Hero Series Lineup Trends - Week 6

Altenberg breaks down the Hero Series Week 6 Lineup Trends, so you don’t have to.

This is one of the most exciting weeks of Lineup Trends, because after three weeks of data, we can finally start to make some definitive statements about the popular lineups!  Last week we had 33 unique lineups and three from the week prior that remained popular, which I will highlight below.  Hunter, Paladin and Priest continue to dominate the class selections as the three most popular classes, although Warlock overtook Mage for the 4th spot last week. Warrior saw an uptick in usage while Rogue, Druid and Shaman remain mostly unchanged at the bottom of the list.

Week 6 Popular Lineups
Lineup #1 – Hunter, Paladin, Priest, Warlock








Week 6 Stats
19 Lineups
Matches: 9-10 (47%)
Games: 40-38 (51%)
Opponent Bans
Hunter: 1-3 (25%)
Paladin: 0-1 (0%)
Priest: 7-6 (54%)
Warlock: 1-0 (100%)

Total Season Stats
34 Lineups
Matches: 21-23 (48%)
Games: 94-92 (51%)
Opponent Bans
Hunter: 2-4 (33%)
Paladin: 3-4 (43%)
Priest: 15-14 (52%)
Warlock: 1-1 (50%)

This is a lineup that not only won’t die (it's a hold over from last season AND the first three weeks of this season), but it iss also increasing in popularity.  In fact, it was the most popular lineup brought last week.  Unfortunately, it also isn’t performing all that well with a sub-50% win-rate in matches and a barely better than 50% win-rate in games.  The ban data is very interesting to consider. While Priest is the most popular class banned in this lineup by far, it’s not the most effective.  Banning Hunter or Paladin has proven to be a better way to ban this lineup, and it makes me wonder if more people tried those bans if its performance would suffer even more.

---

Lineup #2 – Hunter, Mage, Paladin, Priest








Week 6 Stats
12 Lineups
Matches: 6-6 (50%)
Games: 22-26 (46%)
Opponent Bans
Hunter: 1-0 (100%)
Mage: 1-1 (50%)
Paladin: 2-3 (40%)
Priest: 2-2 (50%)

Total Season Stats
44 Lineups
Matches: 20-24 (45%)
Games: 82-94 (47%)
Opponent Bans
Hunter: 3-2 (60%)
Mage: 1-1 (50%)
Paladin: 6-7 (46%)
Priest: 10-14 (42%)

This lineup saw a bit of decline in usage last week after holding the top spot as the most popular lineup through the first two weeks of the post-post-nerf meta.  After having been used a total of 44 times, we have a good deal of data on the lineup, and it has been under-performing on the whole.  It pretty much broke even last week and that was not good enough to push the overall win-rate into the positive.  That said, it does a little better in games than in matches. Still, opponents have figured out how to beat this lineup: ban Priest or Paladin depending on what you’ve got and then beat up on Hunter and Mage.

---

Lineup #3 – Hunter, Paladin, Priest, Warrior








Week 6 Stats
10 Lineups
Matches: 5-5 (50%)
Games: 23-23 (50%)
Opponent Bans
Hunter: 0-1 (0%)
Paladin: 0-1 (0%)
Priest: 2-1 (67%)
Warrior: 3-2 (60%)

Total Season Stats
21 Lineups
Matches: 11-10 (52%)
Games: 47-43 (52%)
Opponent Bans
Hunter: 1-1 (50%)
Paladin: 0-3 (0%)
Priest: 4-4 (50%)
Warrior: 6-2 (75%)

This lineup continues to see an increase in usage each week, and while it had an amazing week 5, it came down to Earth a little bit last week with only a 50% win-rate.  Still, even with a disappointing week last week, it has an overall positive win-rate.  Warrior and Priest are drawing the most bans, but Priest is the more effective ban of the two.  Paladin has only been banned 3 times, but the lineup hasn’t won a match in that scenario, which suggests perhaps Paladin should be the more popular ban of this lineup. While it has been used 21 times so far this season, I’d like to see a little bit more usage before I declare this one “good”, but of the three most popular lineups from last week, it was the most effective.
 
Week 5 Class Popularity

1. Hunter – 89 Lineups
2. Priest – 73 Lineups
3. Paladin – 71 Lineups
4. Warlock – 52 Lineups
5. Mage – 45 Lineups
6. Warrior – 33 Lineups
7. Rogue – 21 Lineups
8. Druid – 12 Lineups
9. Shaman – 4 Lineups

Conclusion
Hunter, Priest and Paladin remain locked in as the three most popular classes, but the 4th most popular class is still up for grabs. For the first two weeks in the post-post-nerf meta, Mage held the 4th spot, but this week Warlock overtook it. Also, Warrior is also on the rise and could see more usage going forward. Rogue has dropped significantly after the nerfs, but did see a tiny rebound to over-take Druid for the 7th spot. Shaman is a dead class. It’s worth pointing out that the two most popular lineups have been losing lineups for the past two weeks in a row, so perhaps the players in Hero Series should consider moving off of them and onto something else. As a heads up to any loyal readers, I will be gone next week so we will not have any Lineup Trends for Week 7.  But I’ll be back to cover Week 8, so until then, good luck and have fun!

-Altenberg

---