Hero League - Tips To Dominate Every Map

I'm glad to announce that our HotS boost team just completed a guide that demonstrates how to dominate each map. Remember that to be the best and climb the ladder in preparation for the Heroes of the Storm season 1, you don’t need to follow these rules step by step but use also your own judgment.

Haunted Mines

Merc camps aren’t really strong here, because they go in a different lane from the golems and their push is slower. So it’s better to utilize them capping the Siege Giants when the Golem is starting to attack your base: this way they will still be useful attacking the golem.

You should capture the Siege Golem camp ONLY when enemy golem passes their Fort, that way Golems will position properly and uninterruptedly hit the Golem. This map can be pretty snowbally if you go into the first mine with lv4. Our Heroes of the Storm boost team recommends this strategy: put 4 men in your golem lane, and send the last to soak experience in the weak lane, preferably a safe champion with decent clears: our HotS Boost team is waiting to see how the new hero Artanis will perform on this map, but for now Tassadar is the best hero for the task as he can protect buildings as well.

Don't forget to pick MULE if your support has it. Your 4men squad should be able to destroy the wall in time, or brute force a gank in the other lane. As soon as Golems spawn, your team should split in two groups, but the composition depends on the hero you are playing and on how the enemies react.

Garden of Terror

Neutral terrors should not be a problem, as long as you remember the cds and don’t make mistakes while “dancing” with your enemies around them, since there are regeneration globes balancing their damage. Ideally two heroes are enough, and we think that Artanis would be an interesting choice; however we still need to test him in game. If you can, remember to always fight closer to the enemies’ buildings if both teams have terrors.

Placing a plant over the wall can be dangerous: our HotS boost team’s rule of thumb is to do it only if it will be untouched for three seconds: otherwise it’s a waste and you should place them in a safer spot. If you are able to fight enemies in a choke points, your terror can turn alone the tides of the fight. A cool trick with a plant is when u put it and they have melee defending it, put the Q directly over it so they cannot attack it.

Backdooring is a great option with plants, and will often results in an experience lead. However keep in mind that mercs are really weak in this map as the plants can destroy them without much effort.

Dragon Shire

In this map you should focus on the Dragon King: he has an absurd pushing power with his breath, and can quickly burst down buildings, so you should protect them even if it means sacrificing some of your health points. This is even more important if you are destroying a fort or a keep because of the attack speed debuff.

However in soloq the DK can be a double edged sword, as it can disrupt your own composition! To minimize the damage, let your tank drive it, or your flex player if your team is trustworthy: your comp will be more balanced.

DK is surely a primary focus, but don’t get too greedy for it, remember that Dragon King grows stronger with every each one by double, meaning that 4th is as strong as first three ones together, so first or second dragon is not really something to cry about if you lose it. As we have all seen a lot of teams throwing to get the DK too early: if you want to reach the top of master as soon as Heroes of the Storm season 1 starts, always try to reduce your losses avoiding stupid mistakes when you are ahead.

You need to control three lanes to be safe, so if you are behind you can stop the enemies attempts just focusing on one lane. A cool trick if you aren't ahead is to send 3 people to one of the shrines and the other two to soak, that way you have great chances to pick up a shrine and not lose anymore dragons, maybe even pick up some kills and then rotate those three to another shrine and securing the dragon!

Blackheart’s Bay

Try to organize your team and cooperate: the best way to win is to concentrate coins on only two people, and often is worth to give up a few kills to protect your coins. Ideally you want heroes like Rehgar or Tassadar to collect them, but probably the release of Artanis will change the meta here. Expect a few changes for the upcoming HotS season 1.

Getting coins is more worth than getting some damage on the towers, so just focus on wave clear and rush the camps. Sometimes priorities change, but it depends mostly on your comp’s ability to quickly collect the coins.

As the game progresses, your damage increases and you should try to balance heroes’ spells and cannon shots on the buildings. A single ball equals 1.25 coins, so sometimes you should save it and just use an ability instead. This is a very complex map because it requires high in-game decision making, but it’s better to practice it now preparing for the official HotS season 1!

Sky Temple

This is a very peculiar map, and we can’t wait to see how Artanis will perform here. The key in this map is finding the right balance between soaking and focusing on temples, as they do a really high damage. However soaking is important too, and you need your own judgment to understand how much resources you should invest on temples.

We see the preseason as a moment to practice and understand the game in preparation for the official HotS season 1: and understanding which temple to go for is a great exercise. The bot temple should be contested as a team, while the middle temple is perfect for a single hero, as positioning there as a team can be really tricky. The top temple is more balanced.

