© Provided by Dot Esports Dota 2's metagame is notorious for shifting and changing courses on a dime, given the flexible nature of hero roles and the huge impact items have on the game. These days especially, diverse tournament metas are to be expected with only a handful of heroes going unpicked.
At the highest levels of play, games can be won or lost even before the creeps spawn. Having a good hero composition can spell the difference between a struggle to breach high ground and a team with heroes that complement each other and form a well-oiled machine.
This tier list-based on the current competitive metagame-outlines which heroes are picked most often by professional teams and those that stand out in terms of win percentages. Note that this list will not include every single hero, mainly because there are simply too many in Dota to count. Instead, we'll break the list down to roughly 40 of the most popular and effective heroes.
With the major Mistwoods update introducing a new mechanic, Aghanim's Shard, plus reworking and changing several heroes, the meta is in an understandable state of flux. Patch 7.28c's nerfs in mid-February knocked previous meta breakers like Batrider, Lycan, and Outworld Destroyer down a large peg, but some heroes like Puck and Void Spirit have managed to persist as perennial picks in the pro scene.
The ONE Esports Singapore Major is now in the books following an exciting grand finale. The first Major in over a year undoubtedly took up the large part in determining the meta for April. Though with a promised patch and new hero around the corner, there's undoubtedly more room for this tier list to expand as pros try and test stuff. But for now, these are the best heroes in the competitive scene.
Tier one
- Puck
- Death Prophet
- Io
- Void Spirit
- Monkey King
- Troll Warlord
- Tusk
- Phoenix
- Mars
- Pangolier
Tier one belongs to heroes who make an appearance in almost every drafting stage, whether it's for their role flexibility, the versatility to fit any draft, or a unique skill set that no other hero can replicate.
Puck
Puck received a long list of buffs in 7.28, even receiving a turn rate increase to make an already-slippery hero even harder to punish. The hero is an excellent laner with its high base damage and great attack animation, and transitions into a brilliant wave clearer with a side gig as a Houdini-tier escape artist. Despite numerous smaller patches nerfing its numbers since the Mistwoods update, the Faerie Dragon's popularity has barely waned.
Puck's low cooldowns make it a dream crowd controller in teamfights and skirmishes. Waning Rift's Silence is always useful, and ultimate Dream Coil's annoying Leash mechanic makes it a remarkable lockdown tool. The hero's new Shard upgrade, which causes Waning Rift to deal more damage and knock back enemies, adds further utility to Puck's Swiss army knife kit by allowing him to break Dream Coiled targets by itself.
The Faerie Dragon is a premier mid laner, and can flex into the offlane and both support positions. New item Witch Blade is a popular choice on mid Puck, giving the spellcaster another dimension as a hybrid damage dealer. Pros have experimented with physical damage Puck, building the likes of Desolator and Daedalus, or going the risky magic build with Dagon and Ethereal Blades-and both builds are incredibly impactful. Aghanim's Scepter on this hero upgrades Dream Coil to pierce magic immunity, making him an even more capable controller later in the game.
Death Prophet
Death Prophet's overall laning ability has improved with little buffs over the past patches. It's important for her main role as a mid laner, but Krobelus has been periodically flexed into the off lane and both support roles, helped by the buffs to her mobility that let her zoom around the map.
The hero's reduced cast point on her main nuke makes her wind-up far less obvious and thus more difficult for opponents to avoid. Death Prophet's Spirit Siphon charges let her stay in lane with impunity and also becomes an important component of her longevity in later skirmishes.
Her base movement speed, now the highest in the game at 335, has made her exceedingly mobile and allows her to rotate from lane to lane. It's backed up by her fearsome ultimate, Exorcism, equally a potent teamfight and pushing tool even when she's underleveled compared to the rest of the cast. A long duration AoE Silence is the cherry on top for the teamfight titan. She's a powerful foe no matter her role or battlefield.
Io
Io was once an ubiquitous support. How could a hero whose mechanic was to literally Tether and buff up another person function in a core role? After the Singapore Major, however, one would be hard-pressed to find a high-level player who believes the Guardian Wisp is a better support than a core.
Through the Major, Io was a constant first-phase pick and ban. If it appeared in a lineup, it's usually headed for the safe lane and more occasionally mid or support. The hero's laning strengths have improved thanks to 7.28 buffs and it's basically the only ranged carry regularly picked up because Io is somehow able to keep up with melee heroes who build Battlefury.
