With Technical Alpha coming to an end soon, and closed Beta starting on January 13th, I was wondering if I could necro someone else's thread. Alas no such thread exists, so let me make a debut there for.....
HEROES OF THE STORMA game published and developed by Blizzard Entertainment. A small indie company that has existed for only 23 years and made only a few noteworthy games (Diablo, the Warcraft series, Starcraft, Lost Vikings and a few more).
This MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) has deviated from the typical formula of other MoBAs by getting rid of the item system of other popular games in the genre(League of Legends, Defense of the Ancient 2, Heroes of Newearth) and also the individual leveling system, in favor of a more streamlined approach. By doing away with items HotS lowers the skill cap of entry into the game substantially; where as by getting rid of individual levels for a more streamlined team leveling system the team must work as such or find themselves left behind by the opposing team. With that being said lets get into the nitty gritty!
THE OBJECTIVE SYSTEMAnother huge difference between HotS and other MOBA is that the game has many different maps. Some have the standard three lanes while others have two. On top of this each map has a different objective. The maps, as well as a brief summery are as follows.
BLACKHEART'S BAYWherein each team must gather coins from a variety of sources, including treasure chests and undead pirates, and bring them to the humble Captain Blackheart in exchange for the use of his ship's cannon to wreak havoc on the opposing team. Coin carriers can be killed to make them drop coins so there is some danger in carrying too many.
DRAGON SHRINEThe top and bottom lanes both have an optional objective in the form of a shrine, a moon shrine and a sun shrine, and if one team captures both of those shrines than their power can be used to release the dragon knight at the larger dragon shrine in th middle lane. Once the dragon is awakened it can do massive damage to the opposing team, but watch out as when either the timer runs out or the dragon knight dies ythe heroe controlling it is left behind with the same amount of health as he or she had upon waking him up!
HAUNTED MINESThe objective of this map is to enter the underground mines, which is a secondary map held underneath the main map, and kill the skeletons for their skulls which you use to power a large Grave Golem. each time attempts to get more skulls that the other and the differing amount of skulls results in a better, or worse, golem. The golem is not controlled by any player and will ignore all minions, as well as stay in he location with which it died.
CURSED HOLLOW
Sorry about image quality, I couldn't find a better file size
During the game a tribute in the form of a raven's skull will appear on the map, both teams will attempt to release the tribute and when a team gets 3 tributes the other team is cursed by the Raven Lord.
"But wait, Zeb," you may be telling me, "What is a spooky ghost going to do to my bad ass team of super characters, I mean one of us is literally a tank!"
Let me tell you that that curse wins games. While cursed minions have 1 hp and towers and forts do not shoot. That means that if even one of your team mates doesn't fulfill his or her roll than you lane is going to get destroyed! I am not usually one to pick favorites, but if I had to this would be it.
GARDEN OF TERRORAs the newest map it still has some rough edges to work out, but it goes a little something like this. at night time the area in between lanes, what other MOBAs would call the jungle, is over run by plant men. the objective is to kill those plant men and collect the seeds that fall off of them. If your team collects 100 seeds it gets the ability to grow a Garden Terror, which is a player controlled juggernaut very similar to the Dragon Knight. Much like the Dragon Knight, you will want to avoid minions and do as much damage as you can to the enemy fortifications.
THE CHARACTERSOr Heroes or Champions or whatever you want to call them, are split into four categories: Warrior, Support, Assassin, Specialist. These take on different roles and almost every character can go into at least two of these categories. I could list each character but I am lazy so you get my current favorite Chen, for more heroes you can find them easily at
Other than objective based maps and team based leveling there is one more major difference between this MOBA and every other major contender. There are no items. Yes I know I already mentioned this but now i am going to go into greater detail by outlining my favorite character and what makes his talents and abilities so different.
CHEN STORMSTOUTLegendary Brewmaster, pretty terrible uncle and all around decent large sentient pandaman.
His abiblities are as follows:
D- Fortifying Brew: Instead of mana Chen has Brew and he has a starting cap of 100 brew. Fortifying brew is the only way to gain more brew and, while drinking, Chen receives a shield for the duration.
