Picking these will almost certainly guarantee pub wins under the right circumstances.
With the TI 10 Qualifiers starting for the South America and CIS regions in a few days, it’s time for us to take a look at the current meta going forward in Dota 2. The past few patches have shaped up the game in a very interesting way, one where there is an incredible amount of focus on an area of control as well as powerful disables.
In particular, it’s interesting to look at the recent AniMajors — and the ESL One Summer 2021 in some capacity — to try and figure out how professional players pick and draft into The International 10 Qualifiers.
Mars
The second most-picked hero in the AniMajor is the First Son of Heaven, Mars, and for good reason. A lot of teams from across all regions place a very high priority on either picking or banning him, as his kit is compatible across multiple diverse lineups and strategies. With a spammable, low-cooldown wave clear ability in God’s Rebuke and a devastating single target stun in Spear of Mars, Mars is amazing in a lot of situations and a great safe first pick for a lot of teams.
The hero’s ultimate, Arena of Blood, also offers a great area of control for the initiating team should they catch more than one hero inside it. This skill in particular makes Mars great both as an initiator and a counter-initiator, as it can allow skilled players to disengage manually without committing too much, since the skill has a relatively short cooldown.
Another reason for the hero’s high pick-rate is its versatility in that it can play as both an off-laner or a mid-laner. In the hands of a good team, the hero is pretty cheap to build for as well, as Mars can play with just Bracers, a Soul Ring and a Eul’s Scepter to set up Spear stuns for easy engagements. Mid-laner Mars also has an easy time last-hitting creeps in lane thanks to God’s Rebuke, with the bonus that it can also deal some harassment to nearby enemy heroes.
Winter Wyvern
If you’re struggling in pubs as either a position 4 or 5, then this hero might just be free MMR. Winter Wyvern makes it to the top 10 of the most picked heroes and with an amazing win rate of 68 percent. A lot of professional teams have started to see its potential healing capability thanks to the current iteration of the Holy Locket, an item that boosts your healing by a whopping 35 percent. Coupled with the Cold Embrace skill plus the level 10 talent, you could potentially heal an ally for so much that it can reset important fights for your team.
Winter Wyvern’s ultimate, Winter’s Curse, is also an amazing skill that lets teams commit fully to a team fight and potentially pick off a single target while disabling others. Professional players recognize the hero mostly because of this and the ability to instantly turn the tide of battle. The laning phase for this hero is also pretty good, thanks to some very decent harassment tools in Arctic Burn and Splinter Blast.
Dragon Knight
The third most-picked hero is Davion, the Dragon Knight. A straightforward hero with above decent stats and a devastating single-target stun, Davion is also favored by a lot of professional teams due to the simplicity of its kit and the utility it can bring to team fights. The hero is mostly played either as an off-laner or mid-laner, but has also recently seen play in position 4 with amazing results.
Dragon Tail, Davion’s second skill, is one of the longest targeted stuns in the game which makes him a great safe initiator with a Blink Dagger. Dragon Blood allows him to lane relatively easily thanks to his innate tankiness, while Breathe Fire is good for clearing waves as well as reducing the damage of enemies hit. His Ultimate, Elder Dragon Form, is also a good tool for pushing towers early in the game, especially when he is played in the mid lane.
Davion is one of the few heroes that will continue to be a safe pick thanks to its overall simplicity. It’s also amazing even with few items, so long as players always get a Blink Dagger for that initiation.
Templar Assassin
A hero that also enjoys popularity right now thanks to how broken her damage output is, Templar Assassin is a first-rate mid-laner under the right conditions. Professional teams with mid-laners that can utilize its power efficiently will almost see this hero banned out by the enemy team, and for good reason. The hero is probably the best when it comes to clearing both Ancient and Large Neutral camps in the triangle even with minimal itemizing thanks to Psi Blades and Refract.
To add to this, she’s also one of the few which can clear Roshan efficiently earlier into the game, thanks to the many armor reducing skills the Templar Assassin has. While she needs expensive items to come online (Blink Dagger and Desolator, for starters), as long as she maintains a decent amount of farm she will be a terror throughout the game with very minimal fall-off.
The meta going into TI Qualifiers
While there has been no definitive news as of yet as to when the next big patch is coming, it is safe to assume that at least two heroes from above will most likely see balance changes. In particular, Winter Wyvern may see an indirect nerf due to one being given to Holy Locket, and Templar Assassin may get one that relates to Psi Blades range and its interaction with Dragon Lance.
In the larger scale of things, however, the meta might not change drastically, with many teams favoring lineups that can control large areas and use it to their advantage. Medusa, Axe and Broodmother were handed hefty nerfs in the last patch, and yet they continue to see regular competitive play due to how good they are at playing the control game. Overall, though, the teams that adapt the best to what changes may come will most likely win their respective qualifiers — that one final hurdle to pass before The International comes this August.