A Helm of the Dominator allows it to zoom around the map due to the creep and Tether's increased movement. Forgoing boots allows him to quickly build into an Aghanim's Scepter, a consistent damage source for teamfights that becomes overwhelming when Wisp picks up the level 20 Spirits hero damage talent. That's not even to mention the incredible regeneration he can achieve for himself and a teammate with Overcharge and Sange, often further amplified by a mid-game Heart of Tarrasque.
Even as a known quantity, carry Io often proves to be impossible to deal with for opponents. Any team capable of playing it often ends up looking like the steamroller that was OG during The International 2019, where they busted out the strategy as a pocket pick. And what greater compliment is there for a hero?
Void Spirit
Void Spirit is a monster in lane, thanks to his numerous AOE nukes that make pushing waves and punishing opponents a cinch. When played mid, he often rushes Aghanim's Scepter, which provides two charges of Resonant Pulse for additional burst damage and crowd control. Another popular build has seen him being built more as an annoying initiator and space creator playing from the offlane, though this has slowly slipped out of favor as teams favor the immense teamfight damage and control provided from a higher-priority Void Spirit.
The hero's two escape spells make him ultra slippery and good magic damage on all of his skills makes him a potent ganking core, even into the later stage of the game when he chooses to seek out enemies. His Aether Remnant is seeing expanded usage as a temporary ward and chokepoint holder, rather than just as a stun and nuke.
Monkey King
Monkey King went from a hero picked to specifically counter certain laning matchups in the mid lane, or whenever Topson feels like playing it, to one of the strongest carries in the current meta. Battlefury into Aghanim's Scepter has become the standard build for Wukong, allowing him to litter the ground with cleaving stone soldiers. It's a powerful flash farm mechanic that allows him to stay out of sight, since the hero can jump into creep waves or camps for a split-second before his soldier finishes the rest.
The hero's kit offers decent teamfight and laning potential even when rushing the greedy item build, allowing him to stay active. If his teammates can create enough space for Wukong to freely farm, like PSG.LGD demonstrated so many times with carry Ame, the hero's command of any skirmish as a carry with his mobility, damage, and ultimate skill is nearly unparalleled from position one.
Troll Warlord
Along with Io and Monkey King, Troll Warlord was one of the Singapore Major's most sought-after carries. Battlefury into Sange and Yasha became the ubiquitous build for Jah'rakal and Fervor makes him one of the best objective takers.
The hero's single-target physical damage output is difficult to beat and even the most slippery of characters can find themselves in trouble once Ensnared by Troll's melee form or the oft-purchased Skull Basher. He can be literally unkillable as well thanks to Battle Trance's built-in survivability mechanic and status resistance can sometimes feel unfair for a hero that also matches up well in carry-to-carry fights because of melee Whirling Axes' miss chance.
While his reworked Aghanim's Scepter seems good on paper, most pros seem to forego the item for traditional carry items. It remains a potent upgrade, especially since the hero can easily take down Roshan if his team controls the area, making him a good choice for a late-game Aghanim's Blessing.
Phoenix
Despite repeated nerfs to Phoenix's kit, the hero remains one of the best teamfight supports in the game. Since off lane heroes tend to revolve around bulky, wide area initiators like Mars and Tidehunter, Phoenix is the perfect complement despite his comparative lack of hard disables compared to other supports.
The hero's spellcasting damage output is one of the highest, bolstered by his Sun Ray and Supernova. It's especially potent when Phoenix reaches level 20, allowing him to cast Sun Ray during his ultimate and adding one more deterrent to enemies hitting his egg.
Fire Spirits has been hit the hardest out of Phoenix's skills, but it remains an obnoxious spell to face in the lane. It helps him trade in spite of his lackluster armor and attack, and can serve as nasty, easily landable magic damage if your lane partner can pin an enemy down.
Mars
When it comes to offlaners, Mars is the current king. Among the top echelon of heroes, he's probably received the fewest buffs in the Mistwoods update, and was arguably nerfed in some aspects. Still, the god of war persists, and is one of the most picked heroes through the DPC qualifiers across each region.
Mars' ultimate Arena of Blood is one of the best teamfight skills in the game, made better by its low cooldown. It can even act as a defensive zone in dire situations, since it blocks ranged attacks from heroes outside the ring.
