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Heroes of the Storm |OT3| Chromiehounds

Dahbomb

Member
Genji and Tracer are great. Extremely mobile ranged characters that have high skill ceiling. Makes HOTS more fun to play, I always had issues with it slower pace in the movement/combat but these heroes solve that issue.

DVA is cool too as a tank/bruiser type character. Her mech thing is annoying but at least you get half experience for breaking it.

Lucio is whatever. I would have preferred Mercy (because she is hot) but Lucio fills an important role in the game which is a mobile healer support.


None of these characters seem game breaking or too powerful... Genji is probably the best of them.
 

Milly79

Member
Genji and Tracer are great. Extremely mobile ranged characters that have high skill ceiling. Makes HOTS more fun to play, I always had issues with it slower pace in the movement/combat but these heroes solve that issue.

DVA is cool too as a tank/bruiser type character. Her mech thing is annoying but at least you get half experience for breaking it.

Lucio is whatever. I would have preferred Mercy (because she is hot) but Lucio fills an important role in the game which is a mobile healer support.


None of these characters seem game breaking or too powerful... Genji is probably the best of them.

Uh zarya
 
Gmane def meant to be mobile.

When im talking about the ranged assassin pool im thinking about the specialization each hero represents. So falstad for global/utility, gmane for poke/single target burst, valla for burst/single target sustained dpz with her ms talent, etc. A lot of balancing they do revolves around furthering these specializations, which imo is great. From my perspective it's not really that greymane suddenly became too strong via buff; his armor allows for too favorable trades but that's more of a qm thing since he should be in the 3/4 man in real play, and his cursed bullet is not a tychus replacement nor is it effective without proper drafting (you trade back line threat for the oppurtunity to all-in someone on the front line with your team). Instead, this meta, which is warrior heavy and mobility heavy, has shoved a lot of stuff out. Valla is risky (esp. w/ tass gone), falstad is risky, mages are risky, and so on. Greymane is the safest pick and can contribute variably. Imo his safety is built into his kit and doesnt have much to do with his armor or anything (tho it def contributes meaningfully); he never needs to put himself in a bad position to get things done, compared to valla (e dmg, q positioning), tychus (low range), or falstad (w range, gust plays), due to his gap closer being burst dmg and mainly used as a finisher. After they nerfed his worgen dmg and made the lvl 1 w talent baseline they made him a very general character. The only thing he doesn't have is a great source of magic dmg.

Anyway, the point of this is to say that i think that while gmane could use a nerf his popularity atm is symptomatic of a meta that's not so kind to specialization in terms of comp vs. comp and very much about brute forcing, counterpicking via armor type, and mobility so you dont get run over by the frontline goon squad. Imo the ranged assassin pool needs bolstering because there should be an answer in that category for this meta. Instead what you get are mainly workarounds; genji for dive/mobility, greymane for safety and adaptability, map specific picks and armor counters like li ming/guldan, like there is no ranged assassin that handles a sonya/anub combo or arthas/anub very well, there is no incentive from this role to not go front line heavy. A deeper ranged assassin pool would only help the situation out
What kind of bolstering are you thinking off? It's still the largest pool of heroes available there's just a ton of them barely used.
 

Prelude.

Member
Earlier I had a really fun Nova vs D.Va matchup, where she could just follow her until she's dead, good stuff. #GiveNovaBoltOfTheStormBack
 

Rhaknar

The Steam equivalent of the drunk friend who keeps offering to pay your tab all night.
New sales are up in EU. Li Ming aquired, 7 left. That big ass space bike for that space leoric skin is on sale too and its tempting but I think mounts and shit ill just leave to random chance in boxes, or I'll just craft something specific.
 

brian!

Member
What kind of bolstering are you thinking off? It's still the largest pool of heroes available there's just a ton of them barely used.

It's the armor issue, before ppl would categorize dmg with "burst" or "sustain" but now you have "phys" and "spell" in the mix w/o a proper pool of heroes to draw from. In this meta you also get a lot of mobile heroes which makes quick dmg and point a click dmg more valuable, so it turns out that greymane is really good and not enough ppl have access to variable types of dmg, like only valla really and maybe lunara, who are both good but are picks who are harder to play. Adding one hero that can output the way they can (with some evasion gimmick?) would shift things meaningfully, like it's either that or redo spells into phys/spell types like we were talking about a while ago. But i mean it's also not really necessary to have a large pool of heroes, i think the meta is pretty fun even with greymane at s tier and i feel like cassia's release could signal cool assassins in the future with other ways to handle the meta (cassia just wiggles on top of them and outputs aoe dmg hitting both backline and frontline in her ideal situations), so i dont really think this needs to be a priority over stuff like balancing malf
 

Rhaknar

The Steam equivalent of the drunk friend who keeps offering to pay your tab all night.
qwMBpRU.jpg

b0llo.gif
 

psyfi

Banned
WHAT THE HELL BRIGHTWING IS A GIRL???

