Dota 2 Patch 7.40c Meta Tier List

Carry Tier List

S-Tier Carries

• •Slark — 53.5% win rate, highest pick rate among carries. Essence Shift is brutal in extended fights and the Pounce leash punishes poor positioning. First-pick material in most drafts.
• •Clinkz — 54.6% win rate. Searing Arrows tear through towers and heroes alike. Death Pact gives him a massive HP buffer that makes him deceptively tanky in mid-game skirmishes.
• •Templar Assassin — Top-tier carry when given space. Refraction makes her nearly unkillable in lane trades, and Psi Blades cleave through stacked camps at record speed.

A-Tier Carries

• •Shadow Fiend — 52.9% win rate. Triple Raze secures every last hit and deny in lane. Presence of the Dark Lord makes him a natural Desolator carrier who melts Roshan at 18 minutes.
• •Drow Ranger — 52.1% win rate. Marksmanship procs bypass armor entirely, making her lethal against high-armor offlane heroes. Needs a frontline — do not pick her into dive-heavy lineups.
• •Faceless Void — 51.4% win rate. Chronosphere remains the single best teamfight ultimate in the game. His ceiling is the highest of any carry but his floor is also the lowest — missed Chronos lose games.

B-Tier Carries

• •Phantom Assassin — Still viable but Blur nerfs hurt her survivability. Only pick her when the enemy lacks reliable lockdown and magical burst.
• •Juggernaut — Safe, consistent, but lacks the explosive scaling of S-tier picks. Omnislash feels underwhelming against tanky meta offlane heroes.
• •Luna — Strong farming speed but gets punished by gap-closers like Slark and Storm Spirit. Needs perfect positioning in fights.
• •Lifestealer — Decent against STR-heavy lineups but falls off hard against kiting compositions. Feast damage is not enough when enemies just run away.

Mid Tier List

S-Tier Mids

• •Storm Spirit — 56.0% win rate across 2,100+ games. The undisputed king of mid lane in 7.40c. Ball Lightning lets him initiate from fog, pick off supports, and escape before the enemy reacts. Bloodstone into Orchid is the standard build.
• •Invoker — Second most impactful mid. QW Invoker dominates the early-mid transition with EMP + Tornado + Cold Snap ganks. QE Invoker scales harder but needs 15 minutes to come online. Both builds are viable.

A-Tier Mids

• •Puck — Third-best mid by the numbers. Dream Coil is an incredible teamfight setup and Phase Shift dodges key spells. Witch Blade into Blink is the build in 7.40c.
• •Ember Spirit — Meta-defining because he punishes immobile heroes. Sleight of Fist + Flame Guard lets him trade with anyone in lane. Transitions into a magical or physical build depending on the game.
• •Queen of Pain — Strong laner with Scream of Pain spam. Blink gives her free rotations. Falls off in ultra-late games but dominates the 15-30 minute window.

B-Tier Mids

• •Zeus — Pure damage output is still valuable but he dies to every gank. Only pick into passive enemy supports who will not roam mid.
• •Lina — Versatile but outclassed by Storm and Invoker. Light Strike Array stuns are too unreliable without setup.
• •Void Spirit — Nerfed in recent patches. Still has great mobility but his damage numbers do not keep up with S-tier mids.

Offlane Tier List

S-Tier Offlaners

• •Clockwerk — 53.68% win rate and rising sharply. Hookshot initiation range is unmatched. Power Cogs trap enemies for your team to collapse on. Battery Assault prevents blink daggers from being used.
• •Axe — Consistently high win rate across all brackets. Berserker's Call goes through BKB and forces enemies to attack into Counter Helix. Blink + Call is the most reliable initiation in the game.
• •Lycan — The triple-threat offlaner: damage, healing, and mobility. Howl buffs the entire team, wolves provide scouting, and Shapeshift lets him chase down any hero on the map.

A-Tier Offlaners

• •Legion Commander — Overwhelming Odds farms waves instantly and Press the Attack dispels critical debuffs. Duel forces 1v1s that remove enemy carries from teamfights.
• •Timbersaw — The anti-STR specialist. Reactive Armor makes him nearly unkillable in lane against melee carries. Whirling Death + Timber Chain combo clears waves and jungle camps simultaneously.
• •Tidehunter — Ravage remains one of the best teamfight ultimates. Anchor Smash reduces enemy carry damage by 60%. Kraken Shell purges debuffs automatically.

