Wanna start off by saying ive accumulated 2,400 hours on league and in my time playing ive only been impressed by like 3 hero designs jhin draven and samira who is basically dante. But even tho ive played 6-8 champs on hots everyone single one of then has had something satisfying and fun to use in their kit my favorite being qhira, her bleed,execute, sustain, mobility, just built for fun. Even an extremely hard champ like the Vikings is fun to just hop in a game with as with league feels like they just throw bigger and more complicated passives and abilities just to one up the last broken champ im glad i picked this game up
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I used to obsessively play league for years but only ever really mained a handfull of champs.
Here in hots tho I think ive “mained” about half the roster at some point. : p
Currently my favorites are whitemane and maiev who both feel like if I just do it right, I can 1v5 and their kits are both very deep.
Deathwing who genuinely feels like a raid boss in teamfights.
And Jaina who may be super simple but big stupid damage is still fun :p.
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The thing that makes me like Heroes more is that you’re encouraged to use your abilities.
You have enough mana to use them on minion waves, especially if you grab globes, and you’re capable of using them on structures or map objective creatures.
So you get to make use of your cool abilities more often, rather than just autop-attacking and occasionally using cool abilities on enemy heroes.
But I still think they could have gone more interesting with some of the abilities and overall designs.
And I think the game’s strength could be made to stand out more, if instead of bursting people down in half a second like in other Mobas, they doubled down on it being the one where you use abilities often by reducing damage overall, and reducing cool downs and mana costs at the same time.
Abathur is one of the most interesting heroes, because he has low cooldowns and a global presence. You’re ALWAYS able to contribute something. In fact, it’s often difficult to actually use all of your abilities off cooldown, because there is so much for you to do at all times.
I think all heroes should feel like that.
Raised skill cap by raising the amount of choices you have.
I also think Qhira is a good example.
She has some interesting options through how her abilities interact.
You can engage with D, then save E to spread bleeds and increase your healing.
Or you can engage while mounted into E, and decide if you’re going to E again and kick in, or D to disengage.
It’s not simply a combo you have to land to be effective, like Kel’Thuzad (worst designed hero) it is a handful of independent abilities that you can use independently, or chain them together in different ways.
More heroes should have abilities that interact, or can link into different abilities or states (like positioning or armor).
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For sure. I bet the lack of items also gives hots the freedom to make more wild designs as well.
Its kinda funny. I feel like leagued acknowledged this when they made urf mode and aram but then didn’t incorporate those design philosophies in to their main game mode.
I remember the very first “oh this is awesome” moment i had with hots was realizing I could use abilities on buildings.
I think even Kel’thuzad works in this regard sense Q is devastating against all the non heroes who don’t move much and you’ve got the baseline quest that wants you to spam early on to get the power boost later.
Granted, from the other teams perspective, he can really suck to play agaisnt but to play as he can feel like an absolute god even if hes far from the best mage collectively.
Also is it just me or are abilities with delays just more fun then those with out? 
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I like clunky heroes, so I’d say yes.
It feels more rewarding to have a hit or miss ability than an instant low gratification from Hammer of Justice of Polymorph.
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Isn’t it odd that you play more D.Va than Deathwing then? 
D.Va used to be a lot clunkier, way more than Deathwing for the value that he provided at the time (press W in melee and win).
It’s now the opposite in general, but I still believe that D.Va can have a high skill ceiling from the way I play her.
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Abathur is op and broken
WHat does Draven do in LoL? I’ve only seen him in Legends of Runeterra.
But yeah, HotS has pretty good design. It’s just a shame they refuse to ever advertize.
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He throws an axe, which then ricochets to a random location. If you can catch it, your next AA rethrows the axe. Do it enough to wait out the cooldown, and you can juggle multiple axes at once. It’s actually a pretty fun hero.
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I used to play Draven a lot and was pretty much the only hero I played because he’s too fun. I just hate his passive because it’s only valuable for the first 20 min of the game, aftwards it has little purpose… I wish they kept his old passive or gave him a different one than the one he has now. He’s legit the only reason I was able to lose my life to that game. I wish HOTS would create a hero like Draven.
P.S.: I was also terrible at him, but he was too darn fun.
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So he’s an AD carry (so think something like Raynor) who’s trait was that after he would catch an axe he would gain a stack of adoration . This “stack” was never ending and would only “disappear” upon death or upon kill. Upon kill Draven would automatically obtain 50 gold and I think it was +1 gold per stack. Remember, he gains stack per “axe he catches”
His Q was spinning axe. It would add flat dmg on top of his base dmg. He could spin as many as he could catch. If a player had enough attack speed and were exceptionally good, he could have 3 spinning axes at one time during a team fight. His spinning axe cannot crit.
So basically his Q was to spin his axes. Those spinning axes would become his AA. You would throw his axe at somebody and upon hitting them, the axe would ricochet in to the air near Draven, you would then have to make the decision to either “catch” the axe or let it fall. If you caught it, it added to your stack of adoration.
His W was a steroid which increase his AS and MS. This CD was reset every time he caught his axe.
His E was called stand aside which is a knock up. He would throw (I guess an axe? Just not the one he’s juggling) and it would shove the person slightly to the side and slightly in the air.
His Ultinate was whirling death which was a global. Basically think of zuljin lvl 20 (his guillotine). The only difference was that it’s from Draven position, and if you pressed R again it would come back towards Draven again.
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Okay but Draven isn’t as simple as Raynor… Honestly this is why I stick to Seraphine and Lux. They’re simple and straight-forward lmao
I agree. Love how a lot of heroes I play have their kits with great synergy. Very distinct from one another too.