Heroes of the Storm: Warrior heroes guide

The real stars of Heroes of the Storm are all the different characters from the varied Blizzard franchises you get to play in one hectic arena. But how can you choose which one of the many heroes you’d like to focus on? Here’s a guide to help.

Heroes come in four basic types: Warriors, Assassins, Support, and Specialists. You’ll likely want to find one of each type you like to play, because daily quests often ask you to play a certain number of matches in a specific role. In this post, we’re going to discuss the Warrior heroes.

These heroes are the meat shields of Heroes of the Storm. Warriors are melee heroes who tend to have high health and either self-heals or self-shield mechanics, giving them more longevity overall than other hero types. They’re usually the best heroes to initiate large team fights. When playing a Warrior, you’re usually going to be diving straight into the heat of battle and try to bodyblock the opposing team so the rest of your team can do their jobs.

This guide was last updated on 9/29 after a few rounds of talent revamps and subsequent meta changes.

Anub’arak

Abilities —  Guide — Skins

Anub’arak has quite a bit of crowd control and mobility. Burrow Charge takes a bit of finesse to get right, but when you can get it to line up properly in a team fight you can all but lock down the other team. Some players choose to talent his beetles as much as possible instead of his abilities, which is a fun, unique build. It’s far more viable thanks to a recent AI update, but they’re still subject to AI, giving the player less choice, and ultimately less control over the match. Anub’arak has no self-healing other than talented additions to other abilities (including those beetles), but he does get a pretty beefy shield to work with. I tend to prefer Locust Swarm because it gains you a bit of longevity and Web Blast is a bit contingent on what the opposite team has to work with, but either are strong choices.

Artanis

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Artanis is a StarCraft Warrior that can be played one of two ways: either as a secondary tank or a beefy, late-game Assassin. Why not a main tank? Limited mobility options, limited ability to peel enemies off teammates, and no team fight initiators all make him less than ideal as the main. But as the secondary, he can shine. Alternately, just play a waiting game while he levels and take all his DPS talents to become a Zeratul-like terror by level 20. Think Sonya with her ability to disrupt, damage, and survive — Artanis is very similar.

Arthas

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You might expect lots of frost-related slowing and a Death Knight-inspired ability set for Arthas, and you’d be right. All that frost makes for a hero that can excel at keeping enemy heroes in place to set up for Assassins, and keep team fights in close quarters. Arthas is one of a few heroes with an active trait, and you’ll want to spam that D key whenever possible to keep his mana pool high. Use Frostmourne Hungers on every cooldown and you’ll have a good time, but if you run out of mana, Arthas can be kited really easily. His Army of the Dead heroic talent is easier to use than the skill shot Summon Sindragosa, but Sindragosa is devastating if you can use it well.

Chen

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Chen’s gameplay is quite unique and is centered around his Fortifying Brew trait. Every so often, Chen has to stop and drink from his keg to gain powerful shields and re-fill his Brew meter (which replaces Chen’s mana bar). Without Brew, you can’t use your other abilities, but it’s not always a good time to drink when you’re in the thick of the fight, despite the short shield. There is no passive way to regenerate Brew, so you have to find the balance between Brew and being a wrecking ball. Chen is difficult to learn, but effective Chen players are unstoppable. Both his heroic ability choices are strong. Storm, Earth and Fire works almost like a panic button, and gives Chen the chance to deal a good bit of damage and then bail out before it ends. Wandering Keg is very useful for protecting your support or stymieing the opponent, but is a bit difficult to control if you’re not used to it.

Cho

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One-half of the two-headed Ogre Cho’Gall, Cho is a melee fighter who controls Cho’Gall’s movement. Cho’s Q is a charge with a short wind up giving Gall warning to avoid a skill shot. It also knocks enemies aside so it’s good for disrupting the enemy composition. His W puts a fire DOT on nearby enemies and returns the damage as twice the health to Cho’Gall. Hie E throws out a bomb that does damage to everything in its path and requires Gall to detonate it for bigger AOE damage. One of his Rs increases his basic attack damage and can be activated for a stun and push back attack. His other R option pulls enemies towards him and slows their run speed. This could be deadly with Gall’s Heroic Ability that can detonate for AOE damage.

A well coordinated pair can be an absolute terror with this hero, but Cho’Gall isn’t indestructible. He can be focused down like any other hero though you have a much bigger health pool to eat through. Zagara’s Maw or Zeratul’s Void Prison can lock him down taking two players out of the fight simultaneously.

Diablo

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Diablo has fallen from grace in more ways than one–once a key pick in the meta, a few talent tweaks later he is no longer a favorite. His Black Soulstone trait allows him to resurrect more quickly, and can greatly increase his health regen when talented. He has a few crowd control moves, one of which, Overpower, can toss opposing heroes across gates as a troll-style finisher. Shadow Charge can help him close the gap, and is a great way to initiate a team fight, provided the support in your back pocket is awake. Apocalypse, a longer stun in a kit full of shorter ones, is usually favored over dps move Lightning Breath but either are decent choices. Apocalypse is also a map-wide ability, so it has the added bonus of being able to help teammates in different lanes in an instant.