I had no idea :0 it kinda bums me out tbh, I liked him as a goofy boy full of love and death
 

Alur

Member
For real, 400 shards. You're gonna have all the heroes sooner than later, but the cosmetic stuff isn't really gonna get any cheaper and there's just gonna be more and more added making it harder to get exactly what you want...so shards are good.

WHAT THE HELL BRIGHTWING IS A GIRL???

I had no idea :0 it kinda bums me out tbh, I liked him as a goofy boy full of love and death

You gotta use the monkey skin for that, but no more death talk just crazy sounds. Looks cooler though I don't care what any of you haters say.
 

Rhaknar

The Steam equivalent of the drunk friend who keeps offering to pay your tab all night.
haha oh this game. Typical Varian "GG NOOBS" 5mins in, ripping a Gazlowe that "should have been covering the murky so he wouldnt push", which is probably true. Funny thing, we werent even that behind, we had lost like 2 forts and the first curse

We turn the game around, 24mins in we almost wipe them, we can push the core, we did it team we turned it around... where...wheres Varian? Oh hes off clearing creep in a lane for no reason. Oh the enemy team is resing now because we didnt have anyone to soak the core dmg and it was left at 10%. Cool, thanks big guy, turns out youre the noob afterall huh?

Poor Gazlowe was so flustered, admiting to bad plays but CLEARLY trying and following pings and shit. Fuck me man...

There was actually more to the story, like midway Varian clearly just not helping anymore and off lanes by himself saying "we lose", a boss he didnt join in on... like, we had that game. Its this type of shit man, I dont care if I get steamrolled, but these games we could have easily won if people didnt just decide 5 mins in it was over for whatever reason, and then play like a spoiled brat (which, granted, maybe they are) especially in a game so prone to late game comebacks.
 

Dreavus

Member
haha oh this game. Typical Varian "GG NOOBS" 5mins in, ripping a Gazlowe that "should have been covering the murky so he wouldnt push", which is probably true. Funny thing, we werent even that behind, we had lost like 2 forts and the first curse

We turn the game around, 24mins in we almost wipe them, we can push the core, we did it team we turned it around... where...wheres Varian? Oh hes off clearing creep in a lane for no reason. Oh the enemy team is resing now because we didnt have anyone to soak the core dmg and it was left at 10%. Cool, thanks big guy, turns out youre the noob afterall huh?

Poor Gazlowe was so flustered, admiting to bad plays but CLEARLY trying and following pings and shit. Fuck me man...

There was actually more to the story, like midway Varian clearly just not helping anymore and off lanes by himself saying "we lose", a boss he didnt join in on... like, we had that game. Its this type of shit man, I dont care if I get steamrolled, but these games we could have easily won if people didnt just decide 5 mins in it was over for whatever reason, and then play like a spoiled brat (which, granted, maybe they are) especially in a game so prone to late game comebacks.

Honestly at a certain point I think people just want to prove a point even if it loses them the game. I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this before but it still applies. Like, he's declared the game lost, so he's just gonna "have fun" or play like shit or whatever else because who cares the game is "over". Then he can point his finger at the screen and say "see?!" when your core dies and he loses the game. Heaven forbid he joins up and tries his best to win because then he'd be proving YOU right (if you're trying to keep team morale up). It's probably the shittiest attitude you can have in HOTS aside from outright verbally abusing your teammates (although often these two behaviors are a 2 for 1 bundle pack).

Sometimes I'll call people out on it or just try and be positive, which can help but unfortunately not always. If you can pull together as 4 and take a fight or an objective sometimes you can drag one of these assholes back on to your side but yeah, it really sucks when you have to baby fragile egos in addition to fighting the enemy team.
 

Rhaknar

The Steam equivalent of the drunk friend who keeps offering to pay your tab all night.
whoa the event daily resets early, I guess its when the daily quest resets...makes sense lol.

Bwing is ok, im almost "done" with her. Shes cool, but I dont think I would play her regularly if I wanted to support. Shes alright...I dunno. Im hot and cold about her, some games I really dig her, others im kinda bored, doesnt even have anything to do with bad/good win/lost games either. Poli is amazing tho.

Shes probably in my "yeah whatever" tier with Arthas, Raynor and the like.
 
Really? I love Arthas and his permaslow.

Playing Probius tonight. His Photon Cannon build is completely useless. It needs so much help to be effective. Multiple Photon Cannons would be a start.

Lucio felt really weak when I used him, too. I just couldn't keep up healing people unless we were all in a big group.
 
Playing Probius tonight. His Photon Cannon build is completely useless. It needs so much help to be effective. Multiple Photon Cannons would be a start.

