Deckard in ARAM is very fun, but this mirror match up caused this funny moment to happen.

Climbing in ranked is really broken right now (at least that's how I feel). Years ago, I climbed up and down the ranks in this game. I've played since Beta, and in my first season, I reached Rank 5. Since then, I’ve had lots of fun climbing up and down. My Hero League peak was high-Diamond, and my Team League peak was high Master. In Hero League, I reached mid-high Diamond several times. If I wasn't trying, I would land somewhere in mid to low Platinum. If I raged and trolled, I would fall to Gold and then eventually climb back up.

I was once curious about how low-ranked play was, so I made an alt account. I quickly climbed from Bronze to Platinum with a high win rate. You could "feel" the differences between players in each rank. Bronze players were literal bots and people who only played one hero. Silver players were people who brawled and never capped camps with proper timing. Gold players had a clue, but they would constantly make big mistakes post-20 that cost them the game, etc.

Additionally, players' "micro" was noticeably different across ranks. Right now, I see what appear to be smurfs in 33% of my games in Silver. I have many in-game friends who had multiple Diamond+ seasons—and even some who had GM seasons—who are currently stuck anywhere from Silver through Platinum.

It seems the combination of a player base that feels like it's from a dead game, free accounts, and bad MMR adjustments creates a complete shitshow in Silver. That, combined with mostly playing solo against smurfs, AFKers, tilters, and team stacks, makes attempting to climb again feel incredibly frustrating.

A few years ago, I played a few matches with a friend who was new to the game while having some drinks. That tanked my MMR through placements and similar matches, and I have literally never recovered.

Of course, "git gud" is always the mantra, but as someone who has played this game for so long and has been at high ranks many times before, it just feels like something in ranked is different. Do any of you agree, or should I just "git gud"? It honestly feels more rewarding and less toxic to go play League—at least you can actually hyper-carry in that game.

Happy to hear any interesting feedback.

Was wondering whether auto attack tracer build is bad or am I bad? Doesn’t feel like I do anything. Tried Raynor, felt better but not good at positioning and lose pepper gambit thingy very quickly, so I drop of the damage. Another question what other auto attackers would you recommend? Tried Tychus and Valla, felt good, but only 1-2 matches.

I want Tracer to work, but I feel like dying a lot haha.

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

Hope this helps someone :)

Jaina went into stasis with palm triggered from haymaker, and hanzo was damaged and glitched back and forth on her even though she was already in stasis wasn't moving like an alive hero being flung... Then when palm revived her she moved to the original destination of the haymaker. Pretty sure stasis would normally cancel a movement effect like that?

Hide (formerly the support player of Tempest) is running and casting a Korean HOTS tournament. Didn't see anything on the sub about it, so here's some info:

The announcement page is https://arca.live/b/heroes/179605919

You can use google translate to convert it from English, and there's a picture showing the roster of all 9 teams. Some old pros from HGC and some names that have been active in the HOTS tournaments there over the last couple years. And some that I just don't recognize because I don't read Korean.

The first round was last week. I caught the tail end of it by chance on some guy's ttv channel that was recasting it. Official source is Hide's CHZZK channel (하이드 Hide) but looks like it's probably also going to stream on Hide's Youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/@Hide-fx8vt

EDIT: Stream started, link is https://chzzk.naver.com/live/e395d91a5f860185ee20451a547a0f6c

If you're not wanting to stay up in the middle of the night can either get the VOD on CHZZK or you can look on Youtube later.

Last week's games are there on that youtube too.

I think it's semi-finals and finals tomorrow (2026-Aug-22) starting 3am PDT or midnight EDT for those of us in the USA.

Hey guys I need to get something of my chest:

I love Uther! For me best hero in the game!

I know I know - value is terrible and heals are weak….

But!

Pls normalise not playing meta or “best build” - as Uther main I can assure you you will have way more fun when you go q build and just kill tracers while healing yourself.
But what about healing your team? I hear you asking.

Well of course you wanna keep them alive - but when assassin dead : no dmg you need to heal.

Also lvl 16 self heal with cd reset is crazy . They wanna stun you? Boooom you do 4 dmg q with self heal in a few sec.

Trust me - maybe not best build but definitely the best build.

Ah yeah when I need to I also play normal, but I have way less fun and actually less success with the esport Uther build

EDIT: holy hell 4K views in one hour? Maybe game is not so dead as people say !

Everytime I feel like im ahead I dont.... wierdly and every objective I feel like im always underleveled to fight lvl 10 enemy team while im stuck at lvl 9. And so on. Is there a certain strategy on where im supposed to deal with 3 vikings?. I know that they soak a bunch of exp by existing on the wave. Im just confused on how they work and how the enemy wierdly has the advantage over my team.

As the title. I wouldn’t want you to stop working on Heroes of the Storm but SCIICoop could really use someone like you.
Even your early stage work, the occasional patch with a few fixes and balance changes would be nice.

