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These 5 heroes have defined Dota 2’s meta for a month and aren’t slowing down

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Whenever a significant patch hits the Dota 2 world, all players adapt to survive and develop new habits to retain their ranks. It didn’t take for a dominant meta to emerge after patch 7.33, especially with professional players in the middle of the Dota Pro Circuit.

Though we had early winners and losers of Dota 2 patch 7.33, most lost their Midas touch as Valve released follow-up patches like 7.33c.

But, there has been a sneaky bunch who have held onto their buffs and identities in Dota 2. These heroes were able to increase their win rates over the last month steadily, and they seem to have no intention of slowing down.

Medusa

Image via Valve

Medusa struck gold after patch 7.33b. The improved Mana Shield has made the hero tankier than ever, and when counters aren’t present in a match, Medusa can easily snowball out of control.

Medusa drafts have been reasonably common in professional matches, and the hero has also been performing relatively well in ranked matches, averaging over 54 percent win rate with an above 18 percent pick rate.

Considering the increased number of jungle camps around the map, Medusa’s farming speed also increases since 7.33, allowing the hero to farm up essentials or catch up faster.

Legion Commander

Screengrab via Valve

The dedicated offlaner, Legion Commander (LC), embarked on a new journey in patch 7.33. The latest structure of the offlane allows LC to play an entirely different game. Getting forced out of the lane isn’t an issue anymore for the offlaner, as she can easily catch up by herself.

LC has actually been receiving quite a few nerfs, but those haven’t changed the outliers that make her an excellent pick. Some players have even been attempting to carry games as offlaner LCs, as the hero has no shortage of damage and is quite mobile.

At the time of writing, LC averages an above 54 percent win rate with a 22 percent win rate.

Bounty Hunter

Image via Valve

Bounty Hunter (BH) is the ultimate menace of patch 7.33 and beyond in Dota 2. Solo laners will know the pain of having an enemy BH disrupting their laning stage, and that BH even got more annoying thanks to the Shadow Walk stun.

BH is the ultimate gank starter right now, especially in the early game, since he can easily set up a play with a single hit. BH is often paired with the likes of Skywrath Mage and other heroes that have high-damage skill shots.

Bounty Hunter currently averages a close to 54 percent win rate, and he’s currently the most-picked hero in the divine bracket with 23.43 percent.

Riki

Image via Valve

When Sleeping Dart was removed, many anticipated Riki’s days were over. They couldn’t have been more wrong, since Riki found himself a new identity… his old one, to be exact.

Riki’s once again a high-damage-dealing core hero, and his pain-inflicting kit is even more powerful now. With his invisibility giving him XP for kills and assists, Riki just wants to become online and secure scores around the map as soon as possible.

Given Smoke Screen’s armor reduction qualities, Riki easily chips away from enemy heroes and can stack up kills with the help of his team. Riki currently has a 54 percent win rate and a 15 percent pick rate.

Windranger

Windranger Arcana Cosmetic in Dota 2
Image via Valve

Becoming a Universal hero was a step into the world of the unknown at the beginning of patch 7.33. The change turned out to be a blessing in disguise for Windranger since his ultimate has been able to demolish even the tankiest heroes with the late-game Universal hero damage.

Windranger is once again one the heaviest hitters in Dota 2, allowing her to average a 52.63 percent win rate with a 17.82 pick rate.


All the statistics in this article were gathered from Dotabuff.


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Author
Image of Gökhan Çakır
Gökhan Çakır
Gökhan is a Staff Writer and Fortnite Lead at Dot Esports. Gökhan graduated as an industrial engineer in 2020 and has since been with Dot Esports. As a natural-born gamer, he honed his skills to a professional level in Dota 2. Upon giving up on the Aegis of Champions in 2019, Gökhan started his writing career, covering all things gaming, while his heart remains a lifetime defender of the Ancients.