Learning From the Qualifiers
Image by DNADota
The qualifiers are not over yet, but there are definitely some trends worth paying attention to. Today we would like to highlight three heroes, who overperformed or are overperforming in all regions, making them the best candidates to spam in your everyday pubs.
Gyrocopter
The hero was decent in the previous patch already, but 7.34 definitely pushed him over the edge. Between ways of mitigating slow effects, extra night vision and extra target for the Sidegunner upgrade, we get a hero that feels at home in the current fight-oriented meta.
The best part is that when Gyro is played in the core position, he still retains his farming speed, if there are stacks ready for him to farm. Most professional players build with Flak Cannon priority in mind, and it is the ability usually maxed out by level eight, after two points into Rocket Barrage. This gives the hero good laning presence and some kill potential.
Professional players also stopped taking attributes, instead getting extra levels in Rocket Barrage first and maxing out Homing Missile last. Given the Slow Resistance buff you get, maxing out Rocket Barrage second makes sense, while the reduced cooldown on Homing Missile is also nothing to scoff at, even when Gyro is played as a Carry.
Finally, it is absolutely necessary to point out that 
Aghanim's Scepter is the highest priority item for the hero. It is his farming tool that also got buffed in the previous patch and the only small item Gyro can theoretically go for is 
Falcon Blade and usually when having an amazing laning stage with multiple kills.
Vengeful Spirit
Total damage reduction is a very powerful concept. Naturally, it is dispellable and is fully blocked by Spell Immunity. However, with a ten second cooldown, applying it twice in a fight is possible. The end result is a hero who can create a massive damage disparity between two teams and ensure favorable engagements.
That was true before, but now Vengeful Spirit also has a respectable stun in Magic Missile and much better laning stage, courtesy of extra starting AS. Considering how she is a Universal hero and has access to Armor and Damage reducing ability, it is no surprise her early game became much better. You can out-right click most heroes in lane.
Later on, she transitions into a somewhat unreliable, but still powerful save support. Most importantly, if she ever gets to Aghanim's Scepter, the game just becomes very hard for the enemy. As a save hero she should usually be the target of initiation, but because she essentially has a second life, it can be problematic to play this way.
As long as she is on the field, she has to be addressed, but prioritizing her often proves to be a trap. There is usually no good initiation option against a late game Vengeful Spirit, only multiple sub-par ones.
Nature's Prophet
It is very hard to argue against a global support with a potential 200 damage DoT effect and a flat damage steroid. Nature’s Prophet used to be balanced around his over-reliance on items and levels to contribute, with his utility and damage being conditional and, frankly, quite weak. It is no longer the case and the hero can be played as a very effective lane support who makes ganking other lanes trivial, even by the post-Twin Gate world standards.
The hero also scales as well as he used to. It is possible to turn Nature’s Prophet into a full DPS core by the late game. This is already noticeable in the professional scene, where constant global presence allows the hero to get a lot of assist and kill gold. It is going to be even more noticeable in pubs that tend to last much longer. As long as you have decent map awareness and communicate well, Furion will be an asset.
Later on, he can still transition into a strong pushing character, but with the regular 
Solar Crest into utility build, we would advise against it. Leveraging global presence with a global Wrath of Nature setup through Aghanim's Scepter is usually the play. The new 
Rod of Atos also fits the hero extremely well, though the 
Gleipnir transition is understandably skipped in favor of extra crowd control in the late game.
Nature’s Prophet is definitely unfair and will get nerfed pre-TI, of that we are almost certain. That said, even if the numbers change, as long as he can be played effectively without getting early levels of Treants, his pub presence will be noticeable and strong. The hero got better and easier to play and should not be disregarded even after he gets some tweaks.
closing thoughts
It feels like the meta is in a decent enough place. There is good variety across all regions and outside of a couple of outliers, the patch is definitely TI-worthy.
That said, there is still over a month until the biggest esports event of the year, so there is still time to make some small and necessary adjustments. And hopefully, we will see even more diversity of pick and strategies in the upcoming WEU and SEA matches.
my boy furion about to get nerfed
Yeah Nature's Prophet is busted now. He was always underwhelming in damage and skills early because of his global presense and farming potential. Now he is very good early game too.
Feel like PA needs a mention too. The increased damage is nothing to scoff at for sure, but that visual indicator is great both mentally and "physically".
Earthshaker in every Game. Mostly Smurfs..... gg rq
I'd pick brood here
Shaker seems quite OP too... PA is just on easy mode these days. They have quietly and slowly given her more and more abilities over the years with Lifesteal and Break etc and now with guarantee on that crazy critical is just plain silly. I'm sure she won't be an issue in TI territory, but we ain't all Topson and Puppey.
But in the end, the game feels like there are multiple decent picks to be made and the hero pool is not that restricted, so overall it is quite nice, but these outliers need to reigned in a little bit.
I still think most winrate heroes at my current low mmr 2000-3600 mmr bracket.
Witch doctor
Spirit breaker
Nature prophet
Phantom assasin
Naga siren
Tinker
Nerf NP into the GROUND bro, I'm so sick of playing against this hero
Aha so you do get Paid
i hecking love getting sporuted
ES no change LOL
Brood nerfed LOL
Naga buff Ensnare
SB not buffed
i mean ES buff is like ur 11 milimeter dick increased to 12 milimeter dick
1 cm = 100 milimeter
I don't think NP is too strong at all. That is why he is only at 52% win rate across the board. People have easily just bought quelling blade to counter.
buying quelling doesn't counter the dmg sprout does lmfao