Heroes of the Storm (Closed Beta Begins 13 Jan)

[Olinser]

I actually much prefer Rain of Vengeance just because Valla can do so much damage as a character herself and you can't do that damage while you're channelling Strafe.

Obviously Strafe does a boat load of damage but I think it's far too spread out, if you're on the back line you don't want to be Strafing because you need to be focusing damage on the target because you'll only get a few seconds of uptime before they escape/kill you/you get peeled.

While if you're fighting a tank then you almost always need the RoV damage to drop them low enough that they run or your team then focuses them.

Interesting point about Rehgar/Uther though, hadn't considered basing it on what kind of healing the enemy team has.

Remember as well that Strafe does full damage even while moving and Vaulting, so it is ideal for either chasing and finishing kills or for dealing safe damage while under pressure. If you are using RoV for self-peeling (especially against somebody like Illidan or Zeratul), there is a very real possibility that they will dodge the RoV, and then you're just SOL without an ult at all.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Remember as well that Strafe does full damage even while moving and Vaulting, so it is ideal for either chasing and finishing kills or for dealing safe damage while under pressure. If you are using RoV for self-peeling (especially against somebody like Illidan or Zeratul), there is a very real possibility that they will dodge the RoV, and then you're just SOL without an ult at all.

There is nothing sweeter than vaulting after a pair of heroes who are running for their lives with just a sliver of health, then seeing them pass within the radius of your Strafe.

[Gandariel]

Question: Valla's level 7 talent: What do you take?

I usually take Caltrops, but i'm incredibly unsatisfied with them. I mean they're OK and sometimes help escape from someone... but it's incredibly meh.
And the other level 7 choices are mediocre too..
To be honest, i'd take another level 4 talent at level 7

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Question: Valla's level 7 talent: What do you take?

I usually take Caltrops, but i'm incredibly unsatisfied with them. I mean they're OK and sometimes help escape from someone... but it's incredibly meh.
And the other level 7 choices are mediocre too..
To be honest, i'd take another level 4 talent at level 7

I usually take the Hungering Arrow refresh. I'd prefer Envenom, but the arrow is good for a nice chunk of damage to finish them off while I'm pewpewing them in the face, or as they're trying to run from me.

It's most useful when you're using Vault to chase someone instead of using it as an escape.

[GolemsVoice]

Searing attacks all the way. Believe me, they're awesome.

[Gandariel]

Searing attacks is maybe useful if you do the AA build. I do not, however. And i constantly find myself with zero mana. Can't really use Searing attacks

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Searing attacks is maybe useful if you do the AA build. I do not, however. And i constantly find myself with zero mana. Can't really use Searing attacks

Yeah, ditto for me. Mana problems. I'd say the same about Repeating Arrow, but it's always nice to have the option of an extra Arrow, especially when I'm chasing someone. But Hot Pursuit doesn't seem to be worth it, because I don't need constant movespeed, I need bursty movespeed.

I like the idea of Caltrops, and they look really cool, but it doesn't work out.

[Gandariel]

tournament going on now on Twitch. Gonna watch for a while (and maybe drop some comments here afterwards)

[Olinser]

Question: Valla's level 7 talent: What do you take?

I usually take Caltrops, but i'm incredibly unsatisfied with them. I mean they're OK and sometimes help escape from someone... but it's incredibly meh.
And the other level 7 choices are mediocre too..
To be honest, i'd take another level 4 talent at level 7

Searing Attacks is the 'standard' level 7 pick. Caltrops just isn't very useful - vault gets you away from anybody without a gap closer, and anybody WITH a gap closer isn't going to be stopped by Caltrops anyway.

Searing Attacks lets you do pretty hefty AA damage even with a multishot build, and on top of an AA build gives you even more of a boost. Be warned, though, it drains your mana like fury.

[GolemsVoice]

Yep, I usually play a multishot build, but searing attack just adds that little oomph for when you need it. I never did have mana problems, though.

