Tag Archives: Heroes of the Storm

Gaming Round-Up: Li-Ming Impressions, Grey Goo’s Shroud, TSW, D3, and a Moose

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It’s that time again: I’ve got a bunch of gaming topics that I want to discuss, but which aren’t quite meaty enough to fill an entire post.

The splash screen for Li-Ming in Heroes of the StormLet us not waste time.

She’s so good she astounds herself:

At last, the final playable character from Diablo III has reached Heroes of the Storm. I might complain about them taking so long to add my favourite, but clearly they were just saving the best for last.

There weren’t many characters left I was super excited to see in Heroes, but Li-Ming is one of them, and on the whole, I’m fairly happy with how she turned out. I’m not sure she’ll threaten Jaina’s position as my go-to assassin, but she’s definitely a fun character.

The interesting thing about Li-Ming is that she feels very different from the game’s other heroes without resorting to coo-coo bananas weirdness like Abathur or Murky. Not that I don’t enjoy coo-coo bananas weirdness, but it’s good to know Blizzard can make heroes feel distinct in more subtle ways, as well.

Li-Ming is one of those hyper-specialized heroes. Her ability damage is absolutely ruinous, but her auto-attacks, much like the goggles, do nothing, and her health is so low that she instantly evaporates under any kind of pressure.

IMMA FIRIN MAH LAZORBased on that, I’m finding the best strategy is actually to not auto-attack at all and simply hang way at the back and bombard the enemy team with spells. Her spell range is very long (she even out-ranges towers, which makes for some intriguing possibilities), so it works surprisingly well, and it keeps her well out of harm’s way.

Zeratul is the bane of her existence, though. Why are all the characters I play hard countered by Zeratul? What did I ever do to him?

She looks amazing, too. The detail on her clothing and the expressiveness of her face are unbelievable. Makes me sad she looks so much crummier in her own game.

My only complaint with Li-Ming is that she’s another character who rides her mounts side-saddle. It was bad enough on Jaina, but it could not be more hilariously out of character for Li-Ming. Because we all know how shy, demure, and proper she is.

*Eye-roll.*

At least I’ve got my hoverboard from the Legacy of the Void CE.

Zoning into a match as Li-Ming in Heroes of the StormRandom fun fact: I had a bit of trouble early on because I kept trying to teleport using the Diablo hotkey for it.

Grey Goo: Descent of the Shroud

Much to my surprise, sci-fi RTS Grey Goo launched a free DLC a few days ago that adds an entire new playable race. To the Beta, they are the Silent Ones. To the Goo, they are the Shroud. To all sentient life, they are the enemy.

Unfortunately, the new story content in Descent of the Shroud is limited to a single, very brief mission. At that point, you have to wonder why they even bothered. There aren’t even any new cinematics, which is a real shame because after all the hype I was eager to witness the Silent Ones in all their terrible glory.

The only conclusion I can come to is that the developers wanted to do more but simply didn’t have the resources. Again, it’s a real shame.

Mmm, free gooI did play a skirmish map just to see what the Shroud are all about, and they turn out to be pretty interesting. They’ve got much of the creative design found in the Goo, but without being so awkward or irritating to play.

Some of their units are very clever. For instance, their artillery, rather than firing a traditional projectile, summons an invulnerable unit that will run through the target area, damaging all it touches, until the artillery dies or is told to move.

As increasingly unlikely as it seems, I really do want to see a sequel or ambitious expansion to Grey Goo. It’s a game with some rough edges, to be sure, but some of the ideas behind it are really good, and the story represents some of the best science fiction I’ve seen in a video game.

And I definitely want to learn more about the Shroud. Where do they come from? What is their motivation? They’re such a mystery. I find it interesting that their entire mythos is about silence, but all their unit names are sound-related. Echo, klaxon, banshee, howler…

A Shroud base in Grey GooThe Secret World: Shambala

I remain very happy with TSW’s new group finder. Queue times are very quick, and I’ve yet to have a bad run. Recently I got to run the Facility for the first time in forever, and I was reminded how much I truly love that place. It’s the sort of strange and fascinating story you can only find in The Secret World — mad Soviet scientists tear into reality deep beneath the earth to understand the deepest mysteries of the universe.

But the dungeon finder isn’t the only new addition of note. The game has also gotten its first new PvP mini-game post-launch, Shambala.

Having recently changed my view on PvP in TSW from “wouldn’t touch it with a thirty-nine and a half foot pole” to “it’s a decent diversion now and then,” I made sure to give Shambala a shot.

It’s definitely not like any other MMO PvP I’ve experienced. Shambala is single elimination death match. That is, if you die, you’re dead. No respawns, no second chances. Last team standing wins.

Making things even more frenetic are constantly spawning buffs and environmental hazards, and the arena regularly shrinks as a deadly winter storm closes in. Win or lose, it’s always over fast.

