Dota enthusiasts worldwide are still buzzing from the International’s aftermath. While teams and organizers recoup, let’s focus on the exceptional heroes from the event, offering insights for enhancing your pub plays.
Dazzle: The Support Powerhouse
Dazzle emerged as one of The International’s stars, gaining immense traction in pubs. Thanks to numerous Bad Juju buffs and an evolving playstyle, this hero now thrives in both support and utility core roles.
The utility core style showcases Dazzle’s oppressive nature. Armed with Cetro de Aghanim and Mano de Midas, this hero exhibits rapid farming, potentially dominating if unchecked. Although possessing Universal capabilities for late-game DPS, Dazzle’s vulnerability remains his Achilles’ heel. His significant contributions pivot around saves and crowd-control from Poison Touch rather than sheer damage.
When in a support role, Dazzle’s playstyle doesn’t differ vastly. However, acquiring Shallow Grave early becomes paramount. While Fragmento de Aghanim remains crucial, choosing Pipa de la Perspicacia over Grebas del Guardián seems more strategic, given Bad Juju’s non-compliance with the latter.
Chaos Knight: The Unparalleled Offense
Though occasionally shifted to offlane roles, Chaos Knight truly shines as a carry. His impressive 40% ultimate uptime facilitates farming and lane outpushing. While not a quintessential illusion hero, Chaos Knight accelerates adequately.
Combining robust laning, innate resilience, and exceptional late-game burst capabilities, he is currently a pub favorite. While slightly demanding in micro-management, his forgiving nature towards beginners is worth noting.
Spectre: The Pinnacle of Late-Game Dominance
Spectre, despite a passive laning phase, compensates with an overpowering early midgame and unmatched late-game escalation. Her progression typically entails Malla de Cuchillas followed by Resplandor, with Urna de las Sombras as a popular early acquisition.
Mastering Spectre doesn’t necessitate extraordinary skills. Given her current prowess, players need only exhibit decent map awareness to excel.
Ancient Apparition: The Challenging Savior
Despite being The International’s most consistent support, Ancient Apparition (AA) demands more finesse in pubs. With a requirement for precise Ice Blast landings and challenges against strong offlane pairs, AA’s best performances emerge when teamed with powerful safelane carriers like Chaos Knight.
AA’s item choices, like Daga de Traslación, sparked debates post-International. While Capa Fulgurante remains essential against formidable foes such as Spectre, Pavés‘ limited International appearance showcased a 100% win rate, positioning it as a potential choice.
Primal Beast: The Double-Edged Sword
With a whopping 4.3 strength growth per level, Primal Beast’s damage potential is undeniable. He excels in frontlining, initiation, bursting adversaries, and remains relevant late-game. His Cetro de Aghanim progression further solidifies his place by countering popular meta heroes.
However, Primal Beast’s effectiveness largely depends on opponents. He can easily counter meta champions like Spectre or Bristleback, yet in other matchups, his power might not shine as brightly.
The International 2023 has showcased an intriguing meta, presenting numerous heroes that can uplift your pub gameplay. As enthusiasts share their viewpoints on these top-tier champions, there’s no better time than now to experiment and elevate your Dota games.