Beware: Trending Mids of the Current Meta
Image by Yestar™, 南霸天 and AK47
The pub mid meta didn’t change all that much. The only minor difference is that players are now playing a greedier style of Dota, but for the most part the meta is still more or less the same. There are some concerning trends, though, so it is better to be prepared.
Heroes like 
Pangolier, 
Void Spirit, 
Storm Spirit, 
Ember Spirit and 
Queen of Pain are still very much viable. Similarly, you can play the “flex” Universal heroes like 
Windranger and 
Winter Wyvern mid. We discussed them in our previous blog post.
The most popular and successful heroes in the role are very similar to the last patch, so instead of going over the usual suspects once again, we will highlight the unexpected, underpicked and, frankly, uninvited newcomers to the role. Behold: the Cheese Platter.
Huskar
There were a lot of complaints about the hero at the start of the patch. Because he no longer has full Spell immunity during Life Break, it is possible to queue stuns and disables for when Huskar arrives at his target, resulting in him being out of position and unable to fight.
The easy adaptation to that was “press BKB before jumping in” and we feel like it solved most of the hero’s problems. He is as high tempo as he used to be, he can dominate his lane against most heroes and he can scale very well. This is what meta demands from the midlane characters: the ability to fight well from minute 15 onwards.
There is no secret to playing the hero either. He is still an 
Armlet of Mordiggian into 
Heaven's Halberd into 
Black King Bar hero. Depending on the matchup you switch BKB and Halberd in the build order and you should be in a good position in 90%+ of your games.
Tinker
Another cheesy hero who received some nerfs in the last patch, but remains very strong in a greedier meta. Tinker is stupidly overpowered when played well. Usually playing him well requires a great deal of expertise, but he is a lot more forgiving in the current patch. Hence his popularity and success.
It mostly comes down to players utilizing Defense Matrix well. Technically, Tinker should be weaker now, because 
Blink Dagger gets broken, rather than going on cooldown, when taking damage. But between his own Defense Matrix and potential 
Pavise on a teammate, going through this barrier is close to impossible, hence Tinker can jump around with impunity.
Later on he gets to build “fun” items like 
Overwhelming Blink and 
Shiva's Guard and gets to ignore most of his kit, while providing self-vision. Dealing with the hero is very problematic and we don’t really have an easy suggestion on how to approach this hero outside of the drafting stage. Your best bet is to make sure your team has 
Pipe of Insight and 
Glimmer Cape so that your Blink-initiator gets to jump Tinker through all the random spells flying around.
Arc Warden
The big problem with Arc Warden is that his illusions and clones get to benefit from the Magnetic Field extra attack range and damage. It makes for an absolutely stupid hero with an insane amount of damage output. Given proper setup from the team, Arc Warden can easily take over the game early on and he doesn’t even need to play the annoying 
Aghanim's Scepter Spark Wraith spam game.
Once again, there isn’t a lot you can do once the game has already started, and Arc Warden is usually reserved for last pick in AP. Since it is mostly about getting to the actual hero or his clone, any source of mobility will be welcome. You also need items that enable mobility or prevent broken Blinks. Hence all the barrier-type items will be welcome.
Most importantly, do try to finish the game as early as possible. Arc Warden might have a huge powerspike in the midgame with 
Manta Style, but he is still more than happy to go late and play the asinine Aghanim's Scepter game.
Meepo
Technically, Meepo is not a Top Tier pick, but we felt like our readers should be aware that this hero is on the rise. In the right hands and in the right game he can be overwhelming.
The biggest problem is killing Meepo’s tempo. An earlier than usual Black King Bar on cores could be considered. Both Poof and Ransack damage can be mitigated by Debuff Immunity.
It is also a good idea to get a 
Solar Crest. You don’t need AoE damage to kill Meepo, you need a strong single target focus, and when it comes to bursting down a target, nothing is as cost-efficient as Solar Crest. Meepo doesn’t have a ton of armor, but he has a lot of built-in magic resistance through his ultimate. Physical burst is the preferred option.
Finally, get a 
Force Staff. We understand that this save item is outshined by Pavise and Solar Crest, but it has its uses.
Closing thoughts
Mid meta is wide open, with a lot of cheesy heroes making a comeback. The only one missing from the full c-c-c-combo is 
Broodmother, but we are definitely glad about it.
Despite all the cheese, the game still feels fair most of the time and these trending heroes, while on the stronger side, don’t feel unbeatable. They just stand out a bit too much when played by a dedicated player.
What are your thoughts on the current mid meta? Do you feel like some of the aforementioned heroes need a nerf or are you one of those dedicated Tinker spammers? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.
Good riddance on Huskar - one of my most hated heroes.
Huskar is a dead hero. Nobody is picking it, and it should stay that way. Your old shard was basically removed without a new one being added, BKB nerfs hit him harder than most other heroes, and the aforementioned change to his ult makes him much weaker before he has BKB. He also isn't a fan of rampant Pavises and Solar Crests, and rosh is much hard to solo with just an armlet being so close to the side lanes where more heroes are present. And as for the heroes you dominate in lane? They don't mind playing jungle until they're called into action to play the map in a way Huskar can't. Losing your mid tower isn't as detrimental as it used to be neither. Beyond early game, securing an early t2 with first aegis hardly matters now that outposts don't give xp. There's almost no reason to be picking this hero right now.
I wish what you said was true, but Huskar is becoming more and more of an issue in higher level pubs. Still, I'd rather play against Huskar than Tinker/Arc/Brood/Meepo)
Arc is so annoying. he's the one I hate playing against. and there is not much counter tactic to do against him
I'm personally keeping more of an eye on Timbersaw and Bat; even on mid, people are starting to indulge the vanguard-arcanes into octarine meta. Timbersaw is also a much less situational hero now that his whirling death cripples the damage of rampant universal heroes, while also removing some of their raw HP similar to strength heroes. Both of these heroes are being picked significantly more than most of the heroes on this list in high-level pubs, and their win rates are strong to go with it.
feels good not getting cheesed last picked by a huskar anymore. Nows its just batrider LUL.
husk is still good, still winning games with him, but i hate tinker in general and arc warden. I don't like heroes that do the whole 'hit and run' style of play because it feels really unfun chasing someone the whole game. I like dota where you're fighting all the time, so I love to play huskar because he's always getting into it and getting things started early versus turtle farm fest.
Also agree w/ the comment above on timber. Really good right now because universal are so meta.
а как же некрофос ? лично я выигрываю мид в 7 из 10 игор на нем, сложно контрить , а если вовремя собрать нужные предметы, то вообще не остановить.
what about necrophos? personally, I win mid in 7 out of 10 games on it, it’s hard to counter, and if you collect the right items in time, you can’t stop at all.
Well my friend whos main Huskar, he said.
Huskar is good actually. But the rework on new mechanic as debuff imunity and spell imunity make he not good as used to be. So basically so far so good but not that good enough.