Analyzing 6.88 Top Tier Carries
Ever since June of this year, 6.88 has been the balance patch of Dota 2. The patch has been celebrated as one of the best in DotA/Dota2’s history under Icefrog. Only a few weeks remain for 6.88, as the Boston Major is supposed to be the last event. Going into the event, it’s worth looking into the carries that have been the most dominant so far and are likely going to continue their run in Boston.
Drow Ranger
For the longest time in Dota 2 history, Drow Ranger has been a niche pick. People deemed it too risky to run the hero without a particular line-up around here and even then it had to be a surprise pick.
This year, that all changed. TI6 champions Wings started to draft the hero as early as firstpicking it. They didn’t mind giving away the information, that they were going to play a Drow Ranger line-up. They knew opponents couldn’t deal with it, regardless of that information.
She quickly evolved into a first pick for many. A new way to build her and a more consistent way to play around her allows Drow Ranger to be the most successful carry of 2016. She was the 4th most contested hero at TI6, with a 56% winrate.
Drow Ranger is a great carry that can enable the rest of the team to hit twice as hard in the early stages of the game. She can push towers well and with the now established itembuild (
Dragon Lance into 
Hurricane Pike, it becomes increasingly difficult to kill her. She can siege well and even has kill potential early on--in hindsight it feels weird to think that she ever wasn’t a top tier pick.
She’s not only a fearsome hero in competitive matches. For months now, Drow Ranger has been among the most successful heroes in the 5k+ MMR bracket recently as well and is currently at a 53% winrate with a 16% pickrate.
Luna
Similarly to Drow Ranger, Luna benefitted a lot from the introduction of Dragon Lance and Hurricane Pike. In many ways, she could be regarded as a weaker version of Drow, with better teamfight presence and a stronger comeback potential. Unlike Drow Ranger, Luna isn’t on the same timer and doesn’t need a specific line-up around her. Certainly, many European teams have started to pick Luna to combo it with a 
Shadow Demon--the illusions from Disruption allows a team to siege highground quite effectively.
Still, Luna isn’t as all in of a bet as Drow Ranger sometimes seems to be, while still providing a lot of similar pushing potential. And unlike Drow Ranger, Luna can deviate significantly from the standard item build. Going for a more classic 
Helm of the Dominator into 
Yasha/
Manta Style and then a BKB and 
Butterfly is very well possible as well.
With 36 picks during the Boston Major qualifiers, Luna is by no means a top pick right now. She is however a first class carry that is especially favored in Europe. 19 of those 36 picks were in Europe alone. With a 53% win- and a 13% pickrate in 5k+ MMR games, Luna is definitely a force to be reckoned with in pubs.
Sven
Sven has gone in and out of the competitive scene for years and never found much popularity and success in pubs either. The introduction of 
Echo Sabre has allowed Sven to become a fearsome pick in both.
Sven’s forte was always the ability to farm quickly and his tankiness made it difficult for opponents to kill him. His biggest weakness however has always been the fact that people can kite him around quite easily. While Echo Sabre doesn’t solve that issue, it provides Sven with the ability to burst down a target immediately. Blink->stun->hit. Before, that very same combo would not necessarily yield a kill and would leave Sven open for counter initiation. In most cases, with an Echo Sabre, it will be a kill nowadays.
As teamfights become more important, Sven can shine even further. Warcry is an excellent teamfighting ability and if he’s allowed to hit multiple opponents at once, he can clear out enemies quite easily. He’s an excellent highground sieger with enough items and a strong Aegis carrier. A more detailed look at his versatility can be found here.
A 52% win- and an 11% pickrate aren’t outstanding in the 5k+ MMR bracket, but it still shows that Sven is here to stay.
Juggernaut
Half a year ago, we discussed that Juggernaut has always been an integral part of both competitive and pub play. That is still very true today, possibly more so than ever before. As the meta shifted and more and more carries occupied the midlane, Juggernaut rose to the top of the ranks. Both Healing Ward and Blade Fury make it difficult to gank/kill him and his high attack damage allow him to farm head to head with other midlaners. A simple 
Poor Man's Shield makes him survivable against any harass from any ranged opponent.
As a result, Juggernaut advanced to one of the more popular carries in 6.88, as he could be picked early and would thus leave a team very flexible with both drafting and laning.
Currently, many favor the Manta + 
Diffusal Blade build, something which allows Jugger to be very strong and survivable at the same time. But his item flexibility is what makes the hero strong. If necessary, he can build both 
Blink Dagger and 
Abyssal Blade to be the initiator his team needs, or he can go down the classic hardcarry route with 
Desolator, Butterfly, 
Monkey King Bar and/or 
Eye of Skadi. More on DPS itemization on cores can be read here.
