Metagame Analysis: February 2013

Carry
The weapon of choice for players in the carry role has shifted drastically in a short time period. Where players used to witness Sven tear up teamfights a few months ago along with his pal Magnus, he has since fallen out of favor after recent nerfs to his abilities in 6.77. In the wake of his absence, there have been many heroes that have stepped up to take his place as the carry of choice.

Lifestealer, in particular, has been seen 124 times (79 picks and 45 bans) in the past month. His ability to completely dominate the mid-game and scale well into the late game has definitely been one of the reasons why he has been shown so much love from players. Lifestealer is virtually unstoppable in the early laning phase, as with a Quelling Blade and a point or two into Feast, he can easily transition into the jungle if he is having a hard time in the lane.

One of the most popular combos is also the N'aix bomb, where the Lifestealer Infests an allied hero with high mobility and ganking potential such as a Nyx Assassin or Storm Spirit, and then making a quick run through the enemy jungle, looking for a lonely hero to pick off with the amount of burst damage they can deal.

The only real problem that a Lifestealer faces in the game is kiting. If a carry can't right-click you, a carry can't do its job. However, players nowadays gravitate towards an Orchid Malevolence pickup after their Armlet of Mordiggian rush, as opposed to standard Desolator or Skull Basher pickups. This helps Lifestealer a lot when dealing with other popular picks such as Queen of Pain, Puck and generally any other hero with a mechanism that allows them to kite Lifestealer while their carry melts the opposing supports.

Gyrocopter has also been seen a lot his month (117 appearances, with 76 picks and 41 bans), mainly because of his ability to cure the cancer that is Phantom Lancer. Many a time have we seen a Gyrocopter with a desperation Divine Rapier win the game by melting entire waves of illusions/creeps/heroes/treants etc. with his Flak Cannon.

With the amount of AoE output that he has, the hero has great synergy with prized initiators such as Enigma, Dark Seer, and the current king of initiation, Magnus. It is also worth noting that his large number of picks can also be derived from him also being a solid support pick.

Also, in regards to the dominance of Magnus and the power that is Reverse Polarity, AoE right-clicker extraordinaire Luna has seen 44 picks and 24 bans (68 appearances) over the last month. Although a much smaller number in comparison to the top two bans/picks, it is important not to undermine the power of Luna, especially as part of a trilane. With Lunar Blessing, which gives a non-percentage based damage bonus to allied heroes, her babysitters in the lane are able to dish out a good chunk of harass damage even if their inventories consist of only wards, consumables and brown boots.

Honorable Mentions go out to Lone Druid, who has also seen a strong showing, (72 appearances, with 32 picks and 40 bans). The versatility of this hero first comes from his ability to either sit back, relax and farm the safe lane or hit the offlane, pulling enemy creep waves through the enemy jungle all the way back down to his tier 1 or tier 2 tower to farm and rush his Radiance. Also worth noting are Phantom Lancer (52 appearances) and Chaos Knight (40 appearances), who are exceptionally strong heroes when coupled with the right support (free farm and Wisp, respectively).

 

Support

The unsung heroes of every game, picks for the support role have not changed much in the past few months.

The most talked about hero in the past month is Wisp, with 150 appearances (34 picks, 116 BANS). The mobility offered by Wisp is really what makes players fear him, with the increased movement speed granted by his Tether ability and the global map presence from Relocate. Once the Wisp hits level 6, a team that has warded well will be able to take advantage of an out-of-position hero with Wisp's Relocate, which teleports Wisp and an allied hero to a selected position on the map for 12 seconds, after which they will be called back to their original position. However, Wisp is a very squishy hero and can be burst down quickly if it is a fair 2v2 fight. Also, stunning a hero with Tether requires good positioning skills or a Chaos Knight on the team, lacking either will bring down the effectiveness of the Wisp pick.

Keeper of the Light is the next hero in this category with 143 appearances (71 picks and 72 bans), no thanks to his ability to adapt to most situations possible. Here's an example:

1. Does the lane need pushing? Start charging Illuminate.
2. Does the tower need to be defended against a double wave of creeps? Start charging Illuminate.
3. Do I, the Keeper of the Light, need to hit the jungle for some farm so that my carry can take last hits in the lane? Start charging Illuminate.
4. Are we going to smoke up and catch this group of heroes at Roshan unaware? Start charging Illuminate.

Keeper of the Light's good buddy Shadow Demon is the next most picked/banned with 113 appearances (64 picks and 49 bans). As if Illuminate isn't a horrible enough skill to face, Shadow Demon is there to make it go from irritating to just downright keyboard breaking levels of annoying. When opposing heroes are able to judge where the Illuminate is coming from, it's easy for them to stay out of the path and continue farming or harassing. However, with Disruption and Soul Catcher, an unfortunate hero gets to eat a guaranteed 2.5 seconds worth of Illuminate charge damage (about 200 damage) along with a bonus 20%/30%/40%/50% damage more based on the level of Soul Catcher. That's not including right click damage, which is also buffed by Soul Catcher.

