Greymane is officially a week old, and while he's definitely one of the most fun (and versatile) heroes he just isn't a top pick in the current state of the meta.
Let me start by saying that based purely off design alone Greymane is definitely one of my favorite heroes to play. It can be very rewarding to poke someone until their health is low enough to jump in as a Worgen and secure a kill. On the flip side however, jumping into Worgen form at the wrong time in a team fight is almost instantaneously punished by death. Greymane has the potential for making really great plays and can very easily finish heroes off, but he just doesn't do anything that another hero can't do better.
Current State of the Meta
To understand why Greymane fits (or doesn't fit) into the meta, we first need to establish what the meta is right now. As of right now, especially at highly competitive play, HotS is being dominated by two things: stun and burst - neither of which Greymane has. This means we're seeing heroes like Kael'Thas, Muradin, Jaina, Tyrande, Uther and ETC. All of these heroes have either a solid, reliable stun or an insane amount of burst (or in the case of Kael'Thas - both). This is what currently makes up the meta and really is the only viable style of play at a pro level. So even though Greymane is extremely fun to play and can be played in many different situations, his lack of any form of burst or CC just simply makes him subpar.
Greymane's Fatal Flaw (and ideas to fix it!)
As mentioned before, the biggest issue with Greymane is that he doesn't have any CC and doesn't really provide a lot of burst. To be successful on Greymane you have to wait until an enemy is low enough to jump into Worgen form to finish them off. This works great in situations where you're able to finish off the only enemy attacking you - but what about team fights? In team fights, Greymane can easily spend the whole fight poking enemies from afar with his pistol, but jumping into the fight as a Worgen can be almost guaranteed death. Even if you're able to jump in and get a kill with Greymane, there's still enough enemies to blow him up - especially considering his only escape is on cooldown when he enters Worgen form.
There are a few different ways that Greymane could be made viable at pro-level play, but nothing will really make him a must-have. First, Greymane’s Q, Gilnean Cocktail, could have a slow added to it so that enemies effected by it are slowed. This would give Greymane a bit of CC so that he isn’t an easy target to kill as he’s running away. By no means would this make him overpowered, considering it still wouldn’t give him burst or stun.
Another option would be to decrease the initial cooldown on Disengage when Greymane jumps into a fight as a Worgen. This would hopefully make him more viable in team fights, because he would be able to jump in, secure a kill, and not be completely stranded with absolutely no escape – especially considering how squishy he is. Another option could be to simply give Greymane more health, but that doesn’t necessarily make him any more viable without any stun or burst.
Greymane is definitely a lot of fun to play, but I get the feeling we won’t be seeing a lot of him in professional play until either the current meta shifts to something new or until he is given the tools to make him viable.
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