Lucio felt really weak when I used him, too. I just couldn't keep up healing people unless we were all in a big group.

They recently nerfed Lucio's base healing "tick" down a notch and it made him way, *way* undertuned.

I really like Probius even though I can't put my finger on why. He's got fantastic waveclear, can really control the area around an objective (assuming you are given time to set your stuff up), and you never need to hearth because you're almost always at full mana thanks to your pylons. I do agree that the Cannons always feel pretty weaksauce: powering them up with the quest makes them better once you get it done but they're almost useless before that.
 

Alur

Member
Playing Probius tonight. His Photon Cannon build is completely useless. It needs so much help to be effective. Multiple Photon Cannons would be a start.

His photon cannon build is his highest winrate build, actually. Has been basically since he was released. His other skills are already good and don't need much augmentation, so you go all in on his turret.

And yeah. Lucio got dumpstered when they changed his healing output with that last nerf. He was pretty good before that. You can still play him but the change is noticeable and his winrate reflects that.
 

Rhaknar

The Steam equivalent of the drunk friend who keeps offering to pay your tab all night.
Prob's cannons are just there for poke, your dmg comes from blowing up your timewarp thing. If they focus your cannon they arent focusing you or your teammates, if they dont, then its poking at them. Good in chaotic teamfights, I really like him.

The pylon ult does really good dmg too. people usually take a second to know wtf is going on especially in chaotic situations. He also has one of the best quests because getting those crystals is cool :p
 

psyfi

Banned
brightwing is pretty cool for passive healing and disable dangerous people, I still dont get her Q after her trait change
I mostly use her Q to kill minions and harass heroes. I've gotten quite a few clutch kills with Q, but it's mostly just another way to keep the advantage. I've experimented with leveling the Q ability up, but it never seems all the useful in the long run.

How do yall feel about BW's merc bribing ability? I looked up a few build guides to BW today after playing her a ton for two weeks, and I was surprised to see it totally missing. I find it really useful, especially paired with BW's teleport. Veering away from the group when the action, bribing some mercs, and then teleporting back to my team seems like a really great way to use time and divert the opponents' attention. Are other abilities more useful, though?
 
I didn't do anything as Lucio on hanamura. Almost forgot it's not ow so I had to heal people after lvl 10 lol. Murky was the one pushing payload
Everyone else was fighting lol
 
They recently nerfed Lucio's base healing "tick" down a notch and it made him way, *way* undertuned.

I really like Probius even though I can't put my finger on why. He's got fantastic waveclear, can really control the area around an objective (assuming you are given time to set your stuff up), and you never need to hearth because you're almost always at full mana thanks to your pylons. I do agree that the Cannons always feel pretty weaksauce: powering them up with the quest makes them better once you get it done but they're almost useless before that.
Photon Cannons should have infinite duration. It's just weird that it disappears - that's not how Starcraft works!

His photon cannon build is his highest winrate build, actually. Has been basically since he was released. His other skills are already good and don't need much augmentation, so you go all in on his turret.

And yeah. Lucio got dumpstered when they changed his healing output with that last nerf. He was pretty good before that. You can still play him but the change is noticeable and his winrate reflects that.
Are you sure? I've read the opposite, that his gun build is the best, and that seems accurate to my experience thus far.

Prob's cannons are just there for poke, your dmg comes from blowing up your timewarp thing. If they focus your cannon they arent focusing you or your teammates, if they dont, then its poking at them. Good in chaotic teamfights, I really like him.

The pylon ult does really good dmg too. people usually take a second to know wtf is going on especially in chaotic situations. He also has one of the best quests because getting those crystals is cool :p
My main issue is that if a mobile DPS jumps on me I die. Genji, Valeera, etc. It seems like I have no real getaway unlike a lot of other characters.
 

Rhaknar

The Steam equivalent of the drunk friend who keeps offering to pay your tab all night.
are you using:

- turbo charged, for faster speed and lower cd on the boost
- the shield from pylons

I havent been ganked and died 1 on 1 by any stealthie or genji, unless I was low or something, but that goes for any hero. the shield from being around pylons (which you 100% always have to be, also for infinite mana) is quite substancial, and the speed boost with the talent is great. Like I said, 1 on 1 its not like they will hit you again to interrupt the boost most likely (if theres more ppl around thats another story).

Plus you can coat the area in the slowing timewarp thing too which helps, always be near it, use one for offense, another more near you if you know they have jumpers, the thing has almost no cd. Then again, its a niche hero and not easy to get into so....well yeah.
 

Alur

Member
Are you sure? I've read the opposite, that his gun build is the best, and that seems accurate to my experience thus far.

His gun build? What gun?

And you can look for yourself on HOTSlogs. His highest winrate talents at 1 and 7 are the photon talents. The only one you don't want is at 4.

