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You've played Dota, LoL, and have been in the Heroes Beta for quite some time now. Gaming is something you have been doing all your life, so when your teammate tells you to "Peel for me next fight", you know what to do. Your PVP instincts will serve you well going into Heroes of the Storm. But for everyone else, the MOBA landscape might be an unfamiliar one. Heroes of the Storm is a simple game, and yet, an extremely complex one. If you want to get better, or maybe just hold your own against human opponents, here are some important pieces of advice you should follow.

Approach it with the right mentality

A major mistake new players make, especially ones familiar with the MOBA genre, is to assume they are amazing at Heroes of the Storm after their first few games. With global play being introduced, I noticed something very telling. I played a few games on the NA server, and, even though the ping was punishing and I couldn’t execute many combos, I managed to 1v5 people there. No, I'm not this godlike player and Cloud 9 Maelstrom won't be calling anytime soon, but the success I had was because my account was level 1 and opponents were extremely inexperienced. These players are new and not amazing at the game. Some of them could have even been former Dota or LoL players.

If this was my first time playing Heroes, I might quickly make the assumption that I am the best Hots player and the game is easy to win. In order to get a good grasp at how challenging the game is, you absolutely have to play hundreds of games after level 40. Everything else is flawed and insufficient to draw conclusions on the game's complexity or your skill at it. Having this in mind, the best way to learn and get better quickly, is to start with the mentality that you suck.

The best way to learn and get better quickly, is to start with the mentality that you suck.

Knowing that you suck will allow you to learn as much as possible as you play and, as a result, improve a lot faster. A person who thinks he is amazing at the game isn’t willing to learn since in his own mind he has no flaws. The only exception to this rule are high MMR players from other games because those are people who know exactly what they need to do, to get good at a game.

Accept criticism

A lot of new and some of the old Heroes of the Storm players are very sensitive to criticism. Even, if the said criticism is delivered in a polite and constructive way, they either ignore it or respond with some senseless profanity. A helpful way to approach this is to at least think about the thing you were just told. This person can be wrong, but he can also have a point. Even if the criticism is accompanied with colorful insults, it is still beneficial to think about it.

There are two scenarios – this person has a really sad life and needs to insult people online to make himself feel better or this person has a low tolerance to other people’s mistakes in-game. That’s right, the flamer isn’t always just a flamer, sometimes he is just more competitive than you are and he gets mad when he sees you aren’t trying as much as him. In that case mute him so you don’t have to listen to his insults, but do think about what he said. Take the good out of the player interaction, regardless if it is a lot or a little.

Start with the easy heroes and climb to the hard ones

This cannot be emphasized enough. It is valid for any game you play, from fighting games to MOBAs. As a new player, you don’t have a good grasp of the game. In order to get it, pick up the easier heroes. Blizzard has been kind enough to have a couple for each role at the humble price of 2k gold.

As a new player, you don’t have a good grasp of the game. In order to get it, pick up the easier heroes.

The only exception is the Specialist class which is simply not suitable for new players. The hard to play heroes won’t listen to you. You think you are playing the hero, but the hero is actually playing you. I know it is easy to pick Illidan and just hit your keys in a chaotic manner, but this isn’t you winning the team fight, this is Illidan winning it for you. 

The benefit of playing an easy hero like Raynor, ETC, Muradin, Lilly or Valla Is that you have more time to look around and learn basics like map awareness, correct decision making and enemy heroes’ strengths and weaknesses. It is also easier to get a grip of the game mechanics when you are playing a hero that requires less effort to operate.

Make use of resources

The game had a dynamic community around it through Alpha and Beta. A lot of people contribute with producing content which has everything a new player can ask for. If you want to keep improving, always be ready to check for such content. A major mistake is ignoring good advice because it seems “too obvious”.

A lot of people contribute with producing content which has everything a new player can ask for. If you want to keep improving, always be ready to check for such content.

If things like “good mentality”, “knowing what has to be done” and “dedicating time” were so obvious, we would only have flawless players in the game. The problem is most of the new players overlook those things and stop at the big title “Dedicate time” instead of read the 3 paragraphs below it, explaining how to dedicate this time *correctly*. With all the informational pieces that are out there, you have no excuse to be uninformed. It only depends on you if you want to learn and be better or stick to the same level and be bitter.

If you are in need of detailed gameplay and other explanations feel free to check out our guides section.

Use the death timer to recuperate on your mistakes


A death in the late game is always really bad. It takes you out of the game for a minute, putting your team at a possible disadvantage and a risk of losing the game. However since you have already died, you have nothing to do, but focus on why it happened, what your mistake was(other people’s mistakes don’t matter, think only about what you could have done better) and how can you play in a way to not replicate this mistake in future games. This is just another brick in the wall towards self-improvement.

Get a teacher

Every student needs a teacher: A player of high skill and knowledge to help you improve quickly by giving you personalized tips. Not everyone knows someone like this personally, so the second best option is streamers/youtubers. Some of the best educational and entertaining ones right now are Grubby, the TGN Squadron team and Fan from Cloud 9 Vortex. With the community being so dynamic, many more are rising and trying to produce quality educational content. Usually, while watching their streams or youtube videos you can hear thorough explanations of each action. Even in cases in which you watch streams or videos without such commentary, it is still important to watch and try to understand each action the player takes, so you can follow its reasoning and take the lessons you need.

Watch competitive Heroes to get a grip of the meta

Watching competitive Heroes is important and helps you understand what team compositions work. Right now, the most recent notable event to watch the VODs of, is Enter the Storm #2. It is a tournament featuring the best European teams and all the games offer gameplay of the highest possible quality.

However, you should avoid taking everything you see as gospel. Those people are professionals and you should not try this at home. Watch it so you are in-line with the trendy picks and builds, not to parrot it. A great example is the rising 3 warrior comp. In competitive Fnatic tried it at Enter the Storm #2 in their first game against Dignitas, but it backfired and even though it is tempting, such a thing is likely to fail in a solo queue game with 4 strangers on your side as well.

Being a new player is always hard, but it is up to you to make it fun. A major problem in MOBAs is the learning curve which is not friendly for new players. Heroes of the Storm, however, is a Hero Brawler which you can get in easily, but get good at hard. Take advantage of the easy access, leave your ego behind and rock the Nexus!
 

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