One Week After 7.27
It’s been a week since the latest Dota patch was introduced to the game and now is the best time to look at some preliminary trends. Spoiler alert: the game still needs some small fixes.
Reasonably Overpowered
The much-hated zoo meta is still a part of the game, but now it only truly works in the highest level bracket. Necronomicon changes might have slowed down farm on heroes like Lycan and Beastmaster, but they are almost as effective as they were when it comes to teamfights.
Because of that, Lycan, who might look like he’s been tamed, is still among the most successful heroes in the Divine+ bracket with a win rate of ~55%. He is considerably less popular and isn’t picked in every other game as it felt previously, but in the right hands he is still a force to be reckoned with.
Same goes for Beastmaster: the hero wins almost 52% of his games in Divine+. Personally, we feel he is in an ok spot: he is a hero with much higher counterplay potential and isn’t as frustrating to deal with. That said, we still hope some small-scale nerfs are introduced to both heroes in the next balance patch. Especially Lycan.
Echo Saber Meta
Changes to Echo Sabre and its progression into Silver Edge are allowing some melee carries to start making a comeback. The biggest winners of this change are Wraith King and Slark, who both really enjoy the stats and the passive the item provides.
Slark, who was decently powerful in the previous patch, currently sits at 51.5% win rate, but we expect this value to increase in the near future. It is uncertain whether the Diffusal Blade or Echo Sabre build is better in most games and once players figure out which works better in what situations, the hero will probably start gaining momentum. The hero now appears in every fifth game, so the amount of experimentation from the community will definitely speed up this process.
Wraith King is an even bigger winner of the patch: he was always good in lower-level pubs, but is now actually pretty powerful in Divine+ games as well. Once again, there is still a bit of a debate on whether Radiance build is still worth it, but it seems the best players still stick to it: the farm acceleration from the item is indisputable and going Radiance into Sabre sometime later is definitely much faster and more consistent than going for Echo Sabre and then hoping you get your gold through pressure and teamfights.
The last part also highlights one of the more global changes in the patch: the games are longer and that means heroes who scale naturally feel better to play and are more successful. Having a farming tool is not necessarily a must, if you know what you are doing, but it is definitely a big bonus.
Someone said “longer games”?
Whenever the game slows down, two “femme fatales” always make a comeback: Spectre and Medusa are fully back in the meta, with the former reaching almost 56% win rate across all brackets. More importantly, Spectre also feels pretty powerful in Divine+ games as well, so the hero is actually good and not just allowed to farm up by less experienced players.
One interesting aspect of the hero was that she would sometimes go for Helm of the Dominator to accelerate farm, but we don’t believe the trend will continue: the item was nerfed in 7.27a. For now, the Radiance build looks like the default build for the hero, with perhaps one or two cheap survivability items before it.
Medusa, on the other hand, might be a part of the meta, but she isn’t a reliable pick in higher-level brackets. She works wonders up until around 3.5k MMR, but then falls down to 48% win rate — an almost 5% drop. Personally, we don’t know whether the hero is really worth experimenting with right now: she didn’t get much stronger from the item changes and while the slower meta does benefit her, she isn’t as good in a 1v5 situation as Spectre is.
Scaling Supports
When meta slows down, it isn’t only the late-game carries that benefit from it. Better scaling supports also get much stronger, typically, and there are several heroes we would like to highlight.
Dark Willow now wins 52% of her games and almost reaches 50% in Divine+ brackets. Strong AoE disable works wonders in the later stages of the game, but the biggest reason for her resurgence, we believe, is that she now gets the time she needs to get her core items: the hero is very reliant on having at least Eul’s to work well. On top of it, level 18 makes the hero a lot more powerful in terms of DPS, and it is much easier to get there in a slower meta.
Warlock is another surprising winner of the patch. The hero has access to some of the best talent in the game at level 20, but the Fatal Bonds scaling in prolonged matches shouldn’t be underestimated either. Shorter BKBs allow Warlock to be patient and use the skill once the enemy no longer has access to dispel.
