The final chance to reach the DreamLeague Major in January will come via the WePlay! Bukovel Minor, but first some teams need to get there.
In this article, we take a look at the most contested heroes up to December 3rd as to have a bit of an understanding of the ongoing meta. Note that we will be talking about only a handful of heroes that may or may not set the trend ahead of the WePlay! Bukovel Minor Qualifiers, which start on Thursday, December 5th.
Most contested heroes
Puck
Picks: 129
Win: 55.04%
Bans: 155
Combined: 284
Stats in the major qualifiers: Puck is the most contested hero so far in the qualifiers. He has been highly contested with a combined rate of 284 picks/bans and with a 55.04% win rate. Why is this hero being picked these many times? What makes it popular among teams? To know that we’ve to take a look at recent patch changes.
Patch changes
Here I’ll be focusing on select changes which I believe are the reason behind teams opting for the said heroes.
Waning Rift change: This is one of the changes that has made Puck even more viable since it simply enhances the mobility of the hero. One may not even need to purchase a Blink Dagger since Level 10 talent has an increased option from +150 cast range to +200.
Spell immunity change: With this change, Puck can dish out more reliable damage with his ultimate.
Tiny
Picks: 107
Win: 49.53%
Bans: 172
Combined: 279
Stats in the major qualifiers: Tiny has seen an increase in picks/bans as he has been contested a total of 279 times. The win rate of Tiny at 49.53% is average at best and may see a dip in popularity by a bit in the upcoming WePlay! Bukovel Minor Qualifiers.
Patch changes
Tree grab: One of the biggest changes is its Tree Grab ability. While it doesn’t have any charges as before, it still provides a little bit of an incentive as a farming tool. However, it is not feasible for dominating the lane through last hits.
Movement Speed: MS has increased and I see it as one of the better changes for getting kills (chasing people down) with the Avalanche-Toss combo (310 is above average MS).
Level 20 Talent: We’ve seen a high surge in players going for +20 strength option. It effectively deems Tiny as an extremely tanky and durable hero in the late game. Remember Alliance’s Limmp Tiny game yesterday vs. Nigma?
Venomancer
Picks: 71
Win: 57.75%
Bans: 183
Combined: 254
Stats in the major qualifiers: Venomancer has been contested 254 times and has a win rate on the higher side with 57.75%. I believe Venomancer will be a staple pick in the Bukovel Minor Qualifiers. Players who are proficient with Venomancer will certainly not miss out on playing it as they can make an opponent's life a living hell.
Patch changes
Poison Sting: I’ll focus only on this particular ability. He was already very strong earlier at harassing and dominating in lane but the new buff of Poison Sting having the ability to reduce regen makes him even better and scarier since it is easy to keep the debuff on your opponents in the lane almost permanently.
Templar Assassin
Picks: 81
Win: 50.62%
Bans: 156
Combined: 237
Patch changes
I see no major changes but only slight buffs in this hero. However, she was already popular before the big patch swept in and these slight buffs are very likely to keep her a go to pick for teams looking to dish out some good damage.
That being said, she has an average win rate and it is highly possible that her popularity could drop a bit in the upcoming Minor Qualifiers.
Conclusion
The above mentioned heroes are likely to remain some of the most contested picks/bans in the WePlay! Bukovel Minor qualifiers but Tiny and Templar Assassin might fall off a bit in favor of other undervalued heroes because their win rate is nothing spectacular.
In general, after the patch, fights will be a regular occurrence because there more objectives to look forward to (most importantly because of the Outposts that help in establishing control over the map). So, heroes who are good at early/mid game skirmishes and team fights are very likely to slowly grow in popularity and probably success rate.
Also, controlling the jungle of your opponents is valuable, because you can get the Neutral item drops a bit faster than your opponents, and this might give you a timing to push and get map control, which again promotes more aggressive rather than passive heroes.
Frequent fights means that heroes with low cool-downs can get a bit more value, but Faceless Void and Enigma have great win rates, so this might not be true and the big 5-man potential might actually be more important as well.
Undervalued heroes
Razor
Picks: 57
Win: 63.16%
Bans: 138
Combined: 195
Patch changes
You can chase people down and attack them without stopping for the animation, especially great with the MS aura. Imagine using static link and not having to click on the enemy hero to deal damage.
This is obviously a good buff, but it might be undervalued because of his great win rate but not-that-great pick rate.
Magnus
Picks: 31
Win: 61.29%
Bans: 47
Combined: 78
Patch changes
Aghanim upgrade: Super-low CD, no mana cost and mobility mechanism;
- Great for farming, because you can travel between camps for free (and you already have AoE clear).
- Great for fighting: with additional cooldown reduction you can literally drag heroes to your fountain. Remember Secret.Nisha’s Magnus game against Nigma? Yes, the four-second skewer cooldown!
Magnus Aghanim's is one of the most likely things to get nerfed right away, but it is expected to be there for the minor qualifier – hopefully – so the possibility of him being contested even more cannot be ruled out until he goes under the nerf hammer.
Nature’s Prophet
Picks: 66
Win: 57.58%
Bans: 123
Combined: 189
Couriers: Courier hunters are very likely to grow in popularity (like Nature’s Prophet, Bounty Hunter, etc.), because there are a lot more couriers on the map and plenty of bounty to hunt for and create havoc.
Moreover, flying couriers are now bound to hero levels, which means supports have ground couriers for a long time, making them easy to snipe.
Lifestealer
Picks: 53
Win: 54.72%
Bans: 98
Combined: 151
Even though the support Naix (infest and go get a coffee) has been nerfed, it’s still a viable thing to do, which means it could see some sweet playtime. It might be more valuable in pubs than pro games, however, because of the low skill ceiling.
Honorary mention: Crystal Maiden; the lady in blue!
Statistics courtesy of Dotabuff
