In this article, you'll learn about the best Alliances, Builds, and Strategies in the current Underlords Meta. All in-depth guides about specific builds can be found in our Dota Underlords Builds collection.

If you're interested in information about each individual hero, you can get it in our Underlords Heroes Tier List.

There are two main criteria when we order the Alliances.

• Late Game Potential: at the end of the day, the best late-game builds determine the first positions in any Dota Underlords lobby.
• Reliability: how easy and reliable the strategies are to implement in real games is another big concern. If they require multiple things to go your way (specific items, multiple specific heroes, specific upgrades), then they are at a disadvantage against more flexible builds.

The best Alliances in the current meta are ordered below with info about each one. We share our thoughts about both the late game strength and reliability of each Alliance in Dota Underlords.

The Knockout mode meta is actually significantly different than the standard meta.

• In standard, the gameplan is to get to 30g ASAP, invest any extra gold in levels, and find two-star heroes for a specific, pre-determined late-game build.
• In knockout, the gameplan is to start the game with a synergistic combo and to spend all your gold searching for upgrades. Forcing any exact build is a bad idea and the right play is to prioritize building a decent comp around the three-star upgrades you're finding.

Because of these differences in macro strategy, some Alliances are more/less valuable in standard than in KO and vice versa. In a few words:

• The best KO compositions are built around three-star carry heroes (Terrorblade, Luna, etc.).
• The best standard compositions focus on reaching a high level fast and building and efficient army of two-star heroes.

It feels as if most builds and strategies are totally viable, with (4) Heartless (3) Hunter (3) Warriors + Vigilant leading the way.

Bloodseeker carry and Spirit builds are also quite strong, but less problematic.

Since a few of the top builds are harder or even impossible to get in KO, currently the KO meta is quite a bit better balanced compared to the standard meta. 

Knights are one of the most popular and reliable strategies historically.

The key things to keep in mind for Knights:

• There are a lot of underwhelming Knigut builds that you should avoid unless you're a very experienced player: Knights + Hunters, Knights + Mages, etc.
• Use the (6) Knights variations, either with Healers or with Trolls.
• Keep in mind Knights are mostly an upgrade-value strategy: it's a good idea to stay on lvl7 and 8 for a while until you find some important upgrades (three star Luna and CK).

You can check out other builds in our in-depth Dota Underlrods Knights guide.

This is the final lineup you are usually aiming for. How you get there depends, but usually you either go for (4) Knights (4) Trolls or for (6) Knights + (2) Healers/Warlocks/Trolls.

They work best with the healing Underlords because they are tanky and rarely get sniped one by one.

Hunters are quite straightforward - they are the best single-target backline damage dealers. Some key things to keep in mind to make Hunters work:

• Hunters will give you great damage output, but you usually need to think about a good frontline because they are very squishy.
• Drow is Heartless, so try to include at least one other Heartless hero for the (2) Heartless armor reduction bonus (your whole lineup deals physical damage).

The example above is the most common build. Usually, after lvl8, you want to go for more Vigilant heroes, possibly going for the full (4) Vigilant bonus on lvl10. Arguably, however, it's a better idea to spend some time on lvl8 and 9 rolling in an attempt to find a three-star Terrorblade, as he's your main carry.

As mentioned, the (3) Hunters + (4) Heartless builds are more popular in the current meta. That said if you want to go for the full (6) Hunters bonus (great in Knockout) this lineup is a great example. You usually want to run Tide + Slardar until you find Medusa. When you do, you can replace Slardar if he's only two stars. If he's close to three - keep him.

The Brawny bonus matters only if your Beastmaster has a good kill count.

Keys to success with Warriors:

• Arguably the biggest strength of Warriors are their flexibility. Open up with a (3) Warrior frontline and see what the shop gives you to decide what strategy you'll be going for. Knowing multiple viable builds will give you a big advantage.
• Prioritize the crowd-control Warriors. Tide is your most important hero.
• Make use of the (2) Scaled bonus. You are vulnerable to magic damage, but there are two Scaled Warriors (Slardar and Tide). Problem solved. Slardar is also a good hero to prioritize for a three-star upgrade - great stats and the ultimate helps for the DPS output of your army.

As mentioned, the best Warrior builds right now are the (3) Warrior variations (usually with Hunters and Heartless shown above). That said, if you want to go for the full (6) Warriors, this is a great lineup to aim for. It's a good counter to the prevalent Heartless strategies.

Check our more Warrior Builds in our Dota Underlords Warriors guide.

Some important things to keep in mind:

• Mages are mostly a level-value strategy. You need a two-star Keeper and ideally even a two-star Lich, and at the same time, three-star upgrades of lower-tier heroes don't make much of a difference. Get to lvl9 ASAP and if you can afford to - try to push for lvl10.
• Mages are very reliant on the Human Alliance mana bonus. 

You can check out more Mage builds in our Dota Underlords Mage Guide.

The example above is a good approximation what you're aiming for in the very late game. That said, Mages currently struggle to get there because of a relatively weak mid-game and easy access to Scaled. If you can't reach lvl10, you can lose the Ogre once you find Lich.

Run Snapfire until you find DK (you can also keep all three Dragons and lose Ogre).

If you have a high level Viper, put him on the frontline with a tankiness item (he has a great passive with the Dragons Alliance).

Some keys for success with Savage builds:

• Savages work great in the mid game with Summoners and Druids, but you don't need to commit to the full Summoner and Druid bonuses.
• You can decide whether to stop at the (4) Savage bonus or to pursue the full (6) Savage bonus, which is usually worth only if are having a great game and can afford to buy plenty of XP to reach lvl9 and 10 fast.
  

