The Group Stage for the Bali Main is over and it’s time to have a fast take a look at what works and what doesn’t on the highest stage of aggressive play. In case you thought that the meta was set in stone, suppose once more, as a result of it seems to be like quite a lot of issues are altering.
Pugna and Timeless are doing constantly nicely on this event, which shouldn’t come as a shock to anybody. Robust lane dominators with large save and therapeutic potential are what most groups are searching for in helps on this teamfight-oriented meta.
Pugna is very spectacular, along with his 56% winrate, however be range that this hero wants a great pairing to faucet into his full potential. He may be casually picked in on a regular basis pubs, however the hero is at his finest when performed alongside heroes like Storm Spirit.
Medusa additionally belongs to this class of excessive recognition and excessive success heroes of the present meta, however that is very a lot previous information. The hero requires a counterpick throughout the drafting stage and is problematic even with assured bans in Captains Mode. In All Decide, this hero ought to nonetheless be a precedence.
A number of heroes appear to be doing a bit of bit too nicely. Most notably, it’s Broodmother, who’s comfortably sitting at ~70% winrate throughout 36 video games. The hero is busted, however I’ve already talked about it in one of many newer posts.
Becoming a member of Broodmother, there are a number of much less OP, however nonetheless very sturdy heroes like Clockwerk and Windranger. The latter was nerfed not too long ago, however nonetheless stays a menace. Between built-in survivability and Common Attribute, the hero merely offers a bit an excessive amount of harm, whereas staying alive.
Clockwerk is a barely much less anticipated hero on the checklist. He was making progress because the begin of the patch, however it was not till the resurgence of ranged cores that he began being mainstream. The hero pairs very properly with quite a lot of heroes, however most notably he works wonders on a staff the place the offlane hero both lacks initiation prowess, or has very lengthy cooldowns. This makes him invaluable in pubs, although it’s preferable to lane him with a ranged core.
A number of heroes are performing a bit worse than anticipated. Groups have educated them, they wish to play them, however they don’t work out constantly. Maybe these heroes have been nerfed not too long ago, or they have been merely discovered, however I really feel like quickly this development will comply with pubs as nicely.
Most notably, Beastmaster and Terrorblade are closely underperforming. I really feel like the previous is being performed means too grasping and may’t be a dependable playmaker within the early midgame with Aghanim’s construct, when the staff wants him essentially the most. If the opponent efficiently invades your stacks a minimum of as soon as earlier than minute ten, the Beastmaster tempo is simply useless.
Terrorblade is a bit stunning, however as a hard-carry that depends on his staff to arrange a struggle for him, he’s strictly inferior to Medusa. It’s simpler to blow him up, he does much less in a teamfight and he doesn’t even essentially farm quicker. Nonetheless, I really feel just like the hero is value enjoying, it’s simply this event is a bit too Morphling-focused, making Terrorblade’s life depressing.
There’s additionally Disruptor, who has an abysmal ~26% winrate throughout 19 video games. The hero is so much weaker than he was once: stage one Thunder Strike went from being the very best harm per mana skill within the sport to one of many worst. Maxing it out isn’t an possibility both, leading to a hero that does look wonderful if you end up forward, however doesn’t actually do something from behind.
There are lots of different heroes who’re additionally value discussing. For instance, Techies is certainly beginning to really feel a bit discovered, whereas heroes like Enigma at the moment are dominating even from a help place. All in all, the meta is much from being set in stone, with a few fascinating caveats we’re going to focus on later this week.