Analysis / MOBA Character Skillset Archetypes

Character Skillset

This is based on a concept on how the hero performs as a MOBA character, they have specific quirks on their skillset to fulfill a certain role or element in their respective games. This focuses more on the 'gameplay feel' of the character.

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The Stealth Character
Stealth is one of the main recurring elements of MOBA. Characters with this cannot be seen by normal means unless they are attacking. The drawback is that they end up very squishy and often reliant with their stealth, and stealth detection items are basically their Achilles' Heel. The more common type of this has one skill to activate stealth while giving other benefits in the meantime, but there are at least two variations after this: The permanent one, where their stealth are natural without any skill activation (where their stealth will be activated again when they walk out of combat, thus they have a harder time to disengage), and the idle one, where they need to stand still to maintain stealth, any movement on their own will break stealth, but if they do, they get some sort of bonus, encouraging them to use the stealth for other purposes.
Normal Stealth Character
Gondar Clinkz Nyx Assassin	Shaco Twitch	Loki Ao Kuang Izanami The Morrigan Jormungandr	Samuro Valeera
Batman Quillien Ah Ke Lanling Wang	Natalia Miya Lesley	N/A	N/A
Fayde Grinex	Leon Chameleon Ksenia	Taka Kestrel Flicker	Kallari
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES
The Spy	N/A	Skye Strix Sha Lin	Sombra
Permanent Stealth Character
Riki	Evelynn	N/A	Zeratul Nova
Kaine* Technically, he's a revamped Batman, in which his stealth becomes automatic like Riki	N/A	N/A	N/A
Night Hound Scout* Requires mana upkeep Geomancer	N/A	N/A	N/A
Idle Stealth Character
Templar Assassin	Akali* variation: She can move around while stealthing, but only in a certain fixed area Teemo	Serqet	All stealth heroes* To clarify, stealth is semi-visible in HotS. Standing still long enough will instead make you completely invisible Erik (Lost Vikings)* Only if Spy Games talent is picked up
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Goldenveil* Requires trees	N/A	N/A	N/A

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The 'Gets More Dangerous At Low Health' Hero
Exactly What It Says on the Tin. This hero gains a lot of advantages the closer they are to death (either they have an ability to literally not die for a certain period of time, or they gain massive stat boosts, usually increased defense or lifesteal the closer they are to death. Or both.), so a lot of their gameplay revolves around getting them close enough to death and then turning the tables while still on low health.
Huskar Terrorblade* only if his opposition is in high health, if both are in low health the advantage is put meaningless	Tryndamere Olaf	Hercules* Pre-rework of his Passive when he gets more damage the lower his HP is, right now, not so much. Izanami	Zul'jin Mal'Ganis* same as Terrorblade
Taara Cheng Yaojin	Gatotkaca	Wolverine	N/A
Maliken Martyr Amun-Ra	Ayla	N/A	N/A

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The Anti-Mage
These characters either specialize in countering mages or are better suited against them through silences, extra protection against magic, draining mana, or punishing spell-casting (sometimes by sheer mobility or whatever to get close to those spellcasters who like to hang in the backline or dodge their AOE spell). Either assassins or mages themselves.
Anti-Mage Silencer Omniknight Nyx Assassin Pugna	Kassadin	Nox Ah Puch Isis	Anub'arak Stukov Valeera
N/A	Natalia	Psylocke	N/A
Magebane Vindicator Jeraziah Balphagore Moira	Ksenia Genji	N/A	Lt. Belica
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES
N/A	N/A	Torvald	N/A

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The Overspecced Healer
A support hero usually comes with the expectations that for the most part they would be healing or buffing, but has only few manners of healing. Well, this is a healer/support hero that takes the Crippling Overspecialization route: Their healing/buff is very lethal and sometimes reaches Global level, but they offer very minimal offensive capabilities. They might not carry the team, but considering the very important role a support has in a match, this can also become one potent quality for these heroes. Of course, anti-healing methods becomes an even bigger Achilles' Heel than other supports that could be versatile.
Omniknight Chen	Soraka	N/A	Lt. Morales
Peura/Helen Cai Wenji	Estes Floryn	N/A	Blissey Eldgeoss
Jeraziah Ophelia	Voltar	N/A	Muriel
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES
N/A	N/A	Ying	Mercy

