These heroes are always the first to go and it is extremely rare for them to not get banned/picked right away. Their ability to more than just fill the roles of the current meta-game makes them extremely useful in any line-up.
Anti-Mage
Chen
Dark Seer
Invoker
Nature's Prophet
Shadow Shaman
VenomancerMiddle Tier:
Useful heroes that are rarely left untouched during the early selection process. Most of these heroes will be picked/banned in a match.
Broodmother
Crystal Maiden
Earthshaker
Enchantress
Leshrac
Mirana
Morphling
Night Stalker
Sand King
Tidehunter
Vengeful Spirit
Lower Tier:
These are the heroes that are still good in the competitive scene, but are obviously less of a priority in picking. Unless they are picked early for a specific role or counter, dependant on the team compsition.
Ancient Apparition
Batrider
BeastmasterPandaren Brewmaster
Dragon Knight
Dazzle
Enigma
Faceless Void
Lich
Lone Druid
Lifestealer
Omniknight
Outworld Destroyer
Puck
Pudge
Pugna
Queen of Pain
Razor
Shadow Demon
Slardar
Storm Spirit
Sven
Viper
Weaver
Witch Doctor
Pandaren Brewmaster + The reason I added him here, is because his initiation and anti-carry ability are phenomenal, while at the same time he can be one of your team's semi-carries. Very reliable hero and depending on what happens come this May, we will see if he goes up or down.
Bottom Tier:
Rarely ever picked and banned even less, it is hard to find a place for them in most team compositions. Chances are that none of these heroes will be in a competitive game.
Alchemist
Axe
Bane
Bloodseeker
Bounty Hunter
Clinkz
Clockwerk
Death ProphetDoom Bringer
Drow Ranger
Huskar
Jakiro
Juggernaut
Lina
KunkkaNecrolyte
Riki
Shadow Fiend
SilencerSkeleton King
Sniper
Spirit Breaker
Spectre
Tinker
Tiny
Ursa
Warlock
Zeus
Status of the Current Metagame
For a while now, the game revolves around a Rock Paper Scissors kind of style, where: Push > Turtle > Gank > Push. Over time, each has had it's dominant time and currently, Push is the favored style. Getting Towers down for your team gives a gold advantage that can swing the game in your favor while giving your team a lot of momentum. Or focusing down pushing heroes to deny them experience and gold, giving them to a semi-carry who is doing the ganking. Then lastly there is holding back and playing defensively, to avoid the ganking strategy but leaves you somewhat open to pushing.
100% Agree that Tiny is an amazing piece to any team and needs to be moved up on the list. Not only is his early game damage super heavy and he gives your team a free blink, but he can also act as an instigator himself (when he gets blink dagger) with his q then w for more damage. I've played pretty much Tiny all week so this may be a bit bias, but I don't know how many times we were losing and grabbed and Blink Dagger and shut up the **** talkers.
Thats why i think some heroes are misplaced. If you want to take an aggregate of the last 4-6 months this list looks really good.
Invoker ain't top tier.
He is God Tier.
Never bothered with something like this before now.
For one, Syllabear in the second-to-last tier? He should be in the highest or second highest at least.
Secondly, Lycan should be highest tier. He very rarely makes it through banning phase.
Third, Anti-Mage shouldn't be top tier anymore. With Sylla released, he just hasn't been picked up very much.
Fourth, Invoker not on list. He is definitely a top-tier pick.
A lot of smaller problems, such as placement of certain heroes I could really argue with. Riki, to point out a specific, has really picked up favor in the last few months. He was actually banned quite a bit recently.