E.T.C.

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E.T.C. has seen less play as new Heroes have been introduced, but he’s still an occasional pick in a Warrior-heavy meta. He has a lot of mobility for a warrior, especially with the late game talent Speed Metal. E.T.C. has a knock back and some stuns, making him good at rounding up heroes for his teammates to kill. He can be built into a self-healing, damage-taking machine. Mosh Pit is preferred by many E.T.C. players because he already has a lot of mobility under his belt, and it’s easy to misread the fight and Stage Dive to where the fight isn’t by the time the cast finishes. Mosh Pit can be interrupted, and since it only stuns with no damage until level 20 talents it’s is relatively useless unless your team is backing you up.

Johanna

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Diablo‘s Crusader is a strong tank hero. She has shields, lots of regen, and ways to throw around the entire enemy team to keep hers safe. Punish makes it so that the opponents foolish enough to seek her out won’t be able to escape, either. The down side is that she doesn’t bring a ton of DPS, but with her longevity on important objectives she can jump in and harass her opponents until her team gets to her. By using Shield Glare to avoid hits and Condemn to peel Johanna can protect her Support friends, making her all but indestructible. The Blessed Shield heroic is slightly more popular than Falling Sword, but because the Shield is a skillshot that can be missed or absorbed by minion waves, Falling Sword may be a less punishing choice for newer players.

Leoric

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Leoric may have a slow attack speed, but when he does swing, it hurts. The toughest part of playing Leoric is not forgetting that his deaths count for full XP for the other team. Remember: just because his Undying trait makes you become a ghost when he dies doesn’t mean you want to die. Both his heroic abilities can be a bit difficult to use. If you mess up the dps and reflexive heal March of the Black King ability, you’re only really affecting your play, but the zoning tool Entomb can screw up your team and therefore may be a less desirable choice for your first foray into the Nexus.

Muradin

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Muradin can take a lot of damage and regenerates quickly between engagements but doesn’t have a ton of regeneration or shields once he’s in the thick of things. He has a big stun move and can crowd control a bit with his slowing Thunderclap. With Dwarf Toss and Storm Bolt’s stun, though he doesn’t have much burst himself, Muradin is excellent at chasing down fleeing Assassins and holding them in place for his own Assassins to finish the job. Avatar is the easier talent to use, and can help with body blocking and overall DPS. Haymaker is a strong crowd control move but it’s easy to misuse in a team fight.

Rexxar

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Rexxar’s biggest weakness is Rexxar. Misha is a beast, but Rexxar is relatively pretty squishy without a lot of escape capability, so be careful where you place him. Up against Rexxar, he can be focused down relatively easily for a full kill while the much sturdier Misha only grants a quarter of the XP of a normal kill. Rexxar does have a few very valuable DPS moves with slows and stuns, but even if you build your talents around those, being able to control Misha effectively is crucial to playing Rexxar well. His Beastial Wrath heroic ability gives her big buffs, but Unleash the Boars can be used to slow the entire opposing team and reveal cloaked heroes. Both talents are viable, so it comes down to preference and team comp.

Sonya

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Instead of seeing Sonya as a Warrior, it’s almost better to see her as a slightly healthy Assassin and pick a lot of DPS talents. Her primary use in competitive settings is to dive deep to initiate team fights. This is especially viable if she has a lot of support, but as a newer solo player it may be a better idea to just pick a melee Assassin unless you’re trying complete your dailies. Wrath of the Berserker is the better DPS talent, but Leap lends Sonya some mobility to get out of a bad situation. Leap is also popular due to the signature yell Sonya gives while stunning her enemies.

Stitches

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Playing against Stitches, the first ability you’ll notice is the Hook. It’s a great and quite deadly way to begin a team fight. Stitches doesn’t have a lot of personal mobility, but he can certainly make opposing players mobile! Stitches will throw heroes around like rag dolls and shake up any strategy you may have thought you had. Gorge in particular can be used to deposit an ingested hero beyond a gate, or just into a group of your teammates, where they’re not likely to make it back out. The down side to Stitches is that he probably isn’t making it out either. Putrid Bile can aid his escape, but other than that Stitches doesn’t have any outs. Engage carefully.

Tyrael

Abilities — Guide — Skins

Tyrael doesn’t have a lot of the crowd round up and other control talents of the other Warriors, and instead relies heavily on mobility, both to chase down opposing players and get himself out of sticky situations. His abilities are almost support-like, with additional shields and mobility granted to nearby heroes, but he can’t actually heal himself. His Trait is relatively weak, and only useful after he dies. Both Tyrael’s heroics are strong but Judgement is more useful to burst down an opponent. With a recent tweak that allows him to shield himself in addition to his teammates, Sanctification is now also viable, so your choice is down to whether your team needs more burst or protection.