Analyzing 7.00-7.02 Top Tier Midlaners
Image by K-Pax and hyrx
As the meta changes, so do the heroes that make it interesting. For over a year now, the meta has favored more tanky, farming-oriented heroes who specialize in physical damage.
Now, while those heroes are still somewhat viable, the meta focuses more on tempo heroes who can have more impact on early teamfights. Here are some of the top midlaners of the 7.00-7.02 era.
Ember Spirit
7.00 marked a new era of Dota with the introduction of talents. No matter how one feels about them, there’s no denying that they have drastically changed Dota. One of the early, talent-oriented builds was the magic damage Ember Spirit.
This new build allowed Ember Spirit to dominate the midgame and dictate its overall pace. It didn’t take long for pro teams to adapt this new playstyle, and by the second LAN event, Dota Pit, Ember was the 2nd most contested hero and maintained an 85% win rate across 13 games.
Ember Spirit was definitely more impressive the first time people discovered this build. Since then he’s been nerfed quite a bit, with less spell amplification for his talent and now victim to the improved Root mechanic, as he cannot remnant out of it anymore.
In pub games, Ember Spirit’s performance has dropped significantly. He’s still one of the more impressive heroes in the 5k+ MMR bracket, with a 22% pick rate and a 54% winrate. Across all brackets however, both his pick- and win rate have dropped, especially since the nerfs in 7.02.
Regardless, Ember Spirit has been one of the top midlaners in the 7.xx era so far and remains to be one, at least in the higher skilled brackets.
Shadow Fiend
Towards the end of 6.88, Shadow Fiend enjoyed a bit of a resurgence. He had become a little bit of a niche pick and 4 games in Boston is quite impressive, considering how non-existent he had been all year round.
The current meta favors mid heroes who can either dictate the pace of the game and still transition into the lategame, or heroes who excel at farming, but can still be part of teamfights early on.
Shadow Fiend ticks both boxes. He can dominate the midgame, especially with a 
Shadow Blade, as well as transitioning perfectly into the lategame as a hardcarry. Like any other ranged carry in the past year or so, Shadow Fiend benefits massively from 
Dragon Lance and his new talents complement his pace very well.
The addition of Shrines also plays quite a role in Shadow Fiend’s rising popularity and success. It allows the hero to be more farm efficient with his spells. The same applies to the added Bounty Runes, which allow any natural Bottle carrier to be a bit more efficient around the map and almost compensates for the magic resistance of neutral creeps. (SF needs to spend more mana to clear camps, but that is supplemented by the new regeneration possibilities through Shrine and Bounty Runes)
A consistently high pick- (21%) and winrate (51%) across all brackets is quite impressive, even if his winrate in the 5k+ MMR bracket (47%) is anything but. In pro games, SF finds himself to be among the most contested heroes, and at Dota Pit he was even among the most banned heroes.
Invoker
Image by terra.cotta, DC.SUNSfan & DC.Neil
In a meta that favors fights, not only early, but also throughout the midgame, it seems natural for a hero like Invoker to be popular, especially since a lot of heroes he either synergizes with or counters are popular as well. Heroes like Shadow Demon, Centaur or Nyx Assassin set up for an easy Sunstrike, and the ever so popular Ember Spirit is almost easily killed with a Tornado dispelling the Flameguard.
When the 7.00 patch notes dropped, people had a variety of different opinions on whether or not the hero was buffed, nerfed, or just different. In hindsight, it was probably more buff than nerf. Invoke has become a much better spell with huge quality of life improvements, such as the lack of a mana cost when updating slot positions, the low cooldown, and of course the fact that players don’t need to “waste” skill points on it anymore.
The “new” Invoker can come online much sooner than ever before, even when opting for a Midas still. While certain things surely have been nerfed--the fact that the 2nd Forge Spirit is a talent now and only available at level 15 for example--the hero is not strictly worse than before. His consistently high pick rate (29% across all brackets) suggests that he’s at least more fun to play. His low win rate (46% across all brackets) however shows that he’s not the powerhouse he once was. He still is a top pick, for both pubs and pros, and he feels more flexible than ever before, but he’s no auto-win solution, like he was a year ago.
