Heroes of the Storm Master Tier List

[positiv2 953]

This thread is for comments about our Master Tier List for Heroes of the Storm.

[Guest Tarabad]

Did Orphea get deleted?

[Elitesparkle 16]

On 9/30/2020 at 2:42 AM, Guest Tarabad said:

Did Orphea get deleted?

Orphea has been accidentally removed a few days ago while doing other changes. We fixed it as soon as we noticed she was missing. Thank you for the report!

[Guest Lurker]

Imperius is presented in two drastically different tiers

[Elitesparkle 16]

2 hours ago, Guest Lurker said:

Imperius is presented in two drastically different tiers

As I mentioned in the Introduction, many Heroes belong to different Tiers based on which Role they are played as.

If you have any suggestion about making it more clear, feel free to share them!

[Guest Kepsert]

I appreciate this tierlist as a player who had taken a many year break from the game! I was wondering though, is D.va missing intentionally or was it a little mistake?! Thanks! :D

[Elitesparkle 16]

18 hours ago, Guest Kepsert said:

I appreciate this tierlist as a player who had taken a many year break from the game! I was wondering though, is D.va missing intentionally or was it a little mistake?! Thanks! ?

Oh, no! Where did she go? I'll look for her all day until she comes back home. Thank you for the report!

I'm glad you like our content! Take a look at our Hero Guides as well. We have one for D.Va Rework too!

[Guest ShadowChan]

D.va is missing since the last update (08.02.21)

[Elitesparkle 16]

On 2/11/2021 at 11:01 AM, Guest ShadowChan said:

D.va is missing since the last update (08.02.21)

Thank you! A fix will be live soon.

[Supajee 3]

Is Garrosh tier 1 or 2?

[Elitesparkle 16]

2 hours ago, Supajee said:

Is Garrosh tier 1 or 2?

Good catch! I'll fix it later today.

[Supajee 3]

Cheers! Some question(s) if I may...

Icy Veins is only one of the two tier lists I have found to be regularly updated for HotS currently. The other one that has been helpful is Grubby's. However, even these tier lists differ on some things. Most notably Hanzo being tier3 (mediocre) here, and first pick/ban on Grubby's. I have watched streamers playing on (grand)masters and Hanzo seems to be quite regular there. What makes him mediocre?

Some other examples:

Deckard is tier2 on Icy Veins, first pick/ban on Grubby

Genji is tier3 on Icy Veins, tier1 on Grubby

I think I understand Medivh and Cho'gall placements. But other than that, the tier lists are very close. 🙂 Is it possible to get an elaboration on why the three heroes I mentioned above are placed so low here?

[Elitesparkle 16]

Hanzo is extremely hard to play at his maximum potential, therefore he is also hard to put in a specific Tier. If you make a Tier List based on power level only, then Hanzo is surely Tier S. If you make it based on a mix of power level and player's skill, then Hanzo drops down to Tier 1 at least. Last but not the least, distributing all the Heroes is a game of balance. The fact that I'm putting way less Heroes than others in Tier S has the advantage of putting more emphasis on certain Heroes but gives me less room to distribute the remaining Heroes.

After Ruby being nerfed, Deckard has lost power and popularity. You can notice this both in Storm League and in tournaments, if you like to watch them. Don't get me wrong, he is still a really good Hero without Ruby every 10 seconds; you just cannot prioritize him in draft like before. As a consequence of this, he doesn't belong to the top Tier of my Tier List, where I put strong and popular Heroes which are often being first picked and/or first banned.

Other than being a situational pick, Genji is another case of high skill floor and high skill ceiling Hero. Those things makes it hard to put him above Tier 3 in a Tier List like mine where Tier S isn't that populated and that Tier 1 contains the majority of Heroes that are above average in value. Based on skill expression and circumstances, Genji can be anything from Tier 3 to Tier 1 and cannot be higher than Tier 2 in my Tier List because of how it has been organized as a whole.

[NoMoreHeroesNA 3]

Any plans to update the tier list?

It's mostly good, but could use a little tweaking (melee assassins all a bit too highly rated, Diablo not being S-Tier) I'm thinking. Would be curious what @Elitesparkle thinks about the current status of the meta.

