Nice one, Well done!!
Keep em' coming!!

Good article, some solid arguments here. I would also like to propose QoP as another good starting hero for midlaners (since you've mentioned at least 2 heroes for every other role except mid). She has decent stats and laning tools, a mobility spell, and significant amount of burst damage. Playing Queen could teach new players about powerspikes, applying pressure on the map, and her item build is quite flexible so there is definitely room for experiments. Her winrate seems to drop at lower ratings though.

Great explanation ! I do believe Death Prophet is good to learn for beginners

For newcomers you're probably right, DP is a fairly safe choice, but it comes with the caveat that you're not playing with anyone above your level too much. I've got over 200 games with DP and the majority of them were at the beginning of my....'career'? Not sure what to call it but definitely not that....where hitting that R button scared people.

But.

DP gets bullied out of lane early and fast. Terrible attack animation and poor base damage mean it's fairly frustrating to get farm early, especially because your level 1 swarm is really weak and higher levels really drain your mana so you have to be considered with it. Spirit Siphon doesn't do quite enough to keep you alive a lot of the time if the enemy is smart enough to delta split, and having 'charges' basically means in a fight 'this cooldown is 3x as long to actually be effective'. The worst offender of all, however, is the ultimate. It lasts approx. 3-5x the time of a regular fight, which is nice for hitting buildings after the fight but shortsheets your utility within the fight when you need larger bursts of damage. It also means you aren't going to get that life saving heal until well after you need it, which leads to a lot of wasted ultimates and high cooldowns.

For this player, at least, this makes DP feel like a crisis of identity. She can survive a little without farm, so she isn't a safe laner. She needs levels, but can't always survive the mid lane well enough, and doesn't provide the tempo that a lot of lineups are looking for in a mid lane hero. Offlane makes the most sense for what she provides, but there's no question that she will get bullied out. I still think you're right: the hero is great to teach you a lot of things about the mid lane. But, later, I think players will learn to see what DP doesn't provide, which, again, is a fantastic learning device. Even further down the line, they could learn when she REALLY works with a lineup, and is a perfect candidate for beginning to be mindful about the overwhelming advantage communication provides.

Solid article. I think DK is a good beginner hero for mid. Teaches positioning especially as a melee midlaner, trading last hits for harass, the concept of "can farm to become carry, but better off making space", an early understanding of power spikes (level 6, I ult, I'm strong. Blink dagger, I am very strong.) Also has the three things you mentioned: can gank, can teamfight, can push. Then again, he might cause lazy habits by being tanky enough (people won't ferry out regen).
For pos 1 carry, wouldn't a ranged hero facilitate their learning of the game better? Maybe Drow or Luna, who has enough clear to keep up with melee carries who can battle fury/radiance, and also can show up to fights early

@ET

I'd say Sniper would make even more sense. Doesn't have to step up to creep wave, ultimate isn't contingent on nearby creeps, doesn't lose damage if someone is too close, and makes it abundantly clear why positioning is important. I'd put razor and dusa in the mix as well for ranged.

Necrophos is even easier hero to play than DP.. but it has lower ganking exposure..

Good article. But what I would love next would be an article on weaver. Weaver's build has changed a lot since the new 7.28 items have been introduced, and there are so many great midgame options for him, Sange and Yasha, Diffusal blade, Desolator, Maelstrom all of those with the option of falcon blade beforehand. I would love an article on when to buy these items.

Hit the nail on the head with death prophet. I pretty much learned how to play dota only playing death prophet, taught me a lot about what's important in the game.

Антимага рекомендовать новичку? Ребят, вы с дуба рухнули? На этом герое мало того что надо уметь как минимум фармить, так ещё и грамотно перемещаться по карте и понимать что делать когда что-то пошло не по плану и это я молчу про грамотное прожатие кнопок да понимание силы своего героя на линии (а ведь выжигание маны далеко не самый бесполезный скилл). В целом новичку порекомендовать но роль кора можно МК (особых мозгов не требует+ стоит практически с любым миллишником в харде)

Because Sniper is much less reliable due to the heavily reliant on positioning, I'd like to add a point that Drow and Luna are one of the safer picks for beginners.
Drow and Luna's skillset are very simple. The former has a great attack speed, silence to prevent ganks, slows, and once she reaches lvl 6, and Multishot allows to clear camp stacks very fast, also she is one of the best ranged pushers in the game for beginners who wants to play carry: excellent damage output from long range, multishot, and buffs any other ranged cores (e.g. DK with dragon).

Luna, on the other hand, have a great mix magical and physical damage output, easy to push, easy nukes, and easy to farm. Despite she is generally played as a physical-damage pusher carry, on the other hand, if she wants to go magical damage, she can be terrifying threat for high-armor melee heroes and heroes that tends to stay on the backlines (DK, TB, Sniper, Snap, etc.)

QOP is difficult. Even for upper level, one death = gg. QOP is that kinda hero.

i didnt think i gonna comment in this but i dont think dp is a easy hero lol

void spirit or zeus is better is probably way more braindead and easy

void spirit is super strong at lane too and spells are easy to land except remmant but you can just always go 2 3 build anyway

^I think KawaiiSocks's point in this article was guiding beginners towards heroes are "easy" but also teach you the proper way to play Dota, not just relying on stupid shit that can be countered starting Legend and above. Not saying that Void Spirit and Zeus won't teach you how to play Dota, but that DP is the right mix of easy enough yet won't blatantly carry the player.

>IceFrog managed to make them balanced

Actually, I've stopped reading the article after this.
Icefg can't balance anything for years.

sniper and DP are both decent heroes beginners need to grind more in the process so that they can coup up DOTA scene whether pub or pro players DOTA will be and always be a team played game for them to succeed... to wrap up beginners should coordinate and teach, learn TEAM PLAY DOTA. it is the core structure of the game beginners should embed as their CREED for DOTA.

In pubs, heroes like DP or Leshrac are only reliable if you use them to push objectives. In the case of DP, exorcism can be extremely underwhelming in team fights when your team in not in sync with you. It is just better to use it to push objectives and Roshan. If the new player understands that (which they absolutely do not), then yeah, it is a good beginner hero (so, it isn't).

Jug has higher skill ceiling than WK but both heroes can be punished for using their abilities wrong. Jug requires basic skill and mana management, which a lot of new players do not have. It also requires you to know how to manage your healing ward, which low mmr players cannot do. WK, when he has ulti up, he should be the first person to die in a fight. Try to convince your low mmr WK to just walk in there die and trust his team will not bail while he is reincarnating (they will bail).

All heroes can be hard to play if things around you are incoherent, which they mostly are. Any PA player can seem godlike when his offlaner Tide or Underlord buys greaves/pipe and his support Tusk or Dazzle buys a medallion into solar crest and knows how to use it. Try to play PA when your Pango, Weaver offlaner is farming your jungle, not pushing towers, buying all carry items and zero auras, or your DK mid is getting a freaking radiance and hitting camps. It all is relative in dota.