Timing is key in this map: two minutes after the last shots from the last temple the new group of temples will appear. This means that you have a two minutes window to take upper bruiser camp and apply a greater map pressure.

A great trick is to let the enemy tank the damage from the temple while contesting it. They really do a lot of damage, resulting in a decent advantage in the upcoming fight. Be smart and try to pick them off guard as they are focusing on the guardians. Do not attempt boss fights unless you're 100% sure you got it because they more often end in a catastrophe than a successful kill.

Cursed Hollow

Our HotS boost team knows that this is counter intuitive, but actually tributes are not really your primary focus in this map. As a matter of fact they are really worth nothing unless you got three of them, and at that point you get a weak debuff on the enemy team. It’s so much to better to focus on getting an experience lead and on poking down the enemies: even if they get the curse, it still won’t be enough to balance your advantage and they won’t be able to win any fight.

Positioning is key in this map, and we recommend you to pay attention to the enemies’ movements. Getting a quick kill in choke points can lead to a small advantage to snowball, or can even turn the tides of a close game. Remember that vision control is the key to climb the ladder and securing your spot at the top of master as soon as the official HotS season 1 starts!

Playing around the curse is a big factor, because when you are cursed your buildings will become an obstacle. Don’t get surprised and use this knowledge to force bad fights for the enemies when they are cursed.

A great tactics to get objectives even when cursed is to use global pressure: our Heroes of the Storm boost team likes to wait for a big wave before attempting a boss. Now the enemy team is in a lose lose situation: either they clear the wave and give up the boss, or contest the boss leaving an opportunity for a great push. You can snowball your advantage by taking a second boss after the first! Check out our full in-depth Cursed Hollow Guide here

Tomb of the Spider Queen

In this map pressure in lanes is the key to victory. Our Heroes of the Storm boost team advises to wait for a kill to turn in, so you can boost webweavers and get mercs at the same time.

However, this battleground is different from the others because here there is a great emphasis on experience, and vision control is not crucial. Often is better to kill the towers on a gate than to destroy the fort: it will result in the same amount of exp in less time, and you can snowball your lead. Thanks to the experience advantage you can rotate, take a few walls, wait for the next turn in and destroy two or three forts, then more walls and so on.

Yeah, this map is very chaotic, and requires fast thinking and great team working, but this makes the victory more rewarding. Artanis" target="_blank">Artanis’s release will surely add more tactical diversity. Weavers are pretty slow, so you have a short window before they land: if you use it to quickly clear the wave in a lane can give your time an easier time dealing with the other lanes.

Infernal Shrines

Here we recommend heroes with strong AoE spells, or champions with great wave clear and extra damage to minions. However new minions spawn at a really fast rate: don’t get baited and remember to focus champions over minion waves when skirmishing at shrines. You can’t burst any objective unless you are really ahead, but it’s a risky tactic. Kill the enemies and don’t waste precious abilities on minions!

Punishers have a great power, and you should prioritize grouping with them: assisting a Punisher will often result in a kill or an uncontested push, since the enemies can’t really ignore the Punisher itself. However if the enemy has a punisher, you can still outplay it! Our team recommends to juke its jump, avoiding the stun and bursting the punisher before the enemy team is able to join the fight. This is a really tricky move and sometimes will not work, but it’s really worth the risk. A great trick is to have everyone behind your gate so the punisher jumps in and gets hit by 3 towers + fort and your enemies cant hurt you inside.

Battlefield of Eternity

This map is notorious for having very long team fights, where you will surely go out of mana, so picking the right comp is crucial, and sustaining is the key to victory. Our team has great expectation for Artanis here. Remember to not get greedy in the early game: if you get a single kill, try to deal some damage to the enemy immortal and recall. With patience, even a small lead will become a great advantage, as long as you manage your mana and health points (remember to always tap at 70% and check your hp/mana bars before a fight).

We know that Immortals will go the least pushed lane, and you can abuse this mechanic in the early game. Group as four or five in the opposite lane and push! It’s hard for the enemies to counter a double push this early, and you will surely get a small advantage to snowball, minimizing the risks. It’s not really a “flashy” strategy but it’s very safe, and will really help you climbing the ladder as soon as the HotS season 1 starts.

Try to get mercs when neutral immortals spawn, and remember that harder camps are more rewarding, but also easier camps are worth the time investments, and are often safer. The enemy immortal can be used as a bait, giving false confidence to the enemies. If you get vision control around the area you can pick off overconfident enemies in choke points getting the edge in the upcoming fight.