Game Information

One of the newest games to the eSports industry is Heroes of the Storm, which was only released in mid-2015. This game gained a large fan base because it combines the characters of many different Blizzard games into one MMORPG. The existing fans of games such as World of Warcraft and StarCraft were offered the opportunity to pit their favourite characters against each other.

This made the game a must play for many existing competitive players and to cater to this Blizzard created a number of tournaments. The 5v5 match format of the game and the opportunity to create maps and custom goals also made this game suitable for eSports.

The game went through many changes in the development process but the outcome was something that players loved. It started as a way for the developers to show the capabilities of the StarCraft II game but it quickly became its own game. The initial name was changed from Blizzard DotA to Blizzard All-Stars before it became Heroes of the Storm. The aim of developers was to bring much loved characters into a new arena to battle each other.

Aim of the Game

To be successful in a HotS match one team must destroy the other team’s base while defending their own. Depending on the map that players are fighting on there will be lanes that they can use to traverse to the other team’s base. There will be a minimum of two of these lanes, which are guarded by the other team’s heroes and supporting bots. As players traverse the map they will encounter these opponents and slay them to level up and get gold.

At the beginning of the match players select their hero from an ever expanding list of Blizzard stars. These are broken up into one standard class system, which assigns each character with a classification. A good mixture of these classifications is essential for a winning strategy, as warriors, assassins and specialists must work in harmony. Teams use different percentages of these heroes to create a strategy and the personal preference of the player tends not to be as important in professional leagues. Instead, it’s more about the way that the hero fits into the team and the skills that they can bring.

Console Availability

This game can be played on PC and Mac, as there is no console version of the game.

League Information

Heroes of the Storm was first showed at BlizzCon and now this international games conference is home to the final of the official tournament. The Road to BlizzCon is the qualifying round for the tournament and there is one of these mini tournaments in each territory.

When the teams get to the global finals they are pitted against one another to reach the final. These are usually best of 5 matches but can sometimes go to best of 7 in some rounds. The final match within this tournament is a best of 7 one, so it is a bit lengthier than most standard games.

The ESL also hosts another league throughout the year, which takes rounds of qualifying players from each region. From each of these qualifying tournaments two teams win in their region and are invited to attend the global finals in South Korea. These are chosen through smaller heats over a weekend, with the finals taking place on the Sunday.

The last of the big three tournaments of this game is organised by inven in South Korea. The GIGABYTE Heroes of the Storm Power League is an offline event in which teams must qualify to fly to Seoul. Here they play through a group stage in which they must earn points and then a play off stage. Only eight teams participate in this and they are knocked out in the play offs in best of 3 rounds. This is a weeklong competition and the prize pool sits at a lucrative £5K for the winning team.

How to Bet

Bets are taken on all three of these leagues and they are streamed via Twitch TV around the world. Betting on these games is straightforward, as you just place bets on the winner of the match or the tournament.