Pub Tier List 6.80
Disclaimer: As previously mentioned, we've assembled this list largely from win rates in public games. It may be different in many ways to professional play, but it offers insight on why certain heroes have a distinct impact in pubs.
Another patch, another tier list! Two weeks should be enough to start analyzing the changes 6.80 have introduced to the Pub Meta. This time we will also try to see how certain balance changes affect the win rates of the heroes, comparing them to the 6.79 era.
Tier 1: Pub Stompers (56%+)
Wraith King
Abaddon
LichNot a lot of change in the 56%+ win rate club. Abaddon and Wraith King still reign in pubs with their very stubborn skill set of not dying. With a buff to the slow duration/impact by 25% on 
Reincarnation, we see Wraith King can still hold his throne as the king of pub carries.
Lich we expect will continue to be a mainstay due to a combination of 
Chain Frost, the ignorance of pub players, and the basic nature of his play. It's understandable why he's commonly recommended for newer players.
Tier 2: Pub Winners (52%-56%)
Warlock 
Vengeful Spirit 
Omniknight 
Dazzle 
Witch Doctor 
Crystal Maiden 
Disruptor 
Venomancer 
Silencer 
Treant Protector 
Tidehunter 
Shadow Shaman 
Viper 
Mirana 
Bloodseeker 
Necrophos 
Death Prophet 
Lycan 
Centaur Warrunner 
Axe 
Slardar 
Drow Ranger 
Zeus 
Spectre 
Ursa 
Luna 
Sven 
Riki
Death Prophet's 15% increase in cooldown for 
Exorcism might have had a larger impact than we initially assumed in our 6.80 preview, dropping her from Tier 1.
We understand that roles in Dota are not defined easily, but it is worth mentioning that the list of Pub Winners consists mostly of support heroes.
Axe: First honorable mention is Axe, now boasting a ~52% Win Rate, compared to ~48.5% in the previous patch, jumping him from Tier 4 to Tier 2. List of changes? A slight increase to the disable duration from the 
Berserker's Call and 1 HP regeneration increase. Definitely not enough to create a 4% change on its own.
One of the possible explanations can be an increase in interest for Dazzle and release of Terrorblade. In fact, among all his matchups, Axe has the largest advantage versus Terrorblade. Since Axe is great at countering both, not only did his win rate rise, but also his popularity, possibly among the higher-level players.
Venomancer: He used to be a Tier 1 material with the highest Hero Damage/Minute and almost 56% Win Rate, but the nerfs to his regeneration and base damage reduced his lane presence and made it harder for the team with Venomancer to capitalize on early game advantages. Still a great pick nonetheless.
Dazzle: We recently did a highlight on Dazzle, because he deserves it. As an easy to play hero with a surprising amount of depth, it's no wonder he's a cult favorite. Plus, you can't discount the sexy mohawk.
Tier 3: Average Pubbers (49%-52%)
Earthshaker 
Ogre Magi 
Jakiro 
Sand King 
Slark 
Brewmaster 
Phantom Lancer 
Weaver 
Spirit Breaker 
Ancient Apparition 
Sniper 
Bristleback 
Clockwerk 
Night Stalker 
Keeper of the Light 
Razor 
Terrorblade 
Lion 
Elder Titan
Bristleback. Somewhere between losing 4 damage in the last patch and community realizing that hitting Bristleback from the front is more profitable, this hero has forfeited almost 2% win rate, placing him in the 3rd Tier.
He is still rather annoying and can pose quite a bit of threat as an offlane hero, especially with the nerf to Timbersaw, but the meta adjustments have made him less scary.
Earthshaker: A 3% increase in win rate since the last patch. Among very high brackets, it's even larger at 5.64%. Earthshaker has been receiving quite a lot of buffs, both direct and indirect. 
Blink Dagger having no manacost definitely contributes to the rise of this hero, while extra movement speed and strength gain are nice additions.