B-Tier Offlaners

• •Centaur Warrunner — Stampede is still powerful for team mobility but his laning stage is weaker than S-tier options. Needs level 6 to make an impact.
• •Mars — Arena of Blood is great for team fights but god's Rebuke damage has been nerfed. Pick him when you need Roshan control.
• •Underlord — Firestorm farms but he lacks kill threat. Atrophy Aura is only valuable in long, drawn-out fights that the current meta does not favor.

Support Tier List

S-Tier Supports

• •Nyx Assassin — The premier soft support. Vendetta scouting, Mana Burn deleting INT heroes' mana pools, and Spiked Carapace reflecting key spells. Pairs perfectly with aggressive mid heroes like Storm Spirit.
• •Rubick — Spell Steal is the highest-ceiling ability in the game. Telekinesis provides instant lockdown, and Fade Bolt reduces enemy right-click damage. Steals game-winning ultimates in every major teamfight.

A-Tier Supports

• •Earth Spirit — The playmaker support. Rolling Boulder + Magnetize combos win lanes and teamfights. Extremely high skill cap but devastating in experienced hands.
• •Spirit Breaker — Charge of Darkness provides global pressure from minute one. Greater Bash goes through BKB. He makes the entire enemy team play scared because he can appear from anywhere.
• •Shadow Shaman — Shackles hold enemies for 5 seconds at max level. Mass Serpent Wards delete towers. The best support for ending games before 35 minutes.

B-Tier Supports

• •Crystal Maiden — Frostbite + Crystal Nova harass is solid but she moves at 280 base MS and dies to everything. Freezing Field channels are almost never completed against competent opponents.
• •Witch Doctor — Maledict is extremely strong in lane but Paralyzing Cask bounces are unreliable. Death Ward is powerful when channeled but requires perfect positioning.
• •Ogre Magi — Tanky and reliable with Bloodlust buffs, but lacks the playmaking potential of S-tier supports. Multicast RNG can swing fights but cannot be relied upon.

Meta Trends & Item Changes

7.40c Meta Defining Trends

Patch 7.40c is defined by aggressive tempo play. Games are ending faster than in 7.39, with the average match duration dropping to 34 minutes. Teams that secure early map control and convert it into Roshan advantage are winning at a significantly higher rate.

1. 1.Ganking supports are dominant. Nyx, Spirit Breaker, and Earth Spirit all thrive because they create space for farming cores to hit timings undisturbed.
2. 2.Storm Spirit warps the meta. Every draft must account for him — either first-phase ban him or pick reliable lockdown (Disruptor, Clockwerk, Nyx).
3. 3.Offlane initiators are more valuable than offlane carries. Clockwerk and Axe outperform damage-oriented offlaners like Bristleback because teamfight control wins games faster.
4. 4.BKB timing is everything. The team that gets their first BKB online and forces a fight at that power spike wins 62% of the time in high-MMR matches.
5. 5.Desolator is the most impactful mid-game item. Armor reduction stacks with Assault Cuirass and heroes like Shadow Fiend and Clinkz abuse this interaction.

Key Item Changes in 7.40c

• •Bloodstone — Reworked spell lifesteal makes it core on Storm Spirit and Leshrac. The mana regeneration amplification lets Storm zip across the entire map without running dry.
• •Orchid Malevolence — Build path improved, making it a faster timing for ganking mids. Storm Spirit with 18-minute Orchid is nearly unbeatable.
• •Blade Mail — Buffed return damage makes it a premier offlane item. Axe and Clockwerk both rush this before Blink Dagger in 7.40c.
• •Mage Slayer — Underrated pickup against magic-heavy lineups. Reduces spell damage by 35% on attack, effectively neutering heroes like Zeus and Lina.
• •Boots of Bearing — The best support upgrade when your team lacks initiation. The movement speed and attack speed aura turns fights.

Ban Priority

1. 1.Storm Spirit — 56% win rate speaks for itself. Ban him unless you have a specific counter-draft prepared.
2. 2.Slark — Most picked carry for a reason. Essence Shift snowballs out of control if he gets two early kills.
3. 3.Clockwerk — Rising win rate means people have not adapted yet. Remove him until the counter-play becomes common knowledge.
4. 4.Nyx Assassin — Shuts down INT-heavy lineups. If you are running Invoker or Puck mid, ban Nyx every game.