How to play Muerta, Dota 2’s newest hyper carry

Tens of thousands of players are figuring out how to play Muerta, and these item and skill builds are the most successful.

Muerta is a tough nut to crack for Dota 2 players. Her kit seems disjointed at first glance, but there are plenty of synergies to find between her multiple disables. She also has one of the trickiest skill shots in the game with big reward for landing it.

As with all new Dota 2 heroes, she’s currently struggling a day after release with a 44.5% win rate. However, those who know how to play Muerta properly can run over games with her versatile kit. Here are the best items and skill builds for Muerta one day after her official release.

The stats for our analysis are pulled from Dotabuff, which has currently parsed over 200,000 Muerta matches for information. Win rates are always subject to change, and Valve is likely to tinker with the hero within the next few weeks.

How to play Muerta as a hard carry

When it comes to items, Muerta benefits the most from utility and positioning tools. 

Muerta’s starting item build is standard, with Null Talisman parts, Tangos, and some Iron Branches for Wand. For boots, Power Treads are the most popular option, as they help with mana and provide more attack speed for Gunslinger. After boots, the most successful build appears to be Maelstrom into Dragon Lance. Maelstrom is especially strong with Gunslinger procs while Dragon Lance helps her stay on the edges of fights. 

The upgraded versions of both items are also very successful on Muerta. Hurricane Pike currently has a 54.25% win rate on the hero, as it provides a repositioning tool with useful stats. Gleipnir has incredible synergy with The Calling, as it sets up multiple heroes to be hit by ghosts. Maelstrom’s utility-focused upgrade has a 53.88% win rate as of March 7, 2023.

Muerta is fairly versatile, and there are several extension items that players can spring for depending on the situation. Black King Bar is often a necessity, as it makes her nearly immune to everything during Pierce The Veil. Raw damage from Daedalus is always multiplied by Gunslinger, giving her a massive effective damage increase. Satanic and Skadi and perfect for tanking up, and both have unsurprisingly high win rates.

Players who know how to play long-range attackers like Lina and Sniper should find themselves very comfortable on Muerta.

The best skill build and talents for Muerta

Muerta’s skills and talents can dish out a ton of damage in quick succession, making her the queen of long-range burst.

For her skill build, maxing Dead Shot is the obvious choice. The damage and fear duration both scale hard, and a 300 magic damage nuke at level seven is hard to turn down. The Calling is great with setup, and most supports can guarantee at least one ghost connects. Gunslinger may seem nice for incidentally harassing the offlaner, but it also pushes the wave, so save it for when other skills are maxed out.

As for talents, Muerta’s right-side column is preferable in almost every situation to the left. 100 extra damage on Dead Shot is fantastic, as is an extra 250 cast range. Both talents win 6.8% more often than their counterparts. At level 20, two Dead Shot charges allow her to burst squishy supports and keep cores feared for longer. The win rates for level 25 are more even, but 20% more Gunslinger is way more fun than 25% magic resist.