Sandbox / Multiplayer Online Battle Arena Analysis

The Multiplayer Online Battle Arena genre actually has several reused elements throughout all games that they end up creating archetypes on their own, be they skill archetype or character archetype. Much like the Bioware character page, this will be listing the reoccuring elements throughout the MOBA genre. These only works within the MOBA genre, not any other. Think of it like the Bioware character pages.

This analysis will use the main 'Big Five' or most concurrent titles as a basis. These titles are: Dota 2, Heroes of Newerth, League of Legends, Smite and Heroes of the Storm. Other games can go to the Other examples and if there are enough occurences, they can be included as a new column.

There are two main archetypes:

• Character Archetypes: These archetypes are defining the characters, separated further into two sub-archetypes:
  • Based on Gameplay: Some characters have a specific style of gameplay that is reoccuring throughout the games, going more specific than 'Carry' or 'Support' or 'Initiator'.
  • Based on Theme: Some character follow certain theme or tropes, mostly it doesn't affect about HOW they play, but the themes occur often enough.
• Skill Archetypes: These archetypes are defining the skills used, separated further into three sub-archetypes based on where they would be executed:
  • Skills-Only: These skills can only be found through heroes' abilities, not items.
  • Skills and Items: These skills can be found on either abilities or items.
  • Items-Only: These skills can only be found on items. In this case, several stats-granting items may also follow certain archetypes.

There are five games considered to be 'legends' here as their control schemes, excepting one of them, is made to be applicable to other games, even mentioned by their names. They attained their place due to good publications and enough to garner e-sports scene or massive tournament scenes. These games include Dota 2, Heroes of Newerth, League of Legends, Smite and Heroes of the Storm (currently the only game that hasn't gotten their controls applied elsewhere).

Character Archetypes - Based on Gameplay

Stealth Character

These characters are heavily reliant on stealth that can be activated on skill. If the game has a stealth detection, then it could spell their doom. Those who fall into this archetype usually ends up as a carry character.

Examples from Dota 2

• Gondar the Bounty Hunter uses the Shadow Walk skill to become invisible and disables his own unit collision, and gains bonus attack if he attacks right after breaking invisibility. Along with Track, he can easily get into good stealth position and surprise his enemies.
• Clinkz the Bone Fletcher has the Skeleton Walk skill, becoming invisible and gaining movement speed as well. He doesn't have bonus attack damage after breaking invisibility, but the sheer attack damage and speed he has might catch the enemy on surprise as he whittles down his enemy's health in quick succession.
• Nyx Assassin has his ultimate, Vendetta. On surface, it looks like Gondar's Shadow Walk, but this being an ultimate, Nyx's bonus damage upon breaking invisibility is far greater than Gondar's, and with his various disables, he's also capable to ensure his target stays there and die.

Examples from Heroes of Newerth

• Fayde and her ultimate, Reflection, allows her invisibility as well as a huge damage spike when she strikes on the enemy while being invisible.

Examples from League of Legends

• Shaco's skill set is build upon this archetype. Deceive lets him flash over and then going invisible. But before going invisible, he can also pop in an illusion via his Ultimate, Hallucinate. And his first strike after breaking invisibility will grant him an unique Critical Hit multiplier, even moreso if he attacks the enemy from the back.
• Twitch has the skill Ambush, which sets him up to be invisible after a few seconds instead of instantaneously. He moves faster when he is invisible, and when he breaks his invisibility, he gains bonus attack speed, allowing a rapid-fire assault.

Examples from Smite

• Loki is very similar to Shaco in many ways. Vanish is his way to enter stealth and he can teleport to the enemy target to strike, and also apply a backstab effect in which he deals more damage when attacking from behind. He can also cast skills while stealthed that does not break away his stealth.
• After rework, Ao Kuang also becomes such character, his Water Illusion allows him to enter stealth while leaving behind a decoy that can explode, and he can sneak on an unwary enemy and strike from there, taking advantage of his quick close-combat skills, and execute the enemy.

Permanent Stealth Character

This is an upgrade for the normal Stealth character. For the previous archetype, the character can temporarily turn invisible. For these characters, they are nearly all the time invisible, only revealing themselves when they are attacking. If the game did not provide stealth detection item, then it'll be a real pain to fight this guy.

