What players buy
The items bought most in each of Valve’s four game stages
Public matches · each item’s own count
1stMost bought
173 buys
2ndSecond most
101 buys
3rdThird most
98 buys
4thFourth most
90 buys
5thFifth most
69 buysBy GamGem ResearchLast updated 22 Sept 2026
Ringmaster
Ranged · Intelligence
- Win rate
- 48.5%
- Pick share
- 0.5%
- Matches
- 215,645
- Patch
- 7.41f
Draft coverage
BringsSupportNukerEscapeDisabler
NeedsCarryInitiatorFrontlineTower damage
Recommendation
Pick
- The game is heading for 50 min + — that is where this hero measures best, at 53.3% over 259 matches.
- You are playing around Divine — its strongest medal, 49.8% over 33,147 picks.
Avoid
- Alchemist is on their side — this hero wins 30.4% of 56 matches against it.
- Chen is on their side — this hero wins 35.4% of 65 matches against it.
- Doom is on their side — this hero wins 39.4% of 104 matches against it.
173 buys101 buys98 buys90 buys69 buys
Skill Order
Which ability to max first, and where each point goes — what most league players on Ringmaster took at each level.
QTame the Beasts
CHANNELED - Ringmaster twirls his whip for up to 1 second then cracks it.
Point Target · AOE · Channeled · Magical damage
WEscape Act
Ringmaster packs himself or an allied hero into a mobile, extradimensional box.
Unit Target
EImpalement Arts
Ringmaster throws one of his daggers to a precise point of his choosing.
Point Target · Magical damage
RWheel of Wonder
Ringmaster rolls the Wheel of Wonder to the targeted location, knocking aside enemies along the way.
Point Target · AOE · Magical damageMax Order
QWE
Max Q first, then W, then E. Most took R at 6 / 13.
Level-up Order
- QTame the Beasts
- WEscape Act
- EImpalement Arts
- RWheel of Wonder
- TTalent
| Ability | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| QTame the Beasts | Q | Q | Q | Q | ||||||||||||
| WEscape Act | W | W | W | W | ||||||||||||
| EImpalement Arts | E | E | E | E | ||||||||||||
| RWheel of Wonder | R | R | ||||||||||||||
| TTalent | T | T |
Matchup map
How Ringmaster performs against every opponent with 30 or more counted games
109 opponents · public matches40%60%Ringmaster's win rate
≥ 60%Very favorable
55 – 60%Favorable
50 – 55%Even
45 – 50%Unfavorable
40 – 45%Hard
< 40%Very hard
If this happens, use this
- They are running away
Something that holds them still, or closes the gap yourself. Matched on “slow”.
- I am being jumped
A way out, a way to shrug the debuff, or something to eat the burst. Matched on “invisib”.
- Kill them in one window
Damage that lands now rather than over a minute. Matched on “magical”, “damage over time”.
- Clear or push the wave
Creeps, summons and anything that hits a building. Matched on “creep”.
- Pressure their mana
Burn it, drain it, or take the spell away entirely. Matched on “silence”, “mute”.
- See what is coming
Vision, or true sight against something invisible. Matched on “reveal”.
By medal
- Herald46.9%3,543
- Guardian47.5%12,895
- Crusader47.9%24,889
- Archon47.9%39,014
- Legend49.0%48,967
- Ancient48.8%37,977
- Divine49.8%33,147
One count per medal, not one rate split across them; a medal with no counted matches is left out.
By match length
- 0–20 min48.3%515
- 20–30 min50.9%1,927
- 30–40 min49.5%1,189
- 40–50 min48.7%509
- 50 min +53.3%259
Bands under 120 matches are absent rather than shown small.
Learning Ringmaster
Abilities
Tame the Beasts
Point Target · AOE · Channeled · Magical damageCHANNELED - Ringmaster twirls his whip for up to 1 second then cracks it. Whipped enemies are damaged and flee in fear from Ringmaster. Channel time exponentially increases damage and extends the fear duration, but reduces the radius.
