7.10 is out and has been rocking the Dota 2 scene for quite a few months. As is the tradition, new metas bring with them new heroes, new talents, buffs, nerfs, new items and some crazy changes to game mechanics. However, we will primarily be talking about the 7.07 meta in this article. Why? Simply because it brought some of the biggest changes to the game as any other major meta. 7.07 was able to live up to the hype, with some crazy hero talents, map changes and new gameplay mechanics being implemented. It had a huge impact on the community and how the game is being played.
Today we will be covering up some of the best carries who have recently been improved to perfection in the 7.07 and in its succeeding update, 7.10. Our discussion primarily revolves around the role of carry, for those who don’t know what a carry is: it is a role performed by heroes who are generally weaker in the early phase of the game but after eventually grow strong by means of farming and building items. They are the one who rely on the support at the early stage but turn the tables in the later half.
1) Anti Mage
One of our top picks is the magic hating man himself who is also comically known as ‘anti-fun’, Magina the Anti Mage. For any Dota veteran it is well known that no matter how much the community pleads IceFrog to nerfs Anti Mage, he ends up buffing himself up even more.
7.07 meta was no exception with Anti Mage receiving huge buffs after the changes in his talent tree. With a 4 second ‘blink’ ability for more evasive gameplay and faster farm potential or a direct raw stat boost from +15 agility talent, that too from a level 15 Anti Mage is a guy you will regret fighting with. He can massacre enemies in late game with his 3rd skill combined with the level 25 talent, which is +25% Spell Shield magic resistance and the infamous Aghanim’s Sceptre upgrade that basically gives Anti Mage the effects of a Linken Sphere and a Lotus Orb on his 3rd,i.e, his 3rd skill cancels any unit target spell and casts the spell on the caster. His level 20 talent is nothing less. It provides him with an uncontrollable illusion at the spot from where he blinks, this can be used for tricking enemies, dealing minor damage or trying to burn mana while staying at a safe distance or the user can take the extra blink range talent which also end up helping for faster farm. But the real thing is, now with this talent Anti Mage can deftly evade the rupture damage from Bloodseeker by doing a max range blink. With such skills and talents buffs, the Anti Mage still remains one of the fastest farmers and strongest carries in the game.
2) Faceless Void
From a place beyond time and time beyond counting comes our next hero, Faceless Void. Faceless Void has been a very reputable and highly picked hero in the pro scene for a very long time. Void’s contribution in team fights and game winning strategies cannot be expressed in words this making him a highly picked hero in pro scenes irrespective of the meta.
What makes void such a reliable hero is his passive stun ability from his 3rd skill, his high mobility in team fights with his first and his ultimate ability, the long term disable from Chronosphere which traps enemies in a timeless void, opens up numerous combos for his team. But Void became even more useful with the coming of 7.07 and renovation of his talent tree. His level 20 talent grants him mobility on his first skill with an increased range or a raw boost to his attack speed allowing him to carry better and farm much faster and land back to back stuns with his 3rd skill(which, safe to say, is extremely annoying). On top of that his level 25 talent with the infamous backtrack coming back void is certainly a force to fear. But, if the player has more of a team fight mentality, the increased Chronosphere AOE talent on level 25 talent tree can alternatively be picked. With such upgrades void has been an extremely popular pick as we got to witness some glorious Chronosphere wipes in the pro scene with the level 25 talent on Void recently.
3) Terrorblade
The much feared demon who has who has faced his worst self and escaped from the hell of hells comes 3rd on our list. Terrorblade is an extreme pusher and can literally devour towers from the mid game. He is literally an unstoppable monster who goes on a rampage taking towers and killing heroes like a sheet of paper as soon as he gets farmed.
Much of this is thanks to his 3rd and 2nd skill and the fact that he comes online easily with some very basic items compared to other carries or illusion based heroes. Recently, he has received a major buff in his talent tree, giving him a -35 sec cooldown on his ultimate, ‘Sunder’ which is probably one of the biggest game changing spells there is in Dota 2. With no mana cost on level 3 Sunder and a very short cooldown of a few seconds with this new talent, Terrorblade can change the momentum of a fight and sustain for a very long time. The -10 sec reflection cooldown is another great talent which comes in at level 20 allowing Terrorblade to spam it to scare of enemies, initiate a fight or just to secure kills without even going into the heat of the battle. All in all Terrorblade has made his grip as a very strong hero who is pretty much unstoppable without enough crowd control and lockdown spells on the enemy team.
4) Tiny
Our 4th pick is the man made of rock, who is pretty much the Dota knock-off of our beloved Hulk (Tiny Smash!). Although Tiny felt weak after his initial rework, IceFrog was forced to buff him up. But later, Tiny received small nerfs since his buffs made him too OP.
Anyway, Tiny still turned out to be a stable pick in the pro scene after the update. His modified 3rd skill makes it easier for him to farm ancient creep camps and push tower from a very early stage. His improved resistance stats helps him sustain more than the usual damage he used to and the cleave from his 3rd skill which is used to uproot trees allows him to dominate the lane even against ranged heroes. In addition, the tree can also be hurled at enemies to deal damage. His talents are also exceptionally good, allowing him a free boost his magic resistance at level 10. He can go tanky with a health boost at level 15 too and the no-target toss at level 20 creates more opportunities to pull out nasty ganks. But what is a major bonus is the 3 toss charge talent at level 25 or the -12 seconds avalanche talent allowing players to spam their favourite spell among the two and inflict a decent amount of damage and AOE stuns in team fights. All in all Tiny is a solid pick if you are looking for a carry who has a decent AOE spells and damage and can easily push towers from a very early stage of the game.
5) Spectre
Our last pick of the day is the woman who hails from a different dimension and doesn’t know where the hell she is. Yes, it is Spectre. Although she has become rather obsolote in the pro scene, in pub scene she boasts a very high win rate after the coming of the 7.07 meta.
She has immense split push potential and her pushes are really hard to deal with. Well… maybe not as much as Terrorblade but no less. She is more of a solo hero and can easily pick off the supports of the enemy team with her ultimate ability, ‘Haunt’ which also adds to her huge mobility. She can remove cliff restrictions with her first which also slightly improves her mobility and allows her to escape tight situations. But the most annoying thing about her is her 2nd and 3rd passives. The former allows her to hit harder when she is ganking a lone hero, making her one of the best 1 v 1 heros in the game, on the other hand she returns some of the damage to the attacker with her 3rd skill and when combined with her level 25 talent +8% Dispersion you might kill yourself while you are trying to kill her. Also with the new item spirit vessel which happens to be an in-game upgrade of the item ‘Urn of Shadows’ which is an existing item and has been in the game for a long time. By upgrading it to its modified form, the ‘Spirit Vessel’ which removes all healing factor from targeted enemy hero during its duration, she can create greater advantages for herself and her team. Even though not much has changed for Spectre, the smallest of the changes has laid a huge impact on her.
What do you think about our list? Do you think all the heroes mentioned here are desirable of their positions? Let us know in the comments below.
About Souhit Dey:
Souhit “ReignX2” Dey is a 17 year old school student currently residing in Kolkata, India. He is a competitive Dota 2 Player and has participated in big leagues like the IGL and ESL Indian Premiership. He hopes to secure a place for himself in the game and to popularize the Dota 2 scene in India. His area expertise covers the Dota 2 public and pro-scene.