Note: I provided a detailed explanation on Tiny (the top tier 1 hero during October and September) in the previous tier list.

Winter Wyvern’s skillset fits the meta

Winter Wyvern ascended to tier 1-2 starting from July. The main reason behind her popularity is a skillset which is perfect to counter many heroes and strategies used in the current meta.

Wave-clearing capabilities. Splinter Blast is excellent against pushers because it damages an unlimited number of targets in a 500 radius. The skill is effective against creeps, dominated neutrals, illusions (Phantom Lancer), and summons of any kind.

Broodmother’s spiderlings and Enigma’s eidolons are suitable examples among the current most drafted heroes.

Formidable versus tanks. Arctic Burn inflicts damage based on a % of the target health points, which is powerful against tanky heroes during all the game. In particular, it offers a great value in the laning phase as it can zone out them while remaining at a safe distance.

Tiny, Ogre Magi, Axe, Undying, Morphling in strength mode are just a few examples among the heroes in the top 20 that can be punished by this skill.

She counters auto-attackers. A well-placed Winter’s Curse can determine the fate of a team fight when facing physical DPS heroes. If the ultimate is used successfully early on, the battle will turn into a 5vs4.

Drow Ranger is great both as a target because she is extremely squishy, and as an attacker because her damage can annihilate most heroes quickly.

Magic damage is Winter Wyvern’s biggest weakness

Cold Embrace does a fine job with high-HP heroes because it heals a percentage of the max health of the target per second. It also nullifies all incoming physical damage, but simultaneously the ability is extremely weak versus magic nukers.

Your teammate cannot move or use any skill during the healing time. There are many casters from tier 1 to 3 with exceptional nukes who can exploit this situation to inflict heavy damage or even score a kill, for example Necrophos, Lina, and Pugna.

Never underestimate the vision advantage

Arctic Burn gives a 400 night vision bonus, and WW night-time capabilities can be increased further via the level 15 talent +500 Night Vision.

According to Dotabuff, the +350 health talent is the preferred one in pubs (considering all ranks), but the situation is different in pro games. I have checked manually the skill builds used during ESL One Hamburg 2018, and the extra night vision is clearly the favored option.

It gives you an edge in team fight and in the ward war. Note that even if this skill grants flying movement, it doesn’t provide also flying vision, but you can still get it by simply flying over a cliff.

Usually first picked or banned

WW isn’t a great first pick hero because you can counter her with a strong offlane duo and a good magic core. There are certainly more flexible heroes you may prefer as an early pick, but often you do not have a choice (especially when a hero is either banned or picked in most games), so during October she has been selected during the first phase in over 70% of the pro games.

Winter Wyvern in pubs

Winter Wyvern maintains a win rate slightly above 50% at all ranks, and becomes a great pick at the Divine medal where she reaches a 51.9% win rate with a notable 17.5% pick rate.

Many players believe that the heroes with a healing skill have an advantage in pubs, but this is incorrect. For example, Dazzle is in a very bad spot with a negative win rate of 48-49% at all ranks.

As I have already explained concerning the pro gameplay, WW just works well with and against many popular heroes, and I think that Winter’s Curse ability to pierce the Black King Bar is a big plus (especially at higher ranks). With a low 80 seconds cooldown, this skill is virtually available in every team fight, and can be used freely in any gank as a control tool or just to stop a teleport attempt.

Note: you can target spell immune enemies, but can’t taunt them.

It isn’t easy to use WW’s skills correctly. Splinter Blast is very basic and a mistake won’t inhibit the actions of your teammates, but using her ultimate or Cold Embrace at the wrong time or onto an unsuitable target can invalidate a kill attempt and even help the opponents. This might be the reason behind her lower pick rate - from 5 to 8% - below Ancient.