May Hero Tier and Metagame Analysis

This past month has been a big one in the world of Dota. With International qualifiers for both the Eastern and Western teams, the G-1 League finals and a cornucopia of smaller tournaments there were plenty of big plays, upsets and new tricks to be seen. The highly anticipated 6.78 balance patch was released as well. This latest rebalancing to our favourite game contains a great deal of buffs, tweaks and nerfs as well as some big changes to the wider game mechanics. Arriving towards the end of the month it didn't have a lot of time to influence the picks and bans for May as teams experiment in order to find out the implications of all these alterations.

With new teams emerging all the time, competition becoming ever fiercer amongst the top teams and the stakes (and prize pool) continuing to rise ever higher, everyone will be looking for the innovations that will give them the edge over the other teams. To stubbornly stay playing the same few heroes in the same few strategies is asking for disaster, and teams that refuse to change will be left behind. There's plenty of changes afoot, but have they reached the hero tiers?

Note: All data was taken from Dota Academy filtered for matches between the 1st and 31st of May. This information was viewed on the 13th of June, and takes information from a total of 326 matches.

 

Tier 1

    

    

All kings fall eventually, and this month sees Keeper of the Light secede his throne to Batrider. A familiar face to the top tier of heroes, he's first banned in the majority of games, his ability to drag unsuspecting heroes to their doom even through BKB is unparalleled. With a strong laning presence and Firefly to help him farm the jungle at an astonishing rate as well as escape almost any sticky situation he can be extremely difficult to play against, which is why most teams don't bother and just ban him out straight away.

He received some slight nerfs in 6.78 with his vision being reduced from 1800/800 to 1400/800 and Flamebreak having its mana cost increased to a flat 140 to cast at every level, and Slark has appeared in the competetive scene who is a reasonable counter to Batrider in the laning phase. This could see his popularity dip as teams take him out of their rotations to find out how much these changes affect his competitive strength. On the other hand, it may just be easier to keep banning him out. We'll have to wait and see if any teams are brave enough to let him through to the picking phase.

Lifestealer is still the most popular carry for May, but hot on his heels is everybody's favourite old man Gyrocopter. Whilst Lifestealer is picked or banned in the majority of Western games, he doesn't see a lot of play amongst the Eastern teams. Conversely Gyrocopter is becoming a favourite amongst teams such as DK, iG and LGD across the sea in their competitive scene.

With good burst damage in the early game with Rocket Barrage and the potential for even bigger damage late game with Flak Cannon he can mow down heroes like nobody's business (and use those skills to farm at a much faster rate than Lifestealer). He has some issues with survivability and escape early game, but is an incredibly flexible hero who can be run offlane, mid lane or in a trilane as either a carry or a support. The increase in Flak Cannons cooldown from 20 seconds to 30 seconds is unlikely to cause a drop in his popularity so we could see him overtake Lifestealer to become next month's most popular carry, especially with the range nerf to Open Wounds making Lifestealer much less effective as an aggressive trilane carry. As I always say, if he's good enough for BurNIng, he's good enough for you.

Last month I was doubting Shadow Demon, and boy was I wrong. A very popular support in the Chinese scene he's really showed his strengths this past month debuffing, slowing and disrupting the enemy. As a hero Shadow Demon is almost a direct barometer of teamwork: in a tightly knit team with good communication he's all over the map synergising Disruptions with Split Earths, Torrents or Light Strike Arrays or coming in with a life saving Disruption for a teammate. With poor communication and teamwork he's in everybody's way Disrupting the hero everyone is trying to focus, underleveled and nothing more than food for the enemy carries. Shadow Demon can be a deciding factor in winning team fights, though whether due to his help or his hinderance is up to the team that picks him.

Lone Druid remains a top tier hero, able to man fight and push towers like...two bears I guess. One of the most powerful offlaners, beloved by teams from every corner of the globe, signature hero of AdmiralBulldog, he's kind of a big deal.  With 6.78 now in effect he may begin to drop out of the higher tiers in favour of alternate offlaners such as Weaver or Dark Seer as the Armlet life drain now affects his Spirit Bear. Teams have also largely figured out how to lane against him (just kill the bear as early and as often as possible) which combined with these patch changes will be a big blow to his popularity amongst pro players. Yet he was a powerful hero before the Armlet rushing trend and remains a powerful hero now. We may see him put back on the sidelines for now, but he'll be just be waiting for his chance to get back on the field.

