Mars

● Strengthmeleephysical damageCarryInitiatorDisablerDurable

The warrior deity Mars thrives in the heart of strife, guarded by the bulk of a deadly shield as he skewers enemies with his legendary spear. He revels in facing opponents in an arena ringed with loyal spearmen—who guarantee that no one escapes and that whatever odds he's facing, the god of war can dictate the terms of battle knowing the crowd is forever on his side.

Pos 3 — Offlane
Win rate
47.9%
Pick rate
3.5%
Armor / MS
2 / 310
Range
250

Abilities

Official ability data from Valve
Spear of MarsQ⏱ 14 / 13 / 12 / 11s◆ 90 / 100 / 110 / 120
Mars throws his legendary Spear with deadly precision, damaging each enemy unit it strikes. The first enemy hero it hits is skewered on the spear, pushing it back. If a skewered hero hits a tree, building, or cliff, they will be impaled to it and stunned.
Mechanics notes (2)
  • • Spear of Mars can hit invisible units and reveals them if they are stunned.
  • • Spear of Mars will only pin a unit to cliffs onto elevated areas, otherwise it will push them off onto lower ground.
God's RebukeW⏱ 16 / 14 / 12 / 10s◆ 90
Mars smashes enemies in front of him with his shield, knocking them back and damaging them with a critical hit based on his attack. Bonus damage is added when hitting heroes. Has True Strike.
Mechanics notes (1)
  • • Attack modifiers have a chance to proc on God's Rebuke attacks.
BulwarkE
Mars wields his massive shield to block a portion of each physical attack when hit from the front or sides. Can be toggled, granting phased movement, removing Mars's ability to attack, and locking the direction he is facing. When active, reduces movement speed and re-directs 70% of the attack projectiles aimed at allies towards himself.
Mechanics notes (2)
  • • Redirect only works if the projectile targets are in a cone behind Mars or within 100 range of him.
  • • Break disables the front and side damage reduction.
•
DauntlessInnate
Mars gets more HP Regen the more he is outnumbered by enemy heroes in 900 radius.
Arena Of BloodR⏱ 100 / 95 / 90s◆ 150 / 200 / 250
After a short formation time, Mars summons an arena lined with the undead warriors of the Ash Legion, who block enemy attacks and movement. Enemy heroes near the inside edge of the arena will be attacked by spears, dealing damage and knocking them back.
Traits ours:Stuns & disablesInitiationHigh armor

Our ratings

0–10, our judgement — every planner uses them
EarlyMidLateLaningWave clearTeamfightPickoffDisableDurabilityMobility

Aghanim's upgrades

Upgrade text from Valve · priority is ours Our recommendation
Aghanim's Sceptermedium priority
Bulwark: Soldiers move alongside Mars, dealing his attacks that have bonus damage, knock back and slow approaching enemies. An enemy can only be attacked by one soldier at a time.
Arena Of Blood: If an enemy is killed in the Arena, Mars and all of his allies inside the Arena restore 35% of their max health and mana and get a 35% attack damage buff for 20s. This effect stacks.
Aghanim's Shardmedium priority
Spear of Mars: Spear of Mars impales up to 1 heroes and leaves a fire trail behind that deals damage over time and slows movement speed.

Tips & counterplay

Playing as Mars

Teamfight initiator. Blink → Arena → Spear the team into a wall.

Laning: God's Rebuke hits heroes behind creeps.

Kill combo: Spear into a tree → Rebuke → autos; Arena traps escapers.

Staying alive: Bulwark blocks frontal damage; Spear peels divers.

From real games (OpenDota)
  • • Most games are in the off lane (90.6%, 48% win rate).
  • • Blink Dagger: usually done by 15 min; finishing it by 10 min wins 69.2%.
  • • Phase Boots: usually done by 10 min; finishing it by 8 min wins 55.2%.
  • • Aghanim's Shard: usually done by 20 min; finishing it by 20 min wins 55.8%.
  • • Gets stronger the longer the game goes (43.4% before 20 min → 48.4% after 60 min).

Playing against Mars

Generated from this hero's traits, counters and real matchups

Stuns & disables Black King Bar, Linken's Sphere or Lotus Orb. Spread out so one stun doesn't catch the whole team.

Initiation Ward their approach paths, hold Black King Bar or Aeon Disk, and stay spread.

High armor Desolator or Blight Stone, or switch to magic damage.

