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Heroes of the Storm |OT2| Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery

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brian!

Member
Murky is pretty much the worst in aram
Had a zag last night really adamant that he go around and kill wells, it happens even on this map
 

Maledict

Member
Nazeebo is SO much fun in ARAM mode. Same with Azmodunk. Cannot work out whether I should be taking the usual level 1 talent on Nazeebo, or the extra health and mana talent instead though?
 

brian!

Member
Im the opposite, i always get nazeebo in aram and am pretty tired of it lol

I get the stacking still, like he doesnt really need more sustain it's not like he's getting hit anyway. Then gp toads
 

Alur

Member
I just went standard other than the Toad mana return, but when Milly was playing it a lot he had a certain build he used IIRC. He's pretty easy to clean up with.

And yes, Azmo is ridiculous in ARAM cause the stacks come so easy. Just becomes oppressive late game if you don't get caved in beforehand. I'd say he was probably easier on the live version because people would still use Hall of Storms and go beyond the current keep for a well which made the game last longer, but I'd imagine he's still p good.
 

Maledict

Member
I take the toads talents in normal matches anyways so I'm using my normal build. (Death ritual, extra spiders, mana retrun on toads, ravenous, bigger toads, leaping spiders).

I think Gidbinn is vastly overrated since they nerfed it to be honest.
 

Alavard

Member
Rotation for the week:

Raynor
Muradin
Uther
Azmodan
Jaina
Diablo
Zagara (Slot unlocked at Player Level 5)
Thrall (Slot unlocked at Player Level 7)
Lunara (Slot unlocked at Player Level 12)
Brightwing (Slot unlocked at Player Level 15)

Normally, I wouldn't bring it up, but I think it's interesting that Blizz avoided any of the heroes who got large reworks this patch. They clearly know people are going to be excited to play the reworked heroes, especially Illidan, already, and don't need even more people queuing up to play them.

Also of note, this will be the first hero rotation where players can use the free rotation heroes without owning them in HL/TL as long as they've gotten them to lvl 5, so you may see a slight uptick in these heroes in those modes.

Finally, I still think Diablo will work great alongside Dehaka, so it's nice to see him on rotation this week.
 

Alur

Member
I take the toads talents in normal matches anyways so I'm using my normal build. (Death ritual, extra spiders, mana retrun on toads, ravenous, bigger toads, leaping spiders).

I think Gidbinn is vastly overrated since they nerfed it to be honest.

Depends on how you look at it I guess. Zeeb doesn't really need the extra sustain from the Toads in a real game, so it's pretty much down to whether you think you're hitting more people with Toads or more people with Spiders on the Toad Affinity vs Gidbinn debate. I can't say I would pick Toads in any measure if we're talking purely damage since the Spiders actually follow a target once they are on it, instead of being easily avoided, so I'd go Gidbinn for the duration increase on spiders and wall even still.

In your build you're split between Toads and Spiders...kind of a shit or get of the pot kind of build IMO. Better to take the range at 13 and land the spiders where you want and go all in with that, or go all in on Toads at 16 than split the build with both.

There's an ARAM? Did I miss something?

ARAM map is on the PTR. /join ARAM in game. People post little blue links to lobbies. You click on them and it'll put you in the lobby. Switch to random, click ready, there you go. ARAM.
 

Alur

Member
Yeah, even GP/toads if you are good at positioning. I wouldn't do both spiders and toads in the same build though other than the one at 4, potentially, cause the 4 talents suck.
 

Maledict

Member
My build is the same one the Koreans were running with - the toad talent at 7 isn't for the mana, it's for the cooldown reduction. Once you get the level 13 toad talent they hit for *tons*, and being able to throw them out every few seconds makes for a lot of damage that's annoyingly hard to avoid.

