China fears Alchemist, Europe in Slardar Fever
Whenever a new patch is released, it is the pros who first decide what heroes to play out, what approaches become the meta. Fortunately, with the Major series in Dota 2, there are four, high quality tournaments in the year, and its prestige forces every team to show us their approaches, their interpretations of the current meta.
With Manila Major Qualifiers underway, we’re seeing each region develop their own trends. As we discussed prior to Shanghai, some of these trends may very well be the overall core concepts of 6.87’s new meta, while others may be from regional, niche picks.
Tanky Cores return
Over the past week, we’re seeing a trend of tanky cores being picked up. While heroes such as 
Sven and 
Lifestealer were becoming popular in 6.86, the buff to 
Armlet of Mordiggian in 6.87--it now grants 5 additional armor, in addition to the extra 5 upon activation--has allowed a wide variety of tanky, strength cores to be viable again. 
Alchemist and 
Slardar make a return to the meta after a few months, and even 
Dragon Knight has gotten himself into the spotlight again.
Slardar, especially, has seen a vast rise in popularity in the West and has quickly established himself as the most picked hero in the European qualifier. His winrate certainly doesn’t suggest that he is a must-pick (currently at 38% in Europe, 53% overall), but as previously explored in 6.85, the hero offers a lot of versatility in the draft and in lanes. In fact, with the increasing popularity of Alchemist and Dragon Knight, there have even been instances that saw Slardar in the midlane.
Medusa is another hero that has seen a bit of spotlight recently. In the Chinese qualifier alone, she has been picked 7 times and banned 15 times. While the win percentage is not necessarily impressive (roughly 40% in the overall qualifier), it showed that the concept of the tanky core translates well beyond strength heroes. Medusa benefits from the increase in HP gained per strength point and the increased amplification damage from Stone Gaze is certainly something worth exploiting in the right line-up.
While the trend of tanky cores certainly is there, there is a large discrepancy between regions as to which cores to prioritize. Chinese teams have traditionally always preferred Dragon Knight, and they showed it in the Manila Qualifier again. Out of the overall 33 picks so far, 17 of them were in the Chinese qualifier. Similarly, Alchemist was the second most banned hero (36 bans out of 55 games) in the Chinese qualifier, but he was only contested 22 times in Europe. The concept seems to be reversed when looking at Slardar, who was only contested a total of 10 times in China.
How do stars of 6.86 do now
Outworld Devourer has not only declined in pub games
Some of the bigger questions going into this week of Manila Major qualifier madness was whether the nerfed heroes, the stars of 6.86, would still be useful, still be relevant. At ESL One Manila, the last LAN event in 6.86, 
Invoker was the second most picked hero at the event. His nerfs in 6.87 knocked him down quite a bit, and across all regions he’s only the 16th most picked hero, with a 42% winrate. Looking at Europe alone, it’s even worse with only 6 picks so far.
Similarly, Spectre fell off from being the most picked carry at ESL One to only 25 picks across all regions, 11 of which were in the SEA qualifier.
Her drop-off is not nearly as bad as the ones of [missing hero: outworld-devourer] or 
Death Prophet. Neither had outstanding stats at ESL One Manila to begin with, but together they were picked less than Spectre alone. Death Prophet still musters 17 picks, but Outworld Devourer has just a single pick across 4 regions. It’s safe to say that he has been nerfed out of the meta entirely.
Patch Newcomers
Calling 
Disruptor a newcomer may be a bit of a stretch, considering he’s always been a situational pick that was viable in most patches. Going from 8 picks at two LAN events (StarLadder + ESL One Manila) to now 47 is quite impressive. He’s a strong pick against a lot of the now, trending tanky cores, as they usually lack the mobility to deal with the restrictive spells from Disruptor.
Another newcomer, Mirana, is also not really new, but certainly brought something new to the table. 
Mirana has largely been played as a support in pro Dota 2, with the occasional core Miranas. The tables have turned with her new 
Aghanim's Scepter upgrade. She was picked a total of 52 times in the entire qualifier so far, with a 56% winrate. Interestingly enough, this was a largely Western trend, as she was picked only 6 times in China.
China vs. Europe - vast differences
The biggest discrepancies can be found between China and Europe. In fact, NA and SEA seem to integrate a lot of flavors from both of these bigger regions, with a lot of similar picks.
You may have realized that we left out 
Earth Spirit in the stars of 6.86 section. That is because, while he did receive a nerf, there has been a major discrepancy in pick rates between certain regions. China still values the hero highly, as he was the third most picked hero (22 games and 50% winrate) in their regional qualifier, compared to being untouched in Europe, with only 8 picks and 5 bans.
The biggest differences are certainly between Europe and China, as both regions seems to have preferences for certain heroes that the other region simply does not share. China loves 
Juggernaut, 
Queen of Pain and 
Tidehunter, whereas Europe prefers 
Faceless Void, 
Puck and 
Night Stalker.
This list could be continued on both sides, with niche and situational picks being quite different. You may expect a Gyro pick in China, but in Europe it just seems less likely. Obviously, the further down the list you go, the more you’ll see picks that aren’t necessarily tied to the region, but rather to a few certain teams or players. NoDiggity’s Qojqva and Rebels!’ tmw are both known for their Tinker, and thus have made use of the hero, but it’s certainly not enough yet to call it a meta pick.
Closing Thoughts
While we have covered a lot of differences between regions, there are of course also a lot of similarities. 
Bounty Hunter, 
Beastmaster, 
Vengeful Spirit and 
Lion are still as potent and popular as they have ever been, no matter which region you look at.
That said, looking at regional metas and preferences is both interesting and important, because when they clash, they force teams outside of their comfort zones. The upcoming Epicenter tournament (starting on Sunday, 9th) should show us how some of the best teams from across the globe handle and approach the new patch, as well as show which meta will prevail. If we look back to our Shanghai Major qualifier review, one can see that it was the Chinese approach to the meta that largely prevailed in regards to hero picks and bans. They were very well aware of the threats Earth Spirit posed and focused him, while the West largely ignored him. Whose approach is the “right” one now?
Binging on the Manila Major Qualifiers. Doom is almost ALWAYS picked or banned first phase.
Well dooms infernal blade is base hp based so he is really reliable pick in this patch and of course we know Chinese teams love doom
In the last paragraph you wrote, "[herto=lion]"
Im wondering why don't they pick/ban timbersaw. He's very good against str heroes. However, slardar and doom are also good vs fatties, yet they have more "reliable" skills rather than timber does :/
sad invoker :(
[hero=lion]
Formatting error in penultimate paragraph
The upcoming Epicenter tournament (starting on Sunday, 9th)
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Sunday is 8th.
the true winner of 6.87 is elder titan
Meanwhile I'm just sitting here waiting for the Manila battle pass to drop
new patch always won't been discover that early, even last patch hot pick just been find out at about before the release of new patch.
Storm might be back,but it's too early to tell
ofc storm is back,he was good hero before but with that new crit int item hes too OP,but i dont understand why china fears alchemist,there are not many rly good alchemist on games ,but there are many crazy ass slardars
also slardar alot better hero than alc
How do you see the stats of picks and bans in professional games for 6.87 on dotabuff?
carry io armlet + two maelstrom + mom is even stronger now