How to Read a Dota 2 Tier List

• Win rate is the share of games a hero wins. Around 50% is average.
• Pick rate tells you how often a hero is played, not how good it is.
• Rank matters: a hero can be strong at Herald and weak at Divine, so use the list for your own bracket.
• Sample size matters: a few hundred games say very little.
• A tier list is a shortlist, not a verdict. Play what you understand.

Win rate is wins divided by games played. Because every game has a winner and a loser, the average over all heroes is exactly 50%. A hero at 53% wins three games more than average out of every hundred. That is a lot: few heroes stay above 55% for long.

We turn win rate into tiers using these cut-offs, measured in the rank you choose:

Right now, Wraith King has the highest win rate among popular heroes: 55.0% over 438.6K games.

Pick rate (the “presence” column in our tables) is the share of matches in which a hero appears. It tells you what players like. A hero can be everywhere because it is easy, flashy or a streamer’s favourite, and still win less than average. The opposite also happens: a rarely picked hero can win a lot because only experts play it.

The most picked hero right now is Pudge, played in 27.8% of games with a 51.3% win rate.

Read both numbers together: high win rate and high pick rate means a safe, proven choice. High win rate and low pick rate may be a hidden gem, or a hero that only works in skilled hands.

A win rate from 20 games is mostly luck. The more games you have, the closer the number gets to the truth. As a rule of thumb, for a win rate near 50%, a sample of 1,500 games carries a margin of about ±2.5 points, 20,000 games about ±0.7, and 100,000 games about ±0.3. So 51% from 1,500 games could easily be a true 50%.

That is why we only rate heroes with at least 1,500 games in a rank; below that, the hero shows no tier. The smallest sample we rate right now is Pangolier at Herald, with 1,506 games. When two heroes are within a point or two of each other, treat them as equal.

A hero’s strength depends on who is playing. Heroes that rely on simple, strong abilities do well at low ranks; heroes that need coordination, timing or micro do better at the top. Compare Herald to Crusader with Divine+:

• CBristleback48.8%

  Bristleback falls from 50.8% at Herald to Crusader to 45.3% at Divine+.

• AEnigma51.3%

  Enigma rises from 48.8% at Herald to Crusader to 56.3% at Divine+.

Use the list for your own rank. If you are between brackets, look at both, and favour the hero that is good in each. Start from the all-ranks tier list only for a general idea.

Valve updates Dota 2 regularly, and every patch buffs some heroes and nerfs others. A hero that was S tier last month can drop in a day. Our numbers come from recent games and refresh daily, and the current patch is 7.41f. Read the patch notes breakdown to see why a hero moved; each hero page also lists its recent changes. After a big patch, wait a few days before trusting the numbers: the first games are played by players still learning what changed.

• Your skill with the hero. Fifty games on a B-tier hero beat five games on an S-tier hero.
• Position. A hero can be great in one position and poor in another. The tier list mixes them.
• Team and matchup. A hero needs the right allies and enemies; win rate is an average of all of them.
• Cause and effect. Strong players pick comfortable heroes, and teams that are ahead buy items sooner. A number can reflect the player or the situation, not only the hero.

1. Open the tier list for your rank bracket.
2. Filter for the role you want to play.
3. Ignore heroes with few games and keep those with a solid sample.
4. Choose two or three heroes you enjoy from the top two tiers, or use the hero picker if you are new.
5. Open each hero page to check its items, abilities and recent changes, then play enough games to learn it.