Julmust Profile Joined November 2008 Sweden 2183 Posts #1 Kiev Qualifiers

- The Meta A Brief Look at the Meta of the Kiev Qualifiers The Kiev Major is all set to be the first ever Valve event with 4 bounty runes and Roshan residing in his new home in the river. While early tournaments such as Dotapit Season 5 and StarLadder slowly ironed out the new 7.0 meta, Kiev’s Closed Qualifiers for each region seem to pick up right where they left off. We take a quick look at the most interesting heroes in various positions and try to explore the reasoning behind such drafts, how they solder themselves together in the early fighting-movement strategies seen most often, and compare the nuances of each region.



Ruuuuuuuubick! While Keeper of the Light steals the spot for the most banned hard support, Rubick seems to have not only been the most picked hero for position 5, but also for the entire tournament! The quick progression of levels among supports coupled with the reworked HotD tend to push a line-up to constantly find pickoffs all over the map at their optimum point, and Rubick seems to be the way to go for the majority of the teams across servers. A small plus point to picking the Grand Magus is the increase in magic damage cores and items being seen in this patch, as his passive skill can be all the difference one requires in a team fight.



It is interesting to note here that Crystal Maiden and Disruptor managed significantly higher win rates across this Qualifier, sitting at 59% and 57% respectively compared to Rubick’s meagre 47%. To understand why Rubick seemingly has been favoured so much even with a lesser overall winrate than the aforementioned supports, examine how well they make use of their gold as the mid game approaches. While Disruptor can be excellent with an item like Aghanims, he struggles outside of specific team strategies. Rubick however shows greater versatility in being picked higher in the draft.



Reworked Slardar Model, Reworked Slardar Position! The most notable introduction in 7.00 that completely reshaped position 4 gaming simply has to be the addition of 4 bounty runes. The fish that seems to have benefited the most from this change however isn’t your average position 4 hero. Fourth position Tranquil Boots into Midas is now a thing on Slardar, and this strategy that would simply be outright weird in pre-7.00 patches has found massive success. Other noteworthy heroes that benefit from the changes mostly are seen in the offlane, namely Nyx Assassin and Clockwerk.



Being the 3rd most picked hero in this championship, roaming Slardar has been favoured since the beginning of this patch, unlike Enigma or Vengeful Spirit who have been seen only recently. It is rather interesting to note here that while CIS and NA have shown Slardar a lot of love, with him being first and third most picked respectively, China and South America do not embrace this change with him not even being in the top 10 most picked heroes. SEA has seen larger success with Ogre Magi. The double-headed ogre has seen a win rate of 84% in SEA while he enjoys a 64% win rate overall. This, coupled with Slardar’s 49% win rate, makes you wonder.



Kneel to the Centaur Warrunner! On to the offlane. With a shrine nearby to retreat to in the face of fast-leveling supports, there never has been a better time for offlaners. While one might expect Dark Seer to be picked more often, courtesy the bounty and 3 medium camps to farm, it has been Centaur Warrunner who has seen the number one spot. As the meta pushes lineups to take teamfights as soon as possible and as quickly as possible in succession, Centaurs building Aghanim’s and Refresher Orb have seen great success in this tournament, taking precedent against Axe and Sand King who seem to be the next best alternatives in this meta.



Centaur currently has the second highest pick rate with a 54% winrate. While he remains among the most picked heroes across all regions, he sports an abysmal win rate of 27% in the NA region but an astonishingly high win rate of 64% in SEA, including a 100% win rate registered by iceiceice and SamH.



Magic Spirit and Sniper Druid’s current state If one is ever questioned ‘Which heroes have the most OP talents in the game’, they undeniably point at Ember Spirit and Lone Druid. Statistics back that up, as they have been among the most popular picks in the 7.0 era. The introduction of 7.02 slowed down Ember Spirit, but Lone Druid remains very popular.



Ember Spirit moved down to the 6th most picked hero with a winrate of 52%, while he was the 4th most picked hero during StarLadder Season 3 with a winrate of 57%. With the nerf to his level 10 talent, coupled with the newly added root mechanisms finally not allowing Xin to remnant out, is he finally balanced?



Dotapit Season 5 LAN Finals saw Lone Druid win six of his seven games. StarLadder Season 3 had him picked more often with a hefty win rate of 59%. With the power of the Sniper Druid build now clear to one and all, it therefore comes as no surprise that Lone Druid is our most banned hero for the Qualifier. His win rate also dropped down to 56%. Has the added 10 seconds to his level 20 talent of -40 seconds respawn timer done the trick? No, no it hasn’t.



