Blizzard's definition of "specialist" has long been a source of contention for much of the player base because it defies classification. Their assertion is that these are heroes who simply don't function like the other three classes. But even within those three classes, you're going to have heroes that "don't function like the others." No one is going to tank with Sonya, for example, since she's essentially a melee Assassin, even though she's labeled a Warrior. Most Specialists are geared toward siege damage (Murky, Sgt. Hammer, Xul, etc.) but, similarly to Sonya, Medivh is a Specialist but functions far more like a Support. He's not labeled one because he's not a direct healer (even though he scores points in the XP screen for healing!) but you also don't generally use Medivh to inflict siege damage. So trying to define a meta for Specialists is... tricky.
| Hero | Picks | Wins | Bans |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abathur | 5 | 4 | 2 |
| Medivh | 2 | 0 | 5 |
| Sgt. Hammer | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Sylvanas | 7 | 4 | 4 |
| The Lost Vikings | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Xul | 5 | 2 | 2 |
| Zagara | 2 | 1 | 0 |
(Not selected: Azmodan, Gazlowe, Murky, Nazeebo.)
As the table will indicate, Specialists, like usual, were the most sparsely represented among the four classes and the only two that can be said to have had real impact on the group stages of the tournament are Abathur and Sylvanas. The slug is always an asset in the hands of a team that can use him well (his only loss came in Denial's 1st game against Ballistix in the Group B winners' final) and Sylvanas has devastating impact on the maps that have monster-based objectives (Shrines, BoE, Garden, Shire) because of her ability to maxmize said monster's effect by effectively increasing its lifespan. As you might expect, she was 3 for 3 on Infernal Shrines, but only 1 for 3 on Sky Temple (and 0 for 1 on Braxis Holdout.) Unlike the also popular Xul, Sylvanas also has an escape with Haunting Wave, which is virtually a requirement in pro play.
The exception to the exceptions is, of course, Medivh, who was only played twice (losing both times) but was banned five times, often by teams that were hyper-aware of a solid Medivh player on the opposing side. The Last Guardian's Portal tricks can dominate an opponent if their composition can't respond (as McIntyre demonstrates nicely in this build-and-play video.) The fact that he functions as a pseduo-support with Force of Will and the Reabsorption talent only furthers his utility and, like Abathur, makes him an exceptional threat in a skilled player's hands. The gap between the overall win rate for him and only Master league is almost 13%, bringing him to a very respectable 49% in the latter. But against other pro players, it still requires real dedication (and a team willing to use Portals...) to fulfill his potential.
Not so much?
Interestingly, despite the class' reputation for PvE focus, a glance at the picture at the top of this post and the pick table will reveal that many of those with that emphasis are still not of interest to the professional game. Azmodan is still too much of a one-trick pony, Murky is completely neutered by any number of new heroes, and Gazlowe is, well, Gazlowe. Despite his recent success on maps like Braxis (and a fairly astounding 53% general win rate), he can still be nullified and gang-tackled too easily in the pro game. Given the current meta, I kind of doubt we're going to see the surprise Murky pick that so electrified the crowd in last year's semi-final between two teams that are no longer even playing the game (Cloud9 and TeamDK, and isn't that just oddly appropriate...?)
But the most notable absence is that of Nazeebo, since he did just receive a major talent overhaul, at which point many expected him to perhaps reenter the scene in a minor way. However, the sad truth is that Nazeebo is still in the place he was before: there's basically nothing that he does that other siege masters or mages don't do better and his lack of any kind of escape means that he's a walking (slowly) target in the pro game. His surge of success in Hero League over the summer was based almost solely on a bug that affected the Toads of Hugeness talent. Once that was resolved, he disappeared and his overhaul didn't do much to alter that.
In that respect, the Specialist meta doesn't differ that much from the overarching meta of the other four classes: There are a couple heroes that simply fill their role in almost all ways better than other classes and/or they have unusual ability on a couple maps and/or they have a global presence and perhaps one or two have a kit that can be exploited by the truly skilled. That's Sylvanas/Xul, Sylvanas, Abathur, and Medivh, in order. This is all presuming, of course, that you don't already have the job of something like waveclear covered by one of the other classes, which teams often do.
Misnomer?
Again, we come back to the title of the class, "Specialist", and class labels overall. Many people think Warrior needs more definition between "Bruiser" and "Tank." Many people felt that Medivh should have been a Support, but Blizzard rejected that idea because he doesn't have inherent healing. But the fact that Supports are often seen as nothing but healbots is typically regarded as a negative aspect of their class and, indeed, was the reason for some pros to consider leaving the game last summer and why it's virtually impossible to find a Support in Quickmatch. Blizzard did respond by trying to make abilities and talents in the class more dynamic and by releasing one of the more interesting Supports in the game in Auriel, but the root cause, the fact that Supports seemingly must be healers, is something that continues to nag. Medivh is clearly a Support. He enables dives and escapes. He shields his teammates, just like Tassadar (another Support who lacks healing as a basic ability.) But the fact remains that no one would take Medivh as a solo Support, because the team with the actual healer would have an inherent advantage. But are the "support-like" heroes like E.T.C. and Zarya a sign of a trend away from always including a healbot?
The flip side of that question is: What makes a "specialist" a Specialist? If healing can be adopted by other classes and waveclear is now an inherent ability of many heroes (Leoric, Johanna, Rehgar, Dehaka, Gul'dan, etc.), what makes Specialists stand apart? Nazeebo's DoTs are easily replaced by Lunara's. Murky's constant presence can be imitated by heroes like Leoric. Sgt. Hammer can be outranged by Chromie. Is there a need for a Specialist label other than "good at siege... but not so good that they'll actually be taken unless they're Sylvanas"?
Speaking of Dehaka, my assertion is that his successful performances in the group stages were when he was played far more like a Specialist- soloing a lane by himself -than like a frontliner. Does that mean Dehaka should be considered a Specialist because he has a weird playstyle that works best in narrow circumstances or does that mean that he's yet another Warrior who obviates the need for a Specialist in the first place? Or is this all just a factor of the current meta? We may start finding out tomorrow when the playoffs kick off at 9 AM PDT/12 PM EDT.
Frontline: Warriors
Midline: Assassins
Backline: Supports
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