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The Turret Master
A character whose gameplay revolves around creating mini-turrets that fire whenever an enemy is close by. It will take extra effort to push on a lane with this character. While a Sentry Gun is the most common form of these turrets, there has been other kinds of biological turrets.
Venomancer Clinkz	Heimerdinger	Vulcan	Gazlowe Probius
N/A	Zhask	N/A	N/A
Engineer	Gnaw	N/A	Iggy and Scorch
Lex Luthor
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES
The Engineer	N/A	Barik	Torbjorn Symmetra

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The Illusionist
A character that has the ability to fool the enemy into thinking that they're attacking them, only for them to reveal that they're somewhere else. Aside from trickery, it can be used for various juking. Smart players can spot the illusion easily, such as which one is moving awkwardly, which one has their attack power reduced or dealing no damage at all, or which one is running away instead of blindly attacking them nonstop. Of course, the hero can also fool the enemy with even better mind games, pretending that they're the illusion and making the enemy think that the illusion is the real deal, only to reveal that they're actually chasing the illusion. Confused yet?
Phantom Lancer Terrorblade Naga Siren Chaos Knight* Although his illusions are more about damage than subterfuge	LeBlanc Wukong Neeko Fiddlesticks	Sun Wukong The Morrigan	Nova Samuro
Dongfang Jing	N/A	N/A	N/A
Circe Silhouette Xemplar	Leon Chameleon	N/A	N/A
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES
N/A	N/A	Ying	N/A

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The Melee-Ranged Switcher
This hero uses a Stance System in which they modify whether their normal attacks becomes melee or ranged. They tend to be carries and have their own way to deal with enemies that get too close. Their skillset usually changes as their mode changes. One of the oft-used practices of this is by having the hero be a shapeshifter into an animal, since their beast form allows them to have a skill set that their human forms couldn't have and vice versa.
Troll Warlord Lone Druid	Jayce Elise Nidalee	Artio Tiamat Ullr	Greymane
Liliana	Roger	N/A	N/A
Wildsoul	N/A	N/A	N/A
Blue Beetle Faris

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Temporary Ranged Switcher
A lesser version of the Melee-Ranged Switcher. They tend to be melee heroes, but they have a skill that enables them to attack at range for a short period of time, before reverting back to melee. For this, it's often to mind attack speed when using this character, even if they used to be a mage archetype.
Terrorblade Dragon Knight	Kayle Gnar* Reversed: a ranged champion with a melee super-mode	Freya	Genji* Reversed: a ranged hero with a melee super-mode
Bright Sikong Zhen* A variant for both: their stance change is dependant not on their skill, but the range between their positions and their target's. If they're close to the target, they use melee attack (sword for Bright, lightning punch for Sikong Zhen), if they're further, they use ranged attack (javelin for Bright, lightning projectile for Sikong Zhen).	N/A	N/A	N/A
Maliken Myrmidon Shadowblade	Admiral Swiggins	Idris	N/A
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES * For Hero Shooter, it's always Reversed
N/A	N/A	Makoa Tiberius	Winston

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The Ranged-Ranged Switcher
Yet another variant on the Stance System, this is a hero who changes between two different auto attack modes, but both are ranged. Usually one attack is fast but low damage while the other is slower, deals more damage, and might have inherent drawbacks. Unlike its Melee-Ranged cousin, changing the actual skills is much less common.
N/A	Jinx Aphelios* he has five ranged guns	N/A	Fenix D.Va
Capheny	Beatrix* Similar to Aphelios, she has multiple guns and styles of shooting. Take your pick between the rapid-fire machine gun or single-shot powerful sniper rifle or grenade launcher or what have you...	N/A	N/A
Master of Arms	Ted McPain Chucho Krokk Derpl Zork	N/A	N/A
Kensu
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES * For Hero Shooter, it's always Reversed
N/A	N/A	Imani Strix Koga	N/A

