Esports World Cup Dota 2 Meta: Best Group Stage/Gauntlet Bracket Heroes

We’re now less than 24 hours away from the start of the Dota 2 at the Esports World Cup playoffs (I still can’t get used to that name), with the metagame for the tournament having already taken shape through the group stage and gauntlet bracket.

Shadow Shaman — 14 wins out of 29 picks

Starting off is Shadow Shaman, the most picked hero at 29 appearances and one of the most stable choices. Rhasta gives you a little bit of everything, and I mean that in a not-so-general sense. I mean that both of his facet choices are really, really good and will afford you tons of flexibility before the game even starts.

Chicken Fingers

This is more often the preferred facet, as it gives Shaman a really strong presence in lane. Getting a free hex with your regular attack is just too good to pass up, even if it’s just for one second from the facet. After all, that one second can often mean the difference between a kill and an escape.

Massive Serpent Ward

Massive Serpent Ward meanwhile is just a huge pain for the opposing team to deal with. It deals a ton of damage, stays on the ground forever and isn’t just a gold mine for your opponents to easily take advantage of like the regular 10 Serpent Wards. Taking objectives has never been safer and easier.

It’s no wonder then that teams at the Esports World Cup are going for Shaman. A 48.28% win rate over this many games isn’t the greatest, but keep in mind that Shadow Shaman is still the ninth most contested hero in the tournament when taking bans into account. I fully expect this hero to have a win rate above 50% by the end.

Nature’s Prophet — 14 wins out of 18 picks

Nature’s Prophet has been by far the most successful hero of the Esports World Cup, and no one else — not even Batrider — comes close with this kind of sample size. 14 wins out of 18 games is ridiculous; it amounts to a 77.78% win rate over six days.

The removal of the Ironwood Treant facet seems to have done little to reduce his presence in the game. This is a pretty good indication that the facet itself wasn’t the only overpowered aspect, but rather that it was just poorly designed and really annoying to deal with. Instead, I think the real problem with NP is that his attack speed scaling per level combined with his right click damage output.

And with the healing on Sprout (Q) from his new Soothing Sapling facet, support NP players can practically win their lane by themselves now. The healing is just infuriating to lane against, and even has value when playing the hero from the carry position like what Team Liquid’s Michael “miCKe” Vu likes to do. Then when the game goes late, support NP can transition into a core item build in order to help the team put out more damage in teamfights.

Personally, I think we’re going to see a big nerf to this guy’s scaling in the next big patch, assuming there even is one before The International in September.

Batrider — 9 wins out of 10 picks

Speaking of Batrider, he’s having a hell of a time in this tournament as well. He hasn’t seen much action at just 10 appearances so far, but he’s managed to win all but one of them still. The sample size here doesn’t hold a candle to that of Nature’s Prophet, but that’s due in very large part to the 58 (!) bans he’s received throughout the first 2 phases. That makes him the second most contested hero at the event, with a combined pick and ban rate of 97.14% — second only to Naga Siren.

As someone that’s been around since TI1, this is nothing new. Batrider will be one of the most popular picks in Dota 2 until the heat death of the universe, because his kit just contains everything that you could ever want from a hero at the highest level.

Batrider Facets

It helps that he’s also now more versatile than ever thanks to his two facets. Arsonist is great for mid Batrider, while Stoked is the facet of choice for support players. This is invaluable in a professional setting, as it allows teams to flex Batrider’s position between core and support depending on the rest of their draft. This also has the knock-on effect of not revealing a team’s intentions, which makes their drafting decisions just that little bit harder.

Core Batrider did get a nerf in the latest Dota patch, bringing the building damage from the Aghanim’s Shard-upgraded version of Sticky Napalm (Q) down from 35% to 25% — which I think was definitely justified. Core Batrider players would just buy the Shard literally the minute it became available, because it allowed them to pressure objectives insanely fast, forcing the enemy team to spend resources responding. But even with the nerf, he’s still one of the best picks (and bans) at the top level right now.

Naga Siren — 5 wins out of 8 picks

Much like Batrider, Naga hasn’t seen much action at the Esports World Cup, having appeared in just eight games. But also much like Batrider, ain’t nobody wanna deal with this hero. The fact that she’s been banned more than 60 times says it all: teams would rather keep her completely out of games rather than risk letting her through.

Her value as a support hero is just through the roof right now. The laning phase is a cakewalk for a hero that can use long-lasting illusions to block, pull, and stack jungle camps all at the same time, so that’s already a huge point in her favor. Song of the Siren (R) is likewise a tremendously versatile teamfight ability, as Naga can use it to either set up the perfect initiation or disengage from a bad position.

Her full potential probably won’t be seen through the rest of the tournament because of how often she’s getting banned, but that’s just a clear sign that she’s really strong in the current landscape. If you’re thinking of picking her up in your pubs though, just be forewarned: her ult is not to be used lightly. Just like things such as Faceless Void’s Chronosphere (R) or Outworld Destroyer’s Astral Imprisonment (W), using Song of the Siren without careful consideration can cause you to unintentionally grief your team.

Or intentionally, if you’re that kind of player.

Monkey King — 12 wins out of 20 picks

Monkey King is currently sitting on a 60% win rate over 20 picks. He’s also very heavily contested — the fourth most of any hero in the tournament at 52 picks and bans total. This comes as no surprise given how easy it is for him to win the lane, especially when played mid against melee opponents, how effective he is at applying map pressure early on, and how he can be played in either position 1 or 2.

All of the above lends well to playing at the highest level, where pro players can really maximize his strengths and play his timings. As for his usual item build, we’re seeing Diffusal Blade rush into Black King Bar for a strong mid game timing, regardless of position.

It also helps plenty that he’s really good alongside Shadow Shaman, because Monkey King appreciates long disables. Both Hex (W) and Shackles (E) from Shaman let Monkey King freely summon Wukong’s Command (R) and to quickly build Jingu Mastery (D) stacks.

The fact that his old facet, Wukong’s Faithful, got removed for Changing of the Guard did little to slow his roll coming from the previous patch. In fact, I think Changing of the Guard is more than a worthy replacement because it adds layers of confusion that his enemies have to deal with. Switching places with his clones during Wukong’s Command is actually quite strong, even if it might not be better than the three second grace period out of the ring that Wukong’s Faithful used to give.