Meepo
Meepo does not have a significantly high pick rate in either pub or professional play, at least not in comparison to other mid heroes. Certainly, this list could include a different hero here, such as Juggernaut or even Queen of Pain. Meepo deserves to be mentioned here though, because no other patch in Dota 2 has ever been this good for the hero.
Ever since the introduction of Dragon Lance and its buff to include two 
Band of Elvenskin, Meepo has been revitalized. The stats the item provides for its cost is so good that it is standard to build at least two of them on Meepo, or sometimes even four.
7.00 introduced huge buffs to the hero, as clones now share full attributes without Aghanim’s Scepter. This allows Meepo to build a bit more efficiently, transitioning smoothly from two Dragon Lances into a Blink Dagger and then go for the Agh’s.
The other, significant buff to Meepo was the buff to the Root mechanic. While his Earthbind may not interrupt channeling spells anymore, thus doesn’t prevent TPs, it has gotten buffed in a lot of other situations, as mobile heroes, such as Storm Spirit or Timbersaw, cannot escape the spell without purchasing some form of dispel. And, in classic Meepo fashion, even if they do manage to get out of one Earthbind, there are 3-4 more to deal with.
As mentioned above, Meepo is by no means a top pick like any other hero. His pub stats remain incredibly lackluster--his highest winrate is at 47% in the 5k+ MMR bracket. Regardless though, for a hero as complex as he is, it’s a success to be considered a pick, potentially even a first pick, in pro games. He has left the niche and novelty area and more and more pro teams are adding him to their repertoire.
Everybody can be a midlaner
The midlane is special. As the most popular lane, it allows for creative picks and strategies. As a result, we often see the most variety in the midlane, with traditional carries and supports suited up as midlane heroes. 
Lone Druid, 
Juggernaut and 
Sniper are perfect examples of heroes in this patch that can be both safe- and midlaners without a significant drop-off in their laning potential.
In a patch as open and flexible as the current one, it’s just a matter of time for a new hero to emerge in the midlane. For now, these are the midlaners who have made their mark in this patch and that will likely continue to do so for the next few weeks.
fat
3th
Pretty standard, I'd still call Meepo very niche, but at least he seems more viable now than ever indeed.
fat fat fatty
axe mid ftw
I've seen some good play coming out of troll as of late. He does well in split pushing where others don't because he can burst a tower down fast enough to avoid being caught from a shrine tp, and he can quickly hit six in the midlane and augment a push in a separate lane.
Visage too is a solid midlaner with good survival and reliant on early level 6 to dominate enemy mid. Even if he fuck up or zoned by early ganks. He can't survive the hardlaner life, nor being the pos 5 wardbitch. And pos 4 is not enough to unleash his potential.
The only problem is to convince your team to have the midlane and the confidence. He is up there with zeus and needs his early snowball item early to sologank.
9th !!!
naga is awesome mid, still she doesn't really control the pace of the game till 20 min in though
TA?
Despite the magic damage roar I still see tons of -armor (slardar) of TA is EXTREMELY Viable here. Thanks for the SF post tho. Glad to see him ack in it.
What about Puck? He is a bit more viable now, especially with buffs to magic damage (talents) and more necessity for early team fighting.
damn I was kind of looking for this. Looking for the reason why sf is back in this patch. Didn't expected it was the same tho but with dragon lance.
no viper ??? lul
The same core group of mid heroes keep coming back to the top. It's been forever since I've seen venomancer in mid, or viper, pugna, night stalker. It always seems like there is a place for sf, ember, invoker, and (to a lesser extent) storm spirit and puck. I'd like to see some of these more unique-skilled heroes back into the mix in mid.
Ok viper isn't unique-skilled, but that one just needs a rework.
Miss the old days wherein you'd put the huge ult heroes mid(dota 1 far back). The offlaners/supports now: Puck QoP AA Tide Bat DS Lion etc. SF seems to be the only survivor, and it's more for his lategame ability rather than his ult power. I still play mid Lion and AA when with my friends, for memories' sake. But screw me, I've been SF spamming for MMR. Bloodseeker and Pudge also.
