Best and most worst Dota 2 heroes of EWC 2025. Top most picked and banned heroes of Riyadh Masters 2025

The Riyadh Masters, also known as EWC 2025, concluded its competitive chapter in Saudi Arabia with Team Spirit decisively defeating Falcons in the grand finals. Their remarkable 12-1 game record throughout the tournament showcased exceptional draft execution and strategic prowess.

All matches operated on the competitive patch 7.39c, which was officially released in June and introduced several balance changes affecting hero viability. Understanding how professional teams adapted to these changes provides crucial insights for players at all skill levels.

The statistical foundation comes from Leamare’s Spectral.gg platform, recognized for its comprehensive esports data tracking. It’s important to note that the analysis excludes characters with minimal draft presence to maintain statistical significance.

Nature’s Prophet emerged as the undisputed champion of EWC 2025, achieving an exceptional 75% victory rate across 24 professional games. This performance establishes him as a premier meta choice with consistent impact across multiple match scenarios.

Following closely in competitive effectiveness were Chen, Batrider, Silencer, and Templar Assassin, each demonstrating strong win percentages that justified their frequent selection. These heroes shared common traits including strong laning presence, versatile skill sets, and reliable scaling into late-game scenarios.

Naga Siren presented a fascinating draft dynamic, being completely removed from consideration in 80 matches while only entering the battlefield in 8 instances. This extreme ban priority indicates teams recognized her potential game-winning capabilities when left uncontested.

Professional teams consistently prioritized heroes offering both early game pressure and late-game insurance. The top performers typically featured strong pushing capabilities, team fight control, or split-push threats that could single-handedly dictate game tempo.

At the opposite spectrum, Terrorblade and Phantom Lancer both struggled immensely, managing only 12.5% win rates throughout the tournament. These traditionally strong carries faced systematic counter-strategies that exploited their timing windows and item dependencies.

Bristleback secured victories in less than one-third of his appearances, highlighting how professional coordination effectively neutralizes his typical pub-stomping capabilities.

Warlock demonstrated particular unreliability with a 31.6% win percentage across 19 games. Despite his strong team fight ultimate, coordinated opponents consistently played around his cooldowns and positioning requirements.

The common thread among underperforming heroes was their vulnerability to coordinated ganks, dependency on specific item timings, and susceptibility to well-executed counter-picks. Understanding these weaknesses provides valuable lessons for hero selection in competitive environments.

Shadow Shaman enjoyed the highest pick priority with 39 competitive appearances, reflecting his consistent value across multiple draft configurations and lane assignments.

Puck ranked as the second-most selected hero but delivered disappointing results, with teams choosing this versatile mid-laner losing nearly 60% of their matches. This disconnect between pick rate and performance suggests teams may have overvalued Puck’s theoretical strengths.

Naga Siren, as previously mentioned, dominated ban discussions with teams universally recognizing her threat level. Batrider, Doom, and Templar Assassin similarly occupied permanent ban consideration status due to their game-deciding potential when mastered.

The draft phase revealed clear tier separation between must-ban threats, priority picks, and situational selections. Teams that correctly identified and adapted to these priority levels consistently performed better throughout the tournament brackets.

Nineteen characters remained completely absent from draft considerations, including Alchemist, Io, Drow Ranger, and Vengeful Spirit. This complete avoidance indicates these heroes either lacked competitive tools or possessed exploitable weaknesses that professional teams refused to risk.

The EWC 2025 meta emphasized heroes with flexible positioning, strong objective control, and the ability to create map pressure without excessive risk exposure. This represents a significant evolution from previous tournament philosophies that favored more specialized role assignments.

Successful teams demonstrated sophisticated understanding of power spikes and timing windows, often drafting compositions that created multiple win conditions rather than relying on single strategies.

Yatoro: “I really think we are the best team in the Dota 2 history”

For players looking to adapt these professional insights to public matches, focus on heroes with independent impact that don’t require perfect team coordination. Nature’s Prophet and Batrider translate particularly well to solo queue environments where self-sufficiency proves crucial.

The complete avoidance of 19 heroes suggests the professional meta has become highly specialized. However, several of these avoided picks maintain strong viability in public matches where different coordination levels and play styles prevail.

Team Spirit are your EWC 2025 Dota 2 champions!

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