The Rexxar patch featured only two major tournaments for the EU scene (Enter the Storm #3 and Stormgrounds Invitational), but the stats are sufficient for use to be able to distinguish the top picks in the region. The bruiser meta is here and Leoric is king.

The contested

  • In all 47 games we have seen the teams fighting for control over Leoric and Uther. In more than half of them Leoric has been actually banned.
  • Leoric established himself as a power pick in both competitive and solo queue due to his mobility, tankiness and the fact that, well, he just doesn’t die.  Even though the Rexxar patch brought a nerf to his regeneration and low respawn times, they still appear to be solid enough to secure him the top spot.
  • The current top Leoric players in Europe are: Bkbgrnjefek from Virtus Pro, Atheroangel from Dignitas (ex Bob?),  Lowell from Fnatic and AlextheProg from Na’Vi.
  • Uther is another highly contested pick, which however got banned less often and thus saw significantly more play. The Lightbringer controls two very clutch heroic options, with Divine Shield being more used compared to Divine Storm. Using divine shield on a carry like Kael’thas, who also has Arcane Barrier in his arsenal or Zeratul who is hard enough to catch often decides fights in his team’s favour. Adding his explosive Q-W healing to the equation and his solid lock down E makes Uther the carry’s best friend.
  • Notable European Uther players are Splendour from Na’Vi, GrankPKT from Team Liquid and Leofromkorea from Gamers2.
  • Kael’thas went through a lot, but the most recent changes put him in a bit better situation than before. A fragile mage who had to wait for level 20 to get a reliable escape mechanic, can now get a massive shield at level 16, given he farmed his Mana addict level 1 talent well. This made the once strong Kael counter, Zeratul who bullied Kaels left and right, find himself in nasty situations at the backline. The rise of the bruisers in Korea pushed off Kael from their meta altogether, but it seems like Europe still values him and holds him to heart.
  • The Sun King often wreaks havoc in the hands of Nicker from Gamers2, JayPL from Na’Vi and Snitch from Dignitas (ex Bob?)

The picked

  • Johanna, Arthas and Muradin. The current Warrior holy trinity. The only reason Leoric isn’t up there is because of the fact that he barely makes it into picks, being banned most of the time.
  • We have seen the triple tank meta do wonders in Korea, but it is still settling in the West, with teams experimenting, but not really finding consistent results.
  • Nevertheless those are the go to heroes for each warrior player in Europe and if besides the usual Leoric ban, another warrior ban happens, the hole is almost always filled by Anub’arak.
  • An exception to the rule are Dignitas(ex. Bob?) with Atheroangel who is often not afraid to rock out the ETC or Chen pick to big success. But even he, in times of feeling traditional, respects the power of the top warriors and uses them to secure his team the victory.
  • As carries we almost always see Kael’thas and Jaina, both having the ability to deal monstrous amounts of damage while also being able to take care of themselves if the support is busy elsewhere. Both possessing some sort of crowd control, with Jaina being a crowd control machine, makes them valuable picks in the current compositions which are focused on crowd control combos whether they will be completed with the help of a double support like Tyrande and Malfurion or the traditional double warrior in the face of Johanna and Arthas.
  • The solid Jaina players in the region are Ethernalbg from Na’Vi, ANDROIDp from Virtus Pro and adrd from Dignitas(ex Bob?).

Honorary mention

Bakery from Dignitas (ex Bob?) is the reason why Kharazim is the hero with the highest win-rate right now. He saw what others didn’t and is controlling the course of each Dignitas game with clutch Divine palms and heals. In a large part of their games, Bakery made the difference for his carries to be able to turn a fight around and march to victory.

Of course this mastery of the hero has not gone unnoticed and we expect for Kharazim to either see more play with other European supports having understoond and mastered the hero, or Kharazim to be banned in most games against Dignitas, denying Bakery his trademark hero in an attempt to reduce his threat.

Europe has probably the most stacked Blizzcon qualifier, with seven out of the eight teams being real contenders for the first two spots. Team Liquid, Na’Vi, Dignitas, Roccat, Virtus Pro, Gamers2 and Fnatic have shown that they can take any tournament at any time.

The outsider Pirates in Pyjamas has also proven to be a strong team and is in no way underestimated by the others. The primary reason they are not considered a real contender is the fact that they got in the group of death with the current top three European teams, Team Liquid, Dignitas and Na’Vi. However this might motivate them even more and we might see an upset turning them into crowd favorites.

This weekend the fans are in for a ride as they will witness the highest level of Heroes of the Storm play there is.

For deatailed competitive stats make sure to check our stats page.

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