Examining in depth the meta that has developed around Dota 2 version 7.31d, which is the patch on which the Arlington Major will very certainly be played.

The PGL Arlington Major and the TI11 qualifiers are now the only events standing between now and The International 2022 (TI11), the conclusion of the third and final Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) season of 2021–2022. The Summer Tour, the third season, began in the first week of June, while Dota 2 patch 7.31d was published on June 8. Thus, with the exception of a few opening matches, patch 7.31d was used for the majority of the season.

It doesn’t appear like there will be any patch changes until it is decided which 12 teams receive a direct invitation to Singapore for the year’s final DPC Major. Let’s examine the Dota 2 meta right now using the games from the DPC Summer Tour because that will help us anticipate what will happen at the Arlington Major.

The DPC Summer Tour featured 824 games over all six Dota 2 regions (China, Southeast Asia, South America, North America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe). The season saw the selection of 121 heroes, 100 of whom appeared in 10 or more games. The information was obtained from datDota.

Most preferred heroes from the DPC Spring Tour in 2021–2022

The DPC Summer tour’s most popular hero, Tiny, has a pick rate of an astounding 47.45%! The hero is frequently shown in a core role (position 1 or position 2), but occasionally they are also depicted in a support capacity. The Stone Giant has been in the lead for a long because to their adaptability outside of their positions.

Hero	Total Count	% of Games	1st Phase	2nd Phase	3rd Phase	Win %
Tiny	391	47.45%	298	40	53	53.20%
Puck	287	34.83%	208	37	42	55.40%
Dawnbreaker	286	34.71%	234	25	27	42.31%
Marci	260	31.55%	211	31	18	49.23%
Snapfire	199	24.15%	68	74	57	49.75%
Mars	183	22.21%	107	26	50	54.64%
Monkey King	178	21.60%	88	24	66	53.37%
Beastmaster	173	21.00%	123	12	38	57.23%
Clockwerk	171	20.75%	61	77	33	49.12%
Void Spirit	164	19.90%	37	37	90	45.12%
Razor	156	18.93%	78	20	58	45.51%
Winter Wyvern	154	18.69%	60	65	29	53.90%
Ember Spirit	153	18.57%	21	44	88	44.44%

Dawnbreaker and Marci, two of Captains Mode’s newest arrivals, are among the top five most popular heroes. The two women have recently received buffs to help them do this, but it appears that Dawnbreaker will still need some help given that her win rate is only 42.31 percent.

Puck and Beastmaster are the only two heroes in the top 15 picks who have win rates greater than 55%. Both of those heroes are making waves both personally and professionally because they are both a part of the top cores of the 7.31d pub meta.

While 7.31d primarily focused on balance adjustments, a few heroes received substantial boosts from smaller adjustments. Clockwerk is just one of those. Clockwerk received just one buff, yet it was sufficient to make the hero a serious contender in competitive games.

Clockwerk

Battery Assault

• Deals 2x damage to creeps

Most contentious characters from the DPC Spring Tour in 2021–2022

The most popular heroes don’t always give the whole story because the heavily forbidden heroes don’t show up there, but in current meta, it looks like the most popular heroes are also the ones that are most hotly debated. Considering that Puck has played in 824 games, his contest rate of 87.38 percent is absurd. With contest rates of 75% and 74.39%, respectively, Tiny and Marci aren’t far behind.

Viper, Batrider, Timbersaw, and Bloodseeker are the hotly contested heroes who don’t appear on the list of those who are most frequently chosen. With around 400 bans, Viper ranks third among those heroes behind Puck and Beastmaster in terms of bans. Nobody wants to live with that level of toxicity on thier games.

Heroes from the 2021–2022 DPC Spring Tour with the greatest win percentage (picked in at least 10 games)

Some fairly unfamiliar identities are revealed when looking at the heroes with the highest win rates. With 43 games under her belt, Luna has an incredible win percentage of 72.09 percent! Other notable names on the list are Treant Protector and Bane, who were chosen in almost 100 games and still managed to achieve a win percentage of 60% or more. These characters excel in a narrow range of circumstances and are well suited to them.

Unselected heroes from the DPC Spring Tour in 2021–2022 (picked in less than 10 games)

Considering that only 22 heroes were chosen in fewer than 10 games, this meta is rather diversified (Primal Beast is yet to be introduced to Captains Mode). The only other hero, Meepo, had zero picks to his credit. At least once was chosen for each of the others. The heroes who haven’t been active in the professional meta for a while, such Drow Ranger, Legion Commander, Shadow Fiend, and Techies, might see some attention in a patch released before TI11.

Distribution of games according to length

There is a fairly high likelihood that games will last between 30 and 40 minutes when looking at the distribution of games based on their length. 277 games of the 372 that were played to a conclusion fell into the 30-35 minute bracket, and 95 games fell into the 35-40 minute bracket.

52.4 percent of the games terminated before 35 minutes, while 47.6 percent of the games lasted over 35 minutes. The meta doesn’t necessarily favor very long games, but it also doesn’t favor exceptionally rapid games.

The meta right now, based on patch 7.31d, isn’t all that different from what it’s been for the past 12 months. The analysis here also demonstrates that it is a fairly balanced and diverse meta. There are several viable heroes and strategies. It is one of the most stable metas Dota 2 has ever seen, but a change is definitely needed.