DOTA 2: Doom Build Guide

Doom is one of the most versatile heroes in Dota 2. However, as proved by various teams in TI4, Doom is made to fill in the shoes of a solo Offlaner. If you want to know how teams in pubs and pro tournaments make playing Doom look like a piece of cake in the latest patch, this guide is perfect for you.

So, buckle up as we explore Doom’s playstyle with a detailed guide on his build, including the best-in-slot items, abilities, and general tips.

Doom’s Playstyle

Doom is one of the most versatile heroes in Dota 2, sufficient to fill the Support and Roamer spots in any team. However, the best role for Doom is arguably a solo Offlaner. The Devour ability of Doom allows you to consume enemy side creeps, netting in increased experience and gold. Once you reach level 6, you can target the enemy Carry or Support for a guaranteed kill.

How Do Doom’s Abilities Work?

The first step towards a solid Doom build is understanding his abilities in depth. His ability kit is extremely versatile, enhancing various aspects of Doom’s playstyle, including farming, agility, damage dealing, and combat initiation. Take a look at his abilities described below.

Devour

This ability allows Doom to target and instantly kill any non-friendly Creep, providing gold and experience. After consuming the Creep, bonus gold is granted to Doom. With the Autocast enabled, Doom also gains any special abilities that the Creep possessed.

Scorched Earth

This ability makes a carpet of flame around Doom that damaged enemies in its range while providing increased movement speed to Doom. It deals magic damage to the enemies. The enhanced movement with Scorched Earth makes Doom one of the most agile heroes in the early phase of the game.

Infernal Blade

The Infernal Blade ability allows Doom to deal damage-over-time to enemies by swinging his scorched sword. It inflicts base damage to the enemy and, in addition, damage based on a percentage of their max HP. The initial hit also stuns the enemies for a short period.

Doom (Ultimate)

Doom’s ultimate is one of the best single-enemy incapacitating abilities in the game. It inflicts a curse on the enemy hero that renders them unable to use spells or items while they take damage over time. When your team is ganking an enemy, using Doom on that enemy guarantees a kill.

Doom’s Build Guide

This build guide is focused on his role as an Offlaner. We will cover the strats and items for various game phases, so you can be sure you’re on the right track for providing maximum value through your slots and abilities.

Laning Phase

During the Laning phase, your best friend will be the Devour ability of Doom. This ability instakills any creep in its path, rendering enemies unable to deny the gold. Furthermore, Devour allows you to gain more gold and experience with minimal farming. Make sure you max out Devour first. Once you’re close to level 6, you can start targetting enemy Carry or Support.

The ideal starting items for this build are as follows:

• Tango: It helps with sustainability in the Laning phase by restoring health.
• Healing: Since you’ll be up against 2 or 3 enemy heroes as an Offlaner, you should start with Healing for extra HP restoration.
• Iron Branch: It provides a +1 bonus in Strength, Agility, and Intelligence. You can upgrade Iron Branch into Magic Wand by the mid-game.

Early To Mid Game

The second ability you should max out is Scorched Earth. It helps a ton in the early game by providing you extra mobility and movement speed, with decent AoE damage dealt to the enemies. With Scorched Earth up, you can take some risks early-to-mid game by solo engaging in combat and taking enemy territory. Your goal in the early-to-mid game should be combat initiation for your team.

You should focus on building the following items during these game phases:

• Soul Ring: Since Doom doesn’t have a stacked mana pool, the Soul Ring provides additional mana to increase the uptime on his abilities.
• Boots of Speed: As Scorched Earth is already a strong ability to help with movement, Boots of Speed further enhance your movement speed and mobility. It helps you play solo early on, as the enemies won’t be able to gank you.
• Phase Boots: This item provides a mobility bonus that stacks on top of Scorched Earth. Furthermore, it grants Doom bonus armor.
• Magic Wand: You can upgrade your Iron Branch into Magic Wand by mid-game for increased health and mana regeneration. It helps you become tankier for better Initiation for your team.

Late Game

By the late game, you should have a full-fledged Initiator kit. Your aim should be to seek out engagements and set up your team for a favorable fight. Doom’s ultimate plays a big role in incapacitating enemies and disabling their spells. Furthermore, you should have Infernal Blade maxed out by this point to deal damage after you stun an opponent with your ultimate.

The following items complete a solid Offlaner Initiator build of Doom by the late game phase:

• Shiva’s Guard: As Doom relies heavily on his abilities, Shiva’s Guard is essential to make up for his low mana pool.
• Blink Dagger: Since the Blink Dagger is a powerful initiation tool, you can use it to close distance from an enemy and hinder their movement using your ultimate. Blind Dagger will be your core movement item by the end game, allowing you to Initiate fights all over the map.
• Lotus Orb: It provides additional armor to Doom with health regeneration. Being an Initiator, it is important for Doom to be as tanky as possible for increased survivability.

General Tips

1. Doom is one of the best farm characters in the game due to his Devour ability. It allows you to stack up on gold quickly. You can make your playstyle versatile by opting for various different situation items, depending on your team’s requirements.
2. One of the biggest cons of Doom is his low base vitality, mana, and agility. Hence you should start working towards obtaining items that enhance these attributes as early as possible.
3. Due to the versatility of Doom’s kit, you can help your team as a support using your ultimate, even if you have a low farm in the game.

Final Thoughts

We hope now you understand how to utilize the maximum potential of Doom and replicate the high-tier gameplay you see in the tournaments. If you’re looking for more Dota 2 guides, our catalog is the best place for you to understand the best builds of each hero.