With just four teams and four series left before the champions of TI11 are crowned, we take a look at what heroes to expect in the finals weekend of the tournament.
The International 2022 (TI11) has been an amazing tournament from a Dota 2 perspective. Even though things outside the game haven’t been up to the standards of the previous iterations of The International championships, the in game stuff, which many would argue is the most important, has delivered some edge of the seat Dota 2 action.
After a long journey, we are down to the final four teams that will fight off for the Aegis in the Singapore Indoor Stadium on the 29th and 30th of October. The matchups on the first day of the finals weekend are-
Team Aster vs Team Liquid (lower bracket semifinal)
Team Secret vs Tundra Esports (upper bracket final)
As we get close to the finals weekend for TI11, let’s take a look at what heroes have been performing well in the playoffs to get an idea of what we might expect to see on the final two days.
Most played heroes of the TI11 playoffs
TI11 has seen a total of 114 heroes picked in the group stage and playoffs, with 83 of them being picked in the playoffs alone. Nine heroes have over 10 picks in the 36 playoff games that took place in the Suntec Arena.
The hero that most stands out is Leshrac. The disco pony wasn’t the talk of the group stages, but as it often happens in a long tournament like The International 2022, the meta is dynamic and keeps changing throughout the tournament. Somewhere in the midst of the tournament, teams realized that Leshrac is extremely strong, and started to first phase him. He is literally the only hero in the game on whom Bloodstone works, and not only does it work, but it is broken. It is kind of Meteor Hammer only being good on Outworld Destroyer and maybe Treant Protector, but significantly more effective. Leshrac has an extremely high win rate in the playoffs, and is possibly the main hero to keep an eye on. The hero can go in all three lanes, and even though he hasn’t been played as a support yet, can also occupy a position 4 role if needed. Team Liquid’s offlaner Ludwig “Zai” Wåhlberg attested to the fact that the heroes was one of the best in the game while talking before the TI11 finals weekend.
Other success stories include Crystal Maiden and Lifestealer, with the latter growing in popularity with the progression of the tournament.
Heroes that will possibly not be seen at all in the last two days are Shadow Fiend and Ember Spirit, unless they are picked for the sole purpose of being comfort picks. But the chances are low. Shadow Fiend actually fared quite well in the group stages, being the second most picked hero with 71 games and 39 wins (54.93% win rate), but teams have figured out a way to counter Nevermore. Ember Spirit on the other hand only had a 33.33% win rate in the group stages, and it has only gotten worse.
Highest win rate heroes of the TI11 playoffs
The sample size is quite small for the playoffs, so no major assessment can be made based on win rate. But it does show that besides Leshrac, Lifestealer and Crystal Maiden, Mirana and Visage and Snapfire are heroes to keep an eye out for. Mirana in particular is a hero Tundra have been running successfully on both their supports, and Secret showed earlier in the tournament that she can also be played from the offlane as a core.
Unpicked heroes of TI11
A total of 9 heroes are yet to be picked at TI11. While speaking with GosuGamers, Tundra Esports’ mid laner Leon “Nine” Kirilin said he believed there were secret strategies that would be unveiled during the finals weekend. Could any of these heroes come into play? That would really catch the opposition by surprise.
Of course, it is hard to predict what is going through the minds of the teams. But from what it looks like, the following heroes will be ones to keep an eye out for-
· Leshrac
· Mirana
· Visage
· Lifestealer
· Broodmother
· Marci
· Primal Beast (most banned in the playoffs with 29 bans in 36 games)
· Enigma (second most banned in the playoffs with 21 bans in 36 games)
· Sven
· Crystal Maiden
· Snapfire
· Tiny
Heroes that have been picked quite a bit till now, but won’t be seen too much include the likes of Shadow Fiend and Ember Spirit. Marci, even though she has the highest contest rate of the tournament, ironically has only a 40% win rate on the mainstage. But it is hard to imagine her going completely uncontested in any of the games.
Primal Beast and Enigma aren’t seen in the list of most picked heroes because they were banned in majority of the games. But given an opportunity, those heroes will be snapped up by teams.
While the meta won’t change drastically in a week, the days off will give teams some time to theory craft a bit. Tundra Esports played a position 5 Luna in their final group stage game against Entity. Hopefully we get some of those picks which widens the viewers eyes and makes their jaws drop, because that is what adds spice to professional Dota 2 and big tournaments like The International!
