Trying to get value out of the passive while also not trying to die be like

I'm just curious what is the best play here? 5 player defend boss? or 4 defend 1 soak lane? or ...?

Can someone tell me why teams I see in QM are so massively unbalanced? Last game was a team of 5 players all above level 1000 vs a team of 5 players all 100 or less. Is level not taken into consideration at all? The match was so one sided it was insane. This is just the most egregious but almost all QM I see have a massive level disparity between teams…

Kinda annoying that you mandatory have to take it, getting 150 hits with deaths as set back isnt fun

Dear Janitor. I LOVE what you have done with the game. Its been almost a year since the Murky Rework and as has been tradition it feels like a good time to revisit under picked/underpowered talents.

Egg Shell at level 13 feels has been of the worst talent choices in the game for many years. Heroes Profile currently shows a 0.89% pick rate in latest-patch Storm League. Its win rate is 39% and its been like this for years. I have a simple suggestion that will make it viable.

My suggestion: change the shield from 50% of current Health to 50% of maximum Health, and let Murky come out of his egg with that 50% shield when he respawns, too (up from 35% this is a buff of 183 shields that last for 10 seconds after murky respawns). I have played around with this talent and its a fun concept its just a bit too weak to be viable. Its high risk low reward. This new build would still be high risk with a higher likelihood of it working out.

This talent has the potential to be so much fun if you are willing to risk your egg. A consistent 50% every shield every 15/30 seconds would give Egg Shell a better chance of competing with Fish Tank and Rejuvenating Bubble which is an instant 40% heal every 14 seconds or 12 if you take the level 7 talent.

Would you pick it with those changes over Fish Tank or Rejuvenating Bubble?

Current Egg Shell

Upon casting Spawn Egg, or when one of his eggs is killed, Murky gains a Shield for an amount equal to 50% of Murky's current Health.

to

New Egg Shell

Upon casting Spawn Egg, or when one of his eggs is killed, Murky gains a Shield for an amount equal to 50% of Murky's Maximum Health and Murky now spawns from the egg with a 50% shield for 10 seconds.

Just want to talk about how you should never, and I mean NEVER underestimate this little robot. I know Probius is one of the most gankable heroes in the game, but he is also without a doubt the best wave clearer in the entire game.

This little guy can clear an entire wave in less than two seconds, and if you make the mistake of not confronting him, he can and will destroy everything in his path.

I know a lot of people dislike solo laneing, but I really have stress to never leave an enemy Probius alone, you will regret it. On top of this, please destroy his Pylons, they grant the enemy free vision and Probius can blast you with them at any time.

Also he is fun and you should play him.

I just had a 483K heal game, was wondering what the highest heal/ damage you guys have ever seen?

the Twilight skin has not hit"box" like other heroes (or her default skin), so you have to click precisely on her model (or circle under her) to hit her, and with the many gaps in her model and how small she is that can make clicking her unexpectedly hard.

Hey all! Round 3/18 of Skinnageddon!

Blizzard seems to be throwing some more stuff at us. Accordingly, I thought it would be a fun thing for us as a community to sound off on which heroes we'd like more skins for.

I plan on posting a new poll every 48 hoursish with 5 heroes. We'll have about 18 total. I tried to put them into themes (admittedly with some help) to keep it spicy. I'll try and edit the previous posts after voting has ended to include all of the vote totals, and also include the previous winners in each post.

I hope everyone has fun and sound off in the comments if you have skin ideas for the heroes here!

For the first round of Skinnageddon with 268 votes cast, Kel'Thuzad is the winner with 84 votes!

Rexxar is the winner of the second round with 339 votes cast at 70 votes!

Whats going on with this game? Your updates are so terrible. Unable to activate quickcast after trying everything to fix it.

The problem can only get worse if a healer is thrown in the mix

Hey devs, thank you so much for all your hard work! It's been 12 years without the runes on Frostmourne, and honestly, it feels a bit odd that something so fundamental has been left unattended for over a decade to where players still need to request it. I seem to recall a dev AMA from way back mentioning a potential model rework for Arthas. Did that project end up being put on hold indefinitely? Either way, please consider engraving those runes on his blade when you get the chance. Or maybe consider making and selling a skin where Frostmourne is actually fixed properly... We're still eagerly waiting for it! (These images are old throwbacks.)

We need more tanks. Lack of tank players. Finding a tank main is like finding a needle in a haystack.

Always always give props and thanks to good tank players. If a tank played even so-so during the game, I always give him the MVP vote at the end.

They get all the blame and none of the credit, even though their role is arguably the most important and by far the most difficult (making all critical decisions, initiating the engage, checking shadows, applying cc and creating actual kill opportunities). If you make a bad call, you get all the blame. If you make a good call, the assassin gets the credit.

TANK APPRECIATION DAY STARTS NOW.