Thing of the Deep just doesn't seem to actually do that much - it's like Daharka's range talent at 16, or Lunara's radius talent at level 1. It might make a small difference, but the toad talent turns them into a real threat - they hit so hard in the final few leaps, and have such a large splash radius, it's insanely good damage. The only spiders talent I'm giving up in terms of damage is the duration one at 7, which gives you 1 second extra on the spiders - which is nice, but I prefer being able to spam toads.

I don't like GP in ARAM because...I die. Lots! ;-)
 

Alur

Member
Koreans or not, I just haven't ever had any success with hitting Toads like Spiders. Haven't ever really seen anyone do it with success either outside of ARAM TBH. People just walk around it unless you point blank em and Spiders follow their target.

To each his own.
 

Maledict

Member
Well I only play him in ARAM where it's always likely you'll hit at least 2 people. Plus structures and minions count for the cooldown reduction, so flinging them into a wave from far away generally makes the cooldown nothing, the spell mana free, thw wave will explode and you'll usually damage a hero or two as well.

The build is basically just about maximising his pressure damage. GP would be nice (as it goes well with ravenous), but like I said I'm nervous about it in ARAMs and my slightly suicidal tendancies.

On the plus side, ARAM means I occasionally play heroes I normally don't bother with. Gods Chen feels abusive after level 16 with the flying kick slow and the 150+ regeneration per second... Between that and barrel you become such an annoying bastard for anyone to deal with - body blocking for days!
 

Alur

Member
Ah, well, I was talking about issues landing them QM/HL. In ARAM yeah, dem toads is easy pickings.

I haven't seen Chen too much in ARAM. The whole thing is such a crapshoot...kind of like any mode with him really. If the enemy has CC they just shut you down and GG. If they don't you are the worst thing that ever happened to them.

I dig playing Raynor in ARAM, myself. Johanna is actually fun in that mode too.
 

Milly79

Member
I'd assume it's the same trade off once you get stacks from blood ritual and pick up toad return. Blood ritual is good until you get to 7 then you literally have infinite mana.
 

Alur

Member
Yep, he's doing Vainglory now.

I got a kick out of the last sentence of this part:

Last year started off shaky, for sure. The budding scene of Heroes had great promise, and I had just finished my last Awesomenauts content that I foresaw. But as ESL went looking for a rep, I lost the bid to SolidJakeGG and TheCooby. The lack of a consistent partner in the scene really cost me stability early, and Jake, being unemployed, was more pliable to that of the ESL requirements.

Everybody taking shots at Jake. LOL, he says right after he's not taking shots, but that's a pointed reference if I ever heard one.

I think dude was good, but as he says in his blog post he never really won the crowd like Jake did early (and I think he's right, part of it was no partner, part of it was not having a show like THH to get him out there). Couple that with them trying to make him an analyst instead of play-by-play and it makes sense. He was never gonna out analyst a pro player, so can't blame him in the least. Hopefully he can keep it going in the new game. I'll see him there too anyway.
 
So the Korea lineup

CASTERS - English
  • Dan "Artosis" Stemkoski
  • Wade "Dreadnaught" Penfold
  • Thomas "Khaldor" Killian
  • Wolf Schröder
  • Manuel "Grubby" Schenkhuizen
  • Jaycie "Gillyweed" Gluck

2 from Korea, 2 from the US and 2 from EU. Meaning Gilly knocked out SaltyJake.
 

kirblar

Member
Jake'll be fine. Losing Cooby is bad because Cooby's the one person of the non-Dread NA crew who has really good synergy w/ Gilly. (haven't seen Gillynaught cast anything yet.) Jester/Gilly was really bad. Is Shane Goocher still doing this as a side gig? Knows he's an EMT and can't do it full time.
 

Alur

Member
While I will say I prefer Gilly over Jake, I can't see how anyone criticizing Jake isn't also criticizing Gilly. She is constantly going 100 and trips herself up pretty regularly.

Either way, RIP Jake's dreams. He is doing some Overwatch stuff with the podcast but he's gotta learn all those skills and abilities and maps to get into the casting part of that. ZPs is ahead of him there, huehuehu.

