Free hero rotation week of Tuesday, June 9th

Available at all levels: Raynor, Muradin, Rehgar, Tyreal, Jaina

Available at level 12: Uther

Available at level 15: Sylvanas

Johanna's ho-hum holy crusade

The stats are in on Johanna's debut week, and the results aren't divine. According to HotsLogs.com, Johanna comes in ranked 8th in Bronze league with a winrate of 45.9%. Across all leagues she is 10th, with a winrate of 50.4%, but in Master leagues she is an unimpressive 20th, with a 56.6% winrate. Of course we'll keep an eye on this hero as more data presents itself, mostly because we like her haircut, but at the moment she seems to be an average warrior pick at best.

The game is still bugged as Anub'Arak continues to shine throughout all leagues. In Master leagues Anub'Arak places only behind The Lost Vikings with a winning percentage of 66% (only half a point behind TLV). Across all leagues our six legged Hero has a 60.3% winrate, which tops those rankings. Perhaps most impressive is that in Bronze leagues he is one of only three heroes (Brightwing, The Lost Vikings) to crack 50% winrate, with board-toping 52.5% winrate.

On our mini-map: ESC Gaming





This week On Our Mini-Map focuses on team ESC Gaming, a German HOTS team which is on a phenomenal run, winning eight of their last nine matches, their one loss is against our current GosuGamers World Rankings #1 Team Liquid. Their recent dominance includes wins over Europe's top teams, including; Team Dignitas (Rank #26), Team Fnatic (Rank #15), Team ASH (Rank #12), and Team Gamers2 (Rank #6). The rest of the European HOTS Scene has been put on notice, Ze Germans are coming.

Skins vs skins: Free skins fairy tales

With all the new players joining the Nexus this week, we've decided to not taunt them by displaying fancy masterskins. Instead, lets create a wonderful story about the default skins, since we're all going to be seeing them a lot (read: every QM game). Here are two classic tales of Little Red VallaHood, and Jaina White and the Stumpy Dwarf.

In a deep dark forrest, beyond the fence of the Nexus, Little Red Valla Hood was on the path to her grandmother's house. Little did she know she was being stalked by a ghost wolf, who ate her grandmother and then for some reason put on the old woman's clothes (not judging). "Oh my, Grandma, what big totems you have," Valla said. "The better to heal you with my dear," replied Rhegar. Then Little Red Valla shot Big Bad Rhegar in the face with a crossbow, because he was clearly a wolf and not her Grandmother. Valla isn't blind (Illidan, if you're reading this, we're sorry. Haha, nevermind).

Jaina White killed her mother during childbirth and her reign of terror never ceased. After her step-mother tried to kill her because Jaina White was prettier than her, Jaina White did what anyone would do and ran into the forrest with no supplies or plan. She came along a house and inside found one surly drawf and six dwarf corpses. When Jaina White asked Stumpy the Dwarf what happened, he muttered something about it being hammer time and shrugged at the corpses. Luckily Jaina White was a psychopath, and thought nothing of it. Then Jaina White ate an Envenomed apple and slipped into a forever respawn state. Muradin considered waking her but realized he didn't care. Niether lived happily ever after.

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Storm stream of the week

This week's Storm Stream of the Week points the spotlight at NickHotS. A full-time Heroes of the Storm streamer, you can often find Nick at the top of the HOTS streams, and with good reason; he is a very talented player. I asked Nick what his favorite heroes were, what was over and underpowered, and how to describe his stream. Without further ado, I'll turn it over to the man himself.

"I enjoy Raynor the most because he plays very similar to attack damage carries from other MOBA games. I enjoy utilizing stutter step/auto spacing micro to make him more effective. I come from RTS games, so it almost feels like I'm microing a very powerful ranged unit instead of a hero. I also like that his survivability, and his increased movement speed talent "Revolution Overdrive" at Level 7.



My favorite class/role is Support. It is my main role I've been playing in competitive play, and it is very satisfying. Getting your team through a big team fight with tons of damage going on is always rewarding. Cleanse is one of the most clutch abilities in the entire game, and I love landing a pre-emptive Cleanse on a Stitches hook or Kerrigan combo.



I think that Kael'thas becomes overpowered once he gets Ignite at Level 16 in addition to his Flamethrower talent. I also think that Sylvanas has too great of pushing power with her trait. Promote I don't think is necessarily that overpowered, but it's something I don't agree with design wise, and feel it should be removed.



Raynor and Gazlowe are quite a bit underpowered, and I feel that they should be buffed. They are my favorite heroes.



I run an educational stream in which I answer as many questions as I can while also playing at a high level."

You can find Nick's stream at twitch.tv/NickHotS.

If you'd like to be featured on Storm Stream of the Week, e-mail [email protected]









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