heroes HotS: Top Mistakes Players Do or How to Become a Better Player

[Stan 5,243]

Stop repeating the same mistakes all over and become a better player!

Anyone can become a better player. It's the very mistakes players keep repeating that discern a good player from a bad one. Let's have a look at some of the most common mistakes we encounter in the Nexus on a daily basis!

 

A lot of players are unable to climb ranks or win games and they seem to be stuck in some sort of MMR deadlock. While Blizzard still didn't release MMR, the only algorithm pretty close to reality is the one available on HotsLogs.

 

By following or simply being aware of certain aspects, you can become a better player. I want to pinpoint some of these.

 

Hero Draft Madness

Players usually prefer picking Heroes with the highest win rate. If you don't pick a Hero that another player deems worthy, they usually enter some sort of berserk AFK state, making the game a loss before even starting, which negatively contributes to the overall gameplay. Don't be that person ruining the game!

• During Hero Draft, it's advisable to pick Heroes you are best at, not the once that have the highest win rate on HotsLogs.
• For new players it's best to avoid high skill cap Heroes, such as Abathur or the Lost Vikings. While these Heroes are powerful if played properly, a newbie commanding these Heroes can quickly turn the game into a nightmare.

Stutter-Stepping

• Normally, players do not stutter step. They only use their abilities.
• Stutter-stepping is an essential aspect of every MOBA. It's how you distinguish a good and a bad player. Confusing your enemy and avoiding getting hit is crucial.
  • A guide to stutter-stepping can be found here.

Bad Positioning

• A bad player isn't aware of his surroundings, such as using bushes to hide and confuse enemies or even launch attacks if he has previous knowledge of enemy presence.
• Depending on your Hero, you need to position yourself properly.
• Positioning is a crucial aspect of the game and when wrongly executed, it can lead to unnecessary kills that award XP to the enemy team.
  • While playing let's say Kael'thas, you have almost no mobility, you need to be constantly aware of what's going on as you're squishy and can be destroyed within seconds.
• You can improve your positioning by watching your replays to see where and why you were unnecessarily killed.
  • While watching replays, ask yourself the question "Why were I killed? Was my death worth something?"
    • If the answer happens to be no, then you're obviously doing something wrong.

Remain Alive

• Staying alive is crucial in Heroes of the Storm. Better be safe than sorry! If you can anticipate an uneven gank, retreat. Knowing when to retreat is of utmost importance.
• It's always better to be alive at low health replenishing it than waiting a long time for a respawn!

 

Objectives

I could literally write stories about objectives! The first thing is that many bad players tend to rush into an utter 5 vs 5 carnage during the start of the game just to secure a Watch Tower. What they do not realize is that they're giving away precious XP to the enemy team upon death and during lane absence.

 

• Mercenary Camps
  • Mercenary Camps are a special case! If a camp is up, it doesn't mean you need to mindlessly take down every single one.
    • Take a camp if you're sure it will create preasure for the enemy team, where they will need to stop focusing a certain objective (tribute spawns, altars).
• Don't ignore map objectives! Some players are totally ignoring them, they're too lazy to pick up gems from spiders on Tomb of the Spider Queen map before they disappear, wasting precious resource!
  • Many players are losing lots of gem stacks, because they are mindlessly collecting gems without turning in when it's safe. Later on they are focused and brought to justice losing lots of gems.
• Boss Time?
  • When would be the right time to take the Boss is also important to know.
    • Bad players don't care, they simply take the Boss out regardless of the enemy team being alive.
    • What they don't care about is being obliterated in the middle of fighting a boss by the enemy team, that's why you should only take bosses when you know it's safe to do so.
• Mana Issues
  • Don't use your abilities when there's no need to. You can go quickly out of mana and having the Healing Fountain on cooldown when objectives are spawning is also really bad
    • Poke your enemy with basic attacks and spells that require little mana.
    • Don't waste your only escape abilities to engage combat.
    • Don't recklessly spend abilities with high cooldown and mana cost, so they're up during objectives or at a time you need them most.

Ending Games vs. Last Resort

• Your games will get shorter the higher your rank. This is because most of the players will end a game (not leaving the Nexus area) after a total team wipe at Levels 20+ or at any random point. This can lead to overall frustration as your team is at least one player short.
• Such players should at least attempt to defend the base or secure another team fight, asserting dominance!
• Always play until the last seconds of the game. Even when your team has wiped and the foes are attacking your gates, you can still wipe the enemy team out, unless they are already devastating your Core!

Enjoy the Game and Relax!

• The toxicity in all MOBA games is quite high. Don't let yourself get caught, when somebody's blaming you for a Hero pick or goes rampant in the ally chat.
• Remeber you're playing the game for your own amusement and there's virtually no reason to be angry, unless you're a professional Heroes of the Storm player.

Have you found yourself making some of the mistakes mentioned? I hope this write up was informational and will make you a better player.  See you in the Nexus!

[Flom 1]

Hey there! I'm from a German Heroes of the Storm Community page (Stormkings.de) and I kindly ask if it's okay to translate your content into German (we will credit you, of course :D ). Cheers, Flo

[WebBowser 2]

My only criticism of this post is that the "Ending Games vs. Last Resort" section is unclear about what the mistake is and what the proper play is. Are you saying that you should push the enemy core after a level 20 teamfight instead of destroying forts? Which team is getting wiped? Should you be pushing minion waves to the core post teamfight or should you just rush core? What happens if your main DPS is dead after a major 20+ teamfight? There is a lot of elaboration that can go into this section and you could probably dedicate a small guide on "when and how to end games".

[Stan 5,243]

My only criticism of this post is that the "Ending Games vs. Last Resort" section is unclear about what the mistake is and what the proper play is. Are you saying that you should push the enemy core after a level 20 teamfight instead of destroying forts? Which team is getting wiped? Should you be pushing minion waves to the core post teamfight or should you just rush core? What happens if your main DPS is dead after a major 20+ teamfight? There is a lot of elaboration that can go into this section and you could probably dedicate a small guide on "when and how to end games".

Hello, I've edited the part you've mentioned was confusing! Hopefully, it's clear now :) Thanks for the feedback!

[mnime 17]

The only problem in Heroes of the Storm that I haven't found an answer for is that players with very low skill can reach high ranks, it's because no one can individually carry a game and no one has that kind of impact on the game (like adc champs have in League of Legends) and blizz keeps nerfing the ones that could somehow impact big before, so a good comp with a below average player in the team can win the game and by good comp I mean the current meta (A while ago it was 2 supp, Stitches + Tyrande, then it was stun lock, now it's 2 warrior with rehgar or other popular comps). 

But when it gets tough, you expect someone to do a simple job and they fail it every time (Like interrupting something or focusing a hero like morales or staying with the team in late game) and you lose because of that person, then you think to yourself: how can this guy reach rank 3? He doesn't know the basics! 

There were a lot of discussions around how to determine if a player played good or not in a game, and nothing came out of it, but I think a voting system can atleast give some hints to players about low skilled ones.

Because you can't count on Damaged Dealt, cause let' say naz is doing 100k but brightwing is healing it all with her passive, but zeratul is bursting down enemies with only 50k damage, zera definitely had more impact on the game.

if they add a voting system, some ppl might troll it, but atleast at higher ranks we can tell the difference.

Edited February 29, 2016 by mnime