Juggernaut was the 2nd most picked carry at TI6, right after Drow Ranger, and the most picked hero during the Boston Major qualifier. No matter which region, no matter which skill bracket, Juggernaut is everywhere. He’s the 6th most picked hero across all brackets in pub games.
The most diverse patch yet
By now, everybody should know how diverse 6.88 has been. 105 different heroes have been picked at TI6, a stunning number for a game like Dota. Anything is playable and these are only some of the popular carries right now. There are other, noteworthy cores that have made a splash, such as 
Slark, 
Medusa or 
Naga Siren.
Which core has been your personal “carry of 6.88”? Let us know in the comments below!
Sources:
Когда ты первый)
Juggernaut for the win
terrorblade is so underrated this patch....
Im not gonna say it.
2nd xD or not doesnt matter
PL is so weak this patch ( this 2-3 patchs) Zzz
slark ofc
anti mage still a good late game hero when paired with a strong midlane hero
PL Deserves it
@Ash Terrorblade fell out of favour when meta was nerfed
what about Arc Warden? :D
I downloaded tons of replays with maelstrom>boots>shadow blade> mjolnir>sheep stick>MKB
or maelstrom>BoS>blink>stick>MKB
or mjolnir>bloodthorne
Ban Drow and Sven. Pick Meepo.
where's slark?
Huskar?
Meepo is still the best <3
Mirana and now bloodseker my favourite carries
morphling... shotgun is too good... his agility gain is great.... very difficult to kill and so much right click damage + huge magical burst...what can u ask more in a carry?
No shoutout to Morph?
ursa was a little nice
Naga mmr booster
This was the Year of the Slark for me on my smurf and the year of the PA on my main. I love the PA dagger changes
RIP azwraith and jahrakal
sven with echo sabre, dagger, and bkb is a monster
I hope the ones for supports are coming too.
Very informative article as always.
Keep it up guys!
Luna 53% win and 13% pick = a force
Sven 52% win and 11% pick = not outstanding
Yeah nice observation skill
Mean while, win rate all of them almost are around 52.5%. What a writer !!
For the love of anything, please nerf drow. Thnx
Do u remember Terrorblade spam before TI? That's a really cool hero that was underestimated for a long while!
Goddamn it Slark
slark..
Bs lul
rofl? Sven was viable in the patch before the sabre introduction.
"Sven has gone in and out of the competitive scene for years and never found much popularity and success in pubs either". What? Did you forget about the Sange and Yasha sven? Did you forget how he was rekting squishy ass heroes before heroes like sk, timber, morph and slark became popular?
PA imba
...🌚...
naga for sure
sven hot
of course io. why would anyone deny this hero?
arc .-.?
Please dont nerf sven :(
P. S: OK nerf it a lil bit but dont make him unplayable, he is still a durable carry which is beneath than drow and luna and Even slark. He doesn't deserve a HUGE nerf...
https://www.dotabuff.com/matches/2788449320
Morph still the best hero. BoT, Linken, Hurricane, Eth. Blade, Manta, Butterfly. :D
70% win-rate on slark :D
Pls don't nerf PA and Luna.
crystal maiden
Drew Ranger :D
Some ideas to balance Warlock and don't kill him from the meta:
1. Shadow Word total heal/damage from 165 / 275 / 385 / 495 to 150/265/380/495 (similar to Kunkka's Torrent damage nerf).
2. Fatal Bonds no longer ignores Damage Block (6.88 patch).
3. Fatal Bonds cooldown increased from 24/22/20/18 to 30 seconds (6.68 patch).
4. Fatal Bonds cast time increased 0.2 to 0.5 (6.84 patch).
And if IceFrog wants to heavy nerf the hero xd 5. Base strength reduced by 4.
:3
Dem Drow titties though
Honestly I'm not a bigtime carry player in general, but 80% of the time I'm in position 1, it's meepo :D
I recently started playing on WK and moved from one mmr bracket to another. I think WK is pretty strong in the meta. The counter pick would be AM and PL. As you know PL is pretty weak in the meta and dealing with AM is a matter of time. Moreover, if you play vs AM usually the other two cores on the enemy team are underfarmed; thus its pretty easy to deal with them.
As for the laning phase, I dont need to tell you how powerfull WK is. Its easy to zone out offlaners and killing potential is pretty high too since the cd on the 1st skill is so low. Get a mango as a first item and you are gonna win the lane vs solo hard.
when will be the time for my WK to be top tier carry :(