Plus, the hero manages to deal so much damage even from the offlane position. His natural tankiness, especially against physical damage, lets him get away with greedier items such as Desolator. Coupled with his new level 15 talent that reduces God's Rebuke cooldown to six, the god of war lives up to his name as a terrifying scourge on the battlefield.
While the hero did receive a reworked Scepter upgrade and Shard, they've not seen much competitive play as of yet. Mars' Scepter is a surprisingly efficient farming and fighting tool in pubs and even triggers on-hit effects like lifesteal and Desolator's Corruption. The higher damage build has seen some brief time in the sun with specific teams like PSG.LGD, who splits the God of War between the mid and off lane. But the God of War remains a position three for most teams.
Pangolier
Pangolier's stock rose throughout the Major, becoming a hotly contested off laner and sometimes a soft support. While Donté Panlin isn't the best of laners, he makes up for it with his immense teamfight control and splitpushing abilities.
While Pangolier used to build mostly tank or aura items like Vladimir's Offering and Guardian Greaves, recent trends see him played mostly as a skirmisher always looking for a fight. Picking up an early Orb of Corrosion works wonders with Swashbuckle for ganking, while a Blink Dagger pickup boosts his initiation capabilities.
The hero remains most frightening around cliffs and walls due to his Rolling Thunder. But the addition of his new Aghanim's Shard gives players more maneuverability during teamfights, letting Pangolier switch direction on a dime with Roll Up and amping up his chain-stun potential.
Tier two
- Alchemist
- Juggernaut
- Razor
- Wraith King
- Terrorblade
- Bloodseeker
- Abaddon
- Earth Spirit
- Storm Spirit
- Beastmaster
- Oracle
- Morphling
- Timbersaw
- Ursa
- Shadow Shaman
Tier two represents stable picks in the meta that don't merit instant bans or anything so extreme. Some of the heroes in this tier are ones you can safely pick without giving away too much of your gameplan.
Alchemist
The old Alchemist carry gambit is still alive and well. The hero's all-eggs-in-one-basket playstyle is better protected in the late game now thanks to Swift Blink's added mobility and DPS that lets him scale even better later into the game.
The casual Sange became an increasingly popular item for carries to pick up, even over Yasha-and Alchemist is no exception. The hero and item fit like hand in glove, with Alchemist's already exceptional Chemical Rage health regeneration boosted even further. It helped the hero be stronger and fight earlier than expected, which can quickly turn a situation bleak for their opponents if an unkillable Alchemist and his team snowball out of control.
Throughout the Dota 2 Pro Circuit, Alchemist saw a spate of first-phase picks and drafts because of an incredible gamble: off lane Alchemist, whose sole job is to quickly farm an Aghanim's Scepter and feed it to a core for an instant injection of cash. It saw much less play in the Major, however, with most teams opting to play it in the safe lane.
Earth Spirit
With the meta trending toward tanky offlaners like Beastmaster, Mars, and Tidehunter that can practically stay in their lanes forever, that's opened up the four position for Dota 2's premier early-game roamer to take the reins.
Earth Spirit is the strongest initiator during the early part of the game and his natural bulk ensures that he can trade hits with anybody he Rolling Boulders onto. As the game drags on, he brings an immense amount of control and teamfight as long as he has Stone Remnants in his pocket.
His Aghanim's shard is theoretically superb, giving his four extra charges on Stone Remnant and allowing them to grant vision and double as minute-long wards. In practice, few pros have prioritized the item, with most preferring to go for Black King Bar to ensure that the hero is an unignorable nuisance on the battlefield.
The hero is almost exclusively played as a soft support, but Liquid's Taiga and OG's Topson have taken Earth Spirit to the mid lane with great success in past patches.
Beastmaster
A proponent of the zoo strategy, Beastmaster has benefited greatly from Necronomicon's buff. Many safelane carries find it tough to deal with Beastmaster's outsized laning presence, backed up by his slowing Boars. It's a catch-22 situation, however, since leaving the lane will only allow the hero to kick down your towers in the safe lane, ceding the jungle and its valuable neutral creeps to the enemy.
Beastmaster's new Aghanim's Shard upgrade looks gimmicky, but it's a surprisingly powerful addition to his arsenal. It allows his Wild Hawk to be fully controlled, which enhances the beast's scouting tool, and Dive Bomb itself is a simple point-and-click stun that can lengthen the hero's lockdown potential.
