Dota Pro Circuit Summer Tour meta recap: Southeast Asia

The 2021-2022 Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) final Tour regional leagues are now over, and it is time to look at all the regions and examine how the metagame developed in each one.

In this series we will be looking at the meta across all Division I Tours. We'll examine the most picked heroes, the most feared, the most successful, and the most overrated.

Our third instalment in the series will look into Southeast Asia, one of the most competitive regions in Dota 2 right now.

Ember Spirit highly-prized

Similar to four other regions, Tiny is the most picked hero in the SEA Division I games with 32 appearances. Only in Western Europe is Tiny not the most picked hero. The hero provides teams with drafting flexibility, a strong repositioning tool, and his nuke damage makes him a strong threat in the early game regardless of the role he occupies.

However, despite his popularity, Tiny's 38% win rate in SEA is the lowest across all regions.

Marci is the second most popular hero in the region with 32 picks, the highest appearances across all regions. As the newest kid on the block, all the regions are trying out Marci to find her best role and item build in the meta and SEA is no exception.

Puck continues to be the most contested mid hero in the game. Simply put, Puck is the strongest midlaner right now due to the hero's high magic damage, fantastic mobility, and one of the best team fight ultimates in the game. The hero was picked 25 times in SEA with a respectable 56% win rate.

The biggest surprise in the SEA DPC is the inclusion of Ember Spirit among the most picked heroes in the region.

A big part of the hero's popularity is due to Ember Spirit being one of BOOM Esports' midlaner, Erin Jasper "Yopaj" Ferrer, best heroes. Out of his 24 appearances in Division I, 10 of them were with BOOM.

SEA teams respect Batrider

Similar to Puck, Batrider is a hero that almost always does well in Dota 2. The hero can be played in the mid lane or the offlane.

Batrider is one of the most difficult heroes to lane against and in the hands of pro players, the hero can shut down the entire enemy lineup by himself. The hero was only picked nine times but ended the Tour with 40 bans.

Monkey King seems to be a little overrated right now, as the hero is fairly popular across the meta yet only has a positive win rate in China and Western Europe. Monkey King's 38 bans seem a little overkill for a hero with a 40% win rate in the region.

One hero that definitely deserves all the bans they get is Puck, the hero defining the meta right now.

Puck is the most contested hero in the region so it's no surprise to find him among both the most picked and banned heroes in SEA.

Last and certainly not least is Beastmaster, arguably the most important hero in the Zoo Meta.

An independent offlaner who can take down buildings and comes with a long duration stun that pierces magic immunity will always be in demand.

The 34 bans on the hero worked, as Beastmaster only appeared in six matches, the lowest across all regions.

Visage remains a terrifying presence

When looking at the most successful heroes in the region, we'll be examining heroes with a minimum of five, ten, and twenty picks.

One of the strongest heroes in the pub scene is also successful in pro games and that hero is Visage. Currently the hero with the highest win rate in pubs, Visage also had a fantastic Tour in SEA, winning seven out of his 8 appearances.

The hero has a weak laning stage, but makes up for it later on thanks to the absolutely obscene amount of damage his Familiars deal, even pro teams have problems dealing with Visage.

The most successful hero with at least 10 appearances is Terrorblade, and his 12 wins in 15 matches are quite terrifying. Most teams ban Zeus when picking Terrorblade and that allows the hero free reign to dish out his damage.

Another reason the hero did well in the region is due to how highly some of the strongest teams, such as BOOM Esports, and Talon, prioritize Terrorblade.

With 14 wins in 20 games, Enigma's 70% win rate is the best among heroes with at least 20 appearances, although it is quite a step down from Terrorblade and Visage.

While Enigma has taken several nerfs to the cooldown of Demonic Conversion, he still has access to arguably the best ultimate in the game.

Enigma is also in a good place in the meta, as his natural counters, Silencer and Rubick, are nowhere to be found in patch 7.31d.

Razor is not cutting it in SEA

When looking at the least successful heroes in the region, we'll be examining heroes with a minimum of five, ten, and twenty picks once again.

Night Stalker is no hunter in the night in SEA, as the hero can't compete with the meta heroes in the region such as Terrorblade, Visage, and Death Prophet. The hero also has issues locking down elusive heroes, especially after they buy a Black King Bar or Blink Dagger.

All those problems lead to Night Stalker only winning one game out of the eight he appeared in.

Surprisingly Razor also makes it on this list of the least successful heroes, with only four wins in 17 matches.

Razor's strength is his ability to reduce the physical damage of one core. Against a hero who spawns illusions like Terrorblade, or deals damage with their spells such as Death Prophet, Razor tends to suffer.

In the matches Razor won, the enemy carry was either Luna or Medusa, cores who deal spread damage and thus are susceptible to Static Link.

Dawnbreaker continues the trend of being a popular hero in terms of pick rate yet failing to deliver results. The hero's abilities have a long windup time that teams can take advantage of to dodge them.

Starbreaker and Solar Guardian take 1.1 and 1.7 seconds before stunning the enemy, more than enough time for most heroes to get out of the way. In the end, Dawnbreaker appeared 21 times yet only won eight of those matches.

This is part three of our meta recap for the 2021-2022 DPC Summer Tour regional leagues. You can also check out the previous instalments covering Western Europe and Eastern Europe.

Keep an eye out for the next instalments of this series to find out how the metagame for the other leagues developed throughout the Tour.

Otomo is a long-time gaming enthusiast and caster. He has been playing games since he was 10 and is the biggest Dota 2 fan.

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