Unlabelled Heroes of the Storm - HGC North America :: Simplicity vs LFM esports :: Discussion thread

2/12/2018 01:04:00 pm
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Heroes of the Storm - HGC North America :: Simplicity vs LFM esports :: Discussion thread

HGC North America :: Simplicity vs LFM esports :: Discussion thread

Posted: 11 Feb 2018 02:00 PM PST

Previous match thread: HGC Europe :: Tricked esport vs Diamond Skin.

Remember to upvote this thread to make it visible after another one is stickied. Thanks!

Time

The match should start at about 14:00 PST / 17:00 EST / 23:00 CET / the same time as this post. Please note that this time might not include potential delays.

Match reports, VODs

Prediction challenge

Streams

HGC Europe - useful links

Teams

Simplicity vs LFM esports
erho melee - support Aware
Hosty ranged/flex - ranged/flex Drated
k1pro support - warrior Figgy
KingCaffeine warrior - melee Swabs
Zuna ranged/flex - ranged/flex Tea

Game version

HGC Phase 1 Week 4 is played on patch 2.29.9, which is the last patch before Maiev was released.

HGC match threads are created by /u/lerhond. Please mention or PM /u/lerhond if you have any feedback.

submitted by /u/HeroesEsportsThreads
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So, animations for rocket mounts probably came from horses and such. But since rockets don't shake much, the end result could be... Intriguing

Posted: 11 Feb 2018 09:41 AM PST

Lavawave Sucks

Posted: 11 Feb 2018 01:33 PM PST

B Step dancing in HGC

Posted: 11 Feb 2018 12:37 PM PST

How to earn almost 1.4 mln XP per hour - an extensive guide to XP farming in HotS [OC]

Posted: 11 Feb 2018 05:01 AM PST

What is XP farming or "AI farm 1h"?

XP farming in HotS is done by 5-man premade teams playing games vs beginner AI while using a variety of techniques to maximize XP gain. One such game takes about 55-65 minutes on average, hence the commonly used name.

Why would I do this?

Because it's the most time efficient method to earn XP in HotS. Screenshot. Over an hour long match players earn:

Bonuses XP
Raw XP (no bonuses) - maximum possible per match 500,000
5-man premade + friend bonus 875,000
5-man premade + friend bonus + stimpack 1,375,000
5-man premade + friend bonus + stimpack + 1st win of the day 1,625,000

Now for why would you want that much XP, there are many possibilities:

  • You like yellow borders around your heroes in draft and showing off with sophisticated mastery taunts
  • It's event time and you want to earn as many those sweet event lootboxes as possible
  • You want to quickly level your 1 heroes to level 5 to be able to pick them in HL and get these 4 easy lootboxes + 500 gold. Incidentally, 1,375,000 XP earned by a level 1 hero is just enough to get them to level 5.
  • Or maybe you come from MMORPG roots and just enjoy grinding ;-)

Don't you get bored playing vs beginner AI for 1 hour?

Well, that depends. How good are you at finding things to do? Sure, if you were to focus 100% of your attention on prolonging a beginner bots game, it'd probably get pretty boring. Many people however find other ways to occupy themselves.

Some of them soak/hunt with heroes with infinitely stacking quests, such as Alarak, Butcher or Arthas's D and become absolute raid bosses during that 1 hour. Some people watch TV series on second monitor. Some others listen to podcasts/audiobooks. Some others engage in some of the legitimately funniest/most stress free banter I've had pleasure to participate in HotS. (Usually during regular matches you don't have much time to type/joke, unlike here)

Isn't that an abuse of the XP system? Won't I get banned for this?

No. Farming XP in AI games is not forbidden by Blizzard ToS. Source.

How do I find people to XP farm with?

Join the in-game channel xpfarm by typing in chat /join xpfarm <enter> . Advertising on reddit or lfg channels is also a possibility. However, when using the latter, take care to note that it's xp farm 1h, so people looking for AI rush games don't get mistaken. (AI rush - grinding multiple AI games as fast as possible to earn gold/quests, quite the opposite of what we're trying to achieve here)

XP Farming 101

Quickstart: Alright, I'm sold, how do I do this?

A quickstart guide, step by step:

  1. Type in chat /join xpfarm and say there something inviting, like "looking for xp farm 1h"
  2. After finding a party, remember to friend one of them for the 25% XP bonus.
  3. After you have gathered 5 people on board, queue for Co-op vs. AI (Beginner) mode.
  4. If an unacceptable map has been chosen, wait until the game loads then leave immediately. All party members need to do this.
  5. Repeat above until you've started a game on a favorable map (preferably tier A or higher from the table below)
  6. Assign roles - 3 players should be soakers and 2 should be feeders.
  7. If you're a feeder:
    • Keep dying to enemy towers/core/heroes/minions as frequently as possible (you can destroy a wall to get deeper into the enemy base so you can get focused by more towers at once)
    • If your team's keeps are already gone (usually at 20+ mins), you may need to help the soakers defend the occasional AI 5-man core push
    • Your feeding gig is done when enemy team hits level 30. There is no point in feeding after this point, enemy kills are now worth as much XP as possible. Now you become a hunter - your job is to kill enemy heroes until the 500k exp goal is reached.
  8. If you're a soaker:
    • Go to a lane and soak as much xp as possible.
    • Keep in mind that your goal is prolonging the game to last 1 hour; that means that early game you shouldn't push or even damage minions at all. Xul is terrible as a soaker for that reason, since he can't control his trait.
    • If you are playing a hero with decent waveclear, you can give up keep in your lane - it will allow you for more freedom in clearing waves due to catapults.
    • After giving up a keep feel free to take enemy fort + keep wall in that lane. That will also allow you to camp and hunt enemy heroes closer to their spawn. Be careful not to overdo it though; don't take keeps.
    • Feel free to kill enemy heroes if an opportunity arises, don't forget your priorities though: 1. Defending endangered core 2. Soaking lane XP 3. Going for enemy kills
  9. After both teams hit the maximum level 30 (this usually happens after 45 minute mark), it's still not over - you are going for the maximum XP gain, which is 500,000. You can check the current XP amount by hovering your mouse over the level number at the top bar.
  10. When the XP counter reaches 485,000, it's safe to start going for enemy keeps. The XP from taking down the structures + a few waves + a kill or two should be enough to get you the remaining 15,000.
    • Again, 500,000 XP is the cap, so any amount earned over it will be just lost.
    • There is an unverified piece of knowledge circulating among players, probably just a myth, that if you go too much over 500,000 XP, it overflows, "zeroes out" and you get nothing. As the most I've personally earned is about 510,000 XP I can only say it for sure it doesn't happen then. Verified information on this matter, preferably with video evidence, would be welcome here.
  11. Enjoy your XP! If you have done everything correctly and have a stimpack, you should have earned 1,375,000 XP in about 60 minutes!

Battlegrounds - what maps are suitable for XP farming?

Not all maps are suitable for farming XP, as shown in the table below. Depending on how picky you are, you have about 40-50% to get a good map every time you queue for a game. A very often used trick to reroll maps is to just leaving the game just after it starts, as there is no penalty for abandoning AI games, especially if all 5 members of a premade party do it.