Q- Flying Kick: Chen kicks through the air to his target ignoring terrain and other characters as well as structures. He will always land on the other side of his target
W- Keg Smash: Chen throws a keg of his brew at the ground creating an AoE(Area of Effect) burst of tasty booze and slowing all targets effected by the ability. It also drenches the tagets.
E- Breath of Fire: Chen breathes fire in a cone in front of him, dealing damage to all that he hits as well as setting all booze-soaked enemies on fire.
as with all characters he has two Heroic abilities (Ultimates in any other MOBA)
Wandering Keg: Chen jumps into his barrel and pushes any enemy hit by him to be knocked back
Storm, Earth, Fire: Chen splits into three elemental spirits each with its own special ability. Storm is ranged, Earth slows targets hit, and Fire attacks very quickly at melee range.
And now onto the fun bit, every few levels (1, 4, 7, 10, 13, 16, 20) you will chose between 2 and 5 talents which can upgrade your abilities or give you all new ones.
Level 1
Deadly Strike: Increase the damage of Flying Kick by 50%.
Full Keg: Increase the duration enemies are slowed by Keg Smash by 1.5 seconds.
Consuming Flame: Breath of Fire's burn effect when used on Brew-soaked targets is increased by 2 seconds.
Regeneration Master: Every 3 Regeneration Globes gathered grants an extra +4 Health per second, permanently.
Level 4
Bottomless Mug (Trait): Increase maximum Brew by 50.
Chug (Trait): Gain Brew twice as fast while using Fortifying Brew.
Amplified Healing: Increases regeneration effects and all healing received by 30%.
Deep Breath: Range and arc of Breath of Fire increased by 25%.
Level 7
Swift Reflexes: Every 4 seconds Chen can dodge an enemy Hero's Basic Attack, preventing all of its damage.
Pressure Point: Flying Kick roots enemies for 1 second.
Ring of Fire: After using Breath of Fire, ignite in a fiery aura, dealing 10 damage every second to nearby enemies for 5 seconds.
Bolder Flavor (Trait): Increase Shield generation rate and maximum amount from Fortifying Brew by 33%.
Brewmaster's Balance (Trait): While at or below 50 Brew, regenerate an additional 5 Health per second. While at or above 50 Brew, gain 15% Movement Speed.
Level 10
Wandering Keg
Storm, Earth, Fire
Level 13
Brew Strike: Hitting a Brew-soaked target with Flying Kick reduces the cooldown by 1 second and restores 10 Brew.
A Touch of Honey: Increase the slow from Keg Smash to 40%.
Enough to Share (Trait): Fortifying Brew also Shields nearby allied Heroes for 10 per second.
Last Drop (Trait): If you drink for the full duration, your abilities cost no Brew for 5 seconds.
Relentless: Reduces the duration of silences, stuns, slows, roots, and polymorphs against your Hero by 50%.
Level 16
Combination Attack: The next Basic Attack after using Flying Kick deals 200% bonus damage.
Keg Toss: Increase Keg Smash range by 200%.
Combustion: Breath of Fire deals its bonus damage to Brew-soaked enemies immediately instead of over of time.
Combat Stance (Trait): Shields from Fortifying Brew last for an additional 2 seconds after drinking stops.
Level 20
Resurgence of the Storm: Upon dying, revive back at your Altar after 5 seconds. This can occur once every 120 seconds.
Bolt of the Storm: Activate to teleport to a nearby location.
Untapped Potential: Increases duration by 2 seconds. Additionally, gain an extra 5% Movement Speed whenever an enemy is hit, up to 100%.
Elemental Conduit: Using an ability will cause one of the elemental spirits to fight with you for 5 seconds. 9 second cooldown.
All talent descriptions ruthlessly stolen from
http://heroesofthestorm.gamepedia.com/Chen That is my not-so-breif description of Heroes of the Storm, if there are any questions I can answer them to the best of my abilities. Happy hunting and if you do have access to this wonderful game hit me up on here and we can play a game.
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Topic: Why Don't We Have A Heroes of the Storm Thread Yet? (Read 1630 times)