Examples from Dota 2

• Riki the Stealth Assassin has the Permanent Invisibility which lets him always be invisible unless he's attacking, the skill level decreases the time period until he goes invisible again when idling.

Examples from Heroes of Newerth

• Night Hound is built up as a Riki Expy thus comes with his own permanent invisibility.

Examples from League of Legends

• Evelynn is a unique case that she's usually invisible 100%, unless she approaches an enemy, in which at first the enemy gets a warning sign that she's nearby, and get close enough and she will reveal herself.

Examples from Heroes of the Storm

• Both Zeratul and Nova have their passives allowing them to go invisible whenever they don't attack, use skill, or take damages. The enemy can still catch them if they see their blurry invisible bodies and strike with an area attack, and as long as they keep hitting them, they wouldn't be able to escape.

Idle Stealth Character

A variation of the Stealth Character, the character has a skill to go stealth, but the drawback is that they HAVE to stay idle to maintain stealth. Any movement means that the stealth is broken. To compensate, they may receive bonuses once they break out of their stealth.

Examples from Dota 2

• Templar Assassin's Meld allows her to stay stealthed as long as she sits still. When she breaks away from stealth, her next attack reduces the enemy armor and deals bonus damage.

Examples from Heroes of Newerth

• While mostly a sniper, Flint Beastwood differentiates himself from his origin (Dota's Sniper) by gaining a passive in his Headshot equivalent Dead Eye: Stay in place long enough and he becomes invisible until he makes another move.

Examples from League of Legends

• Akali's Twilight Shroud is a variation that she enshrouds an area for her to be invisible, and allowing her to move invisible... but only as long as the area is still surrounded by the shroud, which isn't for safety traveling.
• Teemo is a more traditional example with his passive Camouflage. He gets bonus attack speed for breaking invisibility.

Examples from Smite

• Serqet's Ambush roots her in place, disabling her movement, but she can break invisibility if she chooses to activate the next phase: Jump to the enemy for massive damage.

Examples from Heroes of the Storm

• If the talent Spy Games is picked, Erik of the Lost Vikings can go invisible when he stays idle. He doesn't get any bonuses for breaking invisibility, however.

The 'Gets More Dangerous At Low Health' Hero

Exactly What It Says on the Tin. For many, getting into low health means that it's time to run. For this hero, they're just getting started or being in the peak of their strength, capable of easily turning the tables solely because they were at the low health and it's the enemy's fault not to finish them quicker.

Examples from Dota 2

• Huskar likes it when his hit points are low, with Berserker's Blood increasing his attack speed and resistance the lower his health is, Inner Vitality to heal faster when he's at lower health, and he has several Cast from Hit Points spells (Burning Spear and Life Break) to purposely lower his health.
• Terrorblade looks like normal when he's at full health. But approaching him when he's severely injured and you're not will prove to be fatal, because Sunder will make him swap hit points percentage to his target. To avoid this, aside of bursting him or chain-stunning him so he has no time to Sunder (which can get confusing with his multitudes of Mirror Images), you have to approach him while on low health, and hope Terrorblade doesn't kill you first with normal attacks or other skills.

Examples from League of Legends

• Tryndamere's kit is designed with his Fury meter, which grants him more critical hit chances and attack damage the more Fury he has and the lower his HP is. And when he's nearly dying, Undying Rage basically makes him unable to die with all those bonuses and letting him wreak havoc to the enemy team, maybe killing them all instead of them killing him.
• Olaf has similar kit that he gets more attack speeds and magic resistance the lower his health is. He maintains himself by casually attacking and leeching life. He also has the Reckless Swing that reduces his HP per use to make him able to enjoy these benefits.

Examples from Smite

• Hercules' passive 'Strength From Pain' gives him more strength the lower his HP is. Furthermore, with Mitigate Wounds, he's beckoning people to basically attack him, he'll just regenerate all those damages over time, if he survives, also enabling him to stay using his Strength From Pain.

