conjuring winds in form of tornado. Not always exclusively a magic-user, they can also be a fighter. Just don't expect them to be super tough. Part of the Elemental heroes.
Windranger	Janna Yasuo	Kukulkan Susano	Falstad
Annette Zata	Vale	Storm	N/A
Zephyr	N/A	N/A	N/A
Ashabel

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Sea Masters
Sea aren't filled with just men who conquer it, but there are also creatures or heroes that manipulate the element water, sometimes taking form of the creatures of the sea. Heavily having form of water-based skills such as whirlpools or tidal waves. Another one of those Elemental Heroes.
Kunkka* Yes, he's both a man of sea who utilizes water in his arsenal Tidehunter Morphling	Nami Pyke	Poseidon He Bo Yemoja	N/A
Cresht Sephera Zhen Ji	Kadita	Namor	N/A
Kraken Riptide	Froggy G Dizzy	Lorelai	N/A
Amarynth, Viridian

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Nature's Protector
Forests are well protected within the MOBA genre, due to the presence of these people. These people are dedicated to Nature that if you DARE pollute it and they spot you, you're in for a world of hurt when they send in trees and deadly plants to strike upon you. Or, nature itself gets pissed, take form and kick your ass. Part of the Elemental heroes. A sub-archetype of this is The Living Giant Tree, whereas they are trees that became sentient and decided that whosoever ruins nature needs some whooping by some tree bark.
Non-Tree Nature Protector examples
Nature's Prophet Enchantress	Zyra	Cernunnos Persephone* Though not as interested in protecting nature, she does use a majority of plant-based powers	Malfurion Lunara
N/Anote Nakoruru as she appeared in Honor of Kings does not count, while her job practically fits as a Nature Hero, she's not using plant powers to attack her enemies, but a knife-like sword, light powers, and her pet bird.	N/A	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	Petal	N/A
Lady Tinder Marah
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES
N/A	N/A	Willo Moji	N/A
Living Giant Trees examples
Treant Protector	Maokai Ivern	Sylvanus * An unique example that Sylvanus is actually a small humanoid creature, but he's mostly using his giant tree Grover to fight	N/A
Y'bneth	Belerick	Groot	Trevenant
Keeper of the Forest Deadwood	Ix the Interloper* He's made of crystal, not plants, but he comes from a planet where the trees are made of crystal. He also has this personality	N/A	N/A
N/A
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES
N/A	N/A	Grover	N/A

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Arcanist Archmage
If you count Arcane as an element, these are the masters of it. These heroes dabble in pure magic, none of those elemental things, with their skill names possibly having names with 'Arcane' and such. They also come with one quirk: Some or all of their skills tend to have rather low cooldowns, allowing them to spam their spells as long as they can manage their mana. They tend to be powerful nukers. Storywise, for the most part, they tend to be the top mage of their realm.
Skywrath Mage	Ryze	N/A	Li-Ming Medivh
Dirak	Gord	N/A	N/A
Artesia	N/A	N/A	N/A
Zalgus* Lacks spammable abilities, but certainly has the aesthetic.

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Champion of Light
The sun isn't the only source of light. These are the heroes that utilizes the power of light itself to illuminate the battlefield and... mostly damaging the enemies, or even blinding them. For these to fit, they cannot be a Sun Champion (that's another thing), see above. For some reason, Light Is Not Good rarely applies here, and most of these Light users tend to be good guys for whatever the values present.
Keeper of the Light	Lux	N/A	N/A
Lauriel Bright	N/A	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES
N/A	N/A	Furia	N/A

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Dark Shadow
Whenever there is light, there has to be a darkness. Therefore, to counterbalance the light champions, there are champions that excel in manipulating the darkness for their own purposes, sometimes even including shadows. And just like the light counterpart, they rarely or never use the trope Dark Is Not Evil.
Night Stalker	Nocturne Zed Vex	Nox Chernobog	Gall
Lorion	N/A	N/A	N/A
The Dark Lady Fayde	N/A	N/A	N/A
Kindra
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES
N/A	N/A	Seris	N/A

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Void Warper
Slightly an upgrade of the dark powers, except for the most part it's not as evil or morally corrupting. Those who control the void in MOBA games has one thing common in them: Spatial control. They are more likely to have a skill that allows them to warp between places, mostly short distances, sometimes it's enough for mobility purposes. Their excuse? Void space, usually. They can rip a space to the place of nothingness and pop up somewhere as they like. Aside of that, they also use various void-based things to throw at their enemies, which usually counts as magic differing from arcane. Dimensional Space Magic can sometimes be counted in this.
Void Spirit	Kassadin Kai'Sa	N/A	Zeratul
D'Arcy	N/A	N/A	N/A
Riftwalkernote Something of an evil example, but generally on the side of Affably Evil	N/A	N/A	N/A

