Best of Insane Hero Picks That Actually Worked (Dota 2)

Dota games are often a grueling affair and can take up to an hour or more to complete. But often they’re actually decided before the game actually starts, during the draft.
That’s right guys, we’re looking at some of the best, most insane hero picks of competitive Dota 2.
We’re taking a look at the meta-breaking roleswaps, like Core Vengeful Spirit or Jungle Keeper of the Light, as well as the off-meta and new hero picks, like Pangolier, or when heroes like Axe and Necrophos were considered uncommon.
And this list would not be complete without the perpetual black sheep of Dota 2. The heroes that are always a surprise, regardless of the meta: Meepo, Techies and the pub star king, Pudge.
Video edited by: Dennis Gonzales (@Tarmanydyn )
Hosted by: Colin McNeil (@McNeilColin)
Footage courtesy of:
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#Dota2 #OffMetaHeroPicks #Techies
Music used under license from Associated Production Music LLC (”APM”).
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[@theScoreesports]

Hey Everyone, Colin may be cringey but our shirts aren’t! Be sure to check them out: thesco.re/2zTHCC1

[@CivilizationV]

nah, both are cringy

[@sheelaranjit2438]

theScore esports stop Colin isn’t cringey

[@Viran_21]

Colin is terrible. Really. He talks just way too much. That's the only thing I don't like about your videos. Colin.

[@riveteye93]

I like Colin, he just needs a litte work on his presentation that's all

[@ouroruo]

Dead game

[@mattgesualdo6363]

Back when offlane enchantress wasn’t a thing...good times

[@LeinRa-Reaction]

and now it's one of the most hated things in pubs

[@Sc0pee]

Well it kinda was, but just not in pro scene.

[@ammarfadhil184]

back when enchantress was a jungler pos4 role

[@lunamoonfang2]

still haunts my dreams

[@notelsaga6779]

singsing meepo FeelsGoodMan

[@jordyrio9269]

*"Anything can work" - BigDaddyN0tail*

[@cloroxbleach5660]

Everything not anything

[@dasyad00]

POWER OF FLOWERS AND FRIENDSHIP

[@ayushkumar4414]

@@dasyad00 prowess * not flowers meaning bravery or skills in battle

[@sevenlikethenumber]

Dendi said that

[@zaxis1812]

Even support hero to become carry hero

[@schlockb9917]

realy interesting to see how many of these picks became meta not too much later

[@Tarmanydyn]

Editor here, It was actually way harder than I thought it was going to be to find stuff like this. Like the transition from Offlane Bounty Hunter to a full Support BH. A lot of these are one-offs that I remember watching live.

[@freepress3631]

That enchantress offlane, is meta now

[@jamesaditya5254]

remember when razor aghs refresher was a meme? It destroys TI not too long after

[@deathpyre42]

Especially since dota's meta is a lot more freeform, so barring Meepo and Techies there aren't too many heroes that are truly off-meta.

[@inestrix7377]

Was that the first showcase of the Vacuum + (slardar) Crush combo? Or was it already used a lot before?

[@incoherence]

It'll never not be funny to me that EG got a draft advantage in the TI5 finals because Aui drew a first phase Techies ban in every game.

[@kylecalvert4549]

That and the fact they knew Maybe's Leshrac was not good back then since Lesh was the hero banned first phase every game! PPD's mind games were through the roof!

[@jamilangon5798]

Dendi is not the greatest player today but he carries the legacy of true dota players 😎

[@arnnaul7495]

Dendi is the ORIGINAL.

[@Corrupted]

Gotta love how the gods of creative dota OG picked up sumail and midone, we can see a recruitment pattern here

[@exalmer14]

Singsing Meepo vs VG was the most entertaining match of TI4

[@kaiogiovanni]

The best thing is that he went against 5 counters and still won

[@hansi639]

I've been waiting for this since I saw the video you made about crazy LoL picks. Thanks for the great content!!

[@cloweystar]

I member good old days Mastah Sing's glory FeelsBadMan

[@yohanhusei14]

I'll definitely get reported for trying these, even in unraked :) Good stuff Synd's laugh at 7:59 hahahaha

[@hannijrch.5178]

I watched this match live, and I actually bet for them and I just facepalmed but its actually great haha

[@serajalhorani838]

Hahaha that was funny

[@akashindraji9747]

Best for caster casts Ti20

[@justinvalbuena5933]

Can still hear Loda... IS THAT BALANCED?