The Anti-Mage

The bane of magic using heroes. Heroes like this debilitate their capabilities to cast spells, either by inflicting Silence, making them unable to cast their devastating spells, or draining their mana or using their mana against them, or have extra magic resistance, or other things. Their motto might as well be "Fuck Magic".

Examples from Dota 2

• The aptly-named Anti-Mage, the archetype-namer. Also exemplifying a very dangerous hard carry, he will struggle a lot in early game, but his skills grants him immense magic resistance, mana-draining strikes and a nuke that hurts more the more mana lost, come late game, he will become an absolute monster to those spell casters harassing him early.
• Silencer, as his title suggests, deals with the Silence status, bane of many mages. He can also force an aggressive play style on enemy mages, on purpose of wasting their mana or alternatively, punish them for even trying to cast a spell.
• Omniknight is a less obvious example of this trope, but his Repel is nonetheless vital if the player want no sorcery to prevail, basically granting magic immunity to an ally. There's a reason why he's included amongst the Fuck Magic trio (along with Anti-Mage and Silencer).
• Nyx Assassin combines this and being a Stealth hero. In addition of his stealth dealing great burst damage that can take away a lot of mages' low health points, he can follow up with a stun and a Mana Burn skill that will leave them unable to retaliate.
• Pugna is a mage that deals devastating damage and making sure an area becomes a bane to mages with his skill Nether Ward. Any enemies casting a spell in the area nearby will be blasted with magic, discouraging magic usage of the enemies.

Examples from Heroes of Newerth

• As an Expy of Anti-Mage, Magebane follows suit of his play style of debilitating mages.

Examples from League of Legends

• Kassadin has always been designed as a champion that counters mages. He already possesses magic resistance from his passive, and his Null Sphere is pretty much a point-and-click Silence. He eventually got reworked that he no longer silences enemies, but using Null Sphere instead gives him a magic shield, which makes him still viable for magic-boxing.
• Though this is no longer the case, back in the days LeBlanc can be considered such, applying a spell after an enemy is hit with Sigil of Malice will inflict Silence, making her deadly in bursting mages, and not to mention Distortion can also be used to dodge skillshot magics with ease. Unfortunately, this feature was removed, making her no longer an example of this archetype.

Examples from Smite

• Nox is an example that heavily uses Silence with her Siphon Darkness, where she covers an area with darkness that silences the enemies and then if they still stay, they take a damage explosion.
• Ah Puch isn't exactly countering burst mages, but he certainly has the 'counter-healer' feel with the Fleeting Miasma. Anyone afflicted with that will be stunned based on the amounts of heals they receive during the period.

The Healing Hero

Mostly reserved for Supports, but there is a good reason why this hero is very vital to most compositions. Death in MOBA doesn't come off cheap, so you'll need someone to recharge or keep your hit points high most of the time, especially during big wars or inbetween. These heroes specialize in them, they may not share the thrill of getting tons of kills, but they're still a tremendous addition to your team.

Examples from Dota 2

• Omniknight is a prime example of Support Hero, though he only has one heal skill, Purification. The rest of the time, he's making sure that no harms come to his allies with Repel (for magical damage) and Guardian Angel (for physical damage)
• Chen the Holy Knight may only have one heal, the rest of the time, he's converting creeps. But the Heal is regardless a very potent one, the Hand of God, in which it will heal every heroes throughout the map at once in huge amount.
• Enchantress is a potent healer with her Nature's Attendant, as it allows strong heals over time to anyone near her. Combined with the fact that she's hard to kill with normal attacks thanks to Untouchable, leaving her alone can cause serious trouble for her opposing team.
• Dazzle is an example of another Support hero with little ways to directly damage his enemies. His abilities, however, offers great healing potetials with Shadow Wave healing multiple allies at once and Shallow Grave a buff that prevents selected allies to die.

Examples from Heroes of Newerth

• As ports of these heroes: Omniknight, Chen and Dazzle; the heroes Jeraziah, Ophelia and Demented Shaman share their traits as well.
• Artesia in the first glance might look like just an offensive mage, but she can turn into a potent healer when you consider that her Arcane Missile can heal, and she can fire off said missile from her Essence Projection, which can be put in globally.

Examples from League of Legends

• Soraka is heavily geared towards healing, that most of her skills would involve restoration to an ally's HP or mana, and even has a global heal. To augment her healing nature, she can walk faster towards a wounded ally.
• Janna is another Support hero that either shields her allies with the Eye of the Storm, or her Ultimate, Monsoon, after driving away every enemies nearby, will make the area around her heal her allies in a quick pace.

Examples from Smite

• Aphrodite has very stellar heals with her Love Birds, which not only heals herself, but also heals those she has kissed. The drawback is that she can only heal one God at a time.
• Hel in her Light Stance is capable of utilizing bursty heals in quick moments with Inspire. Staying on Light Stance very long will further increase the heal amount.
• Sylvanus not only can deliver a good amount of healing to many Gods at once with Wisps, he can also create an area to be an area with Wild Growth, where eventually it will turn into an area of increased healing over time for his allies.

Examples from Heroes of the Storm

• The whole Support class is at least capable of healing in varying degrees. There are only a few exceptions of Support class Heroes that does not heal (for instance, Tassadar, who instead gives out free shield).

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 Difficult, but Awesome hero. Go big, or go home.

Examples from 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 League of Legends

• 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 Heroes of the Storm

• Abathur on his own is REALLY weak. His skill, however, are very much global skills that allows him to play as Mission Control that aids the whole team from afar. One of his heroics also makes a clone of his ally, except without their Heroic skill. Like Rubick above, this requires Abathur player to learn what the hero he's going to clone is capable of to maximize the force he brings.
• The Lost Vikings are three heroes in one, they can be sent to different lanes to soak up experience and give your team early edges. And when they are fed, they become a dangerous force to be reckoned with. However, much like Meepo, you need to watch each Vikings lest they die (though one dead Viking doesn't mean all Vikings die), and each Vikings differ from each other, and they're mostly weak solo. Oh, and their skills are unlocked via Talents, so it is possible to gain a Talent, but miss out one skill.

Character Archetypes - Based on Themes

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 invoke Arnold Schwarzenegger, one of the most famous bodybuilder in real life, either by adapting his accent or giving him a Shout-Out.

Examples from 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.

Examples from League of Legends

• Sion, when first conceived, is basically an undead soldier who speaks with Arnold Schwarzenegger'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 "I'll be back" with Arnie accent when recalling.

Examples from 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: 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 a bodybuilding meme: "Do you even lift?"

Examples from Heroes of the Storm

• Sonya is hands down, the only female to ever get this archetype. She is muscular and has a very deep voice, perhaps even done in Arnold's accent even if she's female. And because she's a Barbarian, she also gets to quote Arnold's quote based on Conan the Barbarian ("Bul-Kathos, I have never prayed for you. (...) If you do not listen, then to hell with you!")

Music Fighter

Using music to devastate their enemies or support their friends is the bread and butter of these heroes. In addition, if the game allows a 'Dance' emote, then these heroes may have a chance to force their enemies to do so. 'Dance' counts as a stun, so this is pretty much another devastating disable.

Examples from Heroes of Newerth

• As an original Hero not a port from Dota, Rhapsody is a music-based Hero with music-based spells to protect and buff her allies and strike her opponents.

Examples from League of Legends

• Sona is a support-based Champion using her Etwahl to generate auras to buff her allies and also strike her enemies for some debuffs on activation if they're nearby. Additionally, her Crescendo ultimate sends a wave on the line that makes anyone caught in it get forced to dance.

Examples from Smite

• Apollo is the God of Music (making a British Rock Star impression) and uses his very godly and beautiful voice to devastate his enemies. Unlike most of other heroes, he's played as an ADC that his main base damage is blasts from his finger gun, but that doesn't make his music hurt less.

Examples from Heroes of the Storm

• ETC, based on the real-life band that provided some Blizzard musics, take form of a Tauren rock star armed with electric guitar, and played more like a tank, using his music and rock band stuffs to disrupt his enemies. Furthermore, with his ultimate Mosh Pit, he practically channels to make everyone surrounding him dance... which can also happen if he's beyond the grave as long as he got the Talent for it.

