6.86: StarLadder & MDL Meta Indications
Professional tournaments dictate the state of the game. Professional players figure out efficient ways to win through picks and playstyles, with pub players imitating afterward. We’ve compiled a list of the most successful heroes in pubs so far: among the usual suspects, Spectre has risen up to be quite the star. Now, with both StarLadder i-League and MDL Winter, the two last premier events prior to the next Major, we have the chance to properly see how the pros approach patch 6.86.
Most Contested Heroes
Note that Earth Spirit, Vengeful Spirit and Invoker have been banned once more than listed, while Chen has been picked once more.
Earth Spirit wasn’t a big threat during the StarLadder i-League LAN finals with only 12 picks and 16 bans. During the MDL LAN finals, however, he was contested in almost every game. Only 3 out of the total 75 games did not include the hero, and most of the time when he was contested, he was banned--for good reason. An almost 83% winrate after 29 games is highly impressive, and if there was another balance update before the Shanghai Major, Earth Spirit is very likely to be affected. As described in a previous blog-post, Earth Spirit will still likely be picked and banned, as long as the core concept of the hero stays the same.
Earth Spirit has taken 
Invoker’s place as a first phase ban, which frees the magician to be first pick material. Invoker went from being banned in over 50% of StarLadder i-League games to being banned in roughly 32% of the games during MDL. However, he was now picked in 50% of the MDL games, as opposed to the 28% pickrate during StarLadder.
A hero that didn’t get as much public attention, but is definitely worth discussing is 
Vengeful Spirit. She was already the most picked hero during StarLadder i-League with a 58% winrate after 19 games, but now Venge has a 63% winrate after 35 games during MDL. It’s a solid first-phase pick that doesn’t reveal any strategies, synergizes well with a lot of other heroes--as it can set up a Sunstrike or maybe a more difficult to land stun, such as a Centaur stun from one of Chen’s creeps--and it counters the yet again popular 
Batrider. In fact, Venge was considered strong enough to be banned in 2 of the 3 finals games--by the tournament winners EHOME.
Regional Metas still exist
These are the regional differences from the Shanghai Major Qualifier
What is notable about these heroes is that there is no clear trend as to which team picked them the most. While there are some players worth highlighting alongside their respective signature heroes, such as Aster.Kaka’s Earth Spirit or
Aster.Suma1L-’s Invoker, there was no team that defined a trend in regards to picks and bans--at least in regards to the top picks.
As we go further down the list, we can see that some preferences and potentially regional metas still exist, something that we’ve seen in the Shanghai Major Qualifiers already. 
Witch Doctor was picked a total of 26 times, but in 19 out of these 26 cases, it was a Chinese team that picked him up.
Similarly, Batrider was picked by a Chinese team in 10/24 games, a trend that started in the Shanghai Major Qualifiers, where he was contested in the draft twice as much as he was in Europe. Interestingly enough, the actual standout statistic here though is that 
Shopify Rebellion picked him up in 8 games, a third of his total appearances. This is due to the fact that unlike a lot of other teams at the moment, EG is able to use the hero in two different positions on two different players--something that used to be quite common at the height of Batrider’s popularity.
We’ve also seen a resurgence of 
Morphling, something that yet again the Chinese started, but the Western teams adapted quite quickly and picked it up for themselves.
When talking about regional metas, one cannot not talk about 
Chen, a hero that dominated the European Shanghai Major Qualifiers. Yet, he was only picked 16 times, even though primarily by Western teams. Why is that? Well, he’s been banned in 40 games, so there is that. However, in those 16 games where he did get through, he was only slightly successful (44% winrate) Similarly, 
Lycan has also only seen a little bit of play here with minor success (40% winrate after 10 games).
Teams seemed much more prepared to face Chen, drafting a lot of heroes that played well against him in multiple stages of the game-- i.e. simple AoE waveclear or even gankers such as Bounty Hunter to disrupt him early on. Some say the Aghanim’s Scepter nerf had its impact, but there were only a few games were that really affected him and he even won some of those. It seemed a lot though as if teams were just more prepared to face Chen, when they knew they were going to.
From the shadows he comes roaring
A particular hero has been mostly left out of the analysis so far, because he deserves a section of his own. In the commotion around Earth Spirit, a hero who many deem either broken or just straight up cancerous, one hero has been somewhat left out and slowly chipping away at raxes in the shadows of Earth Spirit. That’s not to say that he doesn’t get any recognition, pro players certainly do, but the public eye lost a bit track of him.