Battleground Tier Comments
Towers of Doom S+ Possibility of infinitely recapturing/giving up structures makes this a map where record times to 500k are possible. Room for error is also quite big, all you have to take care about is to not capture all 6 forts by accident. Best played with a hero good at safely stalling the bottom altar.
Volskaya Foundry S After recent patches beginner AI doesn't even put anyone into the Protector after winning objective, making it safe to give up. Safe to take camps giving lots of XP.
Warhead Junction A+ Very good map. Soakers can keep some nukes in reserve to help with waveclear/emergencies.
Cursed Hollow A A classic. Giving up objectives is very safe, as long as the soakers don't lack waveclear.
Dragon Shire A Approaches vary - some players here prefer to cap the objectives and soak midlane as a badass dragon, some others prefer to cap one shrine and abuse AI tendencies for going for the other one, or infinitely juggle both. Either way it's a very good map with low risk and a lot of room for error.
Tomb of the Spider Queen B+ Similar to Blackheart's Bay, but even easier due to small map size and allied deaths not dropping tons of coins, giving teams more room for error.
Blackheart's Bay B Late game (after giving up keeps) good map control is needed to make sure no enemies with coins can survive, slip through and pay.
Garden of Terror C- Objective pulls heroes away from lanes and soaking for a long time, coordinated effort of whole team is required late game to kill enemy lategame terrors / not allow them to gather enough seeds. Annoying, can drag on for long and not a lot of room for error, but doable with a good team.
Infernal Shrines E The objective late game is very dangerous. Stalling it is theoretically possible with very good single target damage heroes, but it's definitely not worth it unless you're desperate or bored.
Sky Temple E- The objective in theory could be stalled by a very coordinated team, but it's definitely not worth it.
Battlefield of Eternity F 2 lane map
Braxis Holdout F 2 lane map
Hanamura F 2 lane map
Haunted Mines F 2 lane map

Most groups I've met reroll the map until getting a B tier or higher, although there are some pickier players who only go for A and higher. I've also met with some wanting to reroll Towers of Doom, probably due to not understanding the potential of this map.

Advanced tips

  • For the feeder role, heroes and talents letting you get under enemy forts/keeps faster are preferred. Some good examples: Leoric, globals (including e.g. lev 20 Auriel and Hanzo), Cho'Gall (shorter respawn timer at 20)
    • One more note for feeders - only dying to enemy units (heroes, summons, structures, minions, captured mercs, ToD killzone) gives XP to the other team, so don't get creative on cursed hollow or towers of doom and try dying to neutral boss camp because it's closer to base - it doesn't work :)
  • For the soaker role, heroes and talents giving you waveclear, sustain and kill potential are best. Infinitely stacking quests are also nice to have, e.g. Zul'jin, Butcher, Arthas. Some soakers might even help your team feed more efficiently, e.g. Misha, D'Va, The Lost Vikings (TLV let you have more than 2 players as feeders).
  • If your character is good at taking merc camps, you can do it in-between soaking waves for some extra XP. This is especially worth it on Volskaya, where merc camps are worth a lot of XP and don't push uncontrollably, risking taking enemy keep. However, after the keep in your lane falls, you can let 3-4 enemy catapults stack without killing them and then cap a pushing merc camp - even the knights camp will quickly die to 4 catapults bombarding them.
  • On Towers of Doom, it's usually best to wait until the bottom altar spawns - that way the person stacking bottom lane will be able to both soak and interrupt enemy channels. A soaker who can interrupt channels safely is best for that role, e.g. Chromie, Azmodan, Nova (clone).
  • On Towers of Doom, every time a fort is captured/recaptured, it grants a big chunk of XP. Take advantage of this to achieve 500k in record times! (Although take care not to capture 6 bell towers at once, it's usually game over if you do that)
  • The AI has many patterns you can learn to recognize and abuse. However, it changes between patches. Recently, they've been taking bosses noticably more often and 5-man core rushing without minion waves a lot - be ready to defend if that happens.
  • After you've given up all keeps, it is advantageous for soakers to take down enemy forts and keep walls and keep the waves pushed right about to where the enemy forts used to be. Although this makes feeder take a bit longer to a place where they can die, it also lets you control the enemy heroes movement more, which is advantageous especially on maps with riskier lategame objectives like Blackheart's Bay. Being closer to their spawn means also catching their core rushes earlier and farming kills more efficiently.
  • If you're doing something requiring mouse activity on the second monitor during the game, you can set the game to Windowed or Windowed (Fullscreen) mode in graphic options for more convenient switching. If watching TV series / a movie you can mute HotS sounds either in Windows Mixer or sound options in HotS. However, when playing with HotS sound muted pay some extra attention so you don't miss a core rush defense call!
  • If you like chatting on the ingame channels, e.g. reddit or xpfarm, you can do it also during the game. To do that, enable Show Blizzard channels in-game and Show non-Blizzard channels in-game in Social options.
  • Why are feeders needed, wouldn't 3 soakers + 2 hunters be enough from the start?
    • In short, that's because of how XP gain for kills and comeback mechanisms work in HotS. You get more XP per kill if the enemy outlevels you, "regular" amount if you are of equal levels, and next to nothing if you are outleveling them by a lot. Therefore feeding the enemy until they get level 30 is necessary to get maximum exp for kills possible in the lategame. However, feeding after that point is pointless - that's why feeders switch then their roles to hunters.
  • Why give up keeps? Isn't it enough to give AI the XP from feeder deaths, do you also have to give them structure XP?

It is of course possible to reach 500k exp without letting your keeps fall, it's just not as efficient. Nonetheless, if one of your soakers has really bad waveclear and would have trouble clearing catapults (e.g. Ana, Li Li), you might want to keep the keep standing in their lane only.

That's about it - happy farming!

TL;DR

Look for "Quickstart" above. This section should be enough to get you started.

submitted by /u/reizuki
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The Lost Vikings came out 2/10/2015

Posted: 11 Feb 2018 12:46 PM PST

Or 10/2/2015 if you're European.

They are over 3 years old. Happy Birthday Lost Vikings. Could we perhaps get them a new skin for their Birthday this year Blizzard? Considering they haven't received so much as a new skin TINT since they launched. Please? Pretty please?

Just for comparison's sake. Li Ming was February 2016's hero release. She has 32 skin variations and colors. While the Vikings have a total of 9.

submitted by /u/Vindicare605
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Grubby | The 50% Winrate Matchmaking Principle

Posted: 11 Feb 2018 04:18 PM PST

Raynor: the "Glorifed Lane Minion"

Posted: 11 Feb 2018 11:21 AM PST

While Grubby was being sarcastic when he describe Raynor as a glorified lane minion, I actually think it's totally fine for that to be Raynor's niche as a hybrid assassin/specialist, similar to how Junkrat currently functions.

I want any Raynor rework to simply update him and delineate his niche as a lane pusher who buffs nearby allies and keeps enemies at arms length while seiging. Here is my brainstorming on how to do that:

  • As many have suggested: Raynor's Trait without a doubt must be improved, his E should be rolled into it. I believe it's currently the only basic ability in the game that's completely passive baseline, and that's boring design and seriously outdated.

  • I would like to see his current E worked into his trait, and renamed "Resourcefulness" (in lore, both friend and foe alike have called Jim Raynor "resourceful"); give it a talent at 13 or 16 called "Uncannily Resourceful" (Kerrigan quote) that provides him Armor and extra healing and maybe even self-cleansing, and an earlier talent called "Adrenaline Rush" that grants movement speed and provides activate-able using D. Advanced Optics should be renamed "U-238 shells" since that's the actual Marine range upgrade from the game. I would also suggest a mechanic by which the cooldown on Resourcefulness would reduce by a set amount for each minion that dies shortly after Raynor kills damages it.