Honorable Mentions go out to Rubick, a hero I really enjoy watching high-skilled players play. With 57 picks and 29 bans, it is important to also note that he can, like Nyx Assassin, be played in the mid solo role to great results. All in all, I personally love seeing a bad Ravage/Black Hole get turned against a team by a skilled Rubick player.

 

Mid Solo

Usually, when a hero is given a solo lane, it is generally assumed that such a hero will look to make an impact on the game once he hits level 6. The top heroes in this list are no exception, but also note that the heroes in this section can excel in other lanes as well.

Batrider is definitely the first hero that comes to mind when discussing heroes in the solo mid, and rightly so with 148 appearances (39 picks and 109 bans). His lane presence is immense with Sticky Napalm spam, which slows the movement speed and turn rate of heroes caught in the AoE, which is especially great when chasing heroes who are forced to make many turns during their escape. However, many heroes, when facing against a Batrider in a lane, are smart enough to pick up an early Magic Stick instead of bottle rushing, which could mean surviving a fight in the Batrider does not capitalize on his stacks of Sticky Napalm. It should be noted that Batrider has maintained such relevance in the metagame even after recent changes that have disallowed him from auto-attacking while Flaming Lasso is active.

With 130 appearances (45 picks and 85 bans), Nyx Assassin is rising in mid solo potential. His skills allow for him to be relevant in a lane although he is a melee hero, with harassment such as Impale to stun those that would tower dive him and Mana Burn for resource denial with a little bit of damage. The importance of Vendetta has also led teams to play him in a mid solo role in order to access his ganking capability faster in the game, but it is not uncommon to see him in a side lane with his inventory full of wards and consumables. Nyx Assassin players also favor many different items that give him different functionalities. Want to burst down enemy supports? Grab yourself a Dagon. Want to get in position for a 5-man impale? Why not a Blink Dagger or Force Staff?

Our final mid solo focus is on Magnus, a hero that has appeared in drafts 116 times (49 picks and 67 bans). He has been picked up as a mid solo often, as his ability to spam Shockwave to farm creeps allows him to keep up with gold and levels. Come level 6, he gains access to Reverse Polarity which really needs no explanation except that it wins teamfights most of the time when well-placed.

Honorable mentions to Puck (72 appearances, with 38 picks and 34 bans) and Queen of Pain (68 appearances, with 30 picks and 38 bans), both of which are solid and consistent solo mid heroes that are similar in the fact that they have good escape mechanisms, high magic damage output and an ultimate that can wreck entire enemy teams.

 

Other Solo Laners

Both offlaners and junglers will be clumped together in this section, as I feel that most of these heroes must obtain solo farm/experience to be effective, but are unable to hold a mid lane. Also this is based on my assumption of how offlaners can survive in the jungle and vice versa.

Leading the board to no surprise is Dark Seer with 125 appearances (68 picks and 57 bans). In my honest opinion, I think that Dark Seer is by far the strongest offlaner in the game, due to the power of Ion Shell as a fire-and-forget mechanism. Putting two Ion Shells on a creep wave can easily guarantee you gold even if the opposing lane is zoning you out of XP range, and with Surge, a Dark Seer can easily escape back to the safety of his own tower after being engaged upon.

Next, with 73 appearances(46 picks, 27 bans) is Nature's Prophet. If harassed early in the offlane, Nature's Prophet can easily teleport into the jungle to pick up some neutral creep kills, and then port back to defend towers when opposing creep waves are pushing in. His global presence is also what makes him such a beast, with Teleport allowing him to join fights from across the map as early as level 1, and Force of Nature letting him farm and push creep waves from the safety of his jungle or base.

Enchantress, with 50 appearances (21 picks, 29 bans) is the only hard jungler on the list. Her Enchant skill at level 1 gives her the ability to grab up to three creeps in the jungle and then head out to her safe lane or mid lane to provide a gank. Recent games have seen players favor a build where only Enchant and Impetus are skilled, dumping most of the other level up points into stats in order to beef up her HP and mana pool.

An honorable mention goes out to Bounty Hunter, who has not placed in the top 3 even with his ability to help his entire team ball out of control with Track bonus gold. With only 51 appearances (14 picks and 37 bans) to his name this month, it seems like the recent changes to Track that no longer allows it to reduce armor has weakened his popularity in the metagame, although many have stated that the bonus gold feature of Track is its strongest selling point.

Thanks are in order to dota-academy.com for their statistics and also to you, the reader, for your time. Also, I would like to add the disclaimer that I am not, in fact, dictating how one should lane or role these heroes. If you play a mean carry Keeper of the Light, then by all means, go ahead!