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The Cavalry Switcher
A slightly unorthodox switcher type. For the most part, this hero does look like they only walk on foot and has one skillset. Then suddenly, they call for help: A horse that they get on. You are probably thinking that this is just temporary and they're stuck with one type of attack (See the Rider Charge in the other page). But they're not. This is where by riding a mount, the hero gains another skill set to use normally while being able to attack normally as if they weren't mounted. Therefore, the mount does make a difference. Usually, speed bonus will always be the benefit of riding a horse, giving them chasing potentials. The horse may even act like an extra meat shield, increasing the hero's inherent HP.
N/A	Kled Rell	Lancelot	N/A
Guan Yu* A variant. He's attached with his horse, but he still has two stances based on how long his horse has walked continuously. This is his trait that doesn't get translated well to Superman in Arena of Valor. Even if he has a similar kit in spirit, Superman does not ride a horse.	Leomord	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

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The Newbie Hero
This hero isn't a newbie, but is very beginner friendly and usually is the hero to guide new players in case they enter the Tutorial. Don't mistake them as weaklings though, because in the hands of expert player, they can be just as deadly as the harder heroes. May also serve as a 'poster boy/girl' for the games.
Sniper Lich Lion Ursa	Ashe Annie Garen Sona	Neith	Raynor Li Li
Valhein	Miya Layla	N/A	Cinderace Pikachu
Swiftblade Blood Hunter Glacius Solstice	Sheriff Lonestar The Scoop of Justice	N/A	Lt. Belica Twin Blast
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES * For Hero Shooter, this refers to the 'Call of Duty guys', AKA the people who has a mundane assault rifle for weapon and can sprint
N/A	N/A	Viktor	Soldier: 76
Oscar Mike

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The Linker
A hero whose gameplay revolves around linking themself to an allied hero, usually granting them bonus attributes. This can lead into Difficult, but Awesome because their effectiveness is affected by how good their linked allies' are. It could spell total disaster if you get separated from your linked ally, but if the hero is already self-sufficient on their own, that might be only a minor hindrance. There is a sub-archetype of this where the character instead becomes untargetable and attaches themselves into the character they choose to link and then not just buffing their partner, they're using the partner as a platform to cast their own spells, they can only die if they expose themselves open in search for a new partner or their partner dies first. This fixes their mobility problems, as well as becoming utterly nightmarish in case they link with a particularly agile character (or if the character is more Mighty Glacier or Stone Wall, they become even more unkillable).
Normal Linker Character
Io	Kalista Taric Rell	Aphrodite	Abathur Auriel
Rouie Da Qiao	Estes	N/A	N/A
Empath	Ix the Interloper	N/A	N/A
Mina
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES
The Medic* Linking for a time not only just heals, but also activates the powerful ÜberCharge buff.	N/A	Rei	N/A
Attacher Character
N/A	Yuumi	N/A	N/A
Aya Yao	Angela	N/A	Comfey
Empath	N/A	N/A	N/A

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The Recruiter
These heroes can quickly convert neutral mercenaries. If the neutrals are controllable, then they become something of Difficult, but Awesome hero because you have to learn what each neutral does what to optimize their combat capabilities.
Chen Enchantress	N/A	N/A	Any Hero with a Bribe-like talent* Do X to get stacks of Bribe which instantly convert non-Elite Mercenaries
Ah Gu Duo	N/A	Moonstar	N/A
Ophelia Parasite* Possesses them; overlaps with the Devourer	N/A	N/A	N/A