A Shambala match in The Secret WorldAll the matches I’ve played have been terribly one-sided, but they’re over so fast it’s hard to get frustrated. Even if you get your ass kicked, it’s not like you’ve wasted much time. It’s certainly a change of pace from the more drawn-out capture mechanics MMO PvP tends to focus on.

D3: New zones

Diablo III has also had some more free updates recently. Patch 2.4 added several new areas, the most significant of which is Greyhollow Island.

It’s an interesting zone. It’s not really clear what’s gone on there, but clearly there is something terribly wrong with that island. Normally I find this kind of ambiguity in story-telling obnoxious, but when it comes to horror, I’m okay with it. The unknown is always scarier than the known.

It’s an incredible looking zone, too. I’ve often ragged on D3’s graphics, but Blizzard is getting better at making the best of a bad situation. The detail in the textures is outstanding. It also has lovely audio and some pretty interesting monster designs.

The new Eternal Woods area of the Ruins of Sescheron is also gorgeous, though it seemed a bit light on content when I went there. On the plus side, I ran into a new (to me) event in the older section of the ruins while I was there and finally met Abd al-Hazir.

A disturbing ritual in Diablo III's Greyhollow Island zoneThat was neat, but after so long, I would have liked to have his appearance be a part of some larger story, rather than some throwaway event in the middle of nowhere.

I did like how he followed me around and provided occasional commentary on my surroundings even after the event, though.

As nice as these updates are, and as much as I do respect Blizzard for offering new free content entirely out of the kindness of their hearts, I still remain impatient for an expansion announcement. These little tastes of content only leave me hungry for more. I want a new class, a new full-length storyline, whole new lands to explore.

WoW: MooseQuest 2016

On top of everything else on my gaming plate, I have reluctantly returned to World of Warcraft.

Why? Because moose, that’s why.

I mean, I’m Canadian. Clearly I need a moose mount.

Initially my plan had been to gear up my rogue and earn it legitimately through a PUG, but apparently I dislike Warlords of Draenor more than I thought. It only took a day or two for burnout to hit and hit hard.

My monk riding her grove warden mount in World of WarcraftSo long story short, I paid a raiding guild thirty-thousand gold to carry my newb ass. Yes, it’s cheating. No, I don’t care. I have a moose, and that’s all that matters.

I had initially planned to level my monk to 100 while I’m here, but as it turns out, I’m really not in the mood to play WoW right now. Not Draenor, anyway. It seems like a waste — even if I paid for the month with gold, not real money — but right now I’m not sure I want to embark on this slog right now.

Be easier if she was Horde. Alliance gets stuck with bloody Yrel. Ugh…

Heroes of the Storm: My Builds – Johanna and Sylvanas

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I now continue my build guides for Heroes of the Storm. Today, I’ll be looking at my top-played warrior and specialist: Johanna and Sylvanas Windrunner.

A punisher moves on the enemy base in Heroes of the StormCoincidentally, Sylvanas is also one of the characters you can permanently unlock using my referral link. Learn the details here.

And don’t forget to check out my previous guides for Jaina and Tassadar.

UPDATE: The Sylvanas build has been updated to reflect the changes in the Dehaka patch on March 29, 2016.

Johanna: Shield of the Faithful

General thoughts: Johanna is the archetypal tank. She has very weak damage and mobility, but she’s extremely hardy and offers very strong crowd control. As Johanna, your most likely cause of death is going to be the inevitable overconfidence that comes from being almost — but not entirely — invincible.

Zoning into a Heroes of the Storm match as JohannaAs Johanna, your job is to get into the thick of battle and stay there. Constantly fowl the enemy team with your crowd control abilities. Force them to turn their attention to you — and away from your more vulnerable team mates.

Punish can more or less be your bread and butter damage ability. Condemn is useful for grouping up enemies for your team mates’ AoEs or interrupting powerful channeled abilities, like Valla’s strafe or Li-Li’s jug of a thousand cups. Shield glare is always handy but shines the most against auto-attack heroes like Valla or Illidan, and in rare cases, its long range and ability to ignore walls can allow you to land kills that would otherwise be out of reach. Iron skin’s shield is handy, but its crowd control immunity is arguably even better.

This build focuses on Johanna’s existing strengths, making her the perfect tank.

1: Reinforce: Using basic abilities grants a stack of block, reducing enemy auto-attack damage.

Pretty self-explanatory.

4: Laws of hope: Increases health regeneration. Can also be activated to provide a quick burst of healing.

Johanna has a pretty strong survival toolkit to start with, but the one she lacks is self-healing. This addresses that. The passive healing lets you recover from mild to moderate damage between fights, while the activated ability gives you burst healing to survive in the heat of battle.

Note that the passive regeneration continues even when the ability is on cooldown.

7: Battle momentum: Auto-attacks reduce ability cooldowns.