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Bleeder Heroes
Blood, one of the ickiest elements that's most vital to life. The ability to manipulate them for your own needs makes for a sinister hero. It's either a bloodthirsty beast who's out for your blood or using a school of magic known as Hemomancy. Or BOTH. Regardles, for the most part this hero presents a danger that targets your own life force. They don't always drink your blood like a vampire, but it remains a potent source of power to make you bleed to death.
Bloodseeker	Vladimir	N/A	N/A
Sinestrea Kaine	Cecilion Carmilla	N/A	N/A
Blood Hunter Ichor	N/A	N/A	N/A

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Soul Enslaver
Souls are inherently neutral, it just depends on the user. There are also many characters using souls for good. Not these heroes. These heroes are those empowered by the souls of the dead that they killed, and by that we mean yanking them forcefully and making those souls empower themselves, which can make for an enormous farmer if left alone, their bonuses get even bigger if they fill in more soul quota (and heroes is a bigger delicacy than creeps, so while farming creeps is encouraged, farming heroes is a greater bonus for them), and sometimes they even get to use the souls in a creative way. Usually an evil character because there's just no way someone who enslaves soul can be considered good.
Shadow Fiend	Mordekaiser Thresh	N/A	Diablo
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Soulstealer	N/A	N/A	N/A

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The Moon Champion
Moon-based heroes are very popular choices for characters in a MOBA genre, always appearing in any title. Those who wield the power tends to be ladies, and in case of male, having a more androgynous feature. And as opposed to the trope Lunacy which is often associated with the Moon, they rarely turn the users of this element Ax-Crazy, unless they're already crazy to begin with.
Mirana Luna	Diana	Awilix Chang'e Tsukuyomi	Tyrande
Lindis Luna Chang'e Hai Yue	Miya Chang'e	N/A	N/A
Moon Queen Solstice (night form)	N/A	N/A	Lindis
Io

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The Sun Champion
Naturally, opposing the moon-based ones. They're a bit fairer on the sex, however, they don't always present themselves when the Moon is always a staple archetype. They're often mistaken with the Fire Masters below, but one thing for sure they always take source from the sun, thus combining both fire and light. Sometimes, the sun is just aesthetics only, but it's clear just WHERE they take the aesthetics from.
Phoenix Dawnbreaker	Leona	Ra Apollo Hou Yi Khepri Sol Amaterasu	Kael'thas
Yorn Hou Yi	N/A	N/A	N/A
Amun-Ra Solstice (day form)	N/A	N/A	N/A

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The Time Master
Time is the one element often considered most dangerous because it's usually irreversible, so to reverse and manipulate this one element gives them a boost in threat. Heroes that specializes with time, capable of stopping enemies and slowing them down. Occasionally, they may also have an ultimate that rewinds time, bringing back mostly themselves to their condition several seconds past.
Faceless Void Weaver	Zilean Ekko	Chronos	Chromie Tracer
Murad Sun Bin	Harith Natan	N/A	N/A
Chronos	Max Focus Yuri	N/A	N/A
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES
N/A	N/A	Atlas	N/A

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Multi-Elemental Master
Sometimes, an Elemental Hero decides to just mix-match and not settle with one element. They decide to wield multiple elements, at least three, at once. This can result a very versatile hero.
Invoker* Fire, Wind, Ice and Earth	Azir* Light, Sand and Wind Qiyana* Grass, Earth and Water	Nu Wa* Fire, Water, Earth, Wood and Metal Merlin* Arcane, Fire, Ice	Thrall* Earth, Wind, Fire and Lighting Cho'Gall* Earth, fire, and shadow (split between the two heads; Cho is earth and fire, Gall is shadow)
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Tempest* Fire, Ice, Wind and Water	N/A	N/A	N/A

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Opposing Elementalist
A variant of the Multi-Elemental Master. They only have two instead of multiple mish-mash, but there's a catch: The elements they wield are opposing each other (Light/Dark, Fire/Ice, etc). This is reflected in their skillset, both elements will have their representatives on their skills. And if the default number of skills in the game do not suffice, they may have ways to switch stances and utilize both. Also makes for a beautiful thematic hero/champion.
Jakiro	Senna	Hel	N/A
N/A	Lunox Luo Yi	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	Malene	N/A
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES
N/A	N/A	Imani	N/A

