Announcing 5 High-Performing Berlin Major Picks (Dota 7.33)

Just a couple of weeks ago, Dota 2 community was shocked. 7.33 patch (New Frontiers) came out. And that’s undoubtedly one of the biggest Dota changes in history. Maybe, even more significant than Dota Reborn.

Dota 2 eSports fans couldn’t wait to see how this change will impact competitions. As well as Valve. So just one week after the New Frontiers, the Berlin Major event started. 

But how did the same old Dota characters perform in this new environment? What were their strengths? How often were they picked? Today, you’ll discover all of that.Â

Storm Spirit

We all know that 7.33 has increased the Dota 2 map size. Crossing it quickly is a solid challenge now. However, not for the Storm Spirit. With its ultimate ability, he can instantly dash to new objectives on the map edges.

And that has become a reason for Storm to become the fourth most-picked character during the Berlin Major. In total, teams have picked him 25 five times: 14 of them were wins (56% win rate). 

Of course, Storm Spirit has been picked for the mid-lane. And the best use of him was made by Abed and Sumail. These two famous mid-players are already known for using this spirit well. So it wasn’t hard for them to take full advantage of his strengths. 

Pagolier 

However, Storm Spirit is not the only character to take advantage of the newly expanded terrain. Pangolier is also capable of that. With his ultimate Rolling Thunder, he bounces off new map elements and micro-stuns enemies. This simple tactic turned out very successful for one simple reason: players are not yet familiar with the new map.

Still, not so many teams picked the Pangolier. He was seen only in 11 games. But the win rate was impressive: 81%. Evil Geniuses and Team SMG were the most successful in utilizing that character. Even bookmakers didn’t expect them to be so good with him. So players who foresaw the Panglier-using team performance greatly capitalized on Dota 2 bets. 

Pugna 

Pugna has no mobility skills. But he still has one tool that perfectly suits the new Dota 2 map: nether ward. Now he has much more space to hide it in the trees and amidst new terrain. Again, knowing that players haven’t learned the new map well, finding and destroying a ward is a struggle. So they are forced to fight in adverse conditions and get punished for each skill used.

Many teams have predicted that Pugna will perform well. So the character was picked 12 times during Berlin Major. While his total win rate was 75%. By the way, Pugna was especially good with the Storm Spirit.

Pugna has spiked strength in Berlin Major games after the Aghanim’s Shard purchase, which increases the nether ward effect radius. After that, it became much harder to deal with it. 

Keeper of the Light 

KotL has some skills that benefit from the New Frontier Dota 2 changes. First, it’s his illuminate. We all know that to deal max damage with this skill, KotL has to stay immobile and charge it for a few seconds. Opponents can see it. But with new terrain and expanded map sides, it is much easier for him to hide it. The same principle is applied to will-o-wisp skill.

Another KotL skill suiting new meta is recall. With its help, he can deprive his teammates of long travels across the map or using tp scrolls. Considering the size of the map, we can’t stress enough how valuable it is.

For these reasons, Keeper of the Light has been seen in 13 Berlin Major wins: ten were victorious. The best team to utilize the KotL was Tundra. They grabbed him for five games and won them all. We are sure they would keep rolling with him if he wasn’t banned after their streak. 

Phoenix 

Have you heard of the recent Phoenix nerf? He was considered weak just a few weeks ago. But with the advent of 7.33, players have changed their minds. Now the Phoenix is a desired character in most team comps. And the reason for that is his Icarus dive, allowing him to close distances quickly. And also, his ultimate is much easier to hide right now among the new terrain.

As a result, Phoenix was picked five times during the Berlin Major. The win rate is not the best, just 55%. But considering the nerf, it is a good outcome. 

The character was primarily picked by OG, as it was part of their strategy. They were pairing a swift fiery bird with tanky front liners. As a result, they could save their tanks any time with a Phoenix R.