Hero Trends
Pick rate over time per hero, with patch reference lines, on the global Map Stats page.
Hero trends live on the global Map Stats page (/map-stats) and on the
hover chart attached to every hero row inside a map's stats table. They
answer one question fast: when did this hero start showing up here, and is
the trend still moving?
The Map Stats page
/map-stats lists every Overwatch 2 map with current pick-rate ranks per
role, scoped to the active timeframe. Each row drills into the per-map
hero distribution: pick rate by hero, win rate by hero, and the trend line.
The hero trends table is the core. For the selected map and timeframe it shows:
- Hero
- Pick rate as a percentage of maps played
- Pick rate delta vs the previous comparable window
- Win rate when picked
- Trend sparkline for the last 90 days
Sorting and filtering are URL-driven so a saved view (Ilios, support, last 30 days) is bookmarkable.
Pick rate hover chart
Hovering a hero row on any map stats table opens a pick-rate line chart with the last 90 days of data. Vertical reference lines mark Overwatch 2 patch dates, so a sharp drop or jump can be attributed to a balance change at a glance.
The patch dataset is maintained inside Parsertime and updates when Blizzard ships a patch. Reference lines render as muted gridlines so they read as context, not as primary data; the pick rate line stays the focus.
Patch Markers
The vertical reference lines on the pick-rate chart mark when Overwatch 2 balance patches landed, so you can line up a change in hero usage with the patch that likely caused it. If a hero spikes or falls off right after a marker, that is your cue the meta moved with the patch.
Markers are styled by patch type so you can tell a major shake-up from a small tweak at a glance:
- Season patches are drawn as solid lines and labelled with the season (for example, "Season 2: Summit"). These ship at the start of a season and carry the biggest balance changes, so a usage shift here is usually a real meta move.
- Mid-season patches use a lighter dashed line. Seasons run on roughly a two-month cycle, so most balance patches land between season launches, this is the default for any patch that isn't a season opener or a hotfix.
- Hotfixes use a fine dashed line. These are smaller, targeted fixes (often a single hero or bug), so a change lining up with a hotfix marker is usually a narrow correction rather than a meta-wide swing.
Knowing the patch type helps you read the chart correctly: a pick-rate jump against a season line is a stronger signal that the meta moved than the same jump against a hotfix line, which is more likely a targeted nudge.
Parsertime scrapes Blizzard's published patch notes daily and classifies each one by type, so the markers stay current as new patches ship, no manual upkeep. They appear on the per-hero pick-rate chart described above.
Caching
Hero trends are served from a cached service that refreshes on a schedule. The cache key includes map, timeframe, and patch window, so swapping timeframes is instant after the first load.
If a hero you expect is missing from the table, check the pick-rate floor: heroes picked on fewer than a handful of maps in the window are excluded from the trends view. Their data is still available in the per-map hero stats.
How this is different from team-stats heroes
The Team Stats Heroes tab answers "what does my team pick on this map?" The Map Stats hero trends answer "what does the ladder pick on this map?" Use Team Stats for opponent prep against yourselves; use Map Stats for the meta layer.