Dota 2: The carry heroes of patch 7.20

Finally, we will focus on the most popular and stable carry heroes of the 7.20 meta. These are the names that are most present in pubs and are the heroes we must always be ready to face.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_tvd6tvkr8

Anti-Mage made a strong comeback in the meta even before 7.20 plus the buffs he received after that. Couterspell is a very powerful move for this hero to escape – there’s not much nerf on the hero, other than the 5% loss in magic resistance.

This makes Anti-Mage better in the hands of experienced gamers. Before that, good Anti-Mage players needed to have a good understanding of the lane structure as well as a great map feel, so that they could exploit the hero’s versatility, outplay their enemies and win the game by owning lots of items and more levels.

Currently, Anti-Mage can be played more actively, especially when the opponent can’t stun continuously on this hero.

Probably the most dominant hero in this patch, depending on your MMR. Phantom Assassin and Magnus are combos that are easy to deploy and extremely effective.

After being repeatedly nerfed, the community is debating when Phantom Assassin will be able to campaign on her own, without Magnus’ support. Empower helps this hero a lot, increasing his farm speed, allowing him to skip Battlefury and go straight to items that control the tempo of the game, while increasing hero damage by a lot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0PWUoDrp1E

According to the stats, Phantom Assassin can only be effective when Magnus is present in the team, especially after the recent nerfs. Hero currently has a 50% win rate and we can assume that PA’s win rate will be higher when playing with Magnus. This also means that PA’s win rate without Magnus is less than 50% – not a huge difference, but it means PA won’t be as strong as in some games.

Phantom Assassin is a hero that controls the tempo of the game and is extremely weak without a good start. Going to Battlefury increases farming speed a lot and is often considered a necessary item when Magnus is not in the squad, but the Desolator item is forced to delay. Without this armor reduction item, Phantom Assassin must go to Phantom Brawler (buffalo) and of course Phantom Brawler does not have the breakthrough power above. If you see PA going up to Battlefury, put pressure on the hero right from the start and play as aggressively as you can – you don’t want to face PA when you’re fully geared.

The Strong Dispel and Hex rework has brought Slark back into the meta – again, if played properly, Slark can be the hardest hero to catch in the game.

After being nerfed in a row, Slark is fine now – the hero is neither too strong nor too weak, and is picked frequently in the game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpB_KSDpSBg

Perhaps, the biggest change with Slark is not in the balance patch but in the way we play the game. Slark is still pretty weak in the laning phase, so both pro and high-level pub teams find more success playing the Slark trilane. Specifically, the importance of stealing Agility permanently – the first few kills in the game will make the hero more aggressive, increasing damage and survivability.

Probably one of the least interesting heroes on this list, yet Juggernaut is still the most stable and successful hero. Can “go to war” from the very beginning of the game and good flexibility to allow the player to deal with any situation.

Juggernaut is a threat in lane, even if it’s 2v2. This hero doesn’t necessarily kill a lot of heroes or play overwhelmingly, but Juggernaut doesn’t completely rely on supports for lane control, can still farm well and level up well. With a good start, Juggernaut can completely solo in lane. Support does not need to protect this carry in the early game.

Later in the game, his ultimate was reworked, making Juggernaut a bigger threat than before. Juggernaut can still be considered core tempo right now, but as long as he’s farmed enough, his ultimate is now more influential. 3.5 seconds DPS uninterrupted. Thanks to this ultimate, Juggernaut is still useful at all times of the game even though he is the hero that shines most in the mid game, it’s not too difficult if the game enters the late stages – make sure the items are up and winning. The team’s technique supports this.

Faceless Void has a win rate of about 50% in the game from Divine rank and above. The new Time Lock is sometimes frustrating for drivers, but for those who know how to play, they will always find a way to exploit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k45nsMfUys8

The laning phase will probably be affected by the “luck” factor the most – sometimes Time Lock three times in a row, sometimes hitting the 5/6th hit and still not bashing. However, in general, Time Lock should not be considered an important factor for Faceless Void to decide whether to finish the enemy or not.

In the later stages of the game, Faceless Void is still one of the carries with the most potential, combining items and dealing high damage. Void doesn’t kill heroes as quickly as Phantom Assassin, but can set up teamfights and allow for easy capture of enemy cores.

One common thing in this list of all heroes is that melee and Monkey King are definitely among the best carries to go up against melee. Heroes are often picked to control the lane and make sure to always play hand-to-hand with the opponent. MK can harass opponents, have a good last hit and kill ability right from level 2. Monkey King can stay long and turn anti-carry, thanks to his high flexibility and tremendous early game strength.

Despite being very popular and possessing these powers, Monkey King is still a “losing” hero, with a win rate of just over 45%. Winning lanes isn’t as important in the current patch as it was before, and a trilane with two ranged heroes can completely nullify MK in lane.

In addition, many people often mistake MK for a hard carry – Money King is difficult to become a hard carry at the end of the game. Hero doesn’t deal as much damage as Phantom Assassin or Juggernaut and is not as useful as Faceless Void.

Let’s take a look at professional matches, strong teams often play Monkey King as off-core. They won the lane, farmed some items and started roaming the map with their skill sets, pushing lanes, killing weak supports and creating space and gathering information for the team’s core.

This space allows teams with Monkey King to start ending the game early, and the Wuking’s command usually serves not to cause DPS, but to isolate an area. With Strength and the extra armor from Wukong’s Command, MK can take the lead allowing you to push the highground early in the game.

EPILOGUE

The carry Melee Agility currently dominates in Dota. Many heroes have strong buffs, but the reason for this is in the Wraith Band.

The carry wants to farm fast and deal a lot of damage. In the current meta, they want to join the fight as soon as possible. Wraith Band is the only early game item that satisfies both of the above, increasing farm speed with agility and attack speed, allowing heroes to enter battle earlier with higher HP.

This is not necessarily a bad thing, and we believe that the teams will soon have the answers to overcome them. But in the current carry meta, things are still changing, especially in the top matches.

According to Dotabuff