The Medusa

One of the stock character Expy oft-used in this genre. The monster Medusa is known for her snake hair and her glare that petrifies anyone caught in it. These heroes mostly inherit the latter and made sure that they adhere to the Snake People trope, the lower half of their body will be that of a snake's, so they can slither like a snake as well.

Example from Dota 2

• Medusa the Gorgon, actually a variation of the mythological self: Her backstory implied that she was seeking power in order to save her sisters from humans. Her ultimate used to be just a mere 'slow'/'Purge', but eventually it becomes redesigned into a petrification glare for anyone glaring at her long enough when the ultimate is active. Surprisingly, that's not the thing Medusa is feared the most: She's a very powerful hard carry that her bow and multiple shot is far deadlier... provided she farmed enough.

Example from League of Legends

• Cassiopeia used to be a human, but due to a curse, she now possessed a half-snake body like Medusa... just without her snake hair. In addition of her petrifying glare, she also utilizes a lot of poison/venom spells for massive damage over time.

Example from Smite

• Once again, the actual Medusa is a playable character here (and her lore is more accurate to the myth), and she's also armed with a bow and as a Hunter, it eventually becomes deadlier than her petrifying glare (though that one will still massively hinder her enemies and should be their cue to look away). She's also utilizing her slithery snake body more, with a dash or her passive being able to walk sideways/backward without speed penalty. As a bonus, her Petrify also counts as an execution and will kill anyone under a certain HP threshold... and will leave behind one statue that can be destroyed.

MOBA Weapons Master

Many weapons are 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 Blademaster

Taken from the eastern swordsman style with either Katana or Nodachi. Their oriental style is tempered with incredible willpower that makes them more 'accurate' and skillful rather than using brute force, thus making them Glass Cannon, they're squishy, but pack serious punch when given the chance to attack. Most of them also tend to be carries, so they also prefer normal attack boosting skills, especially ones that give out critical strikes.

Examples from Dota 2

• Juggernaut is modeled after a wandering Samurai, as his old model was the Orcish Blademaster. He doesn't even need critical strike items, his Blade Dance automatically grants him the chance, that he's skillful enough to strike at the vitals. His skills shine further during his ultimate, Omnislash, where he jumps from target to target to deliver one powerful strike each.
• Ember Spirit uses a pair of Flaming Sword that might not look like katanas, but also has an Oriental feel within him. In addition of fire utilities, he also uses his blade to deliver quick strikes with his Sleight of Fist, that it can wipe out an unprepared grouped enemies.

Example from Heroes of Newerth

• Swiftblade, a direct port of Juggernaut, also carries this feel, as for some reason, despite being in the Newerth-verse, he also has a rather thick Japanese accent and a fixation on honor like a Samurai.

Examples from League of Legends

• Master Yi is a wandering Old Master and Master Swordsman, practitioner of the Wuju style. He can increase his willpower and focus to heal himself, and he's very swift in striking with his katana, with Alpha Strike enabling him to jump between targets and slashing them, or his chance to strike twice per attack. A very popular choice of carries in League, ever since the old days.
• Yasuo also evokes the wandering Samurai archetype more obviously, while also carrying a very long Katana/Nodachi that he can use to deal tremendous damage and summoning winds. He can zip through the battlefield very quickly and requires a good amount of skills to unleash his true power.

Example from Smite

• Susano is kind of an oddball that he's more dependent on his normal skills than his normal attacks, but regardless, his skills with his very long Ten-Span Sword (a serrated nodachi) is a sight to behold, that he uses in conjunction with storm and wind for devastating effect.

The BFS Knight

Pretty much the Western counterpart of the Blademaster, their motifs will be more likely based on western archetypes, mostly knights. They're not always Knight in Shining Armor, they could be a Knight in Sour Armor, or even an evil Knight. However, one thing is certain, they carry a bigass sword to wreak havoc. And unlike the Blademaster, they tend to focus on how strong their strikes are, therefore falling into Unskilled, but Strong, or occasionally depending on skills than normal attacks, which can be some sort of sword strikes or minor magic prowess. They're also tougher, less likely of being a Glass Cannon, but might become a Mighty Glacier.

