SLTV Star Series is one of the first Europe-based tournaments to expand globally, creating regional divisions for China, Korea and America. Each region's top representatives will be travelling to Ukraine, to participate in the LAN finals at Cyberarena, Kiev. The season was action packed, with fierce battles being held in each division.
The matches are full of information about the teams' strategies, their preferable hero selections as well as their most hated opponents. Since Star Series IX is the first global tournament of the year, one can gather several details about the drafting habits of the Eastern and Western teams, and whether they lead to success or not.
Please keep in mind that the European Division had more teams and more games compared to America, Korea and China, and therefore it is not very safe to compare the four match samples. It should also be noted that China's matches took place before the rest of the divisions, so they were not affected by some of the meta changes yet. Nonetheless, the numbers can offer a general idea about the current meta game, less than four months before The International.
The most picked heroes
| # | China | Korea | America | Europe |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  28 |  17 |  21 |  59 |
| 2 | 26 | 14 | 21 |  57 |
| 3 |  19 |  12 | 17 | 49 |
| 4 |  16 |  11 |  14 |  41 |
| 5 | 16 |  11 | 14 | 37 |
| 6 | 14 | 9 | 14 |  36 |
| 7 | 13 |  9 | 14 |  36 |
| 8 |  12 | 9 | 13 | 34 |
| 9 | 11 |  9 |  13 | 33 |
| 10 | 10 | 8 |  13 |  33 |
Although the sample sizes are different, as Europe played a lot more games than other regions, we can get a general idea about the regions' hero preferences through the list of the most picked heroes :
- The first thing that stands out when we look at these numbers is the presence of Dazzle as the most picked hero in Europe. Dazzle is a hero that entered the meta violently, going from neglected to desired status in European games within weeks. This is due to the massive buff to his Poison Touch and significance of Shallow Grave during the early teamfights.
- The American and European teams have succumbed to the temptation of the Ember Spirit, with the hero being in both regions' top ten picked heroes. Despite the hero being considered 'too strong' for being in tournament matches, it seems that the Korean and Chinese seek other values in their heroes.
- Batrider, Nyx Assassin and Ancient Apparition are amongst the most picked heroes in every region, with Ancient Apparition being in every top-three. This shows the value and potential of these three heroes in 6.80, being included in many different strategies and playing various roles (Batrider can be a jungler, a solo mid or offlaner, generally rushing a Blink Dagger in all cases)
- After a period away from the spotlight since his introduction to captain's mode, Centaur Warrunner has finally found his way to teams' hero rosters. He is usually played as an offlaner of a safe lane carry, aiming for extreme early aggressiveness using a fast Blink Dagger and his formidable ultimade, Stampede.
The most banned heroes
| # | China | Korea | America | Europe |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 26 | 21 | 34 | 72 |
| 2 | 24 | 19 | 30 | 68 |
| 3 | 22 | 17 | 23 | 64 |
| 4 | 22 | 16 | 22 | 57 |
| 5 | 20 | 15 | 21 | 50 |
| 6 |  19 |  15 |  20 | 45 |
| 7 | 18 | 13 | 15 | 41 |
| 8 | 15 | 13 | 14 | 40 |
| 9 |  15 | 13 | 14 | 40 |
| 10 |  14 | 12 | 13 | 36 |
Despite the differences in picks, there are many common feared opponents in the regions' most banned heroes. Let us have a look at the numbers :
- By far, the scariest opponent to battle against is Invoker, according to most teams in Star Series. The recent 6.80 buff to Quas-Wex Invoker has turned the hero into a huge asset in a teamfight, especially during the earlier stages of the game. The QW build can benefit from both the freshly introduced EMP and Ghost Walk upgrades, but the Exort build is also used quite often - with the proper coordination, the early global burst damage of Sunstrike is as valuable as it ever was.
- With the small but significant nerfs back in 2012, Naga Siren was used mostly as a support hero, but never fell out of the meta due to her Song of the Siren and Ensnare (counter to Blink-based heroes). However, during late 2013, the players remembered the potential of the carry Naga (Prime example). Now, either as a carry or a support, Naga Siren is one of the most feared heroes of the West. The East, nonetheless, seems indifferent towards the womanly fish.
- Much like the top-picks table, Ember Spirit's presence in Europe, America and Korea is very strong, and most of the times the squads prefer to get rid of him and his brother Storm Spirit whenever they opt for a fragile carry or solo hero selections. The Chinese seems to hate Storm Spirit a lot more, probably due to some SS veterans like Luo 'Ferrari_430" Feichi and Xie 'Super Junhao.
- As expected by the recent meta, the Star Series participants of every region despise facing Lycan. The reasons are quite obvious - massive early game strength, the ability to take down towers like they were made out of paper, and two very annoying summoned units, the wolves.
