In the first of this five part series, we take a look at the top 5 mid heroes in pubs from the first month of Dota 2 patch 7.35.
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The new year rolled in with a new Dota 2 patch, which hasn’t really been the case for a long time now. The last time this happened was in 2016-2017, when Dota 2 patch 7.00 was released in December 2016. But 2024 did arrive with Dota 2 patch 7.35 having been just released, which gave the Dota 2 community something to look forward to in the post TI12 lull.
Now that it has been a little over a month, patterns have formed in the new meta, and we can take a look at which heroes have been performing well in pubs. Here, we take a look at which heroes are the best for the mid lane in meta that has evolved around patch 7.35. Weirdly enough, some of the names that have popped up aren’t ones that were massively buffed. While heroes got nerfed, some that were unchanged rose to the top without requiring any boosts from IceFrog and Valve.
Read: The new Anti-Mage: A look at Ember Spirit's magic damage mitigation build in Dota 2 pubs
Read: Dota 2 patch 7.35 meta analysis
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 one month, so it well and truly reflects the games from patch 7.35 only. The choice of heroes has been made from a combination of high pick rate and high win rate heroes.
Ember Spirit (Pick rate: 14.16%, Win rate: 53.14%)
Ember Spirit is definitely the breakout mid of patch 7.35. The hero was buffed and also found a new skill build and item build to make him dominant, which includes maxing out Flame Guard initially and rushing the buffed Mage Slayer. GosuGamers did a deep dive on this magic damage mitigation build for Ember Spirit. Definitely, a strong hero to turn to, especially in this meta where magic damage has been given a step up with the new items Khanda and Parasma, as well as the reworked Shivas Guard.
Lone Druid (Pick rate: 3.28%, Win rate: 54.75%)
Lone Druid was actually nerfed in Dota 2 patch 7.35! But the nerfs were not significant enough to bring him down as compared to others. Lone Druid was changed to a universal hero in patch 7.33, which has made him stronger in the laning stage. Six Ironwood Branches previously gave the main hero 6 damage, whereas they now provide an additional 12.6 damage. The additional damage on top of two entities hitting creeps makes last hitting a lot easier. And Harpoon, which is a relatively recent addition to the game, is a perfect item for the Spirit Bear. Also, it helps that he can go toe-to-toe quite well against Ember Spirit in the mid lane.
The popular Lone Druid build no longer includes Radianc. It’s a much more aggressive build with Diffusal Blade, Orchid Malevolence and Harpoon with which the hero can fight early.
(taken from Dota 2 Wiki)
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Outworld Destroyer (Pick rate: 11.39%, Win rate: 50.51%)
Outworld Destroyer is one of the heroes that has benefitted from the new items that Dota patch 7.35 has had to offer. OD is a natural Parasma builder and one of the best carriers of the item in the game. According to Dotabuff, in the last month of pubs, Parasma was OD’s fourth most popular item, and it has a pretty hefty win rate too of over 70%.
(taken from Dotabuff)
OD was reined in a little with a few nerfs in balance patch 7.35b, which is why his win rate isn’t sky high. But he still remains one of the stronger mid heroes of the current Dota 2 meta. One of his allures is how well he counters Timbersaw, who is one of the strongest offlaners in the game right now, at least based on the analysis of the professional meta.
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Huskar (Pick rate: 5.26%, Win rate: 51.85%)
Huskar was completely untouched in patch 7.35;  no changes at all! It isn’t even like any of his items were buffed. However, he is a counter to a lot of the best mid heroes in the current meta. Huskar is a counter to Ember Spirit, Lone Druid, Meepo and Outworld Destroyer, who are all strong mid heroes in this meta, which is what the Dotabuff algorithm shows as well. That naturally makes Huskar a popular pick to counter them.
(taken from Dotabuff)
Viper (Pick rate: 3.87%, Win rate: 51.88%)
Viper benefited immensely from changes to items in Dota 2 patch 7.35. He is a great carrier of the reworked Mage Slayer as well as Shivas Guard, which help keep him tanky and amplify his magic damage. There was a time in the recent past where Viper was used more as an initiator and tank with Nosedive and Bloodstone along with the Nethertoxin. But things have changed now, and the Netherdrake is being played more as a right clicker, with Poison Attack being used to dish out tons of magic damage.
Honarable Mentions
Meepo (Pick rate: 6.30%, Win rate: 57.99%)
Arc Warden (Pick rate: 7.04%, Win rate: 57.07%)
Zeus (Pick rate: 8.12%, Win rate: 50.51%)
While Meepo and Arc Warden have extremely impressive numbers for both, pick rate and win rate, they only find a place in the honourable mentions. This is because these are typically niche picks, and there aren’t a lot of players, especially those not at the highest tier of pubs, who play them efficiently. But if you are proficient on those heroes, it is a good time to style with them in the mid lane!
