Heroes of the Storm requires great teamwork to achieve victory. Too often the salt takes over and people can let the small things get to them. Take a deep breath, and start over. These are some tips to enhance your attitude, gameplay, and team synergy.

1. Don’t be toxic.

I mean, it sounds simple enough. We all get salty, we all get frustrated, we all get tilted by how obvious something should have been but teammates didn’t see it the same way. The best way to get through this is hang up the ego and just try to cooperate as much as possible. This is a team game and respect should be mutual.

2. Drafting is important!

Hover your picks. Or at least state that you cannot/do not enjoy playing warrior/support/melee. Better yet, state what you do prefer. Communicate as much as possible. Until there is a voice system within Heroes of the Storm, try to hover picks or ask for opinions on certain picks. Be able to adjust your hero picks to fit the rest of your team’s composition or counter the enemy team’s composition. And if you are last pick... Well, chances are you might get stuck filling a role you don’t want to. Being vocal about this at the very beginning of the draft might encourage different choices from your teammates to help you out, but don’t be upset if you end up having to last pick warrior. If you’re playing ranked, you should be able to decently fill any role.

3. Congratulate good plays, less bashing of bad ones.

It’s really hard to be constructive with criticism and have it not sound like a rude comment. Try to be as polite as possible. It’s often better for team morale to point out amazing plays, great engages, or objective calls instead of focusing on all the mistakes. There will always be mistakes. But saying “gg” after the first failed team fight only shows that you haven’t been playing much Heroes of the Storm. This game is notorious for 1% core wipes and having insane comebacks for teams that were losing an entire game. Never give up.

4. Learn to take constructive criticism.

It's hard to admit you made a mistake, but making mistakes is the best way to improve. If teammates are pointing out some mistakes you’ve made with engaging, teamfights, map priorities, or even talent choices, try to be open minded. Owning up to your mistakes allows you to understand where you need to improve. If you still can’t see where you went wrong or think teammates are just flaming you for no reason, try having a look at your replays. Watching your games again can show you the perspectives of other teammates, and then it’s possible to see why they thought you going so far out into a lane was a bad idea

5. With talent choices, try to be courteous with recommendations.

If you notice someone may not understand how to build their character, try to give them some help. There is a good way to do this and a bad way. Firstly, make sure you aren’t typing up an essay instead of focusing on the game. Secondly, be nice and offer sincere advice. “Hey, I noticed you took ___. Normally for this character, ___ with ___ is a better option.” This sounds a lot better than some of the trash talk people share if they think you’re build isn’t good enough.

6. Pinging is good, but watch out for spamming pings.

No one likes to be ping spammed. Honestly, sometimes you don’t notice you are walking into a bad area and need some extra pings to get your attention, but more often than not, it can come across as aggressive. There is a ping limit, so that helps, but when an entire team is pinging someone it can be a bit excessive. On the flip side of this, be aware of your surroundings! Keep an eye on your minimap to keep track of enemies. Watch out for retreat pings, low mana updates, or other warnings. Without voice, pings are the fastest way to alert teammates of a call to engage, take a camp, watch out for enemies, or target specific enemies.

7. Follow your team, even if it doesn’t seem like the right move.

This is a tough one. Heroes of the Storm teamfights normally favour whichever team has more members present. A 5v5 has a better success rate than going into a teamfight as 3v5. Once the laning phases are over, it’s usually important to remain as a team of 5. This can be trouble when people have differing opinions about where to go and what to do. It may sound ridiculous, but there are many times where doing the least desirable thing together as 5 is better than doing what seems like the obvious right choice for 1 or 2 players. A whole team following a poor shotcall decision has a better chance in the team fight, should one occur. Splitting up leads to uneven team fights usually ending with a loss for both choices.

8. Don’t forget your GG’s and GLHF’s.

I think it’s important to use these phrases when you play, even if it feels a bit hollow. Firstly, saying “Good luck, have fun” (GLHF) at the beginning of a game shows people you are present in the game. It’s a great way to start off positive communication practices. Same goes for “Good game” (GG) at the end of the game. Even if it wasn’t a good game, it is great to acknowledge that you tried and that your team tried. You can’t win them all, but try to be positive about it. There is always next game!

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