New Meta: Dota 2 Podcast

Broodmother, Lycan, Huskar and Meepo are the top 4 most winning heroes in the Divine/Immortal bracket, a statistic that strikes fear into the hearts of pubbers everywhere. In this episode the trio spend some time discussing this and other trends in the 7.24 meta, before finishing their coverage of Neutral items with the 60 minute wild-west pick-ups we know as tier 5. https://discord.gg/rgV6KwD

We almost forgot to mention our first birthday! Adam has been celebrating by winning lots of games with support Enchantress. He shares the info on this quirky, fun and strong position 5. We then turn our attentions to Tier 4 neutral items, the penultimate installment of the series that should take one episode but in fact has taken 4. https://discord.gg/rgV6KwD  

A lot happened in the Dotaverse this last week, beginning with the dramatic conclusion to DreamLeague, followed by the release of a significant patch 7.24 and finally by the always incredible premier of TI9's True Sight. Stan, Adam and Marco are all here to discuss all of the above. Timestamps: Truesight from the start, Dreamleague @18:10, and patch 7.24 @27:10.  https://discord.gg/rgV6KwD

How confusing is the new matchmaking? Is it more or less confusing than Marco's alternative tier system? I'm not sure, maybe you will have the answers after listening to this 72nd edition of New Meta Podcast. We discuss the relative power and utility of the tier 3 neutral items, after spending some time discussing the addition of Classic Ranked and the current state of matchmaking and mmr. 

We cover a lot of ground in episode 71! Discussions on the recent Minor and upcoming Major, before full discussions on Venge's dominance in the pub scene and Dragon Knight's awful 1.5% pick rate, is this hero criminally underrated? https://discord.gg/rgV6KwD  

In episode 70 we discover that Immortal players don't use nether shawl, that Lifestealer is actually an agility hero and that a true DotA player always sheds a tear when watching the 7.00 patch reveal video. In less spectacular discoveries we talk about what makes Doom suddenly a tier S hero as well as the balance changes in patch 7.23f. The main chunk of the show is spent discussing the strengths, weaknesses and key aspects of the tier 1 and 2 neutral items.  https://discord.gg/rgV6KwD

It's the event every Dota fan looks circles on their calendar! Live from the New Meta tin-pot Studio comes the 2019 Awards ceremony (29:20). We discuss and present the awards for best hero in a leading role, best 'feature' in an OSFrog role, best player/team and much more! We also spend 20 minutes at the start talking about Viper support because Adam is 10-0 with the hero. https://discord.gg/rgV6KwD

New Meta razes the game by dropping a hammer of an episode this week! A sizable patch coming our way in the form of 7.23e, we review the changes and how they effect the state of the game, also checking in with Marco for Void Spirit Corner. Then we turn our attention to two famous and yet still curious mid heroes: Outworld Devourer and Shadow Fiend, both having been subject to ability re-works in the Outlanders Update.  https://discord.gg/rgV6KwD

In episode 67 we cry a bit about losing games then proceed to uncover the true value of team aura items! We start with the low-cost trio of Basilius, Headdress and Buckler, followed by the early/mid game items of Drums, Helm-Dom, Mekanism and Vlads. We also then spend some time on the more expensive and better defined items of Pipe, Crimson and Grieves.  https://discord.gg/rgV6KwD

How many ranged strength heroes are there? We're pretty sure we worked it out since last episode, turns out there's four. Today we give some follow-up thoughts on Void Spirit and Snapfire coming off the back of last week's episode. We then cover what changed in 7.23 to make Lone Druid (35:00), Tiny (46:45) and Venomancer (52:52)so hot right now. https://discord.gg/rgV6KwD

The New Meta trio convene after a few days of 7.32a to collect and develop our thoughts on the patch, particularly on Snapfire and Void Spirit. We discuss how the heroes were buffed in 7.23a and what seems to work for them in this wild west early meta stage. We also discuss talents and items as well as cover some other strong heroes and bugs.

Outlanders has finally arrived with 2 new heroes, outposts, neutral items, level 30, couriers doing loads of stuff. New Meta has all the headlines, reactions and initial discussion. Dota 3 people! https://discord.gg/rgV6KwD

We discuss which heroes and mechanics are for the chopping board in the upcoming mega-patch, which heroes we hope see a resurgence and whether SF should have two passives. Stan wants Void Spirit to have a portal gun and Marco just wants him to have one spell, three passives and make a funny noise.  We will likely return for an emergency pod to cover all the patch news. Watch this space! https://discord.gg/rgV6KwD  

Why is there PL in my games suddenly? How come Luna is suddenly good? How can you do a full episode on carry heroes without mentioning Lycan having a 60% win-rate? Is Jug still pickable? We take a look at the surprisingly versatile state of the carry pool in this late stage of the patch. Using stats and our own opinions we attempt to cover all the pickable heroes and where they currently stand. https://discord.gg/rgV6KwD

How to approach the mid-game in Dota, with a particular focus on the perspective of a position 4 hero. That's the topic of the day in episode 61, with Adam, Stan and Marco each weighing in to discuss how annoying Mirana arrows and whether you are allowed to nuke that next creep wave. Important stuff! Also discussed is which hero would make the best national leader? https://discord.gg/rgV6KwD

Episode 60 flys in from the nether reaches on leathern wings with malicious intent. So prepare for poison as the pod stop trying to cram every Viper voice line into the description and actually talk about how to win some mmr one nobody's favorite mid hero, Viper! Stats don't lie though and with this hero sitting on a 54% win rate below Divine we examine how shockingly simple this hero's play-style should be! https://discord.gg/rgV6KwD

Where should I be on the map? What areas should we be playing in? Where will the lane creeps meet? Is it called the jungle or the woods? All valid questions, and in this episode we have some answers. The topics all follow the theme of what are the key areas of the map that a team should be playing in and why. We discuss concepts like the dead lane, high-ground areas on the map, playing around easy objectives. https://discord.gg/YazgfV8

Finishing off what we started last week with the missing discussion on battle-maiden, AKA Crystal Maiden mid. The trio then discuss another mid hero that is perhaps even more of a gimmick than CM, the one and only Mireska Sunbreeze, known to the public as Dark Willow. Just get Aghs Moonshard lul.  https://discord.gg/YazgfV8

Episode 57 sees the first of our New Meta hero deep dives, with Adam's favorite Crystal Maiden getting the attention and discussion. The crew talk laning, spells, builds, talents and more; as well as using some intro time to cover the continued changes to match-making.  https://discord.gg/rgV6KwD

Perhaps the ultimate Dota question... How to have fun? This is the reason we play right? Well, Marco plays for the last hit trainer but other than that. We run through some failsafe ways to have fun with the game, before going through Stan's tier list of fun heroes, with all 115 being split into 5 tiers of fun. See the discord for a screen shot of the full list/ https://discord.gg/rgV6KwD