Top 5 most picked heroes in Dota 2 WePlay AniMajor

As a competitive game, the meta in Dota 2 changes drastically from one patch to another. Every patch fine-tunes the balance to either buff underused heroes or items, nerf the overused, or even add or remove gameplay elements altogether.

The ‘meta’ way to play the game is thus utilizing the buffs specific to a patch. However, the high 7k MMR bracket and upwards is where heroes and items become trendy. Then, they trickle down to lower brackets as more and more people start picking up on these trends.

Professional scrims are where the magic happens, and Dota 2 has an extremely high skill ceiling. At the professional level, teams can deal with the known tricks in the book. Good pro teams thus thrive on innovating their own drafts.

In other words, what happens in the DPC basically sets the Dota 2 meta, including the ‘meta’ heroes.

Most popular hero picks in Dota 2 Weplay Animajor

1) Lion

Lion's E can force the target to back down, lest they lose all their mana (Image via Valve)

Lion is universally the highest-picked support. In fact, he is the second-highest picked Dota 2 hero of all time in pubs and Ranked alike. In some cases, it is about the elusive charm of his Finger of Death. Dota 2 players love their scaling nukes, having so few of them in the game.

However, the real reason Lion is indispensable is Hex. Short of a sheepstick, the only other hero with an insta-cast Hex is Shadow Shaman. This alone makes Lion a potent initiator on an escape hero.

Lion has been picked 63 times in the Dota 2 WePlay AniMajor with a 54% winrate.

2) Mars

Mars is naturally tanky thanks to his E (Image via Valve)

Mars has been a favorite first-pick for many teams in the last Major. This is also a trend seen in regional Dota 2 leagues in China, South America, and NA. Mars has not been significantly buffed of late. His value lies in his near-universal viability into almost any lineup. With the Dota 2 7.29 shard upgrades, Mars’ Q has also become a better initiation spell.

Mars has been picked 57 times in the Dota 2 WePlay AniMajor with a 46% winrate.

3) Dragon Knight

Dragon Knight is great for early tier-1s (Image via Valve)

The Dragon Knights fit the bill very well for a mid-game momentum draft. With his natural tankiness, he can come online early to siege towers or gank after a quick Blink Dagger. Although his lockdown is a single-target stun, it lasts for 3.75 seconds, which is nearly unmatched as a reliable stun in Dota 2.

Dragon Knight has been picked 44 times in the Dota 2 WePlay AniMajor with a 61% winrate.

4) Ancient Apparition

Appration's W grants vision (Image via Valve)

Other heroes on this list, especially Puck and Lion, were also highly coveted picks back in Dota 2 Singapore Major. But, if there is one highlighted support in the patch, it is the Ancient Apparition.

As an extremely squishy support who cannot offer a reliable lockdown, AA was never a first-class support. His meteoric rise, again, comes with the formation of a mid-game 5-man clump deathballing meta.

The very point of AA is Ice Blast, which was previously utilized purely to counter sustainable heroes - e.g., Alchemist or Morphling. But Ice Blast also doubles as a vision-granting massive AoE damage amp on a short cooldown. This can become an indispensable tool to turn around all the early teamfights.

Ancient Apparation has been picked 44 times in the Dota 2 WePlay AniMajor with a 55% winrate.

5) Puck

Puck is an escape hero (Image via Valve)

To witness the true strength of Puck, Dota 2 players need to watch "Abed" Azel L. Yusop dominate the midlane consistently throughout the Major. Puck took up one of the early ban slots so often in the DPC for a good reason.

If ahead in levels, Puck can be the most mobile menacing playmaker in Dota 2. A few minor nerfs in recent patches could never put Puck out of meta ever since they made the leash mechanic capable of countering all escape heroes.

Puck has been picked 38 times in the Dota 2 WePlay AniMajor with a 63% winrate.