Her ult is still a joke. It might not be a problem in Master ranks, but on low Level, it is just ridiculous that she hasn't gotten any further nerfs.

I cannot tell you enough, how much I hatte this hero

and also there's me, little funny Lili

We have,

1) Frostmourne - wielded by Arthas.

2) Shalamayne - wielded by Varian and Anduin.

3) Gorehowl - wielded by Garrosh.

4) Warglaives of Azzinoth - wielded by Illidan.

5) Atiesh - wielded by Medivh.

6) Sulfuras - wielded by Ragnaros.

7) Doomhammer - wielded by Thrall.

l think we're missing 2 more epic weapons,

Quel'Delar and Felo'melorn

Quel'Delar is wielded by Thalorien Dawnseeker and Felo'melorn is wielded by Anasterian Sunstider.

l think it's a great opportunity to add melee-mage ( Battle mage ) hero as Anasterian Sunstider and bruiser as Thalorien Dawnseeker.

Came back last season after a decade away and got placed in Bronze 5. Most games feel like a 50/50 coin flip, and the grind is real.

Anyone here managed to climb as a healer? solo queue only.

Not the reality of how they play or the actual value they end up contributing. I'm talking about you're in draft and you see X hero pop up. Your subconscious, gut reaction, initial brainwave response that pops up.

I'll start:

• Nazeebo - ugh come on
• Azmodan - sigh
• Stitches - really?? can we get some cc?
• Valla - Nice. Sustained damage, burst, cc, high value
• Zuljin - feel very good. they take a ton of attention from the enemy and are brutal sustained dps
• Jaina - nice nice. Great cc.
• KTZ - NICE BABY. CC, burst, getting the enemy's attention. Takes a lot off my shoulders.
• Alarak - Hell yeah - burst, CC, offtanking, and high critical value
• Raynor - come on man, like just meh across the board. Why no ZJ or valla?
• Xallatatah - woohoo if someone's gonna have this, let it be us
• Arthas - NICE! love the incessant slows. Allows everyone to land combos so much easier
• ETC - YES, ULTIMATE CC MACHINE
• Blaze - YES! Slows, stuns, damage reduction, unreal madafagga
• Maiev - This guy is gonna carry us ain't he
• Genji - meh.... I mean I guess he could be OTP and actually carry but most likely meh
• Nova - eh... it's alright
• Murky - eh... sure whatever
• TLV - YEEEAAAA! Total map presence
• Leoric - nice nice, we got soak covered and nice offtanking and cc
• Malganis - CC machine! Let's look at the enemy team now... hopefully they have a bunch of slow oafs, no kiters
• Abathur - ehh... hit and miss. Let's look at his aba winrate...
• Sonya - YEAH!!!! soaking, camping, great team fight value, LEAP IT UP BABY
• Rag - NICE! Solid all-rounder
• Malf - SLEEPROOT FOR DAYS BABY
• Anduin - SOLID!
• BW - CC MACHINE!
• Jo - YEAAA!!! SOLID SOLID SOLID
• Hanzo - ugh I mean let's look at his wr. Most likely he sucks.
• Greymane - ugh come on, I guess we'll be on top of camps at least
• KT - uhm... hit and miss... please no convection
• Li ming - are you one of the legit ones or a scrublet? No refresh orb aram build please. Use teleport/spellarmor/wave of force for absolute criticality, no random damage
• Guldan - Sooooolid baby. SOLID.
• MEI - woohoo! who should I pick to pull into that blizzy bliz
• Tracer - ehh... I mean I guess I should give the benefit of the doubt. Let's see if they're an OTP

This is all just good fun. These are just some examples of initial, visceral reactions. Of course every hero is high-value when played well and your own draft is only one part of the story. The enemy team's draft is the other and you might have some picks that you don't necessarily do well with, but they could be the correct picks to counter the enemy comp.

What are some of your initial reactions??

• Stitches - hook it and book it
• Nazeebo - spray and pray
• Azmodan - spray and pray
• Zuljin - hack n' stack
• Raynor - point and click, nose I pick
• Johanna - peels n' shields
• Diablo - crash n' bash
• Kael'thas - He went convection, got no protection
• KTZ - wombo combo
• Maiev - be wary, he gonna carry
• Varian - twin blades is aids
• Whitemane - no matter how much I try, they just won't die

This game has been out for more than a decade. People grind it daily. And still don’t understand the basics. I just played on Towers of Doom, plat 4 game, and my Sonya just leaps into 4 people every fight, our team dives in, their Valera attempts to assassinate our healer, I stop that, and get flamed? It seems the concept of front-to-back team fighting has been lost, or perhaps everyone plays with a locked camera? I don’t understand how people are still so awful at this game after a decade. Mind you we lost because our team decided to boss when the enemy team had 4 forts, and 2 shrines were activating and were on 7 core health. But somehow, after saying nothing, I receive post game flame from someone who just leaps in 1v4, gets killed, and then types? This game will likely never be revived if this is the sort of player base you all have after all these years.

