Skulz Competitive Hero Tier List January 2018

Welcome in the first Competitive Hero Tier List of 2018. During January, we saw 703 games played under the 7.07d patch.

QUICK LINKS Tier 1 • Tier 2 • Tier 3 • Tier 4 • Tier 5 Every month, the tier list distributes the Dota 2 heroes in five different groups according to their total pick and ban rate. The requisites for each tier never change - the goal is offering a neutral comparison that shows how the meta evolves over time. The tiers depend only on drafts, and aren't influenced either by the win rate of a hero, or by their performance in pub matches. FEATURED HEROES Tiny • Bane • Lycan

January is the first month in which we have data based exclusively on the latest patch, 7.07d, landed on December 19. The tier list contains statistics from all pro tournaments played in the past 30 days, including the ESL One Genting 2018 Minor, that concluded in the previous weekend.

Techies, Pangolier, and Dark Willow aren’t available in Captains Mode, but the tool gathered data from all Pro tournaments, including Captains Draft 4.0 - which is a Valve Minor. I couldn’t automatically remove these drafts from the data.

Since the release of 7.07, the meta continued evolving, and even in this tier list the top heroes differ from the ones that won the spotlight in the past month. Do not forget to have a look at the December Tier List to compare all the changes in detail.

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Hero P+B P+B% Picks Picks % Bans Bans % Win % Guides Tiny 567 80.7% 208 29.6% 359 51.1% 59.1% guides ↗ Omniknight 549 78.1% 114 16.2% 435 61.9% 51.8% guides ↗ Clockwerk 535 76.1% 173 24.6% 362 51.5% 56.1% guides ↗ Tusk 515 73.3% 234 33.3% 281 40.0% 45.3% guides ↗ Night Stalker 498 70.8% 104 14.8% 394 56.1% 59.6% guides ↗ Bane 486 69.1% 179 25.5% 307 43.7% 58.7% guides ↗ UP: DOWN: Compared to December Tier list Tiny - A slow rise to the top The Dueling Fates update drastically changed Tiny. Initially, his results were unsatisfactory, but Valve buffed him in 7.07b and adjusted some skills in the successive patch. Probably, IceFrog understood that the hero potential was huge, and in 7.07d decided to increase marginally Grow attack speed reduction. This final nerf was not enough to hinder the hero. In pubs, many players must still figure out how to utilize him: Tiny’s win rate is negative at all ranks, but at 5k+ he hits 52.7% thanks to the more experienced player base. Instead, pro players had the necessary time to experiment with him, and finally determined his place in the meta. Tiny is now the third most picked hero and has a 59.1% win rate. A killer with pushing power Picking Tiny means securing a lane thanks to his early game tankiness and nuke power. Big health pool. 7.07b increased Tiny’s base strength by 4, so now he starts the game with 800 hp and 0 armor. He isn’t that resilient versus physical auto attackers, but can tolerate a huge number of nukes. Status resistance. With 7.07, strength heroes get 0.15% status resistance bonus for each point in their main statistic. Additionally, Tiny’s Grow provides 40% status resistance once maxed. Considering this skill and the 3.3 strength growth, the duration of all disables on Tiny is immensely reduced. Warning: never neglect a Black King Bar when facing a team with many disablers. One-shotting squishies. Thanks to the nuke power of the Avalanche + Toss combo, he can obliterate most opponents in the early and mid game. The old combo is now followed by two auto-attacks exploiting the new ability Tree Grab: it enhances Tiny’s physical damage, so a double strike when using the Echo Sabre adds up a lot of burst power. Finally, you can toss the tree if the target is still alive. Adaptability to different lineups. Pro players are successfully playing Tiny both in the safelane and in the offlane. In some games, he has also been picked as a midder or a roamer. Overall, the 7.07 Tiny has an insane solo-kill potential and can take care of squishy heroes throughout all the match. He is also a wave clearer and a pusher thanks to Tree Grab: 40% bonus damage versus units and 120% against buildings. Finally, depending on the lineup, the Stone Giant can also transition into a carry role. Item build The item build depends on his role in the game. Looking at the matches played during Galaxy Battles II and ESL One Genting 2018, you want to develop his mobility first, with items such as Force Staff, Blink Dagger, or Sange and Yasha. When played as a killer, the Shadow Blade is a very popular pick as it enhances your one-shot combo. Drum of Endurance and Assault Cuirass are also prominent: very helpful both to reinforce the pushing power of the team and your carry capabilities. Echo Sabre and Daedalus are frequently purchased when he is played as the main carry of the squad. Bane - Great laner and ganker Omniknight and Bane are at the top of the chart among the supports. I have extensively talked about the former in the past Tier List, so check it out for all the info about Omniknight. Amazing armor and damage. Bane is one of the best aggressive supports you can have in the lane phase. He starts with 660 health points, 4.83 armor, and 60-66 damage at level 1. Bane is resilient to auto-attackers, and many offlaners won’t be able to survive for a long time against his damage. Enfeeble and Brain Sap are great tools for lane dominance. The former reduces the target’s attack damage by 30/60/90/120, while the latter inflicts pure damage and heals Bane for the same amount. You can efficiently maintain the control of the lane by harassing the offlaner and even reducing his last hitting capability. Efficient ganker. Nightmare is a solid tool for any gank: with a 7 seconds duration, your team will have all the time for a perfect placement on the map. Of course, I am not talking about pub matches in which the carry frequently attacks the sleeping target :P. The perfect single-target disabler. Fiend’s Grip is a channeled disable with a 5 seconds duration, 12 with the level 25 talent. It is great to take care of very mobile heroes such as Anti-Mage or Storm Spirit, which could just disappear from your sight at the end of a short 2-3 seconds stun. Beware: Bane’s skill set is suitable when he needs to handle a single hero, and a maximum of two at a time. Do not expect miracles from your support and do help your team when the opponents are rotating around the map. A single teleport can change the fate of a lane. No farming abilities, but no items required While farming isn’t a priority for a support, being able to capitalize on the extra gold available on the map is a solid plus. Unfortunately, Bane has no skill to kill creep waves quickly. His high auto-attack is convenient to last hit and deny during the lane phase, but eventually it isn’t enough to earn adequate quantities of gold. On the sunny side, Bane is not an item dependent hero. Honestly, mobility via the Force Staff or spell range increase with the Aether Lens would be of great help during the game, yet even without those Bane can do the job just fine. The Glimmer Cape is also a popular item as you can use it in conjunction with his ultimate, so it will be a lot harder cancelling it.