The build above is the theoretically strongest (6) Savage variation. Yet, it's quite hard to get to (it requires you to have a good game and to reach lvl9 and ideally 10 relatively fast). 

The alternative is to go for the more common and easier to get (4) Savage (4) Summoner option like the one below:

(6) Assassins are in a good spot since the Void Alliance + Faceless Void work great with them.

The above is a good example of the final composition you are usually aiming for.

Warlocks are usually used as a secondary synergy for other durable drafts - e.g. Warriors + (4) Warlocks. That said, (6) Warlock build are also quite strong in the late game. Some keys to success:

• Don't force (6) Warlocks from early on. The cheaper Warlocks have terrible stats and cannot carry you in the early/mid game. Play up to (4) Warlocks early on, and push to (6) Warlocks only in the late game.
• Warlocks are level-value builds. Don't focus on hero upgrades too much, try to reach lvl9 ASAP. The only hero you can consider three-starring is Shadow Fiend as he's your main carry in (6) Warlocks.
• Warlocks work great with Jull - their heals + his tankiness is what can get you through the mid game.

This is one of the best (6) Warlock lineups to be aiming at. In reality, you need to consider what the shop gives you. Make sure you have a decent frontline + (ideally) Healing Jull to benefit from your (4) Warlocks + (2/4) Healers in the mid game.

You can find more Warlock builds in our Dota Underlords Warlocks Guide.

Keys to success:

• Your core is (4) Heartless. (6) Heartless is a luxury.
• You usually need damage-dealing carries to combine with the Heartless bonus. Those usually come from Hunters (Terrorblade), but Lifestealer with the Brute bonus is also very decent if you manage to get him to three stars.

The example above is arguably the best build in the game, and the best thing about it is that you can easily cut two of the Heartless heroes (Necro and Abaddon) and you'll still have a very powerful build on lvl8/9 with (4) Heartless.

Run Slardar until you find Medusa. You might not want to replace him with Troll if you have Slardar on three stars, but a Troll is better than a two-star Slardar if you have the (2) Scaled bonus covered by Medusa.

Not all upgrades are equal:

Utility heroes give much less value when upgraded to a higher star level than tanks and damage-dealers. For example, a one-star Disruptor is usually more than enough to make a Warlock/Brawny builds strong. You use him for the Alliances and the utility of the AoE silence. His stats and the damage of the silence don’t matter that much, so a two/three-star upgrade on Disruptor doesn’t make a huge difference. For contrast - a two-star Troll Warlord is much more impactful than a one-star Troll Warlord and can make a big difference because he contributes with DPS, which depends on his stats.

Understanding which units are your upgrade priorities can help you prioritize bench space easier and improve your results as a whole. The rule of thumbs is that you need upgrades on the heroes that need high stats (tanks and damage-dealers), while you don’t on heroes who you keep mainly for the Alliance and Ace bonuses.

Positioning is game-breaking in the late game:

This sounds like an obvious statement. However, I don’t mean just spreading your heroes to avoid AoE, etc. Absolutely minor changes on the board can turn the outcome of the round when the two armies are close in power.

For example, in previous tests we had two corner box formations fighting. Something as simple as swapping the position of Dazzle and Witch Doctor within the formation (both utility heroes, not the main carries or tanks in the draft) changed the outcome of the fight. The reason, in this case, was that Dazzle was a more valuable unit in that particular fight because the round was long (the fight was against a Knight benchmark build) and putting him on the backline meant he can cast more heals over the duration of the fight, bringing a lot of value. Multiple Witchdoctor Casks, in comparison, weren’t as impactful.

In other fights, however, the opposite might be true. For example, against Assassins, a couple of stuns would certainly be more valuable than a couple of heals because Assassins nuke heroes quickly anyway and reduce healing done.

So, if you’re fighting against Assassins the Witch Doctor should be the hero you’re protecting more rather than the Dazzle, while against Knights the opposite is true. Such minor positioning insights could make a big difference in the long run, especially in the last few rounds when you're fighting for the top position.

Damage is not linear:

A very small difference in power could lead to a big difference in the damage inflicted at the end of the round. What we mean is that a strategy would be losing by ~15 damage against a benchmark build in our tests, and then improving it the slightest (e.g. one more hero upgrade) would cause it to win by ~15 damage instead.

The main culprits for this effect are usually AoE damage and heals. Some strategies win or lose gradually, but AoE damage and healing strategies usually have drastic damage swings.

This is easy to imagine with Mages – if your board is slightly weaker than the enemy board, a lot of enemy heroes will survive on a sliver of HP and will inflict a lot of damage to you at the end of the round. Hunters are the opposite – you bring down enemy heroes one by one, so it’s entirely possible that the last standing enemy hero is the one that beats you, inflicting minor damage at the end of the round.

Another great example is Warlocks. They utilize a lot of healing. This means that if they win a round, a lot of the heroes in the Warlock build will survive and will deal a lot of damage to the enemy player at the end of the round. It’s very unlikely that a Warlock build wins the round with just one or two heroes left.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed the article, stay tuned for more Underlords content (you can give us a follow on our social media below!).

You can see the rest of our Dota Underlords guides in our Library and our articles about the game in our blog. If you are a Dota 2 player as well (which is fairly likely if you're playing Dota Underlords), I bet you'll enjoy our just-for-fun Dota 2 Tier List.