In the comment section for our blog post about meta developments in the DotaPit Minor, we teased that we will be discussing the unpicked heroes of the patch. We had a short list of heroes who made no appearances throughout patch 7.21, over the course of three DPC events, but MDL Disneyland made this list even shorter.

From pubs to the ongoing Disneyland Major, Drow Ranger continues to find a place in the meta.

DotaPit Minor might have had a rather unconventional format, but it did provide us with a lot of stats to work with and a lot of high quality games for Tier 1—2 teams to practice and experiment in. It was an overall great experience for the viewers and a very healthy tournament for the developing regions and lesser known players.

Queen of Pain is starting to slowly creep into the meta. After receiving almost nothing but buffs for several patches in a row, she is now a decently popular and successful hero in high level pubs and a niche, yet effective pick in the professional scene.

ESL One Mumbai couldn’t boast having the best teams in the scene or the highest level of Dota. Keen Gaming aside, all teams at the tournament could be considered Tier 2 and below, but this also made stats from this tournament a lot more applicable to high level pubs.

When your teammates are omniscient bots, there’s no one to blame but yourself.

There is a misconception in our community about the purpose of OpenAI—many wrongly assume that it was created to play Dota. That isn’t the case. Dota is a testing ground for a team of talented developers, who want to gauge how well their algorithms can learn to solve problems. Turns out, they do it pretty damn well.

The current meta might be slower than a couple of patches ago, but it still rewards proactive play. While many farm-oriented carry heroes are viable and can work really well in certain games, the majority of top tier carries are capable of mid-game pressure, with going late being the plan B.

Familiar faces round out this meta's top performing midlaners.

The offlane meta is returning back to its glory days, at least in a sizable percentage of games. Professional teams and individual players are typically looking for an offlaner that offers both good utility and damage, while being relatively gold and experience independent, or capable of securing his own farm early on.