Hero P+B P+B% Picks Picks % Bans Bans % Win % Guides Razor 436 62.0% 137 19.5% 299 42.5% 54.0% guides ↗ Shadow Shaman 424 60.3% 268 38.1% 156 22.2% 50.4% guides ↗ Lycan 417 59.3% 116 16.5% 301 42.8% 60.3% guides ↗ Shadow Fiend 394 56.1% 208 29.6% 186 26.5% 51.4% guides ↗ Phantom Lancer 384 54.6% 149 21.2% 235 33.4% 55.0% guides ↗ Brewmaster 375 53.3% 165 23.5% 210 29.9% 51.5% guides ↗ Tinker 356 50.6% 108 15.4% 248 35.3% 44.4% guides ↗ Bounty Hunter 354 50.4% 83 11.8% 271 38.6% 47.0% guides ↗ Sand King 332 47.2% 214 30.4% 118 16.8% 42.1% guides ↗ UP: DOWN: Compared to December Tier list  Lycan - Sometimes, banning is the best solution Taking care of Lycan requires so many resources that most teams choose to radically solve the problem by banning him. Lycan has a total of 301 bans, 116 picks, and a win rate of 60.3%. Dealing with him isn’t easy, and his win rate is extremely positive also in all pub brackets: at 5k+ rank he even reaches an astonishing 62.4% win rate. 7.07 has not altered his gameplay but only improved it. Lycan is great pusher able to empower his teammates and all the units under the control of the entire team. Helm of the Dominator, Necronomicon, and Assault Cuirass are typical items you want in every game. The Dueling Fates update modified only his talents, and no more changes have been applied in the successive patches. +3 Wolves Summoned 25 +600 Howl Hero Health +8s Shapeshift Duration 20 +16% Feral Impulse Damage +8 Feral HP Regen 15 +12% Cooldown Reduction +5 Armor 10 +20 Damage Level 15. Moving the cooldown reduction talent from level 20 in 7.06 to level 15 improved his mid game. He can Summon Wolves with a 26.4 seconds cooldown and boost the entire team with Howl every 39.6 seconds. Level 20. The new talents give Lycan a choice: he can either strengthen his pushing power as Feral Impulse attack damage bonus is raised from 48% to 64%, or be on steroids for longer by increasing the duration of Shapeshift from 18 to 26 seconds. Note that Feral Impulse is a passive that only works on Lycan and his units, it doesn’t affect your allies. They are both solid options, but personally I prefer the latter in most games. Shapeshift is an amazing tool for ganks and escapes as it grants you 650 hasted speed and 1,000 night vision bonus. It also gives you additional damage in teamfight as Lycan and all his units gain a 40% critical strike chance. Do not forget that towers are immune to critical damage, so being in this form doesn’t increase your effectiveness against buildings. Level 25. In my opinion, both level 25 talents are massive. +3 wolves (+2 in 7.06) means a huge dps boost as they are affected by your skills and all auras. +600 Howl hero health is almost overpowered: the bonus doubles at night, so every hero will have 1600 extra health points! Countering Lycan Ruin his lane phase. The best way to deal with Lycan is deploying an aggressive trilane or a strong duolane. If you let him freefarm during the early game, he could snowball out of control once he gets his core items. A Lycan with an early Necronomicon is a situation you want to avoid at all costs Take care of his teammates. This could sound weird, but sometimes you want to invest more resources dealing with the rest of the team. Lycan can’t effectively do his job as a pusher if there is no team he can rely on. Ultimately, the option to prefer depends on the lineups. Strong disables. Thanks to Shapeshift, Lycan is totally immune to slows. He is also very fast, so a short disable often won’t be enough. You want heroes able to lock him down while the damage dealers take care of him. A perfect example is Shadow Shaman with his Hex and Shackles. Rotate and defend your towers. Often, pub players just don’t help their teammates and let Lycan get multiple free towers at minute 10-15. Don’t let this happen - you should never give up on your towers! Smoke ganks - otherwise he will escape with Shapeshift - prevent Lycan’s pushes and defend your towers. He is a great pusher, so if you let him take your tier 2 towers quickly, your tier 3 ones will be under perpetual threat for the rest of the match.

