History Sandbox / MultiplayerOnlineBattleArenaAnalysis

* Sven the Rogue Knight, named after Arnold's bodybuilding friend Sven Ole-Thorssen, and possessing great muscles to bash his enemies' head on with his sword. A recurring gag with Sven is that ''he is here to '''pump you up''''' (or ''gets '''pumped up'''''), something that used to be in the tool tips in his skills, while now removed, the phrase is often linked to Sven when it comes to DOTA. Additionally, he's hailed by the fans as the most common definition of RatedMForManly.

Many WeaponOfChoice is present in the MOBA genre. And when they use a certain weapon, sometimes, it also follows a certain theme. This has several sub-archetypes on their own, depending on their weapons.

!The Hooded Archer
A staple that started due to the popularity of forest rangers that wear hoods and armed with a bow and arrow. These characters are mostly ending up as a carry/killer type character with powerful normal attacks. An enchanted arrow to enhance their attacks is one of their many repertoires. And apparently, if they're female, it's one of the many tickets to [[MsFanservice be considered attractive.]]

* Traxex the Drow Ranger, originally used the Dark Ranger model of Warcraft III, the sequel lets her keep the hood (unlike Windranger) and gives her not only a more forest-ranger profession, but a more alluring voice. She also comes with the Frost Arrows to slow down her enemies.
* Ironically, Windranger herself used to be this. Back in the first Dota when she used to be known as Alleria the Windrunner, she was using the Elf!Sylvanas model, which came with hood. This goes away when she became Lyralei the Windranger.

* Ashe the Frost Archer is an {{Expy}} of Traxex (including her own Frost Shot skill to slow down the enemy), although more geared for utility and support than full damage, but still packs quite a punch. Unlike most other examples, Ashe isn't of forest ranger status, but instead a noble queen in an icy field, which makes you wonder how she stays warm when her hood and overall clothing doesn't cover much.

* There is a funny variation in Smite for this archetype. The first that fulfills this archetype's look is Ullr, who wore a hood, bow and mythologically associated with attractiveness, but he is obviously a guy and has no ice themes. Then Smite introduced Skadi, who does have the 'female with ice' theme, but she has no hood and wields a throwing spear instead of a bow.

* Sylvanas Windrunner is pretty much the archetype maker as the Dark Rangers (thus indirectly Traxex) take after her, being one of the Silvermoon generals before her defilement into the Banshee Queen. Still a deadly archer, and instead of using ice, she uses darkness. There's also the fact that amongst Warcraft fandom, she's usually considered one of the more attractive characters... for an undead. However, in Heroes of the Storm, while she can be used like an assassin, she is more geared as a specialist to take down enemy structures.
* Valla might not be a forest ranger character, but otherwise, she fits thanks to her hood, wielding a form of bow (two crossbows) and being classified as an Assassin, thus she's more geared to kill off her opponents. She can also optionally add a talent to her arrows with Frost Arrows, a staple of this archetype.

Examples from ''[[VideoGame/StrifeMOBA Strife]]''
* Rook is an unusual example that he's the only male character and non-humanoid. Still, he wields a bow, wears a hood, and geared to kill off his enemies quickly.

!The Bodybuilder Hero
These are the heroes that are mostly stacked and very much plays with brute force. Apparently, their huge muscles may have something to do that they have some elements of bodybuiler within them, either on their name or mannerism. Most likely, they might even [[TheAhnold invoke]] Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger, one of the most famous bodybuilder in real life, either by adapting his accent or giving him a ShoutOut.

Examples from ''VideoGame/{{Dota 2}}''
* Sven the Rogue Knight, named after Arnold's bodybuilding friend Sven Ole-Thorssen, and possessing great muscles to bash his enemies' head on with his sword. A recurring gag with Sven is that ''he is here to '''pump you up''''' (or ''gets '''pumped up'''''), something that used to be in the tool tips in his skills, while now removed, the phrase is often linked to Sven when it comes to DOTA. Additionally, he's hailed by the fans as the most common definition of RatedMForManly.

Examples from ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends''
* Sion, when first conceived, is basically an undead soldier who speaks with Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger's accent and quotes, but otherwise, he was instead a magic-based brawler, causing dissonance with his theme. Once reworked, he becomes more of an attack damage bruiser who is also damn muscular (while still being undead). He lost most of his Arnie quotes, but occasionally, he slips off in the accent while joking, and occasionally uses the phrase [[Film/TheTerminator "I'll be back"]] with Arnie accent when recalling.