Sniper: A magnet for "mid or feed" players. As much as people may dislike having Sniper in their team, this hero now has a 50% win rate, qualifying him for a Tier 3 in our list. His incredible 950 Range should keep him out of range of most powerful disables and nukes and with a proper positioning and farm he is a force to be reckoned with.
Terrorblade: One of the last additions to the Dota 2 hero pool. After a rather poor opening week with ~45% Win Rate, climbing into Tier 3 with 49.44% is an achievement. Our prediction is that he is going to reach Tier 2 in the nearest future. The hero is really strong if left unattended, but unlike other hard carries such as Faceless Void and Phantom Lancer, Terrorblade has a greater early and mid game presence, making him harder to shut down.
Tier 4: Pub Losers (46%-49%)
Doom 
Medusa 
Shadow Fiend 
Kunkka 
Juggernaut 
Undying 
Nyx Assassin 
Pudge 
Pugna 
Dragon Knight 
Faceless Void 
Dark Seer 
Huskar 
Phoenix 
Enigma 
Meepo 
Beastmaster 
Nature's Prophet 
Tusk 
Lina 
Lifestealer 
Leshrac 
Tiny 
Invoker 
Troll Warlord
Not a lot of change in this section. A couple of heroes have managed to get promoted into the higher Tiers, but most of the Tier 4 is left intact. Phoenix found his place here, with a ~47% Win Rate - a rather impressive figure, considering a very poor opening week. As with the Terrorblade, we expect Phoenix to go up at least one Tier in the nearest future.
Meepo: Meepo! These guys continue to be fine tuned after each patch. His win rate increased by nearly 2%, even though a small part of us believed the reduction in his revive timer would lead to more feeding. We're looking forward to seeing stronger Meepo play and an earlier snowball, especially if Dendi inspires a new generation of Meepo masters.
Invoker: A few trends made comebacks in recent months: Pudge back to the most played hero, Broodmother's win rate dipping to pre "catch me if you can" levels, and the Quas/Wex Invoker seeing a revival. Competitive meta tends to influence pub meta, and his increase in versatility is making him more attractive to pros in recent weeks. He deserves this bump in the tier list. He's been through a lot.
Tier 5: Pub Throwers (41%-46%)
Bounty Hunter 
Timbersaw 
Bane 
Naga Siren 
Chaos Knight 
Magnus 
Storm Spirit 
Legion Commander 
Gyrocopter 
Templar Assassin [missing hero: outworld-devourer] 
Visage 
Skywrath Mage 
Puck 
Rubick 
Windranger 
Chen 
Clinkz 
Lone Druid 
Phantom Assassin 
Batrider 
Ember Spirit 
Enchantress 
Alchemist 
Tinker 
Queen of Pain 
Morphling 
Shadow Demon
Ember Spirit: Little by little, the win rate for this hero is starting to increase. The only indirect buff to Ember Spirit was an AoE increase to [missing item: battlefury]'s Cleave. And we don't think it could result in almost 2% increase in win rate. So, the community has finally started learning to play the hero.
Morphling: One of the strongest heroes during the TI2, that was nerfed to hell might have a comeback very soon. Allowing him to cast and attack while in the 
Waveform will probably have a much bigger impact on the pro-scene, than we initially assumed.
Shadow Demon: We honestly expected the win rate for the hero to sky-rocket, but the community has proven us wrong, showing a lot more awareness of the changes. Unexpected 1040 damage nuke did not compensate for the loss of vision from Shadow Poison. Poor Disruption timings and lack of team coordination in pubs have made him suffer for too long. We believe Shadow Demon deserves a higher win rate--he's arguably a strong support and certainly better than many heroes above him.
Tier 6: Repick Heroes (40%)
Anti-Mage
Io
BroodmotherBroodmother: The testing site for new ideas. Low win rate does not mean that the hero is bad or can not be used in competitive environment, since she might require too much skill and team coordination to play, and pre-nerf Broodmother was somewhat strong. Even though the nerf to 
Spin Web was well-deserved, we'll miss how free pathing led to countless shenanigans.
