Dota 2: MDL Disneyland Paris Major Meta Analysis

A few days have passed since the end of one of the most interesting DPC events yet. However, the qualifiers for the final Major of the year – EPICENTER are on their way.

As we know, each tournament has its own unique meta that sometimes differs from the pub meta. It is time to look at some of the most popular heroes that got to see the light of day in Paris.

The Most Popular Heroes

Sand King

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhP9DVgm8qk

The good old Sand King takes the #1 spot as the most picked hero of the Major. This was expected, considering the recent state of Sand King. He provides incredible utility and one of the best AoE damage outputs right now. That’s why he was the go-to pick for nearly every team at the tournament.

SK can be played in various roles, but nowadays, he shines the brightest as a position four. Another reason for his popularity is the fact that he can be combined very well with other top-tier meta heroes. In addition, having a reliable stun, tankiness and fairly easy spells to execute all add up to him being one of the best heroes right now.

Despite the above mentioned, Sand King has a roughly 48% win rating out of 38 picks.

Drow Ranger

Drow Ranger’s pick rate really skyrocketed recently, and it seems as if she is one of the best carries right now. The MDL Disneyland Paris Major further proves this claim as the hero was a first phase pick/ban in nearly every series.

Drow has always been a very popular hero among pro players. One of the main reasons for that is because the hero provides an incredible early to mid game power. What’s more, she also scales very well during the late game. That’s why it is kind of easy to get a fast victory, should be able to get ahead with a Drow lineup.

One of the main weapons that the hero has is her ability to clear Ancients as soon as she hits level 6. That’s why you can often see people just going straight to the jungle once they get that precious level.

Having 90 picks and bans during the entire event, Drow takes the second place for the most contested hero. Unless IceFrog decides to unleash the nerf hammer soon, it is highly unlikely that we will see her fall off the meta anytime soon.

Doom

The most contested hero during the entire Major. Doom is the type of a guy in a bar that you don’t want to mess with. He is a very stable laner, fast farmer and most importantly – an incredibly useful tool to deal with some of the strongest late-game heroes in the game.

In the current meta, Doom seems to be either a position three or a position one. Usually, he is sitting in the offlane alongside some other annoying hero. Combined, they can make the life of the enemy carry a living hell.

Of course, let’s not forget his strongest weapon – the ultimate. Doom is a definitive counter to every hero in the game, period. A well-placed ultimate can completely shift the balance of power in a team-fight. However, in order to do that, your Doom player has to be good. That’s why you can often see many pub players who pick the hero in order to counter someone, but in the end, they do nothing because they are unaware how to properly position themselves in order to secure that ult.

Enigma

Enigma has always been in and out of the meta. Despite that, it seems like the hero always finds that sweet spot. That’s why we’ve seen many people picking the hero regularly, even though it’s not exactly the top meta pick.

Enigma is a very annoying hero to play against, should it be on your lane. It can continuously deny the range creep, which results in a massive XP decline. Luckily, Lich can’t do that anymore. I still wake up in my sleep remembering that duo offlane that literally made me delete Dota.

Similar to Doom, Enigma has one of the strongest ultimates in a game. In fact, this is probably the most hyped ult by the casters in every tournament. A well-placed Black Hole can single-handedly win a team fight, period. Of course, you need a follow-up to be effective, but 9/10 times it is there.

The hero got a total of 81 picks and bans, which places him as #3 in terms of the most contested heroes.

Nature’s Prophet

Furion got picked a total of 37 times and he has around 52% win rating. This makes him one of the most successful heroes at this Major.

The hero saw a lot of shifts in his position throughout the years. There were even times where you could see people first-picking him as a mid-laner. Nowadays, Puppey seems to infiltrate the meta with his support Furion that is very hot right now. Having a global map presence as well as an easy to use lockdown makes NP very reliable support. Of course, let’s not forget his incredible split-pushing capabilities.

Team Secret was one of the teams that always tried to pick the hero. In fact, during the Grand Finals, Puppey paired him with MidOne’s Arc Warden. This made Team Liquid’s job incredibly hard because two heroes constantly pushed the lanes.