[Gandariel]

Tried Tassadar with the immortal build thing (aside from level 13, i picked Shrink Ray)

And after two games... Other than barely ever dying, i found myself doing a boatload of damage! I got top Siege damage and 2nd best Hero damage!
My healing score was kinda bad, though (We also had a Li Li who outperformed me in healing by a lot)
But really, it was amazing.

Now i remember why i loved Tassadar :D

[Surrealistik]

Shrink Ray is good, but the Prescience is just too good to pass up in my experience when synergized with the other Deep Shift talents, and is too crucial to the combo. Keep in mind it allows you to comfortably use your DS for mobility or to aggress/engage/pursue since you effectively get two uses, and with good timing/cooldown management, you can space them out for consistent DS usage; combine that with Plasma Shield and its cooldown reset during periods of invulnerability and you have the most survivability in the game by far.

Granted, I can see getting Shrink Ray depending on your comp.

And yeah, not dying pretty much ever is _really_ good for your damage output as you might imagine.

Also Tassadar getting outhealed by LiLi doesn't surprise me at all; to be fair it's not really his thing; Tassadar is more of a specialist/siege primary and off-assassin secondary (at least late game; don't believe me? Go hit up almost any Hero in a 1 v 1 post L16 with Dimensional Warp; when you're about to die, Prescience. Reengage. Then when you're about to die again, or he's trying to get away Deep Shift and pursue, Archoning as necessary. Guaranteed kill unless his team shows up.) than he is a healer or support.

[Astrella]

So, I checked out HotS with a friend of mine and we're both enjoying it a lot, Fallstad is fun. :3 (I'm suprised it's actually running properly cause my graphics card died a while back and I'm solely running on the integrated one.)

[Gandariel]

Oh wow, Tassadar actually has two uses of the E.

And the talent that makes you fast+heal. That is SO ridiculous.
After using it I actually feel like it should be nerfed. (Ok you have to spec heavily into it, but...)

I've did die a couple times from Nova (she kills me in one shot from ~30%HP, so my cool talent doesn't even activate).


Also played a bit of Azmodan: I was in a game, level 14 against 18, and we somehow pulled it back and eventually won (21 to 20). It was GLORIOUS

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Also Tassadar getting outhealed by LiLi doesn't surprise me at all; to be fair it's not really his thing; Tassadar is more of a specialist/siege primary and off-assassin secondary (at least late game; don't believe me? Go hit up almost any Hero in a 1 v 1 post L16 with Dimensional Warp; when you're about to die, Prescience. Reengage. Then when you're about to die again, or he's trying to get away Deep Shift and pursue, Archoning as necessary. Guaranteed kill unless his team shows up.) than he is a healer or support.

I tried Tassadar and I quite agree. Why isn't he listed as a Specialist? He plays like one, and pretty much the only supporty thing he does is hand out a shield that can restore life.

I was laning solo and doing pretty well, even 1v2.

[Gandariel]

he has all the support talents:
Healing ward, Shields-are-retained-as-life, shield-also-gives-lifesteal/speedboost, the level 20 Megashield thing...

BTW: I usually take Storm Shield at level 20, and i actually do it with quite a few Supports: I feel it's really good. Is it a competitive talent?

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Yeah, the lifesteal shield is the one thing that feel supporty to me. Healing Ward feels like something they threw into the talent kit to justify his support class, but really--his main abilities don't play like a support at all. IMO.

I haven't sussed out the good Level 20 picks, but Storm Shield is a fantastic Support pick IME. Great to swing a fight at the core.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Well good for you!

[Gandariel]

Admittedly I know very little about Smite, but isn't it "exactly like the others, but first person"?

Heroes has a LOT of differences from other games: team XP, team kills, no items or last - hitting, map objectives, shorter game time, etc

[Grytorm]

Guys, I can get new mounts! So far I have only given in and bought the Wolf mount for Thrall. But I just realized if I get the Jaina Reindeer bundle the Reindeer will go perfectly with the Jaina skin, but not the Rehghar skin. Stupid Ghost Wolf, I want to put you on cool animals.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Speaking of new mounts...

