The key of team compositions in Valve’s autobattler game Dota Underlords is to have good Alliance combinations with decent units.
If you want to have a strong board, you must know which Alliances are the best to center your team around and which are going to support heroes of that core Alliance. Since items in Underlords only start playing a major role on teams in the late game, the way you build your team until then is essential to winning a match.
For instance, there’s almost no use in running Assassins and Mages together since both are offensive Alliances. You might win a few rounds, but you’ll likely lose to the first tanky board you face. Going for Knights and Warriors also might not be a good idea because you’ll survive a long time every round but will likely lose due to a lack of damage to beat your opponent.
Here are a few team compositions you can try to play in your next Underlords match. Some of them are easier to run effectively while others can be situational, but what most of them have in common is that they try to have both good offense and defense. (This is updated for the Aug. 16 patch.)
Knights and Terrorblade
This build features a unique variant of the traditional Knights and Trolls build. Instead of going for six knights, you go for four of them to fit in Anti-Mage and Terrorblade in while having the level-one Warlock and Troll Alliance bonuses active with the help of Necrophos and Witchdoctor.
This build requires you to commit heavily on getting Terrorblade to three stars since it’ll be your damage carry. Getting Anti-Mage to three stars will also be really helpful and Luna could use that, too.
You need eight units to get this build online.
Core heroes
- Abaddon (Knight/Heartless)
- Batrider (Knight/Troll)
- Luna (Knight/Elusive)
- Omniknight (Knight/Human)
- Terrorblade (Demon/Demon Hunter)
- Anti-Mage (Elusive/Demon Hunter)
- Witch Doctor (Troll/Warlock)
- Necrophos (Heartless/Warlock)
Active Alliance bonuses
- Four Knights (Knight units take 20 percent less physical and magic damage and an additional 20 percent less when standing one cell away from another Knight.)
- Two Demon Hunters (Invalidate your opponent’s Demon Alliance bonus. All Demon and all Demon Hunter units gain +50 percent Pure Damage.)
- Two Trolls (All Troll units gain +35 Attack Speed and other Allies gain +10 Attack Speed.)
- Two Heartless (All enemies lose five armor.)
- One Demon (All Demon units gain +50 percent Pure Damage. Active when you have only one type of Demon unit on the board.)
- Two Warlocks (Whenever a Warlock casts a spell, they form a link with the Ally who has the lowest health for two seconds. When either linked hero deals damage, both units are healed 50 percent of the damage dealt.)
Support heroes
This build requires no other units to be improved. There are alternatives you can go for depending on your level.
- Troll Warlord (Troll/Warrior), to take advantage of the Troll bonus for its damage per second.
- Dragon Knight and Puck, to unlock Elusive and Dragon bonuses.
Brawny and Hunters
Since Valve got rid of Alliance items and added some of their effects to Alliance bonuses, Brawnies became a really strong alternative. Brawny units can get 60 extra health for each elimination they have in that entire game if you have the four-unit Alliance Bonus, which is enough to make them nearly immortal in the mid game.
Thanks to the Alliances of Brawny units, there’s a great combination of the four Brawnies of the game with Hunters, Warriors, and Warlocks. This is one of the strongest builds in Underlords today and one to surely go for if you know how to farm eliminations and get that round-one Axe.
It’s important to get your Hunter bonus active as soon as possible with the help of Lycan and another Hunter, which can be either Sniper or Drow Ranger. Having your Beastmaster with two stars is key for success in the early and mid-game if you have that bonus.
You need eight units to have this build running at full force. It’s a great idea to roll for some three-star Brawnies as well.
Core heroes
- Axe (Brawny/Warrior)
- Juggernaut (Brawny/Warrior)
- Beastmaster (Brawny/Hunter)
- Disruptor (Brawny/Shaman/Warlock)
- Lycan (Human/Savage/Hunter)
- Sniper (Scrappy/Deadeye/Hunter)
- Pudge (Heartless/Warrior)
- Necrophos (Heartless/Warlock)
Active Alliance bonuses
- Four Brawny (All Brawny units gain +60 maximum HP for each kill they have.)
- Three Warriors (All Warriors gain +10 Armor.)
- Three Hunters (All Hunters have a 25 percent chance of quickly performing 2 attacks.)
- Two Heartless (All enemies lose five armor.)
- Two Warlocks (Whenever a Warlock casts a spell, they form a link with the Ally who has the lowest health for two seconds. When either linked hero deals damage, both units are healed 50 percent of the damage dealt.)
Build with support heroes
- Tidehunter and Medusa for Scaled bonus.
Scrappy and Hunters
This build became possible thanks to the addition of the Scrappy alliance to Sniper, who used to be solely a Hunter and Deadeye unit. With this change, it became much easier for players building Scrappy to get the last stage of the Alliance bonus with six units.
This build isn’t contested a lot, which helps players easily build three-star units with it in the late game. The key is to have your Inventors in the front for their explosion damage along with Alchemist for its ability. You can combine Sniper with Drow Ranger and Lycan for the Hunter Alliance bonus.
You can get this build online with eight units, which will get you six Scrappy, three Hunters, and three Inventors. As a ninth unit, Necrophos is the best choice to give you both Warlock and Heartless Alliance bonuses at once. Your 10th unit, if you choose to go that far, can be a Gyrocopter to activate the Deadeye bonus. Medusa can also jump in to replace Lycan in the late game if you don’t have him at three stars.
Core heroes
- Tinker (Scrappy/Inventor)
- Clockwerk (Scrappy/Inventor)
- Timbersaw (Scrappy/Inventor)
- Bounty Hunter (Scrappy/Assassin)
- Alchemist (Scrappy/Warlock)
- Sniper (Scrappy/Hunter/Deadeye)
- Lycan (Human/Savage/Hunter)
- Drow Ranger (Heartless/Hunter)
Active Alliance bonuses
- Six Scrappy ( Allies gain nine Armor and eight HP Regeneration. Armor and HP are doubled whenever you have fewer units alive than your opponent does.)
- Two Inventors (Allied Inventors explode on death dealing 30 percent of their Max Health to all enemies one cell away.)
- Three Hunters (All Hunters have a 25 percent chance of quickly performing two attacks.)
Build with support heroes
- Necrophos for Heartless and Warlock bonus.
- Gyrocopter for Deadeye bonus.
- Medusa as a replacement for Lycan (if he’s not three stars.)
We’ll update this story as Alliances and heroes change in Dota Underlords.
