Was donk better than ZywOo in 2025?

Long gone are the days when we’d compare ZywOo and s1mple and argue over who was the better player for the year. Now we’ve got the next wave of talent, with donk bursting onto the scene last year and rushing to the throne. And even this year, donk has all but locked in at least a top-two finish, going toe-to-toe with ZywOo for #1.

Back then, comparing s1mple and ZywOo was more straightforward since they were both AWPers, though their different styles could make it tricky at times. But donk and ZywOo, a rifler that is an opener, and an all round AWPer.That’s a much more knotty comparison. Not just because they’re worlds apart in role and weaponry, but also because their team results paint very different pictures. And while ZywOo’s trophy case and accolades clearly trump donk’s, a lot of people, including me, don’t see that as the ultimate yardstick for individual greatness.

So, the only way to gauge the better player among the two is to look at the problem from every angle and see if we can reach a conclusion, which is exactly what we are going to do.

donk leads ZywOo across the board statistically

By the numbers, donk comes out on top in every major category. Whether it comes to rating this year, damage per round, KPR, or Multi-kills. If you look at it, it is really impressive considering donk plays rifle entry, and having a higher multi-kill percentage over an AWPer is simply wild. Not only that, donk also matches ZywOo’s KAST, and the only criteria he falls slightly short is Round Swing. Even if you adjust these stats with eco, the numbers still favour donk.

But as the mavens of Counter-Strike often preach, Stats don’t paint the whole picture. And so, we are going to dig deeper into stats. Let’s start by seeing how these facing better opponents affected these ratings of the two players. And sure enough, donk still beats ZywOo in every department. And by a mile too. And interestingly, the sample size, when it comes to Top-5 opponents, is pretty similar too. So once again, donk seems to have the upper hand over ZywOo.

Now, I did say donk has the harder roles. And plenty of people push back by arguing Spirit has gradually started to revolve around him. By “revolve,” I mean they have shifted from tossing him in as the pure battering ram to setting him up more often, putting him in situations where success is more likely. That is true, in a sense. But it still does not change the central reality. What donk keeps doing is brutally difficult, and it is difficult in the way that matters.

Even if he is not always the first sacrificial body on defaults, when the push comes to shove, donk is the one Spirit leans on to force the issue and find entries. And for most of the year, Spirit have lived fighting on the back foot. In the opener role, donk has been ruthless. High volume, high impact, high efficiency. To put it in perspective, he takes on opening attempt volume comparable to someone like YEKINDAR, who is practically a synonym for “always going first,” while still posting 10% higher success rate. This success rate is almost equal to someone like m0NESY, who tends to pick his opening fights more selectively. The fact that donk matches it while taking far more risk – over 38% is simply maddening. That contrast matters, because it shows the difference between polishing numbers and winning duels that decide rounds.

Why ZywOo’s sample size matters

We know Vitality went on far more deep runs than Spirit. That matters, because it means ZywOo not only has a larger sample size, but he also racks up more maps against elite opposition. Take MOUZ, for example, the team that was the most common opponent for both players. ZywOo played 31 maps against them, while donk played 20, and their ratings are basically identical. So that matchup probably does not move the needle much.

But then you get to Falcons. ZywOo faced them 20 times and averaged a 1.28 rating. Donk, on the other hand, sat at 1.13 across just nine maps. Now add NAVI to the mix,  donk played 14 maps against them and averaged a huge 1.57, while ZywOo only played 4. So you can make a fair case that the opponent mix is not perfectly balanced. If donk had more maps against Falcons and fewer against NAVI, his overall picture could look noticeably different.

And when you stack that alongside accolades, the argument starts to lean ZywOo’s way. Eight MVPs, including two Major MVPs, versus four for donk, is a meaningful gap on paper. At that point, the scales begin to tip toward the French AWPer. Then, when you also take a look at head-to-heads between the two this year, ZywOo comes out to be above donk by the slightest margin of 1. But does all of this make ZywOo the better player?

Who wins the #1 race?

I think we’ve gone deep enough into the numbers, but a clean conclusion still needs one missing piece, which is the context of team strength. But before we get into that, I can assure you that the answer to this question, I feel, can very well be subjective. So if you feel ZywOo was the better player, there’s one stat that makes this debate more interesting: Round Swing.

In theory, being on the better team should not “gift” you Round Swing, because it measures win-probability change and splits credit based on contribution. But it also does not mean team strength is irrelevant, since better teams can create more high-leverage spots and cleaner trades. That’s why the detail matters: the gap is small, but ZywOo edging Round Swing at all still says something.

With all that said, I still lean donk. It is because he continued to fight an uphill battle and was playing against a better overall unit in Vitality, while ZywOo was facing a Spirit lineup that, more often than not, is built around donk’s output. And in most of the head-to-heads, donk was able to match ZywOo despite not only losing the game, but playing against a better system.

donk had 16.1% support rounds while ZywOo had 19.9%, which points to ZywOo getting more consistent structure behind him. Even so, donk was more aggressive as an opener: 0.18 opening kills per round, 28.6% opening attempts versus 21.4% for ZywOo, and he did it in the looser system. Vitality is a more established system and it shows. And if you still think this is close, here’s the simplest thought experiment. Assume flameZ and sh1ro have equal value in their roles. Who has the upper hand: ZywOo + flameZ with apEX, ropz, and mezii, or donk + sh1ro with apEX, ropz, and mezii? But if you’re still not picking donk, I probably can’t sell you on it.