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Frontline Mage Tank
Typically as a mage, you would stay the hell away from the frontline. However, when using these mages, you might feel better if you are in the front, maybe because this mage is naturally tanky or has skills that encourage them to be in the frontline, either through debilitating debuffs or great sustain. They most likely would be a mage version of Mighty Glacier.
Necrophos Ogre Magi Leshrac Void Spirit	Swain Ryze Vladimir Annie* Her Flash-Tibbers combo is a powerful teamfight initiation that encourages her to stay in the frontline waiting for the right time to initiate the fight	Hades Zhong Kui Baron Samedi	Cho'Gall Orphea
Jinna Marja Gao Jianli Mi Yue	Alice Esmeralda	N/A	N/A
Soul Reaper Oogie	Genji	N/A	N/A
Fenmore

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Dash-Spamming Mage Assassin
A Foil of the Frontline Mage Tank. These mages might not have the range compared to other nukers and may want to be in front, but they're still squishy. Their solution is the ability to dash/teleport multiple times (mostly via charges or very short cooldown) in a short time (and usually short range) while still maintaining their damage output. With that, they put up damage as much as their more long range mage compatriots, and their dash abilities makes them harder to be caught. Of course, if they're caught, they pop out MUCH quicker than the frontline mage tank. This may make them actually an Assassin in disguise (indeed, if the game uses multiple class assignment, the Assassin sub-class is often given to them).
Storm Spirit	Ahri	N/A	Li-Ming* Especially if she specs for close range combat and makes her Teleport much more spammable
Lauriel Diao Chan	Harith	N/A	N/A
Dr. Repulsor	N/A	N/A	N/A

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The Devourer
These heroes have a tendency to make a unique use to their creeps/minions: Eat them. Why smack them dead when they can become nutrition or sorts for possibly extra abilities? Sometimes, though, it would be just an instant kill for these creeps/minions. While the usage of these consumed beings vary per hero, the basic idea is the same: This hero can be portrayed as a Big Eater that feasts on creeps/minions. This kind of hero usually falls onto the evil side of the alignment axis.
Doom Night Stalker	Tahm Kench Cho'gath	Bakasura	Stitches
N/A	Hanzo	N/A	N/A
Cthulhuphant Parasite* Possesses them; overlaps with the Recruiter	N/A	N/A	N/A

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Kill Cooldown Resetter
Some heroes have a way to decrease their own cooldown, but only partially by only decreasing it per seconds or decreasing its max cooldown timer. These guys take the concept up to eleven: They have ways, usually by killing someone or assisting, to completely reset or massively decrease the cooldown of one or all of their abilities, enabling them to kill one hero, refresh their skill(s), then repeat, creating a chain of killing that with enough skill, executes a Total Party Kill.
Axe* limited to Culling Blade Phantom Assassin* requires Aghanim's Scepter	Katarina Master Yi* reduces all basic ability cooldowns by 70% of the remainder Tristana* limited to Rocket Jump Darius* limited to Noxian Guillotine Kha'Zix* limited to Evolved Leap Pyke* limited to Death from Below Samira* limited to Wild Rush Vex* limited to Shadow Surge	Scylla* limited to I'm a Monster Achilles* limited to Fatal Strike	Li-Ming Greymane* limited to Go For the Throat Genji* limited to Swift Strike
Butterfly	Karina Martis	N/A	N/A
Berzerker* limited to Mark for Death and Chain Spike Legionaire* Must be upgraded with Staff of the Master	N/A	N/A	N/A
Kindra Basko* limited to Uprising Zalgus* limited to Final Chapter
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES
N/A	N/A	Lian* The cooldown reduction amount depends on the situation, but it's spread throughout her kit and cards that she had to be nerfed and still standing okay with it.	N/A

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One True Pet Master
Summon magic is pretty common in this genre. But sometimes, there are heroes that only settle with one pet. They are directly controllable, and instead of being summoned, they stick to the hero like glue; it's like you control two heroes at once, but only one is a full hero. This pet is more durable than other summons, and sometimes they cannot be hit at all, just following you and attacking. Kill the hero, and usually the pet will follow in death, kill the pet (if you can), then the hero will be severely crippled until the pet comes back.
Lone Druid Dark Willow	Kindred Orianna Quinn	Skadi Erlang Shen Hera	Rexxar Raynor* With Raynor's Raider
Ishar Ah Gu Duo	Popol and Kupa	N/A	N/A
Wildsoul Tremble* Has a AI-controlled pet by default, gains a 2nd controllable pet with Staff of the Master	N/A	N/A	N/A
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES
N/A	N/A	Moji Io	N/A

