Dota 2 current meta 2016 tax

Fallen From Grace – Gyrocopter’s Irrelevancy In The Current Meta

As patches come and go, so do hero trends. Heroes can go from hot picks to dead fish and vice versa. Dota 2 current meta 2016 tax The current meta seems to make every hero viable, but the harsh reality is that among the 105 different hero picks at TI6, there were several heroes whose appearances were short lived, especially considering how consistently picked they had been before.

The fall of the mighty Gyrocopter

For several patches, Gyrocopter was a stable pick throughout most, if not all metas. A well rounded carry, who even had a short flirt with the midlane or as support, but ultimately the hero was always there. It was a go-to pick that didn’t always draw a ban–a hero that could fit seemingly any line-up. He fit the bill as an early aggressor with Rocket Barrage, and his teamfight ultimate allowed him to transition into the midgame quite well, while his late-game effectiveness never wavered.

Certainly, the hero was nerfed over the past years, be it directly, lowering his base Int, or indirectly, decreasing neutral creep bounties and making ancients more difficult to kill. Patch 6.85 and the Frankfurt Major were the last big stages for the hero to shine, although 19 picks and a 32% win rate in the playoffs certainly aren’t glamorous. All seemed fine with the hero, but then 6.86 came.

It wasn’t that 6.86 nerfed the hero into oblivion, or pushed him just over the edge, no. It gave life to other heroes that were too weak before and changed the meta just enough to edge out Gyrocopter. Patch 6.87 was the final nail in the coffin as it started the trend towards tanky cores, something Gyrocopter certainly never was. One Chronosphere or one Roar–quite frankly there are many more currently popular spells and heroes that could take out a Gyrocopter and render him useless.

These threats existed before, but since his ability to farm himself ahead of the curve had been weakened and he doesn’t have an innate escape ability, there doesn’tt seem to be enough arguments for a Gyrocopter pick these days.

Sustain is important

Gyrocopter is a special case, though there are others that have shared similar fates. These other heroes may not have been as dominant throughout multiple patches, but they’ve shown a lot of recent success and popularity.

Doom has always gone in and out of the meta, but this roller-coaster was especially noteworthy this year. As a top pick from the Frankfurt Major, he went to basically irrelevant in Shanghai, to then reliable pick in Manila, only to drop off into irrelevancy again–Doom has had a rough year. There’s an argument to be made that Doom could excel in this meta, for various reasons. Given a bit of armor, the hero becomes quite tanky, and a utility Doom with Mek can really provide some mid-game dominance. His ultimate’s long cooldown seems to prevent him from doing so, however, as 145 seconds of downtime could easily mean missing out in two or three engagements. The fact that Doom needs to acquire his tankiness by purchasing armor certainly doesn’t help his case, and it makes him feel quite “slow” in the midgame, in comparison to other offlaners or junglers. To top it all off, he’s a hero to take down a single target with. His low mana pool and his –quite frankly–low damage output in the early mid game are not suited for drawn out fights.

Tusk was the hero of the Frankfurt Major. A strong and flexible pick that can dominate the early game and create a lot of space in the midgame. He can be played both aggressively, as well as defensively and provides much need initiation. He was bound to be nerfed following the Frankfurt Major–and he definitely was–but the new Iron Talon, offlane trend gave him the chance to also be played in the offlane and while he wasn’t a hot pick anymore, he was still very much relevant in Shanghai. The Manila Major saw less of him, though in his 7 appearances the hero proved his worth still. Yet at TI6, Tusk rolled in only twice, losing both games.

He’s a teamfighter, he provides flexibility in the draft–something that is very useful these days as kawaiisocks laid out–and Tusk’s spells have all low enough cooldowns to be used multiple times during a fight. Unfortunately for him though, the meta has shifted away from utility cores such as him, or even roamers like him. Definite lockdowns are trending, allowing heroes like Ogre Magi or Beastmaster to prevail and reign supreme on positions Tusk would like to be in. Either that, or heroes that provide great teamfight presence, a teamfight presence greater than that of Tusk. Usually with big AoE spells, like Kunkka’s Ghost Ship or Riki’s Smoke Screen.

Ultimately, Tusk also doesn’t deal as much damage as other heroes do. The aforementioned alternatives all have some sort of reliable damage output that is higher than Tusk’s. Tusk’s attack damage never increases significantly, and his spells are never meant to burst, but rather to control. Other heroes can provide both and in a meta that can have games between 14 and 80 minutes, there’s no room for a hero whose damage doesn’t scale.

Buffs not necessary

Talking about these heroes was not meant to be an appeal to Icefrog to buff them. If anything, it was about showing how strong these heroes have been and still are. Just the way teams and players approach the way of playing right now–it doesn’t suit these heroes. And there are many more like them, who, without necessarily needing a direct buff, could return to the spotlight once more.

These three heroes certainly have proven that they can stand the test of time, despite a few nerfs, so who says they need buffs to come back.