Hero Pick/Ban and Win Rate - The Raw Data

Yrel's Priority in the Draft

Head-to-Head: Who Can Beat Yrel?

Duo-Queue: Who Do You Pair Up With Yrel?

The Final Word

Hello again, everyone! Today, I'd like to talk about Yrel. The Light of Hope was released on June 12, 2018, and has so far seen a lot of use in Weeks 1-3 of HGC. I'd like to take a look at the new hero's standing so far in professional play, including some head-to-head matchups and heroes that have paired well with them. Keep in mind that, as is always true of HGC games, some of this data will be skewed due to the differences in skill between teams. No hero has yet managed to completely overcome a skill deficit between teams or regions. I will try to take this into account in my writings.Here are Yrel's hero stats at a glance:Yrel saw very little use in Week 1 of HGC, only appearing in 3 games out of the 61 games played that week across NA/EU/KR. However, Yrel received a buff on June 27th, in Patch 34.3 , which was added to the HGC in Week 2. She saw 96 picks and 11 bans in Weeks 2 and 3 (out of a total of 128 games) as a result of these buffs, bringing her to an 84% popularity rate in those weeks. This is fairly comparable to the initial popularity rate of Fenix in Week 9 of Phase 1 (81%), though both heroes still fall short of the record set by Maiev (99%). Europe has used her the most out of these three regions, with 41 total picks to achieve a 60% pick rate, and North America has used her the least overall with 27 total picks and a 42% pick rate.Yrel's win rate is fairly high, but this is almost assuredly due to which teams are prioritizing her, as the chart below shows:As you can see, Yrel's win rate is largely propped up by top regional teams. In Europe, Yrel's banner is upheld by Jonathan "Wubby" Gunnarsson and Lawrence "Atheroangel" Harper, with records of 10-0 and 9-1 respectively. This is largely unsurprising, as their respective teams (Team Dignitas and Method) are the top two teams in Europe. When looking at the rest of Europe combined, we find a much less impressive 8-13 combined record on Yrel. In Korea, the story is much the same. Ju Dalm "dami" Park from Tempest, Won Ho "KyoCha" Jeong from Gen.G, and Jeong Ha "Jeongha" Lee from Ballistix have the highest pick rates on Yrel, and also the highest overall win rates (6-0, 5-0, and 6-2 respectively). This leaves the rest of Korea at a combined 4-8 record on Yrel.What is the point of all this? Well, it shows that the reason for Yrel's high win rate is primarily due to her high adoption rate from top regional teams, which suggests that her win rate is more than likely just excessively padded. And her win rate on those teams is fairly consistent with the team's overall win rates. For example, Jeongha's 6-2 record leaves us with a 75% win rate, which is consistent with Ballistix's 13-4 game record (76% WR). If she was a real anomaly, then her win rates would also tend to be higher than normal on weaker teams....but we don't see that here. For example, Drew "Swabs" Papazian from LFM Esports has an 0-5 record on Yrel (0% WR), which is pretty consistent with the team's 1-12 game record. So while her win rate might appear high at first glance, it's largely padded by high success rates on top teams, and she isn't translating to any sort of greater success on weaker teams. This is not to say that she's not powerful, of course. Obviously, if top teams are playing her so much, they feel she is worth picking. It's merely pointing out that we shouldn't read too deeply into the win rate of Yrel at the pro level.Here's a look at where Yrel is prioritized in the draft:Yrel is typically picked in the earlier stages of the draft, with 65% of her picks taking place in the first two draft slots. In total, she is picked or banned prior to the mid-ban phase of the draft in about 83% of her games. This is marginally higher than Fenix's initial draft priority (71%), though it once again pales to release-state Maiev (98%). She has seen the most overall success when selected in the first two draft slotsWhat makes these numbers stand out, however, is her exceedingly low ban rates. She has seen only 11 bans thus far in the HGC, which means bans make up only 10% of her total popularity. This is far, far less than most of the heroes before her: less than Maiev (71%), less than Fenix (30%), and even less than Deckard Cain (19%). This seems to suggest that while she is a fairly high priority pick, most teams don't see the value in banning her out. This could very well be because banning her would allow other greater threats through, such as Genji and Tracer (who had the largest ban rates in Weeks 1-3, at 73% and 42% respectively). As such, we'll have to see if the upcoming introduction of the third ban might result in more bans towards Yrel.Here's a table of some of the most popular heroes to be selected against Yrel:As you can no doubt guess, Yrel's high win rate means that it's difficult to pick out a lot of "winners" against Yrel. Even though her win rate is largely padded by strong teams, her strength in the off-lane is undeniable. She has fairly good wave clear, and can bully most traditional off-laners out of lane with her respectable sustain using Maraad's Insight at Lvl 1. And in the late game, Holy Wrath at Lvl 16 allows her to double soak with relative ease. As a result, most off-laners have very poor records against her.However, in a team fight scenario, she does have some weaknesses that can be exploited. Her only true form of escape is her leap, which moves considerably slower than the escape tools of other heroes due to the time required to charge it. As such, Deckard Cain has seen some degree of success against her due to his large zoning slows and roots, which can help to limit the effectiveness of Yrel getting in the back line. Diablo has also performed reasonably enough against her on smaller maps with tight corridors that allow him to get a strategic advantage. And of course, Yrel's biggest handicap is her limited reach, allowing long-range heroes like Hanzo to constantly harass her from a distance. It is worth noting, of course, that a skilled Yrel with the proper talent selections can potentially overcome many of these handicaps, but hopefully this information will help you come up with some ideas to deal with her in your own games.Here's a table of some of the most popular heroes to be selected alongside Yrel:The most obvious combination that emerged from the last few weeks of play is her excellent coordination with Muradin. Muradin was always something of a bully himself, able to stack up Storm Bolts that could deal punishing damage to squishy back line heroes. But now he has found something of a kindred spirit in Yrel, who can also dive into the back line with minimal harm and punish back line heroes. Other dive heroes like Kharazim have also seen pretty good success with Yrel. Yrel's kit lends itself very well to being a back line bully, and any hero designed to do the same is bound to play well alongside her.But the less well known (or perhaps "less flashy") success story lies in Yrel's ability to defend her own back line as well. All of those tools that work so well to punish an enemy's back line are also great tools for swatting enemy heroes off of her back line. We can see this reflected best in her success with ranged damage dealing heroes like Li-Ming, Jaina, and Hanzo, whose win rates were higher when played with Yrel than they were without her. She also worked well with both of the meta's current favorites in the healer role. A well-timed swing of her hammer can knock her enemies into a root from Malfurion or Deckard Cain, enabling the rest of her team to focus that target down.Yrel has premiered in the Nexus as an off-lane hero with no equal. Her kit also lends itself well to both offensive and defensive play in team fights, making her just as dangerous in a team as she is on her own. While her win rate seems to be largely carried on the backs of top teams, and her win rate in Hero League continues to remain fairly par for the course, her high popularity is still potentially concerning. As such, if she is to be seeing any nerfs in the near future, they should be done carefully enough that she retains much of her core strength for regular players, while curbing her influence a bit at the highest levels of play.Looking for more of my work? I previously did a piece much like this one, showcasing Deckard Cain's use in the HGC Mid-Season Brawl. That article is located here. Feel free to let me know your thoughts to this article in the comments section below, or on Twitter at my handle @CriticKitten . I look forward to your replies!Hope to see you again next time!