Magnus is another mainstay of the top tier heroes. He's a hero that needs a solo lane role for the experience and gold, to get a Blink Dagger and Reverse Polarity up as soon as possible. He matches up unfavourably against most other solo lane heroes though, and can't compete against a trilane so its likely that he will have trouble winning his lane and getting the gold and experience he needs, especially with the courier now moving  30% slower with an empty bottle making it harder for Magnus to bottlecrow effectively. The damage for his ultimate has been reduced by 100 at all levels as well, making it much harder for him to get solo kills at early levels.

Furthermore Reverse Polarity is one of those spells that are often saved for the big plays, and if the opportunities don't arise then Magnus is almost a wasted pick. With so much going against him we will likely see him dropping out of the regular rotation that we've become used to. The tier 1 has remained fairly static the past few months, but with 6.78 unleashed it looks like we could see a lot of change over the coming months.

 

Tier 2

    

    

Like Gyrocopter and Io, Clockwerk is another hero that has been embraced by the Eastern teams after making a big impact in the Western scene. Often taking the offlane role (where he can do some amazing creep blocking) he has trouble matching against trilanes where he can be completely zoned out of experience range. If paired up against a melee hero though he does very well solo, and can even take the mid lane. When it comes time to leave the lane and begin hunting is when Clockwerk really starts working hard, picking off supports and zoning out carries. Yet another hero who felt the sting of a 6.78 nerf he won't be as effective late game with Power Cogs no longer affecting magic immune units but he can still use it early game to harass in lane, draining mana and health from his opponent. He will still remain an effective hero though and will likely continue to see a lot of play in the future.

We're seeing Juggernaut showing up more and more in recent games. His Healing Ward makes him an invaluable addition to pushing lineups, but he is a very versatile hero who can tailor his item builds to adapt to almost any situation. With a BattleFury he can take the 1 role as a damage dealer, or build Drums of Endurance, Ring of Aquila and Aghanim's Scepter for a survivable mid game semi carry, and many more depending on the flow of the game. With the current offlane pool being so small, Juggernaut could even be sent there and go for an ultra survivable Blade Fury and Healing ward combination. Some people doubt his late game carry potential but the damage he can put out in the late game can be insane with the right item build and can go toe to toe with the best of them.

Alchemist continues his rise up through the ranks of hero tiers. Playing against him means continually keeping up pressure on him with ganks and pushing, reducing the space in which he can farm. Because in the hands of an experienced carry player he can farm up items very quickly and become an unstoppable force in 25 to 30 minutes. Which is if he decides to sit back and farm, which in these days of Shadow Blades and Unstable Concoction builds is far from the only way to play him. He excels in the multicore lineups that are currently being used by several teams where he can allow a mid game carry to do all the hard work early on to buy Alchemist time to farm some core items, of they can attack in tandem and force the enemy to either split their attention of focus one and alow the other to roll up their team. I don't see him reaching the heady heights of tier 1 but he will continue to pop up in competition and punish any teams that give him an inch to farm in.

Leshrac isn't a particularly flashy hero, but his dependability is rock solid. High base movement speed and strength gain make him fairly survivable in the early game and his Split Earth synergises with a lot of other skills to allow for early pick offs in trilanes or roaming the map. Lightning Storm is a nothing spell, but the pushing power and damage output of Diabolic Edict and Pulse Nova respectively make up for this. 3 out of four spells aint bad. He also scales well into the late game and can become pretty scary if he picks up a few big items (unlike Keeper of the Light who never gets the chance to become a killing machine). In the past he's even been run as a carry by Australian squad Natural9, although we probably won't see the pro teams doing this any time soon he will continue to be picked by teams who want a reliable support hero who can make an impact at every stage of the game. He may be good at pushing, but he's far from a one trick pony.

 

Tier 3

    

    

Visage makes his hero tier debut this month, and sets the bar high at rank 23. He saw a great deal of use over in the G-1 League finals and International Eastern qualifiers where he was able to strut his stuff and show us what he's got. He's a great trilaner who can put out a huge amount of early damage with Soul Assumption, which combined with Grave Chill really encourages early lane aggression. Both these spells also have huge range so he is able to engage from a safe distance as soon as the enemy heroes step out of line and then use the speed boost from Grave Chill to chase down any survivors.