The most successful heroes
| # | China | Korea | America | Europe |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 100% (16 games) | 100% (7 games) |  83.3% (6 games) | 77.8% (18 games) |
| 2 |  83.3% (6 games) |  100% (6 games) | 77.8% (9 games) |  75.0% (12 games) |
| 3 | 81.8% (11 games) | 82.7% (17 games) | 76.9% (13 games) | 73.7% (19 games) |
| 4 | 66.7% (9 games) | 66.7% (9 games) | 75.0% (8 games) | 70.0% (30 games) |
| 5 |  62.5% (8 games) | 66.7% (9 games) |  75.0% (8 games) |  66.7% (12 games) |
| 6 | 62.5% (8 games) | 62.5% (8 games) | 66.7% (6 games) |  65.2% (23 games) |
| 7 | 61.5% (13 games) | 57.1% (7 games) | 62.5% (8 games) |  64.3% (14 games) |
| 8 | 60.0% (10 games) | 55.6% (9 games) | 61.5% (13 games) | 61.9% (21 games) |
| 9 | 60.0% (10 games) | 50.0% (12 games) | 61.5% (13 games) |  60.0% (25 games) |
| 10 | 54.5% (11 games) |  50% (6 games) | 58.8% (17 games) | 60.0% (20 games) |
DISCLAIMER : Due to increased pick diversity and smaller sample size, the minimum game requirement for Korea, China and America is five games, while for Europe it is ten games.
Since success depends on several factors other than the hero's strength, we cannot draw any safe conclusions about the heroes judging from their individual winrates, also considering the huge difference in sample sizes. However, there is some useful information in these numbers :
- With the existence of Shadow Shaman, Lycanthrope, Nature's Prophet etc in all three hero lists, it is made obvious that pushing strategies are very strong in this meta game - something we witnessed in Star Ladder preliminary divisions. Despite the minor Necronomicon nerf, the teams have not lost their faith and continue to select line-ups that overwhelm their opposition through massive pushing/split-pushing.
- There is an impressive variety of different solo-lane heroes that teams deploy with their drafting. From Puck to Shadow Fiend, from Clockwerk to Nyx Assassin, it is very difficult to predict the solo lane selections of the teams during this meta game.
- Being present in both the most-picked and most-successful tables, Centaur Warruner is arguably the king of the Star Series hero pool. The Eastern and Western squads both trust the horseman warrior for solid tanking and global initiation.
Top kills and top deaths
| Top average hero kills | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | China | Korea | America | Europe |
| 1 | 6.5 (11 games) | 13.3 (6 games) | 9.4 (13 games) | 10.1 (19 games) |
| 2 | 6.2 (6 games) |  9.7 (6 games) | 6.7 (6 games) | 7.9 (27 games) |
| 3 | 6.1 (19 games) | 9.3 (9 games) |  5.7 (6 games) | 7.8 (13 games) |
| 4 | 5.9 (8 games) | 8.3 (7 games) | 5.5 (8 games) | 7.4 (33 games) |
| 5 | 5.8 (10 games) | 6.4 (7 games) | 5.0 (21 games) | 6.9 (22 games) |
DISCLAIMER : Due to increased pick diversity and smaller sample size, the minimum game requirement for Korea, China and America is five games, while for Europe it is ten games.
Not many surprises in the top kills table for all regions. Ember Spirit tops America and Korea while Shadow Fiend and Invoker dominate Europe and China respectively. A notable presence in the Korean table is Visage, with the Koreans prefering to go very aggressive with the Soul Assumption and the familiars.
| Top average deaths | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | China | Korea | America | Europe |
| 1 |  5.7 (9 games) | 7.0 (7 games) | 5.6 (8 games) | 6.6 (16 games) |
| 2 | 5.5 (11 games) | 6.7 (6 games) | 5.5 (13 games) | 6.4 (30 games) |
| 3 | 5.4 (14 games) | 6.6 (9 games) | 5.4 (7 games) | 6.3 (29 games) |
| 4 | 4.8 (16 games) | 6.1 (11 games) | 5.4 (14 games) | 5.8 (36 games) |
| 5 | 4.7 (28 games) | 6.1 (9 games) | 5.2 (9 games) | 5.6 (28 games) |
DISCLAIMER : Due to increased pick diversity and smaller sample size, the minimum game requirement for Korea, China and America is five games, while for Europe it is ten games.
The highest average amount of deaths for each region belongs mostly to supports and initiators, as expected. It is obvious that Koreans like to slay them Ember Spirits, almost as much as Americans against Storm Spirits. The Eastern teams really know how to get rid of the Sand King, abusing his low escape potential during the early game.
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