Warhead Junction Introduction

Warhead Junction is a 3-lane Battleground with vertical symmetry, meaning that the left zone is equal to the right zone and the top zone is different from the bottom zone.

Being a StarCraft-themed Battleground, the signature Objective of Warhead Junction is a Warhead that can be collected by Heroes and then used to damage enemy Structures.

On this Battleground you can also find a unique Boss Camp that is not present elsewhere, which is so powerful that it is the primary component of the recommended strategy for playing Warhead Junction.

2.1.1.

Global Heroes

With Warhead Junction being quite big, despite the presence of the Sewage Tunnel connecting top lane and bottom lane together, we find that global Heroes (such as Brightwing) are helpful for managing lanes, contesting the Objective, or ganking isolated enemy Heroes.

2.1.2.

Gankers

Similarly to global Heroes, gankers are extremely good on Warhead Junction because the battlefield is so big that the enemy team will struggle to play grouped, so they will have an easy time to find isolated Heroes.

2.1.3.

Mercenary Clear

Being able to quickly clear Mercenary Camps (for example Raynor with Exterminator at Level 1) is important because you need them to constantly pressure the enemy team across all lanes and especially because you need to capture the Boss Camp at the top of the battlefield as fast as possible after getting a few kills.

2.1.4.

Sustain Healing

Due to the constant action that characterizes Warhead Junction, we recommend picking a sustain Healer (such as Lucio). Combined with a smart use of the Healing Fountain, they will help you stay on the battlefield as much as possible without needing to Hearthstone too much. When your team does not have enough sustain healing coming from your Healer, prefer Heroes with good self-sustain instead (for example Blaze).

2.1.5.

Point Control

Point control tools are good to deter the enemy team to stop you from taking the Boss Camp or, alternatively, to steal the Boss Camp from the enemy team while they are trying to capture it. Some Time Stop effects (such as Ice Wall by Mei) which can make Heroes unable to contest the Capture Point and Displacement effects which can push enemy Heroes out of the Capture Point (for example Expulsion Zone by Zarya) are great for that.

2.1.6.

Siege Damage

Heroes who can help their team to take down enemy Structures (notably Sylvanas) and/or can deal a lot of damage to enemy Structures on their own are good on Warhead Junction because they can siege with the Slime Boss rewarded by the Boss Camp in the top lane or, alternatively, with the Hellbats from the Siege Camps in the bottom lane.

2.1.7.

Poke Tools

Considering that the Objective requires to be channeled for a while, we recommend picking Heroes who are specialized in poke to easily deny the enemy team to collect Warheads while your team gets value somewhere else.

2.1.8.

Self-Sustain

We recommend picking a few Heroes who have access to self-sustain because it is easy to end up having no Healer nearby on a big Battleground like this, especially considering that the Objective is basically split across different locations active at the same time.

2.2.1.

Terrain-related Effects

Warhead Junction features a lot of wide areas, therefore you will not be able to fully unleash the power of Heroes that need to fight near impassable terrain (such as Diablo with Shadow Charge) or that can create it (for example Hogger with Loot Hoard).

2.2.2.

Long Cooldowns

Considering that Warhead Junction is characterized by constant action and that the Slime Boss can easily be a win condition towards the mid game, we recommend avoiding Heroes that have Abilities with extremely long cooldowns (such as Dragonqueen by Alexstrasza).

2.2.3.

Slow Mount

Due to the Battleground being too big, on Warhead Junction you should avoid playing Heroes who have a custom Mount that is slower than the normal one (+30% Movement Speed), otherwise you will struggle to be in time when traveling from a lane to another.

• Use the first Healing Fountain (2-minute cooldown) before 1:00-1:15 minutes because the first Objective on Warhead Junction activates at 3:00 minutes, so you will have it back in time for that. If possible, try to be full Health and Mana before the Objective is active without using Healing Fountain, in order to be able to use it during the Objective phase.
• Start the allied Bruiser Camp in the top lane around 1:15 minutes and capture it around 1:45 minutes, so that it will be right behind your Minions and that you will be able to do the same for the second Objective phase. Depending on your team composition and strategy, you could even siege together with those Mercenaries.
• Start the allied Siege Camp in the bottom lane around 2:15 minutes and capture it around 2:45 minutes, so that it will be right behind your Minions and that it will keep enemy Heroes busy for a few seconds during the Objective phase and/or it will match enemy Mercenaries in lane.
• Warheads do not deal bonus damage in the center, therefore they give maximum value when hitting as many Structures at possible at the same time. With the help of Minions and Heroes, a single Warhead will be usually enough to take down both external Towers. Ideally, by looking at the Minimap, use Warheads on enemy Forts when you see allied Minions approaching your own Fort in the same lane or on enemy Keeps when you see allied Minions spawning from your Core.
• While we recommend to use Warheads in the top lane, to make the Slime Boss more threatening, if the enemy top Fort has been already destroyed and going for their top Keep is too risky, consider using Warheads in other lanes. Taking down enemy Forts makes it easier for your team to fight in the corresponding lane because you have more space to chase and they also lose access to the corresponding Healing Fountain.
• After 5:00 minutes, you should look for opportunities to capture the Boss Camp after killing some enemy Heroes. The exact number of kills you need depends on how fast your team is at killing the Slime Boss and how hard will be for the remaining enemy Heroes to stop your team from doing so.
• Make sure to defend your Structures from the Slime Boss because it can easily reach your Keep. When needed, do not be reluctant to use Warheads defensively, to damage enemy Mercenaries and Bosses. This move will also force enemy Heroes to stop hitting your Structures for a few seconds and kill enemy Minions in the area.

Being a 3-lane Battleground with a single and powerful Boss Camp, the metagame strategy for Warhead Junction is to have your 3-man in the top lane, the Solo Laner middle, and another Hero bottom. You should usually use Warheads in the top lane to clear the way for your next Slime Boss capture, unless you want to destroy enemy Forts so that enemy Heroes will not be able to retreat within their range or use the adjacent Healing Fountain anymore.

While playing on Warhead Junction, you should prefer arranging your team by following a 3-1-1 formation (3 top, 1 middle, 1 bottom) because top lane is the most important lane, featuring a powerful Slime Boss that can easily help Heroes to secure the lead or even end the game once enough Structures have been removed from his path. Hellbats in the bottom lane are quite good at enabling Heroes to siege, however, they are not as powerful as the Slime Boss in the top lane. You can use the Sewage Tunnel to quickly rotate from top to bottom lane and defend your Structures when needed and then return top to keep pressuring that lane.

The least important lanes can be covered by any Hero who is capable of staying in lane for long on their own, usually with a good amount of self-sustain (such as Fenix or Thrall) and/or enough range to never take damage from enemy Heroes (for example Junkrat) while safely defending Structures from enemy Minions before they take damage. A single Hero will not be able to double soak middle and bottom lane because they are too far from each other.