With The International II coming up, we here at GosuGamers Strategy have decided to take a look at some potential appearances in this tournament, as well as why they'll be played, how they'll be played, and who they'll be played with. Take a read, leave a comment, and above all keep your fingers crossed for some inventive and devastating play to come! Don't forget to click on the hero portraits to get a better look at the hero stats, thanks to Dota Academy!
Broodmother
"Even real men can be scared of spiders."
Pushing is a risky business. If you're successful, you stand to gain massive amounts of gold, farm and even victory. If you're unsuccessful, you end up standing impotently by as your siege breaks upon their defenses, all the while providing them farm and levels from the relative safety of their base. How to deal with this? Don't be there!
Broodmother is the quintessential split-push hero, and her goal is to build up enough momentum to force enemies to choose between two lanes. If they go for her, the rest of the team breaks through, and if she is ignored she pushes and farms to dangerous levels. With heroes like Sand King in the popular pool, Broodmother has become more of a situational pick, but I think that her mobility, damage output and pushing strength will get her some showtime during The International.
Mirana
Safety first!
Mirana was one of the five heroes that Na'Vi always used at TI1, always soloing the hard lane. In a scenario where teams are fighting for big prizes and risks are avoided, Mirana is a hero that shines. Not only can she be played in every lane, but she also has abilities that can make the game for her team: an escape mechanism to avoid ganks in the early game or even an improved Smoke of Deceit useful not only to set up ganks but to escape from them. She's not your typical carry that's very weak in the beginning and strong in the end, but versatile and useful in all the game stages. Given her flexibility, we might see teams favouring her instead of other heroes.
"The key element for Mirana success is vision and foresight. In high level games, you can always expect players to be able to dodge arrows."
The key element for Mirana success is vision and foresight. In high level games, you can always expect players to be able to dodge arrows. Having vision of the enemy is essential to setup that long range arrow that the enemy spot only too late. And she needs to land her arrows to maximize her chances of winning.
Naga Siren
Touch, pause... Pause... Paaauuuse. Engage!
A carry who goes Arcane Boots? Say it isn't true! But this seems to be a popular choice of boots for Slithice. As a single hero, she has a great illusion spell, a versatile nuke, a powerful, BKB-penetrating movement disable and a phenomenal escape mechanism. Aside from the knee-jerk items--Treads or Arcane Boots, Diffusal Blade, Manta Style--what else can she get? Since illusions now carry all auras--not just Radiance--it's very likely that someone might try run her with an Assault Cuirass or a Drum of Endurance to really boost her pushing power. It all depends on whether teams want to use her as they are currently (as an initiator) or if they want to deploy her as a dedicated tower killer as well.
She isn't played as a single hero, however, and this is where she really starts to shine. Song of the Siren sets up an entire teamfight to operate exactly as her team wishes to. Tidehunter ultimate needs to be deployed perfectly? Song. Dirge needs to drop his Tombstone and let some zombies mass up? Song. Enigma needs to choose the perfect spot to suck all his foes to oblivion? Song. The Dire team is abusing their theoretical advantage at Roshan? Just sing like you think there's no tomorrow. A great initiator and a solid DPS carry, it is likely that she will be banned more often than not in the upcoming International.
Chaos Knight
4 seconds. Every time.
Chaos Knight long languished in a forgotten spectrum of heroes: chalked up to being too "luck-dependent", not "reliable enough" and "too risky" to play. All of a sudden, he appeared on the scene, in a big way.
He's now a popular ban, taken out of just under 170 games to date and picked in just over 100. His real strength is twofold: he brings amazing ganking potential to the table, as well as seriously high mid-game damage to both heroes and towers. He also allows for a very strong dual-lane mid, especially when paired with a hero like Ancient Apparition or Lich. With Chaos Knight in a team, the mid-game is dedicated to roaming the map and picking-off heroes, following up kills with heavy concerted pushes. Despite a win rate of 43%, he has a high rate of teamfight participation (65%). With a solid right-click attack, a great long-range stun and a devastatingly useful ganking skill, Chaos Knight is sure to be a big hitter in The International II.
Tiny
Grown from ganker to carry.
Vigoss and MaNia- made the ganking Tiny very popular. Here's the traditional formula: Get Blink; proceed into exploding people; drop in a Dagon if possible to maximize the explosions; do it even if it means diving into the enemy fountain. But his ultimate changed, and so the way Tiny is being played.
"We can definitely expect a lot of dual mid lanes with Tiny on it."
Now it's absolutely viable to skip Blink Dagger and get Aghanim Scepter and other big items like Assault Cuirass. With that big tree, Tiny's potential to destroy bases put even Lone Druid to shame. He became a hero that will always pose a threat to the opponent no matter how ahead they are, because Tiny can demolish the entire base if given a chance. And here's the scary thing: he can still burst people down in the early and mid game and become this beastly carry in the end. We can definitely expect a lot of dual mid lanes with Tiny on it.
