We live in a strange era of Heroes tournament hero picks. Rexxar has been picked more than Leoric, and Jaina has been forgotten, but some things never change.
Ever since the Tracer Patch, the tournament hero picks have taken some odd turns. Tracer was nerfed before she had the chance to see some real tournament play, but in her stead Illidan has been just as oppressive.
These stats have been compiled since April, 19th and represent all major regions of play: Europe, North America, China, and Korea.
- Illidan is sitting at a 64% ban rate which is astronomical. His buffs have done wonders to increase his popularity and his strong synergy with Rehgar, another recently top tier hero, is too powerful for teams to ignore.
- As we go down the most banned list, we start seeing more normal numbers. E.T.C is a strong pick against Illidan and Mosh Pit has never been stronger with Kael'Thas and Li-Ming being so popular.
- Uther is the most banned support thanks to the strong heroes surrounding him. Kael'Thas, Illidan and Greymane all do well once supported by his burst healing, stun, and divine shield.
- Xul is a surprisingly high banned hero, likely due to his strong synergy with Li-Ming and how powerfully he counters Illidan.
- People love Muradin and his contested rate (the number of picks + bans) is a clear indicator of his power. Illidan defines a draft enough to get the majority of the bans, but Muradin has time and time again been a tournament staple.
- The top 5 heroes would probably make a solid team composition on their own.
- The pick difference between the top 10 heroes is very small. You only start to see meaningful differences at the lower end of the most contested list, where Johanna and Xul seem to separate between truly top tier heroes and just strong ones.
The difference between Xul and Johanna become statistically significant. There are currently 14 heroes picked with consistent frequency.
- Lowering the cooldown of Mighty Gust has made Falstad only slightly less desirable.
- Kael'Thas is the most first picked hero but not the most first banned. This is probably because he is less dangerous than Illidan, but clearly the best choice to pick if he isn't banned.
- On the few games Illidan isn't banned, he is first picked. This comes as no surprise.
- Although gracing the most contest lists, Rehgar and Muradin are rarely first picked. They are the strongest respective Warrior and Support in the game, but their low first pick rate reveals that strong assassins simply have a larger impact on the game.
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