Timbersaw
Timbersaw's lane dominance in the offlane has been highly prized in the past month. With roaming position fours like Nyx Assassin and Earth Spirit in favor, there are few heroes that can so capably solo the lane and still draw even, or even crush the opposing carry.
The hero still retains its weakness to magic damage, but Hood of Defiance tends to alleviate those problems. Otherwise, the hero is versatile and utilitarian, able to build into a split-pushing spellcaster with items like Bloodstone and Boots of Travel, an aura carrier like Pipe of Insight or Guardian Greaves, or a mix or both.
Enigma
Enigma's most prominent spell is undoubtedly Black Hole and it's assuredly one of Dota 2's consistently powerful ultimates. It's the rest of his kit that makes him such a priority pickup for many teams, however, with some squads like OG even opting to play him as a hard support.
Demonic Conversion's ability to deny ranged creeps can be an automatic lane winner in the right circumstances. Malefice is a decent single-target stun, especially against heroes without Black King Bar or dispel. Midnight Pulse can prove to be a dastardly obstacle even without Black Hole, sapping away percentage health against usually tanky frontliners.
Morphling
Morphling is a great one-vs-one laner, especially in mid, and is an extremely hard carry that doesn't care too much about physical damage. Since Waveform is also his escape spell, using it aggressively can spell a quick death. The hero does require a team to commit to his early well-being, however, either by picking him into a good matchup or protecting his lane, since he can be severely punished during his first few levels and doesn't actually farm well until he amasses a legion of Wraith Bands and Power Treads.
The hero is often drafted with an obscene support to add an extra dimension to the agility carry's late-game potential, with popular combos including Earthshaker, Earth Spirit, Spirit Breaker, and Dark Willow. Morphling's Scepter inherently becomes more valuable through the mobility of an upgraded Enchant Totem or Charge of Darkness, or having an untargetable right-click cannon with Shadow Realm, for example.
Shadow Shaman
Shadow Shaman's Mass Serpent Wards grants him superb pushing ability from the support position and his high base damage and lockdown makes him a great partner for a kill-focused core. The hero's new Aghanim's Shard upgrade is an easy damage increase for a Shackled target and can also be used to boost a split-push's effectiveness.
Shadow Shaman doesn't play well from behind, however. When equipped with Aether Lens and high experience to activate his cast range talent, the hero can position himself easily. Without them, he's easily caught out in vulnerable situations with his low cast range and Serpent Wards can quickly become additional farm for enemies.
Tier three
- Nature's Prophet
- Elder Titan
- Mirana
- Viper
- Nyx Assassin
- Tidehunter
- Weaver
- Lion
- Dragon Knight
- Batrider
- Lycan
- Gyrocopter
The heroes in tier three have proven to be effective over a limited number of games. They serve as good options for teams looking to diversify their drafts in an effort to become less predictable-or as niche picks to counter certain popular heroes.
Nature's Prophet
No matter what, Nature's Prophet innate global presence never seems too far from the mind of drafters. The hero's Aghanim's Shard upgrade, which gave him two overpowered Greater Treant, brought him into the spotlight rapidly but was nerfed just as swiftly.
Instead, some teams in the Major-most notably underdogs OB Neon-used the Prophet's map-wide presence to wreak havoc as a core. Whether it was as an off lane or a carry, a fast Witch Blade or Orchid made the hero's ganks even more threatening and sacrificed some late-game carry potential for the ability to push the pace and unsettle the opposition.
Gyrocopter
Often, when Io rolls back into the meta, Gyrocopter inadvertently follows. This is no ordinary season for the Guardian Wisp, however, and it's the same case for Gyro.
Once known as one of the game's best late-game carries thanks to Flak Cannon, the hero has been transformed into a hard support, often being a decent lane bully and an auxiliary magic damage dealer in teamfights. The value in this pick is flexibility, still. Gyrocopter remains a serviceable carry, though not game-breaking by any means, giving teams another way to obscure their gameplan.
This is not an end-all list of heroes to pick. As mentioned, the flexibility of roles and laning in Dota 2 means that even the most unorthodox picks and strategies can work at times. And with the huge variety of heroes available to play, there's almost always a way to fit that one hero into your composition.
The post Dota 2 hero tier list (April 2021) appeared first on Dot Esports.