Lycan

Look, I am going to be straight with you about where Lycan stands right now—he is meh. Not bad, not unplayable, just meh.

And the reason is exactly what you said—Helm of Dominator is not the oppressive item it used to be in previous metas, and Lycan's entire early game identity as an offlaner has historically revolved around hitting Helm timing alongside level six Shapeshift and then running at the enemy team with three units and a terrifying movement speed buff that nobody in the game can outrun. When Helm was strong, Lycan was strong. When Helm is average, Lycan is average.

Right now DM's offlane tier list for this meta has Bristleback, Doom, Tidehunter, Enigma, and Batrider in S-tier—and Lycan is not on that list at all, not even in A-tier. That tells you everything about where he sits in the current priority order for position three.

The current meta rewards offlaners that can absorb damage, create teamfight impact, and dictate early-game tempo through tankiness or aggressive disables—and Lycan does none of those things better than the heroes who are currently dominating the role. That said—he is NOT a hero you should throw completely out of your draft pool.

He is a genuine win condition hero in the right specific circumstances; Wolf Bite from Aghanim's Scepter is still one of the most broken buffs you can apply to an allied carry in the entire game, and a Lycan that gets Shapeshift active and runs at the enemy team with invisible wolves at maximum speed is still one of the most difficult things to deal with when you are not prepared for it in the draft.

He is disgusting in lineups that have a strong right-click carry who benefits enormously from Wolf Bite—Phantom Assassin, Juggernaut, and Luna—because Wolf Bite giving them Shapeshift essentially transforms a good carry into a terrifying juggernaut of movement speed and critical strikes for the duration of the buff.

He thrives in fast-paced, early-push lineups that want to snowball the early game through objective pressure before the enemy team's late-game carries become relevant—because Lycan with wolves pushing a lane while Howl debuffs the enemy team's damage simultaneously creates a split push threat that the enemy must respond to or lose towers at an embarrassing rate.

He pairs beautifully with heroes that can create space for his wolves to deal uninterrupted damage—Dark Seer, Magnus, and Tidehunter—heroes that group the enemy team while Lycan's wolves tear through everything in shapeshift with critical strikes hitting multiple targets.

Avoid picking him into heavy AOE lineups that can clear his wolf army in one spell cast—Jakiro, Leshrac, Earthshaker—because wolves dying in two seconds from a single AOE rotation means Lycan's entire mid-game identity and fighting capability evaporate before the teamfight even properly begins.

Also feels genuinely terrible in lineups that have strong healing reduction—Ancient Apparition's Ice Blast removes the lifesteal that keeps his wolves and neutral creep alive through extended fights—and if the enemy drafts specifically to counter summon-based lineups, Lycan's fighting potential drops dramatically.