In case you forgot which heroes are on top of the competitive heap, here is a list of the most banned and most picked since September of last year.
Most Contested means the combined ban and pick rates of a given hero. The result is a list of heroes that make up the "core" of competitive Heroes of the Storm. In other words, these are the heroes that, one way or another, make the biggest impact in the majority of tournaments.
Balance updates are grouped together with their respective major hero patch. Exceptions are made for particularly massive balance updates that don't involve a brand new hero.
- No Malfurion in sight.
- Only two support heroes make the list
- Zagara is a top-tier pick and will be the last specialist to make this list over the next 5 months.
- Muradin over E.T.C
- Malfurion explodes in popularity
- 4 Support heroes out of 10 make the list.
- Chen comes out of nowhere and is seen in 50% of competitive matches.
- Li-Ming still top Assassin
- Hello, Falstad.
- E.T.C finally overtakes Muradin.
- Li-Ming overcome by Tychus
- Only two support heroes make the list.
- Assassin favored meta with 6 heroes out of 10.
- Tychus begins his reign of terror.
- E.T.C and Malfurion still virtually tied.
- Li-ming officially less desired than auto-attacked ranged Assassins.
- Last patch to include Brightwing as a top 10 hero.
- Muradin's slow decline becomes evident. Last patch to include him as a top 10 hero.
- Diablo, Rehgar, and Ragnaros join the ranks. The "R meta" flourishes for the month of January
- Malfurion hasn't budged from his top-tier throne.
- Zarya makes a comeback.
- Taunt Varian buffs resurrect ignored hero.
- Goodbye, Muradin.
- All other supports crumble to the might of Tassadar and Malfurion.
- Diablo and Rehgar R meta is nerfed, but Ragnaros persistent despite nerfs.
- Li-Ming makes a comeback thanks to Varian's taunt needing burst damage.
Key Takeaways
- Brightwing fell out of favor the moment Ragnaros became popular. Likely due to her inability to heal through Sulfuras Smash.
- Valla is persistently a top-tier in almost every meta.
- Malfurion has consistently been an S-tier hero since his big buff. The only hero he competes with is E.T.C
- Chen is likely underrated, but still niche. He was at his most picked when fragile squishies were popular.
- Varian has replaced Muradin. No one can replace E.T.C become of his global mobility, stuns, wave clear, Immortal / Boss DPS and game-winning Mosh Pit.
- Despite Dehaka hype and high win percentage, he has yet to become a top 10 picked hero
- Falstad and Brightwing usually become popular around the same time, but Malfurion and Tassadar power level make picking Brightwing a liability.
- Melee Assassins, Melee Supports and Specialist are the least popular type of heroes. Popular draft strategies usually only consist of 1 of these heroes.
Dive into the Data
What do you think? You can find all of this data and more on our Heroes of the Storm stats page. Search by every major patch in Heroes, or if you are feeling particular nostalgic, every Heroes patch of all time! Our data comes from drafts takent from every major tournament and minor tournaments that reach the minimum prize pool or qualification importance needed to be recorded.
For major qualifying tournaments, only matches beyond the top 16 teams are used to ensure the data represents competitively viable drafts.
There, you can find tons of interesting trivia. For example, did you know that Zeratul is the most banned Hero of all time? Or that Nazeebo has a 46% winrate?
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