Dota 2 Riad Masters Week 1 Meta Update

Event Overview

• Location: Riad
• Event: EWC Dota 2 Riad Masters
• Prize Pool: $5 million
• Duration: 3 weeks (currently between Week 1 and Week 2)
• Focus: Analysis of Week 1 performances, most successful heroes, prevalent playstyles, facet choices, and application in regular games.

Most Successful Heroes and Playstyles

Hoodwink

• Facet Used: Acorn Shot Facet allowing double bounces off the tree
• Playstyle: Strong lane trading
• Common Build: Atos first after Mana boots, then Sharpshooter
• Strength: Best support trading hero, burst damage, reliable pick with high win rate

Spirit Breaker

• Innate Ability: Team's lowest level hero gets 50% bonus experience
• Facet Used: Bull Rush facet
• Playstyle: Great at pickoffs and chaotic gameplay
• Strength: Hard to counter, strong with BKB combos, charge goes through BKB

Beastmaster

• Main Role: Offlane
• Common Build: Mana boots, AGS, BKB, Blink, Refresher
• Facet Used: Beast Mode facet
• Playstyle: Focus on stacking Ancients, solo Ro's at early levels
• Strength: Strong farm speed, high early game damage

Ember Spirit

• Facets Used: Chain Gang and Double Searing Chains facets
• Playstyle: Versatile, adapts based on enemy's composition
• Strength: Reliable laning stage, no major counters in the current meta

Snapfire

• Role: Mid or Offlane
• Facet Used: Ricochet facet
• Common Build: Glye into late-game damage items (e.g., Satanic)
• Strength: High damage potential, fun to experiment with

Dark Seer

• Role: Offlane
• Facet Used: Facet that allows surging others
• Playstyle: Buys team items (e.g., Greaves)
• Strength: Strong laning stage, universal hero with double stat benefits

Gyrocopter

• Role: Carry
• Common Build: Falcon Blade, AGS, Daedalus, Satanic, Butterfly, BKB
• Playstyle: Relies on team coordination
• Strength: High pick rate but not recommended for solo queue

Phoenix

• Role: Support (mainly Position 4)
• Facet Used: Dying Light facet
• Playstyle: Wins trades in the laning stage, strong team fighter
• Strength: Good at winning lane trades, BKB-piercing stun

Tiny

• Role: Mid or Support
• Facet Used: Crash Landing facet
• Playstyle: Efficient at clearing waves, saves mana
• Strength: High damage, tanky, reliable repositioning ability

Storm Spirit

• Role: Specialist Hero for experienced players
• Strength: Good in the right hands, late pick in drafts

Crystal Maiden

• Role: Support (Position 5)
• Facet Used: Frozen Expanse facet
• Playstyle: Wins lane trades except against Phoenix and Hoodwink
• Strength: Easy utility support, good for core players in role queue

Ursa

• Role: Burst Damage Carry
• Facet Used: Debuff facet
• Common Build: Battle Fury
• Playstyle: Strong laner, high burst damage
• Strength: Reliable, excels against certain matchups (notably advantageous in current meta)

Enigma

• Role: Flex (Position 5 or Offlane)
• Playstyle: Jungle pulling, buying utility items (e.g., Drums, Vlads)
• Innate Ability: Both facets are useful
• Strength: Strong laner, versatile item builds, good in both core and support roles

Conclusion

• Stream Analysis: Continued analysis every day for next 2 weeks
• Importance: Warm-up for TI, high stakes bring out the best gameplay and strategies
• Encouragement: Like, comment, subscribe for more updates
• Sign-off: Anticipation for more exciting matches ahead, gratitude for audience engagement