Unlike a lot of other supports Visage doesn't have to worry too much about survivability either as Gravekeeper's Cloak keeps him fairly safe in the thick of a team fight. His familiars can be quite powerful in their own right if used effectively providing AOE stuns, split push potential and acting as scouts to keep eyes on the enemy team. Used ineffectively though and they are free gold for the enemy team so they can be a double edged sword and because of this he's unlikely to climb to much higher in terms of rank.

Jakiro is a hero whose popularity has been in a constant state of flux. With Ice Path repeatedly being buffed and nerfed, Liquid Fire receiving some changes and Macropyre being fiddled with over the last few balance patches his popularity has similarly been all over the place. At the moment he is picked mostly for the utility of Ice Path. A long range disable that from level one is great for following up more reliable stuns or zoning out heroes. If used in conjunction with a Vacuum, Black Hole or Reverse Polarity Ice Path can freeze the entire enemy team in place ensuring that if they survive the first spell they don't get away.

There are also certain areas like the Roshan pit or certain inclines where heroes clump up or follow each other in single file and are just begging to all be Ice Pathed as well so if you're playing against Jakiro, make sure to stay split up! Macropyre can similarly be used for zoning in a teamfight and also does quite a bit of damage too, and is in my opinions an underrated spell. Jakiro's slow turn rate means that faster heroes can run rings around him and he can have survivability issues later in the game, but is so strong in the laning phase and wombo comboing that he will continue to be seen in the third and fourth tiers.

Dragon Knight received a significant buff to his level 2 Dragon Form which now retains the corrosive damage effect from the level 1 Dragon Form. Before this players were holding off on leveling it up after level 6 until levels 15/16 in order to minimise the amount of time spend with level 2 Dragon Form. With both the corrosive damage (on the main target only) and splash damage Dragon Knight becomes a pretty decent pushing hero at level 11. We don't see him picked too often in the Western scene but teams like MiTH-Trust, RisingStars and TongFU pick him up quite often and putting him in the mid lane (the NA teams Dignitas, EG and Liquid use him on occasion but not very often).  He can have trouble getting gold in the mid lane and usually has to spam Breathe Fire and bottlecrow for last hits. If he can get the gold for a Shadow Blade then similar to Alchemist he can have a strong mid game presence and gets some much needed damage and can sneak in close to use Dragon Tail, which is one of the longest stuns in the game.

Dragon Knight is a fairly slow farmer and can have trouble with getting the items he needs to make a big impact on the game. If he gets the farm he needs though he can become a tank capable of putting out big damage but it happens so rarely it's hard to justify him over other carries.

Right at the bottom of Tier 3 are the carries Luna and Phantom Lancer. Both heroes are powerful late game carries that excel at pushing and are capable of facing off against other late game carries one on one without much worry. They can both build Tranquil Boots, Drums of Endurance and Ring of Aquila for early to mid game effectiveness but to really shine they need a few big items first. Phantom Lancer needs a Diffusal Blade and a Heart of Tarrasque for his illusions to be survivable enough to siege a base of win team fights. Similarly Luna wants to build either a Black King Bar, Shadow Blade (again with the Shadow Blade) or Helm of the Dominator depending on the game before she really starts getting involved with big pushes and team fights. This means that they can be spending 20 minutes or so just farming which in the current fast paced and actioned filled games we've been seeing out of a lot of teams it's time that you might not have.

In a dual or even tricore lineup where there is another carry or semi carry who can look after the midgame and create time and space for these heroes to get the items they want. Conversely we still see teams like iG still favouring the slow but inevitable build up to an overwhelming victory, a strategy that heavily favours heroes like Luna and Phantom Lancer. These heroes still have their place, but how long can they survive in a metagame that continues to get faster and sleeker?

 

Tier 4

    

    

A couple of different teams have experimented with Skywrath Mage. Dendi ran him mid for Na'Vi shortly after he first came out, and since then Team Liquid, Zenith and RattleSnake have all experimented with him in various lanes and roles. He can put out a lot of magical damage early game and using bottle can use this along with the silence and slow from Concussive Shot and Ancient seal to dominate the mid lane. The damage from Mystic Flare makes him great at early ganks, so once he's gone the mid lane he can start roaming and win your lane for you too.

