The International 2024 lasted for around two weeks. During that time, the games played on patch 7.37c revealed that the in-game meta has evolved in a particular direction. The rise of aura items and Gleipnir (despite its nerfs) favoured certain heroes in the meta.
However, despite some heroes dominating the matches at TI, they failed to make a significant impact in pubs. On the other hand, a few heroes demonstrated their potential to dominate pubs during the finals weekend.
Thus, without further ado, here are the meta heroes that dominated The International 2024.
The International meta is quite different from regular pub games. At the tournament, Naga Siren was the most contested hero, boasting a 96.72% contest rate. In the twelve matches she was picked, Naga had an impressive 75% win rate. This success is largely due to Naga's new facet, Deluge.
This facet replaces Naga's former passive with an active ability that reduces the status resistance of her opponents. When the real Naga activates this ability, it is also applied to her illusions, allowing her to affect more opponents in skirmishes with ease. As a result, her enemies are stunned and silenced for longer than they anticipate.
However, there's a key reason for her low win rate in pub games. In coordinated environments like tournaments, where players synchronise their movements, this ability becomes one of the strongest spells in the game. But in pub matches, where players tend to act more independently, Naga turns into a squishy support that struggles to survive. As a result, Naga Siren holds an unimpressive 47.60% win rate in pubs.
Shadow Demon and Tusk were other popular supports at TI. Both heroes boasted over a 60% win rate in the matches they participated in at TI, but their success did not carry over to pub games, where their win rates are below 50%.
This disparity is again due to the lack of synergy in pubs. Both heroes require coordinated efforts to unlock their full potential, which is often missing in uncoordinated pub games.
Omniknight is one of the few support heroes with a solid win rate both in pubs and at TI. He had a 63.93% contest rate at TI, winning 64.71% of the 17 matches he was picked. In pub games, Omniknight maintains a respectable 52.96% win rate.
This consistency is largely because Omniknight is a scaling support that can itemize aura items. In a meta where auras play a crucial role in skirmishes, Omniknight’s toolkit, with its multiple dispels and heals, combined with aura items provides more than significant utility for this team to sustain and come out on top in skirmishes.
Gleipnir is an item that has been gaining popularity despite receiving nerfs in recent patches. It provides farming speed and health in the early game, and as the game progresses, it transitions into an initiating/AoE crowd control item.
With the rise of Gleipnir, many melee heroes without farming efficiency abilities were left out since the start of the group stages. Instead, ranged heroes that could easily build Gleipnir or scale well into the late game were drafted.
In the early stages of TI, Windranger, Luna, and Mirana emerged as some of the most contested safelane heroes. Luna, in particular, excels as a safelane hero due to her farming efficiency, and she outscales all the other carries in the meta.
Mirana, on the other hand, is a flex pick and can be played either as a support or a safelane core. Her facet, Solar Flare, when combined with a BKB allows her to deal more damage than traditional supports. It also gives her allies significant attack speed, enabling them to turn the tides of any unfavourable skirmishes.
As a core, Mirana can build Gleipnir to land her stuns or initiate skirmishes. With additional damage items and Solar Flare, she can melt her opponents in team fights as the game progresses.
However, as TI progressed, Windranger became a stable safelane pick, largely due to her Whirlwind facet. In simple terms, Whirlwind functions like Gyrocopter's Flak Cannon but with greater effectiveness.
Windranger needs only a Maelstrom and a BKB to come online. In skirmishes, the combination of Windrun, her ultimate ability with these two items allows her to decimate her opponents with ease. Moreover, Windranger is a universal hero, meaning players don’t need to worry about her scaling into the late game.
With a strong laning phase, excellent scaling, and elusive abilities, it's no surprise that she became a popular pick. Additionally, Windranger can also be flexed into the midlane, adding to her versatility.
Gleipnir paved the road for safelaners at The International 2024. However, a different factor determined the trend for the other cores at midlane and offlane – flexibility.
Heroes like Monkey King, Sand King, and Dragon Knight were frequently drafted at TI due to their ability to adapt to various roles. Monkey King often excelled as a midlaner because of his lane dominance, while Dragon Knight and Sand King demonstrated their versatility by switching between roles. This flexibility allowed teams to adjust on the fly, providing strategic depth during the draft.
When Dragon Knight wasn’t a viable midlaner, he was comfortably slotted into the safelane. Similarly, Sand King thrived in the offlane role when needed. Both heroes scale effectively into the late game, offering not only solid damage but also teamfight control.
Their flexibility made them highly contested picks at TI, giving teams options to react to their opponents' lineups and strategies.
The interesting thing about this TI was the resurgence of Sniper. Although rarely contested in professional play before, Sniper achieved a 69.67% contest rate at The International 2024, largely due to his newfound flexibility.
This is likely due to the fact that Sniper can be a flex pick.
Few would have guessed that players in low-level pubs would pioneer a meta, yet here we are. His ability to flex roles made him a valuable pick in this TI.
Sniper's resurgence is largely thanks to his Scattershot facet for Shrapnel. During the laning phase, this facet allows Sniper to easily zone out opponents for his core when played as a support.
As a midlaner, it enables Sniper to play aggressively and heavily punish opponents caught out of position. As the game progresses, the ability can also be used to finish off low-health opponents trying to retreat.
Interestingly, the meta evolved over time at TI. During the finals weekend, the focus shifted from scaling heroes to tempo-based heroes with strong laning stages.
Heroes like Lone Druid, Puck, and Visage became the most popular choices. Lone Druid emerged as the top pick for the safelane, thanks to his Bear Necessities facet. This facet allows him to carry only three items, but the attributes of those items are enhanced.
While playing Lone Druid, players would choose this facet and play with the hero rather than relying on his bear. They usually built Gleipnir, Eye of Skadi, and Disperser, aiming to end the game in under 35 minutes.
As a result, Lone Druid achieved an impressive 83.33% win rate in the 6 matches he got through.
A post-TI patch is expected to arrive soon, along with the release of Kez in Crownfall Act IV. As a result, these overpowered heroes may receive nerfs soon.
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