Dota 2 patch 6 82 analysis paper

Dota 2 patch 6 82 analysis paper

Last season, we had new patches coming in every two weeks and the meta kept changing from tournament to tournament. This year, it’s a bit more stable with new patches being introduced every couple of months or so. The latest patch that has been bestowed upon us by IceFrog and Valve is 7.22 and will be the patch on which the last DPC Major of the season, the Epicenter Major, will be played. The Major starts tomorrow, the 22 nd of June as we head into the tournament that will finalize the 12 TI9 invites, let’s dive a bit deeper into the current meta to see how it has developed and what we can expect at Epicenter.

Only two premier tournaments have been played on the 7.22 patch: ESL One Birmingham and the StarLadder ImbaTV Dota 2 Minor Season 2. The patch has given us a total of 131 professional games (as per datdota’s records), which even though not a lot, are enough to set the trend for a meta. Dota 2 patch 6 82 analysis paper These are the heroes that have been the most popular since the turn of the patch.

15 most picked heroes of patch 7.22 (image from www. datdota. Dota 2 patch 6 82 analysis paper com)

The top 15 heroes have been featured here and the surprising thing is, except Ember Spirit and Warlock, none of the heroes were really buffed in 7.22! Ember Spirit got an Aghanim’s Scepter upgrade which is one of the best upgrades from the new ones and we can see a lot of players getting the Scepter as their third or fourth item. But the rest of the heroes? Most of them in fact have been nerfed! Warlock was buffed in the main patch, but seeing his impact at ESL One Birmingham, he was nerfed in 7.22c. Doesn’t really seemed to have stopped teams from picking him. With Fatal Bonds now affecting six targets right from level one (a change from the main patch), Warlock has become a really good laning hero. Well, he already was good, now he’s just better. Mars being in the list is understandable, he was recently introduced to Captains Mode. Sand King was the most played hero of last season, but fell off near TI8. It sure seems he back at the top again, even with slight nerfs being thrown his way. But his win rate has another story to tell, hinting that teams are comfortable with the hero although it isn’t a recipe for victory. What is a recipe for victory is picking Sven – the Rogue Knight has a 73.81% win rate in 42 games. That is insane! And this is after Storm Hammer was nerfed in 7.22c. The last time Sven was this popular was at the beginning of 2017 when Dota 2 7.00 had just been introduced. It has been a long wait for Sven, but it seems he’s making the most of it. The long games help a carry like Sven, who isn’t ready to fight from the start of the game. The Hand of Midas build, which if I’m not mistake was started by Miracle, seems to agree with the hero. One of the possible reasons Sven is popular is that he can play the position 1 role quite well, but can also slide into a position 2 role if a hero like Medusa is in the mid lane. He can also be played in the offlane or as a support at times, which gives the draft a bit of a mysterious touch. The only other carries in the top 15 are Troll Warlord and Wraith King. Wraith King was one of most played heroes at TI8, but that was more in an offlane or support role. Teams have realized Wraith Kings skeletons not only help him farm a lot quicker than before but are also very effective in taking out enemy supports. A Wraithfire Blast followed by summoning of 8 skeletons and paper heroes are sent back to the well. It’s not everyday that you see strength carries dominating agility carries when it comes to picks. Templar Assassin is another refreshing name to see in the list. TA hasn’t received any buffs either (she did get a Scepter upgrade, but nobody really uses it), but it seems the options in the mid lane are dwindling which has made her a popular choice. Batrider, Dark Seer, Shadow Shaman are all heroes that were nerfed in 7.22, but continue to remain popular. Either the nerfs weren’t enough or other heroes weren’t buffed enough to pip them over the existing stock. If these 15 continue to dominate at Epicenter, then there is a good chance there will be heavy nerfs incoming in the patch which will be the final patch before TI9.

In terms of win rate, Sven, Batrider, Chen, Abaddon and Shaman are the heroes win the highest win rates in the 7.22 patch (20 games or more). Abaddon’s nerfs haven’t affected him too much it seems. The only member of this elite club who is here because of recent buffs is Chen. The Divine Favor aura has skyrocketed his popularity and a Chen draft can run over enemies who are playing for the late game.

Heroes with the highest win rates (20 games or more) from patch 7.22 (image from www. datdota. Dota 2 patch 6 82 analysis paper com)

The Banned

Why is Chen not in the most picked heroes in that case? That’s because he is banned out in nearly ever game. A look at the 15 most banned heroes of the patch tells us that Chen is in fact, the most feared heroes of sorts and no team wants to face him. He has been banned in 86 out of the 131 games played, which is testimony to the fact. Io, Nyx Assassin, Morphling, Oracle and Monkey King are the other names in here that didn’t make the most picked list due to being banned out in a lot of games. Batrider is the most contested hero of the patch right now, with the hero being either picked or banned in 111 of the 131 games.

The most banned heroes from patch 7.22

The Unpicked

While we celebrate and applaud the heroes that have been doing well, let us also have a moment of silence for those who have not been doing so well. Here are all the heroes that have not been picked more than thrice this meta, and there are quite a few of them! 33 heroes in all haven’t been considered worthy and some names like Chaos Knight, Faceless Void and Slark are just heartbreaking. IceFrog has been buffing and trying to make these heroes viable for quite sometime now, but it just isn’t happening. There is a good chance though that the next set of sizable buffs will be delivered to some of the heroes from this group.

