Last weekend, Team 8 drafted 4 heroes that are perfect on Braxis Holdout: Zarya, Malfurion, Gul’dan, Dehaka. The final pick is the oddball that most wouldn’t expect if they didn’t watch the game.
Why would they pick Leoric and not Rexxar?
The answer is simple: because of an interesting second to last rotation pick by Superstars, Cho’gall. If that pick had not come out they might have chosen Rexxar to complete their tri-warrior composition. Keeping this in mind, let’s take a look at why this team is so strong on Braxis Holdout.
Here is a link to the game in case you want to watch the team in action:
Innate Hero Synergy
Malfurion and Gul’dan for 4-man lane superiority
Malfurion’s Innervate is a dream ability for spammy mages. Who spams more than Gul’dan? Even though he does have Life Tap to return mana, Innervate and Regrowth drastically lessen the burden it has on his health pool. Also, Entangling Roots make it much easier to land Corruption for easy stacking and massive damage. Don’t forget about the amazing wombo potential of Horrify into Twilight Dream.
Zarya and Dehaka as front line bullies
Dehaka has excellent health regeneration but lacks damage mitigation. Zarya makes up for this weakness with her Shield Ally ability. One of Zarya’s main problems is her lack of crowd control and ability to stick to targets. Who better to compliment this than the hero that can drag an enemy back into the team? Another problem with Zarya is her lack of solo laning potential. She functions much better with allies. Dehaka allows her to be with the four man unit where she functions best and can create a powerful combination at any time with Brushstalker.
Gul’dan and Zarya for AoE Zerg erradication
Ranged wave clear is extremely important to stop the Zerg. Insert Zarya and Gul’dan, range wave clear is now no longer a problem. Zarya compliments Gul’dan for the same reason she compliments Dehaka. He has strong health sustain but needs to survive burst to heal. Shield Ally gives him a much better chance of surviving burst and healing back up. Expulsion Zone can be solid set up for Horrify if used to block off chokes. This heroic combination can be difficult to pull off but can lead to easy kills and fight victories.
Leoric to counter Cho'Gall and win the solo lane
Leoric was the picked counter Cho’gall and not to fit this composition, but he does have good synergy. Just like with Gul’dan and Dehaka, Leoric has good sustain but lacks mitigation. Zarya’s shields can help him survive to get Drain Hope value. Entomb is also an ideal set-up for Expulsion Zone, Twilight Dream, and Horrify as they capitalize on trapped enemy Heroes.
Battleground Synergy
The main things teams look for on Braxis Holdout are sustain and wave clear. Sustain is needed to hold down the beacons and secure the zerg rush. Waveclear is needed to clear Zerg quickly to slow down pushes from the enemy team.
This composition has sustain
- Gul’dan has Drain Life
- Leoric has Drain Hope
- Dehaka has Essence Collection
- Malfurion has Regrowth and Innervate
This composition has wave clear
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Gul’dan has some of the best ranged wave clear in the game with Fel Flame and Corruption.
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Leoric has solid wave clear with Skeletal Swing.
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Zarya needs energy to clear waves but when she has it she destroys waves.
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Dehaka’s wave clear is decent unless you take Primal Aggression, then it becomes top tier.
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Malfurion has some of the best wave clear for a support if you choose MoonBurn
This selection of heroes has an abundance of both components needed for Braxis Holdout. 
Win Conditions
The win conditions for this team composition are pretty standard for this battleground.
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Out sustain your opponents and secure beacons for Zerg rushes.
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Win the 1v1 lane with Dehaka and use his global to secure the other beacon.
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Get more value out of the Zerg by clearing the enemy’s wave quickly.
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Sieging with friendly Zerg with Gul’dan’s and Zarya’s poke to create strong pushes
This composition is extremely powerful on this battleground and can serve as a template when drafting on Braxis Holdout. Substitutions for this composition could be Ragnaros (usually banned) and Rexxar (when you aren't faced against Cho’gall).
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