Dota 2 Competitive Hero Tier List

We're just a few weeks past the end of this year's The International championship, and what a tournament it was! Nearly six full days of Dota 2 goodness and I'm still trying to recuperate. Valve's dedication to the tournament was unparalleled. The production value and the quality of the content of the event was absolutely terrific, and if there's one thing that went wrong it's that we have to wait a full year until TI3! 

Fortunately for us, things don't just simply end with such a massive tournament. The event is sure to spawn a rippling effect in both the competitive and public metagame. The easiest way to observe any differences in the meta is simply by looking at the drafting process. I actually compiled this data from a handful of tournaments way before TI2 even happened, however I was unable to publish due to university constraints. This gives us a good opportunity to see how I weighed heroes free from any TI2 bias.

The information I used to construct the lists below is taken from recent championships that have occured in the two months that precede The International (The Defense 2012, Beyond the Summit World Tour 2012, It's Gosu Monthly Madness Asia #1, and the GosuLeague Div. 1 Season III). Games played, amount of wins, number of bans, and prevalence to be picked has been recorded below over the course of 266 total games courtesy of  dota-academy.com.

The tier lists below has been constructed based mostly on statistics, however, I have made some subjective adjustments. For instance, I believe a first ban hero is much more valuable than someone like a forth pick support that is grabbed more often. So I feel that it should be noted that this is in no way a definite weighing of heroes but rather a guide to the trending of picks. It's likely that you will disagree with my tiering, in fact it's nearly guaranteed. Feel free to comment and discuss why you feel a hero is out of place - I'd be happy to reconsider!

 

Previous S-Tier

Heroes that comprise the first picks and bans - the rockstars that take a huge effort to counter.

There should be no surprise that each hero here is capable of both considerable pushing power and team presence in addition to being incredibly hard to shut down. I think it's interesting to note that of the 266 games recorded, Lycanthrope was banned a staggering 222 times! That's nearly ten times more than he is even picked! Dark Seer and Nature's Prophet are the only other heroes that come close to the ban-worthiness that Lycan has earned, netting themselves a huge 190 and 159 bans respectively. Now, Naga Siren is the only hero to not meet the contention rate of her other s-tier colleagues (sitting at a measly .49 frequency, nearly half of the other heroes!), however, the conglomeration of her abilities and ridiculously powerful ultimate earned her the spot.

 

Previous A-Tier

These are the heroes that are likely to make it past the banning phase and will be choice pick-ups for the team.

Most interesting here is the rise in value that has been seen for both Tinker and Morphling. March of Machines plus Heat-Seeking Missle spam is such an incredible deterrent for early game pushes and team fights, especially in the current push metagame. Rearm Boots of Travel also transforms Tinker into a versatile pusher/ganker and is why we see him here.

Similarly we see Morphling back on his throne as preferred carry now that Anti-Mage is no longer picked as often. It should also be noted that heavier support heroes (those with hard stuns and nukes) have been abandoned in favor for more push oriented supports like Venomancer and Enchantress. With both of those heroes seeing more than three times as much use as a more token support like Crystal Maiden.

 

Previous B-Tier

Staple heroes that have a pronounced effect on the game but have slightly more particular roles.

It is my great pleasure to place Anti-Mage in this bracket, with him seeing little more than 20% of play in total matches. One year ago in the first International, Anti-Mage saw a massive 87% use in games! Anti-Mage has seen zero nerfs to his abilities, so it's clear that his demotion from the S-Tier is purely a metagame change.  His inability to cope with early game pushes has landed him here, so it's a wonder that both Death Prophet and Shadow Shaman dwell here as well - two heroes with arguably the best pushing ultimates in the game.

 

Previous C-Tier

Situational heroes and team specific picks-ups.

 Here we have the majority of our counterpick heroes. I was reserved about placing Mirana, Juggernaut, and Keeper of the Light in this bracket as they fall moderately well into the current meta. However, due to their lacking performance in recent championships, I ultimately agreed to place them here. 

 

Previous D-Tier

Heroes that do not see the light of day due to their weakness in the current meta.

If you thought the C-Tier heroes were niche, well, we're on a whole 'nother level! While I feel like some of these heroes are obviously stronger than the rest of the pool - namely Dazzle, Lion, and Sven - practically all of these heroes share the same shortcomings. They are mostly late-game heroes, suffice to say they struggle to gain momentum in the face of a early pressure. 

 

Previous F-Tier

Heroes completely abandoned by the competitive scene.

 This list is probably the least shocking, but to think that four of these heroes were top tier at one point in time! In my opinion, Alchemist and Spirit Breaker are the most unreliable of the bunch and are similarly most deserving of a rework to their abilities.

 

