1. Pudge, the Butcher
The butcher got picked over 93 million times this year. Despite not being the pro players' first choice in 2019, he still continues to defend his title as most picked hero in general. Pudge has a pick rate of 44% – meaning, in nearly every second match you play, one player choses him to enter the battlefield. The hero had a winrate of 52%.
He is known to wander across the Fields of Endless Carnage, searching for the bodies of fallen soldiers to satisfy his hunger for meat. He once had a ditch hog as a pet, who became his best friend on his trips to search for casualties. But in the end, he ate his pet as well.
2. Lion, the Demon Witch
Lion claims the second place with over 71 million picks making him the most common support this year. While all four other heroes in general reside in the top five picks of all time, Lion become that popular only this year.
Once a former Grandmaster of the Demon Witch tradition, Lion turned corrupt after a deal with a demon where he traded his soul for prestige. The demon betrayed him, and in his rage Lion followed him back to hell, slaying him and taking his demonic hand. The new power came with dark consequences, his body got tansformed into something unrecognisable.
3. Yurnero, the Juggernaut
On third place, the Juggernaut resides with over 52 million picks, clearly behind Lion. Juggernaut hails from the Isle of Masks, where he mastered his swordplay and bladeform techniques. He got exiled after disobeying one of their lords, and shortly after his punishment, the Isle got destroyed in a night of vengeful magic, making him the only survivor of his kind. Yurnero used to be in a romantic relationship with Templar Assassin. He also is an old friend of Phantom Lancer and used to practice with Ember Spirit.
4. Mortred, the Phantom Assassin
Phantom Assassin takes place four with over 50 million picks. In general, PA is the second most played heroes of all time, just after Pudge.
A Phantom Assassin is a killer without identity under the order from the Sisters of the Veil. The Veiled Sisters select special, gifted children to turn them into the ultimate weapon of death, giving them orders on whom to kill, without further information. While the Assasins lost their memory about their identity and become replaceable tools, Mortred still remembers her name.
In one of his Loregasm videos, Jake 'SirActionSlacks' Kenner established the theory that PA slowly turns into Spectre over time, after accepting a contract with Oracle.
5. Carl, the Invoker
Invoker concludes the top five with over 49 million picks – behind PA by just a narrow margin. With a 3.38 KDA ratio, he has the highest kill rate between the five. With Acolyte of the Lost Arts, Carl is the first hero to have receive a Persona, which boosted the pick rate of the already popular spellcaster even more.
Carl is considered to be a genius of his kind. Magic in its earliest form used to be based on the art of memory. While usually, magicians could only remember one to four of the incredibly complex mental formulae to unlocked a spell, Invoker has mastered mind-blowing ten spells. Formerly, he also chanted a longevity spell, making him practically immortal.
The lowest pick rate
Chen, Visage, Lone Druid, Lycan and Brewmaster conclude the other side of the spectrum. Even the newest additions to the game, Snapfire and Void Spirit have been picked more often, despite only been playable since the end of November. Chen has a pick rate of only 0.83% with 1.7 million games – a massive difference to number one, Pudge with 93 million picks.
The lowest five heroes all share that they are micro-heavy, but except for Lone Druid they do not have a bad winrate.
Note: all numbers and stats were taken from Dotabuff.
What hero did you play the most in 2019?
Photo credit: Valve
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