Resurgence of Gyrocopter, Troll Warlord and Sniper

Resurgence is a relative term. While the abovementioned trinity during 6.83 were all the rage in the DotA world, the subsequent nerfs in the following patches nowhere saw them being picked for a REALLY long time. Gyrocopter’s degree of irrelevance can be put into context by EG preferring to draft a carry Visage in the Elimination Mode tournament over him. The talent system seems to have favoured them though, along with the current meta, as their pick rates slowly rise.

33 games have seen Troll Warlord get picked, with a decent win rate of 49%. SEA and EU boast an impressive above 75% win rate while CIS seems to have favored this imperial commander with the most number of games played. China, on the other hand, has picked him only 6 times, registering zero wins. With an arguably lacklustre talent tree in comparison to other hard carries that depend on objective based gameplay such as Drow Ranger or even Sniper, the axes might need to wait for a little more to whirl.



Sniper did see some success towards the tail-end of 6.88. Unlike the rest that were simply thrown into oblivion, he had started seeing the limelight all over again. 7.00 saw a continued rise in the popularity of Kardel. While his Aghanim’s upgrade is yet to even make a debut in a premium tournament, no noticeable nerfs to his hero overall meant that he continued to be picked as a lane winner whenever needed. And with 34 games alongside a 62% win rate, prospects only seem to be brightening up for him. SEA and SA seem to not grasp him, while EU and China lead his cause.



Where on one side we saw the reduction of mana intensive supports being picked up because of the added punishment for dying to neutrals, on the other, long forgotten heroes began paving their way to make a comeback into the meta. Shadow Fiend has been enjoying a modest pick rate for a while now. Earth Spirit seems to have cemented his place in top 5 banned and picked heroes overall and even Enigma has returned to the offlane, favouring the Hand of Midas rush popularized by KuroKy! On the other side, Meepo seemed invincible for a while and had even started getting picked in the first phase, but seems to have returned to just as we saw in 6.88.



Dota 2 with its ever intricate mechanics and endless permutations for strategies continues to dazzle, whether it be mild changes to the game or a complete makeover in itself. As the debate over the new HuD and Dire losing its rosh advantage simmers down, and with it, Valve’s constant tweaks to the whims of the community that was once the case, we are finally seeing acceptance of the circumstances and as always, quality Dota 2 action!

