There isn’t a whole lot going on in Dota in terms of meta development. With the patch staying the same for a long while, the creativity is quite limited, as the best, most reliable options dominate the field. However, there are some noteworthy outliers we would like to highlight today. These heroes might not be meta quite yet, but they can be considered playable or at least worthy of further exploration.
The hero’s winrate in the tournament doesn’t inspire confidence, but we believe that he is relevant in the current meta. After the last major buff, we feel like his skill build can be a lot more aggressive in the laning stage, allowing for high amounts of both pressure and safety.
His Frost Shield is a 45% attack damage reduction at level one. That means that the hero can easily go for a 3-1-1-1 build by level six, without losing any utility. What it amounts to is a potentially highly oppressive laner, as long as he can solve his mana problems.
Typically done with Mangoes, for your everyday pubs we propose a slightly different solution, one that is available in duo play. Pair Lich with a 
Wraith King, 
Beastmaster or any other hero with a good amount of summons and what you get is an unstoppable harassing force.
Due to his innate, the hero does wonders against summon-heavy characters and this can even make him a decent counter-pick to heroes like 
Enigma. You don’t receive mana from Eidolons expiring, but it is possible to burst them down, making the lane a lot easier.
Later in the game you still get a 0-cast point disable, albeit on a short range. And a very powerful damage mitigation tool that frequently force your enemy into a 
Nullifier. The hero’s ultimate can also deal a respectable amount of damage, however it is highly unreliable, so getting the most out of it is very hard.
It seems we are (very) slowly getting away from the Aura meta in the offlane. Dawnbreaker is a direct result of it and her winrate speaks volumes. You can be successful as a somewhat greedy offlaner.
The reasons for the hero’s resurgence are two-fold. First of all, you get a hero with global mobility that can always join the fight. Translation: you get a licence to farm, sometimes aggressively. With built-in mobility, farming around cliff areas is also relatively safe, as you can escape over impassable terrain,
Second reasons is the flexibility of the hero. We’ve mentioned how Dawnbreaker isn’t an aura hero by default, but she can go for a “Hospitalier” build with items like 
Mekansm, 
Pipe of Insight and 
Aghanim’s Scepter. That said, the hero finds most success when going for highly aggressive items like 
Blade Mail and 
Blink Dagger, frequently followed up by either 
Echo Sabre or even 
Skull Basher.
Since the hero gets to farm, and since she has a built-in short period of debuff immunity, her potential for jumping and killing backline supports is very high. After getting 
Black King Bar, this becomes her main job, one she is incredibly suited for. And if the game ever goes late, it is always nice to have an extra carry on the team.
The last hero who made at least a bit of a ripple in an otherwise eerily calm meta pool. The return of Pugna can be attributed to one thing — the return of 
Storm Spirit. This “mana battery” hero is decent in lane, courtesy of high MS and attack range. Can push relatively safe and has good nuke damage, but for the most part his job is to save, protect and top up his cores, so that they have a better game.
This is more or less the extent of Pugna’s responsibilities. To better perform their job, they typically go for save and heal items, though there was a point last month where they would rush Dagon for the extra burst and self-heal. We don’t know how good this build is, but we feel like it can work decently well in pubs.
Pugna also pairs nicely with Muerta, who’s been gaining a bit of notoriety. Being able to deal a ton of damage in the laning stage against some Armor-tanky heroes can throw the enemy’s strategy off-balance, as they can lose the lane they were reliant on. It is also exceptional throughout the game, allowing for some long-range, relatively risk-free poke.
This is the hero we don’t truly recommend in an everyday pub environment, as he is too team composition-dependent. However, when playing in a party, Pugna is easily one of the most powerful allies to have, when played well.
The new patch can’t come soon enough. Hopefully we will see it released some time soon, as both pub and pro metas feel stale. That said, it doesn’t mean there isn’t more to explore and learn from the current iteration of the game.
What do you think of the current meta? Do you feel like there is something everyone is missing, or are you like us and can’t wait for a new patch already?