Heroes of the Storm Team Fight Tips

Heroes of the Storm Team Fight Tips by qkrr

I’ll start by introducing myself and background. I’ve been in the Alpha now since the day after the first wipe or about a month now and have reached level 40. I have little to no experience outside of Heroes as far as MOBAs go. Which I feel has allowed me to escape some of the trends I see of people coming from other games get stuck in.

I was inspired to write this post after a game last night where we dominated a team so badly where we had over 50 take downs and found out that you are called an “ALLSTAR” when you get 50 takedowns without dying. While it was fun I’ve had a lot more fun going up against teams that are actually a challenge and there’s a back and forth with.

• Number one: Communication is the key to success. This is a team game and there will be team fights over objectives. I understand some people like to solo queue and communicating with others can be very difficult but some times even a few pings on the map or calls to gank/retreat is all it takes to get the point across.

For those who have been using things like the in game reddit chat and other resources to get organized groups going, your best bet is to find people who are willing to get onto a voice chat program. I’ve seen people using teamspeak, ventrillo, mumble and mostly skype so far. I can tell you 9 out of 10 times a group on voice vs a group just pinging, the voice group will win. Being able to call for help or discuss who’s going to an objective or doing the mercs makes a world of difference. Also being able to tell people when your ULT is up or down and where/when you’re going to use it so they can also use theirs is a very big part of team fights.

• Number two: Knowing when to initiate a team fights is something I see a lot of people having trouble with. There are a lot of factors going into the “should I jump into this fight?” The biggest being level. More importantly early game, “are they level 10 while we’re not?” If they are level 10 they will have ults and have a MAJOR advantage over you in a fight, even if you have more numbers. If you’re not 10 and they are, it may be better off to allow them the objective/merc camp and not feed them kills. Second factor being Numbers, if they have 5 and you’re only there with 3, its probably not worth it unless they’re down on health/mana. Which leads to the third factor: your teams mana, you may be at full but those who you’re depending on might be OOM and unable to assist you.

So basically, if they have ults and you dont, dont engage. If they have the numbers on you and you’re not levels above them, dont engage, if you and your team is out of mana, dont engage. The only reason to engage in any of these situations would be to pester them off an objective long enough so that your team can come in but you should have an escape route ready so you’re not just feeding them a kill to prevent it. This leads to a team death rushing and feeding several kills just to end up loosing the objective anyway.

• Number three: Knowing when to back out is also very important. Even if there is that one enemy soooo close to dead, if you cant get him without diving in and dying, you need to let it go and back out. Even trading kills can put your team at a disadvantage sometimes. Always be observant of your teammates health and mana, if you’ve been on a long push or haven’t hit a well in a while mana can be drained very quickly. You need to know when its time to GTFO because they’re forming up or all missing and possibly coming in behind you. Its always best to be cautious late game because the death timer is loooong and you’re going to be a burden to the team if you’re missing from the fights. which leads to…
• Number Four: Pay attention to the minimap, this goes especially double for the solo and non voice chat groups. Always be aware of where your team mates are and always be ready to assist them should the other team be trying to start a team fight or are on a big push. This comes back to the communication part but the only reason to not participate in a team fight is if you know your team can win that fight without loosing people and you can soak xp in a different lane.

I know this may all sound like ramblings so TL;DR

• Communication: Group up and get on voicechat if possible. (there’s no reason not to group up and actually every reason to group up for the ‘play with friend’ bonus xp)
• Initiate when you have the advantage. (Level, numbers, health/mana)
• Back out when you loose the advantage. (again Level, numbers, health/mana)
• Don’t leave the team hanging. (if you see your team on the minimap getting into an engagement, unless you have a good reason otherwise, you should be there too)

I’ll end this with saying yes I know there are a lot more complicated and advanced tactics and situations but when I see teams getting wiped from trailing in over and over again it leads me to believe that not a lot of people know these basics. I thank you all for your time and if anyone has any other questions or suggestions to add, comment and let me know or follow my stream at www.twitch.tv/qkrr I’m on almost every night and always up to answer questions from the chat!