Lone Druid boasts a 65% winrate after 26 games, the second highest winrate for heroes played at least 20 times during MDL. We’ve talked about the changes to the hero before and concluded that he’d be a good meta hero. Well, we were somewhat wrong. He is a strong meta hero--a hero that is certainly worth banning in many cases. He is much more difficult to kill due to Savage Roar, and the additional offlane camp provides him with another farming tool for more flexibility in the laning stage. Some teams run him in the safelane, but the offlane seems to be where he shines. He is such a strong hero that can benefit from a variety of buffs, such as Invoker’s Alacrity, or 
Legion Commander’s 
Press The Attack, something EHOME used and even picked a 4th position LC for. If Lone Druid stays as popular and successful, we might even see a return of 
Ogre Magi, whose Bloodlust just makes him that much stronger.
Going into the Shanghai Major
Some people expect another balance patch in the coming weeks. With the Chinese New Year coming up and many Chinese teams expected to take an extended break before the Shanghai Major, a big patch is very unlikely. We may however see slight number tweaks in an 6.86e update, where Earth Spirit and Lone Druid would be addressed.
The meta right now seems to have somewhat settled a bit, with definite favorites in picks and strategies. Obviously, with a Chinese team winning MDL, as well as 3 more Chinese teams among the top 6, the event was bound to be very Chinese meta heavy. Europe still has two notable contenders in Team Liquid and Alliance who will very likely shift the picks and bans somewhat with their preferences, although Alliance themselves certainly favor a lot of the currently popular heroes--except for Earth Spirit.
The Shanghai Major is about a month away and it’s then when we will see the true strengths of this patch. However, we very likely already have a good idea of what to expect.
Sumail's Invoker is trash.
2st, just the tip?
why ppl say first!! second!!! third!!! and so on in these posts? just for fun? i usually read this blog when I can, but if I write a commend usually is to talk about the article itself. anyway..... I love play Earth spirit and I really enjoy the fact that finally he's getting his right place in the most played heroes!!
WHERES MUH OGRE BUFF? D:
nooo dont nerf earthspirit anymore :l
Oh come on! Just a little bit more nerfs and Earth will be trash ,so much my time invested in that hero
God no, please don't nerf my beloved Earth Spirit. :(
Yep as it was said...Venge is a very solid pick and don´t reveal any strategy, I just love her at cm.. but I hope when they nerf earth spirit(which actually requires skill) they won´t buff that anti fun hero Doom. So happy it is 5v5 not like with doom 5v4 or 4v4. This meta seems pretty versatile let a side Invoker(it´s not his first time anyway).
we need to buff Storm Spirit (ulti mana cost) and buff puck (silence duration) or at least pure damage orb
dont nerf my lone druid :( ive been playing him before he got buffed
Invoker is well balanced now (that Invoke level 1 isn't much but feels right). Also, VS with Shadow Blade in lanes is pretty dangerous. Late game, though, becomes quite potato.
It is sad that icefrog bases his hero changes on professional crap rather than casual players of dota...
Icefrog Logic: Holy shit, Venge, Lone Druid, and Invoker are playable again! Better make them useless again ASAP, and go back to 0 skill right click meta! BrokeBack FailFish
Kaolin FTW! dont nerf plox
Another major contribution to these heros is the fact that their counters have been nerfed significantly. Earth Spirit and Spectre were countered by the heavily nerfed Huskar.
Other carry options have been nerfed so much, that they are almost insignificant. RIP Storm Spirit, Phantom Assasin, Bloodseeker, Phantom Lancer
What about the 38 bans of Bambi in America ??
Time for alliance to shine :)
Code of Conduct!?? RIP previous comment section.
Also, currently the Enchanted Mango has a win rate of 34.47%. Together, we as a community, have the ability to fix this problem and end this horrific tragedy. Please help. It is our duty as gamers to give this item the respect it is due.
come on man .. youre still on that mango shit .. god damn, thats so last year
requesting DOTABUFF PLUS code ty :D
I have been giving the Mango the respect it is due. When I'm losing games, I buy them up. How's that for respect? http://www.dotabuff.com/matches/2119751855
Don't care who you buff or nerf since i play them all. playing dota from the first patch.