These seven Dota2 heroes were completely ignored at TI12
After 150 games of Dota2 played at the International 12, the final verdict on the weakest and strongest heroes of this year's meta has been cast.
30th Oct 2023 16:50
Image via Valve
These seven Dota2 heroes were completely ignored at TI12
After 150 games of Dota2 played at the International 12, the final verdict on the weakest and strongest heroes of this year's meta has been cast.
30th Oct 2023 16:50
Image via Valve
After two weeks of action, The International 12 has concluded with Team Spirit bringing the aegis home after an impressive unbeaten run through the upper bracket.
Exactly 150 matches of Dota2 were played, and a clear pattern of the most and least desirable heroes emerged, with heroes like Treant reaching an 85.33% pick/ban rate while seven heroes were not touched during the draft phase at all.
Winners meta at TI 12
Among the most sought-after heroes at TI12 were Treant (85,33%), Kunka (81.33%), and Invoker(74,67%), who not only showed high play and pick rates but also got a lot of action from the best teams in the event.
All three aforementioned heroes were played by the eventual winner Team Spirit, who went on a 5-0 win streak with them. Wise to the pick-threat of Kunka, all three Grand Finals matches saw the Radiant hero banned from either side.
Runner-ups Gaimin Gladiators got a lot of value out of Muerta picking the hero 16 times and winning nine of those matches. Overall, the hero was picked or banned 74% of the time, attesting to its strength in the current meta.
Interestingly, three of those six losses were dealt during the Grand Finals as Team Spirit let GG have their comfort pick only to dismantle in all three games.
Seven heroes were ignored
Throughout the entirety of the two-week competition, seven of the 124 heroes remained so unappealing for the current meta constellation that they received neither picks nor bans throughout the entire event.
Abbadon, Lion, Meepo, Shadow Shaman, Slardar, Timbersaw, and Winter Wyvern received no love at all. While none of these heroes were really at the top of the meta in any of the last couple of TIs, getting no attention whatsoever is at least unusual for them.
Only 57 of the 124 heroes had a play or ban rate of over 10%, painting a different picture of pick stratification. For T11, 66 heroes had shown a selection rate above that threshold, according to Liquipedia.
About The Author
Sascha Heinisch
Sascha "Yiska" Heinisch is a Senior Esports Journalist at GGRecon. He's been creating content in esports for over 10 years, starting with Warcraft 3.
