Aghanim’s Shards are not created equal. Some of them are so niche, they can be safely ignored, while others now define the hero they are built on. Today we want to have a look at the most popular Shards in the pub scene and discuss whether they are really worth it.

Arc Warden is a 53%+ win rate hero in all skill brackets this week, maintaining a relatively high popularity. In brackets below Divine his win rate is actually closer to 57% and while it is no secret that Arc Warden is one of the most popular smurf heroes, we believe that he might actually be overpowered. Today we want to discuss why exactly.

Looking at high level pub trends this week, we noticed how Spectre is slowly creeping into the meta. It doesn’t look like an easy process and neither does it feel like a good idea to recommend the hero for regular pub players right now, but we are certain the hero is one minor buff away from being very powerful. Today, we will attempt to prepare our readers for this potential development.

For a very long time the meta was dominated by ganking and aggressive supports. Position five Rubick was normal, Lion was the most popular support hero in the game and sometimes even Tidehunter was played as a five. With the last patch things changed a bit, though, and right now a completely different type of hero is statistically on top.

There is a common misconception about Viper being weak past the laning stage. He is seen as a lane dominating hero that falls off a cliff as early as midgame. That is not necessarily true anymore. Today we want to share how professional players squeeze the maximum out of this both venomous and poisonous menace.

The introduction of Marci to CM gave us a very good idea of how to play the hero most effectively and how powerful she can be if played well. Strong repositioning tools and excellent mobility make for a very powerful support in the current meta of independent cores and today we want to discuss how to tap into this potential.

We don’t know the release date of the next update, so it might be a good idea to have another look at the current meta and maybe find some hidden gems. Even with the patch being quite old, we believe there are still some heroes who are underexplored and undervalued, while not being too complex to utilize effectively. These are the heroes we want to concentrate on today.

If Valve’s unique seasonal game modes are interesting to you then you should take a look at the expansive world of Arcade Games! Arcade games are a largely forgotten part of Dota, similar to the days of one courier and the side shop, however, they still have a diverse set of games with a niche but thriving community. In this article, I’d like to highlight the most promising Arcade games.

The new patch didn’t change a whole lot about the game, but there are still several noteworthy trends to discuss. Part of it is direct buff and nerfs some heroes received, and part of it is players still finding new ways to play the game. The changes are relatively small, but they did make sure several unexpected heroes are now significantly more viable.