Disclaimer: As previously mentioned, we’ve assembled this list largely from win rates in public games. It may be different in many ways to professional play, but it offers insight on why certain heroes have a distinct impact in pubs.
Another patch, another tier list! Two weeks should be enough to start analyzing the changes 6.80 have introduced to the Pub Meta. This time we will also try to see how certain balance changes affect the win rates of the heroes, comparing them to the 6.79 era.
Tier 1: Pub Stompers (56%+)
Not a lot of change in the 56%+ win rate club. Abaddon and Wraith King still reign in pubs with their very stubborn skill set of not dying. With a buff to the slow duration/impact by 25% on Reincarnation, we see Wraith King can still hold his throne as the king of pub carries.
Lich we expect will continue to be a mainstay due to a combination of Chain Frost, the ignorance of pub players, and the basic nature of his play. It’s understandable why he’s commonly recommended for newer players.
Tier 2: Pub Winners (52%-56%)
Warlock Vengeful Spirit Omniknight Dazzle Witch Doctor Crystal Maiden Disruptor Venomancer Silencer Treant Protector Tidehunter Shadow Shaman Viper Mirana Bloodseeker Necrophos Death Prophet Lycan Centaur Warrunner Axe Slardar Drow Ranger Zeus Spectre Ursa Luna Sven Riki
Death Prophet‘s 15% increase in cooldown for Exorcism might have had a larger impact than we initially assumed in our 6.80 preview, dropping her from Tier 1.
We understand that roles in Dota are not defined easily, but it is worth mentioning that the list of Pub Winners consists mostly of support heroes.
Axe: First honorable mention is Axe, now boasting a ~52% Win Rate, compared to ~48.5% in the previous patch, jumping him from Tier 4 to Tier 2. List of changes? A slight increase to the disable duration from the Berserker’s Call and 1 HP regeneration increase. Definitely not enough to create a 4% change on its own.
One of the possible explanations can be an increase in interest for Dazzle and release of Terrorblade. In fact, among all his matchups, Axe has the largest advantage versus Terrorblade. Since Axe is great at countering both, not only did his win rate rise, but also his popularity, possibly among the higher-level players.
Venomancer: He used to be a Tier 1 material with the highest Hero Damage/Minute and almost 56% Win Rate, but the nerfs to his regeneration and base damage reduced his lane presence and made it harder for the team with Venomancer to capitalize on early game advantages. Still a great pick nonetheless.
Dazzle: We recently did a highlight on Dazzle, because he deserves it. As an easy to play hero with a surprising amount of depth, it’s no wonder he’s a cult favorite. Plus, you can’t discount the sexy mohawk.
Tier 3: Average Pubbers (49%-52%)
Earthshaker Ogre Magi Jakiro Sand King Slark Brewmaster Phantom Lancer Weaver Spirit Breaker Ancient Apparition Sniper Bristleback Clockwerk Night Stalker Keeper of the Light Razor Terrorblade Lion Elder Titan
Bristleback. Somewhere between losing 4 damage in the last patch and community realizing that hitting Bristleback from the front is more profitable, this hero has forfeited almost 2% win rate, placing him in the 3rd Tier.
He is still rather annoying and can pose quite a bit of threat as an offlane hero, especially with the nerf to Timbersaw, but the meta adjustments have made him less scary.
Earthshaker: A 3% increase in win rate since the last patch. Among very high brackets, it’s even larger at 5.64%. Earthshaker has been receiving quite a lot of buffs, both direct and indirect. Blink Dagger having no manacost definitely contributes to the rise of this hero, while extra movement speed and strength gain are nice additions.
Sniper: A magnet for “mid or feed” players. As much as people may dislike having Sniper in their team, this hero now has a 50% win rate, qualifying him for a Tier 3 in our list. His incredible 950 Range should keep him out of range of most powerful disables and nukes and with a proper positioning and farm he is a force to be reckoned with.
Terrorblade: One of the last additions to the Dota 2 hero pool. After a rather poor opening week with ~45% Win Rate, climbing into Tier 3 with 49.44% is an achievement. Our prediction is that he is going to reach Tier 2 in the nearest future. The hero is really strong if left unattended, but unlike other hard carries such as Faceless Void and Phantom Lancer, Terrorblade has a greater early and mid game presence, making him harder to shut down.
