When I first started writing these hero tiers at the start of the year, the number of matches played for a month would be about 200. This month there were just over 500 professional tournament matches played. There are about half a dozen tournaments running concurrently right now, and although they might not be as big as the G-1 League or the International, it still shows Dota 2 has a vigorous competitive scene that continues to grow unabated.

So too does the meta game continued to grow and evolve. After a period of stagnation it seems like we've reached a point at which almost every hero can be picked if not every game then at least situationally. Even the biggest teams are showing a willingness to experiment and innovate resulting in some of the most exciting games to date.

The changes continue to fly thick and fast as well, with barely time to catch our breath since 6.78 before 6.78c is released bringing further tweaks and balances. These retouches can have subtle effects that aren’t felt for some time after being brought into the game, so having two so close together, and containing some radical changes the next few months could be tumultuous for the hero tiers.

Tier 1

Despite a few nerfs in 6.78 Batrider remains first ban material, and was either picked or banned in 91% of the games for July. His strength in a 1v1 lane is almost unmatched and with the bottlecrow changes he has become even more powerful. Careful team play or a well times Disruption can negate a lot of Batriders strengths, and if the Flaming Lasso doesn't secure a kill then late game Batrider's team fight contribution can drop off. When it comes to roaming and ganking though Batrider is still one of the best.

There's a new #1 carry in town, and he's an old man in a tiny helicopter. Gyrocopter has such huge early and late game damage potential, and if the need arises he can farm up a storm. Even if he falls behind in either level or net worth with some expertly stacked ancients whilst giving his supports some much needed experience as well. Call Down is a great crowd control for team fights, and all the explosions falling from the sky coupled with the damage and slow can have a psychological effect as well, causing a team that is wavering or hesitant to scatter in panic. The Chinese teams are in to Gyrocopter in a way that they aren't with Lifestealer as well, which no doubt contributes to his spot at the top for the month of June. He received a slight range nerf in 6.78c but this probably won't have much affect on his popularity. All in all it seems everything's coming up Gyrocopter (and Milhouse).

Speaking of Lifestealer he has received another significant need in 6.78c with his rage cooldown increased from 15 to 17 seconds. This could be enough to finally push him out of the top tier altogether, but we'll have to wait until next month’s numbers though to see exactly how hard it will hit his competitive viability.

Another hero that has remained firmly in first ban territory is of course the hero formerly known as Wisp, Io. So much so that we rarely see the hero played, only making it through the bans to be picked in 9% of games. But when Io does make it through he’s reminded us why keeping him out of the pool is such a good idea, with a 67% win rate in July. He’s received another nerf in 6.78c with Overcharge reduced from 30% to 20% on top of those he had already received in 6.78, but the potential for havoc that Io can wreak on an enemy team means that it’s unlikely we’ll see much of a drop in popularity anytime soon particularly with Chinese teams still struggling to play against him.

I think a lot of teams have learned to minimise the damage Io can cause now though and a well coordinated team has a lot less to fear from Relocate than they once might have done. But with most teams are playing with as little risk as they can manage at the moment (except for EG perhaps) letting Io through to the picking phase might just be a risk that they’re not willing to take.

Lone Druids popularity has taken a slight hit, dropping from 6th most popular hero in May to 9th in June. He still remains one of the strongest off lane or jungle heroes in the game despite the nerfs he received, most players having now swapped the Armlet for a Radiance. With the offlane pool low, its unlikely that Lone Druid will fall far from his current ranking, if he falls at all. Either way, [A]dmiralBulldog has his back.

Tier 2

Visage continues his meteoric rise, shooting to the top of Tier 2. It’s not that he's received any major buffs but that teams have just realised all at once just how strong this hero is. Although Visage’s Familiars have a high skill cap due to the micro that they require, once mastered the utility that the Familiars offer is massive as they can split push, scout or chain stun an entire team not to mention their damage output. Visage brings more than just some oversized creeps to the table though with huge survivability and damage with Gravekeeper’s Cloak and Soul Assumption which allow him to go toe to toe with carries in the early to mid game and more than hold his own. This is a hero that thrives on aggressive plays and is in his element in the thick of a fight, but needs an aggressive lineup to match to use Visage to his full potential. His abilities make him the king of trilanes but are equally of use for roaming and ganking if he’s not needed in lane. He may have made a sudden appearance onto the competitive scene, but expect Visage to be sticking around.

Chen is one of the few old school dota 2 heroes that is still consistently appears in the top tiers. At the height of the pushing meta around the time of the second International he was running late if he hasn't destroyed a T1 tower by the five minute mark. Although the hard push strategies are behind us now Chen is still a powerful early game presence with his army of persuaded creeps. He can farm up a Mekansm quite early on by farming the jungle, but this usually leaves a support and carry in a dual lane which is trouble if the enemy runs an aggressive trilane against them. Hand of God gives Chen good split pig potential and his creeps make him a great early game ganker, but he can have a lot of trouble staying relevant in the late game. Buy Hand of Midas to really ruin his day.

Another month, another rise through the ranks for Alchemist. Rather than the usual farm fest that we’re accustomed to, teams have been doing something rather interesting. Rather than run him in the one role either in a trilane or a farming solo safe lane teams have been using him as a four or five role support and rushing an early Mekansm. At first this seems crazy, because Alchemist is THE farming hero and can become very scary very quickly as a carry. If you think about it though, it makes a certain kind of sense.

With Greevil’s Greed he can do a lot more with the small amount of farm a hard support receives than another hero would be able to. The Mekansm gives him quite a bit of survivability, and he can farm it very early on in the game when it’s at it’s most effective. Then later on in the game he can start getting a few of those bigger items, and when you get into teamfights rather than a squishy int hero who is going to drop very quickly you have an Alchemist with a core item or two starting to wreck face. Doom in being used by a few teams in a similar manner, and although it’s a greedy choice and can result in a lineup with a weaker early game presence it’s a tactic that can really pay off in longer games.

