Pudge from Dota 2 became the first character in the history of MOBA to be played in over a billion matches. According to the Dotabuff website, Pudge participated in 1,000,059,649 Dota 2 matches with a pick rate of 33.03%. This significantly surpasses the second most popular character, Phantom Assassin, who has "only" played 704,021,392 matches with a pick rate of 23.25%.
Inspired by the Butcher boss from Diablo 1, Pudge has existed as long as Dota has, and was the most popular character in Dota 2 as early as 2016. Pudge combines an active ability to hook and drag other players towards him, and passive abilities that give him health and amplify damage from each slain enemy. Players find ingenious ways to utilize his abilities.
Pudge's legacy extends beyond Dota 2, inspiring many similar characters in other multiplayer games. These include Roadhog from Overwatch, who combines a tank gun in the style of Unreal Tournament with Pudge's hook ability, as well as Blitzcrank from League of Legends.
Although Pudge is the most popular character in Dota 2, he does not have the highest overall win rate. This title belongs to OmniKnight with a win rate of 56.2% - Pudge's win rate is 50.96%. This may be because his popularity means he is played by less experienced players. It is also true that Pudge was one of the weakest characters in Dota 2 at the beginning of the game.
Over the past year, Dota 2 has undergone serious changes. In June 2023, Valve announced that they are moving away from the battle pass model, citing that players are no longer buying them.
Source: PC Gamer
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