Dota 2 world hasn’t been shaken up with a longly-anticipated balance change yet, meaning competitive teams from all around the world had to start the 2023 Dota Pro Circuit with a meta that they’ve grown used to.
Despite the lack of changes, the meta still found a way to shift as players discovered new ways to counter existing top picks. As some heroes were also slightly tweaked, a couple of new names started to wreak havoc in Dota 2’s competitive scene.
Heroes dominating the DPC Winter Tour
Lina
Also known as Sniper 2.0, Lina has become a bane of supports and offlaner’s existence. When combined with traditional damage items like Daedalus and survivability items like Satanic, Lina turns into an immovable object that deals great amounts of damage in fights.
Thanks to her long range, Lina is also a master of siege, she can demolish buildings fast while keeping her distance.
Batrider
Batrider can be considered one of the sleepers of Dota 2’s current patch cycle. While the hero definitely had some play-time, it has never been this aggressively contested as it was in the 2023 DPC.
In multiple DPC divisions, Batrider has been one of the most banned heroes, and it’s for a good reason. Batrider is one of the best laning heroes in the game right now. He’s a menace to deal with both in the offlane and the mid-lane.
On top of being a tough laner, Batrider also excels at clearing stacks which enables him to get his items in timely manners. Considering he also prefers building Boots of Travel first, Batrider also actively contributes to helping his team around the map early on in the game.
Broodmother
Broodmother was heavily contested during The International 2022. It was one of the heroes that defined Tundra Esports, and the hero’s overall utility was nerfed alongside Wraith Pact.
The start of 2023 showcased that Broodmother didn’t rely on Wraith Pact to find success, as the hero continued to be a recognizable force in the offlane by building other utility items.
Considering her maneuverability around the lane and the map, Broodmother is one of the more difficult heroes to deal with for enemy supports in the early stages of a match. While winning lanes by nice margins, Broodmother also serves as a gateway for teams who’d like to have early teamfight items to increase their durability.
Beastmaster
Beastmaster is a timeless offlaner. Despite drifting in and out of the meta, Beastmaster always finds a way to come back strong. Not only is he a tanky offlaner, but Beastmaster also comes with various teamfight abilities that can help any team excel around the map.
Call of the Wild Hawk can turn around games where vision is the most important asset to both teams. Primal Roar is also one of the most effective stuns in the game, making Beastmaster the perfect anti-carry.
Slark
The current Dota 2 meta favors mid laners and offlaners. Considering how long it might take for a carry to come online, they might get overlooked, and some teams may even consider running traditional mid heroes as carries to make up for their pace.
Slark is one of the last agility carries that goes against this trend. Combined with Dark Pact and Shadow Dance, Slark is one of the fastest farmers in the game who doesn’t need farming items.
Since Essence Shift also steals permanent agility, similar to Silencer’s intelligence steal, Slark’s scalability increases drastically. Considering he also has talents to increase the duration of Essence Shift, Slark can suddenly start hitting like a truck for a decent two minutes in the later stages of a match.