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The Micromanagement Heavy Gimmick Hero
This hero will stick out a lot among the others because they have one gimmick that affects how they are managed by the player, which can be radically different than every other hero, either needing to memorize a lot of things, demanding extremely good split-second positioning or needing to control many non-creep, precious units. They also form a core of their gameplay too, so micromanagement is a must to play this hero. Basically, this hero is the essential Difficult, but Awesome; master the gimmick and do the micromanagement well, and you've got yourself a powerful hero.
Invoker* memorizing spell combinations Meepo* controlling 5 clones of him, one clone dies, all of them die	Draven* heavy positioning to keep his spinning axe damage on top Kalista* timing her basic attacks to jump effectively and learning to use her champion linkage Azir* controlling his soldiers Aphelios* switching between two of five different guns with that all have different passive and active abilities	Merlin* Has three kits that are switchable manually only by using his Ultimate that does not have a short cooldown King Arthur* Has two stances and constantly shifts between them after every normal ability cast, has cleaving basic attacks, and has all his abilities always set to Instant Cast	Abathur* non-combat hero that assists allies globally The Lost Vikings* controlling all 3 Vikings and having to gain abilities as talents Samuro with Illusion Master* controlling two clones of yourself and doing Confusion Fu by changing places between them Deathwing* unable to be healed or buffed by allies, needs to manage health using his Z ability
N/A	Gusion* Skills possess multiple forms depending on the situation, can reset the cooldown manually, generally requires extreme precision and fast hands of the player to maximize his burst potential.	N/A	N/A
Circe* can spam illusions of any hero for massive Confusion Fu and can become a perfect copy of an enemy hero Gemini* can split into two or three pets with weaker abilities	N/A	N/A	N/A

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The Poisoner
A hero that specializes in poisons and damage-over-time. A very powerful hero that can kill you even if they die. Comes in two flavours; The first applies a flat poison, usually a large base amount, the second applies a stacking poison that can become quite high with enough focus-fire.
Flat Poison examples
Venomancer Viper Jakiro	Teemo Cassiopeia Singed Lillia	Martichoras	Nazeebo Malthael Stitches
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Slither	Gnaw	N/A	N/A
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES
N/A	N/A	Skye	N/A
Stacking Poison examples
Dazzle Shadow Demon	Twitch	Serqet	Lunara Ana Qhira
Mganga Bai Que	N/A	N/A	N/A
Bushwack	Qi'Tara	N/A	N/A

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Corpse Manager
These heroes makes great use of corpses, usually raising them as friendly minions and/or gathering them as resources. They either bring out their stack of corpses somewhere, or just use the corpses lying on the battleground. Also for bonus points, they sometimes blow those corpses up.
Wraith King	Yorick	Ah Puch	Xul
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Gravekeeper	N/A	N/A	N/A
Desecrator* [[His ultimate summons up to 3 decaying corpses that generate damaging miasma to all nearby enemies. Thematically, he's also a living graveyard.]]

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Aura Dancer
These heroes possess multiple auras that mostly buff their teammates, but only one may be active at a time. To facilitate with this, either their whole gameplay or one of their skills involve switching what aura they will use for the time, and can be used until they switch again, fitting the aura to what the team needed at the moment.
Doom* While lacking auras in his base kit, Doom can Devour creeps to gain their abilities, generally a wide variety of Aura buffs.	Sona	Amaterasu Hel* Shares half the benefits of her Passive buffs from her Switch Stances	Lucio
Yang Yuhuan	N/A	N/A	N/A
Kane	N/A	N/A	Narbash

