Heroes of the International

The International is over for now. But the question remains; what will come after it, what are the consequences of the meta game? Taking a look at these hero statistics, one can hopefully track down some patterns.

All games from the preliminaries as well as the playoffs are counted for. During the group stage a lot of people noted that teams played rather safe in terms of creativity and ideas. Lots of Morphlings, lots of Invokers, lots of Leshracs and lots of Venomancers. That did not really change throughout the playoff stage, but some other heroes were given some space, such as Templar Assassin and Naga Siren (for better or for worse). The "pure support" heroes seemed to be out of phase. If you are going to play a support, you better play a support that can push or is versatile with a big impact in clashes.

Carry heroes (picked >15)
#	Hero	Wins	Losses	Win rate	+/-
1	Templar Assassin	14	7	67%	+7
2	Anti-Mage	19	13	59%	+6
3	Lycanthrope	10	7	59%	+3
4	Morphling	45	33	58%	+12
5	Chaos Knight	19	17	53%	+2
6	Lone Druid	29	31	48%	-2
7	Naga Siren	7	12	37%	-5
Carry heroes (picked 5<15)
#	Hero	Wins	Losses	Win rate	+/-
1	Clinkz	4	2	67%	+2
2	Tiny	8	6	57%	+2
3	Luna	4	4	50%	0
4	Dragon Knight	4	5	44%	-1
5	Juggernaut	2	4	33%	-2

The carry to remember from this event is of course Templar Assassin who has the highest winrate among the frequent carries. It is however worth mentioning that this hero was a hero heavily favoured by the winning team and they had 5-1 with her. The other hero that everyone will remember is naturally Morphling who was seen literally everywhere. His winrate took a blow during the last day though. The two other carries of the Big Three (Anti-mage, Lone Druid) were more successful on that day, even if Morphling outshadowed them earlier. Naga Siren did not pay off at all, whether it was due to teams overestimating her or not using her correctly. Even top teams such as LGD, iG and Na`Vi lost with her.

Solo heroes (picked >15)
#	Hero	Wins	Losses	Win rate	+/-
1	Dark Seer	24	15	62%	+9
2	Bounty Hunter	18	12	60%	+6
3	Beastmaster	18	17	51%	+1
4	Storm Spirit	12	12	50%	0
5	Windrunner	22	23	49%	-1
6	Invoker	39	41	48%	-2
7	Queen of Pain	17	25	40%	-8
8	Tinker	8	15	35%	-7
9	Broodmother	10	19	34%	-9

This category feature both side and mid lane solos, since some of the heroes can be seen in both lanes (maybe not Dark Seer). Not a very good tournament for the conventional solo heroes, especially not the mid ones. Dark Seer proved he's a useful hero with a good win rate, a reliable side-solo hero. Besides him Bounty Hunter turned out to be quite a successful in the games he was picked, also being a side-lane solo. The previously feared Tinker hadn't been as viable, perhaps due to the Shotgun Morph meta game. There have also been some heroes played as solos, like Templar Assassin, Lone Druid and Morphling.

Utility heroes (picked >15)
#	Hero	Wins	Losses	Win rate	+/-
1	Rubick	50	30	63%	+20
2	Leshrac	49	42	54%	+7
3	Tidehunter	40	37	52%	+3
4	Brewmaster	17	16	52%	+1
5	Sand King	23	27	46%	-4
6	Natures Prophet	25	30	45%	-5
7	Enigma	20	25	44%	-5
8	Night Stalker	7	10	41%	-3

Utility is a tricky category, mostly we've put heroes in this category that have a lot of laning options and go for utility items such as Mek, Force Staff, Pipe, Drum and similiar. Today, this category won't be as refined, it will feature most heroes who did not fit in that well under different categories. Also some heroes considered gankers or semi-carries are here such as Night Stalker and Brewmaster. Other heroes are listed here who are rather versatile in laning, like Leshrac, Tide or Rubick. Rubick's stats show why some call him overpowered. He's a clasher, a support or a very strong solo mid hero. And the best part is that you can always let the opponents have some of the good heroes if you have Rubick. That way you're atleast going to get some of their spells.

Support heroes (picked >15)
#	Hero	Wins	Losses	Win rate	+/-
1	Crystal Maiden	10	6	63%	+4
2	Shadow Shaman	26	21	55%	+5
3	Venomancer	42	42	50%	0
4	Chen	31	35	47%	-4
5	Enchantress	23	27	45%	-4
6	Shadow Demon	10	21	32%	-11
Support heroes (picked 5<15)
#	Hero	Wins	Losses	Win rate	+/-
1	Earthshaker	5	3	63%	+2
2	Wisp	8	6	57%	+2
3	Keeper of the Light	7	6	54%	+1
4	Ancient Apparition	5	6	45%	-1
5	Lina	5	7	42%	-2
6	Disruptor	3	5	38%	-2
7	Vengeful Spirit	4	7	36%	-3
6	Lich	2	6	25%	-4

The support of supports; Crystal Maiden is actually the most successful one, although she has a lot fewer games than Venomancer and Shadow Shaman. The Shaman is the support that came out alive after this tournament and we might see more of him in the current meta game. All the successful and commonly picked support heroes have something to add to a pushing line-up. Teams also favour utility heroes in support roles, such as Rubick, Leshrac and Tide rather than the more conventional heroes such as Lich and Vengeful Spirit. Shadow Demon is the big "loser" of this event. What happened to this hero, he used to be so strong? Important fact to consider is that Chinese teams (top contenders) did not pick him up that much. He's also somewhat of a counter to Anti-Mage, a hero that was not peaking in amount of games picked.

Most picked heroes
#	Hero	Picked	Win rate	+/-
1	Leshrac	91	54%	+7
2	Venomancer	84	50%	0
3	Invoker	81	48%	-2
4	Rubick	80	63%	+20
5	Morphling	78	58%	+12
6	Tidehunter	77	52%	+3
Most banned heroes
#	Hero	Banned	Win rate	+/-
1	Lycanthrope	134	59%	+3
2	Naga Siren	133	37%	-5
3	Dark Seer	116	62%	+9
4	Natures Prophet	90	45%	-5
5	Chen	84	47%	-4
6	Broodmother	79	34%	-9

Leshrac has been popular for quite some time now, mostly due to his ability to push, defend and deal damage. He can also been laned in various ways. After that it's the go-to support of the tournament; Venomancer. Most support players have a high count with this hero. Invoker is picked up a lot, due to his versatility and him working in numerous strategies. The big question is why Rubick with his 63% win rate and +20 games is not in the top 6 ban list? He is actually located just outside it with 72 bans but he should probably have been higher. Naga Siren is the big disappointment. She has put an immense fear into most team's mind and has been banned 133 times, just one below Lycan. But when she was picked she was not the force people believed her to be. This might show a lack of creativity in the Dota2-scene, where teams ban certain heroes instead of thinking of ways to deal with them. Same goes for Natures Prophet and especially Broodmother.

Heroes most first-picked
#	Hero	Picked	Percentage
1	Rubick	25	17%
2	Dark Seer	24	16%
3	Natures Prophet	22	15%
Heroes most second-picked
#	Hero	Picked	Percentage
1	Leshrac	44	29%
2	Invoker	36	24%
3	Rubick	34	23%
Common second-pick duo
#	Heroes	Picked	Percentage
1	Morphling & Invoker	8	5,3%
2	Invoker & Lone Druid	7	4,6%
3	Rubick & Morph	6	4,0%

Thanks to our buddies at Dota Academy for providing the pick and ban statistics for The International.

Source: Dota Academy, GosuGamers' draft database
More information: The International 2012 coverage