Yatoro named the strongest hero in the 7.39c patch meta for Dota 2

Ilya “Yatoro” Mulyarchuk believes that Shadow Fiend is the strongest hero in the Dota 2 patch 7.39c meta, capable of performing well in matchmaking on his own.

The player made this statement in an interview on Telegram.

"The main problem with Shadow Fiend is that he flexes both mid and carry. And that's already a strong laner, against whom you have to guess what you're going to pick. And if he's first pick, then by the 18th pick, the enemy already has a hero who covers one of the two cores. In short, you can't give him up. He will always have a huge impact on any draft.

For pubs, he's also an absolute imba: you just pick him and you can win solo — any teamfight, any game. Stomp the lane. He's probably just the strongest hero in the meta."

Ilya “Yatoro” Mulyarchuk also spoke about the reasons for Team Falcons' defeat by Team Spirit in the grand final of the Riyadh Masters 2025. As one of the main reasons, the player highlighted the weak drafts of their opponents, which gave Yatoro's team the opportunity to play with the strongest heroes of the current meta, including Shadow Fiend.

"Pleasant emotions, we played well, the tournament ended well — no loss this time. Everything is great.

Falcons are just a convenient opponent for us: they farm, we farm. But they just play weaker, as if. We read all their moves, and our drafts were better in 3 out of 3 cards. It was very difficult for them to do anything. They gave us a free Templar Assassin, Medusa at the 24th pick, and Shadow Fiend, who has been banned throughout the tournament. They gave me all the super-imba heroes, all our lanes were well positioned, it's just hard for them to play from the start."

Earlier, Ilya “Yatoro” Mulyarchuk named Team Spirit the best team in the world after their victory in the grand final of the Riyadh Masters 2025.