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The Dota 2 update 7.21d has been there since March, and we have seen enough professional Dota matches in the meta that has provided adequate data to analyse and derive conclusions. The patch 7.21d has matured and has shaped around certain heroes really well. The popular heroes will not stay there forever and so if you want to abuse these heroes and gain MMR, this is the perfect guide for you. The heroes discussed here may not have a huge win rate on dotabuff but are seriously powerful in a majority of matches.
#1 Razor
This Dota 2 hero is just a pain to deal with, be it laning phase or mid game. The hero has not really been buffed in the recent patches but the meta makes him viable to a point where it seems broken. The best thing about the hero is that it can be played in any lane in the current patch. It shines mainly as a mid laner but will still be unstoppable as a safe or offlaner too. Razor also shines against many match-ups in the laning phase. It has a great way to suck enemy laner’s damage and use it in his advantage, a great nuke which deals AOE damage and a passive ability which also randomly deals damage to units. Paired with his ultimate ability, the hero just runs at enemy heroes dealing a lot of damage and contributing a lot in the team fights. Early items include two sets of Wraith Band, Phase Boots and Drum of Endurance. In the early to mid game Rod of Atos and BKB are some great items on the hero. If you face quite a lot of nuke and magic damage in early game, a Hood to Pipe is a good item transition too. A Crimson Guard is also viable against heavy physical damage heroes.
#2 Lion
Lion is a really straightforward and easy Dota 2 hero to play with great disables and powerful nuke. However, I have seen people play lion as a position five support, which is not the best role for the hero in the current meta. Lion’s abilities really shine when he has the right items, in short the hero is item dependent because it is too squishy for standing in team fights. Items such as a Blink Dagger or Force Staff which help in both initiating and disengaging from fights. The hero can also rush Aghanim's Scepter before going into Blink just to get AOE Finger of Death and build up stacks to increase the damage. In addition Scepter also gives decent manapool and stats.
#3 Disrupter
This hero is extremely underrated, having a very low pick rate compared to other support heroes in the patch. Disrupter has a great lane potential when paired with heroes like Juggernaut, Lifestealer or Troll Warlord. He has a good nuke to harass enemy offlaner, an amazing spell named Glimpse which so reliable to chase enemy and a massive AOE ultimate which does tons of damage not to forget an ability to keep enemy heroes within it. The hero can solo kill some carries if played well and has massive potential as a support.
#4 Omniknight
The inclusion of this hero could be a surprise for many of you because it was not in the meta for quite sometime now. The hero received a series of nerfs in the previous patches and was completely out of meta. However, as this patch progressed the viability of Omniknight has become better. The hero has good amount of HP and is tanky, he has a pure damage nuke which heals him or allies and damages enemy heroes. The hero is best played as an offlaner, which gives him space to farm and have a good impact in the game. If your lane goes well, you can easily farm items like Radiance which can help you snowball and win games.
#4 Mars
Mars was nerfed pretty heavily in Dota 2 patch v7.21d but since the hero was already so broken it will take a lot more than this to push him out of meta. The hero is tailor build for the offlane role, taking little damage on the front side and creating a havoc with his skill set. The main advantage of Mars is his ability to create an arena and lock enemy heroes in it without the need of any channeling or extra effort. The hero also needs little to no items to become a sheer pain to deal with. The total damage output this hero gives from all his abilities is just insane.
#5 Troll Warlord
Troll has really come to the limelight as a stable safelane carry. He has amazing survival chances with his ultimate ability and miss chances. The hero can switch between melee and range which makes his laning a tad bit easier. In addition, you can now go with a skull basher on the hero, enabling you to catch people easily and providing some sort of a lockdown. Early items for the hero are Wraith Band and Phase Boots going into mid game with Sange and Yasha, Basher and BKB. An early Satanic can also help at times and make you unkillable.
#6 Outworld Devourer
This Dota 2 hero has slowly made his way back into the meta as a stable and strong mid laner. He has tons of pure damage and decent farming potential with his first skill. The hero has a long list of item choices depending upon the game. Most common ones are a Rod of Atos, Blink Dagger or Hurricane Pike and Hex. Most interesting part about the hero is that it can be picked in most games because it has very few hard counters. He lacks mobility but that can be solved by the right items.
