In the fifth and last of this five-part series, we take a look at the five best position 4 heroes in pubs from the early part of Dota 2 patch 7.29.
All changelog images taken from Dota 2 Gamepedia.
We are nearly two months into Dota 2 patch 7.29, and most players have become comfortable with the meta that has evolved around it. Even though TI10 will probably be played on the next patch, patch 7.30, there are a few weeks before we get there. Till then, patch 7.29 will be one defining our pub experiences.
We already took a look at the five best offlaners, mid heroes , hard supports and carries of patch 7.29 in pubs. In the last part of this series, we look at what position 4 supports are being preferred by the high MMR players in pubs in their quest to break into the best players of the server.
The heroes have been picked as the best-performing ones from the Divine and Immortal brackets. This data is as per Dotabuff and has been analyzed for the past month, so it well and truly reflects the games from patch 7.29 only. The choice of heroes has been made from a combination of high pick rate and high win rate heroes.
1) Winter Wyvern (Pick rate: 4.55%, Win rate: 55.25%)
Winter Wyvern is also one of the best hard supports of this meta, and it isn’t a coincidence she makes this list as well. Better lane presence and a massive buff to healing, besides the fact that Winter’s Curse is one of the best counters to heroes like Enigma and Faceless Void make her a strong pick in either support role.
A position 4 Wyvern tends to get more farm priority than a position 5 Wyvern, giving her the ability to go for luxury items like an Aghanim’s Scepter, which is a great tool to have against tanky heroes.
2) Nyx Assassin (Pick rate: 6.83%, Win rate: 53.58%)
Nyx Assassin has only seen nerfs hurled at him in the last few patches but still continues to be an extremely popular hero. The biggest nerf was Vendetta no longer applying Break and the increase in cooldown, which made him a popular pick against heroes like Bristleback and Timbersaw. But even with that particular weapon taken away from his arsenal, Nyx is a strong hero, especially with his Aghanim’s Shard, which amplifies magic damage on the target. Not just in top-tier pubs, but Nyx is also a very highly contested hero in professional games played on patch 7.29. It will take a few more nerfs before Nyx is taken out of the meta.
3) Mirana (Pick rate: 9.79%, Win rate: 51.65%)
IceFrog has been trying to get Mirana back as a core hero, but it doesn’t seem that’s what top-tier players prefer. Her Aghanim’s Shard was supposed to make her a position 1 or position 2 hero, but that is hardly ever seen. Mirana’s case is quite similar to that of Nyx assassin – even though her support abilities have been nerfed, she still remains to be good. The difference is though, Nyx is still a major contender on professional games, while Mirana isn’t being picked a lot there.
The majority of Mirana’s strength lies in her arrow. Starting from the first wave, she can secure the range creep using Sacred Arrow to push out the lane and ensure the two heroes in her lane hit level 2 faster than the enemy heroes, which is a small-time window where they can put a lot of pressure on the enemy carry.
The ability to instantly kill neutral creeps helps Mirana farm faster than most position 4 supports, which allows her to get team fight items like Guardian Greaves and Solar Crest a lot earlier than the average time, which is another arrow in her endless quiver.
4) Hoodwink (Pick rate: 8.81% , Win rate: 52.76%)
Hoodwink, when introduced in Dota 2 patch 7.28, was extremely broken, irrespective of the position she was played in. While introducing the hero to Captains Mode in patch 7.29, IceFrog went to the other extreme with the nerfs and made her a terrible hero.
But with the buffs from patch 7.29b and patch 7.29c, she has made a comeback, most prominently as a position 4 support. Bushwhack is the key skill that makes her good support, and that is the one that has been buffed a lot in the last couple of patches and is typically maxed out at level 7.
An added bonus is the ground target of Acorn Shot providing vision on the high ground, which is useful for dewarding and checking whether an enemy hero is lurking on the high ground. Sharpshooter applying break makes a case for her as well in certain scenarios, because of the small number of breaks available in the game.
5) Bounty Hunter (Pick rate: 6.59%, Win rate: 52.26%)
Bounty Hunter’s Aghanim’s Shard, the reworked one which he got in Dota 2 patch 7.29, got nerfed in patch 7.29b, but still continues to be one of the best ones to come with the new patch. GosuGamers rated it amongst the 15 best reworked Aghanim’s Shards from 7.29 and popular North American streamer and analyst Brian “BSJ” Callahan rated it as the third-best Shard of patch 7.29, only behind Slark and Phantom Lancer. The Shard gives him tankiness in team fights, making it a lot difficult to take him out, which allows him to make risky plays in the game and get out more Tracks on opposition heroes. Bounty Hunter’s Aghanim’s Shard is literally the only thing that has been altered recently, so it is pretty much the major reason for his rise in popularity in high-level pubs. Track, as it has always been, is an amazing way to ramp up the gold lead or make a comeback, and like Mirana, allows Bounty Hunter to get team fight items earlier than most other position 4 supports.
Honorable Mentions
Treant Protector (Pick rate: 2.56%, Win rate: 52.10%)
Dark Willow (Pick rate: 7.90%, Win rate: 51.84%)
Lion (Pick rate: 8.36%, Win rate: 50.07%)
