SirActionSlacks called for nerfs to heroes popular in tournaments to diversify the meta

1w Team was the main story of the tournament. The roster remained unchanged during the reshuffles, but the team failed to win a single series in the playoffs. I know Pure was absent, so you could write off this entire tournament, but it’s still a wake-up call to start the season.

NAVI vs. Yandex, Game 2 of the Grand Final. The most competitive part of Wallachia. NAVI proved that a victory over Yandex—that formidable team—is indeed possible. Check out Niku’s Lina—it’s worth it. <...>

NAVI was an incredible team that rose from the Tier 2 scene this season and made it to the Wallachia Grand Final, but Yandex simply crushed everyone—they were on another level. An excellent team, now with ATF on the roster. Many thought they’d be unstoppable, and that’s exactly how it turned out. Yandex walks away with a 3-0 victory, having lost only one game in the Wallachia playoffs—ATF fell to skiter from Aurora, because skiter knows how to play against him.

But there’s some good news, too. Teams that lost in the PGL Wallachia final after The International almost always went on to win the next The International. [In 2025, Team Falcons lost in the PGL Wallachia Season 2 final; in 2026, Team Spirit took second place at PGL Wallachia Season 6. — Ed.] See, maybe NAVI is playing 4D chess. You heard it here first, though it’s unlikely to happen. Seriously, check out these Sun Strikes from Niku.

And yet, the strongest heroes are still Ember Spirit, Earth Spirit, Lone Druid, and Bounty Hunter. Sound familiar? It’s the same crap that was at TI. The nerfs weren’t enough; the meta isn’t broken. Please nerf these heroes—where are you, Valve?

You can call me a Valve apologist all you want, but I think that if the developers test out all the stupid nonsense I don’t want to see in Dota in Deadlock first, before ruining Dota 2, then that sounds pretty great to me. I’m just glad Valve is doing something in the multiplayer games space at all.

I’m sure that once Deadlock is finished, more people will spread out across the company again and return to Dota. Last month, we had three events running simultaneously on the client’s main page: the TI Battle Pass, “Quartero’s Curiosities,” and “The Dark Carnival.” Only one of them is a real event; the rest are just cosmetic, but I still think they’re doing something.

That said, I’m not a complete lackey for Valve. Can we please nerf these damn heroes? As long as Valve keeps releasing patches and some kind of content, I’ll be honest with you: I believe Dota will live forever. We’re all too deeply invested to stop playing now. You know that’s true. Do I hope the Dota developers will come back? Absolutely. But let them have a little fun with Deadlock. Let them get their act together, recharge, and come back with new, great ideas. And it’ll be amazing. I hope so.