Morphling
Shotgun.
Morphling is a living shotgun. If you're in his shooting range, you'll be utterly smashed and destroyed, like in one of those matches where only Morphling gets 20 or 30 kills. But if you keep a safe distance from him, it becomes very unlikely that he'll hit you hard. Morphling is like in the frontier between heaven and hell: he can either destroy everyone in the game or not impact it at all. So, what is the deciding factor which determines Morphling destiny? It's the mid-game.
"Morphling's problems lies in the middle game: he desperately needs items, otherwise, the only thing he can do in the midgame is Waveform in and morph attributes to survive."
Morphling actually has an edge against other carry heroes. Being ranged and having Waveform, he is very strong in the early game, being able to deal damage, get kills and even escape to safety. Late game, Morphling is a beast: he deals a lot of right-click damage, can initiate by waveforming in, can play mindgames and split-push with Replicate and shotgun the enemy supports to the death. Morphling's problems lies in the middle game: he desperately needs items, otherwise, the only thing he can do in the midgame is Waveform in and morph attributes to survive. In the past, teams used to rush BKB as Morphling's first item to solve this problem and enable him to join the midgame fights, but today most teams are banking that they can survive the mid-game without rushing a BKB and emerge as a brutal hard carry.
Morphling is becoming quite popular among teams. From being a very situational pick (he's the second hero with most fifth picks, losing only to Mirana), he's becoming a very common third pick. We'll surely see him at TI12. But we'll see him as a powerful tsunami, or just as a wave that poses no danger?
Anti-Mage
Is the fun over again?
Back in the TI11 era, Anti-Mage and Spectre were the two carriers of choice. While Spectre faded away, Anti-Mage continued to be the most feared hard carry around. Only now he's losing popularity and appearing only in the fourth and fifth picks. So, what made Anti-Mage popular at the time, and why he's fading away?
Despite being melee (and thus not offering much control in the laning phase), Blink means Anti-Mage can jump in and out of fights. If well placed, Mana Void can explode an entire team, and Spell Shield makes him very bulky against magical damage. What the teams basically did with Anti-Mage is to get a early Battlefury to build up a farm and item advantage against the opponent carry, allowing him to have tons of powerful items around 30 minutes in. That's the Anti-Mage we knew and feared.
"With players like BurNing and Pajkatt around, it's unlikely he'll not be picked."
So, Anti-Mage became bad suddenly? No, he's still the same. There are stronger heroes? Well, that's up for discussion, but I'd say no. So, why is Anti-Mage's popularity fading? Because after living with him for a year, teams know how to deal with him. From a top ban/pick, Anti-Mage became a situational ban/pick. With players like BurNing and Pajkatt around, it's unlikely he'll not be picked.
Dragon Knight
The utility carry.
Dragon Knight became a very situational pick. Unlike other heroes that might need a lot of farm before getting active in the game, Dragon Knight is what I'll call Utility Carry. He'll do just fine having utility items like Drums of Endurance and Pipe. He can proceed into evaporating towers with his dragon form and then transition into big, massive items. Because he can deal damage over time on towers with his lvl1 Dragon Form, Dragon Knight paired with other good pushers usually means that the enemy will lose all the outer towers in eight-10 minutes.
"The real challenge is to find a good plan that makes use of Dragon Knight's ability to destroy towers while making sure he'll not lag behind in farm and experience."
But Dragon Knight is very tricky: you must master the timings and realize that you need that level 16. Sometimes, teams focus too much on taking towers that they skip getting farm and levels on him, not unleashing his true power. The real challenge is to find a good plan that makes use of Dragon Knight's ability to destroy towers while making sure he'll not lag behind in farm and experience.
I think we'll see Dragon Knight in action at TI12. He's just like Spectre; a great hero that's just lurking under the radar.
"Here's the thing with Spectre: she's that hero that promises you a win if you give her a well timed Radiance."
Spectre
The tempting promise....
Here's the thing with Spectre: she's that hero that promises you a win if you give her a well timed Radiance. If this happens, then Spectre becomes probably the scariest carry around: good at chasing, very resistant to damage, and with an ability to be stalk everyone on the map. You want to initiate fights with Blink Dagger? Too bad, I have Haunt. You're trying to use the fog to hide? Too bad, you can't hide from Haunt. Of course, the problem is getting her the Radiance.
But here's the thing: Spectre transcended back to her eternal form and almost disappeared from the competitive scene. mTw played some matches with Spectre in their team, and they played strong games with her, but we don't know how the other teams perform with her. I wouldn't be surprised if Spectre make some comeback as a fifth pick, because the ability of joining team-fights no matter where you are in the map is too good to be simply skipped.
Lycanthrope
The German accent gives +5% damage.
