The International 2025: Who are the meta heroes for TI14?

The International 2025 group stages have officially started, and Dota 2’s most prestigious tournament will run from September 4-14. Sixteen of the best Dota 2 teams are in Hamburg, Germany, and they’ve brought their best strategies and pocket picks just for this tournament.

TI14 will take place on version 7.39d of the game, the fourth iteration of the major Spring Forward introduced in May. The meta has evolved subtly with every tournament and minor patch; dominant heroes fell while sleeper picks rose. Let’s take a look at the events leading up to TI to figure out which are the meta heroes for the tournament.

Following the timeline of tier 1 tournaments in Dota 2, patch 7.39 was released in the middle of DreamLeague 26. Since teams didn’t have enough time to fully adapt to all the massive changes of the patch, the most contested heroes carried over from the last patch. Bristleback was the most contested hero during the tournament (95% cr), followed by Templar Assassin, Dark Seer, Shadow Shaman, and Beastmaster.

After DreamLeague 26, there have been four high-profile tournaments before The International 2025. PGL Wallachia Season 5, Esports World Cup 2025, and Clavision Masters 2025: Snow-Ruyi. The recent events are a treasure trove of data and will give us a good sneak peek going into TI14.

Early professional Dota was all about cheesy strategies, where teams tried to win using gimmicks like splitpushing or powerful hero synergies. However, modern Dota has moved away from that, and the most common trend is that flex picks will always be valued. 

Flex picks are important because they protect a team’s cores from having a bad matchup, setting up their midlaner or carry for success. The flex picks themselves need to be adaptable enough to fit right into a lane or team composition without much trouble.

Doom is one of the most reliable flex picks in recent tournaments, often slotted in as the carry or offlaner. He’s an ideal flex pick because of his high farming speed, valuable ultimate, and the ability to go with any build path to find success. 

Marci and Monkey King can thrive in any role, but picking them early forces the team to draft against them if they were to play core, since they can threaten to take over the game if they’re not controlled. 

Marci has been seeing a lot of play as a core because of her strong synergy with Helm of the Dominator, allowing her to farm fast and become more independent with her two skills that require allies. Terrorblade and Muerta, both traditional carries, also don’t mind going support if they’re not in a good draft.

On the flipside, Batrider and Undying have seen high pick rates because they’re amazing supports, but can surprise teams with them occasionally playing core. Undying feels like a raid boss against the right composition, when no one can deal with his high health and aura stacking build path.

Finally, Primal Beast, Kunkka, and Beastmaster are flex picks that can comfortably slot into the midlane. Mid lane is extremely match-up dependent, so it’s important to have heroes that can switch to the shortest lane against tough opponents.

Flex picks and supports are often picked earlier in the draft to protect their cores. And for supports, there’s no other hero that took over recent tournaments like Shadow Shaman. 

He was the most picked hero in the EWC and Clayvision Masters, and teams can’t go wrong with picking him early. His two long disables, survivability with his passive, and the Massive Serpent Ward facet can reliably take down towers and even Roshan.

Pugna has seen a lot of professional play in the last two tournaments, even becoming the most picked hero in the last tier 1 tournament before TI14. His fast movespeed, efficient harass, and ability to top up the commonly seen high health heroes in the game will cause his pick rate to skyrocket in the tournament.

Tusk has always been a favoured pick in coordinated play for his ability to set up ganks and save with Snowball. Batrider has one of the best pickoff abilities in the game with Flaming Lasso, and he can farm so fast as a support. 

Naga Siren is one of the best supports in the game because of her long catch and ability to reset teamfights. But you’ll rarely see her in any game because she’s consistently the most-banned hero in tournaments. The last three tournaments all had Naga Siren as the most banned, with Clavision Masters locking her out of 93% of all the games.

Silencer, Disruptor, Chen, Dark Willow, Bane, and Undying are also part of the common support picks for this meta.

In the offlane, the meta largely revolves around Blade Mail, which is still a great item despite its nerfs. Dawnbreaker has been one of the most contested heroes in the offlane for her global presence, and she’s a natural Blade Mail carrier as well. Offlaners would also gravitate to the best Blade Mail holder, Axe, and aim to take over the mid-game once he gets a Blink Dagger.

Apart from those two, offlane heroes are flexible and have smaller contest rates compared to other roles. There’s a wide berth of heroes in this position based on past tournaments. For example, some popular picks are the teamfight-oriented Mars, Sand King, Bristleback, and Dark Seer, and the aura-stacking, Helm of Dominator carriers Beastmaster and Lycan. 

Blade Mail has also found its way into the mid lane. Queen of Pain was the second most picked hero this season, primarily because her Bondage Facet keeps her healthy enough to dive into the middle of the enemy team. Ember Spirit is another common pick that leverages Blade Mail.

Puck has consistently been one of the most picked midlaners this season. She’s great at all stages of the game and can scale well into a right-clicking carry. Plus, it’s always fun to see pro players pull tricks with her elusive kit.

Earthshaker mid has recently exploded into popularity as a midlaner, especially with the build that rushes Yasha and Kaya to empower his attacks with Aftershock. Storm Spirit, Void Spirit, and Leshrac also have healthy representation.

Finally, position 1 is oftentimes the most protected role, and these heroes are often picked last since they’re expected to carry the game. Marci and Faceless Void have seen an upsurge in popularity as a hard carry, since top players have been building Helm of the Dominator to help with their farming patterns and teamfighting.

Nature’s Prophet has always been a very popular pick in professional Dota 2, and he’s been tearing up big events as one of the most contested and successful heroes. Professional players utilise his global presence and flexible build path to his fullest potential. Shadow Fiend, Templar Assassin, Monkey King, Sven, and Gyrocopter have also been present in recent tournaments.

When analysing drafting in professional Dota 2 tournaments, especially in TI14, flex picks will always take priority since they can protect the most valuable pieces of the team’s composition. Afterwards, teams will try to contest the best supports, before finally picking for their midlaner and carry. 

While there have been standout picks in the tournaments leading up to The International 2025, the sheer number of represented heroes showcases that Dota 2 has a healthy and diverse meta. You can expect these common heroes to pop up in the tournament, but games where teams make a pocket pick work make watching all the more exciting.