[Elitesparkle 16]

Thanks for the comment! Sometimes it's hard to put Heroes in a specific Tier. Diablo, for example, is extremely close to deserving Tier S. I'll probably make some small changes soon, just to reorganize Tier 1 and Tier S a little bit.

[NoMoreHeroesNA 3]

Thanks for the update!

My first thought - isn't that a bit high for the melee assassins? They kinda compete with ranged assassins for DPS slots, and I don't see Maiev or especially Zeratul being as effective in high levels as Hanzo or Genji, at the least. (Chromie arguably belongs in the new S-tier as well, but her omission isn't as objectionable as the Shimadas.)

I feel like the melee assassins could each be bumped down a tier and it wouldn't be too off until we get to the lower tiers. 

EDIT: Also, we are seeing Malthael and Artanis being used at high levels as melee assassins pretty regularly, shouldn't they be included in that role as well? They are being played more in that role than Hogger, Rexxar, Gazlowe and Ragnaros from what I'm seeing these days.

 

Edited September 19, 2023 by NoMoreHeroesNA
Updated reactions to the latest tier list

[Guest azurillia]

@Elitesparkle I don't know if you are aware of this but the latest hotfix is actually a nerf to Sylvanas. Her passive damage bonus doesn't apply at third attack now and etc. You should move her to Tier 1. 
Also they are apparently preparing to nerf Jaina, KT and Johanna in the latest PTR patch. Just letting you know.

[Elitesparkle 16]

10 hours ago, Guest azurillia said:

@Elitesparkle I don't know if you are aware of this but the latest hotfix is actually a nerf to Sylvanas. Her passive damage bonus doesn't apply at third attack now and etc. You should move her to Tier 1. 
Also they are apparently preparing to nerf Jaina, KT and Johanna in the latest PTR patch. Just letting you know.

Thanks! Yes, I'm thinking about moving Sylvanas down and I'm keeping an eye on other Heroes.

[NoMoreHeroesNA 3]

@Elitesparkle Great job on the updated tier list. It's a lot more in line with what I've been seeing/hearing lately. A few reactions/comments:

Tanks/Healers: I think these are spot on until the lower tiers.

• Def got some questions about the healers in tier B - Alex/Auriel/Tyrande all seem weaker/more situational than the others here, why are they a full tier above Kharazim/Morales?
• Arthas and Blaze main tank seem more situational/limited than the other C-tier tanks, I would peg them at D-tier. And where is Uther main tank? I would have Uther as a C-tier tank at least, maybe as high as B-tier?

Offlaner: I like every tier grouping of these except B-tier.

• Arthas/Deathwing/D.Va/Imperius/Ragnaros/Rehgar all have significant liabilities in the Offlane role, and would seem to fit better with the C-tier heroes as being more situational picks in the offlane. Is there an argument that they are as good or better than the other heroes in this tier?
• Sonya seems a bit stronger than the rest of this tier, bringing strong teamfight while still excelling at camps and macro. Why is she in B instead of with the A-tier heroes?
• Artanis and Malthael are played quite a bit as melee assassins these days, seems strange that they aren't ranked for that role as well? I can dig Malthael at B-tier for both offlane and melee dps, but do you think Artanis is just as good at either role? Artanis seems a bit weaker, more C-tier with his lackluster waveclear/macro and horrific lack of escape.

Ranged Assassin: More questions here.

• A-tier is a weird mix of heroes you can draft early (Chromie, Hanzo, Junkrat, MAYBE Tracer) with heroes you should never draft early (Jaina, Mephisto). Are the latter two THAT much better than the B-tier ranged dps heroes? It also seems to me that Falstad is another hero you can draft early, why is he relegated to B-tier?
• Def am wondering why Lunara/Raynor/Zagara/Zul'jin are rated as highly as the rest of the B-tier heroes...it seems other heroes either do what they do better or have additional tools.
• Tassadar and KT both seem a tier lower than expected, what makes them worse than the mages above them?

Melee Assassin: Still the role I have the most issues with.

