3 OP Meta Heroes in 7.29

7.29 patch release has made a substantial impact with the game dynamics having changed on many levels. Heroes being buffed and nerfed, removal of select items and the subsequent upgrade of existing items, map changes, new rune spawns, etc. has not only dictated a shift in the meta but also brought along a fresh breath of air.
Three heroes particularly stand-out in this patch to a scrub like me; Beastmaster, Gyrocopter and Grimstroke.
Let’s take a look, shall we?

Beastmaster

Removal of Necronomicon books from the game initially seemed to be a huge blow for Rexxar, who primarily relied on his pushing prowess during early game to mid game and built pressure on the opposite team by taking towers along with his boars and the demonic summons with the Necronomicon build.
This strategy made him a popular offlane pick in the earlier patch.
However, the patch changes are a blessing in disguise for the wild man and his role has seemingly shifted from offlane to that of a mid. Wondering why? Let’s dig into it!

The most significant change has been the Aghanim Scepter rework on Rexxar’s Wild Axes. Playing in the midlane and opting for an Aghanim build makes him one of the most OP heroes in the meta.
Although the scepter upgrade existed in the patch before (7.28), the high mana cost and low damage didn’t make him a viable pick for mid. However, with the damage being increased, mana cost being reduced and having a 0 second cooldown, Rexxar is the perfect example of a hero that can flash farm and tilt the game to his favour.
Select the hero, get a Bottle and/or Soul Ring to avoid running low on mana, rush Aghanim Scepter build and flash farm the jungles, creep waves, and apply constant pressure on the enemies.
Fun fact: Wild Axes stack up to 12 times while increasing damage per stack and thus amplifying this ability. Beastmaster can solo kill Roshan in about 40 seconds with the above mentioned build. Don’t believe me? Watch it for yourself!

Grimstroke

An offensive support armed with an arsenal of punitive and disabling spells, offering infinite disable and nuke potential, Grimstroke is another hero that is OP in the meta.
If you’re a diehard Grimstroke fan, you wouldn’t see many changes. However, tiny buffs should be more than enough for you to pubstomp noobs on your smurf.

All spells of Grimstroke are great for early fights, and being a synergy opener — someone that can enable every hero in the team — is the best way to describe him.
Inkswell is a great spell to play alongside any hero with initiation abilities by increasing its movement speed and applying damage as well as stun in a small radius. If the team lacks an initiator, then Stroke of Faith comes into play.
Stroke of Faith in particular is beneficial to deal burst damage and simultaneously slowing down the movement speed of affected enemies. A great ability to clear creep waves, this skill also helps in tower or high-ground defense.
Grimstroke offers too much as a support; wave clear, burst damage, silence, stun, Black King Bar (BKB) piercing ability, latching two enemy heroes together as well as creating an opening to make great plays.
To top that, our most loved amphibian — IceFrog — decides to buff his Aghanim shard effect which makes Inkswell deal 50% more damage. A tremendous buff for an item costing as little as 1400 gold.

Gyrocopter

(Image credit: avante.biz)
Gyrocopter is a ranged agility hero, capable of outputting a lot of single target and area of effect damage at a multitude of ranges.
Aurel is a bit of an odd choice in the OP Heroes category, however, I strongly believe he’s a perfect candidate if utilized properly. Reason for including him in this category is purely based on the recent map and meta changes.
The new patch encourages fighting which in turn benefits Gyro a lot since the entire toolkit of the hero is to farm levels and fight constantly. The map changes along with the positioning of neutral camps in the jungle favours Gyro immensely, especially, on the Dire side of the map.

Dire camps are much easier to farm owing to the close positioning of neutral camps as opposed to that on the Radiant side with Flak Cannon being utilized to its full limit, and thus amplifying Gyro’s farm.
He’s also insanely strong in defending towers from a position-1/carry role perspective as compared to other position-1 heroes that don’t have much to contribute in tower defense, thus releasing a lot of pressure from support players in early game.

Interestingly, Gyro is a natural Satanic carrier and with the item being buffed with a dramatic reduction in cooldown as well as Unholy Rage no longer being dispelled. In short, it’s a Gyrocopter patch fellas!