Top 5 offlaners in pubs from the first month of Dota 2 patch 7.35

In the third of this five part series, we take a look at the top 5 offlane heroes in pubs from the first month of Dota 2 patch 7.35.

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The offlane is probably the most variable role depending on the meta. Traditionally, offlaners are initiators or aura builders. But the offlaner can be a secondary carry as well, like was the case at TI8. But with Dota 2 patch 7.35, the common thing that seems to bind the best performing offlaners is an item – Shiva’s Guard.

Of the top 5 offlaners shortlisted, four have Shiva’s Guard as an item in their top 3 most popular items from the past month. Magic damage has received a buff in Dota 2 patch 7.35, and offlane is typically the best position to get the magic damage amplifying item at a good time in the game for it to have a strong impact.

• Read: Dota 2 patch 7.35 meta analysis
• Read: Top 5 mid heroes in pubs from the first month of Dota 2 patch 7.35
• Read: Top 5 carries heroes in pubs from the first month of Dota 2 patch 7.35

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 7.35 only. The choice of heroes has been made from a combination of high pick rate and high win rate heroes.

Doom (Pick rate: 13.29%, Win rate: 52.99%)

Doom was nerfed to the ground (as much as you can nerf Doom to the ground) for a while after a lot of dominance by the hero in pubs and professional games alike. But he was thrown a bone in patch 7.35 with a few buffs, and that has brought him firmly back into the meta.

Doom farms faster than most, if not all, offlaners, which gives him an advantage on the Shiva’s Guard timing. The Shiva’s Guard magic damage amplification adds to the Scorched Earth and Infernal Blade damage, and the slow combined with Doom’s increased movement speed from Scorched Earth makes it extremely difficult to get away from him. Also, with the ability to deny an ally affected by Doom taken away in patch 7.35, there’s the added potential to get a little bit of extra gold and experience from Doom (the ability) in each game.

(taken from Dota 2 Wiki)

Death Prophet (Pick rate: 8.09%, Win rate: 53,62%)

Death Prophet, like Doom, was nerfed to the ground in the patches before Dota 2 patch 7.33, and rightly so. There was a time when she could be played in literally any position from 1 to 5 and she would do well. But since patch 7.33, she has been receiving minor buffs with every patch, which has integrated over time to provide us with a strong hero for patch 7.35. The cherry on top of the cake has been the new Shiva’s Guard, with which she can bring enemies she is chasing to a crawl while increasing the damage output with Crypt Swarm and Spirit Siphon. Death Prophet is also a decent pick for the mid lane, but in the top tier of Dota 2 pubs, her pick rate and win rate are higher when played from the offlane. 

(taken from Dota 2 Wiki)

Centaur Warrunner (Pick rate: 9.76%, Win rate: 51.62%)

Of the top 5 offlaners of Dota 2 patch 7.35, Centaur boasts the highest win rate with Shiva’s Guard for the last month of games. He does need armor, as even though the behemoth has tons of HP, his effective HP (EHP) against physical damage is lacking. But in the last few patches, the damage from both, Hoof Stomp and Double Edge has received a buff, which pairs nicely with Shiva’s Guard’s magic amplification.

At level 20, with a Heart of Tarrasque and the level 15 talent that adds 35% strength to the Double Edge damage, the Hoof Stomp-Double Edge combo does 669 damage, with the 25% magic damage resistance heroes have taken into consideration. With the Shiva’s Guard Arctic Blast, that damage goes up to 942! And the cooldown on all these skills is extremely low.

Of course, that isn’t the main reason Centaur is being picked. But he has been buffed for the majority of the last few patches, and the ability to amplify his damage output just adds to his allure.

Dark Seer (Pick rate: 4.08%, Win rate: 53.03%)

While Shiva’s Guard is a variable in the Dark Seer equation as well, he wasn’t really buffed significantly in the last few patches. In patch 7.35, the Ion Shell mana cost was slightly reduced and Wall of Replica was given a slight amount of magic damage. That was a good slight boost, but Dark Seer was never as such out of the meta for the past few patches. He was always a peripheral pick in recent times, including TI12. With other offlaners like Brewmaster, Bristleback, Chaos Knight (who was sometimes played as an offlaner), Pangolier and Wraith King (also played as an offlaner at TI12) nerfed and go down in popularity, Ish’Kafael (Dark Seer’s name from Dota 1) has risen to the top amongst position 3 heroes.

Viper (Pick rate: 7.29%, Win rate: 52.54%)

Viper has about an equal presence in the mid land and the offlane right now. We looked at how the Netherdrake operates in the mid lane, and it is pretty similar in the offlane as well. No drastic change in the build, but the farm priority will change depending on what lane he is played in. The win rates aren’t too different either. Note that these win rates reflect all pub games, while the win rate mentioned above is only for the Divine and Immortal brackets.

(taken from Dotabuff)

Honorable Mentions

Magnus (Pick rate: 12.54%, Win rate: 49.98%)
Tidehunter (Pick rate: 5.31%, Win rate: 51.59%)
Night Stalker (Pick rate: 4.47%, Win rate: 51.25%)

The strange thing about offlaners is that two of the popular ones in professional games – Mars and Timbersaw – have a poor win rate in pubs. It seems those heroes need more coordination than you would find in the average pub to get the best out of them.