The Dotabuddy System...

Gather round kids, and let me tell you a story!

Back in ye olde days, and I'm talking pre-6.70 Dota 1 olde days, the Radiant or Dire alignment of your hero actually mattered! Only people on the Radiant side could pick Radiant, and vice versa.

This is common knowledge. What's slightly less common knowledge is the next bit.

Since the hero pool was limited, OSFrog designed heroes to have a Radiant and a Dire counterpart that had a similar ability layout, even if it played very differently (he intended for them to have the same role, I'd bet - but people experiment and you get abominations like carry Windrunner).

This is still evident in Dota 2. You get lovely couples like:

Abaddon and Omniknight
Lion and Lina
Terrorblade and Naga Siren
Anti-Mage and Phantom Assassin

It's an interesting design feature which sadly screws with balance like you wouldn't believe. You probably looked at the last point and wondered 'how the hell do you put AM and PA on the same page?' Again, it's their ability layout. Both heroes have an innate blink. Both have a high resistance to some form of damage. Both are midgame physical damage burst carries. A designer would look at their spells and think, 'yep. They'll be similar in playstyle.' Of course, they aren't, because of a variety of reasons.

What other comboes are there?

Troll Warlord and Slardar
One I'm not 100% sure about is Luna and Medusa
Queen of Pain and either Puck or Storm Spirit - old Storm was a really weird hero with an ult kinda similar to Skewer.

So, what ones can you think of? This list isn't exhaustive!

How can you forget Sven and Wraith King?! The two have skills so similar it's hard to think they weren't buddies before!

Bounty Hunter and Riki also come to mind.

Drow Ranger and Clinkz maybe?
Arc Warden and Meepo
Io and pit lord
outworld devourer and Silencer

Actually a fun fact.

Whats the command again? -ap?

But booty hunter and Riki are radiant, or in dota 1's case, "sentinel" if I recall right.

Wasn't riki in dire?

Nope, both are Sentinel. I think the comparison was Bounty and Nyx.

Also, Wisp and Arc Warden weren't in Dota at that time, along with Kunkka, Timbersaw, Winter Wyvern, Batrider, Elder Titan, Gyrocopter, Disruptor, Shadow Demon, Tusk and Ancient Apparition.

Tiny and Centaur?? I didnt quite understand how did you put those heroes there but I am guessing you are talking about perfect couples or combinations that works out most of the time.

Oh yes, that does remind me.

Not Tiny and Centaur, but the pair is Axe and Centaur Warrunner .

And another one is Enigma and Magnus, as the purple ghost used to be Radiant... for whatever reason.

Don't forget about Pudge and Clockwerk, two long range initiators (with their respective hook abilities), only difference is Clockwerk's hook pulls him to the target whereas Pudge's hook pull his target toward him.

Oh, good one!

It's weird that Chen and Enchantress were both Sentinels, because it'd be an easy fit with them... possibly, old Visage was meant to be their counterpart.

Troll Warlord and Slardar are also a possibility.