How Many Heroes Will Show Up In The International 2026?

The group stage for The International 2026 has concluded, and eight teams will be making it to the playoffs. It has been a thrilling start to the event, with regional champions going home, dark horses turning up, and the Dota 2 meta continuing to evolve.

Speaking of the meta, nearly every hero has received at least a ban, if not shown up in a game. However, 15 heroes remain completely ignored, and in this list we will list which of these heroes we expect to show up.

The usual suspects

Several heroes come to mind as potential options. With how prevalent Doom is, we expect Medusa to show her face eventually. She also deals well with high magic damage heroes such as Lina and Earth Spirit, as damage type is irrelevant to Medusa. And if Medusa shows up, then you can expect Anti-Mage to make an appearance too.

Two other cores we believe might show up are Bristleback and Meepo. Both can be game-winning last picks that can run a match if the enemy team is unprepared. We believe Meepo is more likely, as the last few times Bristleback showed him, he didn't really impress.

For supports, two standouts are Warlock and OmniKnight. Warlock provides nearly unparalleled teamfight ability for a support. He's only failed to show up due to Winter Wyvern stealing his spotlight. OmniKnight would do very well against a mass physical damage lineup, though that hasn't really been common this TI. Disruptor is the third support to make our list. While his lack of farming and weak Shard hurt him, this is a slow patch overall, and Disruptor late game is a powerhouse with Blink and Aghanim's Sceptre.

Back to cheese picks. Broodmother is the ultimate last-pick trap. She is very difficult to catch and can fill in multiple core roles. Marci is also an interesting option, as she works very well with IO, a tournament favourite. Lastly, Sniper is a viable mid against Puck in the lane and a regular pick by Team Vision.

Could Wraith King make a surprise appearance?

While we believe a significant number of the unpicked heroes could make an appearance, there are some options we see as just unplayable.

Two supports that we believe are just not worth risking are Venomancer and Skywrath Mage. Both are solid laners but only provide damage for their team. When compared to picks such as Hoodwink, Dark Willow, Undying, and Winter Wyvern, we really see no reason to take a pure damage support.

Speaking of supports, add Abaddon to that list. He has an identity problem and nobody can tell what his best role is or how well he does it. So that's our third unpickable hero. 

Among cores, we see no reason to pick Wraith King. He is too slow to come online, gets outshined by similar radiance builders such as Lifestealer and Doom, and his ultimate is often a non-starter. A similar case can be made for Phantom Assassin. While she brings great mobility and damage, she is outshined by meta picks such as Necrophos, Lone Druid, Shadow Fiend, and Drow Ranger. 

And that's our list of heroes that we expect to see by the end of the event. The International 2026 is setting up to be one of the most diverse in hero picks, and we are thrilled to see that. 

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