Dota 2: The Chongqing Major – Top Picks and Bans

The first Major of the year has just finished, and it was the last event on patch 7.20. We witnessed the best teams in the world going ham on each other. Apart from the ordinary meta picks that we were used to, there was a lot of strange stuff: Slark mid, Doom carry, and Luna support was just the tip of the iceberg.

Pick Luna support in my pub game? Meteor.

— BTS Godz | aka Parker (@BTSGoDz) January 27, 2019

In total, there were 93 games played and 84 heroes picked, which means that there are 27 heroes that did not see the light of day. The hero picks and bans ratio is relatively similar to the Bucharest minor, which was expected because the two events were just a few days apart.

The power distribution in the Chongqing Major was very similar to the one in Kuala Lumpur. The same teams were top 3 again; however, this time Team Secret was the champion instead of Virtus.Pro.

Following their results, both VP and Secret are now guaranteed participants in TI 9, so they do not have to worry about accumulating any more DPC points.

With the new Dota 2 patch being just around the corner, let’s take a quick look of the final meta.

Top 3 most picked heroes

According to DotaBuff, the most picked hero was Lich. The nightmare support has proven himself as one of the best heroes in the current meta. After the tweaks to his spells, Lich is now viable in all parts of the game. Before he was just a single spell hero after the 25th minute into the game, but now Lich provides a lot of lane dominance in the early game and works very well with nearly every core hero. His win rating in the Major was 50%, which also makes him also one of the most successful.

Coming in second place, we have Grimstroke. The OSfrog hero has been picked 40 times in total, and his win rating is the same as Lich. Grim is a very powerful nuker that can do tons of damage in nearly all stages of the game. Despite not being as useful later on, his early to mid game presence on the map is undoubtedly noticeable. Another advantage in his favour is his farming capabilities. Usually, the position 5 heroes struggle a lot with farm, but that's not an issue for Grim. He can clear creep waves as well as occasional jungle camps.

Last, but certainly not least, are two heroes – Tuskar and ES. Both of them have been picked 36 times. However, Earth Spirit’s win ranting is an astronomical 61%. This makes him one of the most successful heroes in the Major. ES is also one of the most skilled heroes to play, especially on the big stage. It is very likely that we`ll see some nerfs pretty soon.

Top 3 most banned heroes

Like in every other big event, the most banned hero was IO. The hero, which has one of the lowest win ratings in Pub games, is a deadly weapon in the pro Dota scene. His global presence, as well as utility, has always been lucrative for every team. IO got banned in the first phase of nearly every game. When that didn’t happen, he was always picked right after the ban phase.

The second place is occupied by a hero, which in previous metas, wasn’t nearly as popular as now. Elder Titan has proved himself as a solid position 4 in recent times. The hero is capable of doing an insane amount of damage later in the game with his ultimate. During the early stages, his strongest weapon is his right click, which can be ridiculously overpowered sometimes. Because of this, you will regularly see players rush boots so that they can literally run down their opponents.

The bronze medal goes to ES yet again; however, Tiny is right after him with just one less ban. Tiny also went through massive changes, and his current state allows him to be played in every possible position. However, nowadays we rarely see him as a carry. Usually, he is either offlaning or mid.

What’s next?

The next DPC event is going to be Starladder Season 6, which starts in early May. Until then, several other minor tournaments are going on, just in case you are still hungry for more.

The new ranked season is coming next week, and alongside it a balance focused 7.21 patch. We are aiming to release Mars sometime between the end of February and early March.

— DOTA 2 (@DOTA2) January 25, 2019

We are also still waiting for the new ranked season in Dota, which should arrive this week.

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Image Via: 1zoom.me