  • I wouldn't mind seeing him with bribe/merc lord talents as well as something that enhances the PvE damage on his Q. Raynor's lore has him working with mercenaries often so from a fluff perspective I'm disappointed he doesn't get any merc-centric abilities. To take this further I think it would be awesome if Raynor had the unique ability to Bribe enemy mercs that were already capped - a conversion of sorts. Maybe that ability could be his new E, since his current E should just be combined with his Trait.

  • I want to see many of his abilities renamed to better match actual Starcraft lore and his character lore. Instead of Seasoned Marksmanship for example, rename it to "Renegade Crusade" or "Man on a Mission" or "One Man Against the Universe" - something characterful, like ZJ's "You Want Axe?". His Bribe talent if he got one would be called "...For the Right Price" which is what the Mercenary contact on the Hyperion, Mr. Hill, says when you click on him in the Wings of Liberty campaign.

  • Instead of a Scouting Drone he should have a "Scanner Sweep" that grants area vision like Hanzo's E or Rehgar's farsight. This could also potentially replace Raynor's current E instead of a bribe ability, or it could be an active-atable bound to the 1 key.

  • It would be cool for any Scanner Sweep ability to have a Talent that upgraded it to a passive "Motion Tracker" ability with a short range. In the SCII campaign Raynor has a motion detector that sees enemies and enemy movement as red dots on the map and minimap (like in the Escape from Braxis brawl). This could be tuned to work in Hots as a cool ability to detect incoming ganks and bush check, but maybe only working against moving targets for balance.

  • Finally would love to see Dusk Wings also give Banshees boosted HP and linear splash damage at 20 (similar to an Upgrade Banshees had available in Wings of Liberty campaign)

submitted by /u/DarkRaven01
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Rich Samuro - how to split push

Posted: 11 Feb 2018 04:38 AM PST

Orc Tychus Skin

Posted: 11 Feb 2018 09:12 AM PST

Image

Found this picture on /r/wow and thought of how perfectly it could work for a Tychus skin. With big orc muscles he could still have his same proportions as he does in his marine suit.

submitted by /u/kid-karma
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[Spoiler] LULVA WAVE

Posted: 11 Feb 2018 01:24 PM PST

Bakery - Quick Malfurion Tips and Build Guide

Posted: 11 Feb 2018 11:52 AM PST

TIL that when playing Blaze, the "Ping" sound indicates that you can use your Trait again

Posted: 11 Feb 2018 01:27 PM PST

I always wondered what that sound was and asked friends who played him, too. All claimed they did not hear a "Ping". I have to admit, that I got him to level 9 before I realized that. I hope this helps someone who did not realize, just like me, and I hope this wasn't posted before.

submitted by /u/DavesenDave
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Suggestion: Have Orbital BFG stopped if Hammer dies

Posted: 11 Feb 2018 10:24 AM PST

Currently, it's a mechanic that has no counter play. I think this will at least give some option of stopping it. Not a big deal but I thought it could be a nice idea. I'm just a bronze player though.. so maybe this idea is stupid. Please no hate.

Edit: some people in the comments, say they are afraid it will make BFG too weak. I think that's not a problem because they can always compensate for this change in some other way.

submitted by /u/Breetai_Prime
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Valentine's Day cards from HotS heroes

Posted: 11 Feb 2018 06:57 AM PST

Valentine's Day is close, so I'd like to share some cards drawn by subscribers of russian HotS fan-community called Tavern of Heroes: http://imgur.com/a/5JPm2

submitted by /u/ToH_Cheshire
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HGC North America :: Gale Force Esports vs HeroesHearth Esports :: Discussion thread

Posted: 11 Feb 2018 04:00 PM PST

Previous match thread: HGC North America :: Simplicity vs LFM esports.

Remember to upvote this thread to make it visible after another one is stickied. Thanks!

Time

The match should start at about 16:00 PST / 19:00 EST / 1:00 CET / the same time as this post. Please note that this time might not include potential delays.

Match reports, VODs

Prediction challenge

Streams

HGC Europe - useful links

Teams

Gale Force Esports vs HeroesHearth Esports
akaface support - flex Arthelon
bigempct ranged - support BBJ
bkid melee/flex - warrior ishb00
Fury warrior - ranged Khroen
MichaelUdall flex - flex McIntyre

Game version

HGC Phase 1 Week 4 is played on patch 2.29.9, which is the last patch before Maiev was released.

HGC match threads are created by /u/lerhond. Please mention or PM /u/lerhond if you have any feedback.

submitted by /u/HeroesEsportsThreads
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Can we increase load out amounts to 5 or 6?

Posted: 11 Feb 2018 08:17 AM PST

As more and more skins are released, its become increasingly difficult to manage load outs for favorite characters.

Heck, i'd pay shards, gold, or gems to get extra slots if I had to, but let us have a way to increase our options!

submitted by /u/delaurentism
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Am I missing something, or have they just decided to not make a Love Is In The Air skin this year?

Posted: 11 Feb 2018 04:36 PM PST

2015: Love Bug Anub
2016: Love Doctor Morales
2017: Love Goddess Tyrande
2018: ???????????????????

submitted by /u/express_sushi49
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When the rest of the team would rather get boss than push with curse... twice!

Posted: 11 Feb 2018 02:10 PM PST

https://i.imgur.com/0AbFw1k.png

There were even multiple enemies dead both times (3-4 heroes), so it was safe for me to push alone. If not, I would have followed the crowd, even though it drives me insane!

submitted by /u/CarpeBedlam
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Got matched with grandmaster as bronze 5

Posted: 11 Feb 2018 03:14 AM PST

https://imgur.com/gallery/c1lmm

He pretty much wiped the entire enemy team in every teamfight while I run around with my head cut off :D

submitted by /u/LawsonTse
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Uther the Lightbringer – Abilities, Quotes, and Skins Lore

Posted: 11 Feb 2018 10:02 AM PST

Hello, all! As promised, here is the followup to my Uther lore thread I posted on Friday, with the lore behind all of his abilities, talents, quotes, interactions, and skins.

Uther lore thread

All previous "Lore of" episodes

Abilities

Uther represents the paladin, an Alliance unit in Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness, a hero unit for the human faction in Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, and a playable class in World of Warcraft. However, while Uther was first introduced as a paladin unit in WC2, his Heroes of the Storm kit doesn't seem to take any real inspiration from that original incarnation. Instead, he is mainly based around the WC3 and WoW versions of the paladin.

  • D: Devotion, Eternal Vanguard - Uther's trait is one of those that have two separate effects built into it, so I'll just talk about each one individually.

    • Devotion - This ability is based on Devotion Aura, which first appeared as a passive Paladin ability in WC3, where it passively increased the armor of nearby friendly units. In World of Warcraft, Devotion Aura is a paladin ability that has gone through numerous redesigns over the years. Originally, it was a spell which, much like other aura spells, lasted indefinitely once activated and provided a buff to all nearby allies; specifically armor, much like the WC3 version. In the Mists of Pandaria expansion, Devotion Aura was changed to be a short-term (specifically 6 seconds long) buff that granted all party and raid members immunity to Silence and Interrupt effects and reduced magic damage taken. In Legion, it was redesigned yet again, this time as a talent available exclusively to the Holy specialization that passively causes all allies within a short radius of the paladin to take 20% reduced damage (split over the number of players in the aura), again being more similar to the WC3 version.
    • Eternal Vanguard - Eternal Vanguard is not directly based on any paladin ability, but is reminiscent of Spirit of Redemption, a passive ability for Holy priests in WoW that causes the priest to transform into an angelic spirit upon death. As the Spirit of Redemption, the priest cannot move, attack, or be targeted but can continue casting healing spells — now free of mana cost — on allies for 15 seconds, after which the priest dies "for real".
    • Flash of Light - While a spirit under the effects of Eternal Vanguard, Uther can use this spell to heal allies. In WoW, Flash of Light is a paladin healing spell that can be cast significantly faster and heals for more than the similar Holy Light spell, but also consumes a larger chunk of mana and should thus generally only be used in panicky situations when there isn't enough time to cast Holy Light to save an ally.

