Heroes of the Storm (HotS) is trying to bring something new to the world of MOBA games with its unique features and approach. Under the wing of Blizzard, HotS has everything it needs to compete with LoL and Dota 2. Read on to find out more about Heroes of the Storm betting.
What is HotS?
Heroes of the Storm is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game developed by Blizzard. The game features heroes from various other Blizzard games such as Warcraft 3 and Overwatch. Like many other MOBA games, it has a free-to-play model which is supported by micropayments.
These payments are used to purchase heroes (characters), skins (adaptations to in-game items) and mounts (creatures that can be used in the game). HotS is widely considered to be a MOBA game, but Blizzard prefers to call it a ‘hero brawler’.
Like League of Legends (LoL) and Dota2, games are played in teams of five, although HotS is played through Blizzards online gaming service Battle.net. Players can pick from one of 75 different heroes, with new ones being added frequently.
The heroes are split into four different roles: Assassin, Warrior, Support and Specialist. The action is played across 14 maps which one of the biggest differences between HotS and other MOBA games - they are normally played on just one map.
Another difference is the way experience points (XP) are distributed. The XP is shared with the entire team on HotS. When a team reaches a certain XP threshold all heroes on that team level up. Levelling up provides the heroes with improved powers. Every few levels, players may select a new talent which gives them a new ability or augments an existing one.
KSV Black, formerly called MVP Black are one of the best teams at the moment, taking first place at the 2017 Global Championship and the $500,000 prize pool.
One reason for this different system is it promotes teamwork rather than individual plays as one play can affect the whole team. One slight disadvantage of it is the lack of a carry (a player who is the main focal point of the attack) as nobody can really pull so far ahead of the other heroes.
HotS: A brief history
During BlizzCon 2010, a custom map called Blizzard DOTA was announced alongside a number of other mods as part of the arcade feature for StarCraft 2. Blizzard decided to make significant gameplay changes from the original concept and demoed the new version at BlizzCon 2011, describing the gameplay as “fast” and “streamlined”.
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Shortly after Dota 2 was announced, Blizzard expressed concern at Valve for using and trademarking a name that originated from Warcraft III (a game created by Blizzard). Blizzard eventually purchased DotA-Allstars from Riot Games (the company that makes League of Legends).
In August 2013, Blizzard president Mike Morhaime stated Blizzard All-Stars had reached a significant testing milestone, describing the game as an “action real-time strategy” and that Blizzard wanted to put their own spin on the genre. On October 17, 2013 the name of the game was changed to Heroes of the Storm. After various closed and open testing phases, the game was officially released on June 2, 2015.
Heroes of the Strom betting: Who are the best teams?
KSV Black, formerly called MVP Black are one of the best teams at the moment, taking first place (and the $500,000 prize pool) at the 2017 Global Championship. Another three first-place finishes during the same year cemented their place as one of the best teams in the world. The stability of their team is a big reason for this, with only a couple of players changing since their formation.
Fnatic, consisting of four Swedes and one French player made two roster changes at the end of 2017 to try and bridge that gap to KSV Black. Despite winning four tournaments, they felt with a few changes they can reach even greater heights. It will take time before we know whether or not the roster changes worked, so look out for them in a few months when perhaps their performances will peak.
The action is played across 14 maps which one of the biggest differences between HotS and other MOBA games - they are normally played on just one map.
Other teams slightly further back are Ballistix and Team Dignitas. Losing Mene to Fnatic will be a big blow for Team Dignitas as they have fallen short against their European rivals most of the year, if they were to lose another important player it would really hamper their chances of progressing as a team.
Ballistix (formerly L5) had some decent performances towards the summer but slowly dropped off as the year went on. Losing 3-0 to Fnatic and 3-2 to Team Dignitas is not the level they wish to be at and they will hope the inclusion of Magi will prove to be a good one.
How to bet on HotS
Betting on HotS at Pinnacle is quite similar to LoL or CS:GO betting. The main markets available are betting on the outcome of a match (also known as the Money Line), handicaps (spreads and maps) or the outright winner of specific tournaments.
With 14 available maps (battlegrounds as Blizzard calls them) each side will have different maps they prefer and that is something you can look out for (like in CS:GO). For example, Fnatic lost Dragon Shire most of the times they played it at HotS Gold World Championship and this clearly is not a very strong map for them. Keeping an eye on patterns such as this can be useful if you wish to be successful in your Heroes of the Storm betting.
Other things to consider are the team compositions, perhaps even more so in LoL or Dota 2. Teams can get an advantage over their opposition before the game has begun in HotS, purely by who they have selected. Also, with no gold in the game players cannot purchase items to scale quicker than their opponents. This does impact the potential for a player to carry a team and keeps things a lot more even. Coming back into a game then depends on greater factors than in other games.
Now that you know how to bet on HotS, you can keep up to date with the latest Heroes of the Storm events and bet with the best eSports odds online at Pinnacle.