Why is Lycanthrope such a bomb? Simply put, he makes everything hurt. His right-click? Pain. His wolves? Ouch. His howl? Brace for a headache. Add this fact to a strength hero with no lack of health, and you have a very powerful mid-game pushing hero with great impact and great momentum. Teams have been playing him as a powerful mid-game pusher and tower killer who is close to Lone Druid when it comes to eating bases and arguably superior when it comes to snacking on heroes. The generic BKB-DPS build is the most commonly seen, but can we expect the revival of the ZooLycan (not to be confused with the long lane, solo Zhou-Lycan), picking up Necronomicon, Drum of Endurance and other summon-orientated items? Only time will tell.
One thing still needs to be addressed, however. With the increase of ban-worthy heroes, Lycan is seeing more and more play every day. Is he winning? Toting a 57% winrate, DotA Academy places him above the win rates of most other carries. Due to the sudden increase in ban-worthy heroes, Lycanthrope is being picked up with an increased regularity. And here's the most curious thing: He's not being the sure-win people say he is: he seems to have been losing more than winning. Why? The most likely answer is that there are better pushers (Lone Druid, Leshrac) and better hero killers (Morphling, Tiny) and, while Lycanthrope does provide a rounded package, he has been around long enough for people to know how to deal with him. My prediction? He'll definitely surface as a common pick, and will likely be banned, but there will be bigger carry heroes in the upcoming International.
Templar Assassin
Now you see me, now you're dead.
From the moment she danced into the game, Templar Assassin has been rocking the scene in the role of some seriously situational picks, and with a win rate of 60% she seems to be leaving a real mark on the scene. Templar Assassin is a "blink-and-you'll-miss-me" hero, who excels both at eliminating support heroes and executing devastating ganks. The armour reduction also provides a great tool for an early Roshan kill, as well as a compliment to late-game physical damage. Almost always played as the solo mid hero, she can be countered by a dual middle lane but otherwise will generally farm well, getting up rapid items such as Blink Dagger, BKB and Desolator or Daedalus, which she uses to devastating effect mid-game. This is how Templar has always been played due to her limited range and focused play style. In a sense, she's like Night Stalker: gives a team excellent chasing abilities and map control.
Seeing players like Ferrarri run point on Templar Assassin truly displays her power: when positioned correctly, she can swing entire games in her favour. I look forward to seeing this hero shine in The International.
Bounty Hunter
Money talks. You should listen.
Bounty Hunter isn't like your traditional position one or two. He's not about getting huge farm, but being around the map using track on everyone. Track is not only a huge deal because it gives gold to the whole team, but it leaves the opposing team in a difficult spot. If you're tracked and the team-fight doesn't go as you wish, it'll be impossible to run away because you're tracked and because Bounty Hunter will likely have Drums of Endurance.
Bounty Hunter is a key hero for strategies orbiting around chasing power. Back in Dota 1, LGD won StarsWar6 against EHOME with a massive chase strat, employing Bounty Hunter and Doom Bringer. They had Drums of Endurance and Scorched Earth to chase, not to mention track. If EHOME's Weaver couldn't run away from it, just imagine Crystal Maiden.
Also, Gondar can solo the hard lane in some situations. At level four he can already hit a very strong gank at the mid lane.
Faceless Void
Stop! Hammer Time!
What's popular these days? Big-hitting ultimates that smash a large area of effect. What goes well with area of effect spells? A big bubble freezing everyone in the spot. As a lineup dependent pick, Faceless Void aligns nicely with heroes like Crystal Maiden, Sand King, Leshrac, Enigma and Dark Seer.
He's not just about his ultimate, however. As a carry, Void has a lot of hitting power, as well as some reliable escape mechanisms in the form of his jump and his ultimate in desperate situations. Furthermore, Backtrack is a great damage negation, not only evading attacks but also providing a decent buffer for his low HP. When properly supported, Void is a danger to all levels of carry, and should never be underestimated. Despite all this, he suffers major shortcomings in terms of raw HP, melee range and massive farm dependency. If we end seeing Faceless Void on TI12, it'll be as a very situational pick.
Lone Druid
Watch out for the bears....
Lone Druid is easily my pick for a 1.0 metagame relevance for TI12. Since his release, his popularity and relevance skyrocketed. The reason is simple: Lone Druid eats bases for breakfast. What can you do once the bear gains high-ground and starts chewing your towers?
"Lone Druid isn't great at defending his base - Lone Druid should be able to shine and make everyone fear bears."
But that's only the beginning. Lone Druid can fare well in every lane. He can be played in the hard lane, in the easy lane, mid lane, and even jungle if you're desperate. This capacity of doing well in every single lane is Lone Druid's edge. But he's also very bulky and hard to bring down, making the mid-game push a very viable and successful plan to follow. Entangle by itself is capable of winning a big team-fight. As long his team can control the pace of the game and be the one pushing - because Lone Druid isn't great at defending his base - Lone Druid should be able to shine and make everyone fear bears.
