Fallen From Grace - Gyrocopter's Irrelevancy In The Current Meta
As patches come and go, so do hero trends. Heroes can go from hot picks to dead fish and vice versa. The current meta seems to make every hero viable, but the harsh reality is that among the 105 different hero picks at TI6, there were several heroes whose appearances were short lived, especially considering how consistently picked they had been before.
The fall of the mighty Gyrocopter
For several patches, 
Gyrocopter was a stable pick throughout most, if not all metas. A well rounded carry, who even had a short flirt with the midlane or as support, but ultimately the hero was always there. It was a go-to pick that didn’t always draw a ban--a hero that could fit seemingly any line-up. He fit the bill as an early aggressor with Rocket Barrage, and his teamfight ultimate allowed him to transition into the midgame quite well, while his late-game effectiveness never wavered.
Certainly, the hero was nerfed over the past years, be it directly, lowering his base Int, or indirectly, decreasing neutral creep bounties and making ancients more difficult to kill. Patch 6.85 and the Frankfurt Major were the last big stages for the hero to shine, although 19 picks and a 32% win rate in the playoffs certainly aren’t glamorous. All seemed fine with the hero, but then 6.86 came.
It wasn’t that 6.86 nerfed the hero into oblivion, or pushed him just over the edge, no. It gave life to other heroes that were too weak before and changed the meta just enough to edge out Gyrocopter. Patch 6.87 was the final nail in the coffin as it started the trend towards tanky cores, something Gyrocopter certainly never was. One Chronosphere or one Roar--quite frankly there are many more currently popular spells and heroes that could take out a Gyrocopter and render him useless.
These threats existed before, but since his ability to farm himself ahead of the curve had been weakened and he doesn’t have an innate escape ability, there doesn’tt seem to be enough arguments for a Gyrocopter pick these days.
Sustain is important
Gyrocopter is a special case, though there are others that have shared similar fates. These other heroes may not have been as dominant throughout multiple patches, but they’ve shown a lot of recent success and popularity.
Doom has always gone in and out of the meta, but this roller-coaster was especially noteworthy this year. As a top pick from the Frankfurt Major, he went to basically irrelevant in Shanghai, to then reliable pick in Manila, only to drop off into irrelevancy again--Doom has had a rough year. There’s an argument to be made that Doom could excel in this meta, for various reasons. Given a bit of armor, the hero becomes quite tanky, and a utility Doom with Mek can really provide some mid-game dominance. His ultimate’s long cooldown seems to prevent him from doing so, however, as 145 seconds of downtime could easily mean missing out in two or three engagements. The fact that Doom needs to acquire his tankiness by purchasing armor certainly doesn’t help his case, and it makes him feel quite “slow” in the midgame, in comparison to other offlaners or junglers. To top it all off, he’s a hero to take down a single target with. His low mana pool and his --quite frankly--low damage output in the early mid game are not suited for drawn out fights.
Tusk was the hero of the Frankfurt Major. A strong and flexible pick that can dominate the early game and create a lot of space in the midgame. He can be played both aggressively, as well as defensively and provides much need initiation. He was bound to be nerfed following the Frankfurt Major--and he definitely was--but the new Iron Talon, offlane trend gave him the chance to also be played in the offlane and while he wasn’t a hot pick anymore, he was still very much relevant in Shanghai. The Manila Major saw less of him, though in his 7 appearances the hero proved his worth still. Yet at TI6, Tusk rolled in only twice, losing both games.
He’s a teamfighter, he provides flexibility in the draft--something that is very useful these days as kawaiisocks laid out--and Tusk’s spells have all low enough cooldowns to be used multiple times during a fight. Unfortunately for him though, the meta has shifted away from utility cores such as him, or even roamers like him. Definite lockdowns are trending, allowing heroes like Ogre Magi or Beastmaster to prevail and reign supreme on positions Tusk would like to be in. Either that, or heroes that provide great teamfight presence, a teamfight presence greater than that of Tusk. Usually with big AoE spells, like Kunkka’s Ghost Ship or Riki’s Smoke Screen.
Ultimately, Tusk also doesn’t deal as much damage as other heroes do. The aforementioned alternatives all have some sort of reliable damage output that is higher than Tusk’s. Tusk’s attack damage never increases significantly, and his spells are never meant to burst, but rather to control. Other heroes can provide both and in a meta that can have games between 14 and 80 minutes, there’s no room for a hero whose damage doesn’t scale.
Buffs not necessary
Talking about these heroes was not meant to be an appeal to Icefrog to buff them. If anything, it was about showing how strong these heroes have been and still are. Just the way teams and players approach the way of playing right now--it doesn’t suit these heroes. And there are many more like them, who, without necessarily needing a direct buff, could return to the spotlight once more.
These three heroes certainly have proven that they can stand the test of time, despite a few nerfs, so who says they need buffs to come back.
First
second
stop shit chating wtf
by the way
3rd
4th haha
That's because he's just a ball of damage. Squishy yet kitable despite being a fucking range
Ez 5th
6th =D
when will you add underlord to dotabuff?
They should change gyro - maybe rocket barrage with passives from items, or change weak scepter?
I bought MKB and scepter for him and i couldn't stun enigma in black hole.