EDIT: and re: Probius getting jumped that's by design. You build your nest of turrets and pylons to zone people out. If they can get in through your team then you are dead if they can survive your defenses (ult included) or you can land some very quick W+Q combos because even your Z cancels with damage. They shouldn't be able to get back out though unless your team is just completely ignoring you/them.
 

Ketch

Member
Photon Cannons should have infinite duration. It's just weird that it disappears - that's not how Starcraft works!


Are you sure? I've read the opposite, that his gun build is the best, and that seems accurate to my experience thus far.


My main issue is that if a mobile DPS jumps on me I die. Genji, Valeera, etc. It seems like I have no real getaway unlike a lot of other characters.

Probe sucks, that's why he sucks.
 
Small tip for BW. Alt+Q makes the projectile skip the travel animation right below your position.
A much more narrow tip is that you can queue the polymorph after a phaseshift in. The usage of that is almost exclusively to stop a moshpit.
I mostly use her Q to kill minions and harass heroes. I've gotten quite a few clutch kills with Q, but it's mostly just another way to keep the advantage. I've experimented with leveling the Q ability up, but it never seems all the useful in the long run.

How do yall feel about BW's merc bribing ability? I looked up a few build guides to BW today after playing her a ton for two weeks, and I was surprised to see it totally missing. I find it really useful, especially paired with BW's teleport. Veering away from the group when the action, bribing some mercs, and then teleporting back to my team seems like a really great way to use time and divert the opponents' attention. Are other abilities more useful, though?
Q talents are mostly picked to interrupt and harass channels on maps like Towers of Doom.

I like the Bribe talent myself not sure about what is best. Without Hypershift your global is on a long cd and w/o the increased aoe you heal less unless you clump up and the onus shifts to your teammates a bit to position correctly.
 

Dreavus

Member
They finally released the official soundtrack on YouTube. I'm glad because Heroes has surprisingly good music that pulls a bit from all of Blizzard's IP as one would expect. Although it still seems to be missing some songs like the music that plays during QM and Brawl queue. I get some good nostalgia doses when I'm in the main menu and Worldstone Keep from Diablo II: LoD starts playing.

That Starcraft track is so good. I love the whole musical design of Braxis, actually. Zerg music kicks in while the waves swarm down the lane and then it swaps back to Terran when it's over.
 
yeah im not a fan of the GFE swaps. I feel like they are just reaping what they sowed from the fury drop and then grabbing equinox. They are trying to jam together puzzle pieces that dont fit together.
 

IceMarker

Member
That Starcraft track is so good. I love the whole musical design of Braxis, actually. Zerg music kicks in while the waves swarm down the lane and then it swaps back to Terran when it's over.

I literally did not notice that until you mentioned it. Damn that's cool.
 

Milly79

Member
wait didn't you call b step washed up pros?

Oh right that's 2 for 2 times of Bstep bowing out of Bloodlust

I mean they are/were in their current form. Who knows how they'll fare now. Of course if I'm going follow the ex-C9 guys around. Except for iDream. Can't root for NvT.

I forgot to mention last night I was watching Dunk and it really amazes me how good he is at the game, even when he isn't playing support. He hardly misses skillshots, which is crazy to me after watching other pros.
 

Maledict

Member
Dunk is a great guy, and even though I'm an EU Dig fan I don't think it unfair to say his coaching made a big difference for Dignitas over the course of the Western Clash. Watching them improve match by match was amazing, particularly when they started pulling out the stitches Tyrande stuff.
 
I mean they are/were in their current form. Who knows how they'll fare now. Of course if I'm going follow the ex-C9 guys around. Except for iDream. Can't root for NvT.

I forgot to mention last night I was watching Dunk and it really amazes me how good he is at the game, even when he isn't playing support. He hardly misses skillshots, which is crazy to me after watching other pros.
I'm on the complete opposite end.

gotta tune into his streams once in awhile. Considering how amicably Dunk and Bakery are I assume the coaching didn't work out because of time discrepancies.
 

Kioshen

Member
Is the 2nd anniversary reward just a single loot box and a portrait/banner? That's kind of lame.

It's a loot box for the first match you do every day of the event.

Caff and K1 are official, GFE is dead long live R20E

Amen to that. If it works for GFE more power to them but I'm not keeping my hopes up.

==============

While I was watching AlexTheProG scrims, he was mentioning that if they ever get a two level deficit in a scrim they would forfeit and try another draft or whatever. I was honestly surprised and perplexed. Is it that way for every pro team? This could explain a lot why some pro team do super well early and mid game but falter easily in the late game. Why not practice when you're behind, obviously you are going to be behind in some high-pressure match so why not practice it instead of just forfeiting and moving on. It made no sense to me. Also, his shot calling abilities are sloppy are best. He's so all over the place that I was getting pissed off for his teammates.
 
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