Examples from ''VideoGame/{{Smite}}''
* Chaac is a big muscular deity carrying a mean axe that he called "Chaacca". In spite being Mayan, he sports the Arnie accent and one of his jokes is pretty much the reason why he named his axe as such: [[Film/{{Predator}} GET TO THE CHAACCA!]]
* Hercules might not have any elements of Arnold, but a lot of his idle poses refer to bodybuilding poses, it helps that he's ''very ripped''. Also one of his jokes is based on [[MemeticMutation a bodybuilding meme: "Do you even lift?"]]

Examples from ''VideoGame/HeroesOfTheStorm''

* As her title implies, Lt. Morales ''is'' TheMedic, specializing on healing that other factors of her gameplay (Attacks, escapes) suffers. However, leaving her alone will cause her team to be able to wreck her enemies while she tended to them.
* Uther the Lightbringer, the archetypal Paladin of Azeroth, uses holy light in order to heal his allies, by either point and click (Holy Light) or an area wide that can also harm enemies (Holy Radiance), and one of his Heroics, Divine Shield, makes an ally completely invulnerable for a long time. Furthermore, should he die, thanks to his passive, he can stay at the battlefield a little longer to heal his allies until he finally gets sent to the respawn time.
* Malfurion Stormrage has very potent healing capabilities with Regrowth which not only heals for a fair amount, but also heals more for a few seconds after that. Innervate also recharges mana, but it's his Heroic that has the healing that could make or break a fight: Tranquility, where he channels for a massive area heal for a time, while still able to move.
* Li Li is one of the beginner healer heroes, in which her heals are auto-targetted to those with the lowest HP around her. Both her normal Healing Brew and Heroic Jug of 1000 Cups work this way.
* Rehgar Earthfury was called ''[[FanNickname Rehgod]]'' for a time for a good reason, as not only he's packed with supportive skills, his healings are stellar: Healing Wave dish out strong heals for several allies together, while Ancestral Healing is a ''massive'' heal after a delay that it can bring one hero from near death into near full health.

!The Micromanagement-Heavy Gimmick Hero
This kind of hero does not have the usual learning curve compared to others. They have one certain gimmick within their gameplay that quite dominates their style, and mastering them is no easy task, but if you actually does, then you've got yourself a very powerful and versatile hero. Reading guides will not be enough to master this hero, practice is an important key to master the gimmick. The essential DifficultButAwesome hero. Go big, or go home.

* Invoker is a hero with a lot of spells in his disposal, his skill upgrades affect his stats and only partial effects of his skills. Executing any of the skills require knowing certain combination of his upgrades, so to master Invoker, be prepared to learn the spell combinations AND the proper timing to use those spell. Hope you don't forget.
* Rubick has the Spell Steal ultimate, which allows him to steal the last cast spell of the enemy and use it against them. Aside of that, his normal skills are rather lackluster, but his ultimate allows him limitless possibilities. The catch? He can steal not just ultimate, but normal spell, so first he has to take notice of what's the last-cast spell to know what spell to steal. Second, good Rubick players would have known the spells of ''all'' over 100 heroes available in DOTA in order to know which spell works well with his otherwise lackluster spell list, and which stolen spell can be devastating at the right timing.
* Meepo's gimmick is that he can have up to 5 copies of himself, and they behave just like a normal Meepo, allowing massive ganking, teleportations, split pushing, etc. However, one needs to pay heavy attention to any of these clones, because if one clone dies, all Meepos die.

* While the game makes sure that it's more accessible to the casual group, there are characters like Draven, who has the gimmick of his Spinning Axe that if he throws his axe to his enemy, the axe bounces back and Draven can catch it to instantly re-activate the skill for more attack steroid. This also refreshes his other steroid, Blood Rush, so if the player pays enough attention to Draven's mana pool and positioning to catch axes (and whether it's proper to catch axe or survive in a team fight), they got themselves a very powerful laner and ADC that throws powerful axes in great speed.

* Valla might not be a forest ranger character, but otherwise, she fits thanks to her hood, wielding a form of bow (two crossbows) and being classified as an Assassin, thus she's more geared to kill off her opponents.

