Dota players like to throw around the word “meta” a lot. We talk about the shifting meta and how this or that pro team is really setting it for everyone else. The missing piece to this discussion. in my opinion. is the subject of the meta itself, the heroes. Dota has been through many cycles of heroes being strong, falling out of favor, and then returning to prominence years later. I think in a lot of cases the meta can boil down to just a few heroes that really dictate what gets picked. If a hero is strong, naturally you want to pick heroes that counter that strength while playing against it or enhance that strength playing alongside it. This creates a fairly predictable pattern of events that leads to counters to those counters or enablers being picked, and we end up with a full pool of heroes that are deemed viable in most games. I want to highlight three heroes that I think most often set off this chain of events that creates “the meta.”

It might look weird to start a discussion on the underrated heroes of the current patch when the new patch is coming sometime soon, however, there is a reason for it. Quite frequently, when a hero gets some small buffs, it is not because of his actual power level, but rather because of his popularity. These small buffs are less of an attempt to make a weak hero more viable, but rather an additional reason for players to notice and play an already viable hero. Today we are going to discuss three such heroes, who are already quite good and who might get even better in the next patch.

The next patch should be coming some time soon and that means a lot of players are going to return to their favorite game. While we can’t prepare these returning players to the realities of the upcoming meta, we can nonetheless discuss how to get back in as effortlessly as possible, as well as highlight how the position of a returning player might actually be an advantage.

Dota is incredibly varied, with many unique hero designs and almost infinite possible matchups. The new Dota hero should be coming soon, and we would like to take this time to discuss and speculate: how the new hero could fit into the current or the future meta, what their role in the game could be, and why they should be a ranged carry.

On paper, Lion seems like an incredible hero. Multiple disables, infinite mana, and a scaling ultimate that is equal parts satisfying to use and highly effective at taking out important targets. It’s no wonder that Lion has been a popular pick for both support players and core players farming role queue tokens. Lion also happens to be one of the most despised heroes to team with for most players as well.

The 2020 Diretide game mode is a fun addition to the Dota 2 experience that feels like a cross between turbo Dota and a tower defense custom map. A lot of what you already know about Dota with regards to hero combos, team fighting, and objective control applies directly to Diretide. That being said, there are a few main differences from regular Dota that have made certain heroes extremely good in the mode. Obviously, we want to win as many games as possible to gather all those unique treasures and so let’s talk briefly about the best heroes in Diretide.