The first tour of the 2023 Dota Pro Circuit is coming to an end. While the regular season is over and tiebreakers are underway, the meta has also been defined. Some heroes like Rubick found themselves a spot on the field in almost every match, while others never saw the light of day due to how overpowered they were.
Lina, Batrider, and Broodmother were three of the most-banned heroes across all of the DPC regions, according to Dota stats site Dotabuff. While Batrider and Broodmother have been on the ban list of all pro teams since The International 2022, Lina’s dominating nature came under the spotlight in recent months.
As a classic mid hero, Lina found herself a new home in the safe lane. Lina’s current playstyle resembles Sniper, but the utility she brings to the table makes her a better choice compared to the sharpshooter. Instead of focusing on spell power, carry Lina excels at building right-click damage, which she can abuse with her passive ability that grants her attack speed.
Broodmother, on the other hand, earned her spot on the list of most-banned heroes after TI11. The spider snowballed way too many matches throughout the tournament and even played a vital part in Tundra Esports’ road to the Aegis of Champions. Broodmother is a nightmare to lane against and becomes a powerful teamfighter after picking up some of the most effective utility items in the game as fast as possible.
Longtime Dota 2 fans might remember Batrider as a single target initiator. Though he’s still that, Batrider has evolved into a core that can take down farmed carries by himself.
Batrider doesn’t have to rely on dragging enemies toward his teammates anymore since he can melt any hero within seconds by himself. Getting caught by a Batrider is a luxury that carries don’t have at the moment, hence the bans.
Instead of trying to counter these heroes, most teams prefer to ban them in the first drafting phase. As a result, these three heroes spent most of the DPC season away from the field since their presence brought nothing but terror to their enemies.
