Balancing a game with as many moving pieces as Dota has always been a difficult task. There are always heroes who come out of patches much more powerful than most and others that fall behind. By now we are probably familiar with most of the strong heroes after seeing them in every pro tournament as well as our pub games. Here are four heroes that fall on the other end of the spectrum and desperately need some buffs to become relevant again.

Once again, we are diving deep into the mechanics and theory of Dota. Last week we touched on the subject of Attack Speed and how it affects DPS and today we would like to expand on this topic.

Habitual knowledge can be a good thing but in a game that changes as often as Dota does, there are a lot of outdated concepts still being followed. Let’s talk about a few of these old habits that might help us avoid becoming one of those old guys in a rocking chair shouting, “Get out of my lane, ya young whippersnapper!”

Phantom Assassin and Juggernaut are two of the most iconic carry heroes in Dota 2. They have been in the game for a very long time, and the latter is often recommended to newer players as the first carry to learn. However, both heroes are currently underperforming in the highest level bracket, and we would like to discuss the reasons behind that.

For most Dota 2 players, the mention of Tinker’s name usually brings memories of getting bursted by this annoying hero that could never be caught, as he blinks around and refreshes his cooldowns every second. However, the past year has seen Tinker decline in popularity and win rate. Today we are going to discuss why exactly this once fearsome hero is out of meta.

Identifying top tier mids in the current professional meta is no easy task. Looking at stats from professional games in the current patch, it is clear that many popular picks are heavily underperforming, while more niche ones reign supreme. Today, we are going to concentrate on the latter category: heroes who might not be picked in the first phase in every game, but who have a decidedly above average win rate and popularity.

Heroes get most of the attention when patches hit and the meta trends usually follow those buffs and nerfs. Overpowered heroes can be banned however and so it is item changes that usually shape the overall meta due to their consistent presence in every game. Over the last year, reworked items like Monkey King Bar and Abyssal Blade have surged in popularity while formerly popular options fell out of favor. In this article, we are going to explore some of the most overrated items in the game and why these popular purchases are often a huge waste of your precious gold.

The amount of viable carry heroes is great in the current patch, but there are definitely the ones that stand out above the rest. Today, we are going to look at carries who overperformed in the professional scene.

The way that Dota is being played right now requires 2 players in their individual side lanes to work together in order to come out ahead. One of the best ways to gain an advantage in lane is understanding how to manipulate waves through pulling creeps. Today, we discuss pulling to manage to the lane.