Vici Gaming remains atop Dota 2 player rankings, but zai climbs

The 2021 Dota Pro Circuit season is here and the effects of this new competitive format is now being felt. In the rankings, one thing that’s being felt is the depth of the Chinese region.

After months of Team Secret dominance over the top five, China has almost completely taken over. Four of the top five players come from China and that number could increase further. Here are where things lie at the moment:

Catch up on the rankings:

• How the rankings work
• The last installment of the player rankings

Ame joins Vici Gaming duo in top three

Ame has bounced up and down throughout the rankings’ existence, but the PSG.LGD carry is on the rise once again. He currently ranks in third place, climbing over Johan “N0tail” Sundstein. This puts him behind the Vici Gaming duo of Ren "eLeVeN" Yangwei and Zeng "Ori" Jiaoyang, who maintained their spots at the top by debuting in the Chinese DPC league LBZS.

Also in the top five is Du "Monet" Peng. Monet has always been near the top of the rankings, but his transfer to Team Aster and strong start with the team have only helped matters. He now sits in fifth place but has room to grow even further.

Round out the top 10 is Zhang "Faith_bian" Ruida. The former Wings Gaming player was strong with EHOME but looks even better as part of PSG.LGD. Longtime teammate Zhang "y`" Yiping is sitting just outside the top 10 and could join him before long.

zai overtakes Nisha as Team Secret’s top-ranked player

Though there wasn’t a major shift involving these two, Ludwig "zai" Wåhlberg jumped past teammate Michał "Nisha" Jankowski. While this isn’t a cataclysmic shift, it’s a bit of a coup for the offlaner.

Nisha has long been the top star of Team Secret when it comes to the rankings, with Lasse Aukusti "MATUMBAMAN" Urpalainen taking the spot behind him for a stretch. zai eclipsed MATUMBAMAN in November and now has jumped past Nisha as Nisha slid from fifth to seventh.

These changes won’t necessarily last for long as the margin between the two is incredibly narrow. Just keep in mind that while Nisha is deserving of all the attention he gets, zai has long been an elite talent and remains as good as ever.