!The Micromanagement-Heavy Gimmick Hero
This kind of hero does not have the usual learning curve compared to others. They have one certain gimmick within their gameplay that quite dominates their style, and mastering them is no easy task, but if you actually does, then you've got yourself a very powerful and versatile hero. Reading guides will not be enough to master this hero, practice is an important key to master the gimmick. The essential DifficultButAwesome hero. Go big, or go home.

* Invoker is a hero with a lot of spells in his disposal, his skill upgrades affect his stats and only partial effects of his skills. Executing any of the skills require knowing certain combination of his upgrades, so to master Invoker, be prepared to learn the spell combinations AND the proper timing to use those spell. Hope you don't forget.
* Rubick has the Spell Steal ultimate, which allows him to steal the last cast spell of the enemy and use it against them. Aside of that, his normal skills are rather lackluster, but his ultimate allows him limitless possibilities. The catch? He can steal not just ultimate, but normal spell, so first he has to take notice of what's the last-cast spell to know what spell to steal. Second, good Rubick players would have known the spells of ''all'' over 100 heroes available in DOTA in order to know which spell works well with his otherwise lackluster spell list, and which stolen spell can be devastating at the right timing.
* Meepo's gimmick is that he can have up to 5 copies of himself, and they behave just like a normal Meepo, allowing massive ganking, teleportations, split pushing, etc. However, one needs to pay heavy attention to any of these clones, because if one clone dies, all Meepos die.

!Sniper Shot
This is an ultimate skill that was placed on those whose profession are that of snipers or extremely long ranged character. They take their swee time to prepare for a very powerful shot that will not miss. Most of the time, there is only one way for the target to dodge this: Have another ally or structure body-block the bullet. Sometimes, that just won't work.

* Sniper, being the ur-Sniper of the genre, obviously has this as his ultimate, Assassinate, sets the trend, and remain as one of the ultimates that cannot be bodyblocked. Turning invisible right in time might save you from it, however.

* Flint Beastwood, an {{Expy}} of Sniper, also follows suit with his Money Shot.

* Caitlyn is the first who pioneers the 'sniping ultimate to be blockable', as her ultimate, Ace in the Hole, also does that and allows an ally to block the shot. Otherwise, she fulfills her role being a sniper as she passively has more range than other marksmen, and additionally she has some utilities such as trap or slowing net that she can use to escape or pursue her enemy.

* While she's an archer and her range doesn't get any better, Neith regardless has a similar ult, World Weaver. The skill is blockable, however, Neith's range differs from the others: As long as she has vision from her friends, she can shoot the target, so it is possible for her to shoot from her base to an enemy base, so long as vision is provided.

* One of Nova's Heroic Abilities, Triple Tap, shoots THREE damaging bullets instead of just one, might be enough to take out a squishy hero quickly, but mitigated with the fact that buildings can block her shots too, forcing Nova to find a good position so all her shots registered. To facilitate this, she's also permanently invisible (see above)


!Skill Clones
While characters in {{MOBA}}s tend to be as diverse as possible, sometimes there's some who has at least two or three skills that works in similar ways or has the same goal through different methods. Sometimes their similarity are the result of a theme, but it's also possible for it to be a coincidence. Much like {{Shotoclone}}s, though the characters tend to be a lot more different than their counterpart. Often because of their similar skills, they tend to be depicted as rivals (though not always). Defense of the Ancients had a few of these as a necessity when Sentinel players could only pick Sentinel heroes and Scourge players could only pick Scourge heroes unless All Pick mode was on. With few exceptions, they're unlikely to have similar ultimate skills. It should be noted that they're clones only by skills, and that their stats and playstyles are likely to be very different.

* Sven the Rogue Knight and Ostarion the Wraith King both have a single target stun projectile with the same stun duration, same mana cost and similar amounts of magical damage (Storm Hammer and Wraithfire Blast) with the differences being that the former also damages and stuns nearby enemies, while the latter slows the target after the stun. They both have a passive that increases the damage output from their attacks (Great Cleave and Mortal Strike) with the differences being that the former splashes damage to nearby enemies but does not increase damage on the target themself, while the latter specifically inflicts critical damage to one enemy alone.
* Lina the Slayer and Lion the Demon Witch both have a damaging area of effect that can deal damage to multiple enemies (Dragon Slave and Earth Spike), the differences is that the former has a better range, higher damage and lower cooldown while the latter can chase specific targets and stuns anyone hit by it. They both have a massively damaging nuke for an ultimate (Laguna Blade and Finger of Death) with the difference being that the former deals less damage at level 1 but deals more damage at level 3, while the latter has the highest cooldown at level 1 but the lowest cooldown at level 3. Their Aghanim's Scepter upgrades differentiates them even further by turning the former into a [[ArmorPiercingAttack pure damage]] nuke that can't be blocked by spell immunity (making it better for single targets) and the latter into an area of effect spell that deals massive damage to enemies close to the target (making it better for teamfights).

