Sky Temple Map Guide
Welcome to our strategy guide for Sky Temple, a Map in Heroes of the Storm. On this page, you will find everything required to understand how it is designed and how to play it.
Introduction
Sky Temple is a 3-lane Map belonging to the Nexus universe. The signature Objective of this Map are Temples. When active, Heroes can stand on them to fire laser shots at enemy Structures.
Draft Strategy
- Heroes for clearing Mercenary Camps
- Gankers
- Global presence
- Point control for Boss Camp
- Split-push
- Quests to stack on Heroes
Lane Assignments
Here you can find one or more formations that are viable on this Map. Keep in mind that positions in lane are not strict and will often change based on the situation.
Formation 1-4
The go-to formation for Sky Temple is 1-4:
Formation 1-3-1
Another good formation for Sky Temple is 1-3-1:
- 1 Hero, the Offlaner, covers the top lane;
- 3 Heroes cover the middle lane;
- 1 Hero, preferably global, covers the bottom lane.
Map Strategy
- At 1:00 minute or whenever available, start clearing the allied Siege Camp in the bottom lane and capture it as soon as possible. Watch out for invades!
- At 2:10 minutes or several seconds before the next Objective phase, start clearing the allied Bruiser Camp and capture it slightly before the Temples activate. To make this Mercenary Camp join the lane in front of allied Minions, capture it at 2:35 minutes or 5 seconds after a wave of Minions spawned.
- At 3:00 minutes or whenever the Objective phase starts, you ideally want at least 1 Hero on each Temple, so that you can start shooting at enemy Structures right away. The first Objective phase should ideally be used to finish the top Fort as it will create Catapults pressure in the top lane during the second Objective phase, which is always a single Temple bottom. Since it is early game, the Offlaner can double soak other lanes.
- When ahead in Structures (your team has more of them) or when you want to wait for a better moment to fight, trade Temples (when multiple Temples are active, contest one and ignore the other) and avoid team fights. Do not split too much from the rest of your team, otherwise you will become an easy target!
- When behind in Structures (the enemy team has more of them), gank someone or force a fight at some point. That said, you should avoid fighting if the enemy team has an advantage, except when that is your last chance to stop them from winning the game.
- After 10:00 minutes, whenever your team has an advantage while there is no Objective to contest or the enemy team is taking the top Temple, you can capture the Boss Camp and push with it. Avoid doing it earlier if you do not have a dedicated team composition.
Mercenary Camps
As shown in the image below, Sky Temple has a total of 5 Mercenary Camps:
- 2 allied/enemy Bruiser Camps in the top lane;
- 2 allied/enemy Siege Camps and 1 neutral Boss Camp in the bottom lane.
Unlike some other Maps, Mercenary Camps on Sky Temple do not disappear from the battlefield during the Objective phase or right after it ends.
Mercenary Camps indicated with a red icon are immune to Bribe effects.
Siege Camp
This type of Mercenary Camp features 2 Giants. Once captured, it spawns the same units fighting for your team in the corresponding lane. When possible, push with them to get more value.
Spawn | Respawn |
---|---|
1:00 minute | 3:00 minutes after its last capture |
Instead of attacking enemies with Basic Attacks, Giants throw stones at them. These stones can be dodged, so it is possible to capture them without taking any damage. Once captured, they are capable of damaging enemy Structures without getting in their range. Giants deal 100% bonus damage to Structures.
Bruiser Camp
This type of Mercenary Camp features 3 Knights and 1 Wizard. Once captured, it spawns the same units fighting for your team in the corresponding lane. When possible, push with them to get more value.
Spawn | Respawn |
---|---|
1:00 minute | 4:00 minutes after its last capture |
Right after being captured and while in lane, the Wizard creates a Spell Armor field around him which reduces some of the damage taken by Minions, Mercenaries, and Heroes within range. Avoid fighting the enemy team if they still have a Wizard helping them!
Boss Camp
This type of Mercenary Camp features 1 Sand Golem. Once captured, it spawns the same unit fighting for your team in the corresponding lane. When possible, push with it to get more value.
Spawn | Respawn |
---|---|
5:00 minutes | 5:00 minutes after its last capture |
While in combat, the Sand Golem will use Mega Smash (10-second cooldown) to damage and Stun all enemies in melee range and Whirling Sands (15-second cooldown) to do slight damage and Knockback enemies who get hit by them.
