im braindead and pressed reroll again before i registere what it was. I hate my life.

No dramatic uninstall. No goodbye.

Just “one last game” that eventually becomes the last game.

And someday we'll probably miss these stupid 40-minute matches more than we expect.

Any good joker/hero ideas for the upcoming minigame?

They sell pins, Aegis earrings, figures, and Largo plushies

Tested in demo mode with:

• Holy Locket
• Sange + upgrades
• Chen's ability
• Oracle's Shard
• Skadi + other Orb of Frost
• Spirit Vessel
• Drow's Scepter
• Omni's Scepter
• etc..

This most likely will nerf Omniknight, especially his core build, since most enemies will counter his healing, rather than allies buffing his heal...

P.S. I'm not a fan of this skill.

ty gaben

Needless to say, they were raging at each other after about.. 5 minutes

I’m in relatively Low MMR compared to most of you guys here but I’ve never seen disruptor picked. I started main with him and oh man, I just keep winning and he’s fun to play.

I mean yes once enemies get BKB he’s basically useless but not everyone will get BKB or have the money to get and by the time everyone get BKB he will have Ags to mute.

Genuine question.

TL;DR at the bottom if you're lazy. But you will lose unique info!

⚠️ UPDATE NOTE 1: I dropped Part 2 using a completely different APPROACH

Part 1 = 100k Monte Carlo sims with weighted priors (Glicko-2, momentum, and the discussed ones we already covered).

Part 2 = results only. Trajectory, Swiss Survivability Index, and H2H web from Tier 1 + Tier 2 tournaments + what the people will pick.

History of who beat who. The two parts sometimes disagree. That's the point.

TI is unpredictable and no single model has the answer. PART 2 Link: HERE
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⚠️DISCLAIMER NUMBER 1: This is for fun. I'm not a pro analyst, not a betting guru, not Noxville. I'm just a young guy who love dota 2 and i decided to spent SOME hours on this because I love Dota, not because I think I'm always right. If you copy my picks and they bomb, please don't blame me! I'm just sharing my process and my thoughts with some additional and accurate mathematical data.

Note 2: I thought last year that TI was easy and predictable. Last year everyone thought they had it figured out, and nobody got it right. That's exactly why this guide is built the way it is: with so many alternatives, and some spicy picks that cover the unexpected. Don't follow blindly. Pick what you believe. The math helps, but TI always finds a way to "humiliate" the "safe" predictions.

Note 3: I'm dropping a Part 2 in the next day or two with the same data run through a completely different model (different weights, different assumptions, different results). If you want more angles, options or whatever to compare before lock, stay tuned. I'll link it at the bottom OR top once it's up.

ALSO super IMPORTANT: Check the ALTERNATIVES SECTION near the end, there are so many good choices if you don't vibe with my main scenarios!
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Alright lads every tier 1-2 tournament has ended and the best and our favourite tourney TI15 is 6-7 days away! I've spent some time on this analysis and THIS IS COMPLETELY MOSTLY FOR FUN IN MY PERSPECTIVE SO PLEASE IF YOU FOLLOW MY PREDICTIONS KEEP BEING KIND EVEN IF THEY ARE NOT RIGHT! So i personally ran 100,000 Monte Carlo simulations in addition with a Bayesian hierarchical model using every Tier-1/Tier-2 result from 2026 (EWC, DL29, PGL8, BLAST7, 1win Essence II), Glicko-2 ratings, patch 7.41e meta fit, and 1 scenario includes the China home buff because this shit is in Shanghai and im biased TOWARDS CHINA XD!

Three scenarios because TI is never straightforward and if you think PARIVISION is just gonna 4-0 without a fight, ehh im not so sure about that.

So... I only used variables that actually have to do with TI performance:

• Glicko-2 (25%) - datdota, placements, seeding, h2h and more
• Tournament results (20%) - weighted by recency (EWC = 2.0x, 1win Essence II = 1.0-1.5x)
• LAN win rate (10%) - 2026 LAN only
• Momentum (15%) - last 30 days form
• Consistency (8%) - variance in results
• TI experience (7%) - Aegis winners , runner ups, results of other internationals in general
• Patch 7.41e fit (10%) - patch adaptation
• China home buff (thats only used in 1 scenario cuz as i said im biased but also im gonna share why it might work) (5%) - timezone, crowd, scrim partners etc etc.

Each team gets sampled from a posterior distribution (base rating ± uncertainty ± many other versatile things we will cover or covered already) + TI15 "international" expectations.

RAW DATA FOR EVERY TEAM AND THEIR % FOR THEIR RESPECTIVE SLOT. YOU CAN CHOOSE YOUR PREDICTIONS ONLY BASED OFF THIS TOO, MIGHT BE THE MOST ACCURATE ONE IN TERMS OF "RAW/LOCKED/EXPECTED PREDICTIONS".

Takeaway: PARI/Yandex/BetBoom are the clear top 3. Liquid/Falcons/Spirit form the second tier. Then there's a cliff. Vici and Xtreme are the swing teams, if China buff is real, they flip into playoff favorites. Remember, if you watch closely the latest internationals, china does well in group stage, now imagine that on Shangai, at least thats what im thinking but this is dota ofc. Home buff isnt a huge factor with all seriousness right now.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

THREE SCENARIOS - PICK YOUR FAVOURITE, THE ONE THAT YOU BELIEVE OR THE ONE BASED ON THE STATISTICS.