• Imp/Kerrigan/Zera all seem pretty niche in the current meta, and are not heroes you would draft early (unlike most of the others in A-tier). Why have them in A instead of B? Are they a whole tier better than Alarak/Thrall?
• The C-tier melee dps heroes are some of the most limited/worst heroes in the game. Other than maybe CSmash Varian, aren't they all "weak heroes who do poorly in most games (aka D-tier)?" Also, shouldn't Murky be listed in his main role as offlane, instead of melee asssassin?

[Elitesparkle 16]

@NoMoreHeroesNA Thanks for the comment!

Forgive me if I won't reply to every single point one by one.

• Even after adding an additional Tier, it's not easy to rate Heroes.
• I don't want to list Heroes in too many secondary Roles like before.
• Falstad is pretty good but cannot be picked too early due to counters.
• Mephisto isn't that easy to handle counter in Storm League, even at high Ranks.
• Honestly, I'm not that happy about Offlaners in Tier B either.
• I'm not rating Heroes only based on how early they can be picked.
• Murky has been accidentally not labeled as Offlaner.

I'll think about doing some changes based on your feedback.

 

Edited February 9, 2024 by Elitesparkle

[NoMoreHeroesNA 3]

1 hour ago, Elitesparkle said:

@NoMoreHeroesNA Thanks for the comment!

Forgive me if I won't reply to every single point one by one.

No worries - my "thoughts" ended up being more of a wall of text than expected!

 

1 hour ago, Elitesparkle said:

• I don't want to list Heroes in too many secondary Roles like before.

I think this is a good call, the old list did seem a bit cluttered with stuff you don't really see in the wild too much. At least with Uther though, his secondary role is arguably more popular than his primary role, just sayin'.

 

1 hour ago, Elitesparkle said:

• Falstad is pretty good but cannot be picked too early due to counters.

Assuming you're thinking his counters are Genji/Tracer/Zera (are there other counters?), do you think they shut him down that hard? Worse than how much they counter Jaina/Mephisto?

 

1 hour ago, Elitesparkle said:

• Mephisto isn't that easy to handle in Storm League, even at high Ranks.

Speaking of which, you may have misunderstood me -  I'm thinking Mephisto and Jaina should go down to B.

[NoMoreHeroesNA 3]

@Elitesparkle Stealth update! Everyone's going to have their favorites, but I'd say this edition of the list is as good as any tier list I've seen for the game.

I can only really quibble with two placements:

- I still think A is high for Mephisto. You pointed out his weak macro, but I also think his poor single-target damage is also a major liability on a lot of maps. 

- The melee assassin rankings are the best they've ever been for the tier list here. However, I do think Alarak in B is a bit too high for him still. He just seems to be a worse version of Kerrigan in most situations. And unlike Thrall/Imperius, he doesn't seem to have a dedicated niche in the current meta. Fun hero though.

Keep up the great work! Makes me happy to see the content here stay up-to-date.

[Guest RaynorGoBrrr]

May i have more insight into the placement of Abathur and Medivh? Both are heroes that can enable the team so much and yet they are placed far too low than what, in my opinion, they deserve. I understand that in general tier list they are bad cause most ppl dont know how to play them (ex. abathur sitting in core) but id like to know why the low placement is consistent in masters.

[Elitesparkle 16]

On 4/11/2024 at 1:21 AM, Guest RaynorGoBrrr said:

May i have more insight into the placement of Abathur and Medivh? Both are heroes that can enable the team so much and yet they are placed far too low than what, in my opinion, they deserve. I understand that in general tier list they are bad cause most ppl dont know how to play them (ex. abathur sitting in core) but id like to know why the low placement is consistent in masters.

Abathur is in Tier D because experienced players will exploit his weak early game starting from the draft.

Medivh is in Tier C because uncoordinated teams will generally not get enough value from his kit.

[NoMoreHeroesNA 3]

What do we think the impact of the Joh nerfs will be?

It felt like at high level her usage was trending down even before the nerfs. I think her builds aren't going to change a lot, and she will still be good on her good maps. I think her pick rate as good generalist tank could come down, but what tank stands to benefit? Per heroes profile, she'd already been passed by Garrosh and Muradin in popularity. Anub? Not as versatile. Arthas (whose usage has actually crept up among masters, to my surprise)?