Dota 2 hero win rates can be checked on Dotabuff. And they show you how strong a hero is on average. Ideally, you should check the statistics for the current patch. The game is changed significantly a few times per year. Dota 2 hero win rates for the previous version of the game might be completely irrelevant for the last one.
IceFrog, the mysterious creator of Dota 2, likes to change the meta from time to time to keep the game fresh and the professional tournaments exciting. And to achieve that effect, he buffs or nerfs certain heroes and strategies, depending on the game’s current state.
Whatever gets abused and proves to be overpowered usually gets nerfed. And whatever gets neglected or has a low win rate usually gets buffed.
Considerations About Dota 2 Hero Win Rates
Dota 2 hero win rates represent statistics, which in turn are based on what happens on average inside the Dota 2 community. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that it applies to you as well.
For example, if you have 1000 games with Meepo or Invoker, the fact that on a specific patch, these heroes have low win rates at the community level doesn’t mean much for your particular situation. Because you’re not the average Invoker player.
Rather, you’re a tail phenomenon (I’m talking about the Gaussian curb here), and the nerfs that Invoker might have received in the latest Dota 2 update will not significantly lower your win rate with the hero. The reason is: that your competence at playing Invoker is so high that it will compensate for the nerfs.
When playing Dota 2, you never play a hero to its full capacity. And two different players may get vastly different results when they play the same hero in the same context.
Dota 2 hero win rates combine hero strengths (relative to other heroes and the current meta) and player competence. The result can change drastically when you add the competence variable into the equation.
That aside, when hero win rates decrease significantly after a patch release, that’s a sign that the meta has changed and that hero is a bit less valuable. Sometimes, the nerfs applied to a hero are huge and obvious. In such cases, your level of expertise with that hero needs to be high to compensate for their inherent weaknesses.
Dota 2 Hero Win Rates for the Latest Patch, 7.31
The 5 most successful heroes on Dota 2 patch 7.31 have been the following:
Vysage
Few people pick this hero, and that’s because he is hard to play. The familiars you control after level 6 create additional stress, and most players don’t have the APM or the attention span to focus on several things at once. In the heat of battle, you need to be focused on your teammates and opponents too.
Vysage’s win rate is around 54.12%, but the hero gets picked in less than 2% of the matches. In other words, there’s no need to worry about Vysage pickers.
Meepo
So far, Meepo’s win rate for this patch has been roughly 54.04%. But, just like Vysage, few people pick him, and only 2.29% of matches have a Meepo player. The clones are very hard to control, and it takes hundreds of games to achieve basic competency.
Almost nobody has that much patience, and besides, plenty of powerful heroes are much easier to play.
Axe
Axe has a win rate of 54%, and he’s straightforward to play. If you know what to do with him and have decent teammates, you will likely get a very good laning phase and buy your basic items before the enemy has had enough time to farm and get strong. And that allows you to invade its jungle, destroy tier-1 towers and get a huge lead.
When you play Axe, you need to be careful during the first few levels, and then, against most heroes, you’ll find a lane quite quickly, especially if there’s support there to help secure some last hits and harass the enemy carry.
Given how easy it is to play and win with Axe, it’s no surprise he is picked in more than 15% of the matches.
Juggernaut
Juggernaut’s win rate is almost 54%, and the hero is regularly picked at around 20.40% in pubs. There’s hardly been a Dota 2 patch that didn’t have Juggernaut in the meta, and 7.31 is no exception.
One quality that makes Juggernaut so easy to win is the skill set and the number of viable item builds. Whatever the opponent has, you can count. Meanwhile, you are highly survivable against almost any lineup.
Dota 2 patch 7.31 buffed Juggernaut, giving him a lower-cooldown ultimate and a cheaper Healing Ward. His talents got slightly nerfed (or buffed, depending on how you look at it!), but overall he’s much stronger than before, at least in the early game.
Arc Warden
Arc Warden’s win rate is 53.58%, but this is a hero that doesn’t get picked all that often (4.04% of matches). The relationship between a hero’s difficulty and pick rate is very strong in this game, and the reasons are explained above.
This creates an excellent opportunity for those who aren’t afraid to learn complex things. If you dedicate yourself to mastering Arc Warden, you’ll be good with him within a few months, and most players in pubs will have no idea how to deal with you.
