Blackheart's Bay Map Guide

Blackheart's Bay is a 3-lane Map belonging to the Nexus universe. The signature Objective of this Map are Doubloons to collect from Treasure Chests and Mercenary Camps. Whenever a team pays the required amount of Doubloons, Captain Blackheart will use the cannons of his ghost ship to shoot at enemy Structures.

Here you can find one or more formations that are viable on this Map. Keep in mind that positions in lane are not strict and will often change based on the situation.

The go-to formation for Blackheart's Bay is 1-3-1:

• 1 Hero, the Offlaner, double-soaks the middle and top lane;
• 3 Heroes collect Doubloons from Mercenary Camps and Doubloon Camps;
• 1 Hero covers the bottom lane.

An alternative formation for Blackheart's Bay is 4-1:

• 4 Heroes rotate between the middle and the top lane;
• 1 Hero, the Offlaner, covers the bottom lane.

• At 1:00 minutes or several seconds before the next Objective phase, start clearing the allied Siege Camp and capture it slightly before the next Treasure Chest spawns. To make this Mercenary Camp join the lane behind allied Minions, capture it at 1:15 minutes or 15 seconds after a wave of Minions spawned.
• Right after capturing the allied Siege Camp or whenever available, capture the allied Doubloon Camp nearby.
• At 2:00 minute or whenever available, start clearing the allied Bruiser Camp and capture it as soon as possible. To make this Mercenary Camp join the lane in front of allied Minions, capture it at 2:35 minutes or 5 seconds after a wave of Minions spawned.
• Right after capturing the allied Bruiser Camp or whenever available, capture the allied Doubloon Camp.
• After that, whenever your team has an advantage, turn in Doubloons or start clearing the neutral Bruiser Camp and capture it as soon as possible.
• After 10:00 minutes, whenever your team has an advantage while there is no Objective to contest, you can capture the Boss Camp and either push with it or use it as a distraction for paying Doubloons. Avoid doing it earlier if you do not have a dedicated team composition.

As shown in the image below, Blackheart's Bay has a total of 6 Mercenary Camps:

• 2 allied/enemy Bruiser Camps and 1 neutral Boss Camp in the top lane;
• 2 allied/enemy Doubloon Camps near the top lane;
• 2 allied/enemy Doubloon Camps near the bottom lane;
• 2 allied/enemy Siege Camps and 1 neutral Bruiser Camp in the bottom lane.

After capturing a Mercenary Camp, 2 Doubloons will appear on the ground. Do not forget to collect them! You need them for the Map Objective.

Unlike some other Maps, Mercenary Camps on Blackheart's Bay do not disappear from the battlefield during the Objective phase or right after it ends.

Mercenary Camps indicated with an orange icon are part of the Map Objective and do not go in lane.

Mercenary Camps indicated with a red icon are immune to Bribe effects.

This type of Mercenary Camp features 2 Skeletal Pirates. They are part of the Map Objective and do not go in lane. Once captured, you will get 2 Doubloons from it.

You should clear these Camps on cooldown in order to get as many Doubloons as possible. They are extremely easy to kill, so any Hero can solo them in a reasonable time.

This type of Mercenary Camp features 2 Giants. Once captured, it spawns the same units fighting for your team in the corresponding lane. When possible, push with them to get more value. On this Map, you will also get 2 Doubloons from it.

Instead of attacking enemies with Basic Attacks, Giants throw stones at them. These stones can be dodged, so it is possible to capture them without taking any damage. Once captured, they are capable of damaging enemy Structures without getting in their range. Giants deal 100% bonus damage to Structures.

This type of Mercenary Camp features 3 Knights and 1 Wizard. Once captured, it spawns the same units fighting for your team in the corresponding lane. When possible, push with them to get more value. On this Map, you will also get 2 Doubloons from it.

Right after being captured and while in lane, the Wizard creates a Spell Armor field around him which reduces some of the damage taken by Minions, Mercenaries, and Heroes within range. Avoid fighting the enemy team if they still have a Wizard helping them!

This type of Mercenary Camp features 1 Grave Golem. Once captured, it spawns the same unit fighting for your team in the corresponding lane. When possible, push with it to get more value. On this Map, you will also get 2 Doubloons from it.

While in combat, the Golem will use Mega Smash (10-second cooldown) to damage and Stun all enemies in melee range and Binding Roots (15-second cooldown) to damage and Root enemies who get hit by them.

Blackheart's Bay features 1 Watch Tower: it is located between the middle and the top lane, providing vision on the fastest paths to rotate between them and on a considerable portion of the adjacent lanes.

