Patch 7.38 early hero trends for carry players

Patch 7.38, Wandering Waters is already a week old and despite not bringing a ton of hero changes, some have received significant buffs to propel them to the top of preferences in both competitive and casual games.

Wandering Waters changed the game through its map update, objectives adjustments, changes to items and hero tweaks. While some may complain that the patch hasn’t brought substantial hero changes, there are plenty that had their facets and/or their abilities tweaked enough to become flavour of the week.

Top 3 carry heroes

Dragon Knight

A strong hero even before the patch, Dragon Knight is shaping to be the biggest winner of the Wandering Waters update. The reworked Fire Dragon facet pushed him in second place in popularity through all the MMR brackets with a 54% win rate. It’s also his versatility that makes DK a viable pick in public matchmaking, as he is still a very strong offlane, mid or carry hero.

Lifestealer

Despite the nerf to Lifesteal mechanic, Lifestealer is the top pick in most of the brackets and it’s also one of the most picked carry heroes at the ongoing DreamLeague Season 25.

A week after the patch was released, Naix sits in the public matchmaking at the very top of carry preferences with a 56% win rate. He is also a top pick in the pro scene, boasting a 64% win rate from 11 matches he's been picked during the second group stage at DreamLeague Season 25. It’s the Flesh Feast new facet, which resets the Open Wounds cooldown if a hero dies under its effect, that makes Naix an absolute beast.

Common builds for Lifestealer still rely on key items such as an early Radiance, Armlet or Sange and Yasha. After these, the nature of the game would dictate what items are needed, but a Basher is never outdated on the hero, followed by Abyssal, Assault Cuirass, etc.

Wraith King

Wraith King is one of the heroes that haven’t changed much in the new patch, and perhaps that’s one of the big reasons people still prefer to play him in pubs. He is sitting on a 54% win rate and the item builds are pretty much the same as before the Wandering Waters gameplay update.

Special mentions

Marci

Although she is not yet taking the pubs by storm, Marci received a handful of changes from facets to abilities. The Bodyguard change makes her even a more reliable carry now, and the Io-Marci combo is becoming quite popular in the professional scene. She’s been picked 16 times already at DreamLeague, but boasts just 7 wins so far.

Broodmother

While we are still pretty early on in the new patch, be weary of the Broodmother. She is back to being an Agility hero with increased base damage, attack speed, and armour.

One player in particular is making a strong case these days at DreamLeague for why the pesky spider should be played in the carry role instead of mid or offlane. PARIVISION’s Alan "Satanic" Gallyamov is undefeated on the hero in the second group stage and might also set a trend for the pubs with his success.