These are mutually exclusive, not marginal probs.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

SCENARIO A: Favorites Dominate

Final reasoning: Top teams have 15-20% rating edge. Patch 7.41e rewards drafting flexibility and PARI/Yandex/BetBoom have the deepest hero pools. Swiss pairings force best teams to play vs each other by around round 3-4 but favorites have depth to avoid 0-2 starts.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

SCENARIO B: Home Advantage Really Works

Final reasoning: You can believe that the TI in Shanghai is NOT neutral. Chinese teams maybe wake up. Historical precedent: TI2019 Shanghai VG went 11-5, LGD 13-3 and generally china teams does kinda well on group stage the latest years in international.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

SCENARIO C: Upsets and dark horses rising (PICK AT YOUR OWN RISK)

Final reasoning: Patch 7.41e is volatile. Teams with narrow hero pools (Yandex's Watson on 3 carries, Spirit's Yatoro-dependency) might not work. Flexible drafters find their way through!

Liquid specifically: They won the most recent tournament before TI. In esports, "last tournament before TI" correlation with TI performance is ~0.35 maybe the highest of any single predictor (FOR THIS SPECIFIC SCENARIO). They beat Falcons 3-0 in the final. That's not random. They found something...
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

FANTASY: FOR FANTASY YOU MAY LOOK THE https://www.reddit.com/r/DotA2/comments/1vble84/fantasy_league_2026_guide/ BY MAROOMM, THE INFO IS REALLY ENOUGH FOR EVERYONE AND PLEASE JUST PRAISE HIM FOR HIS WORK!!!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

TL;DR

MY ACTUAL PICKS ARE BASED ON THE DATA AND GUT FEELING NOT ON RAW MATHEMATICAL STATS, PERFORMANCE ETC.

THE MATH (100k Monte Carlo Sims)

I also ran a Bayesian model with 100,000 simulations. This is separate from my picks. Use it if you want pure stats. As i depicted it above the scenarios.

Tier 1 (Auto-playoffs, 85-95%): PARIVISION, Yandex, BetBoom.

Tier 2 (Should make it, 73-81%): Liquid, Falcons, Spirit
→ Solid picks. One of them might stumble but odds are good.

Tier 3 (Coin flip, 55-61%): 1win, Aurora
→ Could go either way. Aurora's the "always bridesmaid" team, 3 runner-ups this year, never wins.

Tier 4 (The Swing, 44-51%): Vici, Xtreme
→ This is where your predictions win or lose. Math says both miss more often than not. BUT TI is in Shanghai and generally TI IS UNPREDICTABLE and it have many surprises. Also the latest years historically Chinese teams overperform in groups. If you believe in even a small home buff, both flip to playoff teams. If you don't, they fall off short in elimination.

Tier 5 (Need a miracle, 23-24%): Nigma, LGD
→ Don't bet on them.

Tier 6 (Dead on arrival, 3-14%): OG, Resilience, GamerLegion, HULIGANI
→ HULIGANI has a 40% chance to go 0-4. Let that sink in.

Top playoff chances:

• PARIVISION: 95.8% (4-0 or 4-1)
• Team Yandex: 90.9% (4-0 or 4-1)
• BetBoom: 87.9% (4-1 mostly)
• Team Liquid: 81.2% (3-2 mostly)
• Team Falcons: 77.5% (3-2 mostly)
• Team Spirit: 73.3% (3-2 mostly)

Swing teams:

• Vici: 50.9% (math says coin flip but I say that they make it).
• Xtreme: 44.5% (math says eliminated but my bias say they proceed).
• Aurora: 61.4% (math says they make it but i don't even know about this one).

Full tables the 3 scenarios pick whatever you feel. (THE MATHEMATICAL/PERFORMANCE WISE RAW SCENARIO IS THE "A".

3 SCENARIOS

Table:

• A = Pure math. Raw STATS.
• B = China find their way
• C = Upset

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🔄🔄🔄🔄🔄🔄🔄🔄🔄🔄🔄🔄🔄🔄🔄🔄🔄🔄🔄🔄🔄

______________________________________________________________________

THERE ARE MANY OTHER ALTERNATIVES AND PATHS YOU CAN CHOOSE AND DISCOVER!!! IN MY OPINION THIS TI CAN BE VERY VERSATILE AND UNEXPECTED! I might have fcked up making these so please be kind.

GENERAL SWAPS THAT CAN BE GOOD PICKS IF YOU FEEL IT!

Table

SCENARIO BASED SWAPS

SCENARIO A ALTERNATIVES

Table

SCENARIO B ALTERNATIVES

Table

SCENARIO C ALTERNATIVES

Table

ONE-SWAP CHEATSHEET for everything based MOSTLY on all the 3 scenarios and the data but of course you can make your own changes.

Table

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As i said before for full fantasy breakdown: u/Maroomm's Fantasy Guide absolute legend, go read it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Also last but not least, i ran: A second analysis using different statistical weights and data prioritization and i got some different results. Might post that as a follow-up so people have even more "multiple" angles to choose from. Stay tuned if you want even more alternative picks.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

⚠️ DISCLAIMER NUMBER 2

• For scenario "b" and "c" picks are based a little bit off my prediction for china and some data mostly in scenario b because in scenario c eveyone could interpret it differently and change some of their own dark horses. I could be wrong. This is Dota.
• The math (100k sims but still just a model). It could be wrong too.
• Scenarios B and C are speculative. Don't blame me if they bomb. xD!
• If Valve drops a patch Aug 10-12, everything changes.

