Patch 6.87c Sets The Table For The Manila Major
Valve’s patch releases often follows in the aftermath of high profile tournaments. With the cycle of Majors, their open qualifiers, group qualifiers, and third party premier events, these patches continue to calibrate and readjust the meta. Patch 6.87c was released in the days after the main qualifiers for the Manila Major, nerfing the top 3 contested heroes—Doom, Beastmaster, and Bounty Hunter—and the top 6 out of 11 overall of the tournament. With Manila three weeks away, patch 6.87c seems to be the final touchups to Dota, setting the table for the last Major of the season.
Doom Continues To Delete Heroes
Doom was the most contested hero during the Manila qualifier, and even after a severe nerf to Infernal Blade (40 to 25/30/35/40, a 62.5% reduction in the base burn damage at lvl 1), he remained the top contested pick throughout Epicenter: Moscow. Despite being a predictable first phase pick/ban throughout the tournament, his 56% win rate pales in comparison to some of the other contested heroes, such as Invoker (71.43%), Beastmaster (61.29%), Earth Spirit (65%). And he was not banned in the final four games of the Grand Finals, where he lost three in a row (Newbee first picking him in their final two losses against Team Liquid). Still, Doom offers a lot of flexibility for teams who pick him early. He can be played in multiple roles. He’s durable in the offlane and has a reliable farm mechanic for both offlaners and supports.
Aside from his tactical advantages, the nerf reduced his early game impact, which has translated into our pubs. Doom had a 48.22% win rate during his peak in 6.87, which has since dipped to 46.49% after 6.87c.
Nerfing Bounty Hunter And Vengeful Spirit Out Of The Meta
Both of these heroes received what seemed like minor nerfs, but it was enough to push them out of contention during Epicenter. For 
Bounty Hunter, the third most contested hero during the Manila Qualifiers, he dropped to eighth at Epicenter, banned 34 times and picked only 6 times—winning once for a 16.67% win rate. The large discrepancy between his pick and his ban rate indicated a lagging respect for the hero, but against an acknowledgement that he may not be the kind of effective nuisance he was before. Jinada was nerfed once again in 6.87c, reducing the lvl 1 slow effect to 15%, from 25% at the beginning of 6.87. The change, along with external shifts in the meta, nudged him further out of viability in the early stages of the game, and combined with the reduction to AoE bounty gold, he no longer has the same impact even when he succeeds.
During the Manila Qualifiers, 
Vengeful Spirit had a 56% win rate, was the 2nd most contested support, behind Lion, and 11th overall. For Epicenter, she had a 41.67% win rate and dropped to 27th contested overall. In patch 6.87c, Vengeful Spirit’s base Intelligence and gain was nerfed from 15 + 1.75 to 13 + 1.5. It seemed innocuous at first, because she already had no mana. What is less than nothing? Not only is she now among heroes with the lowest base Int in the game, she can no longer cast two stuns at levell 1. At level 2, players will have to choose between casting two Magic Missiles, or one Magic Missile and one Wave of Terror. That 24 mana can mean a lot when you already don’t have much to work with.
Beastmaster Still Immune To Nerfs
Even though, in patch 6.87, his Boar no longer pierces Spell Immunity, 
Beastmaster is still immune to nerfs himself. His hawk blinded, his boar neutered, and yet he still was the 2nd most contested hero at Epicenter, with a 61.29% win rate. As we’ve noted previously, it’s his versatility, reliability, and a natural Black King Bar counter that makes him a top tier pick.
Black King Bar is in a spot where it’s a necessary item for many cores, especially with the potency of stuns and burst damage in Dota. Yet, it has a growing list of counters, Beastmaster’s Roar being one of them. There are other ultimates that pierce spell immunity, Blademail can now also damage spell immune heroes, and then there’s Beastmaster’s Boar, pecking away. The nerf to the Boar was a sensible one, but it won’t be enough to push Beastmaster out of the first pick/ban tier, as we approach the Manila Major.
Alchemist’s Loose Change
During the Manila Qualifiers, 
Alchemist averaged 929.48 GPM. As Skim has expounded in his previous posts, Alchemist dominates only when he can get a significant net worth lead, sometimes doubling the opponent’s net worth. The nerf hamstrung his farming potential with Manta Style and Radiance, and it showed during Epicenter, where he averaged 848.50 GPM and had a 42.86% win rate across 14 games. He was still nonetheless the 4th most banned hero, as the potential for a runaway bankroll is still there.
