Dota Pro Circuit Summer Tour meta recap: Western Europe

The 2021-2022 Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) Summer 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 first look will be Western Europe, one of the strongest regions in Dota 2, if not the strongest overall.

Puck is the most popular hero in Western Europe

The most contested hero in Western Europe is Puck, who has been picked or banned in 90% of the games. Puck has made the most appearances in Division I among all heroes, being picked 34 times and winning 19 of those games.

Why was Puck so popular in Western Europe?

Well, the hero is highly mobile, deals great burst damage, and scales well into the late game — all qualities you want to have in a core hero. Puck was a huge factor in Team Secret's victory against Goon Squad.

Dawnbreaker is the second most picked hero in the region due to the hero's role flexibility and global presence, often picked as either an offlaner or as a support.

The hero is popular in all regions yet fails to impress so far, having a below 50% win rate.

Clockwerk has emerged as a popular hero in the region and that's thanks to the buff the hero received in Patch 7.31d. Battery Assault deals double damage to creeps, finally giving the hero a farming mechanism.

Clockwerk has always been a solid hero thanks to his global vision from Rocket Flare and ability to control magic immune targets with Hookshot.

Add a farming mechanism on top of that, and it's no wonder the hero won 60% of the 27 matches he appeared in.

Tiny is the fourth most picked hero with 26 picks and also the least successful among the four most picked heroes.

Similar to Dawnbreaker, Tiny provides teams with flexible lanes but at the cost of a feast-or-famine type hero.

Tiny either pops off or fades into irrelevancy as the game drags on, which explains why the hero only won 42% of his matches.

Marci is rightfully feared in Western Europe

Across all regions in Division I, no other hero apart from Viper has been banned more than 51 times.

Teams in Western Europe greatly respect Viper's strong laning stage and almost always chose to ban him. Viper was banned 53 times out of the 71 games played in Western Europe.

The hero did end up being picked eight times and won three of those games, so perhaps some of the paranoia around the hero is slightly unjustified.

Bloodseeker has almost the same stats as Viper, being banned 49 times and making nine appearances.

The hero has received several changes in the last few patches, the most notable being Rupture dealing 10% of the enemy's current health as pure damage. This gives Bloodseeker a solid opening nuke in fights and allows him to cancel Blink Daggers.

The newest hero on the block is Marci, and that hero is among the top four most picked heroes in China, Southeast Asia, and North America.

The silent heroine is also the third most banned hero in Western Europe with 41 bans.

Marci has proven herself to be a real threat, winning 72% of the 18 games she has been picked in. Check out our analysis of Marci in the pro scene here.

Last on our list of the top four most banned heroes is Beastmaster.

Regardless of the patch, this hero is always in the meta. He provides his team with a huge amount of flying vision, while being able to play solo in the lane.

Beastmaster is one of the best tower pushers in the game and has a four-second magic immunity piercing disable in his Primal Roar ultimate.

In short, there's nothing bad about Beastmaster, and that's why he was banned 36 times.

Zeus proves yet again that he is the king of gods

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

Phoenix has soared back into the meta and has the best performance among heroes with at least five picks, winning six of his seven games.

The hero received big changes in Patch 7.31, with Fire Spirits having better cooldown and mana cost while the bonus Sun Ray damage was moved to level 20 instead of 25.

Phoenix has always been one of the strongest scaling supports and the hero farms better now and gets a huge damage boost at 20, making him one of the best supports to pick if not countered.

We've discussed Marci earlier as one of the most banned heroes, and rightfully so, as she has a 72% win rate, higher than everyone else with at least 10 appearances.

While Mars may be the god of war, Zeus is definitely the king among all the gods, as he managed to rack up an impressive 15 wins in his 22 appearances.

Heavenly Jump has given Zeus the mobility that he has previously lacked, making it very difficult for enemies to control him while allowing the hero to continuously dish out insane amounts of damage.

Death Prophet not generating any profit for teams that pick her

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.

It's sad to see heroes fall from grace, but that is exactly what has happened to Death Prophet.

One of the most popular heroes in the first Tour was only picked six times in Western Europe and only won one of those games.

The hero was slightly over-nerfed and lost lifesteal from Spirit Siphon, lower Fear duration on enemies, and most importantly, half of her tower damage.

However, Death Prophet has been successful in other regions, particularly in Southeast Asia where the hero is the seventh most contested overall with a 69% win rate.

One hero who has always struggled in the meta is Crystal Maiden.

Too slow, too fragile, and with a low mana pool, Crystal Maiden just can't catch a break. Rylai did see some play in the Summer Tour, but the hero ended up being a disappointment, only winning two out of 11 games.

Last on the list is Tiny, who honestly didn't perform too badly.

Tiny has the lowest win rate among heroes with at least 20 picks, winning 11 out of 26 matches for a 42% win rate.

Considering the popularity of the hero, and the fact that Tiny is often picked early in the draft and occasionally forced into a role he's not best at, it's a respectable performance overall.

This is part one of our meta recap for the 2021-2022 DPC Summer Tour regional leagues. Keep an eye out for the next installments 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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