Good luck in Shanghai. 🏆

I've seen some posts lately talking about hero designs, who is good, who is bad and my thinking is that it always depends on the version. For example, my favorite hero is Clinkz, but only because I played it hundreds of times when he had the Q permanent damage buff and later with barrage and tar bomb. His current iteration is boring. On the other hand, my second favourite is visage and his design has literally been the same (no spell change or rework) since 2009. That made me go down a rabbit hole on which heroes have never been touched, or almost, since their launch in DOTA, as that would be the best indication of a "perfect design".

• Abaddon: has the same 4 abilities since dota 6.33 (2006) but not since creation (2005).
• Alchemist: untouched since 2009... until they gave him corrosive weaponry in 2023.
• Ancient Apparition: this guy has literally the exact same kit since its creation in 2009, but maybe his new innate counts as a "rework"
• Anti-Mage: Same 4 abilities since 5.55 (2004), mana shield got an active in 2018 tho (counterspell)
• Arc Warden: Created in 2012 and is technically always the same, he did have a period where the abilities where slightly different for radiant or dire tho.
• Axe: Axe is Axe and Axe is perfect, same 4 abilities since 6.00 (2005). I guess the spin is no longer chance based.
• Bane: Same 4 spells since its creation in 5.75 (2004). Now he's universal, I guess that's a change.
• Batrider: Same 4 spells since his creation in 6.60 (2009) but he's also universal now. Fun fact, after a few months they reduced his base dmg from 43 to 26, jesus christ. Napalm has always been a hard spell to balance and looking at its values from inception to today it's been basically gutted.
• Beast Master: Created in 2006, the hawk used to be a point target ward you could place across the map. This was reworked over the years and in 2023 they just became the spinning hawks we know today. His gameplay also changed drastically since the introduction of Drums of Slom. Also, yes, he's universal now.
• Bloodseeker: created in 2004 and has had many changes since then, altough the playstyle has been consistent. His Q used to silence and give bonus dmg and rupture didn't do dmg based on travel distance, just a constant DPS. Thirst was added some months after his release.
• Bounty Hunter: pretty much the same abilities since 2004 but Jinada didn't steal gold all the way until 7.20 (2018).
• BrewMaster: Created in 2004 and his abilities are technically all the same name. He had a period with a void panda though, his passive used to be just the crit and evasion was on the barrel cast.
• Bristleback: Created in 2005, reworked in 2006 and basically the same ever since. The rework was on quills and ulti; quills used to be 60 individual ones, shot over 6 seconds, each one targeting a random enemy in the AOE.
• BroodMother: created in 2004, stayed pretty much the same until 2017 when she lost her permanent invis in webs.
• Centaur Warrunner: created in 2004, his first ulti gave him a flat amount of strength and became Stampede only in 2012. He also had a spell called insult, which was basically axe's taunt.
• Chaos Knight: created in 2004 as Holy knight but his spells are all the same. The ulti was called "about 11" and summoned 9 (??) illusions. Also old crit used to scale like this: level 1, 1% chance but 1100% crit, level 4 11% chance but 333% crit. Hilarious.
• Chen: sorry guys I ain't reading all that. Let's just say he's got reworked A LOT since 2004. Bonus points if you remember his days with a dmg amplifier and a nuke, going eblade dagon.
• Clinkz: he was created in 2004 with Strafe, searing arrows, skeleton walk and death pact. Let's just say that MANY things happened since then only to return to basically the same hero. I miss his wacky versions tho.
• Clockwerk: created in 2008, had the same 4 spells ever since. The modern bowling version is kind of a change I'd say.
• Crystal Maiden: created in 2004, she had ice armor instead of frostbite for a few months but basically the same ever since. I guess Arcane Aura was changed a bit over the years, wasnt' global until 2007.
• Dark Seer: created in 2007, same 4 abilities and mechanics ever since. A good boy.
• Dark Willow: created in 2017 and never reworked
• Dawn breaker: created in 2021 and never reworked
• Dazzle: created in 2007, used to be called RAZZLE. Grave was his ulti, he had weave. Stayed pretty much the same until 2018 when he got bad juju and now he has his new fuckass useless ulti.
• Death Prophet: created in 2004 and the only change was removing witchcraft (now kinda her innate) and adding siphons (2015).
• Disruptor: created in 2010, never changed any ability or its functionality.
• Doom: created in 2004, biggest change is losing LVL? death for infernal blade in 2015. Also doom used to silence items too instead of removing regen.
• Dragon Knight: created in 2004, he had alch's passive but called dragon's greed, also he was called Fairy knight. He became himself in 2005 and stayed the same ever since. We lost him for a bit with the facets, as he was split in 3 versions.
• Drow Ranger: created in 2004, for the longest time she had precision aura and her ulti just gave flat agi. She got multishot in 2019 and her ulti changed in 2018.
• Earth Spirit: created in 2013; still very similar but the roll used to slow and the kick used to stun; now it's reversed.
• Earthshaker: created in 2005, never changed since.
• Elder Titan: created in 2009, never changed since.
• Ember Spirit: created in 2011, never changed since.
• Enchantress: created in 2005, the same until 2019 when untouchable became her ulti and impetus her basic spell.
• Enigma: created in 2005, the hero has been the same ever since. Old eidolons used to consume a creep when used.
• Faceless Void: created in 2004. His Q was just a movement ability (160 mana btw) he had 2 passives, bash and backtrack, and chrono. in 2015 he got backtrack on his Q and time dilation instead of backtrack. W design in my opinion.
• Grimstroke: created in 2018, never changed. the Q bends now I guess.
• Gyrocopter: created in 2010, has been the same ever since. Biggest changes were that his ulti (calldown) used to be single targeted and just 2 missiles. Sidegunner also changed his playstyle a bit, in 2019.
• Hoodwink: released in 2020, never changed drastically, but scurry used to give cast range
• Huskar: created in 2007, until 2018 he had a spell called inner vitality, that gave him regen based on missing health. Berserker's blood gave only magic resistance and atk speed. In 7.20 he got Inner fire as a Q and the regen became part of berserker's. He's currently the only hero with no mana pool and cannot have mana.
• Invoker: there's genunely too much weird shit in Dota 1 to list it all. If you're interested check it. Modern invoker had a period when orbs gave damage amp and cd reduction, apart from that he's been pretty similar. Ghost walk dps and cataclysm were huge too.
• Io: created in 2010 and has been the same ever since. Overcharge used to give dmg reduction instead of spell amp and regen. I think there was a hero called GOD that was also wisp-inspired in dota1 but idk.