Tier 4: Pub Losers (46%-49%)
Doom Medusa Shadow Fiend Kunkka Juggernaut Undying Nyx Assassin Pudge Pugna Dragon Knight Faceless Void Dark Seer Huskar Phoenix Enigma Meepo Beastmaster Nature’s Prophet Tusk Lina Lifestealer Leshrac Tiny Invoker Troll Warlord
Not a lot of change in this section. A couple of heroes have managed to get promoted into the higher Tiers, but most of the Tier 4 is left intact. Phoenix found his place here, with a ~47% Win Rate – a rather impressive figure, considering a very poor opening week. As with the Terrorblade, we expect Phoenix to go up at least one Tier in the nearest future.
Meepo: Meepo! These guys continue to be fine tuned after each patch. His win rate increased by nearly 2%, even though a small part of us believed the reduction in his revive timer would lead to more feeding. We’re looking forward to seeing stronger Meepo play and an earlier snowball, especially if Dendi inspires a new generation of Meepo masters.
Invoker: A few trends made comebacks in recent months: Pudge back to the most played hero, Broodmother’s win rate dipping to pre “catch me if you can” levels, and the Quas/Wex Invoker seeing a revival. Competitive meta tends to influence pub meta, and his increase in versatility is making him more attractive to pros in recent weeks. He deserves this bump in the tier list. He’s been through a lot.
Tier 5: Pub Throwers (41%-46%)
Bounty Hunter Timbersaw Bane Naga Siren Chaos Knight Magnus Storm Spirit Legion Commander Gyrocopter Templar Assassin [missing hero: outworld-devourer] Visage Skywrath Mage Puck Rubick Windranger Chen Clinkz Lone Druid Phantom Assassin Batrider Ember Spirit Enchantress Alchemist Tinker Queen of Pain Morphling Shadow Demon
Ember Spirit: Little by little, the win rate for this hero is starting to increase. The only indirect buff to Ember Spirit was an AoE increase to [missing item: battlefury]’s Cleave. And we don’t think it could result in almost 2% increase in win rate. So, the community has finally started learning to play the hero.
Morphling: One of the strongest heroes during the TI2, that was nerfed to hell might have a comeback very soon. Allowing him to cast and attack while in the Waveform will probably have a much bigger impact on the pro-scene, than we initially assumed.
Shadow Demon: We honestly expected the win rate for the hero to sky-rocket, but the community has proven us wrong, showing a lot more awareness of the changes. Unexpected 1040 damage nuke did not compensate for the loss of vision from Shadow Poison. Poor Disruption timings and lack of team coordination in pubs have made him suffer for too long. We believe Shadow Demon deserves a higher win rate–he’s arguably a strong support and certainly better than many heroes above him.
Tier 6: Repick Heroes (40%)
Broodmother: The testing site for new ideas. Low win rate does not mean that the hero is bad or can not be used in competitive environment, since she might require too much skill and team coordination to play, and pre-nerf Broodmother was somewhat strong. Even though the nerf to Spin Web was well-deserved, we’ll miss how free pathing led to countless shenanigans.
Anti-Mage: Anti-Mage needs to get a medal for the “most played, worst win rate” hero. Many heroes with the lowest win rates (ex. Io, Chen, Morphling) are quite unpopular, which makes sense. If you haven’t been winning with this hero, you try something else. However, there’s just something about Anti-Mage that fuels the stubbornness of pub players. Perhaps his good looks.
The win rate for this hero is as abysmal as it ever was, even with the recent buff to his ultimate – Mana Void. Current meta does not tolerate heroes that require too much farm, it appears. Only if there was a “no rush 15 minutes” rule…
Tier 7: Earth Spirit
This hero deserved his own Tier. After all, he is by far the most losing hero in the current patch at ~33%, while being a complete nuisance pre-nerf.
It is really hard to balance heroes that are too much “out-of-the-box.” Removing instant initiation from magnetic grip made this hero rather useless – the potential damage is still the same, however the skills do not synergize as they used to.
We expect the win rate on the hero to remain the same. We also expect some minor buffs to the skills.
Closing comments
The 6.80 was not as game-changing as 6.79, however it introduced a couple of new heroes that unlike the last several additions, already have a very decent win rate. It has also solved the problem of Earth Spirit in the higher levels of pub play.
We really hope Valve is going to keep releasing new (old) heroes on a constant basis and will keep you guys updated on the significant changes to the meta.
Thank you for Reading
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