We take a look at the most played heroes throughout the history of The International championships, and some of their iconic moments.
It has been 11 years since The International was first took place in Cologne, Germany. Since then, 10 iterations of The International championships have been played out, with just one team (and five players) winning it twice. It has been a rollercoaster of a ride, watching TI unfold every year.
In those 10 TIs, over 1300 games have been played. Every TI, depending on the patch and the meta that has evolved around it, has seen a lot of different heroes be prominent throughout the tournament. A hero that dominated a particular TI could be totally absent at the next one, which is what keeps Dota 2 fresh.
But even with the constant changes in patches and metas, there are bound to be heroes that have had a significantly higher than average showing througout the history of The International. Who are they? Let’s take a quick look, and also see if we can find iconic moments for a few of them. Data for the hero statistics has been taken from datDota, and does not include The International 2011 (TI1). Keep in mind that the data is bound it be slightly skewed in favor of heroes that have been present in the game since the beginning of Dota 2, as compared to others like Monkey King and Pangolier, who although very popular in a lot of metas, were released relatively recently in Captains Mode.
Most played heroes of The International
The most played hero of all time at The International isss - *drumroll* - Earthshaker! Well, it’s less of a drumroll and more of a totem beat with him. Earthshaker tops the chart with 364 picks at TIs, followed pretty colosely by Rubick with 350. Mirana is the only other hero with over 300 games, but Tidehunter, who sits at 297, should cross that line at TI11.
Earthshaker
It is an open secret that IceFrog and Valve buff Earthshaker as The International draws closer (at least in recent years). His totem hitting on the big screen really gets the crowd in the stadium going. With Earthshaker being the most played hero in 10 years of The International, there are bound to be quite a few iconic moments with this hero. But the one that will be at the forefront of everyone’s mind is the Echoslam by Saahil “Universe” Arora in the TI5 grand finals, when he demolished CDEC in the Roshan pit to help Evil Geniuses secure their first Aegis, which was also the first Aegis for North America. The move famously gained the reputation as the $6 million Echoslam.
While that was possibly the most iconic Earthshaker moment, Jesse “Jerax” Vainnika’s heroics with Earthshaker to defend OG’s base from PSG.LGD in the TI8 upper bracket finals is also right up there. That defense took OG to the TI8 grand final.
Rubick
Like Earthshaker, Rubick is bound to have a lot of iconic moments at The International, because of the crazy nature of the hero. And with the new Aghanim’s Scepter that lets him steal two spells, there will undoubtedly be some more insane ones in the future. But the one that comes to mind is not just a Rubick play, but a sequence of events that was so iconic in TI2, it is just known as ‘The Play’, and Dota 2 fans immediately remember Natus Vincere (Na’Vi) vs Invictus Gaming. What initially seemed like a disaster for Na’Vi, turned out to be a nightmare for IG, as Na’Vi turned their initiation on them, with Daniel “Dendi” Ishutin contributing to the turnaround with a quickly stolen Ravage.
Mirana and Shadow Demon
Till TI6, there had been no mega creep comebacks at TI. That changed in the Evil Geniuses vs EHOME game, when Syed Sumail “SumaiL” Hassan and Ludwig “Zai” Wåhlberg build Dagon 5s on Mirana and Shadown Demon respectively. It was, of course, a team effort, but Mirana and Shadow Demon, with their timely Leaps, Sacred Arrows and Dispersions backed up by the burst from Dagon 5s had a massive role to play in that turnaround and win. SumaiL ended up doing nearly 36000 hero damage that game, which was a lot higher than the next hero in the game and more than thrice the next hero on his team.
Nature’s Prophet
The TI3 grand final between Alliance and Na’Vi is possibly the craziest TI grand final in history, which can be possibly matched only by the TI8 grand final. Nature’s Prophet’s moment of glory comes from the last game of the grand final, with the series tied at 2-2. While it was the Gustav “s4” Magnusson’s Puck’s Dream Coil that played a huge role in turning the tides, Henrick “Admiral Bulldog” Ahnberg’s Furion played an immense role causing to damage to Na’Vi’s base when they were left scrambling at the wrong place on the map.
Heroes with the highest win rate at The International
As a parting thought, here’s a look at the heroes with the highest win rates at TI through the ages (at least 50 picks). Based on what we have seen in the TI11 Last Chance Qualifier, Undying and Nyx Assassin might be on track to increase their TI win rates when The International 2022 begins.