Securing a Watch Tower provides your team with greater vision, allowing you to keep an eye on enemy movements in that part of the battlefield. Watchtowers can be captured similarly to defeated Mercenary Camps, by standing in the area until your team gains control.

Watch Towers controlled by the enemy team are extremely dangerous, especially when there are bushes nearby, therefore you should think twice before contesting them. If you do not have mobility tools at your disposal and your teammates are not nearby to help you, you should definitely not try to capture a Watch Tower as you will only risk to die for no reason. Staying alive is more important than getting vision.

The signature Objective of Blackheart's Bay consists of Doubloons:

• Treasure Chests contain 5 Doubloons;
• Doubloon Camps have 2 Doubloons;
• Mercenary Camps have 2 Doubloons.

Heroes can pay Captain Blackheart in the middle of the battlefield to get his assistance. Each payment requires 10 Doubloons, plus 2 Doubloons for each time that team paid during the game. In order to pay, Heroes have to channel for 8 seconds.

Collect Doubloons Attack treasure chests, mercenaries, and skeletons to collect doubloons.

Turn in Doubloons Hand your doubloons over to Blackheart or you will drop them all when you die!

Bombard Your Enemies After receiving enough doubloons from your team, Blackheart will bombard your enemy's forts!

The best Heroes for opening Treasure Chests are the ones who can hit them multiple times in a couple of seconds:

• Alexstrasza, using Flame Buffet;
• Arthas, using Frozen Tempest;
• Azmodan, using All Shall Burn;
• Blaze, using Ignited Oil Spill;
• Deathwing, using Molten Flame;
• Dehaka, using Dark Swarm;
• Diablo, using Fire Stomp;
• D.Va, using Mech's Basic Attacks;
• Falstad, using Lightning Rod;
• Genji, using Basic Attacks and/or Shuriken;
• Gul'dan, using Drain Life;
• Kharazim, using Deadly Reach;
• Kel'Thuzad, using Death and Decay;
• Lucio, using Basic Attacks;
• Lunara, using Basic Attacks;
• Mei, using Blizzard;
• Nazeebo, using Corpse Spiders;
• Qhira, using Carnage;
• Stitches, using Basic Attacks;
• Stukov, using Lurking Arm;
• Sylvanas, using Withering Fire and/or Shadow Dagger;
• Tassadar, using Psionic Storm;
• Tracer, using Basic Attacks;
• Zarya, using Basic Attacks.

You can also get 2 Coins from Doubloon Camps and from other Mercenary Camps. Doubloons should preferably be collected by Heroes with mobility because those Heroes can easily escape from unwanted team fights to protect Doubloons from being lost on death and then being collected by enemy Heroes.

A successful payment results in 12 Cannonballs being fired over 40 seconds; Cannonballs deal 2815 damage directly to Structures and 750 splash damage to everything in a small radius around the impact. As soon as a bombardment ends, it is possible to pay again.

Cannonballs will target Structures in this order:

1. Towers, Gate, and then Fort in the middle lane;
2. Towers, Gate, and then Fort in the top lane;
3. Towers, Gate, and then Fort in the bottom lane;
4. Towers, Gate, and then Keep in the middle lane;
5. Towers, Gate, and then Keep in the top lane;
6. Towers, Gate, and then Keep in the bottom lane;
7. Core.

Every 4 seconds, the Core will shoot a Cannonball at 2 nearby enemy Heroes, dealing 5% maximum Health as damage, Slowing them by 70% for 1.5 seconds, and Knocking them back.

To win the game on Blackheart's Bay, you should count on any of the following win conditions:

• Map Objective,
• Boss Camp,
• Split-push.

• Avoid using the Healing Fountain (2-minute cooldown) early because the first Objective on this Map activates at 1:30 minutes, which is lower than the Healing Fountain's cooldown.
• Use effects that can hit them multiple times in a couple of seconds on Treasure Chests to open them quickly.
• Every time you have 5 Doubloons or more, pay to avoid losing them on death. Doubloons that fall on the ground do not disappear and can be picked up by enemy Heroes too, causing your team to take more damage on Structures throughout the game.
• You can press Tab to see who has the highest amount of Doubloons among enemy Heroes. Use that information to not let that Hero pay while your team does or to kill them when no other enemy Heroes are nearby to pick up their lost Doubloons.
• There is a strategy to ensure that each turn-in takes down a Fort: before the first turn-in, make sure 1 Tower is down in the middle lane; before the second turn-in, make sure 1 Tower is down in the top lane; before the third turn-in, make sure 1 Tower is down in the bottom lane.
• Do not fight unless the enemy team has way more Doubloons than you and your team has an advantage, or they are doing a game-winning play (turning in Doubloons, capturing a Boss Camp when you no longer have a top Keep, or going Core).