The year is off to a good start for Heroes of the Storm, we begin to see game design changes, hero-reworks and a completely new competitive structure that lets the fans see their favorite players in action every week. We had the chance to sit down and ask Team Dignitas' Ranged Assassin player Mene about his thoughts on some of these changes and how the team is doing.

As a Ranged Assassin you have to follow up with damage for your team. Are you starting to get the synergies down with Zaelia after these few weeks?

Mene: Yeah, we are starting to get a good synergy with Zaelia, but we still need time to elevate it to the level we were at with Jay in the melee role the past year.



We heard Snitch say that you use Zul'jin as a Valla replacement, can you elaborate on that?

Mene: In the current meta Valla is the best ranged auto attacker, but sometimes when we look for her and the enemy team picked or banned her, we have to find something to replace her with to not outdraft ourselves. Zul’jin does a lot of damage and his ultimate (Taz'dingo) is super strong if you know when to use it. His downside, however, is that he has no mobility.



We hear a lot of voices in the HotS community being for or against the Hero League changes. What are your thoughts about the fact, Hero League is only solo queue now?

Mene: Having it be only solo queue is better than duo queue, but the matchmaking is still super bad. I’m matched with Diamond/Platinum players vs. five Grandmaster/Master teams almost every time.





Do you practice more in Hero League or Team League beside scrims?

Mene: I actually play around six hours of Hero League before scrims, and when my scrims are done, I play Team League or Quick Match to focus on the heroes I didn’t play well in scrims earlier in the day.





With around 50 hours of Pro-Heroes broadcasting every weekend, and more to come when the Chinese league begin, do you keep up with the meta in all the regions throughout the week?

Mene: I try to follow every region to understand the meta and be able to provide some ideas during our drafts, but we have had bad experiences trying to copy other regions, so we try to just take general ideas from them.





What do you think about the current shielding meta, forcing you to play more Valla instead of your usual mages?

Mene: I would prefer a mage meta for sure, but it forces me to improve all of my ranged heroes. That’s important to me because I want to be the best on all ranged heroes, not just mages.

We have seen Chromie appear in competitive play every week, is there a chance we will see you play the gnome?

Mene: Of course! She’s a mage!





Jaina seems to be your preferred mage these days, why her instead of Li-Ming?

Mene: Well, I prefer Kael’thas by far, but since Li-Ming’s Calamity doesn’t damage minions anymore, Jaina is better when you need waveclear in the rotation. Plus, she still has super high burst damage.





Do you think we will see Falstads pick Hinterland Blast with the new cooldown reduction method, where the cooldown is reduced for every enemy hero hit?

Mene: I don’t think so. Mighty Gust is way too strong not to pick it - you can disengage/engage/split the enemy. You might see some combos like Tyrael’s Judgment followed up by Hinterland Blast, but I don’t think it will be picked in important games.





We see a lot of hero-reworks being done this year. Which Ranged Assassin heroes would you like to have a rework?

Mene: Nova! In her current state, she will never see play in any meta.





Are there any characters from the Blizzard universes you would like to see enter The Nexus as a Ranged Assassin?

Mene: Ner'zhul ! I want an elemental Shaman with only ranged spells!





And a funny little question to end on. Is the Lunar Rooster your new favorite mount in the game? Or do you stick to some of the older classics?

Mene: The rooster is pretty good (although a bit too big). I still use the pig and sometimes I take Hell Billie because my girlfriend likes it.





Thanks for your time. Do you have any shoutouts for your team, fans or sponsors?

Mene: Shoutout to my team mates, my boss ODEE, my manager MepH, all the people working for us in Team Dignitas, to the Sixers and our sponsors!!