Here’s a better look at the five best carry heroes in pubs from the early part of Dota 2 patch 7.31.
It’s been over a months since Dota 2 patch 7.31 was released. Although the patch didn’t change the game in a lot of ways like objectives, timings, map and economy, it did bring with a it a new hero in the form of Primal Beast, as well as a lot of changes to items and heroes.
Dota 2 being the complex game it is, the smallest of changes can have big effects. With a month of patch 7.31 in the bag, we take a look at which safe lane carries have been thriving in the new(ish) world order.
The heroes have been picked as the best performing ones from the Divine and Immortal brackets. This data is as per Dotabuff and has been analyzed for the past one month, so it well and truly reflects the games from patch 7.31 only. The choice of heroes has been made from a combination of high pick rate and high win rate heroes.
1) Tiny (Pick rate: 21.28%, Win rate: 55.69%)
Tiny is the hero with the highest pick rate AND highest win rate from the top tier of pubs. The stone giant has tossed all other heroes in the competition, striking his claim to the best position 1 hero out there.
Now one might think how this is possible considering Tiny was nerfed after his heroics at The International 2021 (TI10), but the return to domination is not because of any of the changes to Tiny. It is because of a change to an item – the Aghanim’s Shard. When it was first released in Dota 2 patch 7.28, Aghanim’s Shard wasn’t purchasable till the 20th minute. Patch 7.31 brought that down to 15 minutes, and one of the heroes who has benefitted the most from it is Tiny.
For a carry Tiny, the major power spike has always been getting the Shard, which gives him infinite hits with Tree Grab. Having that power spike 5 minutes earlier in the game has made a enormous difference for carry Tiny. Tree Grab at level 4 gives him 100% cleave, so it isn’t just a boost in his team fight ability, but also his farming ability. Until there is some scalability provided to his permanent tree holding potential, Tiny is going to hold on to the top spot for a while, much like he does with a tree after 15 minutes.
2) Huskar (Pick rate: 4.20%, Win rate: 54.26%)
It’s not every day that Huskar makes his way into a list of top carries, but that’s where we are right now with patch 7.31. Years ago, Berserker’s Blood provided Huskar with damage as his health reduced. That was then changed to magic resistance, and finally to HP regeneration. It clearly wasn’t working too well, so patch 7.31 added some magic resistance to the mix back again. So now when Huskar is extremely low on HP (which is where he prefers to play), it gives him 310 attack speed, 80% of strength as max health regen bonus and 25% additional magic resistance, which when added to the original 25% hero magic resistance, takes Huskars magic resistance to 43.75%. That surreal tankability that Huskar has had when low on HP has improved with patch 7.31, and that added survivability is just what a hero like Huskar needs to turn the tides of a team fight.
3) Chaos Knight (Pick rate: 7.20%, Win rate: 53.84%)
Chaos Knight’s issue as a carry has been the fact that he falls off late in the game, due to the fact that he doesn’t really have a flash farming ability. He peaks earlier than most carries, but if the game doesn’t end before a certain mark, it starts to get difficult to keep up the pressure with a CK.
The added damage Chaos Strike now outputs to creeps helps Chaos Knight to farm faster, not to mention the added sustainability in the lane and jungle due to the increased lifesteal from Chaos Strike. According to Dotabuff, all the popular pub builds have CK maxing out Chaos Strike at level 7, and it isn’t too big a surprise. CK doesn’t really have to depend on building a Hand of Midas to keep up with the farm of enemy cores, and the change has made him popular not just in pubs, but also in professional games.
4) Medusa (Pick rate: 9.76%, Win rate: 52.62%)
Medusa has been blessed by minor buffs in multiple departments in Dota 2 patch 7.31. The reduced mana cost for Mystic Snake is a nice change for Medusa, and it helps her in lane as well as in the jungle to farm as well has keep her effective HP (EHP) high thanks to her Mana Shield. The talent changes she has received are worth a mention as well, with additional attack speed at level 10 (which has a more than 90% pick rate in pubs), the reduced Split Shot damage penalty (which has a more than 80% pick rate in pubs) which takes her damage to 92% with Split Shot as well as the added Mystic Snake bounces (which has a more than 65% pick rate in pubs). All of them pieced together and aided by the fact that the jungle is a slightly better place for those with the tools to farm it quickly has made the Gorgon a popular carry this patch.
5) Templar Assassin (Pick rate: 8.34%, Win rate: 52.24%)
Templar Assassin’s popularity and dominance in the safe lane in patch 7.31 isn’t because of buffs – it’s because of lack of nerves. Once strictly a mid hero picked in very specific drafts, TA has been running rampant the last few months in the mid lane as well as the safe lane. In either lane, she typically plays the position 1 role due to her insane farming capacity, which was seen in Bucharest at TI10. But when Dota 2 patch 7.31 arrived, she was gives a slap on the wrist and let back out there again, which players have been making the full use of. The cherry on top of the cake has been that Desolator, which is a bread and butter item for her, received a buff in patch 7.31. Like Tiny, it is going to require a significant change to tame the currently rampaging Lanaya.
Honorable Mentions
Juggernaut (Pick rate: 10.70%, Win rate: 51.47%)
Ursa (Pick rate: 9.91%, Win rate: 50.89%)
Phantom Lancer (Pick rate: 7.71%, Win rate: 50.92%)
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