Dota 2’s Pudge has become the first character in the history of MOBAs to play more than a billion matches. According to the website DotabuffPudge has participated in 1,000,059,649 Dota 2 matches with a selection rate of 33.03%. This is significantly ahead of the second most popular character, Phantom Assassin, who has «only» 704,021,392 matches played and a pick rate of 23.25%.
Inspired by the Butcher boss from Diablo 1, Pudge has been around as long as Dota and was the most popular Dota 2 character back in 2016. Pudge combines an active grapple ability that allows him to attract other players to him, and passive abilities that give him health and increase the damage from each enemy he kills. Players find ingenious ways to use his abilities.
Pudge’s legacy also extends beyond Dota 2, inspiring many similar characters in other multiplayer games. These include Overwatch’s Roadhog, which combines an Unreal Tournament-style anti-aircraft gun with Pudge’s grappling ability, and League of Legends’ Blitzcrank.
Although Pudge is the most popular character in Dota 2, he does not have the highest overall win rate. OmniKnight holds this title with a win rate of 56.2% — Pudge’s win rate of 50.96%. This may be because his popularity means that less experienced players play him, but it is also true that Pudge was one of the weaker Dota 2 characters at the beginning of the game.
Over the past year, Dota 2 has undergone major changes. In June 2023, Valve announced that it was moving away from the battle pass model, citing the fact that players no longer bought them.
Source: PC Gamer