Stormstormer talks TI 2025 format, storylines, and Helm of the Dominator meta
RDY GG had the chance to sit and talk with Daniel "Stormstormer" Schoetzau at The International 2025 and pick his brain on the Helm of the Dominator meta, how it started, and how it could be stopped.
We also discussed with him the biggest storylines going into the TI 2025 playoffs and which are his favorite teams to watch this year, in the Barclays Arena.
Hi Daniel, are you one of the 0.02% people getting the group stage predictions right?
I got 2 out of 16 right or something like that. I was so far off. No, I was nowhere close. I don't know who was able to make those predictions right, not me.
It's the first year that the TI groups stage was played in a Swiss system. Was the format one of the main factors for the upsets we witnessed?
Yeah, for sure, and I think it brings more excitement in comparison to last year. All previous TIs, the group stage was only there for seeding, whether you're in the upper or a lower bracket, and it wasn't really exciting to watch or play, I think. But now in the Swiss stage, every single game is at high stakes. Everybody is more careful. Everybody knows every single game matters, right? You can't just blunder your first series and then still be top of the group; it doesn't work like that.
And also, on top of that, half of the teams get eliminated. It's much more than in previous years. In the past, it was like maybe four teams or something, or one per group. And now, only 50% make it through to the playoffs.
Secondly, I would say that the fact that they removed all the tracking systems like Dota Pro Tracker and other websites, made the Swiss stage much more interesting because people could come in with new ideas. Like, for example, Invoker with Helm of the Dominator.
Helm of the Dominator meta at TI 2025
Ok, so would you say that this Helm of the Dominator madness that we witnessed in the group stage could actually be a pocket strategy that somebody revealed quite close to TI, and this is how we end up here?
Yeah, I would say so. I mean, we saw some pros doing it. I think the first one that I noticed was Yatoro. He did it on Faceless Void, and I don't know if that was an official actually, but I think that people were not as aware simply because you can't just Google Dota Pro Tracker and check if, let's say, BZM is buying Helm of the Dominator every single Invoker game, right? And people got caught off guard because of it.
What kind of nerfs HotD needs for this meta to disappear?
I see multiple things. For example, they could give the item a mana cost. I think that would already be huge, because right now you can buy it on any hero, even heroes who usually struggle with mana. Imagine if Faceless Void needed to conserve 75 or 100 mana for it, then the item would already become less attractive. Because what you want to eliminate is that everybody buys this item right now, which is too universal, too, too good. Another idea I could also see is to give more punishment if the creep dies. For example, you can make it so that when the creep dies, the item goes on cooldown, similar to how Arc Warden is right now. Let's say, if you give it a 45 second cool down if the creep dies, because right now, what most people do is to take another creep just before the one you have dies. And that is like one of the biggest abuses.
So, you could make it that, first of all, if the creep dies, the item goes on cooldown. Or also that while the creep takes damage, you cannot take a new creep.
Ok, with that being said, we go into the playoffs with these insanely long games we had in the groups, with each team building multiple Doms. Do you think there is room for a possible new meta to emerge in the playoffs?
I think people will definitely try to find solutions during this three-day break, try to come up with something, at least things that are good against Dom, that can be other items, new heroes, etc. Maybe just simply map movement. So, there will be some shifts about this, I'm 100% sure, and adaptation, but it will be only at the end of the tournament, when we will truly see if those solutions or those answers really work.
TI 2025 storylines
Probably one of the biggest stories of this Swiss group stage was the two Chinese teams, Xtreme and Tidebound, making such a dominant run. Did you foresee this happening?
It was a big surprise, absolutely. I think they gave a little bit of a better showing because there was one tournament in China before TI, where they won. So they already showed that there's some strength in these teams, in this region, that they are not completely out yet, but I think nobody could have guessed that they're going to show up like this. I mean, this has not happened for the last four TIs.
And in terms of storylines, because we have quite a few of them happening, which is the most interesting to you?
I absolutely love watching HEROIC play. They made a huge recovery, and they also play really fast and have unique heroes. The next team that will probably be up on the list is Nigma because it's nice to see Kuroki back at TI, honestly.
Let's be fair, most people out there, they counted this organization already out. And now they've obviously proved that they can beat the big names. So, for me, it will be those two teams.
I think there are a lot of people who agree with you. Thank you for talking to us, Stormstormer, and I hope we get to talk to you at the next TI, but from a player position.
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