Hero P+B P+B% Picks Picks % Bans Bans % Win % Guides Puck 308 43.8% 149 21.2% 159 22.6% 47.7% guides ↗ Batrider 304 43.2% 119 16.9% 185 26.3% 48.7% guides ↗ Elder Titan 300 42.7% 120 17.1% 180 25.6% 61.7% guides ↗ Tidehunter 299 42.5% 138 19.6% 161 22.9% 50.0% guides ↗ Dragon Knight 291 41.4% 167 23.8% 124 17.6% 52.7% guides ↗ Queen of Pain 283 40.3% 155 22.1% 128 18.2% 44.5% guides ↗ Disruptor 267 38.0% 199 28.3% 68 9.7% 52.3% guides ↗ Death Prophet 263 37.4% 121 17.2% 142 20.2% 46.3% guides ↗ Enchantress 252 35.9% 61 8.7% 191 27.2% 54.1% guides ↗ Medusa 246 35.0% 97 13.8% 149 21.2% 52.6% guides ↗ Earth Spirit 239 34.0% 135 19.2% 104 14.8% 53.3% guides ↗ Outworld Devourer 233 33.1% 104 14.8% 129 18.4% 56.7% guides ↗ Nyx Assassin 225 32.0% 91 12.9% 134 19.1% 49.5% guides ↗ Terrorblade 224 31.9% 98 13.9% 126 17.9% 57.1% guides ↗ Witch Doctor 215 30.6% 170 24.2% 45 6.4% 44.1% guides ↗ Doom 214 30.4% 106 15.1% 108 15.4% 49.1% guides ↗ Faceless Void 213 30.3% 98 13.9% 115 16.4% 54.1% guides ↗ Rubick 189 26.9% 138 19.6% 51 7.3% 56.5% guides ↗ Gyrocopter 183 26.0% 108 15.4% 75 10.7% 44.4% guides ↗ Juggernaut 168 23.9% 91 12.9% 77 11.0% 53.9% guides ↗ Ancient Apparition 163 23.2% 99 14.1% 64 9.1% 42.4% guides ↗ Broodmother 158 22.5% 29 4.1% 129 18.4% 58.6% guides ↗ Chaos Knight 153 21.8% 59 8.4% 94 13.4% 49.2% guides ↗ Lifestealer 141 20.1% 71 10.1% 70 10.0% 39.4% guides ↗