  • Q: Holy Light - The Light, or Holy Light of Creation, is one of the two most fundamental forces in the Warcraft universe. Before the birth of the cosmos, the Light existed as a boundless sea of harmonious energy, but as its energies shifted, pockets of cold nothingness formed and gave rise to the Light's opposite, the dark, vampiric force known as the Void. The mounting tensions between the Light and the Void eventually caused a series of cataclysmic explosions that gave birth to the physical universe. Pure Light and Void exist outside of reality but can manifest in the physical universe as holy and shadow magic, respectively. Paladins and other wielders of the Light can call upon the positive energies of holy magic to heal. In WC3, Holy Light is a Paladin ability that can either heal a friendly unit or deal damage to an enemy undead unit, but cannot be used on the Paladin himself (unlike the Heroes version). In World of Warcraft, Holy Light is a slow but efficient Holy paladin spell which simply heals an ally for a significant amount.

  • W: Holy Radiance - A Holy paladin spell in WoW which, after a short cast time, healed an ally for a significant amount and all other nearby allies for half of that amount. It also granted a charge of Holy Power, a special paladin ability resource generated by certain abilities and consumed by other finishing move abilities (similar to a rogue's or Feral druid's combo point system, which can also be seen in Valeera's abilities in Heroes). Holy Radiance was removed in Legion.

  • E: Hammer of Justice - A paladin ability that stuns an enemy for 6 seconds. The WoW version doesn't deal any damage, unlike the Heroes version. It is one of the first abilities learned by low-level paladins, becoming available at level 5.

  • R1: Divine Shield - Divine Shield is a paladin ability in WC3 and WoW that surrounds the paladin with an impenetrable shield, making them invulnerable to all damage. The original WC3 version lasted much longer than the WoW and Heroes incarnations, starting off at a 15-second duration and able to be upgraded all the way to a 45-second duration. The WoW version only lasts 8 seconds, has a 5 minute cooldown, and causes Forbearance, a debuff that prevents the paladin from being affected by Divine Shield and a couple of other powerful spells.

  • R2: Divine Storm - Divine Storm is an AoE damage ability for Retribution paladins that consumes 3 of the aforementioned Holy Power to unleash a whirl of divine energy, damaging all nearby enemies. Unlike the Heroes version, WoW's Divine Storm has no cooldown and does not stun enemies.

Talents

  • Level 1: Hammer of the Lightbringer - In the non-canonical Warcraft RPG sourcebook Shadows & Light, the "Hammer of the Lightbringer" is the name given to Uther's warhammer. In World of Warcraft, players who defeat the Lich King in Icecrown Citadel have a chance to loot a one-handed mace called Valius, Gavel of the Lightbringer, suggesting that it once belonged to Uther.

  • Level 4: Holy Shock - Holy Shock is a Holy paladin ability which can be used to either deal damage to an enemy or significantly heal an ally. It is apparently inspired by the WC3 version of Holy Light, which could either heal friendly units or damage enemy undead units. Holy Shock is notable for having been the namesake and one of the staples of "Shockadin", a somewhat popular but not really viable WoW talent build allowing paladins to specialize in ranged damage spells, but which seems to have gone extinct by now due to various ability changes over the years.

  • Level 4: Pursuit of Justice - Pursuit of Justice was a passive paladin talent that gave the paladin a permanent 15% movement speed increase, plus an additional 5% for each charge of Holy Power up to 3. It was removed in Legion.

  • Level 7: Guardian of Ancient Kings - A high-level paladin ability which originally temporarily summoned an angelic guardian to assist the paladin in various ways depending on the player's specialization: it helped Retribution paladins deal damage, healed Holy paladins, and reduced the damage taken by Protection paladins. In Warlords of Draenor, it was made exclusive to Protection paladins, and in Legion, the spell was altered to no longer summon a Guardian of Ancient Kings, but rather to tranform the paladin into one, reducing all damage taken by 50% for 8 seconds.

  • Level 7: Hand of Protection - Hand of Protection was one of several "Hand" spells, paladin abilities that gave powerful short-term buffs, all of which were removed in the Legion expansion. Hand of Protection made an ally immune to all physical attacks for 10 seconds, but also prevented them from attacking or using physical abilities during that time.

  • Level 13: Well Met - "Well met!" is Uther's Greetings emote in Hearthstone. I guess it's become a meme because of the distinctive way Uther speaks the line and because the way people tend to spam emotes at each other in Hearthstone.

  • Level 16: Beacon of Light - A Holy paladin ability which places a beacon on a friendly target, causing that target to be healed for a portion of all healing dealt by the paladin to other party or raid members.

  • Level 16: Tyr's Deliverance - Tyr was one of the mighty keepers — powerful beings created by the godlike titans to lead the collective of races known as the titan-forged in protecting Azeroth. Tyr was the greatest warrior of the titan-forged and valued the idea of achieving justice through self-sacrifice. I could talk for way longer about Tyr's lore, but the most important parts are that he helped guide five proto-dragons — Alexstrasza, Malygos, Neltharion, Nozdormu, and Ysera — to defeat the massive, evil proto-dragon Galakrond and later convinced his fellow keepers to uplift the five into the Dragon Aspects. During one battle with Galakrond, Tyr's hand was bitten off, and he later had it replaced with one forged of silver. Later, after Tyr's fellow keeper Loken was corrupted by the Old God Yogg-Saron, Tyr and his followers warred against Loken's forces, eventually stealing titan artifacts called the Discs of Norgannon and fleeing south, where Tyr eventually sacrificed himself to hold off two servants of the Old Gods sent by Loken — Kith'ix and Zakazj. After a fierce battle, Tyr and Zakazj killed each other, but Kith'ix managed to escape. The site where Tyr died was named "Tyr's Fall", or "Tirisfal" in the tongue of the vrykul race, and legends of the noble keeper and his silver hand persisted for centuries, having a profound impact on the humans that later settled in the Tirisfal Glades. Tyr's silver hand later inspired the name and symbol of Uther's paladin order, the Knights of the Silver Hand. In World of Warcraft: Legion, Tyr's own warhammer, the Silver Hand, becomes the artifact weapon for Holy paladins. Wielding the Silver Hand grants the use of a spell called Tyr's Deliverance, which releases the Light within the weapon to heal a nearby injured ally every 1 second for 10 seconds.

  • Level 16: Benediction - Benediction was a passive paladin talent which reduced the mana cost of all of the paladin's instant cast spells by a small percentage. It was removed in Cataclysm.

  • Level 20: Redemption - In WoW, all classes with a healer specialization have access to a resurrection ability that brings an ally back to life with 35% of their maximum health and mana, but takes 10 seconds to cast and cannot be used while the player is in combat. The paladin version is called Redemption.

  • Level 20: Divine Protection - A Holy and Protection paladin ability which slightly reduces all damage taken by the paladin for 8 seconds.

