Peeling As Main Tank - Johanna Peeling Guide

Hello everyone, today our HotS boosting team will be discussing how to properly peel and the best way to do so while playing as Johanna. Before you proceed, take a look at our newly redesigned HotS Smurf Account shop.

What Is This Peeling You're Talking About?

To begin, we Heroes of the Storm boost experts should explain what exactly peeling is. So, peeling is protecting your allies from attacks by using crowd control strategies or blocking. Warrior players should definitely practice these methods.

While fighting, warriors should attempt to peel. Our HotS boosting group masters the art of peeling in order to gain a significant advantage over other warrior hero types.

The Art of the Peel

While in a HotS duo boost, I noticed melee heroes are common in the current meta because certain high ranking HotS tier list heroes like Xul and Illidan are extremely strong. Tanks need to be ready to fight these types of heroes. It’s vital to peel them because they can deal out large amounts of damage very quickly to more vulnerable characters on your team. Remember to save some cooldowns while tanking to be able to react to an attack. That way, you can help out as soon as you’re needed in a certain spot.

A variety of skills can be utilized to peel. The three best peels are called stuns, displacements, and silences. Other ways to peel are roots and blocks. However, rooting and body blocking can be easily countered by the opposition. Stuns and displacements are great since they can get rid of gap closers and let your team hone in on a target that would usually rely on lifesteal. The high ranking HotS tier list character, Illidan is known for using this strategy. Silences can also really screw up the enemy, but are less common than the stuns and displacements.



Warriors in the Hero League usually do not peel very well. They leave their teammates in order to chase enemies that are at low health. I always make sure to never do this in a duo queue. This is a dangerous move because it leaves their allies vulnerable to attack.

Heroes such as Muradin and Johanna don’t do a high enough level of damage to finish off enemies quickly enough to return back to fights even though they rank high on our Heroes of the Storm tier list. Try not to chase unless there isn’t anything better you could be doing for your team. Usually an opportunity will present itself for you to peel.

Johanna and Peeling

In the case of the hero Johanna, peeling is extremely vital. Johanna’s is able to use a huge amount of crowd control techniques since she has a slow, displacement, and blind. From the start, Johanna can easily control her opponents well in teamfights. While in a duo queue, I noticed that at level ten, Johanna receives a stun in the form of a Blessed Shield enhancement. With the stun, she can peel even better.

Also, all of Johanna’s skills synergize very effectively since the Punish and Condemn abilities can crowd control on multiple opponents simultaneously. Make sure to position to be able to use Condemn against enemies trying to backdoor. Combos are destructive as Johanna, so be sure to implement them well. I used this strategy all the time in a HotS duo boost.

Blessed Shield can also set up combos in several ways. Using the other two skills with Blessed Shield will grant you combos consistently. Take it as a rule of thumb to try and land a chain attack as much as possible. With Shield Glare, Johanna has a far-reaching blind that can be used with anticipation. Make sure not to waste blinds from this ability and wait until certain heroes use root and proceed to move. Land a blind right when they get into range of the root. This method can hugely change the entire outcome of a single fight. Our Heroes of the Storm boost team loves this strategy.



Be sure to check out our Heroes of the Storm tier list to check out where Johanna ranks. Thanks for reading!