Hero P+B P+B% Picks Picks % Bans Bans % Win % Guides Chen 132 18.8% 33 4.7% 99 14.1% 51.5% guides ↗ Weaver 128 18.2% 66 9.4% 62 8.8% 45.5% guides ↗ Legion Commander 124 17.6% 69 9.8% 55 7.8% 34.8% guides ↗ Viper 121 17.2% 59 8.4% 62 8.8% 54.2% guides ↗ Luna 112 15.9% 66 9.4% 46 6.5% 45.5% guides ↗ Storm Spirit 110 15.7% 48 6.8% 62 8.8% 33.3% guides ↗ Underlord 96 13.7% 56 8.0% 40 5.7% 37.5% guides ↗ Abaddon 91 12.9% 51 7.3% 40 5.7% 52.9% guides ↗ Winter Wyvern 89 12.7% 59 8.4% 30 4.3% 42.4% guides ↗ Beastmaster 88 12.5% 42 6.0% 46 6.5% 61.9% guides ↗ Naga Siren 84 12.0% 46 6.5% 38 5.4% 69.6% guides ↗ Timbersaw 75 10.7% 33 4.7% 42 6.0% 39.4% guides ↗ Jakiro 75 10.7% 70 10.0% 5 0.7% 41.4% guides ↗ Dark Seer 74 10.5% 43 6.1% 31 4.4% 53.5% guides ↗ Enigma 74 10.5% 39 5.6% 35 5.0% 46.2% guides ↗ Kunkka 74 10.5% 51 7.3% 23 3.3% 45.1% guides ↗ Sven 72 10.2% 36 5.1% 36 5.1% 36.1% guides ↗ Undying 69 9.8% 41 5.8% 28 4.0% 51.2% guides ↗ Ogre Magi 64 9.1% 30 4.3% 34 4.8% 50.0% guides ↗ Vengeful Spirit 64 9.1% 41 5.8% 23 3.3% 56.1% guides ↗ Templar Assassin 62 8.8% 37 5.3% 25 3.6% 64.9% guides ↗ Shadow Demon 56 8.0% 44 6.3% 12 1.7% 45.5% guides ↗ Anti-Mage 56 8.0% 19 2.7% 37 5.3% 57.9% guides ↗ Dazzle 55 7.8% 47 6.7% 8 1.1% 53.2% guides ↗ Monkey King 51 7.3% 33 4.7% 18 2.6% 48.5% guides ↗ Warlock 46 6.5% 40 5.7% 6 0.9% 60.0% guides ↗ Lone Druid 44 6.3% 30 4.3% 14 2.0% 50.0% guides ↗ Sniper 43 6.1% 30 4.3% 13 1.9% 46.7% guides ↗ Drow Ranger 41 5.8% 14 2.0% 27 3.8% 35.7% guides ↗ Earthshaker 40 5.7% 34 4.8% 6 0.9% 44.1% guides ↗ Silencer 39 5.6% 24 3.4% 15 2.1% 45.8% guides ↗ Slardar 38 5.4% 28 4.0% 10 1.4% 39.3% guides ↗ Mirana 38 5.4% 30 4.3% 8 1.1% 40.0% guides ↗ Huskar 37 5.3% 7 1.0% 30 4.3% 42.9% guides ↗ In tier 4 and 5 we find all the situational heroes. They are strong when paired with others, or against specific lineups. These heroes aren't bad, they just don't work in every game, so the pick and ban rates aren't stellar.

