The DreamLeague S21 hero meta

DreamLeague S21 is an excellent opportunity for everyone to see what the meta will be like at The International 12. Assuming that IceFrog doesn’t release some major patch until the big event, the game will be all about physical damage and AoE abilities, especially stuns.

We’re currently seeing a rapid increase in the number of Earthshaker picks and bans. The same is true for Earth Spirit, who often gets picked for the position 4 role, but for mid! Players like Topson are bringing back elements of older meta, from more than five years ago.

Most picked heroes so far

The best hero of DreamLeague S21 is shaping up to be Vengeful Spirit. She got picked 20 times and has had a win rate of 55%. This hero can make a huge difference thanks to her Swap and expendability.

Venge doesn’t need to do much to be useful. Just live long enough to give your team a powerful damage aura, cast Wave of Terror to reduce attack damage and armor, and swap someone for an easy kill or a valuable save. If you can do that, your utility is already high and you don’t need expensive items to accomplish all of this.

In smoke scenarios, Venge can usually spot an enemy hero quickly and completely guarantee his death.

Apart from Venge, teams also picked Earthshaker (19 times), Earth Spirit (17), Shadow Demon (17), Nature’s Prophet (16), and Warlock (16). The top 6 most picked heroes of the tournament have been supports. That is a very rare occurrence and proves that the current meta revolves around the position 4 and 5 heroes.

Most banned heroes so far

The most banned heroes of the tournament have been Invoker (43), Brewmaster (42), Pangolier (39), Gyrocopter (35), and Sven (34). Of all these heroes, only Gyrocopter had an abysmal win rate when he got picked (33.3%). All of the rest proved how strong they are in the few matches in which someone managed to pick them.

In particular, Brewmaster had an 80% win rate in his 5 games, Pangolier had 62.5% in his 8 games, and Sven had 58.3% in his 12 games.

Earthshaker, despite being picked 19 times and banned 13 times, had a win rate of just 31.6%. This suggests that the hero either isn’t as strong as many teams believe or is quite challenging to play correctly.

Header: Valve