Removed talents

  • Level 1: Dense Weightstone (removed in 0.10.0) - Dense Weightstone is a low-level item that can be crafted by players with the Blacksmithing profession in WoW. It increases the damage of a blunt weapon by 8 for 1 hour.

  • Level 1: Fist of Justice (removed in 2.25.0) - Paladin talent which, in different ways depending on the player's spec, reduces the cooldown of Hammer of Justice.

  • Level 4: Boundless Conviction (removed in 2.25.0) - A paladin talent which increased the amount of Holy Power a paladin could store from 3 to 5. The talent was removed and made baseline for Retribution paladins in Legion.

  • Level 7: Burden of Guilt (removed in 2.25.0) - Paladin talent which caused Judgment (a ranged damage spell) to also slow the target's movement speed by 50% for 12 seconds.

  • Level 7: Cleanse (removed in 2.25.0) - This is an old generic Heroes of the Storm talent that isn't unique to Uther, but I'll talk about it here since it's based on a WoW paladin ability that removes all Poison, Disease, and Magic effects from a friendly target. Cleanse was originally available to all paladin specs, but in Legion it was made exclusive to Holy, and Protection and Retribution paladins instead received the similar spell Cleanse Toxins.

  • Level 7: Rebuke (removed in 0.10.0) - Paladin ability that interrupts an enemy's spellcasting and prevents them from casting another spell in the same school (magic type) for 4 seconds.

  • Level 16: Righteous Defense (removed in 2.25.0) - A rather unique paladin ability which, when used on a friendly target, randomly selected up to three enemies currently attacking that target and taunted them, forcing them to attack the paladin instead. It was removed in Mists of Pandaria.

Poke quotes

Warcraft III Uther quotes

Warcraft III Paladin quotes

I'm too old for this nonsense! - Uther was 64 years old at the time of his death, according to the Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos game manual. One of his WC3 poke quotes is "I'm getting too old for this".

Sometimes, the Light at the end of the tunnel is a train. - A joke on the saying "light at the end of the tunnel", an idiomatic expression for a better situation after a long hardship and also something that has often been reported as being seen by people who have had near-death experiences. This quote may also be a reference to one of a couple of different songs and musical albums — specifically "The Light at the End of the Tunnel (Was a Train Coming the Other Way)", a 2001 song by English musician Richard Hawley; "The Light at the End of the Tunnel (Is the Light of an Oncoming Train)", a 2002 song by the British rock band Half Man Half Biscuit; or The Light at the End of the Tunnel Is a Train, a 2005 album by English musician Whitey.

Today, I'm Uther the PAINbringer. - Uther's title is "the Lightbringer", given to him by his fellow paladin Turalyon after the Battle of Blackrock Spire.

What the...? What happened to that silver hand in the sky? / Seriously, 'Order of the Weird Space Triangle' doesn't have nearly the same ring to it! - This is a bit of a layered one. In WC2 and WC3, the in-game mouse cursor for players of the Alliance and human faction, respectively, uses the appearance of a metal gauntlet, as does the mouse cursor for all players in World of Warcraft regardless of faction. In Heroes of the Storm, however, the cursor uses a more abstract appearance as a white and gray triangle-ish shape. The Order of the Silver Hand is the name of the paladin order that Uther and Archbishop Alonsus Faol founded prior to the Second War, and which Uther continued to lead up until his death. The Silver Hand actually derives its name and symbol from the legend of Tyr (see the talents section above), but these two quotes jokingly imply that it's actually named after the appearance of the in-game mouse cursor in WC2, WC3, and WoW.

Back in my day, there was only one type of paladin, and we were glad to have 'em! - In WC2 and WC3, all paladins were simply "paladins", with all of them filling mostly the same role and possessing the same abilities. In WoW, however, paladins — like all playable classes — have several distinct class specializations with different playstyles, abilities, themes, and gameplay roles: Holy (healer), Protection (tank), and Retribution (damage dealer). Being a Support hero, Uther in Heroes of the Storm is mainly based around Holy paladins, but his abilities and talents take inspiration from all three paladin specs.

And we could only level to 10! What are you now? Level 100? More? [sigh] You kids these days... - The default maximum level for hero units in WC3 is 10 (though this cap can be modified in custom maps and certain campaigns). In World of Warcraft, the maximum character level was originally 60, but each subsequent expansion has increased this cap by increments of 5 or 10. At the time of Heroes of the Storm's release, the WoW level cap had been raised from 90 to 100 by the Warlords of Draenor expansion. As of the writing of this post (during the Legion expansion), the level cap is at 110, but the upcoming Battle for Azeroth will raise it to 120.

[someone sneezes off-camera] Light bless you. - A play on the phrase "God bless you", which is usually said in response to someone sneezing. Warcraft humans' worship of the Light fills much the same role as Catholic Christianity in the real world, with the human-centric Church of the Holy Light incorporating real-world attributes like bishops and cathedrals. In Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, there were actually explicit references to God and other real-world religious concepts like Heaven and Hell, but these were drastically toned down in later games, and the human religion was retconned from one of worshipping a single deity to the non-theistic faith in the Holy Light.

Let the righteous know peace, and the injust know the back of my hand. - I'm not actually sure what this is referencing, if anything.

My church is the field of battle. I mean, why do you think I carry this book around? My health? - One of Uther's WC3 poke quotes is "My church is the field of battle". I'm guessing that the second part is referring to the Manual of Health, a WC3 powerup item that increases a hero unit's hit points by 50 when clicked on.

By the way, a little bronze dragon told me about what you blood elves plan to do to my grave. I'm not thrilled about it. - Long after Uther's death, a blood elf named Mehlar Dawnblade tasked Horde adventurers with helping him defile Uther's Tomb, since Mehlar blamed Uther for the atrocities that his student Arthas committed. When Uther's insignia, which Mehlar had corrupted with fel magic, was brought to the tomb, Uther's ghost appeared and reprimanded the adventurer. The bronze dragonflight, which includes members such as Chronormu, is responsible for safeguarding time, and thus often travel through the timeways.

Interaction quotes

(Generic boast) Uther: "We will fight with honor." - Reference to Uther's start-of-match opening remark in Hearthstone: "I will fight with honor!"

Uther: "Why should I trust you, boy?" Arthas: "If you prefer, I can always kill you again." and Crown Prince Arthas: "You shouldn't, old man." - For years, Uther served as Arthas' mentor in the Knights of the Silver Hand and came to love the prince like a son. However, when the Plague of Undeath began spreading throughout Lordaeron, Arthas' quest to save the kingdom gradually caused him to fall to corruption, become a death knight of the Scourge, and murder his own father, King Terenas. Eventually, Arthas killed Uther while the paladin was attempting to guard the urn holding Terenas' ashes.

Arthas: "If you fail, Uther, know that I can always use another death knight." Uther: "Shut your mouth before I shut it for you." - Death knights are powerful, rune-wielding, unholy warriors of the undead Scourge. Many of the death knights that emerged during the Third War have close thematic ties to paladins, with many of them being former paladins that fell to darkness, and with the in-game WC3 Death Knight hero unit having abilities that are essentially reversals of the Paladin unit's abilities.

Crown Prince Arthas: "Try not to fail, Uther, as you did in service to my father." Uther: "Shut your mouth before I shut it for you." - Refers to Arthas' father, Terenas Menethil II, King of Lordaeron, to whom Uther was a close friend and loyal servant.

Uther: "And there goes my hearing." The Butcher: [roars] - Self-explanatory.

