DreamLeague Season 25: Meta trends for patch 7.38

DreamLeague Season 25 gave us a glimpse at how the 7.38 meta is shaping up and which heroes could be the most overpowered.

Dota 2 patch Wandering Waters (7.38) was dropped mid tournament, just before the second group stage, forcing the teams to adapt quickly and use what seemed to be the most efficient. The pick and ban priority changed dramatically after the patch arrived, as some heroes got substantial changes in 7.38.

Enter the dragon(s)

Dragon Knight was already a part of meta, given his tankiness and late game potential. He was mostly played in the offlane before 7.38 and was picked 30 times and banned 17 times through the 112 games of Group Stage 1.

Coming into the second group stage with substantial buffs to his Fire Dragon facet, Dragon Knight became the first ban in all the games that followed at DreamLeague Season 25.

Another hero that registered a sudden rise is Jakiro, who, from being almost entirely neglected in the first group stage, became the most picked hero of the tournament overall. The two headed dragon sits at the top of the charts with 56 picks and 32 bans.

Both Dragon Knight and Jakiro got hit by the nerf hammer in the 7.38b balance patch, which was released right after DreamLeague S25 was over, but that doesn’t mean they will fade away immediately. For DK, the nerfs might just put him back in the offlane, instead of being extremely good in any core position.

Control and sustain

The 7.38 meta seems to be shaping around early team fights, where besides strong lockdowns and big AoE numbers, the teams also need good sustain, be it heals or auras. A support hero who can accelerate towards level 6 and can provide AoE damage and one of the best AoE slows in the game is Warlock. Hence his popularity at DreamLeague S25. Warlock sits second in the team’s preferences for support heroes with 54 picks and 44 bans.

Following his success in the tournament, Warlock received a nerf on his Black Grimoire facet and the XP per kill/assist was decreased from 250 to 200.

Among the most popular support heroes at DreamLeague Season 25 are Muerta, Bounty Hunter and Clockwerk.

For core roles, the most contested heroes are Tiny, who is the only hero to have the same 100% contest rate as Dragon Knight, followed by Abaddon, Ember Spirit, Lifestealer, Monkey King and Dark Seer.

A special mention should go to Marci, who was mostly paired with Io and played in the carry role for the insane healing output. It is important to note that all these heroes received slight nerfs after the tournament, but even so, they should still hold a spot in the meta for now.

DreamLeague Season 25 quick numbers

• Matches: 195
• Radiant wins: 113 (57.95%)
• Dire wins: 82 (42.05%)

Uncontested heroes: 10 (Ancient Apparition, Axe, Keeper of the Light, Lone Druid, Omniknight, Outworld Destroyer, Shadow Fiend, Treant Protector, Vengeful Spirit, Witch Doctor.)