Map Objective
The signature Objective of Sky Temple consists of up to 2 active Temples. Heroes who stand on a non-contested Temple will cause that Temple to fire laser shots at the closest Structures (excluding Healing Fountains, because they are Invulnerable, and Side Walls). Temples will activate 2 seconds after a Hero steps on them, then they will fire once per second over 40 seconds, pausing when contested or abandoned.
Spawn | Respawn |
---|---|
3:00 minutes | 2:00 minutes after the Temples end |
Capture the Temples
Temples will periodically awaken. Stand within their grounds to capture their power!
|
Hold the Temples
Remain firm and the temple will unleash a blistering onslaught on your enemy's forts!
|
Defend the Temples
Guardians will try to wrest control of their temples from your team. Hold them off to keep the temple's power for yourselves!
|
Temples will spawn as follows:
- top Temple and middle Temple (A-B);
- bottom Temple only (C);
- top Temple and bottom Temple (A-C), or middle Temple and bottom Temple (B-C);
- 1 random Temple, or 1 random Temple and the missing Temple from the previous Objective phase (A-B, B-C, A-C);
- up to 2 random Temples, but in a different amount from the previous Objective phase;
- up to 2 random Temples, trying to reach 3-2-2 or 2-3-2 spawns for the respective Temple locations.
Each Temple has a total of 45 shots that each deal 450 (+20 per minute) damage. The final 5 shots of the Temple will fire automatically and in rapid succession for the team that currently has possession of the Temple once the first 40 shots have been expended. This means that Heroes can leave the Temples once the charging sequence for the final 5 shots begins. A contested Temple does not shoot.
Each Temple is initially protected by 1 Guardian and 2 Defenders, then other 2 Defenders spawn. Guardians can Knockback enemies who are in a frontal cone once every 12 seconds. Even though it is not required to kill Guardians and Defenders, by doing so you will take less damage while capturing the Temple. You should prefer to kill the Defenders that are on your side first, so that you will take less damage whenever enemy Heroes come. After a Temple has been exhausted, Guardians and Defenders will automatically despawn.
Watch Towers
Sky Temple features 1 Watch Tower located between the middle lane and the top lane, giving vision on the middle Temple and on the fastest paths to rotate between the middle and the top lane.
Watch Towers controlled by the enemy team are extremely dangerous, especially when there are bushes nearby, therefore you should think twice before contesting them. If you do not have mobility tools at your disposal and your teammates are not nearby to help you, you should definitely not try to capture a Watch Tower as you will only risk dying for no reason. Staying alive is more important than getting vision.
Core Ability
Every 23 seconds, the Core will spawn 2 sets of 6 Tornadoes which swirl around it, dealing 25 damage to enemy Heroes and Knocking them back.
Win Conditions
To win the game on Sky Temple, you should count on any of the following win conditions:
- Map Objective,
- Boss Camp,
- Split-push.
Tips and Tricks
- Use the first Healing Fountain (2-minute cooldown) at or before 1:00 minute because the first Objective on this Map activates at 3:00 minutes, so you will have it back in time for that.
- Dealing damage to Structures in the top lane before the first Objective phase helps to take down the top Fort with the top Temple during the first Objective phase, and thus giving your team an advantage during the second Objective phase.
- It is fine to get only 1 of the 2 Temples during the first Objective phase, especially if your team composition has a weak early game. The second Objective phase, with only 1 Temple, is important to win. After that, trade Temples and avoid fighting when ahead in Structures (your team has more of them) and look for fights when behind in Structures (the enemy team has more of them).
- After 10:00 minutes, unless the enemy team has an advantage, it is advised to keep vision on the Boss Camp, so that the enemy team cannot capture it uncontested. You can do this by using a Hero that is hard to kill or with vision tools (for example Time Trap by Chromie).
- You can bait the Sand Golem's Whirling Sands on the enemy side of the battlefield by staying there right before they spawn. This way, if the enemy team invades the Boss Camp, they will have annoying tornadoes on their path.
- Global Heroes should ideally take care of the lane that is farther away from the next Objective location, so that they can use their global tool to quickly join their team during the next Objective phase.
Changelog
- 29 Nov. 2024: Guide created.
Elitesparkle is a multiple times Master player in Europe who plays Heroes of the Storm since its release. He is an active member of the community who likes to teach new and veteran players all he knows about his favorite game.
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