Uther: "Genn Greymane himself. It's about time Gilneas was back in the fight!" Greymane: "You're one of the few around here I trust, you know." - After the Second War, Genn Greymane chose to withdraw his kingdom of Gilneas from the Alliance of Lordaeron for various reasons and constructed the great Greymane Wall to isolate the nation from the rest of the world. Gilneas only rejoined the Alliance and the world at large after the Cataclysm many years later.

Greymane: "If I am to accept help, then I am glad it comes from you." Uther: "Hah, good to hear it, you old dog! G-- eh, sorry." - Dog puns, since Greymane is a worgen.

(To Horde characters) Uther: "Oh, the Horde. And this was shaping up to be such a nice day, too." - During the Second War, Uther led the Knights of the Silver in fighting for the Alliance of Lordaeron against the savage orcish Horde until the orcs were defeated and placed in Alliance interment camps. Years later, when Thrall rallied the orcs into escaping the camps and reforming the Horde, Uther led unsuccessful efforts to corral the uprising. He also later worked with Prince Arthas to combat an uprising from the Blackrock clan of orcs, though this was a wayward clan that had chosen not to join Thrall's Horde.

(To Horde characters) Uther: "Adding 'New' to the Horde's name doesn't absolve you of your sins, you know." - The revitalized Horde Thrall created by freeing the orcs from the interment camps is sometimes called the "New Horde" to signify a return to the orcs' noble, shamanistic roots and differentiate it from the demon-corrupted, bloodthirsty "Old Horde" that committed numerous atrocities as it rampaged across the orc homeworld of Draenor and the human nations in the Eastern Kingdoms. Uther didn't seem to believe the orcs to be capable of redeeming or changing themselves, still seeing them as vile curs by the time he and Arthas battled against the Blackrocks prior to the Third War.

Uther: "Lady Jaina, it is a pleasure to fight by your side once more." Jaina: "You have no idea how much we've missed your counsel, Uther." / Jaina: "Lord Uther, I am so sorry about Arthas. If only I could have convinced him." Uther: "That guilt lies with me, and I will live with it until my dying day." - Uther, Jaina, and Arthas fought side by side in their efforts to prevent Lordaeron from falling to the Scourge during the Third War, but neither Uther nor Jaina were able to prevent Arthas' corruption. Even long after Uther's death, he is remembered by the Alliance as a great hero whose shining example continues to serve as a source of inspiration and guidance.

Uther: "So it's you." Dreadlord Jaina: "Hah, you paladins never were easy to fool. Makes me glad Arthas killed you." / Dreadlord Jaina: "A wielder of the Light. How quaint." Uther: "Just shut up, will you? We've got a battle to win!" - As a demon wielding dark, corruptive fel magic and seeking to destroy Azeroth, Dreadlord Jaina is naturally opposed to the Light-wielding Uther. Her response in the first interaction refers to how Arthas killed Uther and many of his fellow Knights of the Silver Hand during the Third War, including Ballador, Dagren, Gavinrad, Halahk, Magroth, and Sage Truthbearer.

Uther: "I'll assume this 'Crusader' I've heard so much about is you." Johanna: "Yes, me. You know, no one will judge you if you can't keep up, paladin. You're simply outclassed." - Warcraft paladins and Diablo Crusaders, Paladins, and Templars share many similarities, being holy warriors that use a mystical force called the "Light" to protect the weak and smite the wicked. In terms of lore, many of Diablo's Paladins fell to darkness as a result of Mephisto's corruption of the Zakarum faith, and the cleric Akkhan formed the Crusaders to purify the faith. When the Crusader was introduced as a playable class in Diablo III: Reapers of Souls, many World of Warcraft paladin players became rather jealous (for lack of a better word) of many of the Crusader's unique abilities. This was also acknowledged by Blizzard in the 2014 April Fools fake patch notes. Several paladin abilities that have since been introduced in WoW appear to have taken very clear inspiration from the D3 Crusader, including Blessed Hammer (though that one was originally a Diablo II Paladin skill) and Divine Steed/Steed Charge.

Johanna: "Think you can keep up, paladin?" Uther: "Please. I was swinging the Light while you were still in short pants." - Uther's response here is likely a reference to The Light and How to Swing It, a paladin book item that was supposedly written by Uther and can be found in WoW's Dire Maul dungeon. The name of this book is in turn likely a reference to The Lead and How to Swing It, a 1994 album by Welsh singer Tom Jones.

Kel'Thuzad: "Ah, Uther. Always meant to thank you for the urn - it's made quite the phylactery." Uther: "Oh? Are you expecting me to give a damn? Hah. That's rich." - After King Terenas' death, Uther stood guard over the enchanted urn holding the king's ashes. Arthas killed Uther in order to obtain the magical urn, which was necessary to protect the remains of the necromancer Kel'Thuzad on the journey to the high elf kingdom of Quel'Thalas, where Kel'Thuzad could be resurrected using the elves' magical fount, the Sunwell. After Kel'Thuzad was resurrected as an undead lich, it was unclear what happened to the urn, but later in World of Warcraft, players noticed that Kel'Thuzad's phylactery (the physical container holding the lich's soul) used the same inventory icon as King Terenas' urn in WC3. Though it should be noted that the icon in question is pretty commonly used for numerous other items as well, this coincidence, coupled with the lack of explanation for where the urn went or where the phylactery came from, led to speculation that the urn and phylactery were one and the same. This interaction between Kel'Thuzad and Uther evidently confirms this theory, but since Heroes of the Storm is non-canonical, it hasn't technically been confirmed in canon lore yet. (Though, personally, I expect it's only a matter of time before it gets canonically confirmed as well.)

Uther: "'Skeleton King', eh? Little on the nose, don't you think?" Leoric: "Do not speak to me in those tones!" - Leoric is a king and he's also a skeleton, so "Skeleton King" is a pretty obvious title for him.

Leoric: "Do not trouble yourself. My expertise shall more than make up for your shortcomings." Uther: "No wonder your people killed you." - Leoric was killed by a group of his own soldiers — led by the knight Lachdanan — due to a slight case of Diablo-possession-induced insanity.

Uther: "Hah! Hail and well met, my fellow soldier!" Lt. Morales: "Everyone loves a medic." / Lt. Morales: "You look like a tough one. Let's win this thing together!" Uther: "Which part? The giant eagle shoulderpads, or is it my magical first aid hammer?" - Uther and Morales are both career soldiers that use their abilities to heal others.

(To new races) Uther: "You're from Azeroth? I swear, you leave the planet for a few years and everything goes to hell!" - Azeroth is home to a vast variety of races that didn't really become known to the humans of the Eastern Kingdoms until after Uther's death, including night elves (such as Illidan, Maiev, Malfurion, and Tyrande), tauren (such as E.T.C.), and to an extent pandaren (such as Chen and Li Li).

(To night elves) Uther: "And here I thought high elves were full of themselves." - While humans have had a long history of cooperation with the high elves of the Eastern Kingdoms, as mentioned, they didn't really encounter the high elves' "parent race" — the night elves of Kalimdor — until after Uther's death. All elven races are sometimes viewed by non-elves as being quite prideful and arrogant.

Uther: "Sylvanas? You look like hell!" Sylvanas: "Hold your tongue, or I'll tear it out!" / Sylvanas: "I thought I was done suffering fools!" Uther: "And I thought being dead would make someone LESS aggressive!" - Sylvanas was originally the Ranger-General in charge of the defenses of the high elf kingdom of Quel'Thalas until she was killed and raised into undeath by Arthas when the Scourge invaded the kingdom. It seems Uther met Sylvanas at least once while she was still alive, and since she hadn't yet been killed by the time Uther died, he is quite bemused to see her undead form in the Nexus. It should be noted that Uther's ghost later interacted with Sylvanas when she and a group of Horde adventurers infiltrated Icecrown Citadel in search of answers on how to defeat the Lich King, but since Heroes' Uther is still, well, alive, that hasn't happened yet from his perspective.

