The best hero in Dota 2 7.30e may not be who you expect. At the moment, Jakiro might actually be the best hero in the game.
According to the official numbers, Jakiro is the best hero in Dota 2 heading into the new year. The two-headed dragon sported a 53.93% win rate across the month of December 2021 with a 12.65% pick rate. Dotabuff also lists Jakiro as the 21st-most popular hero in the game, which is remarkably low for what is statistically the best hero. What makes him so strong? And does that high win rate really make him the best hero in all of Dota 2?
Jakiro is the best hero in Dota 2 right now
Jakiro’s biggest strength is his versatility. He’s able to shove waves, harass laners, cancel channels, and flip team fights with his massive area-of-effect spells. All of that is well-suited to a metagame revolving around mid-game pushes. He can gank, deathball, and safely siege high ground with Liquid Fire. Jakiro’s versatility even extends to his laning stage. Though he is typically a hard support, Jakiro makes an excellent soft support and even a cheesy mid laner in some situations.
That well-rounded kit makes Jakiro especially good at low MMRs, which is the vast majority of Dota 2 matches. His ability to transition successful fights into objectives makes him one of the best heroes in Dota 2 for quickly ranking up over the holidays. Jakiro’s success drops off a little at higher skill levels. Three of his four spells are skillshots, and proper itemization makes him much less of a threat. Still, Liquid Fire and his Aghanim’s Shard are useful tools to have on any team.
Jakiro is the top hero, but a few others are right behind him. Wraith King is just .12% below him as the second-best hero in Dota 2. Enigma is third at 53.72%. The only real common factor between these heroes is the ability to destroy towers. Jakiro has Liquid Fire, Wraith King has his skeleton army, and Enigma has Eidolons. They also have a significant impact on team fights. Enigma and Jakiro are self-explanatory while Wraith King counters them by literally outlasting their spells.
Is Dota 2 balanced?
As of the very beginning of 2022, Dota 2 is a pretty balanced game. No single hero is overwhelmingly overpowered but a few heroes struggle across all skill brackets.
54 of 122 heroes have a win rate of 50% or higher. 24 more heroes have a win rate above 49%. That means that the majority of Dota 2 heroes are viable. It’s also worth noting that there are no heroes with a win rate above 54%. In previous patches, particularly strong heroes have had win rates as high as 58%.
The worst hero in Dota 2 is currently Nature’s Prophet at 42.85% win rate for December 2021. Considering his longtime terrible win rate, Prophet is due for a major buff in patch 7.31. Other contenders for the worst hero in Dota 2 include Doom, Lina, Rubick, and Keeper of the Light.