[@user-ut5to8dp3i]

dota 2 itself is unbalanced to begin with hahaha

[@frking100]

Loda was just a bs rager. He had try to use the pudge strategy before in another tournament and failed so he was salty at seeing someone be way better than him

[@KurikuShoTto]

Don't even play Dota but that was fun to watch, cheer dudes

[@jeanlucbertumen8687]

No fng position 1 Treant, feelsbadman

[@originalbillyspeed1]

feelsbadman

[@EpicFishStudio]

when I told my friends that I had this in mind, they said it would suck just because. Then this guy comes along.

[@cataclisma3846]

This channel produces great DotA2 videos!! Good work!

[@greedisbad9890]

12:10 "Do they have the damage" A Second later 3/4 hp is gone

[@dragonazL]

Greed is Bad *99%

[@Nagnets]

These videos are so great, very well produced and entertaining content.

[@VietVuHunzter]

Dendi's Pudge SingSing's Meepo were my favorite.

[@NelDota]

Legend has it that Loda is still salty on that puj chen combo.

[@dotaessence7106]

Nice work man!

[@justinewendellmaramba5655]

"HOW IS THAT BALANCE" -loda

[@kyeicyreiz7442]

The Iconic Fountain Hook still overwhelms me

[@tehpanasmanis5662]

McNeilColin - Calls Dota 2 Heroes 'Champions' OMEGALUL HYPERCLAP

[@jadetaylor6093]

Thanks for the eg playlist did you know there were other teams how is this video not just wings gaming and mvp phoenix highlights

[@Leemo521]

i love this meepo rap in the end xD

[@AndiekaAlmas]

Now i know where these toxic player i encounter in Crusader got inspiration

[@Dragon4eva]

2019 Update: Ana IO

[@bleach0959]

When i think about it the fountain hook is really like the fnatic boost on overpass

[@calebmusicofficial]

Where's kuroky's techies at ESL One Frakfurt? Great vid though!

[@Lallainte]

sick video dude xdDDd 10/10 1 min after release

[@aitan6593]

Little late but I want to add Sing’s meepo pick was a bit before that really even became a good niche pick. Back then, nobody practiced as, with, or against meepo for any competitive reason. It’s what makes the pick work despite Sing’s (in comparison to what we expect today) inefficient performance. Still very impressive in context though.

[@grob1an118]

missing kurokys techies at ESL One Frankfurt, but still a great video

[@B20C0]

The fun thing is that the Pudge mechanic that people get hooked to the position Pudge is in when the hook returns (and not from where it was thrown) was explicitly implemented into Dota 2. Also for all the people calling this a "bug": It never was. It's incredibly hard to time and doing so consistently like Navi did this game was pure insanity. Hitting hooks itself without setup is hard, but doing so vs pro players AND an exact timing is a whole other level. This is nowhere NEAR the Centaur+Manta abuse.

[@WarChiefyt]

and you could just press tp while hooking to enemy fountain

[@B20C0]

@@WarChiefyt Nah, you were disabled. I doubt Tongfu would have just "forgotten" that.

[@nurettinakyol6166]

How can you forget the Team Secret vs. Fnatic game on ESL Frankfurt 2015. Kuroky played Techies that game and they actually won thanks to him. Especially last fight was amazing. "It's a trap!!!!"

[@skatatzisskatenios3767]

Nice videos dudes! Nice dota old times

[@russhiki5032]

Wheres kuroky techies at esl frankfurt 2015 vs fnatic

[@doemecom]

where the heck is the techies/tusk combo from ESL ONE Frankfurt from Team Secret? that was by far the smartest pick and synergy

[@draconidmike]

the tusk techies combo is so crazy in TI 5

[@SoulTouchMusic93]

8:05 that laughter damn!

[@tomekstec981]

Let's be honest, that chen pudge combo is off the charts.

[@albertogonzalez5774]

Lovin your content so far.

[@raystinger6261]

They missed pieliedie's support Bounty Hunter. Nowadays the hero is commonly associated with the support role, but that's because pieliedie reinvented the hero for that role, back in the day Bh was only seen as an offlane hero. Also an honorable mention to Bzz's carry Jakiro back when he played for VP - he made the hero look super OP.

[@josegabrielsuarezortega3420]

Dendi pudge was the best game ever in my 12 years of dota 1 and 2

[@mohammed64911]

there are some crazy picks in dota turnoments we need more like this pls

[@jamesryanceballos6288]

I can't believe you guys forgot Dendi's mid wisp in TI3 finals. He won mid against lone druid

[@galileohansenVT]

Was waiting for Kuku's Huskar pick at TI6

[@jamesaditya5254]

What's amazing is Synderen literally had just said that Miracle can get literally anything to play in that particular game, and Riki is exactly the least expected hero to get that shrekt VGJT

[@khanali-vl5fp]

Love dendi'combo with puppy

[@angelaly6470]

Y’all realize liquid Matu mid dazzle was something that happened a lot more than secret doing it

[@cihanakn3693]

nice video but didn't secret pick techies for kuroky before eg did for aui

[@neon10knights]

fountain hook is just classic!!