Uther: "Hail, friend! What do you say, ready to dispense some justice?" Tyrael: "I am justice itself." / Tyrael: "I stand beside you, Lightbringer! Justice will be met this day!" Uther: "Hah, now this is going to be one to remember!" / Uther: "Hail, friend! What do you say, ready to dispense some justice?" Mecha Tyrael: "Justice dispensation is my primary function." / Mecha Tyrael: "Weapon systems fully charged. Fuel cells at maximum. Justice commencing." Uther: "Alright, let's see what you've got!" - As a paladin, Uther greatly values the concept of justice. Tyrael, being the Archangel of Justice, is the embodiment of the concept.

Uther: "Varian, the last time I saw you you were still a pup." Varian: "Oh, admit it, you did that on purpose." - After Stormwind was destroyed by the Horde in the First War, the kingdom's survivors — including the orphaned Prince Varian — sought refuge in Lordaeron, where Varian befriended that kingdom's own prince, Arthas. After the Second War, the Knights of the Silver Hand helped Varian, now a teenager, settle into his role as king of the rebuilt Stormwind. It seems Uther did not see Varian again after that. The pup thing is a reference to the fact that Varian is heavily associated with wolves, having received the name Lo'Gosh ("Ghost Wolf") while he was an amnesiac gladiator and being considered the champion of the wolf demigod Goldrinn.

Uther: "A necromancer, eh? Can't say I'm a fan of your kind." Xul: "Save your vitriol for someone who cares." - Lordaeron fell to the undead Scourge thanks to the machinations of the Cult of the Damned, led by the necromancer Kel'Thuzad, so Uther would have plenty of reasons to dislike wielders of necromancy.

Xul: "Try not to die out there. I'd hate to have to summon a skeleton from your corpse." Uther: "You know, you sound awfully familiar." - References the fact that Uther and Xul both have the same voice actor, Michael McConnohie.

Uther: "You know, you sound awfully familiar." Kel'Thuzad: "What are you implying, paladin? That all necromancers sound alike?!" - Michael McConnohie is also the voice of Kel'Thuzad. Kel'Thuzad's response here is also a bit meta in that it points out how Uther says the same thing to both Kel'Thuzad and Xul, both of whom are necromancers.

Kill quotes/Killing Uther quotes

Okay, so I really hate to do this, but I am simply unable to fit in all of the material I wanted to include within the constraints of Reddit's maximum character limit. To solve this, I'll post all of Uther's kill quotes and the quotes from other heroes killing Uther in the comments instead of including them in the post proper. Again, I didn't really want to do this, but it's unfortunately how these things go when there are so many references to talk about.

Other quotes

By my honor. / For the Light! / Right. / Very wise. (move) - WC3 move quotes.

For Lordaeron! (attack and shop) - The human kingdom of Lordaeron is Uther's homeland and was the leading nation of the Alliance during the Second War. It fell into ruin due to the undead Scourge during the Third War.

For the Silver Hand! / Light curse you! (attack) - WC3 attack quotes.

I am the hammer of justice! (attack and shop) - An unused line that can be found in the game files for the WC3 mission "Digging up the Dead" but is never actually spoken by Uther in the mission.

Justice demands retribution! (revenge) - This is Uther's threaten emote in Hearthstone.

Strike with great vengeance! (attack) - An attack quote used by generic Paladin units in WC3.

The Light is with us! (attack) - WC3 select quote.

Skins

  • Silver Hand - A reference to Uther's paladin order, the Knights of the Silver Hand.

  • Grand Marshal (former Master skin) - Grand Marshal's Aegis is an item set for Alliance paladins that could only be obtained prior to patch 2.4.0 and was purchased using the Honor Points and Mark of Honor currencies obtained from participating in PvP gameplay.

  • Judgment - Judgment Armor is the tier 2 paladin set in World of Warcraft. It is often considered one of the most unique and iconic armor sets in the game, and is a consistently popular choice for paladin transmogrification (a system allowing players to change the appearance of their gear to look like other items). Heroes of the Storm's Judgment Uther depicts an alternate timeline in which the Lightbringer survived his duel with Arthas and went on to join King Varian Wrynn's forces and lead the Knights of the Silver Hand during the campaign to confront Arthas in Northrend.

    • Blessed Judgment - This recolor has a similar coloration to the Blessed Battlegear of Undead Slaying, a plate armor set that could only be obtained during the one-time Scourge Invasion world event that was active during the pre-expansion patch for Wrath of the Lich King. Visually, the set is a recolored version of Judgment (though it only consists of hands, shoulders, legs, and chest pieces) and can be worn by any plate class, not just paladins.
    • Penance Judgment - This recolor is based on a purple recolor of Judgment Armor introduced in The Burning Crusade. While it has no official name, the set is sometimes unofficially referred to as "Penance" armor after the name of the set's helmet, the Mask of Penance. The different pieces of the set drop from different bosses in various The Burning Crusade dungeons, and it's not a true item set; that is, wearing all of the items together won't grant any special set bonus to stats or abilities. Instead, it's merely a bunch of items that, when put together, forms a purple recolor of Judgment.

  • Medic - This skin is themed around terran medics from StarCraft. See Subsourian's post on the topic for more detail. One thing I wanted to mention that wasn't included in Subsourian's post is that Medic Uther's hammer features the "L" insignia of the kingdom of Lordaeron, which is sometimes used as a symbol for humanity as a whole.

  • Sulfuron - A variation on Judgment Uther, apparently depicting Uther as having defeated Ragnaros the Firelord and picked up Ragnaros' powerful elementium hammer, Sulfuras. The name "Sulfuron" itself appears to variously be an adjective form of - or synonym for - Sulfuras, Ragnaros' hammer.

    • Felfuron - Fel magic is the chaotic, destructive, corrupting, and life-consuming magic of demons in the Warcraft universe. It commonly has a bright green color, and the name "Fel" is a common prefix for green skins in Heroes of the Storm.

And that is all for this week. Again, see the comments for the stuff I had to leave out of the main post. For the next lore thread I'm thinking of covering none other than Thrall, but due to how much work that'll likely require, I'll probably take an extra week to work on it. In other words, see you all in two weeks! (Probably.)

submitted by /u/StuntedSlime
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Ana is one of the most fun healers in the game, but her early game leaves much to be desired

Posted: 11 Feb 2018 06:01 AM PST

Ana with her quest complete is a monster after level 16. Her 13 and 16 talents make her healing absurd if you can land her shots. But her early game is so much weaker than most other healers. Not only does her q heal for almost nothing, but her sleep dart range is too small. I don't know if she actually needs changes but it would be nice if a bit of her power were shifted into the early game. Especially since it's so much more important after the December changes.

submitted by /u/FelixRyker
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So much wasted space on the Heroes Esports website.

Posted: 11 Feb 2018 08:03 AM PST

One of my gripes with the heroes esports page is the huge amount of wasted space, i find myself having to scroll 2-3 screens worth of padding just to find out the results. Why isnt all the information displayed on 1 screen?

 

I removed the scores so don't worry about spoilers.