266 Matches	Picks	Wins	Bans	Freq
Alchemist	0	0	0	.000
Ancient Apparition	24	7	14	.143
Anti-Mage	21	11	39	.226
Axe	4	2	1	.019
Bane	5	2	7	.045
Batrider	2	2	2	.015
Beastmaster	53	27	48	.380
Bloodseeker	0	0	1	.003
Bounty Hunter	23	11	8	.117
Brewmaster	59	26	88	.553
Broodmother	57	29	142	.748
Chaos Knight	69	30	106	.658
Chen	95	48	149	.917
Clinkz	11	3	6	.064
Clockwerk	3	3	0	.011
Crystal Maiden	49	20	19	.256
Dark Seer	61	39	190	.944
Dazzle	1	1	1	.008
Death Prophet	14	7	7	.079
Disruptor	15	7	5	.075
Doom Bringer	1	1	0	.004
Dragon Knight	1	7	95	.083
Drow Ranger	0	0	0	.000
Earthshaker	51	23	18	.259
Enchantress	70	32	104	.654
Enigma	118	58	93	.793
Faceless Void	6	3	0	.026
Gyrocopter	3	2	4	.026
Huskar	0	0	1	.004
Invoker	130	69	110	.902
Jakiro	4	0	1	.019
Juggernaut	8	4	5	.049
Keeper of the Light	8	3	3	.041
Kunkka	13	7	4	.064
Leshrac	153	81	105	.970
Lich	24	9	10	.128
Lion	1	0	0	.004
Lone Druid	87	41	95	.684
Luna	0	0	0	.000
Lycanthrope	28	15	222	.940
Mirana	10	5	1	.041
Morphling	92	47	61	.575
Naga Siren	27	14	103	.489
Nature's Prophet	96	53	159	.959
Necrolyte	0	0	0	.000
Night Stalker	36	19	26	.233
Nyx Assassin	0	0	0	.000
Ogre Magi	2	1	0	.000
Omniknight	2	0	0	.010
Outworld Destroyer	0	0	0	.000
Phantom Assassin	3	1	0	.015
Phantom Lancer	0	0	0	.000
Puck	15	8	3	.068
Pudge	6	2	0	.023
Pugna	12	4	3	.056
Queen of Pain	74	32	50	.466
Razor	1	1	0	.004
Riki	1	0	3	.015
Rubick	101	63	34	.508
Sand King	107	53	51	.594
Shadow Demon	117	61	92	.786
Shadow Fiend	4	2	1	.019
Shadow Shaman	43	20	21	.241
Silencer	0	0	2	.008
Skeleton King	1	0	2	.011
Slardar	7	5	7	.052
Sniper	1	1	4	.019
Spectre	2	0	0	.008
Spirit Breaker	0	0	0	.000
Storm Spirit	24	15	15	.147
Sven	5	1	0	.019
Templar Assassin	32	20	29	.229
Tidehunter	93	45	51	.541
Tinker	61	33	61	.459
Tiny	18	9	5	.086
Treant Protector	0	0	1	.004
Undying	10	8	6	.060
Ursa	1	1	3	.015
Vengeful Spirit	33	16	6	.147
Venomancer	144	68	49	.726
Viper	1	0	0	.004
Visage	3	1	2	.019
Warlock	2	0	0	.008
Weaver	5	3	0	.019
Windrunner	123	61	48	.647
Wisp	11	5	9	.075
Witch Doctor	4	0	0	.015
Zeus	0	0	0	.000

 

Apologies for the makeshift table of data as it was gathered by my own means. Thankfully, dota-academy does have their own display for TI2 picks so you won't have to suffer through mine for this next list! This information has been gathered over the course of 154 matches.

Tier Legend:
- Yellow border: hero was promoted compared to previous list.
- Red border: hero was demoted.

 

Current S-Tier

Heroes that comprise the first picks and bans - the rockstars that take a huge effort to counter.

I think at some point we all got tired of seeing Morphling during The International, he definitely solidified his place as the go-to carry; with (3!) escapes, early game strength, and farming ability he almost seemed like an unstoppable force.

But more importantly, we saw Rubick get even more play time than either Lycan or Chen! It's easy to see why he made the jump to this tier. While mostly known for his ability to steal other enemy skills, I think his true value lies in his versatility. It's difficult to guess right off the bat where Rubick is going to be laned, as he is both a strong solo and support. His stun functions three dimentionally, instantly lifting a target in addition to displacing them and stunning whatever nearby enemies. His aggressive nature really helped set the pace of many games in the tournament, and I expect him to continue being a top pick in the future.

 

Current A-Tier

These are the heroes that are likely to make it past the banning phase and will be choice pick-ups for the team.

With Morphling on the rise, Anti-Mage follows shortly after. Interestingly enough, the average gold per minute for AM is 574, nearly a full hundred higher than other hero averages. A massive indication of just how quickly he farms. Perhaps we'll see him rise back into the top tier in future tournaments. Bounty Hunter, Beastmaster, and Shadow Shaman also saw promotions; likely due to their strong affinity to be impactful without items. Also we saw Enigma drop down a tier, what could likely be attributed to Rubick hard countering Black Hole. 

 

Current B-Tier

Staple heroes that have a pronounced effect on the game but have slightly more particular roles.

 Nothing new to add here, although I think we can expect to see much more of Tiny and Disruptor in the future thanks to how well they performed during the event.

 

Current C-Tier

Situational heroes and team specific picks-ups.

Unfortunate to see Death Prophet take the jump down. I would love to see her as a counterpick to Naga/Anti-Mage/Morphling more often, Mouz does this moderately often and hopefully other teams may follow. Luna also saw a raise due to her natural carrying ability.

 

Current D-Tier

Heroes that do not see the light of day due to their weakness in the current meta.

 

Current F-Tier

Heroes completely abandoned by the competitive scene.

 

The turn away from the jungle pushing towards lane aggression is the change we can pull away from the championship matches. We saw Chinese teams outright ban jungle pushers, rarely taking them for themselves in support of a more farm dedicated 1 carry 4 aggression team composition and completely dominate more favored teams.

Perhaps it's simply a matter of training and the Chinese dedicated more time. Whether it's better play or superior strategies, it's clear that it's working for the Asian Dota 2 teams and I could not be more excited for what's to come for e-sports!