Example from Dota 2

• Sven the Rogue Knight, armed with the very big and damaging Outcast Blade and he's capable of spreading his already big damage output (thanks to his ultimate God's Strength) with Great Cleave, granting him splash damage in every of his attacks. War Cry can pump up his toughness, making him rather hard to kill when he's swinging his sword, but he will have trouble in catching up due to lack of sufficient mobility, unless he catches someone off guard with his stun Storm Hammer.

Example from Heroes of Newerth

• Kane wields a massive sword with just one hand that he drags around, and while he does have a shield, he usually requires both hands to attack. He can enhance his strikes to either grant stronger strikes or weaken the enemy further.

Examples from League of Legends

• Garen is extremely tough and the sword he carries is just as massive as his strength. But even then, he can also take his sword for a spin or enhance it with magic to execute the Demacian Justice that executes low health enemies.
• By default, Riven's sword is broken, and she's pretty squishy. However, she does have the Valor skill which grants her extra armor momentarily, and her blade will grow to the size of this archetype when using Blade of the Exile, and it also gives her extra buffs on not just her normal attacks, but also every her skills. She's basically Skilled and Strong in this case.
• Tryndamere also wields a giant sword and possesses skills like spinning his sword for a dash. But he's not a Knight. However, he did fulfill the other Western swordsman archetype: Barbarians

Example from Smite

• Tyr is one handed short, but that one hand carries a big sword called the Lawbringer. And most of his skills, alternating between offense and defense, revolve around just how much he can bash damage around with that sword. And as a Warrior, he has sustain options to toughen himself up.

Example from Heroes of the Storm

• Arthas is one of the Warrior type, meaning that he has enough high defense score. And with his Frostmourne, which can also be enhanced with his skill, he'll be able to dish out a lot of damage in one strike, in addition of both death and ice spells.

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 be considered attractive.

Examples from Dota 2

• 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.

Examples from League of Legends

• 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 Smite

• 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.

Examples from Heroes of the Storm

• 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 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.

Skill Archetypes - Skills Only

Spin To Win

The most famous type of skill found in various MOBA. In which, by utilizing the skill, the character spins around for damage over time on those who came close to them. The skill has to be repeated swings.

Examples from Dota 2

• Juggernaut and his Blade Fury is the archetype codifier, as he used to take this skill from Warcraft III Orc Blademaster's Bladestorm. His spin also negates every magic skills, but while the damage output is incredible in early stages, it wanes out as the game reaches later stage, forcing Juggernaut to use it not for damage, but for magic negation (He makes it up with devastating ultimate and critical-powered normal attack)

Examples from Heroes of Newerth

• Swiftblade, being a Juggernaut Expy, has his Blade Frenzy working the same way as Juggernaut's Blade Fury.

Examples from League of Legends

• Garen is the archetype namer... or rather, the meme surrounding it. He spins around with his Judgment, and while he's technically stunnable at that point, it won't stop his spinning. Seeing that Garen is often a tank, he tends to be a very potent annoyance if he starts spinning, moreso when he can decrease the time he is stunned, and equipping items that grant him additional damage over time or the fact that his spin can also score Critical Hits (though you rarely see a crit-built Garen anyway).

Examples from Smite

• Thor and his Berserker Barrage. The downside is that Thor is rather squishy and crowd control completely shuts down his spin. The big side is that Thor has many ways to get near you and make sure you don't escape his spin, either he can teleport after throwing Mjolnir, or he can block your escape with his Tectonic Rift, or he can just drop near you with his ultimate. And if he spins around while you surround him without doing anything to him, his spin gets stronger.

Examples from Heroes of the Storm

• Taking leaf from her origin game, Sonya has the Whirlwind skill, spinning around doing damage over time. Unlike most examples, this is more of a defensive skill as it grants Sonya life drain for sustain, and her other skill (Seismic Slam) is the more offensive oriented one. Like every other skills, the Whirlwind can be enhanced with various Talents.

Examples from Strife

• Ace has the Spincicle, spinning around and damaging enemies over time. Unlike most examples, Ace does not spin as long as the rest. However, he has a lower cooldown for the Spincicle, enabling him to spin more. It's still unwise to keep attacking him while spinning as his other skills can debuff your speed if you attack him and make you unable to escape his spin further.

"GET OVER HERE!"

