The February 10th patch is barely a day old, but we’re already trying to see the impact it has on the meta in HOTS. We took a look at the ESL's 8th Team Bracket to get an idea of what are the current competitive trends.

To try and gleam any impact, we examined the ESL HOTS qualifier bracket held on February 11th. The bracket was held as Team ALTERNATE (the current 8th team in the Major League Europe) were undergoing large roster changes and by rule had to earn the right to stay in the tournament. They faced off against SK Gaming, Fnatic, and Yard-Team, in a BO3 tournament and it was a short run, as Fnatic bounced them in Round 1 before themselves winning the finals against SK Gaming in an entertaining three game series. 

In all there were eight games, and there were some clear themes in terms of hero selections and bans. It is important to note that The Lost Vikings and Raynor were banned during this tournament. The Lost Vikings for how new they are, and Raynor due to a current unavoidable glitch in Adrenaline Rush.

  • In 8 games (96 selections/bans), there were 23 different heroes selected. 11 Heroes were selected in two or fewer games and 12 heroes constituted 82% of the selections/bans. 
  • There’s a clear selection of Tier 1 heroes. Zeratul was the most feared hero with seven bans (his only game was a loss by the way). Stitches was the most contested; banned four times and picked in the other games. Tassadar, Tyrande, Uther and Valla were the other heroes picked or banned every match.
  • Hammer and Illidan might be included as Tier 1 since they were selected or banned in seven of the eight matches.
  • Brightwing and Tychus both saw limited play as they received perceived nerfs; Brightwing to its rewind trait removed, and Tychus with the separate health bar removed from his ultimate.
  • The Tyrande-Stitches combination was one of the most popular pairings. The hook into Hunter’s Mark was very effective in the bracket, going 4-0. Certainly in the late game, that combination decimated opponent heroes in literally seconds.
  • A lot of hero selections seemed to be motivated by the changes in the level 20 traits. Nexus Blade and Nexus Frenzy seem like the two most impactful traits (most notably of course for Zeratul and Sgt. Hammer). The increase in level of Rewind (and complete removal for some heroes) seemed to have negative impact across the board on hero diversity.
  • The rarely seen Diablo was picked in a competitive match, and was very effective the first game he was in. He was used twiced by SK Gaming as a pocket strategy, but his second appearance was much less impactful and caused a decisive game loss. This may be due to misplays on the Diablo players part, but what is more likely is that Diablo is easy to counter once you are ready for him.
  • Despite the buffs, Sonya wasn't picked once during any of the matches. 

Check out the broadcast archives your self here.

Overall, it was a pretty exciting BO3 tournament between four teams desperately fighting for a chance in the majors. As teams continue to tweak hero selection and play with the new talents, we will be sure to keep you updated on what's new!


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