Honestly Jake just kind of got stiff-armed by this being in Korea so Artosis became a shoe-in for the casting. It definitely wasn't off of merit of knowing the scene, it's just because that's Artosis' stomping ground. Couple him with the emergence of Dread and Jake gets left out of this round. If he's still in it and gets left out of Sweden then we'll have a story.
 

brian!

Member
im sure he'll cast blizzcon or something
i like gilly better than jake for sure
kinda 50/50 on wolf
artosis is much better than jake

that's what I think anyway
 

brian!

Member
same w/ jake
but yeah to be real for a sec there is no good reason for jake to be casting stuff besides that he was here first and I wouldn't be surprised if ppl came into the contact w/ the game for the first time on twitch, heard jake, and was like nah this game aint for me
khaldor's improved a lot
 

Alur

Member
artosis is much better than jake

that's what I think anyway

You say this, but aren't you also one of the GAF people who scoff at Jake for his knowledge? Every time Artosis has cast he has shown very little grasp of the game. Whether it was OGN, Dorm, Americas, etc. He, as a personality and caster, is certainly WAAAAYYYY better, but half the complaint people have on Jake is him not being knowledgeable or being able to impart that...and well, Artosis is that too.

Now perhaps you put Artosis with someone like Dreadnaught and you have the hypest cast since ever, but that's a different matter entirely IMO when it comes to just out and out criticizing them.
 

Alur

Member
Dread does win there. Milly is more of a ToD guy himself IIRC. Dat square jaw and nose.

I'd vote for Trik if it were me. My wife has said Dread looks like a normal dude, whatever that means for Jake and co lol
 

Milly79

Member
Dread does win there. Milly is more of a ToD guy himself IIRC. Dat square jaw and nose.

tumblr_mntiolhySW1snpc3lo2_500.gif
 

brian!

Member
i dont really dislike jake for lack of knowledge...maybe for spreading wrong info? I dunno that doesn't really matter to me, but he's probably the only caster that's left that is actively annoying
like w/ artosis I could care less if he says something wrong or doesnt understand something, but w/ jake it's like pls leave the room, if that makes sense
same w/ any other caster really

like if artosis or gilly asked me for my dairy queen order I'd be like hmm let me see gimme 8 blizzard, but if jake asked me I'd probably be like this fucking guy...
 

Alur

Member
Bhaldor's Gate.

like w/ artosis I could care less if he says something wrong or doesnt understand something, but w/ jake it's like pls leave the room, if that makes sense
same w/ any other caster really

Wait, what? First you say if Jake talks it's like please leave the room, but then you say you feel the same with other casters too?

Is it Jake or is it just you?

I genuinely do not get the issues with Jake's actual casting style. The complaints about the ESPNification, or any of that bullshit. Makes no sense to me. I am just not a big fan of him personally and feel like he tries too hard to make certain picks a thing or a big deal to create some hype, but I don't take personal offense to it or get put off by it. It's a vidya gaem. My dislike for him is how he interacts with people otherwise and it colors my opinion on him versus what it used to be.
 

brian!

Member
imagining jake asking for my order has me angry I gotta cool off for a sec

@alur no I mean if ppl did the things that jake did but they weren't jake I wouldn't mind as much.

dairy queen is the best example I can give, it's all I got, I think ppl feel me on this though
 

Maledict

Member
I think that evaluating whether particular casters are hot or not, how they dress and whether they are getting jobs because they are girls is treading into some really uncomfortable territory to be honest.

It's sad for Jake how Dreadnaught has already replaced him - it would be a loss to the scene and the game if he left. Saying that, it's great to see Khaldor and Grubby from the EU side - just a shame KhaelAris can't be there as well. All of them put a lot of work and effort into the scene so deserve it.

Like Jake or not, everytime someone leaves the scene gets a bit smaller, and choosing people who don't actually cast or know the game to front up events does suck a bit.
 
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