With the Riyadh Masters 2024 done and dusted, we take a look at the meta around Dota 2 patch 7.36 through the lens of the tournament games.
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The first of the two big Dota 2 tournaments of the year has come to an end. Riyadh Masters 2024 brought us a flavour of last season as Gaimin Gladiators defeated Team Liquid 3-0 in the grand final to win the whole thing and take home $1.5 million.
The tournament, which started with the play-in stage, went to the group stage and ended with the playoffs, saw a total of 223 games played. This was not the first tournament to be played on Dota 2 patch 7.36, but it was the biggest one till now where we witnessed the best teams in the world play around facets and innate abilities. Here, we take a look at the meta that has evolved around Dota 2 patch 7.36 through the lens of the Riyadh Masters games. All data has been taken from datDota.
Most Picked Heroes at Riyadh Masters 2024
The list below shows the 15 most picked heroes and is comprised of relatively new heroes, as in the ones that gained popularity after the release of Dota 2 patch 7.36. The only two exceptions to that are Pangolier and Rubick. Rubick is understandable, as his Spell Steal allows him to stay relevant in any meta. But Pangolier really needs to be nerfed to the ground for a few months.
The only role that is underrepresented in this is the carry role. Even though Sven is present in the most picked heroes, the Rogue Knight was mostly picked as a support. But not having predictable position 1 picks is not necessarily a bad thing, as it brings a bit of diversity to the games.
However, 9 of the 15 heroes are either strength heroes or universal heroes who were formerly strength heroes (who typically have a higher strength gain as compared to their other attributes). Tanky heroes right now are dominating the meta, and those will be the type of heroes that will have to see a nerf as we continue to travel on the road to The International 2024.
Most Contested Heroes at Riyadh Masters 2024
A look at the most contested heroes shows that the only hero that didn’t make the most picked list due to a crazy number of bans against his name was Monkey King. He was contested in over 90% of the games, which is slightly weird as seeing his win rate in the 28 games he was picked was only 50%.
Hoodwink, Tiny, Shadow Fiend, Weaver, Beastmaster and Snapfire are the other heroes who were contested in over 70% of the games. There is a strong affinity for a small group of heroes in the current state of the game, which will be made clear later when we take a look at the number of neglected heroes.
Highest Win Rate Heroes at Riyadh Masters 2024 (picked in at least 20 games)
The highest win rate heroes often don’t make it to the most picked list, because they either get banned or picked in very specific situations. This list has some interesting names, with Doom sticking out at the top with a lot of games to his name and a very high win rate. In case of Doom, players realized how good the Devil’s Bargain facet was and started buying Hand of Midas, using it a few times, selling it to get a critical item like Black King Bar, and then buying Midas again! Lucifer, after a few months in the seven hells, is back dominating the Dota 2 meta.
Ember Spirit, Beastmaster, Weaver, Spirit Breaker and Sand King are some of the other heroes with high win rates along with a significant number of picks against their names. Sand King seemed to be dead and buried after a few nerfs, but he has burrowed himself out of the ground, finding a new home in the mid lane. His new ability, Stinger paired with his innate ability, Caustic Finale, makes him a terror in the mid lane, especially when a melee hero is facing him.
Neglected Heroes at Riyadh Masters 2024 (picked in less than 5 games)
A total of 44 heroes were picked in less than 5 games at Riyadh Masters 2024, which is quite high. In comparison, in the TI13 qualifiers, 33 heroes were picked in less than 5 games in 232 games. As the patch has gone on, teams have converged towards fewer heroes, and the overall diversity in hero picks has reduced. Hopefully, before TI13, there is a new patch which shakes things up a bit.
Distribution of Games based on Time
Of the 223 games played at the Riyadh Masters, nearly 44% ended between 30 to 40 minutes.
In that bin specifically, the division is relatively even with 48 games ending between 30 and 35 minutes and 50 games ending between 35 and 40 minutes. The majority of games falling in the 30-40 minute bin has been a long time trend now. Even though Dota 2 patch 7.36 brought innate abilities and facets, there was no significant change to the general gameplay, which has stagnated things a little. Hopefully that changes in the days to come.
On the whole, Riyadh Masters 2024 was a reasonably entertaining tournament, but the games have gotten predictable. A lot of the of the games have a winner by the 20th minute. A patch with changes to the gameplay is the need of the hour.
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