Treant is another hero that after a shaky start is really starting to find his place in the metagame. Living Armour has received a slight nerf with the damage block now scaling with levels, which means that Treant players will now have to max it out early to get the most out of this skill. Despite this change Treant still pretty much allows a team to give one of their lanes an enormous advantage early game and added survivability even into the later stages.

Overgrowth is a great counter initiation, allowing the team to reorient themselves to respond and have a few seconds breathing space, sort of like a Song of the Siren where you can still hit each other. It’s not particularly effective when used offensively unless there is follow up such as a Reverse Polarity or Epicenter, but trees aren’t good at movement anyway. Treant Protector is an extremely strong hero, so much so that we’re seeing him banned in the first ban phase in some games. We all still miss Eyes of the Forest though.

Tier 3

Some interest has been shown in Kunkka by the Western scene, with teams such as Alliance, Team Liquid and Team Dignitas experimenting with him, almost exclusively as a mid lane hero. He can be run in a trilane, but this is predicated upon picking

How the mighty have fallen. Magnus, once a mainstay of the top Tier, falls down amongst the riff raff in Tier 3. Fifty less damage in Reverse Polarity combined with a slowed bottlecrow means that rather than looking to win his lane, in most matchups Magnus is now just aiming to break even. Players like Alliance’s S4 may keep him in their repertoire due to their familiarity with the hero, but it’s likely most teams are going to pick up Magnus now as a part of a wombo combo lineup, rather than just picking him every game because he’s a good hero like we have seen in the past.

Tier 4

Outworld Devourer absolutely destroys the laning phase one on one. By spamming Astral Imprisonment he not only disrupts his enemies last hitting but gains enough damage through the intelligence steal to make it nigh on impossible to try and deny him. It’s frustrating enough when you can’t run in to get a last hit and don’t have the mana to cast any spells, but its even worse if you’re playing against OD as an intelligence hero as Astral Imprisonment reduces your base damage as well meaning even less last hits for you.

OD is very susceptible to being ganked, but if a support isn’t free to rotate in though that the laning phase can be a painful time for his enemies. He’s no slouch when it comes to dishing out the damage either, adding a ton of pure damage to his auto attacks and a farmed OD can use Sanity’s Eclipse to one hit more popular carries such as Alchemist or Phantom Assassin whose intelligence is quite low. Currently Outworld Devourer is being used by teams that are more comfortable with a more experimental line up, but some very strong recent performances it can’t be long before more teams sit up and begin to take notice.

The pool of viable carries has been steadily expanding ever since the International when every game was a contest to try and grab Anti Mage before your opponent. These days there is a rich and varied selection available to teams and Spectre is one of the more recent additions to this buffet of one role heroes. Spectre is quite fragile early game and takes can take a lot of farming before she's ready to start terrorizing the enemy team. However using Haunt she can join team fights at a moments notice without putting herself in harms way until a definite kill becomes available. This skill is also great for picking off any squishy heroes that separate to try and farm or ward, and can even be used offensively to help a smoked team find the enemy. However Spectre lacks the early to mid game presence that the more popular carries are able to bring to a lineup meaning it's unlikely she'll become the next big thing in Dota.

Top tier supports are all picked with one thing in mind: being effective with minimal farm and experience. Sand King is the exact opposite of this. To be effective he needs to hit level 11 early as well as find the gold for both Arcane Boots and a Blink Dagger. If Sand King can get to that point then he's a devastating initiator, as a well aimed Epicenter can destroy any hope the enemy team had of fighting back. If he has a rough start though then it can be very hard for him to catch up, and he may just end up being a dead weight. We rarely see Sand King picked in the West but Na'Vi have picked him in the Alienware Cup finals, so maybe we will see him picked up more similar to Kunkka and Dragon Knight.

Predictions

With the offlane pool reduced, Bounty Hunter looks set to make a comeback. He can have trouble when matched up with a lot of other offlaners such as Lone Druid or Darkseer, but is happy to sit back and leech experience until level six, even against a trilane. Then he can go hunting, and with Track he can very quickly catch up in net worth. With teams picking multiple carries a game Bounty Hunter can help to make sure everyone gets the gold they need to stay relevant. Whether this is enough to get him back into the hero tiers though remains to be seen.

Doom has been popping up here and there over the past month or two in a number of different roles. He’s been used in his more traditional carry role by Virtus Pro, in the mid lane by Sneyking of Dignitas (who plays Doom as an initiator with a Blink Dagger plus a stomp stolen from a neutral centaur) or even as a hyperfarming support by Eastern teams such as TongFu. His ultimate is such a powerful disable that is can completely shut down an enemy hero, even one that doesn’t rely on spells and with an Aghanims can force them out of a fight or be permanantly doomed.

If a few months ago you’d asked me to make a list of heroes that will never make it into the meta game, Crystal Maiden would be high on that list. Na’Vi, Virtus Pro and Orange have all shown some interest in him though, and when teams like those start picking a hero you need to take notice. She has a powerful laning presence and Arcane Aura opens up a lot of possibilities for heroes who otherwise struggle with a low mana pool such as Timbwersaw or Tinker. So far her squishiness, slowness and lack of late game relevance has kept her on the side lines, but in this meta game anything is possible.

With the International only a few weeks away, will teams stick with what they know or finally reveal their true form? Only one thing is certain, and thats that teams will be pulling out all the stops to achieve victory. Keep your eyes glued to Twitch and DotaTV, and as always happy gaming!