* As they're expies of Lina and Lion, Pyromancer and Witch Hunter goes without saying.

[[/folder]]

!The Micromanagement-Heavy Gimmick Hero
This kind of hero does not have the usual learning curve compared to others. They have one certain gimmick within their gameplay that quite dominates their style, and mastering them is no easy task, but if you actually does, then you've got yourself a very powerful and versatile hero. Reading guides will not be enough to master this hero, practice is an important key to master the gimmick. The essential DifficultButAwesome hero. Go big, or go home.

* Invoker is a hero with a lot of spells in his disposal, his skill upgrades affect his stats and only partial effects of his skills. Executing any of the skills require knowing certain combination of his upgrades, so to master Invoker, be prepared to learn the spell combinations AND the proper timing to use those spell. Hope you don't forget.
* Rubick has the Spell Steal ultimate, which allows him to steal the last cast spell of the enemy and use it against them. Aside of that, his normal skills are rather lackluster, but his ultimate allows him limitless possibilities. The catch? He can steal not just ultimate, but normal spell, so first he has to take notice of what's the last-cast spell to know what spell to steal. Second, good Rubick players would have known the spells of ''all'' over 100 heroes available in DOTA in order to know which spell works well with his otherwise lackluster spell list, and which stolen spell can be devastating at the right timing.
* Meepo's gimmick is that he can have up to 5 copies of himself, and they behave just like a normal Meepo, allowing massive ganking, teleportations, split pushing, etc. However, one needs to pay heavy attention to any of these clones, because if one clone dies, all Meepos die.

!The Sniper
A staple amongst MOBA is a ranged carry that has tremendous range, and usually little to no escape skills at all, they depend on how they can shoot down their enemies from a safe range. Compounding that with their title, they have a 'point and click' sniping ultimate in which they deal massive damage to the enemy hit. The catch? Most of them can be body-blocked, allowing the enemy team to play hero and take the hit. Making references about BoomHeadshot is also optional.

* Sniper is the ur-example, just look at the title himself, really. Carries a sniper rifle, can increase his range... and since he's the originator, his ultimate Assassinate ''cannot be body blocked at all''.

Examples from ''VideoGame/HeroesOfNewerth''
* Flint Beastwood, an {{Expy}} of Sniper, also follows suit, right down with the unblockable ultimate (Money Shot)

* Caitlyn is the first who pioneers the 'sniping ultimate to be blockable', as her ultimate, Ace in the Hole, also does that and allows an ally to block the shot. Otherwise, she fulfills her role being a sniper as she passively has more range than other marksmen, and additionally she has some utilities such as trap or slowing net that she can use to escape or pursue her enemy.

Examples from ''VideoGame/{{Smite}}''
* Neith is an unorthodox example. Firstly, she's an archer and her range fares no better than any other Hunters. She is, however, played like most carries with some utilities, and her ultimate, World Weaver, behaves like most of of the blockable ultimates.

* Nova takes this UpToEleven that she also comes with an InvisibilityCloak so you can't guess where she comes from, and with some set up, she would shoot less, but those shoots ''hurt''. Likewise, one of her Heroic Abilities, Triple Tap, shoots THREE damaging bullets instead of just one, might be enough to take out a squishy hero quickly, but mitigated with the fact that buildings can block her shots too, forcing Nova to find a good position so all her shots registered.

!The Micromanagement-Heavy Gimmick Hero
This kind of hero does not have the usual learning curve compared to others. They have one certain gimmick within their gameplay that quite dominates their style, and mastering them is no easy task, but if you actually does, then you've got yourself a very powerful and versatile hero. Reading guides will not be enough to master this hero, practice is an important key to master the gimmick. The essential DifficultButAwesome hero. Go big, or go home.