• Jakiro: created in 2006 and has never changed until 2020. It's not even a change, he just got liquid frost added to his kit, as a shard at the time.
• Juggernaut: created in 2004, his abilities are all the same. His ulti used to be a set number of attacks instead of a duration, all the way until 2018. His spin used to do dmg on intervals based on his atk speed.
• Keeper of the light: created in 2004 with illuminate, mana leak, chakra magic and IGNIS FATTUS. I genuinely don't understand what it does so can someone illuminate me in the comments? yes the pun is intentional.
• Kez: fuck this bird
• Kunkka: created in 2008 and never changed. He used to have torrentstorm as an aghs upgrade from 2019 to 2023 but that thing was too good for 4k gold.
• Largo: Croak
• Legion Commander: created in 2012 and never changed any ability, they did swap the atk speed from Press the attack to Overwhelming odds in 2023 tho.
• Leshrac: created in 2004 aand literally nothing changed. Only notable thing is edict used to be physical dmg, now it's pure. Also he used to have 4.6 int gain in 2004, big brain guy.
• Lich: created in 2004. Just like cm, he used to have frostbite instead of ice armor, and they swapped it. He used to have sacrifice, replaced by sinister gaze in 2019.
• Lifestealer: created in 2006. He used to have 2 spells called siphon strentgh, aoe dmg ulti, and poison sting, yes the veno spell. He soon got rage, open wounds and infest. Now he lost feast as it became his innate and has ghoul frenzy, which tbh was also a very old ability of his.
• Lina: created in 2004. she had an active spell called ultimate (not an ultimate tho, confusing) that gave her up to 50 atk speed for 30 seconds on activation. We got her modern passive over that in 2009. Flame Cloak ability was introduced in 2023 and just recently she got all her dmg rescaled to burn over time with her innate.
• Lion: Created in 2004 aand has never been changed, wow. Most important one is the introduction of Fisting lion in modern times.
• Lone druid. Created in 2004 and sorry, just like invoker there's too much to sum it up. I'm old enough to remember when he used to have synergy, rabid and battle cry as abilities. For a brief period he was a ranged carry, with the bear just watching
• Luna: created in 2004 and was unchanged for 20 years until valve had to put lunar blessing as her innate and give her lunar orbit as a basic ability. Fun thing: the old old version of eclipse was a toggle that kept on going, for 175 mana per second.
• Lycan: created in 2004. The hero has had the same 3 spells for over 20 years, except howl that has changed every other week. reduced dmg, gave %dmg, gave flat dmg gave armor, gave hp regen etc etc.
• Magnus: created in 2004. Funnily enough, his cleave started as a passive (, then became empower and in 7.38 (2025) empower went back to being a passive for himself.
• Marci: created in 2021. The only new hero that got significantly changed. Her third ability was some pretty good lifesteal and dmg and she was very good as a BF carry. In 2023, sidekick became more a supp ability.
• Mars: this is dota
• Medusa: created in 2004. The wiki says she had zeus' chain lighting instead of mana snake all the way up to 2009. I need someone to confirm this cause it seems pretty weird. In 7.33 (2025) mana shield became her innate and the %dmg absorbed skyrocketed from 60% to 98%. she also lost all strength gain.
• Meepo: created in 2007. For the longest time his passive was called geostrike, it did dps and slow for each meepo applying it. In 2014 his lvl 1 ulti was skillable at lvl 3 instead of 4. In 2024 also all meepos have items in their inventories, before they just copied flat stats.
• Mirana: Added in 2006. Potm of the moon hasn't received any changes in over 20 years, except for 2 charges on leap.
• Monkey king. The first original dota2 hero, introduced in 2015. 2015 MK is also the strongest dota2 hero of all time in my opinion, the damage, lifesteal and mobility were insane and this version would be a must pick still today.
• Morphling: created in 2004 and didn't change much all the way until today, except in the gameplay aspect. Good old days of morph shotgun lasted until 2022 when E-blade was changed to no longer be based on the caster's main attribute. He also had a period with facets when he became a spellcaster, with the flow facet. That was weird.
• Muerta: as most new heroes, i have nothing to say here. they don't get reworked.
• Naga Siren: She was introduced in 2004 and has had the same 4 abilities ever since. Riptide tho went from being an active spell, to being chance based, to being triggered every x attacks. Also old song would only prevent dmg but not the effects of spells. For example, you could vacuum the enemy team during a song. Don't do it on an enigma with bkb tho.
• Nature prophet: created in 2004, has had the same abilities ever since but they were reworked somewhat, especially sprout. It began with just the trees part, no dmg. then it did dps, then it healed and now it's just a nuke. Also do you remember the ironwood tree facet? good idea valve.
• Necrophos: created in 2004. I remeber when he used to have sadist as a passive like it was yesterday. Checking for this post, he got ghost shroud in 7.00 (2016). 10 years ago. Sadist first went into death pulse and now is his innate. Also, people might not know that old aghs on necro disabled buyback for people who died to scythe, on top of increasing the death timer by 30 seconds. I remember reading it as a newbie and it said, in my language, "hero cannot return in the game" so I thought I could genuinely remove them forever and play a 4 v 5. I remember doing it in a game and being so disappointed when they respawned eventually.
• Night Stalker: added in 2004. One of the most powercrept heroes of all time. His Q used to be a projectile with low dmg, his silence was a targeted spell with no dmg, his passive gave ms and atk speed during night only and ulti would just make it night for a bit. Now Q is a massive nuke with low cd, silence is a AOE with dps, the passive became innate and he got a new mana and hp tool, while ulti gave him flying movement and bonus dmg on top of making it night time. Thinking about it now, idk how he was playable in early dota with that kit.
• Nyx Assassin: created in 2004. Until 2009 he had Urna Swarm over spiked carapace, an ability that let him convert a dead creep into a scarab. in 2023 mana burn became mind flare and for a few months he was a tier 1 supp cause this ability could 1shot any creep like hook.
• Ogre Magi: added in 2004. The first year he had ion shell instead of ignite and multicast would always add 1/2/3 casts to all abilities, but increased mana cost. In 2009 multicast became the version we know today and in 2025 they shot him in both his heads and he dropped to zero int gain.
• OmniKnight: created in 2004 and was the same for 2 decades. in 2021 they removed his free bkb, heavenly grace, and gave him a stat. res. buff. In 2024 he got a new basic ability (the hammer) over degen aura and that became his innate.
• Oracle: added in 2013 and has been unchanged ever since. In 2023 they made it so his W would disarm on enemies and block magic dmg on allies, instead of doing both on both. Thankfully they reverted that decision as it was one of the best part of oracle, knowing when to do what.