Like most magic damage heroes he quickly drops off in the mid to late game as heroes build BKBs and have more raw HP to absorb the damage Skywrath Mage is putting out. He is also an extremely squishy hero who drops very quickly if caught out and needs mana regen items like Arcane Boots and even a Bloodstone to make sure he can keep throwing out spells during a team fight. It’s unlikely he’ll ever become a common rotation hero due to these weaknesses but he’s a good situational pick for early aggressive lineups and for countering certain mid heroes.

Kunkka is similar to Dragon Knight in that Chinese teams use him in the mid lane, often as a part of a multi core lineup as a mid game carry. He’s also seen some play as a tri lane carry and is almost always picked in conjunction with Shadow Demon so they can combine Disruption, Torrent and X Marks the Spot to get aggressive and Tidebringer to harass and farm. He can build up a lot of right click damage very quickly and with Tidebringer to deal damage in an area in teamfights he can very quickly clean up squishy supports, even whilst focussing someone else. LGD in particular have been giving Kunkka a lot of play time recently and with the slight buffs he received in 6.78 we might see a few other teams follow their lead.

After a few false starts Treant Protector just makes it into the Tier 4 for May. Living Armour is such a ridiculous spell that allows the the team to pretty much just win whichever lane they want. The heal and damage block don’t seem like much when viewed as raw numbers but when you’re laning against someone who just shrugs off any damage you try to deal against them, and can keep any Tier 1 tower standing well into the mid game. His huge base damage and natural tankiness had teams experimenting with him as a carry but he seems to have settled into a role as a support for now as his spells offer a team a lot of utility even without a lot of items. Overgrowth is a great counter initiation which can stop the enemy team in its tracks and buy some time to either escape, reposition or just do as much damage as they can whilst the enemy has to stand there and take it. Time will tell whether this hero will become a regular choice for teams or just a pocket strategy pick.

Silencer is another support that doesn’t want to just sit back in the side lines throwing out the occasional helpful spell. Glaives of Wisdom can really disrupt heroes with a low mana pool such as Sven or Skeleton King and if he’s involved in every team fight his intelligence gain can soon have him putting out enormous amounts of damage. And that additional damage? All pure baby. ChuaN going 9-1-6 against VG should be all the proof you need that he isn’t to be taken lightly. Global Silence affecting sleeping units with the 6.78 changes in place means that he can team up with Naga Siren for a devastating combo for either initiation or counter-initiation that will severely disrupt the enemies team fight plans. With so many good support heroes in the pool competing for a place Silencer might not become a tier 1 hero, but in the right situations he can be a tough hero to deal with.

 

Predictions

Outworld Devourer absolutely dominates the laning phase, able to win pretty much any matchup that you care to mention. It doesn’t take long for him to start dishing out the damage either and he can keep up that damage into the late game, Sanity’s Eclipse allowing him to knock down the traditional hard carries and if positioned right can finish off two or three heroes with it. On top of that he’s doing huge amounts of pure damage with Arcane orb, meaning even hard carries are hard pressed to go up against him.

 Disruptor was already a situational pick but he received a few little buffs in 6.78 that make him all the better. Thunder Strike is a reasonably high damage nuke now, and the vision it gives is helpful for preventing jukes or helping with a last second Glimpse. Speaking of which Glimpse is a very annoying spell that can prevent heroes from escaping, send teleporters back to base or ruin Io's day. He's more of a situational pick than a core support choice, but his popularity is on the up.

Naga Siren is a powerful hero at level 1 with ensnare a strong spell for trilanes that isn't too great for agression but is a good counter initiate. Later on in the game Song of the Siren is THE counter initiate spell and gives your team time to either escape or reposition themselves to win the fight. I really hope someone combines this with a Silencer as a Song of the Siren followed up by Global SIlence would be very hard to fight out of. People mostly play her as a carry but other heroes can do a lot more with the gold so she may be more effective as a semi carry support.

So those are your top Tier heroes for May! Maybe you think other heroes deserved to be there, or think the ranks will change. Let us know your theories in the comments! As the International gets ever closer, who knows what changes we might see? Thanks for reading and until next time, happy gaming!