Outside a brand new hero, the Thrall patch introduced Heroes of the Storm players to a new play mode - "Hero League". Akin to its counterparts in other MOBA games, the Hero League offers a draft lobby and a ranked system, which brings online play closer to competitive Heroes.
Before you eagerly queue for a game in this new mode, however, there are things - important things! - you have to know first. Thus, our basic overview of the principles of "Hero League" begin with number zero:
0. Understand that this is not quick match
Before we lay down the basics of “Hero League” it is vital to note the most important one of all – ranked play is not at all the same as a “Quick Match”.
“Well, duh,” you would say but you’d be surprised how many players who queue for a draft game don’t get the difference. “Hero League” is the bridge between casual and high-level Heroes. It’s the step one takes when he’s covered the basics and wants to take his game to a new level and learn how an actual MOBA game works.
Although the game has a minimum hero/level system implemented to keep newbies away from Hero League, this only helps to a certain extent. This type of competition is much more about how many hours or gold you’ve invested in Heroes and your mentality will need to adapt if you want to fit in the Hero League environment. If you’re a player who enjoys his Murky so much that he’s not going to change it for anything even if he has the entire hero pool purchased – stay away from Hero League for the good of everyone.
With that, we come to the actual first stop:
1. Learn to play at least one hero on every role
Being required to own at least 10 heroes not counting the free rotation means you’ll have access to all hero roles most of the time. Now, you need to learn how to play all of them.
This is not to say that you ought to go full Avatar and master all elements before plunging into a draft game, but a healthy minimum is being comfortable on at least one hero on every position, just because you won’t always have the first pick. There will be games when you have to pick last, the team already has two tanks and two assassins and it’s in dire need of a support and it will be your job to deliver.
Fortunately, even with just over 30 heroes, Heroes of the Storm offers high variance of playstyles even within individual hero specs. If you absolutely hate healing but still have to learn a support, try Tassadar and shield your allies while Psi Storming for massive damage. If you prefer burst assassins like Zeratul but the team needs a beefier character, there’s Tyrael and his dive-in playstyle that can fit both your and your team-mates’ needs. I myself main tanks and sustain damage assassins but I always have my trusted Uther and Malfurion to fill a support void.
2. Know what counters/complements what and try to gain advantage during the draft
I’ve played and watched a lot of MOBA games and this remains by far the most difficult thing to learn and master in the genre. It takes tons of games and an active process of thinking and analyzing before every pick is made. Nevertheless, if you’re to bring consistency to your play, climb the ranks and become better Heroes player as a whole, it’s something you must constantly try to do.
As the title suggests, this is a multi-way process that’s built on top of the #1 rule from above and it’s the mark of true adaptability. Even if you’re forced into the support role, don’t pick Li Li blindly just because why not. Maybe your team already has a Gazlowe and picking Uther will be the smarter pick as you can combo the two ultimates and for a wipe-out on the enemy team. On the other hand, if the enemy has chosen Nazeebo and is building a team of tanks and peelers to protect him, try to counter with a hero which can dive and disrupt the Ravenous Spirit, like Tyrael or Illidan.
At the same time, you’ll have to know which heroes are good to pick early on and which are not. Continuing the example from above, going for Nazeebo as first pick is usually terrible as he’s easy to counter, not to mention your team-mates might not have the heroes needed to build a Nazeebo-friendly composition. If you’re an early pick, go for heroes which are can fit anywhere.
3. Know the flavor of the month heroes
Hero League – as any ranked mode in any MOBA game – has its own “metagame”, i.e. heroes that are good or bad because of their skillset, recent patch changes or what have you. If you want to prosper in ranked mode, it’s good advice to sit down and learn some of them, or at the very least figure out how to play against them, as you’ll be encountering them a lot.
Let’s take the metagame at the time of this article. Playing Heroes in the Thrall patch means that you’ll be playing with/against a lot of, obviously, Thrall, but also heroes like Stitches, Valla, Uther, Nazeebo, Arthas, Brightwing, Tychus, Rehgar and Tassadar, to name the most prominent.
These heroes are FOTM for a reason so becoming proficient in as many of them as possible will give you an enormous edge coming into a Hero League match. Of course, this doesn’t mean you should be locked in this subset of heroes 100% of the time and can never go back to playing Robo-Goblin Gazlowe, but it’s a “sacrifice” you’ll have to make often if climbing ranks is your goal.
4. Draft League is not the place to complete daily quests
Ranked players don’t care if you have a Specialist quest and the only one you have is a level 2 Murky. Choosing to prioritize a 200 gold reward over the well-being of the team is selfish and selfish players are not welcome to ranked play, period.
If I’m sounding rude, that’s because I’ve been on both sides of the fence and have cursed and been cursed at more often than I’m willing to admit. Don’t be a prick and work with your team. Complete quests in your “Quick match” time.
5. Communicate
Compared to other MOBA games, Heroes of the Storm is even more team-focused. The game is very objective-based which creates frequent team fights during which everyone needs to be on the same page.
This won’t happen if there’s discord within the team and everyone’s doing his own thing. Communication must start with the draft screen, end with a dead throne and cover as many game points as possible. Do you prefer to play a certain role? Do you plan on roaming? Who is teleporting back to take that Garden Terror? Is it a good idea to ambush the enemy while they’re doing their camps? Who is defending the fort and who’s pushing? All of this needs to be typed out or at least pinged on the map, or else you’re gambling on your teammates’ inner instincts about what’s the right thing to do at any given moment and that doesn’t work 99% of the time.
Remember, this is not your conventional MOBA: there’s way less space to showcase individual talent and your exceptional laning and farming skills you might’ve carried over from past experiences and which have singlehandedly carried entire teams in Dota or League mean jack shit in Heroe. Here, the quintet either works as one or falls as five.
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