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HP Spender
This is a hero with a key skill in their kit which is cast using health, either alongside or instead of mana. Some heroes have an entire kit that can only be cast with health. Users of this almost always have ways of recovering their lost HP, making them not totally suicidal.
Pudge Huskar Phoenix Centaur Warrunner	Zac Dr. Mundo Soraka Vladimir Mordekaiser	Thanatos	Gul'dan Zul'jin Alexstrasza
Taara Cheng Yaojin	N/A	N/A	N/A
Amun-Ra	Ayla Clunk	N/A	N/A
Fenmore, Viyana
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES
N/A	N/A	Koga* with the Dragon Fangs talent	N/A

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Bounty Hunter
Though not always possessing the job description, there's usually a hero with a bounty mechanic put on the enemy. Basically, these heroes mark an enemy globally and they either receive bonus when fighting the marked enemy, or when killing them. The bonuses vary between games, but the hunter and the hunted know who's got the bounty on whose head. The marks are either put on manually or automated depending on the character.
Bounty Hunter	Old!Garen* Used to have a 'Villain' mechanic on which enemy champion has the most kills. However, it has been removed. Kindred	Kali	Alarak* with Rite of Rak'Shir
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES
N/A	N/A	Lex	N/A

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Furious Enrager
Sometimes, mana gets an alternate resource bar, and the most common one is Fury. These characters use the concept of Fury as their alternative to mana, gained by either dealing or taking damage, encouraging them to fight a lot to utilize their skills. Fury will usually max out at 100, but if that state is reached, the character basically becomes a bigger force to be reckoned with. The Barbarian Hero is a common user of this archetype.
N/A	Tryndamere Shyvana Renekton Gnar	Cu Chulainn	Sonya Hogger
Zhang Feinote Cresht used to follow Zhang Fei's model, but he's reworked to no longer use Rage.	Minotaur	N/A	N/A
N/A	Nibbs	Rona	N/A
Freia, Viridian

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Aerial Combatant
In every MOBA, expect one or more characters to fly above the ground. The most popular way is a propeller-powered flying machine, but flying creatures or mounts are also common. Oh, and their flight is always totally cosmetic: you won't have any difficulty walking up to them and hitting them with your sword, unless you're in a Hero Shooter, to which their flight isn't just for show. And they won't even use their flight to get out of being stuck unless they have a skill to bypass terrain.
Gyrocopter* Flying machine (the gyrocopter) Batrider* Giant bat rider Viper* Flying snake Jakiro* Flying two-headed dragon Visage* Gargoyle	Corki* Flying machine Aurelion Sol* Flying dragon Kayle* Flying Winged Humanoid	Kukulkan* Flying serpent	Falstad* Gryphon rider Brightwing* Flying "dragon" Tyrael* angel humanoid Auriel* angel humanoid has a level 20 talent that allows her to fly long distances Malthael* humanoid fallen angel
Preyta* Wyvern rider	N/A	N/A	N/A
Klanx* One-handed flying device	Vinnie & Spike* Flying pufferfish (Spike) Chucho Krokk* Flying bike Yuri* Flying monkey (jet pack) Max Focus* Flying robot	N/A	Muriel* Flying robot usually floats flies with her ultimate
Dibs* during ultimate; gains wings and the ability to fly across the map once
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES
N/A	N/A	Drogoz Willo Evie Grohk* Jetpack, fairy wings, magic staff, and cloud, respectively. In Willo and Grohk's cases, they can only fly during their ultimates.	Pharah Mercy* Flyers but in Mercy's case, only during her ultimate.