Examples from ''VideoGame/{{Dota 2}}''
* Invoker is a hero with a lot of spells in his disposal, his skill upgrades affect his stats and only partial effects of his skills. Executing any of the skills require knowing certain combination of his upgrades, so to master Invoker, be prepared to learn the spell combinations AND the proper timing to use those spell. Hope you don't forget.
* Rubick has the Spell Steal ultimate, which allows him to steal the last cast spell of the enemy and use it against them. Aside of that, his normal skills are rather lackluster, but his ultimate allows him limitless possibilities. The catch? He can steal not just ultimate, but normal spell, so first he has to take notice of what's the last-cast spell to know what spell to steal. Second, good Rubick players would have known the spells of ''all'' over 100 heroes available in DOTA in order to know which spell works well with his otherwise lackluster spell list, and which stolen spell can be devastating at the right timing.
* Meepo's gimmick is that he can have up to 5 copies of himself, and they behave just like a normal Meepo, allowing massive ganking, teleportations, split pushing, etc. However, one needs to pay heavy attention to any of these clones, because if one clone dies, all Meepos die.

Examples from ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends''
* While the game makes sure that it's more accessible to the casual group, there are characters like Draven, who has the gimmick of his Spinning Axe that if he throws his axe to his enemy, the axe bounces back and Draven can catch it to instantly re-activate the skill for more attack steroid. This also refreshes his other steroid, Blood Rush, so if the player pays enough attention to Draven's mana pool and positioning to catch axes (and whether it's proper to catch axe or survive in a team fight), they got themselves a very powerful laner and ADC that throws powerful axes in great speed.

Examples from ''VideoGame/HeroesOfTheStorm''

!Skill Clones
While characters in {{MOBA}}s tend to be as diverse as possible, sometimes there's some who has at least two or three skills that works in similar ways or has the same goal through different methods. Sometimes their similarity are the result of a theme, but it's also possible for it to be a coincidence. Much like {{Shotoclone}}s, though the characters tend to be a lot more different than their counterpart. Often because of their similar skills, they tend to be depicted as rivals (though not always). Defense of the Ancients had a few of these as a necessity when Sentinel players could only pick Sentinel heroes and Scourge players could only pick Scourge heroes unless All Pick mode was on. With few exceptions, they're unlikely to have similar ultimate skills. It should be noted that they're clones only by skills, and that their stats and playstyles are likely to be very different.

* Sven the Rogue Knight and Ostarion the Wraith King both have a single target stun projectile with the same stun duration, same mana cost and similar amounts of magical damage (Storm Hammer and Wraithfire Blast) with the differences being that the former also damages and stuns nearby enemies, while the latter slows the target after the stun. They both have a passive that increases the damage output from their attacks (Great Cleave and Mortal Strike) with the differences being that the former splashes damage to nearby enemies but does not increase damage on the target themself, while the latter specifically inflicts critical damage to one enemy alone.
* Lina the Slayer and Lion the Demon Witch both have a damaging area of effect that can deal damage to multiple enemies (Dragon Slave and Earth Spike), the differences is that the former has a better range, higher damage and lower cooldown while the latter can chase specific targets and stuns anyone hit by it. They both have a massively damaging nuke for an ultimate (Laguna Blade and Finger of Death) with the difference being that the former deals less damage at level 1 but deals more damage at level 3, while the latter has the highest cooldown at level 1 but the lowest cooldown at level 3. Their Aghanim's Scepter upgrades differentiates them even further by turning the former into a [[ArmorPiercingAttack pure damage]] nuke that can't be blocked by spell immunity (making it better for single targets) and the latter into an area of effect spell that deals massive damage to enemies close to the target (making it better for teamfights).

* As they're expies of Lina and Lion, Pyromancer and Witch Hunter goes without saying.

%%More to be transferred soon!
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Character Archetypes - Based on Themes]]
!The Hooded Archer
A staple that started due to the popularity of forest rangers that wear hoods and armed with a bow and arrow. These characters are mostly ending up as a carry/killer type character with powerful normal attacks. An enchanted arrow to enhance their attacks is one of their many repertoires. And apparently, if they're female, it's one of the many tickets to [[MsFanservice be considered attractive.]]

* Traxex the Drow Ranger, originally used the Dark Ranger model of Warcraft III, the sequel lets her keep the hood (unlike Windranger) and gives her not only a more forest-ranger profession, but a more alluring voice. She also comes with the Frost Arrows to slow down her enemies.