Writer: Nighimare

Editor: Sn0_Man The Kiev Major is all set to be the first ever Valve event with 4 bounty runes and Roshan residing in his new home in the river. While early tournaments such as Dotapit Season 5 and StarLadder slowly ironed out the new 7.0 meta, Kiev’s Closed Qualifiers for each region seem to pick up right where they left off. We take a quick look at the most interesting heroes in various positions and try to explore the reasoning behind such drafts, how they solder themselves together in the early fighting-movement strategies seen most often, and compare the nuances of each region.While Keeper of the Light steals the spot for the most banned hard support, Rubick seems to have not only been the most picked hero for position 5, but also for the entire tournament! The quick progression of levels among supports coupled with the reworked HotD tend to push a line-up to constantly find pickoffs all over the map at their optimum point, and Rubick seems to be the way to go for the majority of the teams across servers. A small plus point to picking the Grand Magus is the increase in magic damage cores and items being seen in this patch, as his passive skill can be all the difference one requires in a team fight.It is interesting to note here that Crystal Maiden and Disruptor managed significantly higher win rates across this Qualifier, sitting at 59% and 57% respectively compared to Rubick’s meagre 47%. To understand why Rubick seemingly has been favoured so much even with a lesser overall winrate than the aforementioned supports, examine how well they make use of their gold as the mid game approaches. While Disruptor can be excellent with an item like Aghanims, he struggles outside of specific team strategies. Rubick however shows greater versatility in being picked higher in the draft.The most notable introduction in 7.00 that completely reshaped position 4 gaming simply has to be the addition of 4 bounty runes. The fish that seems to have benefited the most from this change however isn’t your average position 4 hero. Fourth position Tranquil Boots into Midas is now a thing on Slardar, and this strategy that would simply be outright weird in pre-7.00 patches has found massive success. Other noteworthy heroes that benefit from the changes mostly are seen in the offlane, namely Nyx Assassin and Clockwerk.Being the 3rd most picked hero in this championship, roaming Slardar has been favoured since the beginning of this patch, unlike Enigma or Vengeful Spirit who have been seen only recently. It is rather interesting to note here that while CIS and NA have shown Slardar a lot of love, with him being first and third most picked respectively, China and South America do not embrace this change with him not even being in the top 10 most picked heroes. SEA has seen larger success with Ogre Magi. The double-headed ogre has seen a win rate of 84% in SEA while he enjoys a 64% win rate overall. This, coupled with Slardar’s 49% win rate, makes you wonder.On to the offlane. With a shrine nearby to retreat to in the face of fast-leveling supports, there never has been a better time for offlaners. While one might expect Dark Seer to be picked more often, courtesy the bounty and 3 medium camps to farm, it has been Centaur Warrunner who has seen the number one spot. As the meta pushes lineups to take teamfights as soon as possible and as quickly as possible in succession, Centaurs building Aghanim’s and Refresher Orb have seen great success in this tournament, taking precedent against Axe and Sand King who seem to be the next best alternatives in this meta.Centaur currently has the second highest pick rate with a 54% winrate. While he remains among the most picked heroes across all regions, he sports an abysmal win rate of 27% in the NA region but an astonishingly high win rate of 64% in SEA, including a 100% win rate registered by iceiceice and SamH.If one is ever questioned ‘Which heroes have the most OP talents in the game’, they undeniably point at Ember Spirit and Lone Druid. Statistics back that up, as they have been among the most popular picks in the 7.0 era. The introduction of 7.02 slowed down Ember Spirit, but Lone Druid remains very popular.Ember Spirit moved down to the 6th most picked hero with a winrate of 52%, while he was the 4th most picked hero during StarLadder Season 3 with a winrate of 57%. With the nerf to his level 10 talent, coupled with the newly added root mechanisms finally not allowing Xin to remnant out, is he finally balanced?Dotapit Season 5 LAN Finals saw Lone Druid win six of his seven games. StarLadder Season 3 had him picked more often with a hefty win rate of 59%. With the power of the Sniper Druid build now clear to one and all, it therefore comes as no surprise that Lone Druid is our most banned hero for the Qualifier. His win rate also dropped down to 56%. Has the added 10 seconds to his level 20 talent of -40 seconds respawn timer done the trick? No, no it hasn’t.Resurgence is a relative term. While the abovementioned trinity during 6.83 were all the rage in the DotA world, the subsequent nerfs in the following patches nowhere saw them being picked for a REALLY long time. Gyrocopter’s degree of irrelevance can be put into context by EG preferring to draft a carry Visage in the Elimination Mode tournament over him. The talent system seems to have favoured them though, along with the current meta, as their pick rates slowly rise.33 games have seen Troll Warlord get picked, with a decent win rate of 49%. SEA and EU boast an impressive above 75% win rate while CIS seems to have favored this imperial commander with the most number of games played. China, on the other hand, has picked him only 6 times, registering zero wins. With an arguably lacklustre talent tree in comparison to other hard carries that depend on objective based gameplay such as Drow Ranger or even Sniper, the axes might need to wait for a little more to whirl.Sniper did see some success towards the tail-end of 6.88. Unlike the rest that were simply thrown into oblivion, he had started seeing the limelight all over again. 7.00 saw a continued rise in the popularity of Kardel. While his Aghanim’s upgrade is yet to even make a debut in a premium tournament, no noticeable nerfs to his hero overall meant that he continued to be picked as a lane winner whenever needed. And with 34 games alongside a 62% win rate, prospects only seem to be brightening up for him. SEA and SA seem to not grasp him, while EU and China lead his cause.Where on one side we saw the reduction of mana intensive supports being picked up because of the added punishment for dying to neutrals, on the other, long forgotten heroes began paving their way to make a comeback into the meta. Shadow Fiend has been enjoying a modest pick rate for a while now. Earth Spirit seems to have cemented his place in top 5 banned and picked heroes overall and even Enigma has returned to the offlane, favouring the Hand of Midas rush popularized by KuroKy! On the other side, Meepo seemed invincible for a while and had even started getting picked in the first phase, but seems to have returned to just as we saw in 6.88.Dota 2 with its ever intricate mechanics and endless permutations for strategies continues to dazzle, whether it be mild changes to the game or a complete makeover in itself. As the debate over the new HuD and Dire losing its rosh advantage simmers down, and with it, Valve’s constant tweaks to the whims of the community that was once the case, we are finally seeing acceptance of the circumstances and as always, quality Dota 2 action!NighimareSn0_Man Administrator I'm dancing in the moonlight