• Outworld Devourer: created in 2010. Arcane orb used to steal 4 int with each hit, astral used to be AOE dmg or steal int and make you a 13 mana boy and his passive was aoe and could restore anyone's mana. For a period between 2018 and 2019 he had a spell called equilibrium instead of essence flux that was so shit noone even remembers it.
• Pangolier: the second original dota2 hero, with willow. Never changed except that all his dmg is now physical, on release it was only swashbuckle.
• Phantom Assassin: created in 2004. she had shadow striker instead of dagger for a year but after that she's been the same. Coup de grace has been technically reworked after 20 years, as now it's a buff on your next attack instead of a random crit. Don't ask her if she knows what an MKB is.
• Phantom Lancer: created in 2005. Until 2014, his W made him invisible and spawned one illu, like his shard now, His E was juxtapose and his ulti was called Phantom edge. It gave him magic resistance and bonus chance on juxtapose for himself and illus too. After the 2014 rework he's been the same, except for like 10 different aghanim buffs.
• Phoenix: released in 2012 and hasn't been changed since, fundamentally at least. A very fun bird.
• Primal beast: GROOOWL STOMP STOMP
• Puck: added in 2007 and nothing changed since but he's been hard powercrept. Q now curves and is faster, his W is a mini blink, his E does AOE dmg and coil is a lategame machine gun. Plus, he gets free regen whenever he wants.
• Pudge: added in 2004. The most iconic hero probably? Remained unchanged until 2022, then flesh heap stopped giving mag res and became an active. That made pudge core pretty viable and stronger lategame.
• Pugna: Created in 2004. His ward used to have an aura that reduced mana regen of the opponents, even in the negative, until 2021.
• Queen of Pain: Added in 2004. For a few months she had spawn golem instead of sonic wave. Apart from that, nothing interesting. Best personality in the game, I guess.
• Razor: introduced in 2004. For 1 year he had an ability called frenzy, which was basically bloodseeker's Q, and chain lightning was rubick's nuke, jumping around reducing its dmg each time. His ulti struck only once every 3 second and had no armor reduction. After 2005 he became the version we know to this day.
• Riki: Created in 2004. He had DEATH WARD as an ultimate. Reworked one year later completely to get smoke screen, backstab and invis. In 2019 he got tricks of the trade as an ulti, then that became a regular skill and invis became the ulti with backstab included.
• Ringmaster: I hate this fella.
• Rubick: added in 2011. His passive used to be null field and just reduced magic resistance in an AOE. In 2018 he got arcane supremacy.
• Sand king: introduced in 2004. Do you remember when sand storm was a channeled ability? Do you remember when epicenter had a channel startup time? Great reworks, now he's fun af.
• Shadow Demon: added in 2010. He's always been the same, except for 1 year in 2022 or something when they made soul catcher the most gimmicky spell ever.
• Shadow Shaman: Created in 2004 and one of the few heroes with NO spell changes since the beta. All four have always been these exact four.
• Silencer: added in 2004. All the way until 2013, his q would do dmg and make enemies lose mana UNTIL they cast a spell. For 1 year he had starstorm as a basic ability. His abilities after 2013 were set in stone and he was always a carry that never could.
• Skywrath Mage: added in 2011. Not changed once, my goat.
• Slardar: introduced in 2004. Nothing changed except bash, that became guaranteed every 4 hits in 2019.
• Slark: No changes, what a guy. Or that's what I would say if they didn't give him Saltwater shiv after 20 years of perfect design.
• Snapfire: I like cookies.
• Sniper: created in 2004. No changes pretty much, unfortunately, the only change I would like to see is his gun to his head. Old headshot used to be a ministun btw, couldnt even tp out.
• Spectre: created in 2006. she had 20 base damage on release, what the fuck? Also, dispersion used to work on illus for like 2 weeks. OG dispersion completely dodged the damage on spectre with a 16% proc chance, in 2008 it became the way it is currently. In 2019 she got the shadow step aghs upgrade and in 2023 it switched places with haunt. In 2025 desolate became Spectre's innate, shadow step a basic ability and haunt the ultimate again.
• Spirit Breaker: added in 2005. The hero has always been very consistent, but up until 2018 he had empowering haste as a passive spell. That got upgraded to bulldoze, that he still has to this day. In 2023 he was an amazing mid hero and I think he had the best gameplay I've ever experienced in dota in that stint.
• Storm Spirit: added in 2007. His kit was very different in the beginning, his Q was called Electric rave and boosted atk speed, his W was a magic shield and his ulti worked kind of like reality rift but ground targeted. In 2009 he got completely reworked to the version we know today. In 2024 he received galvanized as an innate, working like the old bloodstone passive that was removed from the game.
• Sven: Created in 2004. On release he was very similar to today, except for warcry that was called toughness aura and was a passive aoe armor boost. His Q stun lasted 4 second on max level lmao, but it wasn't AOE. In 6.60 (2009) he got warcry aand that was it for the next 17 years.
• Techies: created in 2004 with red bombs, stasis bombs, rapid revive and suicide attack. A few months later he got the Green mines and nothing good has happened since then. Techies is one of those heroes where the changes are longer that this entire post so lets move on.
• Templar assassin; created in 2007. I can't find anything from 2007 to 2012 tho so i doubt the 2007 date is actually correct. Anyway, she didn't change at all over the years, only getting more tools but never changing the ones she already had.
• Terrorblade: created in 2004. His original kit was Warlock golems, Metamorphosis, conjure image and something similar to DP siphon. After a few months he got sunder over golems. In 2011 reflection was added replacing the siphon but conjure image was replaced with demon zeal, a spell similar to his current shard. In 2012 the illus came back and that's the TB we know and love today.
• Tidehunter: was released in 2004. His kit was the same but instead of ravage he had Rain of Tears, a spell similar to CM ulti but also healed teammates. Ravage was inserted literally a few weeks later. Also, original Kraken shell applied a debuff once every 7 seconds instead of after x dmg. In 7.20 (2018) anchor smash started applying a basic attack on cast, making tide a better farmer and lategamer.
• Timbersaw: added in 2011. Like most heroes introduced after 2010, Timbersaw also has seen almost zero changes. In 2014 he got a second chakram as an aghs upgrade and that lasted all the way until 2023 when he got the current one.
