Top Tier Carry of the Current Meta – DOTABUFF

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Last time we discussed Juggernaut — one of the most popular carry heroes in this patch and one of the least successful. While we’re in no way telling readers what heroes to play with, it’s abundantly clear that some heroes do better than others in the current patch. Today we’re going to talk about the carry heroes that work and deserve more attention, if you want to win.

This aquatic duo was combined together for a reason. Despite having very different fighting styles, their general strategic approach is very similar. As both Dragon and Medusa, you want to stay in your lane as long as the enemies will let you and then set off on a jungle flash farm. The timing of the items that these heroes can achieve is truly unparalleled.

We also found playing Medusa much easier. Your job is to get big enough not to explode at the start of a fight, which is trivial with the new Mana Shield. You also want to be a big enough threat to be completely non-ignorable, which, again, is trivial simply because Medusa farms so fast. At an average game level, you don’t even have to make the smartest item choices — you’ll likely be an item or two ahead, and could make a few mistakes.

Manta Style is often the only mandatory first choice after acquiring one Power Site. You can then go for Eye of Skadi in most games, or for Butterflies when playing against Anti-Mage or purchasing heroes Diffusion Knife. Later progression involves getting more damage Daedalus, or even more utility and tankiness Scythe of Vyse.

Dragons are significantly more difficult to play and will involve several micro levels. Even getting to the farm is a bit more difficult, as you need to separate your illusions and control the partners individually. That said, we feel Naga is a stronger hero after Medusa’s recent nerf.

He is much more mobile. Even his initial movement speed was higher than Medusa’s Speed ​​Shoes. He has potentially a higher single hero DPS output, when focusing with his illusions on priority targets. He also has more options when it comes to the macro side of things, being able to play Dota split-push and delay games when necessary.

There’s a reason why Dragon has a higher 25+ win rate than Medusa, but tapping into her full potential will definitely take some practice. And while the details are relatively straight forward, there are some interesting nuances that you can check out via our guide page. For example, early Radiance that you will disassemble later Butterflies and Nullifiers are worth considering in some games.

Keeping with the aquatic theme: Slark is another lane dominator having fun in the current patch. He can get much stronger during the laning stage, depending on the fight, but he also requires a lot more involvement from the player to be effective. Without the flash-farming ability, Slark has to balance against enemy heroes and his playing style is very unique.

He’s the in-and-out type of hero, who can’t really commit to a fight, but also can’t wait for the right moment to jump in and make the biggest impact. He had to jump in, get some hits, get the enemy’s attention, cast a few spells, and then head out to regen. Repeat this as long as necessary, make sure your team doesn’t suffer too much, and you’ll be successful as Slark.

Returning to the previous paragraph — Sven is the definition of a hero who must wait for the right moment to jump in and make the biggest impact. Coincidentally, knowledge-wise he’s also half Meranth, so we’re still discussing the aquatic hero. Not necessarily the most important point, but The International 2017 is blue and water-themed, while TI 2016 is red, just like TI 2022. TI’s color scheme is on a five-year rotation, and TI 2023 is again expected to be ocean-colored, so maybe this meta pattern is intentional, who knows?

However, when it comes to Sven, there isn’t much to discuss. He is a very direct flash-farming hero who rarely loses his way and can easily create conditions where he is in front of the enemy.

In the last big patch he also received a massive buff Harpoon, which means he now has two ways to reach his target. Blink-in, get a double hit, kill support, turn to the next target in battle with the help of Draw Forth (Harpoon Active) and kill them too. The hero becomes more difficult for the kite and the kite is the biggest problem that the hero faced before.

This is an impossible hero for kite and a hero who, with the help of some people Changes to Aghanim’s Sceptre, now it can be very tanky, while producing impressive late-game DPS. Everyone knows it’s Bloodseeker Shard Aghanim makes it even better Lifestealer in the late game, but the hero was finally able to flex it into other carries pretty early on.

Defaults Vortex for farming, to The Black King Bar for fighting is still there. However, after these two items, more and more players are opting for the Aghanim Scepter, which can quickly increase a hero’s potential HP from ~2.2k to ~3.3k. In addition, the barrier that Bloodseeker gains does not give the enemy any lifesteal opportunities, while Bloodseeker’s own pseudo-lifesteal from the Shard not only deals pure damage, but also ignores enemy barriers, if any.

The end result is a hero that should no longer be classified as a “tempo carry”. Bloodseeker can be late and he can even fight multiple illusions like a hard carry terror knife, Lancer Ghost and Dragon Sirens. His Blood Mist could potentially make him even better Leshrac or Pudge and it solves this illusion problem. While the single target damage output is high simply because it is pure and percentage based.

He’s countered with BKB’s fine timing and the hero can feel pretty slippery early in a fight, but if he’s allowed to get easy targets and snowballs out of him, he’s terrifying.

What do you think of the current meta carry? Do you agree with our choice of S-Tier of carry? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.