How it looks now - https://i.gyazo.com/5cd2b8c40b728edac38de2eeff53d860.png or take a look yourself - https://esports.heroesofthestorm.com/en/schedule

My proposition (rough) - https://i.gyazo.com/41b0cf470a529da5f428e21d742aee3c.png

 

I feel a weeks worth of results should be displayed on 1 screen.

submitted by /u/Maskimus
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Hide account info from public?

Posted: 11 Feb 2018 08:13 PM PST

Any way to hide your account info from anyone? I'm getting a lot of toxic people looking at account and going I'm not letting you play that hero you only have this win percentage on that hero and just troll entire game. It's happened on multiple ocassions.

submitted by /u/Polishfisherman3
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Higher level strategies for winning the laning phase

Posted: 11 Feb 2018 10:19 AM PST

Before we get into the fresh meat, it's important to know that soaking is the act of being within a certain range of an enemy minion when it dies. It's not like CS, you don't even have to hit a wave to soak all of the experience in a wave (roughly 458 do per wave.)

What is a laning phase?

A laning phase is the time in between objectives. Although teamfighting and objective phases are a huge and pivotal part of this game, winning the laning phase often and early can ultimately mean you win the teamfight and obj, and the game.

How do we define winning a laning phase?

There are some obvious ways to win a laning phase. Killing your opponents while not dying is one of the biggest, since that's one less body to soak experience for your enemies. Getting early towers and forts are also a huge win, but there are more nuanced and subtle ways to get the edge. How I define winning laning phases goes like this:

  • You soak all of the xp in a wave and get the regen globe. You can go the extra mile and zone your enemies regen globe.

  • You take note of your enemies talents and heroes and limit their quest development. This is done by dodging Mura Q, not standing right behind your minion wave against a Greymane after level 7 (or just not trading with Greymane at all with his Wizened Duelist), not engaging the Hanzo since he outpokes nearly every hero. This is a big reason to not fight mid at the beginning of a game against a comp that has level 1 quest talents like Kaelthas, Kelthuzad, Azmodan and Chromie. Conversely, this is why you should look for a fight at the beginning to get a head start. Laning phases are where most of quests are developed. The more you dodge skillshots in general and are aware of how you are feeding your enemy at times without even dying is super important. This is why you play conservative in lane sometimes, because those 5 times you engaged hard on Zul'jin for nothing might lead to him getting a power spike on quest completion and wrecking you on the 6th try.

  • You time camps and ganks right before an obj so that they get the most value, as well as powersoaking before objs to maybe just get a talent advantage. Getting a gank at 1 minute is cool, but keeping ur enemy low and in range and killing them at 2 minutes means your opponent is outnumbered on the obj. Also, if you are down in xp and an obj pops up, don't be afraid to keep pushing a lane or soaking so that you are even, esp at level 10, 16, and 20 disadvantages. This is not winning the laning phase though, that's more salvaging.

  • Basically you are trying to gain some kind of edge and diminish your opponents in between objectives. It's like your sharpening your axe and stockpiling nukes against your enemy while trying to sabotage their resources so that when both teams inevitably puke everything they have onto eachother, your team wins out.

How should I treat minions?

The average player/team will kill all of the minions in a wave and leave to do the same in another lane. Although this is efficient and makes sure your team at least keeps up on soak, it's not the best way to win laning phases for two reasons:

  • If you are winning the lane and push waves too hard, the next wave will meet the enemy minions closer to your opponents towers. This means it's easier for your opponent to soak and gank your teammate in this lane since they have to stray farther from your gates to soak. Not only does this hamper your team's ability to safely soak, but over time this will clog your enemies lane and create a MASSIVE enemy minion wave that will push very hard. It's easy to respond to, but if this happens during an obj you can say goodbye to towers and sometimes even forts and keeps.

  • You don't deny experience to your enemies this way. You actually help opponents by clearing minion waves very fast, because it ensures more of your minions will remain alive for your opponents to soak.

What about specific situations in lane?

In a solo lane situation against another solo laner, the most beneficial impact you can have for your team is to zone the enemy away from your minions, while staying within range of the minions so you can soak. This is a bit risky as you generally need to go farther away from your gates in order to do this and you may be yanked. Basically you don't hit the minions, you just kind of swagger and posture to keep the enemy away, taking positive trades in damage and staying safe always. Ranged heroes do this the best since they can trade damage from range, but they are more easily yanked.

If there is no enemy in a lane, hiding in a bush near the minions is a great play. It may sound weird, but this is actually the most optimal soaking because you don't show on the map, you soak the wave, you don't shove your minions into your enemy to be soaked, and if there's really no enemy (they might even be hiding in a bush) they lose out on 458 xp and you are that much farther ahead. The trade off here is you are basically afk for a while instead of instantly clearing and then trying to setup a gank, but the slight edge gained is well worth it when you are consistently a level ahead.

In situations where there are 2 or 3 opponents in your lane, playing passive is the key. I like to mount and be right on the edge of the soak radius of minions as the opponents are clearing, while walking a fine line between danger and safety so the enemy spends more time in my lane. Hopefully your team is doing something productive while this is going on, as they don't have to immediately respond to a 3 man push in your lane if they can get a better trade in another lane, like a kill and a strong push. When playing this way try to safely dismount enemies to buy time for your allies if they move from your lane (this is more of a tanks roll esp. etc or muradin.) You dont even have to be all this extra either, simply staying behind your gate and letting the minions come to you is a heads up play. This might mean the next wave pushed is closer to your gate.

In situations where your enemy is pushing a lane/fort/keep aggressively, you dont have to run to them and respond, you can keep soaking your lane and mirror their push. This is better executed if your team is with you while the enemy team is pushing another lane so you can trade evenly on towers/forts/or keeps. This can happen against Sylv comps. If you are trading keeps though, that can very easily become a base race so you need to judge if your team has enough structural damage to justify a trade. If you take too long to get the keep down your enemy might already be at your core when you're done and you wont have enough time to hearth.

TL;DR Win the laning phase by soaking as much as possible and denying soak to gain an xp advantage, dodging skillshots and avoiding trades with certain heroes to avoid quest development for your enemy, timing ganks and camps before objs and most importantly PLAYING YOUR LIFE

Sry for errors, drafted this on mobile, glhf!

submitted by /u/zammybars
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League player been enjoying this game but would like some tips (and maybe hero suggestions)

Posted: 11 Feb 2018 08:50 PM PST

So as a small backstory I play league mostly and I'm currently sitting at D5 on that ladder, but I want to expand on the games I play and try something new to prevent burnout I still love league and will likely play it more than HoTS but want to try other games for now and this one has grown on me.

Currently Ive been trying to find heroes that I enjoy and so far I have been trying to find ones that feel different than most of the characters in league specifically ones with mechanics unique to this game as in my mind why would I bother playing a game I am far worse at if it feels like league.

For this reason I have been playing TLV a lot despite their large skill curve and have really been enjoying them (the micro is something im still getting used to, but I can tell im improving and that to me is really rewarding).

I guess what I really would appreciate from this community is are there any hero suggestions that might be a breath of fresh air from your average league character and any similar to the ones I normally play (zoe (yes I know I welcome the flame) orianna nidalee gragas and lee sin note: I've also been playing kharazim who i find pretty similar to lee and he is fun to me) and also any tips that are useful in rhis game (like I learned you can queue commands but Im not sure when exactly to use that tool and what the use is. Sorry if this seems a bit rambling Im kinda tired and prob gonna sleep soon

submitted by /u/Kr4zykilla
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