Misc. Appearance Themes

The 'Bodybuilder' Hero
Invoking Arnold Schwarzenegger is rather fun, so these heroes end up with pretty stacked muscles and tend to be the brute force of the team. They always have a gruff accent, typically Scottish, Russian, or based on Arnie's.
Sven* His old 'fun name' in the old Dota being Schwarzenegger, default name based on Arnie's bodybuilding friend	Sion	Chaac Hercules* lacks Ahnold's features, but has bodybuilder poses and one of his jokes being the bodybuilding catchphrase "Do you even lift?"	Sonya Zarya
N/A	Gatotkaca	N/A	N/A
Hammerstorm	Skølldir Deadlift	N/A	N/A

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The Token Little Girl
Who brings a child, let alone a little girl, to this kind of battlefield!? No, we're not talking about ancient Really 700 Years Old beings that just took form of a little girl for convenience's sake, we're talking about literally young little girl that any weird moves towards them can make a stranger looking at you try to call a local police to haul you to jail for being a P-word. Nevertheless, they can whip as much ass as their adult and male compatriots. They will most likely be support or mages, but can sometimes use Waif-Fu as melee attackers. Will occasionally be a Creepy Child as well.
N/A	Annie Zoe	Scylla Jing Wei* Looks like a teenager, but acts really childish and peppy.	Li Li Orphea
Alice Angela Cai Wenji* Taken to the extreme: She's basically in a body of a baby.	Nana* Technically, she's around teen-age, but acts so completely childish that she's usually counted as a kid	N/A	N/A
Pearl	Ayla	Joule	Alice
Little Red Riding Hood Trixie Zeri, Mina* Technically an adult woman's soul in the body of a doll the size of a little girl, but behaves childishly and mischievously.
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES
N/A	N/A	Maeve Willo* Willo is technically an adult fairy, but looks and acts childish and mischievous.	N/A

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The Feeble Old Man
Like The Token Little Girl, this is just about the last person you'd expect on the battlefield. You have a bumbling old guy, possibly a Dirty Old Man or Eccentric Mentor. Regardless, expect them to back up their less-than-inspiring physique with firepower - either powerful magic, crazy gizmos, or even a companion of some kind. They may be a Wizard Classic if this is the case, but they're decidedly not acting as serious as their job image enforces (or maybe that's what they want you to think...)
Keeper of the Light Snapfire	Corki Heimerdinger	Sylvanus Baba Yaga	Deckard Cain
Lao Fu Zi	N/A	N/A	N/A
N/A	Professor Yoolip	N/A	N/A

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The Drunken Master
Think drinking should be illegal? Then fighting while drunk will make matters worse for you, as these heroes are excellent fighters while drunk. Their moveset may include things like drinking from their jug of alcohol, belly flops with their fat belly, or evasion skill because sometimes, they evade attacks by being drunk, a staple in Drunken Kung Fu scenes.
Brewmaster	Gragas	Bacchus	Chen
Zuka Li Bai	N/A	N/A	N/A
Drunken Master	N/A	N/A	N/A

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The Butch Female Warrior
Being a woman means that you're more likely designated to ANYTHING but in-your-face style brawling. These women give a middle finger to that and be a tough brawler, they dish out damage and also take it. They tend to sport Boyish Short Hair or exude manly qualities, like being The Lad-ette. They also tend to be the sole female warrior archetype.
Legion Commander	Vi	Bellona Nike	Johanna Yrel
Taara Zhong Wuyan	N/A	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Raina, Freia
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES
N/A	N/A	Ash	N/A

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Giant Woman Fighter
A sub-archetype of the Butch Female Warrior, these women aren't necessarily buff or masculine. However, they are particularly huge. Proud users of the Big Beautiful Woman trope, their size not only helps them kick ass, but it doesn't deter them from being conventionally feminine at the same time.
Dawnbreaker	Illaoi	Terra	Sonya Zarya
N/A	Hilda	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	Rona	N/A
Marah

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The Manly Support
They are your supports, folks. They help out with buffing and protecting your allies. You'd expect them to be slim-built, can't take a hit, or maybe just a girl (or girly man). But instead, you get a Manly Man. The contrast is prevalent enough that this archetype became popular, because Real Men Support!
Omniknight	Braum Taric* Post VGU, Taric has been declared the manliest champion in League of Legends	Horus	Rehgar Uther Stukov
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
N/A	Deadlift* Yep, that's the same guy from the "Bodybuilder Hero" section. He's that manly.	N/A	N/A
Renzo
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES
N/A	N/A	Khan	N/A

