Much has been discussed among the DotA 2 community about the difference between Western teams' approaches to the game in comparison to their Eastern counterparts. More often than not, teams will pick the heroes that suit their respective gameplans. So while a difference in playstyle is not always noticeable enough to be quantitatively analyzed, we can have a general idea of a team's preferred strategy by looking at their drafts.
The loved (Most picked)
| West (262 games) | East (166 games) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heroes / Win-rate % | Picked | Picked % | Heroes / Win-rate % | Picked | Picked % |
 C.Maiden (50.3%) | 151 | 57.6 |  Alchemist (54.9%) | 102 | 61.4 |
 Clockwerk (49.6%) | 135 | 51.5 | C.Maiden (43.2%) | 95 | 57.2 |
 Venomancer (54.9%) | 122 | 46.6 |  Rubick (59.3%) | 91 | 54.8 |
 Visage (56.9%) | 116 | 44.3 | Visage (52.3%) | 88 | 53.0 |
 Mirana (48.5 | 97 | 37.0 | Clockwerk (43.8%) | 73 | 44.0 |
 Lifestealer (53.8%) | 93 | 35.5 |  Weaver (55.0%) | 60 | 36.1 |
 Windranger (50.6%) | 79 | 30.2 | Venomancer (53.3%) | 60 | 36.1 |
 Timbersaw (48.1%) | 79 | 30.2 | Lifestealer (46.9%) | 49 | 29.5 |
 Lich (48.7%) | 78 | 29.8 | Mirana (42.9%) | 49 | 29.5 |
|
| 75 | 28.6 |  Prophet (56.3%) | 48 | 28.9 |
Alchemist is on a steady rise as of late, in particular for the Eastern teams where he has overtaken the previously all-powerful Crystal Maiden. This stems a lot from his strong all-around nature, capable of being played as a tanky frontline carry, a initiating solo mid or as a support with a great stun who gets really hard to kill around level 6. While the nerfs removed some of the raw survivability against nukes, his lasting power in fights scales excellently with items, and in a meta where it's all about being able to passively gain an edge over your opponents in terms of farm and being able to outlast them in fights, Alchemist is not only a top pick in the East, he's fast catching on in the West as well.
Other heroes which enjoy similar all-around status include the Mirana, which while remaining fairly steady in the West has seen a surge of picks in the East. Again, this is a hero which can be run on near enough every position and which was previously underpicked for her winrate in the East. Great initiation and a great ability to engage or disengage from fights in her ultimate, she helps teams take control of the mid game while providing a fairly good core hero for the later portions of the game.
A third hero with aspirations of great all-around potential is of course Venomancer, who while a capable support which can jungle with his wards can also be run as a core hero on the mid- or offlane. However while Venomancer is an excellent early and mid game hero, his lesser impact once Black King Bars come into play does undermine his power a bit compared to the other two mentioned, especially as the Hand of Midas craze keeps games going into the slightly later portions. He also does not quite utilize gold as well as the other two discussed, not even as well as Crystal Maiden for whom the extra gold bolsters her chances of getting off a full duration Freezing Field. As a result Venomancer hangs on, but there may be arguments against him for the future if no clear answers for Midas gaming appear soon.
The hated (Most banned)
| West (262 games) | East (166 games) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heroes | Banned | Banned % | Heroes | Banned | Banned % |
| Lich | 157 | 59.9 |  Elder Titan | 102 | 61.4 |
| Elder Titan | 151 | 57.6 | Timbersaw | 95 | 57.2 |
| Lifestealer | 132 | 50.3 | Clockwerk | 91 | 54.8 |
| Visage | 119 | 45.4 |  Pugna | 88 | 53.0 |
| Pugna | 107 | 40.8 |  Naga Siren | 73 | 44.0 |
 Bounty Hunter | 102 | 38.9 | Visage | 60 | 36.1 |
| Timbersaw | 100 | 38.1 | Venomancer | 60 | 36.1 |
| Venomancer | 93 | 35.5 | Lich | 49 | 29.5 |
| Clockwerk | 91 | 34.7 | Lifestealer | 49 | 29.5 |
|
| 86 | 32.8 |  Chen | 48 | 28.9 |
Batrider
Elder Titan remains the most feared hero in all the lands, and for good reason. Yet again a versatile hero which works well as an offlaner or as a solo mid, but who also provides a lot run as a support especially with a Hand of Midas. His teamfight contribution between Natural Order and Earth Splitter is excellent and few teams bolster your teams damage potential as much as this hero. And as if that wasn't enough the Astral Spirit which grants him the ability to whack at enemy heroes for outrageous amounts of damage during early fights rounds out what is, quite simply, a game winning hero.