Maybe ability like smoke rocket- which u will shoot this in line, for long distance and give invisibility under it?
9th who cares
Delete that idiot commend pls (1st 2nd)... Btw im 10th
damn, i'm 100th
12 hello))
13th!
Gyro aghanim was never good. The ult one seemed kike 4200 wasted. The new scepter is slightly better but still not great.
previous gyro aghs was good, what are you talking about? Works well for a support gyro and works even better as an alch gift-consumable. The new aghs is certainly in no way better(an extra passive attack that attacks only once per second and you cant control where it attacks LUL)
gyrocopter is wasted
^ stupid still on the 7th count. 7th!
Sf anyone?
wtf !? nvm 20th
admin write abt pitlord
All right, moment of truth - if dotabuff has patience for number spammers, does it have the patience for mangoes...
Currently the Enchanted Mango has a 38.79% win rate. It is our duty as fellow gamers to give the wondrous item the respect it is due. Please take up arms in this attempt to avert this tradgedy.
doom should recover (at least) his normal BAT, tusk should be a bit more tanky (more str grow) and gyro.. dont know, i think gyro most be reworked like faceless void few patches ago
URSA POWER!
They just need to introduce the new KOTL and DOOM combo. Doom Echo-Sabre and KoTL chakra magic reduce cooldown. And a S&J + Deadalus. Echo Sabre for Mana & Stats and Two-Hit ability. S&J for Stats and Mov. Speed + Slow. And Deadalus for Crit + Damage. Doom Ult = 1 Kill. Burning Sword + Crit + Echo + Chakra = 2 Kills. Good use of Doom skills plus right click attacks and good positioning/fighting = 3 Kiils. KoTL nukes and mana drain to help in this battle = Ultrakill. Battle Fury as 4 Item = Rampage all by yourself. And so on.
HI MOM IM A PRO DOTA PLAYER NOW
carregador wow 2k comment and analysis! NICE NORMAL SKILL BRACKET AHAHHAA
this is a shitpost
You said 'quite frankly' twice in your essay. Other elements in your writing style are too flowery and difficult to read without cringing.
Current Meta: Tanks and Long Range Hardhitters
Gyro: Very Short Range + Spell Dependent + Squishy
Doom: Still Viable
Tusk: Still Viable in the early stage but there are more useful supports to pick compared to his offensive arsenal
i lost interest on him when they nerf the ss with agha
Doom is still a viable offlane core. You really don't want to run a support Doom with its abysmal mana pool. It will have constant mana problems even with an arcane boots. Better run him as a utility core by providing multiple auras to the team.
Tusk is still a viable hero as a support and a utility core but frankly there are other heroes much better than it in both positions like a Vengeful Spirit or a Tidehunter who both provide strong stuns and have good initiation potential.
Gyrocopter is just irrelevant these days. Granted a Dragon Lance gives it some survivability and attack range but you still have to go closer to the enemy to land your rocket barrage and you still need an early BKB for it to have an impact in teammates because a few spells and it will just evaporate. Frankly a Vengeful with a Dragon Lance does a better job at being a core than Gyro these days.
I feel like one other reason that Gyro is out of the meta is because this is a meta that favors heros that have at least some kind of mobility. Nearly every hero in the game builds a blink dagger or a force staff in at least some part of the game, some heros even building both. Other heros like Terrorblade, Luna, and Alchemist build Manta Style so that they could fight from far away.
While Gyro does sometimes build Manta, his Manta illusions don't really do as much as the before mentioned hero's illusions. He's mostly just a sit and fight tank that gets his tanky-ness from building items. The only ability which makes him a carry is his Flak Cannon which has a really long down time.
All right, moment of truth - if dotabuff has patience for number spammers, does it have the patience for mangoes...
Currently the Enchanted Mango has a 38.79% win rate. It is our duty as fellow gamers to give the wondrous item the respect it is due. Please take up arms in this attempt to avert this tradgedy.
Rofl @carregador
Why go for right click doom when you can get carries that FARMS FASTER than doom,becomes online much faster with less items,and more relevant in the late game?
Even picking gyrocopter gives you more edge than that pub build
EZ 1488
37th F U!!
9999th WHWHHWHWAOAAAAA YEEEHAAAA
39 FUCKING GOD
I've never thought Gyrocopter was strong. It's just that these pro tournaments nerds picking up 2 or 3 supports and 2 ranged low hp cores it was easy for him to clean up the lines. He's kind of ok. His stun is nice, because its range. Allows him to and his team to put up some nice plays, easily. But not more than this. He was just ok. If they'd stop picking 3 supports and 2 ranged low hp heroes, as it kind of happened this TI, he would disappear as I predicted.
Gyrocopter is really bad right now. I think most of it is to do with his appalling base attack damage; 37-47 damage with an attack animation on the harder side to use makes him lack harrass/farm ability early in the game.
The hero barely has 42% pub winrate right now and has very simple mechanics. I think that speaks for itself.
I still hope to see doom get back to the meta
why my fave gyrocopter is out of the meta? strong blink dagger heroes, blademai and l early on, his ult not going threw spelll immunity anymore, a few minor things like mana dependency early and etc. but honestly all he needs is the flak cannon cooldown reduced from 30 to 20 or 15:) seconds and he'll be back