The Most Surprisingly Effective Picks This Regular Season
Leave it to the pros to make these unusual picks work
One of the most exciting parts of watching pro games is finding out what off meta strategies and hidden OP heroes the pro players may have discovered. Seeing as these players are always at the forefront of what’s coming into the meta, they are definitely in the position to be the first to introduce these things. So before you ridicule or flame your teammate in ranked, maybe you should review these unusual picks that the pros brought out this regular season.
Aurora – AE Ribo, OG Pakbet
Most mages that aren’t Harley have been regulated to roles that concentrate more on supporting than dealing damage. This is why Kagura is such a great pick when you want to pierce the enemy backline and control a teamfight. Aurora does the same but her skills require an effective engage in order to be fully effective, which is why we don’t see her that often except when being paired with tanks like Lolita who can lock down an entire enemy team or even with another mage like Kagura.
Weird as it may sound, Aurora and Kagura actually make old school double mage, double tank combos possible. One of the main reasons pros even choose Aurora is the fact that she can function effectively even without buffs because her mana costs are quite low and her skills are pretty low cooldown.
Zilong – AE Coco
Zilong is one of the OG heroes in MLBB. He was a really powerful all-around hero that could solo carry matches thanks to his dueling and pushing potential, which made him a great split pusher. But with all of the new heroes being developed with multiple dashes, it was inevitable for Zilong to be made obsolete because of his one-dimensional kit. That said, in the right team composition and situation, he can still be a very effective hero.
AE Coco showed this off in one of Aether Main’s games against Invictus Godz. IG picked Diggie to counter AE’s Akai but AE used Zilong, Karina, and Harley to simply overwhelm them with damage. Zilong also provided a bit of undeniable CC with his toss to use in quick skirmishes that didn’t involve Diggie. Zilong also counters Fanny’s hook because his skill displaces the enemy rather than just immobalizing them. AE Coco, had considerably more gold and impact in that game than any other player just because of the threat and pressure he was putting on the enemy team by taking towers and dueling his opponents 2v1.
Karina – AE Ribo
In the same game against the Invictus Godz, AE Ribo brought out the assassin, Karina. Despite not being as old of a hero as Zilong, Karina also suffers the same effect of being outdated compared to other core assassins like Lancelot and Guison. But Karina still does have the advantage when it comes to dealing damage to single targets, especially when she gets resets on her third skill.
You have to have real confidence in yourself and in your team when playing Karina because if you don’t get fed, you’ll be useless for the entire game because damage is the only thing you can offer. That’s why AE picked heroes that could support Karina’s snowball like Zilong who has a very deadly level two power spike.
Argus – WRS Inuzaki
Argus brings insane damage to the table at the cost of being heavily proned to kiting by mobile assassins because of the unreliability of his hook being an easy to miss skillshot. WRS Inuzaki uses Argus as a secondary split pusher for the White Rascals when their main split pusher is waiting to respawn or is being chased by the enemy team. Argus relies on his third skill that grants him immortality, which allows him more time to finish off towers and stall his enemies for longer amount of time.
The White Rascals have developed a very risky type of playstyle, which heavily relies on trust between teammates since they are literally trying to play 90% of the game as a 4v5 while one of them relentlessly split pushes and prays that he can get fed enough to 2v1 and take towers. The Argus pick shines in this team composition because of his stalling mechanics and his DPS. Argus is arguably the most powerful 1v1 hero in the game if there was no kiting involved (but when does that happen, really?). He can make up for the lack of one team member if he goes unchecked in teamfights.
