Is Nature's Prophet the worst Dota 2 hero in the 7.29 meta?

Nature’s Prophet monthly win rate currently sits at an abysmal 42.41%, the lowest of any Dota 2 hero in patch 7.29d.

That extremely low win rate extends to every skill bracket, dropping lowest in Divine and Immortal to 40.2%. His best bracket is Ancient, where he wins just 42.5% of matches. 

One reason for Nature’s Prophet’s decline is the Dota 2 metagame shifting towards map mobility and wave control. Nature’s Prophet’s strongest quality is his ability to Teleport to a pushed lane and threaten the tower with Nature’s Call treants. That ability becomes much less useful in the face of early Boots of Travel and wave-clearing supports like Winter Wyvern and Dazzle. Ranged heroes buying Quelling Blade also doesn’t help as efficient wave clear is a greater priority than ever.

Another problem is that he doesn’t really fit into any role particularly well. Jungling from the start is basically gone from Dota 2 and each position has to sacrifice something for Nature's Prophet to fit the mold. He’s either a support with no stun or save, a mid-laner without tempo, or a carry without any built-in defense.

All of these traits add up to make Nature’s Prophet the least-winning hero in Dota 2 this month, but he’s not completely useless. Nature’s Prophet is slowly joining the “terrible in pubs, but solid in tournaments” club with Io, Earth Spirit, and Batrider. 

Is Nature’s Prophet good in the pro scene?

Despite his bottom-level win rate in public Dota 2 matches, Nature’s Prophet still has a niche in the pro scene. He serves as an all-in carry that offers ganking potential and strong pushing.

The most common position for Nature’s Prophet in the pro scene is the safe lane, where he functions as a glass cannon carry. Evil Genius picked Nature’s Prophet twice for Artour “Arteezy” Babaev in the AniMajor grand finals. Royal Never Give Up's rising star Zhong "GodKing" Liushuai earned his place in China’s carry pantheon with a hyper-aggressive safe lane Nature’s Prophet. Having the highest combined stat gain in Dota 2 at 9.9 certainly helps him scale.

Nature’s Prophet’s strengths are also much easier to exploit in a tournament setting. Pros like Arteezy and GodKing are able to communicate clearly with their team for risky split-push plays. After a successful pickoff, a team can barrel down one lane while Nature's Prophet Teleports to another. Enemy teams have no good answer to this, as dividing their forces can lead to disaster and committing to a single defense sacrifices a tower. 

Proper communication and planning can turn Nature’s Prophet from a grief pick to a legitimately useful hero. It should be no surprise that he doesn’t win many Dota 2 public matches.