Anti-Mage: Anti-Mage needs to get a medal for the "most played, worst win rate" hero. Many heroes with the lowest win rates (ex. Io, Chen, Morphling) are quite unpopular, which makes sense. If you haven't been winning with this hero, you try something else. However, there's just something about Anti-Mage that fuels the stubbornness of pub players. Perhaps his good looks.
The win rate for this hero is as abysmal as it ever was, even with the recent buff to his ultimate - 
Mana Void. Current meta does not tolerate heroes that require too much farm, it appears. Only if there was a "no rush 15 minutes" rule…
Tier 7: 
Earth Spirit
This hero deserved his own Tier. After all, he is by far the most losing hero in the current patch at ~33%, while being a complete nuisance pre-nerf.
It is really hard to balance heroes that are too much "out-of-the-box." Removing instant initiation from magnetic grip made this hero rather useless - the potential damage is still the same, however the skills do not synergize as they used to.
We expect the win rate on the hero to remain the same. We also expect some minor buffs to the skills.
Closing comments
The 6.80 was not as game-changing as 6.79, however it introduced a couple of new heroes that unlike the last several additions, already have a very decent win rate. It has also solved the problem of Earth Spirit in the higher levels of pub play.
We really hope Valve is going to keep releasing new (old) heroes on a constant basis and will keep you guys updated on the significant changes to the meta.
Thank you for Reading
Well written
Yeah, very well done.
AM's winrate is so low because he is an outdated hero and outclassed by almost every carry in the game. His last buff was in the wrong direction, although it's still "something".
Good job.
Earthspirt, I feel bad for him now. His biggest nerf is the ability for him to farm. He is bottom of the charts on EVERYTHING. Ouch.
Sadearthspirit2014
LOL I feel bad for the Earth Spirit as much as I hate playing against him rofl
Lol poor ES
NerfedSpirit GG
Gotta love abbadon. People still dont realize attacking him is bad when he ults
At 4000+ MMR the tiers list looks entirely reversed. I don't even see pick ups of most heroes in the so called top tier listing.
Well written. Very informative.
no wonder people gets scared when i pick rubick
earth spirit may have been nerfed and have a low win rate but that don't mean shit to good earth spirit players. i believe he is stronger with his pull now than before.
The most players of dota 2 are noob, i think im noob too, but i can see sniper lose the games if the people is not idiot, and drow and abba etc.
Abba is good support but in all my games abba try to be carry, inmortalcarry.
The number of dota players are increasing a lot, thats the reason for lich wk sniper and this shit heros have good winrate.
Abba is not shit, abba is a great support*
Slark should be top tier. Slark in good hands is a killing machine that's hard to stop. Just because he stacks arround 100 agi midgame and has a ult that gives the potential to roam enitre map safely.
Phoenix is a new Earth Spirit
Fantastic write-up, but I was surprised you didn't include the blink dagger buff in the reasons Axe's WR has skyrocketed, he's a much more viable initiator now.
Amazing work.
Still it surprises me how timbersaw has such a low win rate. His nukes are devastating especially due to players' positioning in pubs.
why rubick....why
this tiers is totally bullshit
http://dotamax.com/hero/
check out this
click any hero and chose skill bracket to very high
you ll see real high pubs winrate
example:
very high games ember's winrate 48.5%
in normal games he got 42%
vh games warlock 53wr
normal games warlock 56wr
do rus pls
To many players above this post...
"As previously mentioned, we've assembled this list largely from win rates in public games. [u]It may be different in many ways to professional play[/u], but it offers insight on why certain heroes have a distinct impact in pubs."
Proffesional play...as in higher skill...as in higher brackets...as in very high bracket...
Confirmed. People don't know how to read.