Escape Act
Unit TargetRingmaster packs himself or an allied hero into a mobile, extradimensional box. Boxed units gain phased movement, slow resistance, bonus magic resistance, and bonus movement speed. They are also untargetable, muted, silenced, and disarmed. The box will pop open after the effect expires or it moves out of the initial area.
Impalement Arts
Point Target · Magical damageRingmaster throws one of his daggers to a precise point of his choosing. If he strikes an enemy, the dagger deals impact damage, briefly slows the unit hit, and causes them to bleed. The bleeding deals a percentage of the victim's maximum health in damage every second to heroes and flat damage per second to creeps.
Spotlight
Point Target · AOE · Magical damageRingmaster shines 3 spotlights that sweep over an area. Enemies in the light have a chance to miss their attacks and are revealed if invisible. Illusions hit by the beam fade away, losing a percentage of their maximum health each second. These effects linger for 0.3 seconds after leaving the light.
Wheel of Wonder
Point Target · AOE · Magical damageRingmaster rolls the Wheel of Wonder to the targeted location, knocking aside enemies along the way. After it reaches its target, enemies in range of the wheel take damage over time and are slowed by -50%. Enemy heroes who face the wheel for more than 0.5 seconds are mesmerized and drawn towards it. The first enemy to be mesmerized triggers a timer for the wheel to explode. If the timer is not triggered, it will automatically explode after 4 seconds.
Base attributes
- Strength
- 21 +2.1
- Agility
- 11 +1.6
- Intelligence
- 25 +3.0
- Move · range
- 310 · 575
Talents
- 7Unicycle
- 6Strongman TonicWhoopee Cushion
- 5Dark Carnival BarkerFunhouse Mirror
- 4+100 Wheel Radius and RangeEscape Act Grants Strong Dispel and Flying
- 3+1s Impalement Arts Bleed and Slow Duration+75/+300 Tame the Beasts Min/Max Damage
- 2Impalement Arts Penetrates One TargetDebuff Immunity While Channeling Tame the Beasts
- 1special_bonus_unique_ringmaster_dagger_charge+75 Tame the Beasts Radius
Aghanim’s Scepter
Changes Escape Act
Escape Act has 2 charges. When the box pops open, Impalement Art daggers are thrown in all directions, and all enemies around it take damage.
Aghanim’s Shard
Changes Spotlight
Ringmaster shines 3 spotlights that sweep over an area. Enemies in the light have a chance to miss their attacks and are revealed if invisible. Illusions hit by the beam fade away, losing a percentage of their maximum health each second. These effects linger for 0.3 seconds after leaving the light.
Sources
- Kit, talents and upgrades · mechanicalread 22 Sept 2026
Ability names, icons, behaviour, damage type and text, plus the Aghanim’s Scepter and Shard descriptions — as the game itself ships them. Nothing here was counted over matches.
- Win rate by medal · countedread 15 Sept 2026
The same hero at each of Valve’s eight medals, over 4,610,063 public matches. Each medal carries its own sample, because the eight buckets are nothing like the same size.
- Matchups and match length · counted, on a narrower windowread 16 Sept 2026
Win rate against each opponent and across five match-length bands. This channel reports far fewer games than the medal figures above: the median hero pairing is 51 matches and the largest on the whole roster is 707. Rows under 30 games are absent rather than shown small, and the ones that remain are ORDERED by a figure shrunk toward even by its own sample — the rate you see is the real one, the ranking is the careful one.
- What players build · countedread 15 Sept 2026
The five most common items in each of Valve’s four game stages, with each row’s own pick count.
- Skill order · counted, in league matchesread 3 Oct 2026
Where skill points go, read off every player's own learning order in premium and professional league matches on patches 7.41 and 7.40. Each level shows the ability most players took there and the share that did — a column only a third agree on is printed as a third, not as the rule. Heroes under 30 counted games show no path.
- Situation index · derived, and checkableread 22 Sept 2026
Each situation is a phrase match against Valve’s own ability text, and every row shows the phrases that matched. No win rate is attached, because nobody counts one per situation.
Mechanics are the ones Valve publishes for patch 7.41f. GamGem is not affiliated with or endorsed by Valve Corporation.