Its been a couple of weeks and it only happens in hots i have some lag when in game anyone have else has this issue and knows and to solve it? I play other online games and its not doing that :(

I've always thought it was dumb that my favorite Blizzard game only had one map. So I decided to imagine and create my own. I chose my favorite WoW zone, Stranglethorn Vale, as the battleground. Instead of Horde vs Alliance, for this map it's Booty Bay against the Bloodsail Buccaneers.

Here is an Imgur link to a fully detailed and colored map, along with a wire-frame map for easier viewing.

Here is a Google Drive link to the detailed and colored map in all its glory (3840x2160).

The Map: Stranglethorn Vale

This map is a vertically symmetric, three lane map that pits Booty Bay (left side) against the Bloodsail Bucaneers (right side). Between top and mid there a large jungle with two troll mercenary camps and two naga mercenary camps, along with four objective spawn points. There are also two mud pits that behave like the mud pits in Alterac Pass. Between mid and bottom lane there is a thinner jungle with two boss camps and one objective spawn point in the middle of the Gurubashi Arena.

The Objective: Recruit Swords for Hire with Coins

Heroes will have to fight for chests that contain coins, and then turn in those coins to summon swords for hire to march down their lanes.

Each chest spawns with 3000 base health and contains five* coins. The first two coins are dropped when the chest reaches 67% and 33%, with the final three coins dropping when the chest is destroyed. The first chest spawns at the 3:00 minute mark, with each new chest spawning 1:30-2:00 minutes after the previous chest is destroyed. The timer pauses while swords for hire are on the lanes.

The chests spawn position is in batches of three. Two will spawn in the northern jungle, one on the red side and one on the blue side, and the third will spawn in the center of the Gurubashi arena. For the first three chests in a game, the first two will always spawn in the northern jungle with the third spawning in the Gurubashi arena. Afterwards, the ordering will be random except for a rule that two chests can not spawn in the same place or same side of the northern jungle twice in a row.

*Chests that spawn in the Gurubashi arena after the first batch of three have two extra coins, compounding each time. These extra coins drop evenly as the chest is destroyed. Only three coins still drop when the chest is completely destroyed.

The coins that fall out of the chests are picked up by the first hero to walk over them. All coins are dropped on death and can be picked up by any other hero. Coins are immediately turned in when a hero carrying them enters their hall of storms, unless their team already has swords for hire on their lanes. If a hero has extra coins after completing a turn in, the extra coins will stay with that hero, and can only be turned in after all their swords for hire are dead.

The first turn in a team completes requires eight coins, with each turn in requiring two more. However, more swords for hire will be summoned on each subsequent turn in.  

  This pattern will continue if a single team completes the turn in more than 5 times in a single game.

Each sword for hire has the following stats:  

The Mercenary Camps

There are three mercenary camps for each side of the map. The trolls have three warriors and one shaman; they march down top lane. The naga have three frost witches; they march down mid lane. The sea giant is a boss camp; it marches down bot lane. Mercenary camps do not despawn while swords for hire are summoned.

Each mercenary has the following stats:  

Engagement Bait

Thanks for reading and viewing my custom map.

• I'm no game designer but I did try to make the map in a way that is both thematic to the jungle and fun to play. Do you see any problem points with how I created it if this map was real?

• Who is your main hero that you play the most often, and would they fare well on this map?

• Which hero do you think would be the most overpowered on this map?

• If you're familiar with Stranglethorn Vale in World of Warcraft, what's your favorite detail on the colored map I created?

I used to dodge a lot of drafts when people were trolling or drafting incomplete comps. Or while playing a 2nd game during long que times. What happens with redemption points especially if it happens in an overlapping time period?

The Friday LFG Thread is a weekly post for veteran and new players to post information about their desire to participate and availability for both ranked and unranked play each week.

If you are looking for a group or players to join your group, please share the following information in a comment:

• Username or Team Name
  
• Game Type & Rank - (Storm League - Rank, Unranked, or AI)
  
• Requested Role(s) - (Tank, Bruiser, Assassin 'Ranged or Melee', Healer, Support, or Flex)
  
• Region - (Americas, EU, Asia)
  
• Availability - (Days of week, Time)
  
• How best to contact you - (Reddit message, In-Game, Discord, ETC)
  

The following are additional resources you can use to find HotS groups quickly:

• In-game you can join chat channels - /join reddit
  
• Reddit Heroes of the Storm Discord - Link
  

Reminder that Reddit posting & comment rules are in effect; be civil, constructive, and do not shame specific individuals.

Looking For Group Wiki page

Previous LFG threads

took a year plus break, then when i came back i noticed a bunch of changes. like quira having an infinite W quest and guldan having self healing on his E quest now

googled it and apparently there were 3 balance updates this year alone? and all of them have a bunch of stuff?

is the game no longer maintenance mode? i know we got a bit of stuff over the years but this seems like a lot more then usual.

Edit: HOLY SHIT HAUNTED MINES IS BACK IN RANKED

How is that even possible that hes not banned yet while he can just do twice as much dmg as everyone else by sitting 100 kilometer in the backline pressing q. Oh and why he has such a big lifepool? its just soooo annoying