Heroes of the Storm esports betting

HotS betting is not the easiest thing, the game is very niche and there are not many tournaments anymore. Here we will try to help you past that problem. Because the fact that the game is niche long with having good information, also makes it a very good target for value bets.

About the game

Heroes of the Storm, or HotS as we will call it, is a free-to-play multiplayer online battle arena game that was released in June 2015 by Blizzard Entertainment. The game currently features 77 heroes. All from the different Blizzard universes. It’s not a very popular esport relative to the big ones like LoL or CS:GO, which allows for some good opportunities when looking for HotS betting.

Gameplay and objectives

Each match is played as a 5-versus-5 on one of fourteen maps. The maps are generally focused on destroying the enemies’ main building in various ways, each map has different mechanics associated with it. Some have two lanes, some three, but in general, the gameplay loop is similar to games like Dota 2 or League of Legends. Compared to those two games though, Heroes of the Storm is significantly simplified. There is no economy or gold given on last hits, players gain experience as a team, every hero on one team is the same level.

Heroes and talents

There are no mirror matchups allowed, there can only be one of each hero on a map. Players can unlock new talents at levels 1, 4, 7, 10 (ultimate), 13, 16 and 20. Talents offer new tools or enhance a hero’s abilities, the level 10 talent is called an ultimate. Which usually allows for a choice between two ultimate abilities, which in general are very strong and are also on a long cooldown. The most important talents are usually unlocked at levels 10 and 20. If maps are known before a match, its very important to know which teams are good on which maps, here is where you can find the best value in HotS betting.

Currently the competitive map pool consists of 9 maps:

Battlefield of Eternity:
It’s a two-lane map, where the main objective is to destroy the enemies’ main building. The map’s mechanic is that there are Immortals that spawn in the middle, one per team, and each team has to protect their Immortal while killing their enemies’ Immortal. The surviving Immortal helps their team push into enemies’ base and destroys buildings.

Braxis Holdout:
Being a two-lane map while the mechanic is that there are beacons that spawn periodically and teams fight to capture them. When a team captures enough beacons, they will fill their holding cells and release zerg waves that will attack enemy heroes and buildings.

Cursed Hollow:
This is a three-lane map, here the map unique objective is to capture tributes that spawn periodically. After a team captures three tributes, a curse will be placed on the enemy team, which will cause their minions to have 1 health and their buildings won’t attack. The curse lasts one minute.

Dragon Shire:
Another two-lane map, where the unique objective is based around obelisks and a dragon knight. There are two obelisks, one at the top and one at the bottom of the map, a team has to capture both of them and then a player from that team has to become the dragon knight by going to an altar in the center of the map. The dragon has an attack that’s very strong against buildings and also has a lot of health, so it’s very helpful with pushing.

Infernal Shrines:
The second three-lane map, where the map unique objective is based around three shrines, each placed near one of the lanes. Teams will be periodically able to activate them to spawn Skeletal Defenders around it, the first team to kill 40 of those will cause a Punisher to be spawned to fight along with them. Punishers attack players and buildings and help their team push.

Sky Temple:
Yet another three-lane map, where the map unique objective is based around three temples, one next to each lane. Periodically the temples will be available for capture, after which the captured temple will start attacking enemies buildings.

Tomb of the Spider Queen:
This map’s unique objective is based around collecting gems that are dropped by spiders and camps around the map, when a team manages to collect and turn in 40 gems to one of two altars, a Webweaver helping the team that turned in the gems will be spawned. The Webweaver attacks enemies’ buildings and helps their own team push.

Towers of Doom:
The map’s unique objective is based around activating altars, which periodically spawn on the battlefield. When an altar is captured, the capturing team’s core(main building) will shoot at the enemies core. Destroying enemy bell towers increases your team’s decreases enemies’ core’s attack power. Cores start with 40 health and 3 attack power.

Volskaya Foundry:

A map which unique objective is based around three capture points placed in the middle of each lane, hence another three lane map Periodically a control point will become active which allows a team to capture it. After capturing, the team that managed to do it will earn a Triglav Protector, which can be taken control of by two players. It does a lot of damage and helps your team push.

Betting information

HotS betting is generally predictable with the repeate winners not being an unusual in tournaments. Upsets are rare and, due to that, the odds might not be very good. But that also makes HotS bets good system fillers.

Written by Jarhead

Jarhead is the founder of Eportsbetting.gg and works as a marketing specialist within iGaming. This guy grew up with gaming and experienced the very first hits on iconic SEGA, Nintendo NES, Commodore 64/128, Atari, Amiga 500 and gaming on his very first PC - a 286 beast where he ruled in Ultima V. Jarhead's favourite games and skills are in Overwatch, Rocket League and Hearthstone.