Dota 2: 5 Heroes to play in patch 7.22G

Dota 2 is a game that involves constant changes as the developers roll out a new patch frequently and quite often, the patches change the game's features, impacting the heroes. The frequent patches and changing meta makes it difficult to keep playing the same hero for a long time.

After the end of TI9, Valve's first patch to balance heroes is 7.22G where multiple items and heroes have been changed. A lot of over-powered heroes like Tiny and carry IO talents have been nerfed and some of the low pick-rate heroes have been buffed significantly.

Upon quite a bit of research, a list of the best heroes has been made which consists of a mix of all positions and not particularly in order of their effectiveness. Honourable mentions to some heroes who didn't make this list are Windranger, Clinkz, Pudge, Underlord and Mirana.

On that note, here is a list of all the top five heroes one can play in the new update.

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#5 Night Stalker

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Night Stalker was a pretty strong hero in the last few patches. However, his recent buff in the 7.22G patch boosted the hero’s pick rate and win rate. Now that Night Stalker’s void does full damage during daytime, an Aghanim’s Scepter pick up on this hero makes a lot more sense. Scepter grants NS the ability to cast Void in an AoE, it also reduces the cooldown, helps him farm and increases the mini-stun duration.

Night Stalker is a very tanky hero in general and he can survive early ganks and inflict tons of damage at the night time. He disrupts the enemy farm and gives them limited vision, choking them out of the map. In solo queue, it is important to keep pressurizing the enemy carry and make space for your cores to win games.

#4 Keeper Of The Light

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Keeper is a hero who hardly features on top meta hero lists. The hero was generally good but never a game-changer until the recent patch. After the 7.22G patch, KOTL got a significant reduction in cooldown of the Blinding Light ability. Now, the hero can keep spamming Blinding Light in the laning phase, making it extremely difficult for enemy heroes to last hit because of the miss chances.

Apart from Blinding Light, a few other buffs were also made to suit the hero like increasing the Chakra Magic Mana Leak and a +3 buff of the level 25 talent of two Will-o-Wisp Flicker. KOTL should be played as fifth position support with an early Ring of Basilius and Tranquil Boots. Later, the hero can get utility items like Force-Staff and Eul Scepter.

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#3 Skywrath Mage

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Skywrath is one of the most annoying heroes in the game. He has low cooldown skills which are high damage nukes and are hard to deal with early in the game. Apart from a few heroes like Silencer and Huskar, Sky can get a huge mid advantage against a lot of heroes. The hero was not buffed in this patch but is good at solo killing and forcing TPs in the lane, which makes him extremely viable in the current meta.

#2 Puck

Image Courtesy: Dota 2 Wiki

Puck has been buffed constantly from a few patches now and the 7.22G patch was no different. The hero received a major change to its Phase Shift ability which enables it to Phase even when rooted. This is a huge buff to the hero and can make Puck a highly elusive character, apart from having received an agility gain buff which makes it even stronger.

Although Puck is played with a nuke build in mind, there is another way of playing the hero now. The +90 damage talent opens up a window to play Puck in a right-click hybrid build, where the hero has the potential to do both magic and physical damage to enemy heroes.

Starting items like two Nulls a Bottle and Power Treads are great but later, one can get a Midas and get tons of quick XP to level 15. Late game items can include a Sheep-Stick, Scepter as they combine well with level 25 talent of Rapid-Fire to dish out heavy damage.

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#1 Abaddon

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Abaddon might not be the fanciest hero in the game but he is more than viable in the current meta. The hero has his third skill Curse of Avernus, which is one of the best laning abilities in the game and no hero can trade well with Abaddon because of this passive skill.

He also has his second skill which offers the hero and allies good sustainability. Lastly, Abaddon can deny himself with his first skill in the early game laning stage and can keep punishing the enemy heroes without dying to them.

Some good item choices include Vladmir's Offering, Blade Mail, Radiance and Solar Crest. Abaddon is one of the best offlaners in the game and can be extremely frustrating for the enemy team when paired rightly with other heroes like Tiny and Undying.