Hearthstone-Heroes cross-promotion is finally kicking in!

They don't say when we'll get the Hearthstone mount, but if you rack up 100 wins in Hearthstone, you get a flying Hearthstone card for a mount. And if you're already Level 12 in Heroes, you get a special HotS cardback in Hearthstone.

[ChaosOS]

Notably, Tassadar used to support a lot more, instead of psi storm he had a slowing bubble that did damage over time. His talents also were a lot more supporting back then too

[Surrealistik]

he has all the support talents:
Healing ward, Shields-are-retained-as-life, shield-also-gives-lifesteal/speedboost, the level 20 Megashield thing...

BTW: I usually take Storm Shield at level 20, and i actually do it with quite a few Supports: I feel it's really good. Is it a competitive talent?

It's good, but Twilight Archon I feel is generally better as a rule. If your comp already has a lot of offensive power SS can be worth it, doubly so if your team features glass cannons, or heroes like Illidan that would benefit from the sustain, but TA by default. TA makes assassinating with double DS absolutely brutal.

As for Nova and other high burst damage heroes, you _have_ to manual DS to avoid dying to them if they know what they're doing; don't rely on Prescience to save you here because it probably won't.

[Olinser]

he has all the support talents:
Healing ward, Shields-are-retained-as-life, shield-also-gives-lifesteal/speedboost, the level 20 Megashield thing...

BTW: I usually take Storm Shield at level 20, and i actually do it with quite a few Supports: I feel it's really good. Is it a competitive talent?

Healing ward is sadly complete crap right now on any hero. I though it was in a pretty good place before the patch, it healed a decent but not extreme amount, and could be killed by somebody with awareness, but now it just dies completely by accident and rarely lasts for more than 2 seconds in a fight.

Storm Shield, on the other hand, is an excellent talent, and is taken regularly at the pro level on most supports that can take it (and even a couple of the hybrids). It is very competitive, especially since a number of support champions have somewhat lackluster level 20 upgrades to level 10 talents.

From a pro standpoint you see it almost every game on Rehgar, Brightwing and Malfurion, mainly because their level 20 talent upgrades are rather poor (possible exception if Emerald Wind Brightwing, but that's seeing less and less play these days). You'll see it occasionally on Tyrande or Tassadar as well, although nowadays Tyrande tends to be a right click build with Nexus Frenzy at 20, and Tassadar's Archon upgrade is extremely potent, but Storm Shield still sees play on them occasionally.

Uther, ETC, Azmodan, and Li Li should never take it, EVER, for any reason. Their other 20 talents are just too good.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

So I finally tried Azmodan. Unholy blazes. The doom laser is possibly the most amazing thing ever. Towers just melt. He's the sort of guy whom you never ever ever leave alone in lane. Love taking the ammo-demolishing talent plus the doom laser lifesteal.

Also, I'm quite entertained by the fact that my D ability has unlimited range. I can support a push when I just respawned!

[huttj509]

So I finally tried Azmodan. Unholy blazes. The doom laser is possibly the most amazing thing ever. Towers just melt. He's the sort of guy whom you never ever ever leave alone in lane. Love taking the ammo-demolishing talent plus the doom laser lifesteal.

Also, I'm quite entertained by the fact that my D ability has unlimited range. I can support a push when I just respawned!

Or support top lane while in bottom lane.

[Gandariel]

He-Heeey, man!

[Astrella]

So how do you deal with Stealth, e.g. Nova?

[CarpeGuitarrem]

So how do you deal with Stealth, e.g. Nova?

Generally, map awareness (knowing where they're likely to be and if they've uncloaked elsewhere on the map), a bit of paranoia (make sure you're not within burst range if the stealther is MIA), and finally you can actually spot them if you learn to look for them.

[GolemsVoice]

He-hey, man! Brilliant.

Speaking of Nova, how do you avoid her targeted snipe or whatever that laser-y thing is called?