In 6.78, I ate 2 wins with 20 losses with the Meepo because I always believed in the power of the hero (after I accidentally picked him). After spending 300+ games with him (and only him), I realize that people don't really understand why he isn't a pro-level carry pick --- his clones can't use bkb!.
4k+ MMR with at least 3-party enemies is when you see people chain-area-stunning consistently. This is the most annoying thing for a Meepo cause the enemy carry can just slash you to death on those chain-stuns... with half the net worth as me. Dendi is my new idol. His Meepo actually knows where to blink from not just where to blink to. He also clashes close to trees ( easy fog for the low hp meepo) and lesser spam on right-clicks (the bad habit that limits your APM) to move.
These articles are awesome, but I'd like even more per-hero paragraphs.
@I push Lanes
There wasn't a lot of change compared to 6.79. Wait. That's wrong. There were A LOT of changes, but most of them are indirect and stem from the same source - Blink Dagger having 0 mana cost. There should have been a bigger response from the community to it, IMO. I even draft Slardar once in a while, since he is really strong now.
Great read
Hey! I think you forgot to mention the Lich's skill Sacrifice. This skill can make a allied creep give xp to you instead the enemy and then your lane keep indented.
And why is leshrac so low? Isn't his ulti awesome in teamfights? I mean, in Normal at least.
@Tião Carreiro
This sacrifice change is from 6.79 patch
Yes big Blink dagger no mana buff was huge. Completely improved my axe play as well. I had been getting blink dagger on a lot of characters. Its so darn good now.
pls re-edit the matching system i mute report players and on next game he is in my team !?
Ancient Apparition should rise to tier 1. Just go mid and start shooting lanes, really devastating hero. I'm sitting currently over 60% winrate with him and 100+ games with 5,3 kda. God of low bracket.
pub game are boring and u play with people who just start game or did know the items such a bad game is dota 2 i know many people that play it but very few enjoy it ... in garena i was a winer hear i am pure looser with barely 47% win rate if i play on max i lose cus noob team if i play and troll i lose again so its no use of getting better or try hard .... shitty pub games...
HEY DOTABUFF! NO USE OF STATS WHEN YOU PLAY IN PUB ...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Regarding Axe, Blink Dagger no longer costs mana so it's a much more viable item for strength heroes like Axe who want to be right on top of things with Beserkers Call and Counter Helix
^agreed. Huge for STR. heros.
R.I.P in peace Earth Spirit
i still pick earth spirit every game, i dont care how Iceforg nerfs him.
what hero a russtard picks?...let me tell u ...sf, morf, earth spirit,invoker,anti mage,tinker,ember spirit, lanaya,visage,rubick...watch them,their win rates below meepos..gg ruski doto,s00ka i go to youtube see dendi,then i think im dendi i pick invo claim mid got midas at 24' and the game is over at 15' ...not to mention ruski 3 lanes...i cant unterstand how they get 3ple killed by a solo offlane hero every time...s00ka sasai!!!(competitive scene affects the pub scene? rly? dont tell me...lets play a fura, rat doto style...only hui to ruski furas )
I think meepo's win rate increase is because every time u pick meepo in the other team someone pich earth shaker, timber, jakiro or something to counter meepo, and now u lose 1 gold/sec if u don't pick, so u aren't countered to much anymore, and meepo have a pretty good win rate against terrorblade and phonix...
I don't care if Juggernaut is in one of the lowest tiers. I will continue being Diego Costa for years
Valve, delete antimage pls
Poor earth spirit he used to be fun, but oh well I wasn't in high level pub so idk how imba he was
INVOKER PUB-LOSER UR ASS . i always win with dat invo
this tier list reversed in very high bracket. enuff said
не люблю английский язык =(
the problem about ES nerf is not the lack of initiation but the stone remnant cd increase 25->35. this is ridiculous. even being efficient with the rocks you'll end up becoming pretty useless in the middle of the fight
If es nerfed and u think it shit, u must just play on ur 3k< mmr cos es with nerf is not bad.