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The Dunkmaster
Starting as a Running Gag amongst the MOBA community, this is a character who is well-known for a specific ability, usually their ultimate, likened to a basketball dunk, or just anything related to basketball. More likely to have either a quote or extra skin with a basketball motif.
Earthshaker* Post 6.87 Aghanim rework makes him leap for his Enchant Totem like pulling a dunk. Additionally, if he catches 5 heroes in his Echo Slam, he can exclaim "CHAOS DUNK". Axe* The Ur-Example, with his glorious Culling Blade	Darius* Actually has a basketball-themed skin where his ultimate has him place his basketball goal-post he's using as an axe behind his target and makes him slam dunk them Master Yi* Master Yi was nicknamed "Dunkmaster Yi" in reference to his original skin's Critical Hit animation, which made a motion similar to a basketball dunk Vi Illaoi* In two flavors: Her W has her jump and dunk a target and her ultimate has her dunk an area, damaging all enemies within it Jarvan IV	Thor* Has an achievement literally titled 'Dunkmaster' if he can stun multiple enemies using his Ultimate, which is him dropping down from the sky with his hammer down like dropping in for a dunk. Odin* His iconic 'Bird Bomb' combo becomes a basketball dunk in his 'Dunk-Father' skin.	Azmodan* Has an Azmodunk skin. Even the game points out that that's a bit misnamed though: instead of a dunk, his Orb of Annihilation looks like a 3-pointer
N/A	Balmond* His ultimate has him slam his axe to the ground like a dunk without jumping. He also has a basketball skin.	N/A	N/A
N/A	Snork Gunk	N/A	N/A
Cerulean

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Little Guy, Big Mech
When you're a little guy, you need something to even the odds, and it seems like a big stompy robot suit is just the thing. These guys tend to be slow but mighty, although usually more of a fighter than a tank. They might also have a powerful gap-closer and can often shoot missiles or other ranged attacks.
Clockwerk Timbersaw	Rumble	Sylvanus* Technically riding a giant treant, but the spirit is the same, though he's more of a Support/Tank. For a more traditional take, he can use the Dr. Vanus skin	Gazlowe* Same thing, except the position is reversed, Gazlowe is under his mecha, since he's carrying it as a backpack, D.Va
Max Wisp Liu Shan	Jawhead	N/A	N/A
The Chipper	Jimmy and the LUX5000	Joule Skye	N/A
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES
N/A	N/A	Ruckus & Bolt	Wrecking Ball
Toby

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Eye Cover Of Arch-Magess
For some reason, a popular design for a MOBA is when designing a female mage character, the designers like to give them an eye-covering helmet or head gear which still allows a Blindfolded Vision. They are not Blind Seer, the whole thing is just for Rule of Cool. However, the one who has the privilege getting this design tends to be a woman who is known to be a great mage on her own league or sitting at the top of the food chain lore-wise (even if people ignore the lore). So, one can say that the eye cover can serve as a symbol of status and power for these female mages.
N/A	Lissandra	Nox	N/A
Ilumia Nu Wa	Pharsa	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES
N/A	N/A	Seris	N/A

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The Killer Rabbit
A MOBA usually has one super cute and seemingly harmless creature. It makes you want to just grab them, hug them and—OHMYGODMYHP. They may be cute as all get-out, but they can and will kill you in very nasty ways. Sometimes they may be as evil or sadistic as Satan himself (through Memetic Mutation or normally).
Puck Marci* The Dota 2 standard is that almost everyone are bizarre otherwordly fantastical creatures with humans mostly needing to be more adult or early twenties to compensate. Marci is just an unassuming normal human sidekick who's also a Cute Mute. She's also notorious for wiping out a huge chunk of HP while regaining hers in a few seconds or less.	Teemo Gnar	Cupid Ratatoskr	Brightwing Murky Probius
N/A	Nana	N/A	N/A
Nymphora Shellshock	Gnaw Nibbs	Flicker	N/A
Dibs, Mina
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES
N/A	N/A	Willo Moji* Bonus points for Moji being an anthropomorphic rabbit.	Wrecking Ball Mei* Older than most examples, but otherwise fits right down to the 'nasty' way to kill and being a Memetic Psychopath.