[@doubting.youtubecommentor931]

Aui's part always carcks me up

[@Mashironii]

8:00 that laugh always gets me everytime 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@dZheymsK]

How bout TNC.Tims’ Chaos Knight Support? He did that once and it worked like a charm.

[@lawrencedalangin4684]

singsing meeps vs 5aoe skilled hero :O legendary !

[@TheXalkos]

you missed the techies pick of kuroky in liquid vs fnatic game

[@yamato3618]

One of the best tumbnails ive seen in a while idk

[@Qu1ntus_]

Ask and you shall receive. This vid is out finally! Thanks for this content!

[@KiLeTheKiLLa]

Where is the Kuroky Techies at a grand final? with those epic explosions?

[@baligh2325]

I hear loda screaming from miles away

[@abeinla]

Why is Hedo Turkoglu hosting a DOTA 2 video?

[@DonleyDemeterio-hk2qq]

no io ana? hehe that was hell of unexpected picks too

[@kennivanchavez4478]

Loda or Akke or Admiralbulldog story please (Dota 2)

[@trenchtierstudios554]

Miss old school EG; before they just became a super team. They had some amazing off meta picks that won them a lot of games.

[@alexandrenogueira236]

you guys missed to mention yapzor's Luna and sven for team secret

[@torrevillaskimharold160]

damn the nostalgia... last played 3 years ago 1387 hrs

[@jacobinfante2553]

Happy to see this but you forgot techies secret vs fnatic when they got champion at ESL picking blood storm techies tuskar

[@VaclavDusek36]

Ah yes, the Pre-wings time where you could still get shocked in Dota by weird picks

[@iplaytan]

All those matches share something identical to each other, that is after the game all the weird picking become the thing in SEA server and to spike thing up it did not work out very well.

[@bigwig8657]

3 morph was iceiceice with vg paired with super alch and old aghs.

[@robberbooty9862]

I love the lists, but have you guys ever thought about doing a smite video?

[@ALLAHwithdaughterALLAT]

smite is dead now

[@vergel3603]

you can head Loda screaming DISQUALIFICATION! in the last clip

[@janosch7210]

Where's the Axe pick from OG in TI7?

[@yosiaaditya6415]

Master Songsong!!

[@apektaiga3242]

First meepo pick in TI and facing full aoe hero tide, dp, jakiro, es and luna. LoL

[@midgetsow]

Back when I played DotA 1, Pudge was first pick/ban. Slardar was highest win%, and VS was a standard pick. What happened?

[@96hanabi]

Where is Secret's Techies vs Fnatic? :(

[@Dyleniz]

If they make an updated list damn support Luna, they forgot the time we saw support PA, Support Invoker

[@m.narcissus1209]

Alternative video title: SEA Server's Guide to Drafting

[@MrFidoxVodka]

N0tail meepo vs Baguette was the perfect example. And its missing here

[@greedisbad9890]

Most of these actually the draft that change the meta

[@arkarnyanhein]

what is the name of the background music ?

[@JCDenton46]

So funny to hear them freak out about offlane Enchantress.

[@mikhailjuddespino5484]

Singsing and dendi 😳😳

[@swredpalladin]

i remember singsing dota. good times.

[@rafikhankhadem9445]

Headphone model at 9:27???

[@er1Nemity]

Dazzle was first used on mid by TongFu's uu9 so its not really new

[@lokanantazain]

Ah Yapzor and his weird support heroes. Luna, Terrorblade, Invoker and now Sniper

[@tingispingis]

There was a time when offlane Enchantress was a crazy pick

[@zer0legend109]

Add io carry by Ana in TI9 to the list

[@nimad95]

nothing like the fountain hooks

[@zaxis1812]

You must update this video after what OG doing with io.

[@islamicllamas8142]

I have nightmares of watching IceIceIce fail as techies years ago

[@ronhraezlyrsilawan420]

"Anything can work" - Notail

[@royaleblizzard2460]

7:38 LOL that's my HERO XD

[@adilyricist1388]

My fav always the lil support pa

[@warmpereer65]

Recently OG win using all support hero

[@ShubhamChavan]

I see Dendi I click...!!

[@nesleemp]

Need to add Ana's Io and Godson's gyrocopter