Hero P+B P+B% Picks Picks % Bans Bans % Win % Guides Zeus 33 4.7% 20 2.8% 13 1.9% 45.0% guides ↗ Invoker 31 4.4% 17 2.4% 14 2.0% 47.1% guides ↗ Axe 28 4.0% 21 3.0% 7 1.0% 42.9% guides ↗ Magnus 27 3.8% 12 1.7% 15 2.1% 58.3% guides ↗ Spectre 27 3.8% 15 2.1% 12 1.7% 60.0% guides ↗ Wraith King 27 3.8% 22 3.1% 5 0.7% 40.9% guides ↗ Keeper of the Light 26 3.7% 15 2.1% 11 1.6% 86.7% guides ↗ Ursa 25 3.6% 19 2.7% 6 0.9% 47.4% guides ↗ Pudge 25 3.6% 19 2.7% 6 0.9% 21.1% guides ↗ Centaur Warrunner 24 3.4% 17 2.4% 7 1.0% 47.1% guides ↗ Bloodseeker 23 3.3% 10 1.4% 13 1.9% 50.0% guides ↗ Nature's Prophet 22 3.1% 8 1.1% 14 2.0% 37.5% guides ↗ Venomancer 22 3.1% 17 2.4% 5 0.7% 29.4% guides ↗ Arc Warden 20 2.8% 7 1.0% 13 1.9% 57.1% guides ↗ Treant Protector 20 2.8% 15 2.1% 5 0.7% 53.3% guides ↗ Io 19 2.7% 7 1.0% 12 1.7% 28.6% guides ↗ Slark 18 2.6% 13 1.9% 5 0.7% 38.5% guides ↗ Spirit Breaker 18 2.6% 15 2.1% 3 0.4% 20.0% guides ↗ Skywrath Mage 17 2.4% 14 2.0% 3 0.4% 42.9% guides ↗ Leshrac 17 2.4% 15 2.1% 2 0.3% 20.0% guides ↗ Pugna 17 2.4% 13 1.9% 4 0.6% 53.9% guides ↗ Oracle 16 2.3% 12 1.7% 4 0.6% 50.0% guides ↗ Lion 16 2.3% 15 2.1% 1 0.1% 20.0% guides ↗ Morphling 16 2.3% 13 1.9% 3 0.4% 53.9% guides ↗ Phoenix 15 2.1% 15 2.1% 0 0.0% 40.0% guides ↗ Ember Spirit 15 2.1% 11 1.6% 4 0.6% 54.6% guides ↗ Meepo 15 2.1% 3 0.4% 12 1.7% 33.3% guides ↗ Bristleback 13 1.9% 9 1.3% 4 0.6% 33.3% guides ↗ Clinkz 13 1.9% 8 1.1% 5 0.7% 50.0% guides ↗ Visage 12 1.7% 8 1.1% 4 0.6% 62.5% guides ↗ Windranger 11 1.6% 10 1.4% 1 0.1% 60.0% guides ↗ Troll Warlord 10 1.4% 10 1.4% 0 0.0% 20.0% guides ↗ Phantom Assassin 10 1.4% 6 0.9% 4 0.6% 50.0% guides ↗ Lich 9 1.3% 5 0.7% 4 0.6% 0.0% guides ↗ Dark Willow 7 1.0% 3 0.4% 4 0.6% 66.7% guides ↗ Crystal Maiden 6 0.9% 5 0.7% 1 0.1% 20.0% guides ↗ Pangolier 5 0.7% 1 0.1% 4 0.6% 0.0% guides ↗ Riki 5 0.7% 1 0.1% 4 0.6% 100.0% guides ↗ Lina 4 0.6% 4 0.6% 0 0.0% 0.0% guides ↗ Techies 1 0.1% 0 0.0% 1 0.1% - guides ↗ Alchemist 1 0.1% 1 0.1% 0 0.0% 100.0% guides ↗

Necrophos is the only hero that was never picked.

Definitely, the final meta heroes of the patch have not been established yet. Lycan is a perfect example of how the pro players are testing new tactics and expanding their drafts: in December he was only a tier 4 hero and now is one of the most troublesome picks a team can face.

Do you think Valve will release a new patch together with the expected Spring Update? Which heroes will be affected by the nerf hammer?


Credit: Statistics gathered from DatDota, thank you for your wonderful DotA 2 stats!