Another hero which is highly respected in both metas is Pugna, although we are actually seeing some downwards movement from this pushing beast, as again teams are discovering that taking fights head on is not always the best thing to do. Still, if left to his own devices Pugna is the kind of hero which can push down your base while you wait for those Hand of Midases to pay themselves back, which is a prime reason we are unlikely to see him fall out of the top bans any time soon.
Finally it should be noted that while Timbersaw is losing out a bit in terms of picks, he is still a much feared hero, hanging on as a highly banned hero especially in the East. Great laning ability, ganking and counter-pushing, he does most things well except breaking bases. However he is still a hero which does not benefit greatly from the farm focus, which is why we're likely to see him pop up more as the utility hero next to dual core lineups, as teams try to strike a balance with their now more farm hungry supports. He's not quite good enough to be picked during the first phase, but fits well in as a hero to be removed during the second ban phase.
The popular (Ban + Pick)
Visage continues to be a powerful force in the metagame, especially when outlasting your opponents is all the rage, where his low cooldown Soul Assumption becomes magnified. Visage is also a hero which works well for maintaining lanes while you farm up and provides a lot during every stage of the game. There really is little wonder that this hero continues being either banned or picked nearly every game in both scenes.
Another hero which is a favourite of both scenes is the Clockwerk, who is a highly reliable offlane hero. He provides great utility from the offlane and fills the same non-farming role as Timbersaw does, although by other means. The power of Rocket Flare for scouting out Roshan has also been magnified, giving the team that picks up this hero a distinctive edge. Still he is losing a bit of favour, especially in the West, where previously teams like Na`Vi were highly prioritizing the hero but have since changed up their draft after their winners bracket loss against Fnatic. Expect this hero to lose some ground over the next month, perhaps sliding into the same second ban phase territory as the Timbersaw.
A hero which is oddly absent from this list is Weaver, who only barely makes the cut in the East. Weaver was for a time something of an overrated hero as he kept on being played as a position 1 carry, but again he is a hero who greatly benefits from the offlane Hand of Midas and who can become a real nuisance through his ability to split push safely. The hero is likely adjusting to his new role and may see resurgence in the coming month, if not as a top pick, then again as a multi-purpose second pick or ban phase hero.
The game winners (Highest winrate)
There's few surprises here with Elder Titan taking his rightful place at the very top of the pile in both scenes. More surprising may be the Dragon Knight, a hero which has great tankability, great lasting power, pushing power and generally which provides a lot with or without farm. Still, he isn't really seeing play as of yet, not showing up on the top picked or banned list for either scene, indicating that teams have not had the time due to their hectic schedules to practice with him and incorporate him into their lineups. Once the LAN schedule slows down a bit, expect to see more experimentation with this hero.
Another hero which is on the rise, in particular due to Speed Gaming and Na`Vi posting great results with it, is Clinkz. This hero is a great core for split pushing, ganking and generally loves being in control of the pace of the game. He has some very specific needs which limit him during the draft, generally requiring a 1v1 lane and access to good creep camps for his Death Pact, but these are a lot easier to provide in the current metagame and he is likely another hero which may see further growth as teams have a chance to get used to running him.
Finally Night Stalker is doing better, as teams have been learning how to better make use of him. He is by no means the all-around monster some thought he would be when 6.79 was introduced, but if played right by the second night time he may become a very powerful damage dealer with great scalability as a tanky core hero. In general the hero seems better suited for the safelane than solo mid right now, and can even work as a decoy which gets sacrificed in order to allow more farm heavy heroes to be played by the traditional 2 and 3 position players.
Special thanks to Renfree for the data.
Headline image credit: HD Forg