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Obstacle Bypasser
There are various natural obstacles that surround the MOBA field. Either trees, just lumps of rocks or walls. There's no absolute way to bypass this except of pure teleportation, some abilities that allowed temporary bypassing, or sometimes jump... Or these characters. These characters have their way to stay within the obstacle and then surprises the enemy with it, or using it as a mere shortcut on their walking path, and suddenly getting through the enemy with a surprise, with less mana spent. An ultimate Paranoia Fuel that makes others be very wary around their surroundings. Of course, the bypasser needs to be wary and not stay in the obstacle for too long. There will be penalized if they stayed too long, the most common penalty being that they'll be stuck and unable to get out of that solid obstacle.
Spectre Batrider Winter Wyvern Treant Protector Lina Hoodwink Visage Night Stalker	Nocturne Kayn	Cliodhna	N/A
Keera Yun Zhongjun Fei	Ling Novaria	N/A	N/A
Sand Wraith	N/A	N/A	N/A

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Obstacle (Trees) Swingers
Another case of using the obstacle to one's advantage, though most commonly taking form of trees. These heroes have the ability to attach themselves to said obstacle/trees from afar and then utilize various effects on it, usually by zipping to said tree/obstacle like traveling through a grappling hook. Coming in contact with these heroes while they're on the way to the obstacle may result damage or they can just simply attack you en route, making for a stylish finisher. This can make them a feared hero in the jungle (even if they're not necessarily junglers), because the obstacles are very condensed there, which means more places to put a swinging hook on.
Timbersaw	Akshan	N/A	N/A
Aoi	Fanny	N/A	N/A
Silhouette	N/A	N/A	N/A

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Extremist Escapeless Marksman
Hard carries are one thing in MOBA, the type of heroes that start out really weak or useless and then they become utterly powerful in the end. And then there's these kind of carries: Always taking form of a ranged hero, they have extreme damage output with their normal attacks, and sometimes they can boost it even further. However, they're very very defenseless if someone ever gets close to them, because they have extremely limited escape option (usually either just a minor speed boost, or soft crowd control or an unreliable hard crowd control). If you find any internet guides, you'll almost always find 'No mobility' listed as their flaw. This makes positioning and retreat timing really vital for these kind of characters, and the more mobile heroes will find them easy foods or bully targets even moreso than other carries, especially when they're trying to farm somewhere far from the team in trying to make up for lost resources. If they have their way, however, then they will become a devastating carry that simply shoots the enemy to death before they even get close. And some of them are even classified as 'newbie hero', which might be good for teaching the players the importance of positioning and decision making on when to retreat which will carry on once the player try out marksmen that actually had mobility.
Sniper Drow Ranger	Ashe Miss Fortune	Artemis	N/A
Tel'Annas Yorn	Hanabi	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

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Roaming-Support Hooker
... Not that kind of hooker. This is an archetype of heroes with skillset that makes them dangerous pub-stompers and usually played at either a roamer or support, they're never carries. They have a long skillshot chain-hook that drags people to them (refer to the GET OVER HERE skills in the skill and items page, but not all who possess this skill can be this), but in the same time, they also have a skill that implements crowd control on them, putting the enemy in place (most commonly a rooted beatdown, but that's not always the case). So you are not just being hooked onto them, you're staying there with very small chance to escape, hoping you can press your escape button quicker than they press their disable onto you, which also allows their teammates to beat the hell out of you. And that is why they're considered extreme dangers to mostly pub stompers, an expert player usually would mind their positioning and map vision so they know they won't get dragged. These heroes tend to be modeled after Pudge the Butcher who goes to become an iconic character amongst the genre, so often as a Shout-Out, they can get a butcher skin. Characterization-wise, it also follows Pudge as well: these characters are mostly on the lower scale of alignment. If they're not downright evil, they are at best neutral (but still manages to be creepy and terrifying).
Pudge	Blitzcrank* He actually has two disables to replace the rooted beatdown: An area Silence and an uppercut	Sylvanus	Stitches
Grakk Zhong Kui	Franco* An aversion of the characterization basis: Franco is the Big Good of his region, making him the Token Good Teammate of the whole archetype.	N/A	N/A
Devourer	N/A	N/A	N/A
Grom (Heroes Evolved)
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLESnote Those from this examples tend to downplay the rooted beatdown part, their crowd control tend to be lesser than most
N/A	N/A	Makoa	Roadhog

