This week I am taking a look at the best specialists on Cursed Hollow in high elo and competitive play. These heroes are Sgt. Hammer, The Lost Vikings, and Azmodan.
Specialists right now are not in the greatest spot. There are usually two warriors running around on both teams which makes it difficult for Specialists to make it into a team composition. In general, they bring less damage than Assassins which lowers their priority in pick and ban.
Nevertheless, here are the best Specialists on one of the better battlegrounds for the role: Cursed Hollow.
#1 Sgt. Hammer
Sgt. Hammer is one of the best Specialists in the game right now and this is one of her better maps.
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Fights are generally stationary so she can easily set up.
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Her push potential and structure killing are through the roof, which pairs well with curses.
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She can easily interrupt tributes with Napalm or just by basic attacking.
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She does more damage than most Assassins which makes her great for the tanky meta.
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The games generally go long and Hammer gets stronger the later it gets.
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Blunt Force Gun can be a viable option because level 20 is usually achieved on this battleground
If you are a Specialist player, you probably need to learn Sgt. Hammer. She is fairly simple to pick up, but very difficult to master. I promise you, it is worth your time to learn her right now. She can carry extremely well.
Here is the standard Sgt. Hammer build right now. She has other viable options, so don’t be afraid to pick a talent that you feel you need.
#2 The Lost Vikings
The Lost Vikings are a hero you rarely see, but when you do, it can have a massive impact on the game. Cursed Hollow has always been one of their best battlegrounds.
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This map is large, making it difficult for teams to effectively deal with their split soak.
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There are a lot of mercenaries giving great value to the Viking Bribery/Mercenary Lord combo.
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Longboat Raid is not an extremely strong heroic right now, but since the objective is stationary, it can get high value.
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They allow your team to brute force one lane with a curse while they keep the other lanes pushed and experience soaked
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Vikings also can be used to repeatedly interrupt the tributes your team isn’t going to get while gaining an experience lead.
If you haven’t played The Lost Vikings I wouldn’t urge you to go out and learn them, because they are a very niche pick. However, if you are already a Vikings player or are just looking for something different and out of the box to play, give them a try. Good Vikings players can win games for their teams.
This is the standard build for The Lost Vikings. They have a lot of choices and most of their talents can be viable in the right situations.
#3 Azmodan
Azmodan is a very interesting hero. He has certain battlegrounds that he is incredibly strong on and the rest it is probably best not to pick him. Cursed Hollow is one of his better battlegrounds.
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He has some of the best tribute interruption in the game. Azmodan can interrupt while still soaking another lane.
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His General of Hell allows him to split push another lane while long tribute fights are happening.
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If done properly, Azmodan can push two lanes and still interrupt the tribute leading to easy experience advantages.
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Sieging Wrath and Taste for Blood are both easy to stack on this map; Sieging Wrath because of the tight corridors near tributes and Taste for Blood because of Curses giving free minion wave kills.
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Like Sgt. Hammer, Azmodan gets stronger the later the game goes. If he hits level 20, it can be extremely difficult for the enemy team to counter his pushes.
Overall, Azmodan brings a lot of utility to a team composition on Cursed Hollow. He can create experience advantages, easily interrupt tributes, and create unstoppable pushes. Azmodan is a strong pick on this map and if you looking to play a Specialist, I recommend giving him a try.
Azmodan’s standard build. He split pushes very well with this build already. There is a full split pushing build that can be taken, but I would advise against it because you do very little damage and this map often comes down to team fights.
Honorable mentions would have to go to Gazlowe and Zagara. Gazlowe is excellent in stationary fights and Zagara is great at interrupting tributes and pushing.
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