Finally, there is Ogre Magi, who was similarly highlighted in one of our previous articles. Once against, longer games really benefit this typically not greedy support. While acceleration through Bloodlust is definitely a big bonus to his team, once Ogre reaches level 25, he becomes an all-powerful killing machine, and given how well the hero can help with holding the high ground, getting there is almost trivial.
Closing Thoughts
The latest patch was definitely a step in the right direction and nerfs to both Necronomicon and Helm of the Dominator makes the game feel fresh once again, but, if we are being completely honest, we want more changes.
Sure, the game is slower and that allows for new heroes to be experimented with successfully, but there are heroes who have been absent from the professional and pub scene for too long: iconic heroes like Leshrac, Phantom Assassin and Sven are pretty close to unplayable right now, at least in high-level games, and have been in that state for over a year.
<3<3<3
U MEAN URSA OVERPOWERED?
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This is bullshit!! Fucking PA Lovers useless c*nt first choice.
Havent changed and wont ever changed.
Ever since the critt om stiffling the Hero has been and Will be Broken over powerd Pieces of shit.
Just goes to show how often you play a support.
And no the 99,6% are not in a profesional team that practice every Day thus able to counter it.
Imo this statistics are hillarious considering pro's play ranked with Heros that got new arcanas etc and skewer the winpercent themself and by making thouands of copycat to mimic Them further skewing it.
Mr.Von Darkmoor. Just play PA until you realize how weak and easily exploited she is. Magic damage, ethereals and MKB. If you really want to fuck PA really bad, just pick pugna. its that simple
I'm guessing Voltaire isn't a support player because when even a trash pa can one shot you it is ono fun. No matter how often you shut a pa down early you are still just easy for them past about 20 minutes, and magic damage won't do shit while her bkb is on.
And which player is going to pick pugna? unless you are playing against morons then either their 4th or 5th pick is PA, so who is going to be pugna? Your mid? Your carry? Mid Pugna maybe ok but I'd rather have a mid who doesn't have to stand still to use their ult.
10k games and you are still crusader ?? No wonder you think PA is op LMAO
@Von Darkmoor, you literally need one item to counter PA which is truestrike then she gets smashed hard. And guess what that item is currently prolly the strongest carry item atm.
Are people really complaining about PA in 2020? This hero is a bitch if you have 0 map control and let her free farm while you think you are winning, but in fact you are just wasting time doing 5v4 and then she comes to kill you all.
It's not only an item thing. You need to positionate. I know dagger and blink both have a long range, but don't be in a spot she'll be happy to jump on you. Also until she gets basher you have time to stun her or glimmer yourself if she has a bkb.
Give it some time, PA will be strong
Pa won't be strong until MKB gets changed
Your TI9 predict sucks
Usa and am is Op now . Cheaper fury is so good.
bitch the bear is mad and he's coming FOR YOU
As a support player my answer to enemy PA is usually glimmer, glimmer when she jumps you and ur usually safe. If she's carrying dust that's one less item she could be carrying in her item slot. Also stand behind your team, preferably among trees so she can't find you. I also try to pick a support with some form of disable (venge, ogre, wyvern, treant) so she can be checked during the mid game before bkb. The jungle items are important too, try to get as much tank as possible (armour and health) so she wastes time trying to kill you. I feel PA is not that strong early-mid game until she gets deso, so pressure her during that time as she's very squishy and does not deal a lot of damage even with level 2 crit.
lmao just hides man, everyone be tilted against pa but staying in her vision lmao instead of going into trees, using glimmer, and ghost scepter
Against PA as a support? Ghost scepter is your friend. Cheaper than glimmer, she can't use dust against it (90 gold is cheap). If she buy nullifier (almost 5k? Can't remember) just to jump on pos 5, you take her out of teamfight easily since your team then can target her after nullifier commitment
I haven't noticed longer games [maybe I've not paid enough attention], but great article, with good points. Thanks for the write up!
A lot of people picked tanky heroes with multiple blademails thinking it was good. Now they are back to the old meta where mobility is still important but gotten squishy and riskier. There are no op items anymore, all of them seem overly balanced....
lol noobs whining about Paper Assassin. A timeless tradition
notice 95% of people hating on PA are mostly archon or lower. their brains are too small to deal with her
POS 3 ET crushes all metas