Your guide to Heroes of the Storm betting

The game is based on 5v5 matches, and each of the players will control a hero. It is meant to be played strategically by working with your team as a unit to demolish your enemies. The main goal is to destroy the enemy’s team core, which is a structure located in the deepest area of their base. It is protected by turrets that do a ton of damage (similar to LoL and Dota), however, despite the fact that the main objective is the same as other MOBA titles, the key difference is that dependent on the map, the way to destroy the enemy’s core will change. This in turn means that strategies and gameplay vary depending on the battleground.

Team composition is really important in Heroes of the Storm; knowing each of the classes and composing a good team with these components, will have a great impact on your game. Let’s talk about the classes and describe their role in the match when you play each one of them:

• Assassin: Assassins deal a large amount of damage, especially to a single target. Their objective is to decimate the enemy heroes, focusing on the ones that are more troublesome in team fights.
• Warrior: Warriors are the tank class in the game, they are made to withstand a lot of damage. Warriors usually possess crowd control abilities to disable their enemies and avoid their participation in team fights.
• Specialists: This class doesn’t have a lot of specific characteristics, it depends on the hero. The most common thing you can capture among the heroes of this class is that they have an incredible potential to destroy the enemy’s base.
• Support: As the name suggest, they are meant to support the entire team. They do so by healing or buffing their teammates. They are extremely important and every composition should have at least one.
• Multi-Class: The multi-class works as a high utility role that can transform to whatever the team needs. The only hero that is a multi-class at the moment is Varian, High King of the Alliance, which can be fill a tank or assassin role.

The betting market in the group stage of certain tournaments can appear as quite volatile. The odds differences between two teams is sometimes huge; this is not only caused by the phase of the tournament but also by the fact that there is a clear dominance from some teams in certain regions. For example at the time of writing, MVP Black in Korea hasn’t lost a single match. They are on a 14-win streak – yes, they are that powerful! At this moment, if you pit any team in HotS against MVP Black, the odds difference is destined to be notable. The same is happening in Europe with team Fnatic. So, when you see the betting markets in HotS don’t be surprised to sometimes see a big difference in odds!

Figure N°1: Odds difference between MVP Black and DeadlyKittens

The experience system in Heroes of the Storm is something that we MUST mention -it is hugely important and is the one factor that makes the game unique. In HotS, the experience is shared, which makes it the ultimate team game. What we mean by this, is that if one of your team is doing amazing in his lane then you are benefitting from this by leveling up as well. In most competitive games the economy is the main element to determine the outcome of a match but in HotS this is not the case because you don’t buy items. Instead, the EXP is the one factor that can give you an overwhelming advantage, and level difference can be very significant especially in the early stages of the game. When you have a level advantage, forcing fights that the enemy team doesn’t want to get into is a great idea to completely shut them down. This requires great coordination and it’s a great strategy that pro teams utilise to win.

Some teams are better at maximising their EXP gain and denying it from their enemies and we recommended betting on the teams that make the most of their experience; they usually end up at the top of the ladder.

Mercenary camp dominance is another important factor to consider when assessing team strengths. When controlled, these camps can spawn creatures to pressure the lanes for you. Some of them have an incredibly high damage output and can shred turrets very quickly. Always paying attention to these camps and capturing the creatures every single time is possible but it requires a lot of teamwork and good communication, so check out if the team you are betting on performs well in camp dominance.

1. Experience is one of the most important factors to consider when assessing team strength. Teams that are great in accumulating a lot of experience in the laning phase are great picks for betting.
2. Mercenary camps can turn the tides of the battle due to their immense siege potential. Beware of this in your assessment of teams.
3. A great team composition goes a long way! Remember that in strategic games the battle starts even before you start playing. This is a big factor in odds evaluation.
4. The human factor should not be ignored in any form of betting, therefore be aware of the latest form of the teams you consider in your betting selections. Also look at history in terms of head-2-head meetings.
5. Team/roster changes can affect the odds completely – beware of this.