The phrase may be popularized by Scorpion, but it becomes a staple throughout the MOBA genre, and probably one of the most feared. This skillshot lets the user unleash a long hook or chain that anyone hit will be pulled to them in instant, to be at the mercy of the user and his friends. This is why positioning is important, one successful hook and you could be done for. However, this can be prevented if you STAY BEHIND YOUR CREEPS/MINIONS, but to some, this just means they have to get creative in the positioning of where they should execute the skill via sneaky positions... in which the counter is to ward those areas.

Over time, this archetype split into two flavors. Flavor A is the immediate one, if the target is hit, they're quickly dragged right next to the executor. Flavor B is the slower one, if the target is hit, they are still disabled, but they're dragged rather slowly and usually do not reach the caster, but sometimes that's enough disable for the caster's team.

Examples from Dota 2

• Pudge is the one popularizing this archetype with his Meat Hook, an instantaneous Flavor A version. He gets more dangerous with Aghanim's Scepter as it increases the range and decreasing the cooldown, giving him more chances to throw his hook in longer range too.
• Storm Spirit is an unusual example Flavor B with Electric Vortex. It is much shorter in range, but the tradeoff is that it's also point and click instead of skillshot, making it absolutely impossible to miss

Examples from Heroes of Newerth

• Being a port of Pudge, Devourer also comes with his own version, the Gutting Hook. Due to the differing direction both games took, he didn't get to enjoy the 'Aghanim upgrade' that Pudge has.
• Doctor Repulsor over time was differentiated than his original, Storm Spirit. However, the Opposite Charges skill, which was his answer to Electric Vortex, remain unchanged. Additionally, it also brings Repulsor closer to his target.

Examples from League of Legends

• Blitzcrank's Rocket Grab, which is Flavor A, makes him a dreaded Support. Compounding this is League's Bush system, in which he can simply hide behind the bush and then grab mispositioned champions, making warding bushes vital in facing him.
• Nautilus' Dredge Line is Flavor A that it grabs the enemy, but it also makes him rush to his enemy, making them meet in the middle. Additionally, he can also use this on another terrain for maneuver.
• Thresh's Death Sentence is the classical example of Flavor B. In the middle of the drag, however, he can execute the inversion of this archetype: Death Leap.

Examples from Smite

• Sylvanus' Nature's Grasp is also a Flavor A and works traditionally, and with his passive he can also at least root his enemy with his normal attack for a guaranteed drag. Ironically, he got this skill from an old ultimate of Arachne.

Examples from Heroes of the Storm

• Stitches, being a recursive Expy of Pudge, comes with the Hook skill, which can also be talented further to be more than just a carbon copy.

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 sweet 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.

Examples from Dota 2

• 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.

Examples from Heroes of Newerth

• Flint Beastwood, an Expy of Sniper, also follows suit with his Money Shot.

Examples from League of Legends

• 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 Smite

• 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.

Examples from Heroes of the Storm

• 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 MOBAs 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 Shotoclones, 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.

Examples from Dota 2

• 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 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).

Examples from Heroes of Newerth

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

Examples from League of Legends

• Garen and Darius are famous for their rivalries, and their skills also match, even if their theme differs, where Garen is more defense-oriented while Darius is offense-oriented. They have a spinning skill for dealing damage (Judgment and Decimate), though Garen spins several times for slow but many tick damages, while Darius spins once, but can deal pretty massive damage. Their passives also mirrors to each other, although the effect might be different: Garen will regenerate his health quicker if left out of battle, while Darius will cause damage over time everytime he attacks, slowly draining their life away. They also have their method to approach their enemies better with the method of affecting movement speed: Garen increases his own speed with Decisive Strike while Darius uses Crippling Strike to slow down his enemy. Lastly, their ultimates are of the Execute archetype, Garen's Demacian Justice deals more damage the more health enemy lost beforehand, while Darius would have been building up his passive to five stacks before unleashing the Noxian Guillotine, in which the enemy would be in a pretty low HP threshold to instantly die. They only differentiate with their last skills: Garen makes himself more resilient while Darius drags enemies to him.

Skill Archetypes - Skills and Items

Skill Archetypes - Items Only