BB Dacha Dubai didn’t have too many meta revelations: for the most part we were seeing the same kind of meta we see in higher level pubs and other tournaments. There were only a few notable additions to the regular suspects and none of them were too surprising, so hopefully teams will be showing more fresh ideas in the upcoming tournaments.
Blast Off!
Changes in 7.35 made the hero a lot more viable during the laning stage. Previously, the hero’s job in lane was to constantly harass the enemy through his high attack range and a lot of damage coming from being Universal. Nowadays it is all about consistently landing his Blast Off! and creating kill threats.
This isn’t entirely new and it doesn’t mean the ability should be maxed out, but being more aggressive on Techies is a lot less punishing than it used to be. Many professional players even complement Blast Off-centric laning playstyle with an earlier Taser point.
Come minute fifteen Reactive Taser also becomes an extra nuke in Techies arsenal, one that doesn’t even need to be levelled up all the way to meaningfully contribute damage-wise. If timed well, they can make most right-clicking cores without BKB irrelevant for the duration of the fight as well.
All in all, it makes for a very high-risk, high-reward character that we personally don’t think is a good pub meta fit, but he is certainly not the worst and maybe worth exploring for interested players
The hero isn’t necessarily new, as he was well established as a good high level pub hero for a while, but he is still worth talking about. His 
Mage Slayer build allowed for unprecedented level of EHP in the current ability damage-heavy meta and coupled with his Aghanim’s Upgrade made him an absolute late-game menace. One that is kind of hard to deal with considering the constant split-pushing as well.
We are fairly certain the hero’s going to get nerfed. We are also hoping that his nerfs aren’t going to destroy his identity as a very tanky frontline core. What does look iffy is his interaction with 
Manta Style: fully utilising all the benefits of Elder Dragon Form makes them a little too strong in our opinion.
After a series of seemingly tame buffs that mostly concentrated on quality of life for the hero, Mars is coming in very hot into the meta. Part of it is the item changes, part of it is direct buffs, but right now we feel like Mars is definitely not the “Pudge of the Pro-Scene” he once was.
The most important part is the hero’s versatility. There are multiple “first items” the hero can build depending on the game. When playing against elusive targets like 
Puck, getting Eul’s provides a very strong, instant and technically unavoidable setup for a stun. Getting Vlad’s can really up your own farm game, while also providing excellent sustain against physical damage for your team. Finally, there is the ever-present Mage Slayer, which can be applied to multiple targets with ease, really amping the damage output of the hero.
The end result is a hero that can never be bad and that is extremely important for professional play. While the hero’s success isn’t mirrored in pubs, we do believe there is a reason to learn to play the hero: his versatility, repositioning capabilities and even potential late game scaling make him an excellent hero to have in your arsenal.
Who knew that the only thing the hero was lacking was 0.2 extra Strength per level? That, and some strong Mage Slayer buffs that make killing Slark with AoE ability damage that much harder.
The hero thrives in longer fights and in the meta defined by the anti-burst items he is an excellent fit. He is one of the few carries who can concentrate on itemising defensively and still stay relevant damage-wise. He is also one of the better 
Faceless Void counters in the game and can be decent against 
Dragon Knight as well.
The end result is a perfect anti-meta fit that has already trickled down into pubs as well. We highly recommend playing Slark in the current patch, as he is definitely the carry that took the crown from Void over the last couple of weeks.
BB Dacha didn’t have too many surprises, unfortunately, but it did set the stage for the upcoming tournaments. There are definitely some lessons to be learned from the tournament and the meta isn’t necessarily set in stone fully, even if there are some undeniably persistent heroes.
Hopefully we will see some creative adaptations by the professionals, but what do you think of the current meta? Are there heroes that are underutilised in your opinion? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.