This week in Fluffy Hat we have mostly seen the same heroes, but there are a few new additions.
Fun fact — we have 31 unpicked heroes in Upper Divison after 3 weeks and 40 in Lower, meaning the hero diversity in Upper is increasing, but in Lower it’s decreasing.
Upper Division Hero Stats
Best Heroes
Dark Willow — Dark Willow has been picked consistently and is becoming one of the most popular supports in Upper. At a 5–2 overall record she has also been the most successful (along with Jakiro).
Oracle — Oracle is the up and coming support of the division this week, which should come as no surprise given the amount of oracle players we have. After a weak showing last week he went 2–1 this week to move into the second most contested support spot behind Lina.
Leshrac — Not picked up much so far, Lesh got two wins this week. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this hero keep rising as it’s good against many of the most popular heroes in this division.
Worst Heroes
Bristleback — Bristle continues to underperform in Fluffy Hat, gaining two losses this week to end with a terrible 20% overall winrate. Part of this may be that many teams are comfortable with viper picks even without Bristleback so when picked he is generally playing into a counter.
Invoker — 1–4 overall and two losses this week, Invoker may be a good hero but he requires a lot of practice, similiar to Puck below. At least in Invoker’s case a lot of his poor performance can be blamed on the winless Waffz team.
Puck — 0–2 this week, Puck is a good hero but requires practice to play consistently well. Puck’s 1–2 overall record is further proof that we don’t have many Puck players in the division.
The Support Hero Pool
Last week we took a look at offlaners, this week let’s look at supports based on pick and win rates:
Jakiro and Dark Willow are leading the pack with 7 picks each and 70%+ winrates.
Lina and Oracle just behind, being just as popular but with just over 50% winrates each.
Grimstroke and Warlock have been picked 7 and 6 times respectively, but have both been doing terribly with 3 wins between them. I expect these heroes, especially Grimstroke, to be picked much less going forward.
Tiny, Clockwerk, Winter Wyvern, and Hoodwink are not top picks yet, but have done well when they have been picked with 66% winrates or better.
Generally speaking this leads me to think that lower cooldown supports are outperforming higher cooldown supports, meaning there is a lot more skirmishing over objectives and less massive teamfights in the division.
Lower Division Hero Stats
Best Heroes
Legion Commander — Going 2–0 this week, Legion is now 4–0 overall in Lower Division, becoming not only the best offlaner but the best hero in the division overall so far. It’s looking more and more like offlane heroes are deciding matches,. Tide, Legion, and Centaur have a combined 11–1 record across all weeks.
Snapfire — Many of the most picked heroes this week did poorly, but Snapfire had a decent week at 2–1. Her overall record is still below 50%, but it’s improving now that teams are being more selective with her picks after a terrible week 2.
Warlock — Warlock has gone from 0 picks to 3 in one week. At 2–1 it seems to have been worth it. I’m surprised this was the first week the hero was picked in Lower Divison!
Tidehunter — Another top offlaner as noted above, Tidehunter went 2–0 this week and boasts an 80% overall winrate now.
Worst Heroes
Slardar — 0–3 makes Slardar easily this week’s loser. it’s a bit surprising given how much lanes seem to matter in the division, but slardar laning is not as simple as something like a Tide. Slardar, Bristleback, and Dragon Knight are the heroes giving the wins to the more successful offlaners in the Best Heroes section, with a combined 1–10 record so far.
Bristleback — Almost the worst hero in both divisions this week, Bristle can be thankful Slardar was even worse. I don’t think the hero will get much better with Legion offlane on the rise in the division.
The Support Hero Pool
Last week we took a look at offlaners, this week let’s look at supports based on pick and win rates. worth noting there is a lot of variety in lower divison supports so total games played for each is not as high as in upper.
Dark Willow has some competition for best in upper division, but is undecidedly the best so far in lower with a 4–1 winrate.
Lina, Grimstroke, and Snap make up the middle of the pack with roughly 50% winrates. These are also the three of the four most picked heroes (Viper is #1). Despite their popularity, their performance has been very average so far. Bane and Jakiro are also noticeably average, each having a 2–2 record.
Of the commonly picked supports, Ogre is the only clear loser at 3–5. Less picked supports have generally done poorly, but with so many of the most picked supports near 50% winrate few stand out.
Shadow Shaman and Warlock have been rarer, but solid picks so far with a combined 5–3 winrate. It makes sense these two are doing better in upper division given the greater emphasis on winning lanes in lower div combined with both heroes having ultimates that help push an early advantage.
