Kuala Lumpur: Major Surprises
Image by DotaFX and Wei-Zi
With 7.20 already confirmed for right after the Kuala Lumpur Major and given how the priority picks and bans were very stable for the last several tournaments, we decided not to do a full meta recap, instead focusing on the biggest meta surprises during this tournament.
These surprises were a great farewell to the 7.19 patch—it might have overstayed its welcome, but it still provided us with a great deal of excellent games, entertaining TI and, for the most part, decently diverse meta.
LGD.fy Chaos Knight
PSG.LGD really spiced up the regular Terrorblade pick, not only picking core Shadow Demon for Chalice, but also rushing Aghanim’s Scepter on Fy’s Support Chaos Knight. What ensued was a terrifying sight of Terrorblade’s illusions pretty much filling the whole screen and shredding everything in sight into shreds.
The idea of a support CK was floating around for a while now, but it was f-god himself who blessed this concept and probably ruined some pubs in the process. With a stun, armor reduction and a decent repositioning tool, Chaos Knight is more than capable of being a strong lane support. He also roams relatively well, while providing a good amount of damage later on.
Urn of Shadows as the first item solves some of the mana issues the hero has, while also allowing CK to pretty much remain on the map, pressuring the opponents while he still can. For LGD.fy it was also the only item he got before rushing straight into Aghanim’s.
The end of the game versus [A]lliance pretty much tells the whole story. Terrorblade is a scary pick on his own, but with so much support and extra illusion creation, there isn’t really much for the enemy to do.
VP.Solo Drow Ranger
Virtus.Pro are known for going for unconventional drafts, but for the most part their gameplan remains the same. They have VP.9Pasha creating space and making plays, while No[o]ne and/or Ramzes carry the game. But against Fnatic they decided to go for their secret weapon—VP.Solo Drow Ranger.
During 7.19 VP played Drow a total of five times, including this game. Once it was played by Ramzes, once by 9Pasha and twice by fn, who was standing in for them during the qualifiers. They won all five games.
The most logical explanation for this Solo Drow ranger is the Brewmaster pick for 9Pasha. He was and still is one of the better players on the hero and managed to accomplish a lot throughout the game, even from a support position. So don’t make a mistake of thinking it was a support Drow Ranger—the idea might be worth theorycrafting, but it still far from being viable.
Gambit’s Core Dazzle
One more idea of questionable viability—core Dazzle looked excellent for the first 20 minutes of the game, handily winning mid matchup against Templar Assassin, but proceeding to lose the game. Poison Touch is an incredibly potent spell and it can be devastating in 1v1 or 2v1, but as the game progresses and teamfights start happening, it becomes less of a factor.
For that reason we often see Dazzle players taking a single point in Poison Touch and fully focusing on the other two abilities for the rest of the game. Core Dazzle, however, can’t afford it and needs the extra damage and slow to stay relevant DPS-wise and even that isn’t enough.
Once again, we don’t suggest trying it in your pubs and definitely not when playing with other tempo heroes on your team, such as Troll Warlord.
Nice One
support ck honestly seems like a great idea. if his passive was changed a bit and maybe if his ulti was changed to perma aghs except with longer cd, i think it would be one of the most op supports in the game. hes like a venge+ dazzle kinda hybrid in that sense.
support ck honestly seems like a great idea. if his passive was changed a bit and maybe if his ulti was changed to perma aghs except with longer cd, i think it would be one of the most op supports in the game. hes like a venge+ dazzle kinda hybrid in that sense.
id recommend support ck in normal skill bracket , so simple and straightforward but very powerful also, some hero will think twice before solo killing you.
ck is one of the scariest late game heroes..
Support CK or more of a roaming kind... He sure can work as a roaming hero. He has good solid damage, is quite durable. Has good movement speed and a solid stun and an ability to pull an enemy in to hit it... So this type of a hero coming in for a gank is really dangerous. But I wouldn't really try this as a slot 5 support... I think CK can do the slot 4 ganking/roaming type as he has great setup for kills...
what you said about solo's drow is so wrong.
They misclicked their picks and solo ended up with drow instead of brew.
If you had searched a bit you would have find many things about it.
CK will be courier in the next patch
Yeah yeah miss clicked like swaping isn't a thing
i saw singsing play ck roams long time ago
They still need to nerf PL and Terror...it's so boring to always see them in almost every match
Just abandon every match, this game is dead
Low pri dread. Lol
He really dose abandon.
patch soon boys
Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't Alliance play, and won with, Taiga CK on multiple occasions before TI? Also MidOne played Dazzle mid before Gambit even had a team, no?
And as stated above, the Solo Drow Ranger was a misscllick.
@Zenith
You are right. Need to add that Lod[A] played CK too (before Taiga obviously).
@6epe3a pyccka9I
Yes but Loda played carry, Taiga is pos 4 and played pos 4 CK.
Ogre Core best...
Icefrog bring CK back to meta ... he's been abandoned since TI3 when he used to combo with IO .
I love using CK as a support, more than as a carry
drow was a missclick wasnt it? their coach mentioned it
it's ben 4 days already
can your fix this post ffs ?
if u abandon every match. you'er dead after 2 matches