Top 5 Innovative Heroes of the Storm Heroes

Blizzard Entertainment’s MOBA Heroes of the Storm has constantly shown innovation and design that is willing to push the limits of the genre. With the latest reveal for upcoming Heroes to their roster, the game has continued to show this design direction with no intentions of stopping. Here are our top five examples of Heroes that have changed our perceptions of what could be in the MOBA genre:

5. Nova

While many players will find it surprising that Nova would make the top 5 list, her playstyle completely embodies the soul of a sniper. She stalks along the edges of a battle with her cloaking ability and waits quietly to strike a target of opportunity with massive damage. The player must line up the shot and take it with perfect timing within the chaos of battle in order to not compromise her own safety. A good Nova will be able to fire a shot in safety and skulk out of combat while she waits for her abilites to re-load.

4. The Lost Vikings

Although multi-control characters such as Meepo from DoTA have already existed for years, The Lost Vikings take it to another level with their split death-timers and ability to come together in a combined ultimate attack. Each Viking also has a completely different playstyle despite all sharing the same abilities. One member has high health, one is a balanced fighter, and one attacks at range with a slingshot.

3. Rexxar

The Batman wannabe of Azeroth always brings his trusty companion Misha in to battles. The two in one character makes use of a pet system unlike any other as the two fight and control as one. Several of Rexxars abilities actually target his bear and careful targeting and spacing is required to utilize him to the fullest extent. Although Misha is tanky, Rexxar himself falls easily under pressure causing players to have to expertly utilize attack-moving in order to place themselves into optimal positioning.

2. Murky

This little pain in the ass warrants the #2 spot despite how much I wish he was removed from the game. He is a low health character that dies easily, but also comes back easily. The Murloc can place an egg anywhere on the map that allows him to spawn within a few seconds at the location of his egg. This makes him a great pusher and great at creating chaos in the enemy team. The bastard is actually encouraged to die for the greater good of his team (over and over again…) as he only grants a quarter of the reward that a normal kill grants. He’s the master of attrition and distraction.

1. Abathur

It’s no surprise that Abathur takes the cake in our #1 slot as he completely changes how players views the game. As a representation of a StarCraft player, Abathur is the brains of the group, using superior map control through warding mines that can be upgraded to slow and the ability to augment his team through symbiotes from anywhere on the map.

Abathur is weak alone with no abilities usable on his own and relies on staying hidden in relative safety in order to enter his cocoon to symbiote allies. His playstyle represents knowledge as his second heroic ability allows him to clone an ally—an effective Abathur player must know the abilities of every character in the game in order to utilize this.

Honorable Mention

While Cho’Gall isn’t out yet, he seems promising as the first 2-player MOBA character. It takes two heads to play this hulk with one head playing as a Warrior and the other as a Caster-Assassin. We can only speculate how the new character truly change the Co-Op MOBA game.

Do you feel that another character deserves to be on this list instead? Let us know below!