How to Prepare for Heroes of the Storm: Beginner’s Guide

Familiarize yourself with the characters you’ll be playing in Heroes of the Storm.

There is already a huge cast of characters, ranging from Diablo from, well, Diablo, to Murky, the murloc from the Warcraft universe.

Blizzard has gone to great lengths to give their characters the right feel, so an understanding of who these characters are should help inform you on how to play them best. They have a list of characters here that’s worth checking out.

Forget what you know about MOBAs.

There are a lot of similarities between Heroes and other MOBAs like League of Legends or Dota 2, but Blizzard differentiates Heroes by calling it a “hero brawler,” and this is for good reason.

There is no laning phase in Heroes, no last hits, XP is shared, and games are often won or lost because of map objectives.

There are definitely some skills that will carry over from those countless hours devoted to League, like understanding important timings within the game, player control, and how to make a good character build. But Heroes its own game, and it’s best to approach it as such.

Get familiar with the different maps.

Otherwise known as Battlegrounds, each map has unique objectives that are key to winning the game.

Heroes is a very mobile game, in which you’ll be grouping up to take mercernary camps, turn in coins, gather seeds, and of course, team fight. If you find yourself in your own lane for the majority of an entire match, you’re doing it wrong.

Blizzard has a guide here that should help you get familiar with each Battleground.

Don’t spend all your gold in one place!

You can spend your gold on new heroes, mounts, or skins. Although gold is gained quickly at the beginning of Heroes of the Storm, gold rewards dwindle as you progress through the games objectives. It’s probably best to hold off on any purchases until you’ve played a majority of the available heroes.

Communicate.

One of the biggest similarities to other MOBAs is the importance of communicating with your team. If you’re queuing up solo, there’s not a way to speak to your fellow teammates, so it’s best to ping the map to indicate what your plan is. Chatting works, too.

In Heroes, a bad idea that is well-coordinated is usually better than a good idea with poor execution.

Don’t give up.

Any team game, but MOBAs in particular, can get very heated very quickly. People lose their tempers. And when you’re new, you’re going to be doing some stupid things. Things that you might not realize are stupid yet.