A versatile talent that allows you to apply crowd control more consistently, get more use out of reinforce, and boost your (admittedly meager) damage.

10: Falling sword: Leap into the air and crash down a few seconds later, damaging and knocking effected enemies upward.

Strong arguments can be made for both of Johanna’s ultimates, but I prefer falling sword. It deals more damage and can hit more targets, and in a pinch, you can use it as an escape tool.

13: Hold your ground: Increases the shield provided by iron skin and reduces its cooldown if it is destroyed.

Another talent that lets you hang in the thick of things longer, reinforcing your role as a frontline brawler.

16: Holy renewal: Shield glare heals you for each hero hit.

This plus laws of hope serves to address Johanna’s lack of self-healing. The healing for each hero hit is actually pretty substantive, so if you hit most or all of the enemy team, you’ll heal for a huge chunk of health. It’s at this point that you really start to get in the “she just won’t die” realm.

20: Indestructible: Upon reaching zero health, gain a shield equal to your maximum health for a few seconds. Two minute cooldown.

The name says it all, really.

If you’re being hit hard enough for this to activate, odds are you just want to retreat. You might also be able to get in some quick healing with shield glare.

Sylvanas: Screaming Fury

General thoughts: Sylvanas used to be an assassin disguised as a specialist, but as of the new patch, she plays more like a traditional specialist, though she maintains strong damage and team fight potential.

My team loading into a match in Heroes of the Storm

Sylvanas’ new talent tree doesn’t offer a lot of clear synergies or obvious builds, but it also allows her to be more versatile than she used to be, whereas before she was simply a glass cannon and nothing else.

With the new build, you’ll spend more time pushing and have a very strong lane presence in the early game, but don’t neglect team fights. You’re still one of the more dangerous specialists around, especially past level ten.

One thing that hasn’t change is that you’re still a very squishy hero with an unreliable escape, so you should still be very cautious, and it remains true that Sylvanas is not a great choice for soloing lanes or roaming the map solo, unlike most other specialists.

1: Paralysis: Increases the duration of black arrows by 75%.

The default duration of black arrows is a bit weak, but this gives you all the extra power you need to completely shut down enemy minion waves, and at level one, that can be a big advantage.

Later on, it also allows you solo mercenary camps more effectively, but despite Sylvanas’ role as a specialist, I’d still recommend getting the help of team mates where possible, especially for bruiser camps.

4: With the wind: Increases withering fire’s range.

Where possible, I like to pick talents that have both offensive and defensive applications. Something Sylvanas excels at is hunting down wounded enemies and finishing them off, and with the wind enhances your ability to do that.

Meanwhile, it also allows you to put out strong damage from a greater distance, thus putting yourself at less risk. This is crucial when you’re as squishy as Sylvanas.

As Sylvanas, your best defense is a good offense.

7: Possession: Permanently take control of any enemy minion. Catapults and mercenaries are immune. Three charges.

Once the game’s worst heroic, possession is actually pretty decent as a level seven talent. At that stage of the game, the enemy team is still going to have some difficulty countering, and between this and paralysis, your early game push power is going to be pretty scary.

Just make sure you’re using it any chance you get. Any time you’re passing a minion wave late game, remember to through out possession as you pass.

Random fun fact: If you possess enemy minions while your team is cursed on Cursed Hollow, the stolen minions will still have full health.

10: Mind control: After a short delay, take control of an enemy hero’s movement for a short time. During this time, you cannot take any other action, but neither can the target.

With possession moved down to level seven, Sylvanas now has two strong choices for ultimates. However, I favour mind control. It’s slightly easier to use, and vastly more fun.

Generally the idea is to find a squishy hero and “encourage” them to stroll into the waiting arms of your team. It’s obviously great for preventing a low health target from fleeing. You can also force enemies into range of your towers (just make sure there are no minions around to absorb shots) or other danger areas, or prevent someone from fleeing Artanis’ purifier beam. With very good timing, it can also serve as an interrupt for powerful abilities, like strafe.

Just be careful not to put yourself at undue risk, as you yourself are helpless during the channel. Maintain a safe distance.

13: Life drain: Shadow dagger heals you for a small amount when it spreads.

This tier is all survival options. I favour shadow dagger as a way to heal up between fights, which is not something Sylvanas can normally do without hearthing or visiting a healing fountain.

Spell shield is also a decent choice if the enemy team has strong ability damage heroes, like Li-Ming or Kael’thas.

16: Cold embrace: Shadow dagger increases damage taken by the first enemy hit.

Lots of good options on this tier. Evasive fire and remorseless are also strong choices, but cold embrace allows your team to really blow up an important single target, like a healer.

20: Bolt of the storm: A targeted teleport on a cooldown.

Sylvanas has a teleport by default, but between how awkward it is to use, her extremely low health, and a lack of strong competition on this talent tier, bolt of the storm becomes the obvious choice.