The biggest Dota 2 patch in a year arrived earlier this week and it once again completely changed the game, with every single hero getting at least two big additions to their kit. This unsurprisingly completely upended the Dota 2 meta with forgotten heroes becoming some of the most popular overnight.
It has taken a few days for players to figure out exactly what is what, but now the data is starting to show the best Dota 2 heroes after the 7.36 patch. There is likely more to be discovered, and some more meme-style builds that are popular likely won’t last, but right now these are the best Dota 2 heroes to play in patch 7.36.
Templar Assassin
In my first match mid on the new patch I was against a Templar Assassin and it was not fun. The hero has been given massive buffs almost everywhere to the point where she quickly becomes impossible to lane against while outputting massive damage. Psy Blades is now an innate ability and can get a slow with a facet, but the biggest changes came to Refraction, which now gives her multiple damage shields instead of blocking one instance of damage. This means a lot of traditional counters with damage over time are much less effective, and TA can tank a lot more damage.
Templar Assassin’s win rate is up over eight and a half per cent since the patch, which is the largest increase of any hero. Until Refraction gets nerfed and she becomes less of a tank to all incoming damage TA will likely be a very strong pick for all mid-players.
Juggernaut
Juggernaut has become the top carry in 7.36 and its mainly because of the damage he can output. His innate ability gives him 10% more damage against targets that are facing him, which makes him very difficult to stand and fight, and the favored new facet allows his Blade Fury to crit with the same damage as his Blade Dance, which can massively increase the damage he does during the spin.
With only minor early game nerfs to his damage, Jugg has gone from a hero who wouldn’t hit hard until he got items to one that can do serious damage from the outset, and when he gets the items his damage goes through the roof while still having the survivability Jugg has always had.
Legion Commander
Legion Commander has two of the strongest facets in the entire game but one of them makes her almost unkillable in some matches. With the Stonehall Plate facet Legion gets a damage barrier equal to the damage she does to heroes with Overwhelming Odds, which in any game is incredibly strong, but in a match against an illusion or summon hero she can rack up a massive barrier just before she enters a duel.
The other facet gives everyone who damages the loser of a duel bonus damage, but it just isn’t quite as good as the other so seems to be rarely picked. But that isn’t an issue when the first is so strong. Legion is a truly unkillable tank when played well, and is surely due a nerf.
Wraith King
Another melee core has shot up the win rate chart in Dota 2 since the 7.36 patch, with Wraith King getting some big damage buffs with his new facet. While one of the facets keeps his skeleton summons in a relatively unchanged format, if you select the other it replaces them with a new ability called Spectral Balde that places a curse on any enemy that Wraith King attacks. The curse deals base pure damage along with 70% of the original attack damage after a three second delay, which is almost like giving him a free echo saber and drastically increases his damage.
He also got a buff with his innate ability, with the old aghs effect of him turning into a wraith for a short time before he dies now just being a standard part of his kit. Although to give the same effect to the rest of the team he still needs Aghs. These two big buffs have made Wraith King a top hero in Dota 2.
Abaddon
The other heroes on this list are the ones with the biggest win rates in the new patch and are ones that are obviously very strong. Abaddon is not in the same boat, his win rate has barely changed, and while still strong he isn’t being discussed as one of the top heroes. However, after playing two games as offlane Abaddon I’m convinced that he is stronger than ever (at least in my low-level pubs).
My Abaddon build is nothing revolutionary, but with one of his new facets you can make a build where you return so much damage that squishy carries simply can’t hit you. The Mephitic Shroud facet turns your Aphotic Sheild into a larger damage block that returns 80% of the damage it absorbs to enemies around you but removes the explosion damage. Combine this with a first item Blademail and you can simply run at enemies with your bubble on, hit Blademail when that disappears and then reapply the shield when Baldemail ends. From there it’s just about becoming as tanky as possible to absorb more damage, and eventually, the likes of Drow and Sniper simply can’t hit you without doing too much damage to themselves. I’ve absolutely dominated two games with this build, and I’m surprised more people haven’t figured it out yet.
