The Gorgon Queen is dead, rejoice. After a patch or so of domination, Dota 2 carries can finally move past the likes of Medusa and Naga Siren as Valve’s latest update shakes up the carry meta once more—and there are some surprising picks emerging from the rubble.
Now the dust has settled, players are adjusting to a new phase of Dota 2 life. A variety of supports have already staked their claim as the game’s best, but what about carries? Who are players turning to as their foremost damage dealer these days?
Four such heroes have broken through both in pro play and in ranked, and while Patch 7.34b aimed to disrupt a few that got out of hand, these defied the adjustments to sit at the top of the meta—at least for now. That said, with The International coming up fast, these four might just play a major part in Dota for a little longer.
Riki: Everyone’s favorite Stealth Assassin is back
First up is Riki, the most menacing hero for new players. If permanent invisibility through his Cloak and Dagger ultimate wasn’t enough, the hero received a huge buff to its base Agility and stat gain per level, meaning a higher damage output when proccing the Backstab passive.
Coupled with 7.33’s addition of bonus XP once the hero hits level six, likely intended for the hero’s role as a support, Riki’s win rate spiraled out of control almost immediately following Patch 7.34’s addition on Aug. 8. Eventually spiking at an incredible 57.73 percent, according to stats site Dotabuff, the hero was brought down a notch by the 7.34b adjustment patch a week later, which affected his attack speed and nerfed his talents.
Nevertheless, he’s defying these changes and remains a potent carry pick. Still sitting at a nine percent pick rate and well above parity for wins, it’s clear the Stealth Assassin won’t go away anytime soon. Be sure to buy plenty of Dust to catch him out.
Nature’s Prophet: Rat Dota is back, just in time for TI
7.34 also saw a major boost for Nature’s Prophet, but where Riki had some relevance before the patch, NP was all but absent. The hero recorded an abysmal 42 percent win rate pre-7.34 and was at the bottom of every tier list for ages following 7.33’s changes to his Treants and a rework to Teleportation.
The Aug. 8 patch saw NP’s Sprout ability gain a damage-over-time element when landing on enemies, and given it already restricted movement unless the victim had a way to destroy the trees, it has fast become a key part of the hero’s kit. Throw on steady buffs across the 7.33 cycle, including a base attack range boost and the flat damage buff provided after using Teleportation, and suddenly the “rat” of Dota was back to his best.
Related: Move over, Witch Doctor: Another Dota 2 support is winning more and more in Patch 7.34b
Overnight, his win rate shot up by five percent. It would only continue to grow, capping out at 53.33 percent—a full 10 points higher in the space of a week. His versatility in role selection is an added benefit; from terrorizing the mid lane to a worthy adversary in the offlane thanks to a well-rounded stat growth, NP is here to stay.
Wraith King It’s Skeleton King, now
Wraith King (or Skeleton King for you Dota veterans) saw only a couple of minor changes to his personal kit with 7.34’s introduction, but a key addition came in the form of a buff to his spawned skeleton units. Formerly possessing just one armor, these skeleton warriors were quick to kill and only really provided a benefit to pushing down objectives.
Those days are over. The skeletons had their armor tripled to three with 7.34, and now deal an additional 25 percent damage to heroes. Coupled with a boost to Vampiric Spirit, which provides lifesteal to each unit around Wraith King, and an increased stun duration from Wraithfire Blast, the skeletons can now hit enemy heroes more often and dish out that extra bit of damage.
7.34b’s Strength reduction did little to deter players from picking Ostarion, who is enjoying a 53.9 percent win rate and a move into the top 20 most-picked heroes list so far in this patch. While he remains almost uncontested throughout the TI regional qualifiers, we’re likely to see him played on the big stage—especially following K1’s qualification with Nouns on Aug. 21.
Night Stalker: Versatile to a fault
Finally, we turn our focus to Night Stalker. Primarily picked as an offlaner, he is fast becoming a viable option in the one or two thanks to the nerfs to illusion heroes and hyper carries, meaning match times are trending downwards. Pros are picking up on this fact, with NS posting a remarkable 77 percent win rate from nine matches in the TI qualifiers according to Spectral.
Like Prophet, Night Stalker received the addition of a DoT to his Crippling Fear, while his ultimate Dark Ascension now refreshes the cooldowns of all non-ultimate abilities on cast, meaning an addition slow from Void and silence and damage now via Crippling Fear.
NS peaks a little earlier compared to the likes of Spectre and Terrorblade, but as match times continue to fall, the relevance of stronger mid-game heroes is rising fast, and Night Stalker’s buffs in 7.34 mean he is as relevant as ever.
Only time will tell whether Valve will stand by their 7.34 and 7.34b changes ahead of The International in October, but should this remain the meta ahead of the Seattle tournament, we’re expecting all four of these carries to make an appearance.