Heroes not picked in more than three games in patch 7.22 (image from www. datdota. Dota 2 patch 6 82 analysis paper com)

Game Durations

Game durations are a great way of analyzing where the meta is headed and from the looks of it, it is heading (well, it’s there already) for long games. Comparing the game durations for the last four patches, 7.22 has a game time distribution similar to 7.19, the patch on which TI8 was played. After 7.20 and 7.21 (which were fast paced metas, especially 7.20), it seems IceFrog has steered the ship in a direction where TI9 games will end up being interesting , because let’s face it, no TI has gone down in history for having 25 minute games (well TI4 has, but for the wrong reasons). The additional tower armor, damage and multiple tower hits during the Glyph has made seizing high ground a lot more daunting and has increased the chances of comebacks.

Game durations for patch 7.22

Comparison of game durations for patches 7.19, 7.20, 7.21 and 7.22

In most of the past Minor-Major pairings, we have seen the Minor favoring a set of heroes only for the Major to have a completely new set of heroes being popular. It will be interesting to see if that happens at the Epicenter Major as well. The Epicenter Major has a lot resting on its shoulders as it will not only decide which teams will get direct invites to TI9, but also which heroes will be nerfed or buffed before it.

Dota 2: EPICENTER Major – Meta Analysis

ESTNN’s Veselin Ignatov walks players and fans through the Meta Analysis for last week’s EPICENTER Major.

The EPICENTER Major was the last big tournament for this DPC season. Now we know all twelve teams with a direct invite. Additionally, the open qualifiers for the rest start in just a few days from now.

In addition to that, literally minutes after the tournament ended, Valve released 7.22d. The patch itself has a lot of tweaks for several of the top heroes. However, the overall meta will most likely be the same, unless there is yet another change just before TI.

Let’s take a look at some of the most successful heroes at EPICENTER. The data for this article has been gathered from DotaBuff.

EPICENTER Meta Analysis

Dark Seer

Dark Seer has been one of the top picks in the last couple of tournaments. Of course, this is expected, considering the current state of the game.

This hero works wonders with some of the top carries right now. Apart from the usual Sven or Juggernaut, Slark also seems to be rising in popularity recently. He is another hero which copes very well with Dark Seer.

During EPICENTER, Dark Seer was picked 61 times and had around 56% win rating. However, his bans are probably more impressive – a whopping 229 times across the full tournament.

Morphling

Morphling was the most contested hero at EPICENTER Moscow. If you think about it, he is pretty much the ideal carry for the current meta. Dota 2 patch 6 82 analysis paper Apart from having a good farming speed, Morphling also does insane damage in nearly all stages of the game. What’s more, he can be extremely hard to kill, especially if he has a defensive item. This all adds up to his popularity and the 272 total picks and bans prove it.

Despite his strengths, Morphling has 45% win rating out of 82 games, which is not all that impressive.

Batrider

Similar to Dark Seer, Batrider has been the go-to pick for the vast majority of teams out there. In fact, he has been in the top four picks for the last four big events. Why is that?

Firstly, the hero provides a very good laning stage, something which is very important in professional games. Second, he has the needed tools to keep a target in place in order for his team to do the job. There are plenty of other positives about this hero which all add up.

Batrider is one of the heroes which is way more successful in professional games rather than pubs. That’s because in pub games, especially in the lower MMR brackets, you have to mainly rely on yourself. Unfortunately, Batrider rarely carries a game on his own.

At EPICENTER, teams picked the hero a total of 85 times.

Doom is another hero that has occupied the top picks in recent events. Honestly, unless there is a major nerf to this hero, he will most likely continue to be among the best.

Apart from being hard to kill, Doom provides a decent amount of damage output. What’s more, he is also one of the fastest farming heroes in the game, especially when players buy Hand of Midas.

Last, but certainly not least, his ultimate is a game-changer on its own. A well-placed Doom can completely shift the balance of power in a team-fight, especially during the later stages of the game.

Enigma

Enigma has the exact same amount of picks and bans as Doom. This is expected because the hero has one of the strongest ultimates in the game. However, landing a good Black Hole is definitely easier said than done, especially in professional games.

Despite that though, the sheer presence of this hero in the game force the enemies to play more cautiously. These mind games have a huge role in professional games and they are more often than not the key to success.

Apart from that, Enigma is one of the best lane keepers of the game, making him the perfect offlaner. Thankfully, Lich was changed so you can’t pair them together anymore. After all, this was undoubtedly one of the most annoying duos to lane against, period.

Another interesting fact is that Enigma has been picked only 55 times and has 211 bans. On the contrary, Doom has double the picks, but half as many bans.

Nyx Assassin

The last hero on our list is the infamous Nyx Assassin, one of the most annoying heroes in the game. He has a similar pick/ban total of 262, however, unlike the others, this hero has the whopping 64% win rating out of 50 games. That’s one of the highest overall win ratings of any hero at the EPICENTER Major.

Having said that, this was expected, considering the top core picks right now. Nyx just makes most of them either very hard to pull off or just unplayable. We are yet to see if 7.22d will bring any changes to the table but it does not seem like it will.

Images VIA: Egamersworld, Deviant Art, Flip Art, Dota Fire, Dota 2 Calibrated Gaming, Reddit, Amino Apps