Top hero picks by Asian teams in the DOTA 2 TI3 Championships

Before The International DOTA 2 Championships (also referred to as The International 2013 or TI3), we took an in-depth look at the eight participating Asian teams. Since many of the Chinese powerhouses that participated last year are also in the tournament this year, I was interested to see how they would fare in the preliminaries.

Now that the group stages have concluded, let’s take a look at the Chinese teams’ hero statistics. The statistics are taken from the 113 games played by all Chinese teams including the tie-breaker match between LGD.cn and Dignitas, but excluding the Wildcard match between Quantic and RattleSnake.

Overall most picked heroes

Visage is at the top of the list, and was picked 37 times. Chen and Shadow Demon were both picked 21 times while Nyx Assassin and Rubick were both picked 16 times.

Visage

While requiring a great deal of microskills and map awareness, Visage is a great hero that grants excellent map vision thanks to his familiars. Players can scout for runes, pull or block creep camps, or help a teammate without moving his hero from the lane. He is a considerably tanky support, has reliable burst damage, and is very useful in trilanes.

Lifestealer

Having a reliable skillset has made Lifestealer one of the most popular picks pre-TI3. He’s one of the heroes that supports can leave alone in a lane in most circumstances and still hold his own. In the right hands, he’s also really hard to lock down. Putting him in a lineup with a mobile hero to Infest in scenarios such as a Puck or a Storm Spirit allows for effective surprise ganks.

Alchemist

Top Heroes by Win Rate (Picked at least 10 times)

Asian teams towards the playoffs