Hero Dota 2 will return to meta: SVEN

The top carry heroes in the TI10 regional qualifiers are: Terrorblade, Luna, Templar Assassin (mid and carry), Specter, Medusa. These heroes all have the common characteristic that they like to enter the jungle quickly through Ancient, stack camp as well as owning the available farming mechanism. Another hero worth mentioning is Ax. Even though Ax has a low win rate, he still enters the 7.29 meta in the carry position and Ax has the same gameplay as the heroes mentioned above.

However, a hero that is considered a farm is not mentioned in the list above.

Just a while ago, Sven was the boss of almost every Dota, pub and pro game. Great farming speed, huge damage and high mobility thanks to the green stick make Sven a big obsession in the game. After months of domination, IceFrog took “Storm Hammer Dispels” from talent to Aghanim’s Shard. Patch 7.28 also removed the blue staff’s ability to self-hit when stun as well as several other minor nerfs.

Obviously, Sven’s inability to slaughter every other hero at level 15 is a big loss. Sven’s win and pick rate dropped significantly, while the hero was almost completely lost in the game. It seems that Sven is influenced by the “meta-depressed” mindset. This hero is so popular that everyone is sick of it and when there is a reason to change, everyone agrees completely. The truth is that Sven can still do what he used to, but it’s not as powerful as before. Specifically, the author believes that Sven will be a perfect fit for the current Dota carry meta.

First, let’s look at the TI region qualifier carries. Because of these carries, jungle stacks play a big role in the early game for supports. The carry being bullied early in the lane and then going to the jungle for 5-10 minutes to recover networth happens as usual. Specter, Medusa and Terrorblade like to let the other team members control the tempo while betting on themselves towards the end of the game. Meanwhile, Ax, Luna and TA are strong in the mid game with huge networth later on. Sven farm is as fast as Ax/Luna/TA and usually outcarry Specter/Medusa/Terrorrblade if he has the right item. Medusa is probably the best late game opponent to handle Sven in the current meta, but in reality Medusa rarely catches up with Sven’s farming progress. Templar Assassin is equally difficult but will often be banned in games for being too strong.

Next, let’s talk about item. The most popular early game items for carry currently are Mask of Madness, Echo Saber, Sange and Yasha, Dragon Lance and Manta Style. With the exception of Dragon Lance and Manta, the above items are all ideal for Sven to buy. After acquiring Black King Bar, the trend towards late game items for carry is Daedalus, Satanic, Eye of Skadi and Swift Blink. As above, nearly all of these items are suitable for Sven carry, especially Satanic now adds basic dispel when activated.

Speaking of dispel, the second Roshan becomes an important moment in Dota because Aghanim’s Shard will drop from Roshan. Few Aghanim’s Shard is better than Sven’s Storm Hammer dispel, not to mention it reduces skill cooldown to 8 seconds. The green is no longer preferred due to the nerf, but it still comes in handy depending on the situation – Blink Dagger can replace the green for half the price.

Whenever we try to evaluate a strong hero or not, we need to consider the current meta heroes. At high pub ranks, heroes like Broodmother and Phantom Lancer are on the rise. Other popular picks include Luna, Leshrac and pretty much every support that relies on magic damage, keeping your distance to stay alive. Once you get to Blink Dagger and Black King Bar at the right time, nothing can stop Sven. Even so, Sven is not without its weaknesses.

Winter Wyvern (12% pick rate) and Timbersaw (8% pick rate) are Sven’s concerns. Sven is also badly hit against a number of other popular carry heroes without the early game advantage. A lot of late game carry tanks like Medusa, Terrorblade, and Specter can overtake Sven if the match gets longer and longer. Sven’s talent is also not really strong.

Despite some weaknesses, Sven is still a hero that should not be ignored. IceFrog started buffing Sven again in patch 7.29 and the new patch will probably make the hero better, increasing his chances of getting into the meta. The signal of Sven’s revival is present in the playing history of the recent top 5 professional MMR players in China and Europe. Maybe now is the time to consider picking Sven again?

According to dotabuff

You can read more articles on the same Dota 2 topic below: