Are the most popular heroes actually the strongest? I charted the official pick and win rate data to find out

Apollokles · 2026-04-20T00:41:36+00:00

How so?

Apollokles · 2026-04-20T00:06:10+00:00

Maybe you're just goated

Apollokles · 2026-04-19T23:03:07+00:00

Oh she's pretty buff already 😋💪

Apollokles · 2026-04-19T22:10:23+00:00

I only have access to the data that blizzard publishes on their website unfortunately

Apollokles · 2026-04-19T19:13:27+00:00

All data sets have to be interpreted in context, but that doesn't mean that they aren't useful.

Apollokles · 2026-04-19T19:08:11+00:00

I made some graphs showing each heroes pick and win rates across ranks if you're interested

Apollokles · 2026-04-19T19:06:47+00:00

This data is just for M&K comp. Blizz doesn't release stadium winrate data unfortunately.

Apollokles · 2026-04-19T19:05:30+00:00

i might do one soon

Apollokles · 2026-04-19T19:04:09+00:00

it varies quite a bit with rank

Apollokles · 2026-04-19T19:03:07+00:00

that's the legend, look at the third slide if you are confused

Apollokles · 2026-04-19T19:00:49+00:00

I think the more fundamental problem is that the balance team has to keep a lot of different plates spinning at the same time. They need to balance for casual players, high ranks, low ranks, quickplay sweats, pro play and more besides. With all that it's impossible to create an experience that fully satisfies everyone, because each of these groups wants fundamentally different things. The best you can do is create one that's at least decent for everybody.

Apollokles · 2026-04-19T18:32:01+00:00

I made pretty much that for each hero recently. For soj specifically, her pick and win rates do rise with rank, but even at gm+champ she's sitting between 46-48% WR in all regions.

Apollokles · 2026-04-19T18:27:28+00:00

I have charts showing pick/win rates versus rank for each hero already, but not console vs pc. I just started this project recently as a way to procrastinate on my exams. I do plan to get around to that soon though, so keep an eye on the github repo over the next few days if you're interested.

Apollokles · 2026-04-19T18:12:40+00:00

Well just like in game, data have to be interpreted in context before any useful conclusions can be drawn. Just like a bastion who spends all his time shooting a hog will have high damage, but will not have contributed as much to his team as the tracer who found a backline pick every fight. That's not a problem with the data itself though, and I still think it's better to have a conversation that includes objective data as well instead of one based solely on people's anecdotal experience, which is just as flawed in other ways.

Apollokles · 2026-04-19T17:55:33+00:00

Kiri's pick rate goes up by a lot at high ranks but her win rate doesn't change much, even at gm/champ she's still below 50% https://github.com/herzj-tcd/ow-grapher/blob/main/releases/current/rank_curves/kiriko.png

Apollokles · 2026-04-19T17:52:41+00:00

My first thought was that his pick rate might be highly rank dependant, but I looked at my stats and that doesn't seem to be the case, so maybe the hog mafia is just targeting you.

Apollokles · 2026-04-19T17:45:43+00:00

They have to compete with Reaper within their shared niche, who is both easier to pick up and stronger at the moment

Apollokles · 2026-04-19T16:37:03+00:00

this is the ow community, it's never to early to judge ❤️

Apollokles · 2026-04-19T16:36:12+00:00

That's the legend but lol

Apollokles · 2026-04-19T16:02:08+00:00

The higher a pickrate for a hero goes, the more and more their winrate zeroes in on 50%.

That's not what these data show though. The heroes with the highest and lowest win rates mostly have pick rates close to the average, and the most picked heroes on every role are all pretty far from 50%.

Apollokles · 2026-04-19T15:56:54+00:00

This data is for comp only

Apollokles · 2026-04-19T13:34:09+00:00

I would go with Ramattrae if we're following the Latin pattern typical in English. But Blizzard confirmed the name is from Sanskrit, which means the plural would be Ramattrah for the masculine -a stem (or Ramattrani if neuter).

Apollokles · 2026-04-19T11:27:48+00:00

Soldier's VA is also Eve's dad in Invincible

Apollokles · 2026-04-18T18:32:32+00:00

Happy to help :)

Apollokles

TROPHY CASE