  • • Respect Mars at Lvl 6: Arena + Spear kills on any hero.
  • • Respect Mars at Blink: Initiates teamfights.
  • • Respect Mars at Aghanim's: Frontline wall.

Talents

Current talents (Valve)
God's Rebuke +65% Crit
25
Arena Of Blood Grants Team +180 HP Regen
+70 Arena Of Blood Spear Damage
20
+0.5s Spear of Mars Stun
-2.5s God's Rebuke Cooldown
15
+100 Spear Of Mars Damage
+100 God's Rebuke Distance
10
+1.5 Mana Regen

Best items

Position 3 build Our recommendation
Starting
Early
››
Core
›››
Luxury

Power spikes

Our recommendation
Lvl 6Arena + Spear kills on any hero.
BlinkInitiates teamfights.
Aghanim'sFrontline wall.

Best skill build

Position 3 Our recommendation
123456789101112131415161718
Q Spear of MarsQQQQ
W God's RebukeWWWW
E BulwarkEEEE
R Arena of BloodRRR
T Talent★★

Toughest lane opponents

From our matchup model, adjusted by each opponent's laning rating Our recommendation
Invoker−23
Dazzle−15

Live stats OpenDota · 2026-10-14

Public match stats

Win rate (all ranks)
47.9%
Win rate (Divine+)
47.5%
Pick rate
3.5% of matches
Sample
142,653 picks
Pro
7 picks · 28.6% WR · 2% ban

Lane presence

off90.6% · 48% WR
mid7.7% · 50% WR
safe1.7% · 35% WR

Win rate by rank

Public matches per medal bracket
48.4%Herald47.4%Guardian47.6%Crusader47.9%Archon48%Legend48.2%Ancient47.5%Divine

Win rate by game length

Minutes · OpenDota parsed games
43.4%10′46.6%20′48%30′50.1%40′50.5%50′48.4%60′

Item timings

When the item is finished, and the timing that wins most (≥15 games)
ItemGamesUsualWin %Best timing
Blink Dagger1,09115′48.9%≤10′ · 69.2%
Phase Boots1,07810′48.8%≤8′ · 55.2%
Aghanim's Shard88020′52.6%≤20′ · 55.8%
Black King Bar46930′57.6%≤25′ · 65.8%
Eul's Scepter of Divinity39025′50.8%≤20′ · 58.2%
Desolator19725′52.8%≤25′ · 58.1%
Vladmir's Offering4615′60.9%≤15′ · 68.8%
Aghanim's Scepter4230′81%≤30′ · 81%

What players actually buy

Most purchased items by game phase
Start
Early
Mid
Late

Best real matchups

Head-to-head win rate, ≥40 games

Worst real matchups

Head-to-head win rate, ≥40 games

Recent pro & league games

Most recent league matches featuring this hero
LeagueResultK / D / ALengthDate
DreamLeague Season 30 QualifiersLoss3 / 7 / 421′2026-10-11
DreamLeague Season 30 QualifiersWin6 / 0 / 1943′2026-10-11
DreamLeague Season 30 QualifiersWin6 / 1 / 1117′2026-10-11
DreamLeague Season 30 QualifiersLoss4 / 6 / 223′2026-10-11
DreamLeague Season 30 QualifiersWin6 / 6 / 1236′2026-10-11
DreamLeague Season 30 QualifiersLoss4 / 8 / 824′2026-10-09
PARI Universe by FISSURE Closed Qualifiers Win8 / 10 / 2782′2026-10-08
PARI Universe by FISSURE Closed Qualifiers Win5 / 4 / 1647′2026-10-07

Lore

Mars, first son of heaven, spent a long existence waging endless war, and saw countless more crusades waged beneath the banner of his old name. Wars of conquest and of vengeance. Just and unjust... Always cruel. So much like his father, Mars indulged his basest impulses--with inclinations much more monstrous than those of Zeus--and he inflicted suffering untold. But as the epochs vanished behind him, the selfish ways of his father--the ways of many amongst his godly kin, they who judged him despicable--eventually began to ring hollow. War for its own sake was no longer enough to satisfy his desires. For the first time in his ageless days, the god of war began to question to what ends he swung his glorious spear. As the Fates would have it, his solution came easily: he must wage war for a larger purpose, and inspire more than mere savagery and sorrow at the sight of his crest. He must at last lay claim to the mantle of leadership that is his birthright, for the time has come to burn down the pantheon of the old age and build a just new empire atop the ashes of his kin. Only then might he find satisfaction, and make the glory of Mars evident to all.