* Ashe the Frost Archer is an {{Expy}} of Traxex (including her own Frost Shot skill to slow down the enemy), although more geared for utility and support than full damage, but still packs quite a punch. Unlike most other examples, Ashe isn't of forest ranger status, but instead a noble queen in an icy field, which makes you wonder how she stays warm when her hood and overall clothing doesn't cover much.

%%More to be transferred soon!
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Character Archetypes - Based on Themes]]
!The Hooded Archer
A staple that started due to the popularity of forest rangers that wear hoods and armed with a bow and arrow. These characters are mostly ending up as a carry/killer type character with powerful normal attacks. An enchanted arrow to enhance their attacks is one of their many repertoires. And apparently, if they're female, it's one of the many tickets to [[MsFanservice be considered attractive.]]

* Traxex the Drow Ranger, originally used the Dark Ranger model of Warcraft III, the sequel lets her keep the hood (unlike Windranger) and gives her not only a more forest-ranger profession, but a more alluring voice. She also comes with the Frost Arrows to slow down her enemies.

* Ashe the Frost Archer is an {{Expy}} of Traxex (including her own Frost Shot skill to slow down the enemy), although more geared for utility and support than full damage, but still packs quite a punch. Unlike most other examples, Ashe isn't of forest ranger status, but instead a noble queen in an icy field, which makes you wonder how she stays warm when her hood and overall clothing doesn't cover much.

!!Examples from ''VideoGame/{{Dota 2}}''

!!Examples from ''VideoGame/HeroesOfNewerth''

!!Examples from ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends''

!!Examples from ''VideoGame/{{Smite}}''

!!Examples from ''VideoGame/{{Dota 2}}''

!!Examples from ''VideoGame/HeroesOfNewerth''

!!Examples from ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends''

!!Examples from ''VideoGame/HeroesOfTheStorm''

!!Examples from ''VideoGame/{{Dota 2}}''

!!Examples from ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends''

!!Examples from ''VideoGame/{{Smite}}''

!!Examples from ''VideoGame/HeroesOfTheStorm''

!!Examples from ''VideoGame/{{Dota 2}}''

!!Examples from ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends''

!!Examples from ''VideoGame/HeroesOfTheStorm''

!!Examples from ''[[VideoGame/StrifeMOBA Strife]]''

!!Examples from VideoGame/{{Dota 2}}

!!Examples from VideoGame/HeroesOfNewerth

!!Examples from VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends

!!Examples from VideoGame/{{Smite}}

!!Examples from VideoGame/HeroesOfTheStorm

!!Examples from [[VideoGame/StrifeMOBA Strife]]

!!Examples from ''VideoGame/{{Dota 2}}''

!!Examples from ''VideoGame/HeroesOfNewerth''

!!Examples from ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends''

Sven the Rogue Knight and Ostarion the Wraith King both have a single target stun projectile with the same stun duration, same mana cost and similar amounts of magical damage (Storm Hammer and Wraithfire Blast) with the differences being that the former also damages and stuns nearby enemies, while the latter slows the target after the stun. They both have a passive that increases the damage output from their attacks (Great Cleave and Mortal Strike) with the differences being that the former splashes damage to nearby enemies but does not increase damage on the target themself, while the latter specifically inflicts critical damage to one enemy alone.

Lina the Slayer and Lion the Demon Witch both have a damaging area of effect that can deal damage to multiple enemies (Dragon Slave and Earth Spike), the differences is that the former has a better range, higher damage and lower cooldown while the latter can chase specific targets and stuns anyone hit by it. They both have a massively damaging nuke for an ultimate (Laguna Blade and Finger of Death) with the difference being that the former deals less damage at level 1 but deals more damage at level 3, while the latter has the highest cooldown at level 1 but the lowest cooldown at level 3. Their Aghanim's Scepter upgrades differentiates them even further by turning the former into a [[ArmorPiercingAttack pure damage]] nuke that can't be blocked by spell immunity (making it better for single targets) and the latter into an area of effect spell that deals massive damage to enemies close to the target (making it better for teamfights).

As they're expies of Lina and Lion, Pyromancer and Witch Hunter goes without saying.

Examples from ''VideoGame/{{Dota 2}}'':