Good!!
@snu
I considered bringing in TA, but the data didn't reeeally support it, neither pub nor pro. I do think she's good in this meta though, might do an extra piece on just her at some point
@shampoo
there's also something I forgot to mention, but I guess is also sorta obvious? (Maybe, maybe not, shouldve mentioned it regardless): The laning stage has more emphasis again and SF can either dominate a lane or recover by going back into the jungle. I think the fact that his jungling has become effective again really makes him viable
GJ Skim
When you will make a 'Analyzing 7.00-7.02 Top Tier Jungler'?
no TA? LUL
Well, ive known this info before, nothing unknown for me. PS. Noname 1k
Хотелось бы про саппортов статью )
potang ina mo
shut the fck up
happy ! ! !
You really call Meepo and Invoker top tier? I really respect dotabuff blogs but what's wrong with you?
Another big reason SF is strong going in this meta is his move speed which was buffed quite a lot times and the current 315 ms provides him to gather all these objectives whatever skim has mentioned with ease.... Especially more easier than other mid heroes..
I'd say meepo and invoked are top tier. A good invoked can near endlessly juggle you throughout the game (shrine tp spot make that pretty big) and a good meepo right now will turn that lvl advantage into farm quickly and be 25 when everyone else is 12- 15. Just that meepo dosent always got cause of draft. Key point is a GOOD meepo and invoker are top tier.
I missed the time during version 5.xx where there is no such thing as support role hero cant mid. Cm, venge and shadow shaman are famous mid laners those times
Guess I gotta learn Invoker and Meepo.
TA and OD lads
where is pudge xD
I think Invoker is a wonderful and versatile hero that could be part of many different strats. But even if we do not consider the nerfs, he is not favored by the current meta, because he is a late gamer. And meepo. He is neither versatile nor wonderful. He only fits into one scenario which is very fast dota, and he has many solid counters. I think Necro, Tinker, TB, LD, Sniper and Ursa are worthy of mention for top tier mids.
No storm?? Lul
@FightMachine
Skim talked about Meepo not because he was the best in the game right now, but because the hero is a game changer. You can certainly counter pick, but much like techies or NS or Pudge, the way you move about the map and take objectives when playing against these heroes is far more unique. Skim makes it clear that the hero isn't a staple of the meta, but makes mention of meepo because it can blindside you, and I think that's worth mentioning.
The new patch 7.xx benefits the heroes each farm less and can fight early in the game. Like ember, ursa, weaver, necro, luna and so on. That's why the heroes each need to farm a lot to fight or to enter in the game are most likely to loose, like medusas, AM, specter and so on. And this all happen because this patch have less 30% farm then before. I notice that with my slark, hero each need to farm a lot in the begging to enter in game properly, slark drop from 51% win rate to 48% overall in dota 2, and was not the only one. You also can notice the games take less time to finish now. The average before was 40/45 minutes per game, now its 30/35 minutes per game. The secret basically its this; you need to pick heroes each farm less and can finish the game fast.
no lich?
Yep kids these days just follow what they see in Pro gaming, they forgot that other heroes are good in mid like lich. they become close minded and forgot to have freedom to create own playstyle which you are comfortable with
Lich is so good. You could even turn him into a late game right click hard carry with that mini Devine Rapier and mini eye of skadi talent.
Guess I gotta learn carry Lich.
Хуйня под Тони Хоук
lol sometimes i do spectre mid in party ranked match
it's fun tho, because i can win lane against invoker, sf, tinker... etc
well the average MMR is 4,5k in party ranked
i dont do it in solo ranked match, because my teammates will report me hahahah
you forget to include PA, she is good midlaner
so caries ? you dont say ? :v
hi aunt and uncle
hi everybody
comend me ty
Slark also a niche pick for midlaner now (?)
Im Gay
Year ago I won every match agains invoker on Death Prophet and her 3-rd skill wich was pure damage and gave vision
And now AM mid by miracle is new cancer on sea 😂