- See also Guide to Battlegrounds
Heroes of the Storm is a MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) set in the Nexus where fast-paced battles are waged across various battlegrounds, each with their own unique objectives to consider. Heroes have a meaningful impact on their battles through the decisions players make and the talents they choose. There’s no item shop to consider, no slow-paced games to wear down resolve.
Hero selection and roles[]
The Nexus has gathered many of the bravest and most heroic characters from across Blizzard’s game universes, and more still are being called to serve. Franchises include Warcraft, StarCraft, Diablo, and Overwatch, as well as classics like The Lost Vikings
Heroes in the Nexus are categorized as Warriors, Supports, Assassins, or Specialists. Each hero on the Heroes of the Storm wiki has their own page, complete with abilities, talents, bios, tips, and skins. Additional related pages contain master lists of quotes and unlocks related to their characters.
Despite these roles, Heroes of the Storm offers a number of Heroes who challenge expectations. Below are three of them.
Abathur[]
Rather than interacting directly with a battle, Abathur aids his team from afar using his Symbiote ability. Players who choose Abathur will need to have supreme map awareness to make ample use of his long-range abilities.
Cho'gall[]
Two players must work in harmony to command different aspects of this Warrior and Assassin duo: The Cho player controls movement and basic attacks, while Gall dishes out most of their ability damage. Both players can employ Cho and Gall’s separate abilities, but they must work in concert to take full advantage of them.
The Lost Vikings[]
The specialist team of the Lost Vikings are three separate Heroes commanded by a single player. The Vikings can be split up to push multiple lanes, or brought together to focus on their target. They are a challenge and a handful to master, but can be deadly in the hands of a skilled player.
Team leveling[]
For a team to be effective, members need to act as one. The leveling in Heroes of the Storm reflects this philosophy, with each player contributing to a shared pool of experience. Team experience makes it easier to make rotations without losing the lane, and ensures players are not fighting with teammates over gold and experience. Keep in mind that gaining levels faster than the opposing team will present opportunities for executing power plays at crucial talent-earning levels.
Talent system[]
In Heroes of the Storm, every Hero has their own diverse kit of skills and abilities that players will be able to choose from as their team advances. Starting at level 1, every few levels a team earns will present players with a set of talent choices that offer new tools or enhance existing abilities. In Heroes of the Storm, talents have replaced what many may have come to know as the ‘item shop.’ These talents allow players to react to the battleground, team composition, or the opposing team composition. A Hero’s kit is unique to them, and offers different strategic opportunities to employ during the battle.
Pressing the TAB key brings up a menu where players can see which talents their team and their opponents have chosen. As players gain familiarity with the talents that are available to each hero, they’ll make better and more informed decisions about how to react to the ever-evolving battle at hand.
At level 10, each member of the team will select from one of two powerful Heroic Abilities which greatly enhance their Hero’s effectiveness in battle. When unleashed in succession with other complementary Heroic abilities that their team has chosen, these can be absolutely devastating against opponents. Once the Heroic ability has been selected, the choice cannot be undone. As such, having a keen understanding of the talents and abilities for each of the Heroes is paramount to achieving success in the Nexus.
Dynamic battlegrounds[]
Heroes of the Storm features a wide range of battlegrounds, each offering unique gameplay and powerful objectives to master. Completing objectives creates advantages for a team, and are the primary points of interest and conflict on each Battleground (they’re also where team fights tend to erupt).
In addition to the various objectives each Battleground offers, players can earn the allegiance of the Mercenaries who populate the world. To do so, players must first defeat the neutral mercenaries at their camp site, and then stand on the beacon nearby to capture them for their team. Determining the optimal time to capture a mercenary camp is crucial, and can be of great value when players need to distract the enemy team from capturing an objective.
Respawn timers[]
When your character dies in Heroes of the Storm, there is an amount of time before your character is resurrected back at your base. This timer is based on the game length. The longer the game has been going on, the longer the death timer takes (ie: 10 second respawn time at 1:00 vs 60 second respawn time at 20:00). It's super important to try and minimize death late in game as it can turn the tide of battle very quickly.
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