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Loner Punisher
A MOBA is a team game, therefore it's very impudent that you stick together with your team. But sometimes, you split up at any time. Maybe the game has just begun and you have to go to separate lanes, sometimes alone. Maybe you want to split-push. Or maybe you get too cocky and think that you alone will be enough. And these heroes are the ones to capitalize that situation and makes you think twice to split. Because they have certain skills or innate passive within them which will punish any heroes who think they're well off alone, isolated without any fellow heroes or even lane minions nearby. Usually, it translates to them dealing even bigger damage when attacking a loner. In mobile games, this is modified with how all basic attacks are basically Splash Damage with no room for accurate 'point and click': In order for the punisher to work, they have to make sure that their attacks only hits one enemy, otherwise they just deal normal damage. This kind of hero is almost always damage-dealer (either fighters or assassins) by nature. Sticking together tends to be this hero's Achilles' Heel.
Spectre	Kha'Zix	N/A	N/A
Amily Kai	Alucard	N/A	N/A
Sand Wraith	N/A	N/A	N/A
HERO SHOOTER EXAMPLES
N/A	N/A	N/A	Soldier: 76note His ultimate is far more effective if he encounters a lone hero rather than when grouped together, since he cannot concentrate his bullet barrage to just one person

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Interactive Object Mage
A peculiar variant of mage where their gameplay revolve around putting an object that can stay in the map and they can interact with. Unlike the pets, these objects do not move on their own will, the caster must manually relocate them. However, these objects can be interacted with, usually damaging enemies as they're moved from another path or become the conduit of their spellcasting. They're also not allowed to move too far from their object, otherwise the object teleports back to their hand, waiting to be thrown to the field again. These heroes tend to be difficult and unfitting for newbies, but expert players can certainly utilize and interact with these objects, making them a lot more versatile and deadly than a standard mage.
N/A	Orianna Syndra	N/A	N/A
Lorion Yi Xing	Kagura	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

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The Avenger
Combining with the thematic archetype, there's usually a character who has one theme: Vengeance. They seek revenge on someone, and can be very nasty and persistent in battle. And you better beware if you happen to pick the character they're taking revenge on, because they're usually tailor-made to counter that type of hero. Another way to represent this is how their skills may have some effect to make the attacker ever regret attacking them, there will be a form of retribution on the attacker (the most common form is a type of return-damage), which might not always kill them, but still debilitating. Those who do not have such direct vengeance mechanic, but their story still revolving around vengeance will be marked with a *.
Vengeful Spirit	Kalista*	Nemesis Ishtar	Maiev*
Mina	Pharsa*	N/A	N/A
N/A	Deadlift	N/A	N/A
Freia* "WHERE'S FENMORE?!"

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The Optional Boss
Almost always unplayablenote The trend is only broken first at 2023, with Smite's Fire Giant Promoted to Playable as Surtr, but aside of that, everyone else is unplayable, each MOBA usually has a super monster that is very tough to beat and is almost impossible to solo, especially at low levels. At high levels, it may be possible to solo them, but will take a lot of effort, so it's better to group up against it. It usually yields a big reward. Occasionally a lesser version can appear, it'll be called 'Bonus Sub Boss' and the reward is usually global money for the team. Certain bosses have the ability to be summoned as an NPC that will help greatly for lane pushing, which is usually called 'Siege Bonus Boss', this usually doubles as the default normal bonus boss.
Normal Optional Boss
Roshan	Baron Nashor Vilemaw	Fire Giant* Up until he is Promoted to Playable as Surtr Apep/Apophis	Headless Horseman
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Kongor	Solar Boss	N/A	N/A
Chandara The Parasite
Bonus Sub Boss
Tormentor	Dragon	Gold Fury	N/A
Kraydus/Abyssal Dragon	Turtle	Avatar of Bast	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Baldir
Siege Optional Boss
N/A	Rift Herald* The only one that's temporary, after awhile, it gets replaced by Baron Nashor.	Siege Beast	Various Boss Mercs
Dark Slayer/Lord Caesar	Lord	Surtr	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A