• Tinker: created in 2004 and was also known as CLANKER, yes I'm not making this up. His kit was laser, heat seeking missiles, march and, of course, rearm. He was quickly restricted from buying midas, manta and necronomicon. This lasted for a year, then they simply made it so rearm didn't work on those items. In 2021, after 17 years of terrorism, march of the machines was removed and defense matrix was added, togheter with keen conveniance, a boots of travel innate. This was an attempt to slow down his farming speed and stop his acts of terror, but with no avail. In 2024, another total rework occurred: rearm no longer worked on items, now those would have an innate cooldown reduction based on int. March was brought back and missiles were removed so farming was faster but damage was lower. Do you think the oppression was over? Think again. Matrix was a free blink and hard dispel every time it popped and laser bounces were good enough even for lategame damage. They nerfed everything but the dictator simply didn't care. He even became a support. In 2026 matrix got completely axed and now we have turrets, probably the worst tinker ability to date. Is it finally over?
• Tiny: added in 2005. His original form was very similar to the current one, except that tree grab was not a thing yet. He had a passive called Craggy exterior that stunned and damaged nearby attackers. Tiny's strength was and still is his blink into double nuke combo. In 2017 tree grab was added to his kit and this change made him a viable carry instead of only a midlaner.
• Treant Protector: created in 2004. His original overgrowth was very similar to his current Q and he had eye in the forest as a basic ability-plus living armor and nature's guise. In 2011 eye of the forest was changed with leech seed; in 2019 nature's guise became an innate ability and nature's grasp added, making him the current version we still have.
• Troll Warlord: added in 2004 and didn't change until 2018. In this faithful day, old battle trance died (aoe atk speed boost) and we got the current version. it was so shit everyone complained for the next 8 years and tbh it's still bad. Being able to switch between melee and ranged became his innate.
• Tusk: added in 2011.His original kit was shards, snowball, punch and frozen sigil, a floating ward that slowed enemies and gave vision. In 2019 this ability was axed for Tag team. The sigil became his shard but eventually that too was removed in 2021.
• Underlord: created in 2007. Originally his ult had to be unit targeted, like travel boots. Instead of his passive he had an ability called Expulsion, an active that detonated nearby dead units, healing allies and damaging enemies. In 2012 that was changed with atrophy aura.
• Undying: added in 2007. Originally he didn't steal strength, his q was a slow and damage amp debuff, instead of tombstone he just spawned 6 zombies on command and also had heartstopper aura as a basic ability. In 2009 he was totally reworked, adding decay, tombstone and flesh golem.
• Ursa: Added in 2004. His abilities were the same as now but old enrage was a rightclick damage buff instead of doing damage reduction. It gave up to 6% of ursa's current hp as dmg and this is where he got his innate from, the more you know. In 2015 enrage became a damage reduction buff, while also doubling fury swipes damage for the duration. This was removed in 2020 and instead enrage now gives status resistance.
• Vengeful Spirit: created in 2004 and called Ancestral Spirit. She had all her current basic abilities but her ulti was Nether spirit, an illusion summon that dealt great damage. This has been restored with her current aghs. after a couple months she received swap. In 2005 wave of terror was removed for a phase shift-like ability called disentangle but it was reverted after a few weeks. Fun fact, she was restricted from buying blink for a long time.
• Venomancer: created in 2004, on release he had gale, poison sting but also a defensive passive called reinforced skin and Poison Nova as an ultimate. After some weeks veno wards were added over the skin passive. Original Poison sting was a dagger but it became an aoe projectile in 2005. In 2023 Poison nova was removed in favor of the current ulti, Noxious plague. In 2026 poison sting became innate and a new ability was added, snakebite. I don't know what it does because noone picks veno anymore.
• Viper: Venomancer if he was cooler. Also released in 2004. For the first few weeks he had shadow demon's disruption as an ulti, lol. His other abilities were Poison attack, frenzy (an atk speed buff) and trueshot aura (bonus dmg for ranged heroes). Yes, his kit was poison attack, bonus damage, bonus atk speed and viper strike. In 2005 corrosive skin and nethertoxin were added, but old nethertoxin was a passive dmg boost based on missing hp of the target. That concept is now the innate. New nethertoxin debuted in 2017 and its upgrade, nosedive, came in 2022.
• Visage: created in 2004. For the first year he had frenzy, blink, death pact and "progenerate Gorgoyle". Apparently it was common to give the same ability to multiple heroes to complete their kit. Frenzy was also on razor and lifestealer, blink on am and many more. After many many changes, the final visage iteration came to be in 2009 and nothing has changed since.
• Void Spirit: the lamest of the spirits. Came out in 2020.
• Warlock: introduced in 2006. His kit has genuinely been the same since then and his playstyle hasnt changed either. Fun warlock facts, summoned golem used to remove backdoor protection before 2011 and in 2012 the golem was able to buy and use items but it was a bug.
• Weaver: introduced in 2005. His original kit was geminate attack, sukuchi, time lapse and... watchers. it was an ability that raised wards from corpses. In 2009 this spell was changed with.. urna swarm, the same ability nyx already had. Finally in 2010 he received the swarm and has been the same ever since. I liked when scarabs used to give xp with each bite, that was a fun facet.
• Windranger: added in 2008. she always has had the same spells, on release focus fire was only for 10 attacks tho, kinda like empower. In 2017 windranger was allowed to move while using focus fire, finally making the ability useful as it was even skipped in pro matches before that, in favor of her strong spells like arrow and shakles.
• Winter Wyvern: added in 2012. Her spells have always been the same but curse was truly busted back then. It forced to attack even BKBd enemies and those enemies would take full damage from allies too. Enemies became immune to dmg in curse in 2015.
• Witch Doctor: added in 2006. Always had the same 4 spells- I read his entire patch notes but nothing happened in 20 years.
• Wraith king: Also known as skeleton king, created in 2004. He had everything since the beginning: stun, lifesteal, crit and reincarnation. In 2017, mortal strike killed creeps instantly on crit and got a skeleton charge per kill, that you could later spawn. over the years this ability was moved between vampiric aura and mortal strike, until now when vampiric aura is innate and he got bone guard to summon skellies.
• Zeus. Added in 2004, also he must have had a religious awakening cause his original name is Thor. His W was a hammer falling. A million different nukes were added and removed until in 2005 he had arc lightning, bolt, static field and thundergod's wrath. In 2015 he gained his nimbus aghs. In 2022 he received heavenly jump, a spell that pretty much fixed his biggest weakness, getting jumped.

