Art source - Battle Heroes" by Kuzinskiy
As we are slowly getting off the epic hype train that was the Heroes Global Championships, it’s time to reflect on what exactly happened and improve our own play.
So, while the events are still fresh on our minds (and with the free weekend coming up), here is a list of some of the changes to the meta:
The Fall of Tyrande
Previously one of the most prioritised heroes in some regions, Tyrande saw much less play this time around. Overall, she was only picked or banned in 26% of matches. Potentially, this is because of the stun nerfs and the shift in meta away from gank-heavy stun combinations. In any case, Tyrande remains a strong and aggressive support if that’s your playstyle, but is no longer necessarily a hero you can add onto any composition. That being said, she remains very strong on Battlefield of Eternity because of her trait against the immortals.
ETC + Kael'thas
This is the new Muradin + Tyrande combination. With Tyrande falling out of the meta somewhat, we saw the top teams prioritising these heroes together a lot more. In essence, the idea is that ETC Powerslides through the backline and immediately gets followed up by a (Verdant Sphere) Gravity Lapse. Add some team burst and you’re sure to take out the enemy squishy in a flash. As this combo is relatively easy to pull off with some communication and practice, it lends itself to duo queueing Hero League well.
Battlefield of Eternity vs. Garden Terror
BoE has become the go-to first map for any pro series. It focuses on team fight-centric comps and can often snowball in a very quick game. In fact, even in the quarter finals, we saw some games on here finish in less than 13 minutes. By comparison, it seems that pro’s no longer feel like playing on Garden of Terror since they changed how the map worked, as it was incredibly unpopular throughout the tournament.
The most popular heroes:
Tanks
Muradin. By far still the most versatile tank, even being first-picked by a lot of teams. Other than him, ETC was highly prioritised because of this, followed by Johanna for wave-clear (Infernal Shrines and Tomb of the Spider Queen). More niche picks (that did still work out well in their respective compositions) were found in Tyrael (as a semi-support) and Anub’arak or Arthas functioning as good Bruisers.
EU teams valued Stitches quite highly so he was most prominently picked by mYi and Dignitas. Before you end up picking Stitches, make sure you have enough follow up lockdown and damage to follow up hooks, or else he won’t work out for you.
Supports
With a 100% contention rate, Rehgar is still the be-all end-all of Supports, resulting in the recent nerf of his healing output. Not far behind him is Kharazim, who saw plays with both Divine Palm and Seven-Sided Strike. In terms of semi-supports Tyrande, as mentioned before, has fallen off somewhat while Tassadar also no longer is the God he used to be, falling to the tenth contention spot (60%). MVP Black’s Merryday pulled out some insane Morales plays (turns out if you want to retreat with a Medivac, your teammates should join you), but she was not seen much otherwise.
Assassins
This is where it gets interesting. The most surprising addition to the meta was probably Tychus, who often saw play even outside of Infernal Shrines to counter-act high hp line-ups. Kael’thas is still the undisputed King of the DPS’ers with an impressive 62% winrate, but Li-Ming was much more successfully played than anticipated, with players such as GFE’s Khroen completely carrying some games. Despite Falstad’s changes, he still reigned strong among ranged damage with his global mobility and high single-target damage (MVP Black’s Lockdown lost only one map while playing him), being picked even more than KT.
Surprisingly, Greymane was the most picked Assassin overall, with Thrall and Sonya filling his role where he didn't fit a draft (Illidan was banned more often than not, only appearing in 5 games). Backed up by an Abathur or, more realistically, a Tassadar, they do incredible damage and won’t die as easily as you’d expect. Kerrigan only really saw play on Infernal Shrines, but she’s incredibly strong there.
Specialists
On any lane where he can soak two lanes, Xul reigns supreme. Otherwise, Zagara’s Devouring Maw is still an incredibly team-fight tool, keeping her in the meta. One thing we have to take away from the Championship, however, is that anyone who does not value Sylvanas highly on Infernal Shrines or Battlefield of Eternity needs to re-evaluate their drafting, because her ability to disable towers increase the value of Immortals and Punishers immensely. The Lost Vikings are still a strong niche pick, but saw very little play this time around.
Check out our stats page if you want to have a closer look at win/pick/ban rates of specific heroes!
Highlights
If you watch any of the games, watch the Finals between MVP Black and Tempest. We’ve never seen a series as epic and close as this one and, while I won’t spoil anything for you, you should definitely check out all of the games.
In terms of the most entertaining games, look towards mYinsanity. Other than their trademarked Lunara, the German team showed off their vast hero pool like no other, with some games featuring even a Li Li or a Cho’Gall.
Breaking the peak viewership record for Heroes of the Storm, nobody really doubts that the Summer Championship was anything other than a great success. We’re already looking forward to the Fall Season to see if any region can finally catch up to Korea.
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