Patch 7.24b came exactly a month after the initial 7.24. While it’s been less than a week since the minor update’s release the meta hasn’t changed a lot.
Here’s our list with the top picks for each role.
Hard Support
Snapfire – Despite receiving only nerfs in recent patches, granny is still a good choice. Offering a good mix of offense and defense she can handle herself on the lane and her ultimate can be a game-changer.
Lich – Much like Snapfire, Lich can deal some damage while keeping teammates alive thanks to slows and frost shield. If the game goes late, Aghanim’s Scepter makes Sinister Gaze an area of effect (aoe) ability and could serve as a mini-Black Hole.
Winter Wyvern – Wyvern also combines offense and defense in her kit and is one of the more annoying opponents to lane against. Her ultimate is still one of the best in the game, allowing you to essentially turn any fight into a 5v4 in your favor.
Support
Nyx Assassin – Another hero who received recent nerfs. Nyx has two aoe stuns, one of which can counter Snapfire’s ultimate. His mana burn destroys high intelligence heroes like Invoker, Outworld Devourer or Pugna. Last but not least his ultimate deals pure damage, making it easy to burst high armor targets. Additionally, it applies a break, making the likes of Hukar who rely on a passive, an easy kill.
Rubick – In theory, the Grand Magus can have almost every spell in the game. This makes him especially useful when it comes to crowd control, mainly thanks to Arcane Supremacy. The ability is essentially better than a free Kaya and a Timeless Relic and that’s just Level 1 of it. With a built-in almost 3-second stun it’s easy to combo with any stolen spell. His Fade Bolt is good early on, as it allows him to secure the ranged creep and trade efficiently with enemies.
Notable mentions – Winter Wyvern, Puck, Earthshaker. All three have potentially game-changing ultimates and the first two don’t even require a Blink Dagger to be effective.
Offlane
Slardar – Once again, despite getting nerfed the hero is still a viable pick, just not in every game. His only newfound weakness might prove to be the added mana cost to Guardian Sprint, but in most cases, a simple magic stick will resolve the problem.
Puck – A good option for both offlane or position 4, Puck’s kit is still the same - two ways to disjoint projectiles, an aoe silence, low cooldown aoe leash and a way to move through the high and low ground. With options like these, you can see why the Faerie Dragon is still popular.
Night Stalker – After a couple of buffs, Night Stalker is back to being an actual hero even during the day. At night his aoe silence destroys most heroes in the early game, while the bonus unobstructed vision granted by his ultimate remains useful in any state of the match.
Middle Lane
The list of viable heroes in the mid lane is much bigger than any other, due to it being mainly 1 vs. 1. It’s also the most skill dependent, so even in unfavourable odds, experienced players can often beat their counters. With that out, some are much better than others and can recover even in a bad game.Templar Assassin – Even when not able to remain on the lane due to a counter being present, TA can always go jungle and make up for it by still hitting her item timings.
Shadow Fiend – Learning how to use Raze properly coupled with Mangos makes almost every match up easy. Best case scenario you get some kills and demoralize your opponents. Worst case you push out every wave and jungle while waiting for the next one.
Void Spirit – With Void Spirit all you need to do is hit Level 6, before starting your murder streak. Having access to more than one escape mechanism the hero is tough to gank early on and his only weakness seems to be magical damage.
Cheese picks, these heroes are well-known to most players and just as strong as ever when having the last say – Meepo, Broodmother, Huskar.
Safe Lane
Juggernaut – The masked samurai returned to active play in the last few patches after receiving a few vital buffs to his movement speed and damage. Not a whole lot else has changed for Juggernaut, but in the current meta fighting early is often necessary and he can excel at that.
Troll Warlord – Troll can fight early with Diffusal Blade or go for more of a late-game focus with a Battlefury. His ultimate makes him a threat once he reaches level 6 and his low cooldown spells make it easy to harass enemies.
Razor – Perhaps not the traditional choice for a carry, Razor can dominate his lane and snowball out of control. With his ultimate now passively doing damage to anyone around him farming is no longer that much of an issue. His power spike comes in the mid-game and he tends to fall off late, but matches usually don’t last that long.
Patch 7.24b is still in its early stage and a new meta can still arise especially with the StarLadder ImbaTV Dota 2 Minor coming up later this week.