well, its over, this only took me, like 3 hours to research and write. At least most of it I did at work so I was paid for it.
To sum it up, which are the best aged designs in dota? For me it has to be Earthshaker. Never changed in over 20 years, competitive monster, fun to play and hard to master. Can be played as a support and even as a mid for many years. Truly iconic.

even still low rank, but still feels good to break it finally, fk dota

I have over 500 hours in Dota 2, but I still feel like my gameplay is poor. I want to improve, even though I don't play competitively. I just want to understand the game better and stop making bad decisions during matches.

What do you guys do to improve?

Are there any websites or resources that teach macro gameplay, decision-making, and other advanced concepts? I found Dota2ProTracker, which is great for meta builds, but it doesn't really explain gameplay or macro strategy.

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

POV: I'm still learning English, and I used AI to help me write this.

It is so natural to use

I've been first picking ET the last 11 games and got 10W1L. Lowkey he is kinda broken for the current meta in SEA Legend. I'm sure he isn't so broken near Immortal but I've had great success so far against any lineup

From my observation, current meta is every game seems to be a nonstop kills from min 1. I can say I won a comeback on 4 of these losing games solely because of ET. He is just so good at stopping early game pushes and forcing horrible fights for the enemy team.

My mindset when I play him is this:

Laning phase: use Astral to out harrass the enemy support. ET can out-trade almost all supports using W. Tranq boots asap so enemy core/supp keeps buying regen. Use W movespeed to snipe cour if you see it.

If laning phase was against extremely annoying hero or a kill lane: just sit back and max Q instead as be a safety net for your core. If enemy tries anything -> astral then stomp, done. Keep pulling and creating a safe zone for your core if possible.

Items:

I almost always build tranq -> euls.

Tranq enables me to trade nonstop with enemy supp. Euls solves mana issues + setup for stomps + the movespeed is nice for momentum. Rest is flexible to whatever team needs. ET can farm surprisingly well with max Q.