Storm Spirit Returning To The Fray
Ok, perhaps 
Storm Spirit isn’t ready to return to the meta just yet (picked 3 times in Epicenter, with 2 losses), but he’s no longer in the sad state he was post TI5. As Dota continues to adjust its focus on intelligence heroes, with new items and adjusting Intelligence to also amplify spell damage, Storm Spirit is one of the heroes that lies in wait. Dota is a game where heroes have such a tenuous relationship with the meta, where they can wander in and out of it with seemingly trivial changes, such as a microsecond in turn rate or a 1% change in movespeed.
The Aghanim’s Scepter change is a fun addition, but it hasn’t yet shown its effectiveness in competitive play. Storm Spirit already has too much on his plate to be transition through the mid game—Orchid, Bloodstone, and sometimes BKB. Aghanim’s for the moment is a niche, luxury item.
Storm did receive minor buffs in his base Int and gain, as well as the spell damage amplification change. It isn’t enough to bring him anywhere near his potency during his peak, and certainly not enough to be viable in the current meta. Still, he feels about one or two small buffs away from returning.
Epicenter: Moscow was the most recent premier tournament and the latest in pros' experimentation with patch 6.87c. The changes have sent ripple effects throughout the meta, which has yet to settle down, as we're also seeing the rise of other heroes, such as Phoenix and Dragon Knight. Sometimes a minor patch can shift the meta, but other times, it's from the high stakes, level of competition, as pro teams shift and adapt their strategies around each other.
first :)))))))))))
Первый из Рашки нахуй!
Hello fellas
Storm will not be missed, but rip bounty.
2 Russia
It has been too long since storm was in grave, time to rise again. They shouldnt nerf him in the 1st place btw
ggwp volvo
before ti5 storm was unbeatable, post ti5 storm has remained useless, of course he need a nerf but not that strong as it was.
In the other hand, bounty feels really crappy now..
12th......
Boar neutered WutFace
I expect a 6.87d with a sunray nerf among other things, but I could be wrong.
I hope storm will return as he is a very cool hero. Bounty is still okay-ish in my opinion but needs to level. I feel that venge doesn't deserve the nerf.
I would like to see storm to comeback,nobody wants to see a match of a dark seer vacuuming 5 people then the sven 5 man cleaves them only to die because they all activated blade mails,or axe spinning around to victory
^ Yea how we miss the time when a Storm can Ball from his base to the middle of the map for one support.
Storm's design makes him hard to balance. Take a look at say QoP, her design is almost completely resolved in any way (buff or nerf) with number changes. Storm's design means he is largely useless or can overperform, most notably in his peak was his ultimate's incredible mobility, easily able to cover half the map with average farm. I think he will find his place soon, Icefrog actually did well with balance this patch, without heroes that see total domination constantly. Have faith, people :)
It's hard to understand, that heroes are nerfed so hard. They often changed to much at their skills and stats at the same time. Instead oft doing some small nerfs and take a look at their win rate after every small nef.
Trust me, if you are a support player, u don't want storm to comeback, storm is one of the most cancerous hero in dota if buffed, almost at techies level.
"(40 to 25/30/35/40, a 62.5% reduction in the base burn damage at lvl 1)"
No, a 37.5% reduction of base burn damage, leaving only 62.5% of the damage.
please volvo dont nerf my phoenix <3
let there be storm! ,buff him even more than he was before.we really need some heroes to kick supports ass
Well belay that post, looks like we have 6.87d now.
what about chen
"Venge wasn't picked that much at Epicenter! It must be as a result of the nerfs!"
It's not like Batrider wasn't as popular as well, so she wasn't as necessary a grab. Sure, casual venge picks have decreased and you have some valid points, but she'd still be picked more frequently if there were more Bats around.
"Also, Bounty Hunter had such a low winrate there! Only 1 in 6 of the games he was allowed through did he win! It must be a result of the nerfs!"
Or maybe it's because teams were only letting him through when they had a lineup that could potentially deal with him, and they had a plan to play around it?
I think he's still going to be up there in the top tier banlist for the majors, without a doubt.
Who writes these blogs?