Here's how the Dota 2 metagame from the Esports World Cup 2025 is shaping up ahead of The International 2025.

The Esports World Cup (EWC) 2025's Dota 2 tournament concluded on 19 July with a dominant victory for Team Spirit, who swept Team Falcons 3-0 in the grand finals. This triumph marks their second EWC title, adding to their win at the equivalent Riyadh Masters 2023. 

The team was superior in form compared to the rest, boasting a 12-1 win-loss score throughout the tournament. But another major factor of their commanding win was due to their strong drafts that capitalized on the current meta. 

The EWC marked the first high-profile competition played on Patch 7.39c, following PGL Wallachia Season 5, which was held on Patch 7.39b. While the changes between the two versions were relatively minor, they still affected several heroes and resulted in a subtly different meta.

The favoured heroes at the EWC are likely to serve as a foundation for the meta heading into The International (TI) 2025, the upcoming world championship set to kick off on 4 September, just a month away.

Note that the Dota 2 EWC featured only 89 games in total, a considerably smaller sample size compared to other Tier 1 tournaments, which often average well over a hundred. As a result, the meta trends discussed in this article may lean slightly toward the strategies and hero preferences of the more successful teams. 

With that said, let’s dig into the Dota 2 EWC meta below.

A quick look at the EWC meta

The EWC meta largely featured familiar patterns in picks and bans, with many staples from previous tournaments continuing to dominate. Sustain-heavy carries like Templar Assassin, Abaddon, and Doom remained highly favored. The mid lane meta stayed relatively static, revolving around a small core of comfort picks such as Puck, Queen of Pain, Storm Spirit, and Ember Spirit. Similarly, the offlane saw recurring picks like Axe, Dawnbreaker, Pangolier, and Dark Seer. As for supports, both lanes were filled with a wide rotation of interchangeable heroes, including frequent appearances from Shadow Shaman and Dark Willow.

With few major shifts in the broader competitive meta, the question remains: what changes did patch 7.39c actually bring?

Death Prophet falls off, Naga Siren takes the ban crown

One of the most striking effects of the new patch was the drastic decline of the Death Prophet. The hero was only contested in 5% of the matches at the Dota 2 EWC, earning two picks and bans, both resulting in losses. This is a sharp contrast to her dominance at PGL Wallachia Season 5, where she boasted a 93% contest rate, being the most-banned hero there.

Her fall-off was due to a big nerf to her ultimate ability, Exorcism, which no longer slows enemies. Additionally, she was hit with nerfs to her armor and Level 10 Talent Tree attack speed.

With the Death Prophet dethroned, a new feared hero takes the limelight. Naga Siren brought in even more impressive numbers, contested in 99% of matches at the Dota 2 EWC–only missing in one game from a total of 89 matches. 

The hero is a traditional carry pick, but lately, it has become a stronger contender in the support lane, winning five of eight matches as a hard support. The hero was already a feared presence in the previous tournament, earning one of the most bans at the event. But with a miniscule -1 nerf to her Intelligence in patch 7.39c, she remains strongly as the go-to ban in the current meta.

The five most banned heroes at the Dota 2 Esports World Cup are:

  1. Naga Siren: 80 bans
  2. Batrider: 67 bans
  3. Doom: 50 bans
  4. Templar Assassin: 49 bans
  5. Undying: 47 bans

Nature’s Prophet rises back to the top as the best-performing hero

Time and time again, Nature’s Prophet continues to find its way into the meta. We have seen him dominate ESL One Raleigh 2025 as the most-banned hero, then continue to shine in subsequent events like PGL Wallachia Season 4 and DreamLeague Season 26. As it typically goes, his dominance met with a massive nerf in patch 7.39, which replaced his overpowered Facet with an entirely different one.

Despite the nerf, Nature’s Prophet still hovered around as a position 4 hero at Wallachia S5. The developers then handed him a wave of back-to-back nerfs in 7.39b and 7.39c–but somehow, the hero returned stronger than ever as teams figured out how to utilize his heavily-packed arsenal in the carry position.

At the Dota 2 EWC, Nature’s Prophet was the most-picked carry with 19 picks, boasting the best performance with a staggering 74% win rate. In most cases, the hero is the first choice in drafts, with all players opting for its Soothing Saplings Facet. While primarily played in the carry role, Nature’s Prophet’s flexibility also made it a valuable pick in support positions, with several teams drafting him into the backlines.

In the best win rate metric, most heroes sustain their top position, but one was heavily affected. Kunkka was one of the most successful picks during PGL Wallachia Season 5, registering a 75% win rate with 16 picks. However, after punishing nerfs hit his Tidal Wave, decreasing its Wave Distance and cast range, Kunkka has fallen off the meta radar with fewer picks and a 38% win rate.

The five best-performing heroes at the Dota 2 Esports World Cup are:

  1. Nature’s Prophet: 24 picks, 75% win rate
  2. Batrider: 20 picks, 70% win rate
  3. Templar Assassin: 17 picks, 65% win rate
  4. Queen of Pain: 26 picks, 50% win rate
  5. Silencer: 10 picks, 70% win rate

Popular heroes in each role

A distinct shift in top picks was the steep decline in Terrorblade’s popularity, largely due to the Patch 7.39c nerf to his Innate damage penalty. Once the reigning carry in the previous event, Terrorblade managed only eight picks at the Dota 2 EWC, with a dismal 13% win rate.

Other notable changes include a spike in offlane Dawnbreaker picks and a rise in Shadow Fiend and Doom as core carries. However, those numbers for the new carry heroes are somewhat skewed due to heavy usage by Aurora and PARIVISION, respectively.

The support roster also saw a slight reshuffle. Bane surged to the top of the position 5 list, joined by rising picks like Dazzle, Chen, and Silencer. On the position 4 side, aggressive laners continued to dominate, with Batrider emerging as a new addition to the top five.

Here are the most-picked heroes per role at the Dota 2 EWC:

Position 1/Carry

  1. Nature’s Prophet: 19 picks, 74% win rate
  2. Templar Assassin: 16 picks, 69% win rate
  3. Doom: 13 picks, 54% win rate
  4. Shadow Fiend: 13 picks, 46% win rate
  5. Abaddon: 12 picks, 33% win rate

Position 2/Mid Laner

  1. Puck: 32 picks, 41% win rate
  2. Ember Spirit: 19 picks, 63% win rate
  3. Queen of Pain: 17 picks, 65% win rate
  4. Storm Spirit: 17 picks, 47% win rate
  5. Monkey King: 14 picks, 64% win rate

Position 3/Offlaner

  1. Dawnbreaker: 19 picks, 53% win rate
  2. Axe: 17 picks, 41% win rate
  3. Dark Seer: 17 picks, 35% win rate
  4. Pangolier: 13 picks, 69% win rate
  5. Centaur Warrunner: 9 picks, 67% win rate

Position 4/Soft Support

  1. Shadow Shaman: 32 picks, 47% win rate
  2. Dark Willow: 23 picks, 52% win rate
  3. Tusk: 20 picks, 45% win rate
  4. Marci: 19 picks, 58% win rate
  5. Batrider: 17 picks, 65% win rate

Position 5/Hard Support

  1. Bane: 17 picks, 41% win rate
  2. Warlock: 13 picks, 39% win rate
  3. Dazzle: 13 picks, 31% win rate
  4. Chen: 10 picks, 70% win rate
  5. Silencer: 9 picks, 78% win rate

While the hero trends may appear stagnant at first glance, there’s been just enough movement in the meta to keep things feeling fresh. The International will likely feature many of the same core picks—unless a major patch drops soon.

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