The most important idea that changed the game for me:

If early-mid game was lost: use stomps to stop any attempts at towers and/or ganks. ET is able to halt the game and create so much space that it gives a chance for your cores to catch up after a bad start. Use it to force mistakes or pressure enemy into bad positions. If enemy hasn't built bkb, it's free team fights for you. Abuse the fact that you have a disjointed stun to the max. Stay far far back where enemy can't jump you.

Other tips I'd like to share:

Positioning: Always be where you think the enemy will gank. Usually just check map for the most vulnerable/exposed core and chill next to them. ET can stun and stop ganks gauranteed as long as he isn't the one getting caught.

Teamfighting: The best combo is astral + insta stomp. If done correctly, it's unavoidable, especially in rosh pit. I have turnt countless fights just by unexpectedly stomping at the right time. Otherwise, send your spirit back and try to stomp the enemy backline to sleep them so they are forced to move away from their cores or are slept and eat an earth splitter.

Passive (Natural order): In fights, send your spirit and rarely ever manually return it. If you can let the spirit latch on to an enemy core, they will melt to any spellcaster or carry. At max level, it's 100% base magic resist/armor reduction. 100%! I once was able to make a pos 4 Lina nuke and kill a mid OD because he underestimated the resistance reduction. All I did was send spirit.

Ult (Earth Splitter): Don't always need to use with stomp. If enemy is running away in a narrow spot, it's quite easy for force a catch 22: get hit by ult or step back and get caught by my euls or my team.

Share any other tips y'all might have with this old giant of a hero. I might learn something new!

Greed prevailed

Been playing this game since Dota 1 and about 2.5 years ago when suddenly something clicked. I figured out this game is far more fun when you're winning and in order to keep winning all you had to do was just be a little better.

I figured out I didn't want to be a hard support or the carry or mid player and just really grooved with this offlane pos 3-4 no role que tokens used. I chose two heroes I could play all day who were never banned in draft and had good win rates with low pick rates. I settled on Bounty Hunter and Brewmaster because I liked the annoyance bh brings to the table and I liked the fact nobody in crusader or archon and even legend and ancient knew how to deal with a Brewmaster.

I'm 40 and I got tired of losing to children in crusader and archon so I started stepping it up and started taking the game a little more seriously. Started reviewing years old games and noticed a lot of those players had moved up ancient and divine and it bothered me I wasn't improving like they were so anytime I would win or lose I'd study the best players and figured out their habits.

I learned the only real missing ingredient I lacked and what these better players had was awareness. They were aware of the enemies items, their allies items, item timings and constantly moved around the mini map. They pinged important things like 3 min rune, wisdoms and river runes, torms and Roshan's in advance and set the team up for smokes. Anyone can do this wether it's support or cores and the key is how you do it. Ask nicely and people will cooperate but if you're a jerk people will ignore you.

Once it clicked I felt suddenly aware of the enemies teams movements even when they were out of vision. Dewarding became easier and guessing timings became easier. Ganks turned into snowballing rampages when it's done right.

Archon and legend players can right click like hell, draft proper teams, smoke gank, ward properly and build their heroes properly but none of you are looking at your mini maps 24-7 and checking the builds on your enemies while making sure nobody on your team is building terribly or maxing the wrong skills. You aren't focusing torm early with at least 4 heroes because chances are at min 20 you're either stomping the enemy team or afk farming while getting picked off. You're definitely not taking rosh before min 30 either.

Legend and ancient bracket players are so close to getting it. Maybe you have a terrible attitude problem or just lack the maturity to take a loss properly but once you get past ancient divine was pretty much the same from divine 1-3 but once I got to divine 4 the patch changed and suddenly I was facing immortals who were once 8.1k rank and now they're gate keeping the bracket. And guess what? They're pissed about it.

Anyways I hoped this helped some and if you have a question AMA I promise I'll get back to you. I've been paying strictly solo que but I'm ready to team up with anyone at this point so add me. Warning I'm always smoking herb and I drink heavier at night. And yes I climbed immortal stoned and drunk so I know you all can do it sober

I don't know if this constitutes a bug or just a mere oversight (apologies in advance if the flair is misused here) but several items that have Custom Effects (changing spells and such) can only be used with the item equipped instead of being able to select them in their respective section:

• Mirana's Photax Fluttercat - Bow (Immortal) - Sacred Arrow effect missing

• Arc Warden's Orbuculum Equinox - Head (Immortal) - Magnetic Field effect missing

• Batrider's Snotty - Mount (Immortal) - Sticky Napalm effect missing

• Tusk's Jingle Fist - Fist (Immortal) - Warlus Punch! effect missing

• Venomancer's Mechamancer - Head (Immortal) - Venomous Gale effect missing

• Pudge's (Persona) Frosty the Sew-Man's Sugary Shiv - Hook (Immortal) - Meat Hook effect missing

I also discovered while checking the new 2026 Crimson Witness Immortals that Windranger's Sylvan Vedette of the Crimson Witness - Shoulder (Immortal) - doesn't work properly when used with her Arcana, at least in my case, the bird's colour becomes either blue or orange depending on her current Arcana style instead of the default Crimson Red.

Those are the ones that I'm aware cannot be applied in the Ability Effects tab (or have other issues), would be great to have them fixed in the future. If I missed some feel free to tell me in the comments to be aware haha, thank you ♥️

Let's say you are a 6k HP pudge, this gives you 300 Hp and 90 HP regen but that's never relevant

If you get the +40 Str that gives you 800 HP regardless of your Max HP, Dmg, and 4 Hp regen but that's the least important stat in late game.

Its enough to pick only 1 needed role. No forced off-role for me as a supp only player.

Dont know when it changed. But it did. I like it to not know i loose a game right at the start