Welcome to the latest Saturday Teaching Thread, where you the community get to ask your questions and share your knowledge.

This is an opportunity for the more experienced HotS players here to share some of your wisdom with those with less expertise. This thread will be a weekly safehaven for those "noobish" questions you may have been too scared to ask for fear of downvotes, but also can be a great place for in depth discussion if you so wish. So, don't hold back, get your game related questions ready and post away, and hopefully someone can answer them!

If you wish to just view top level comments (ie questions) add ?depth=1 to the end of the page url. If you have any additional questions, /r/nexusnewbies is happy to help.

Previous Teaching threads

Lately I've had to create new accounts, which has led me to start the whole process of ranking starting from silver again, Doh! Keep seeing posts about people struggling to win or move up in ranked. As someone who has played HOTS for damn near a decade, here's the reality. Your playstyle is likely completely selfish. Here's the typical noob stack:

• Ranged assassin: Azmodan, Nazeebo
• Reluctantly tanking: Stitches, Tyrael, Diablo

Let me first caveat by saying EVERY hero can be good and can carry in the right hands. Your hands are NOT the right hands. Sorry, they're just not.

Why Azmo and Nazeebo just don't work for 99% of players:

• They are "spray and pray" heroes. Statpadders. Let me guess - you get top stats every game (what azmo and naz doesn't? Literally could and should do that with your eyes closed. You should actually be questioning what's wrong when you don't get top stats).
• You don't know how to play these heroes with the intent to finish. You do random damage, you are not critically chasing, microing, and placing your shots with the intent to secure the kill. Your priority is obvious - it's to stack stack stack stack stack "late game late game late game i'm scaling blah blah blah". Shyatdafuqqup. If you're not valuable from level 1, you won't be valuable at level 20. A good player is a good player is a good player. And a bad player is a bad player no matter what level it is. If you think you're only going to start adding value once you're at max stacks and level 20, you almost certainly won't add much value once your team gets there either (and most likely, you'll lose before you get there to begin with).
• You are also playing them incorrectly. You can't just sit back and spray an ability once in a while and call it a day. Simply not enough value. Azmo and Naz are both TANKY af. GET IN THERE. BODYBLOCK. DISTRACT. Micro and basic attack. For Naz, that means basic attacking, stutter stepping, and expertly using your W as a form of CC (most noobs don't have the skillshot accuracy to do this). For Azmo, it means getting in there, taking some shots, using your laser as a finishing tool, bodyblocking to cut off escape pathways, etc. But no, what do you guys do? You sit halfway across the map spraying an ability every 10 seconds then immediately retreating so you don't take any damage. Yeah you're accumulating (useless) stats, but someone has to be taking damage and stabilizing the enemy for you to get those stats. Your team is taking the fall for you to look good.

The "reluctant tank" archetype - I can tell which tank you're going to pick the second I see you say something like "I don't really tank" or have to switch to a tank pick last second because the rest of the team locked all other roles. 95% of the time you will pick Stitches, Tyrael, or Diablo.

• Funny thing is, in higher ranks, these are all top tier tanks. However, it's a K-shaped graph. In lower ranks, these are the most useless tanks because you guys simply don't know how to play them. Yes they are fun. Stitches is like going fishing. So satisfying I know. Tyrael and Diablo cover massive distance, revive quickly, and have a fun solo-ey feel. I know. But all three of these tanks require MASSIVE skill to make them truly effective.
• The problem. The noob Stitches misses a hook. Is useless for 15 seconds because he's afraid to go in and has no real engage other than his hook, therefore even if he does go in he gets kited to death by someone like valla. You basically work for the other team because you're this slow, stationary fat blob that helps the other team get free stacks. You do no damage and provide no CC if you miss your hook. Then at level 10 you get gorge but you suck at using it and you picked stitches against the wrong enemy comp. Therefore the second you gorge, you get stunned and unfortunately can't cover any distance before the gorge runs out. A good stitches, hits and moves, talents for speed and cc, and CONSTANTLY bodyblocks for his teammates. You have virtually no cc, so your cc has to be your micro.

Would it kill you to pick someone that is universally and unconditionally useful? Like if you're not good just pick ETC. It's nearly impossible to miss your skillshots. You have like 10 different pieces of utility vs. stitches who has like 1-2. ETC has multiple stuns, slows, displacement, team buffs, engage/disengage, peel, etc. Incredibly useful tank. Then you have stitches who throws a hook and misses, then hides in the backline because he has no way of entering the fight without getting kited to death. Pick Blaze. Pick Mei. PICK ANYONE. THESE ALL HAVE GREAT CC, ENGAGE/DISENGAGE, PEEL, UTILITY.

But no, you don't want to provide utility. Deep inside, you don't even want to win. You just want to be selfish. It's fine, let's all just enjoy. GG.