Disclaimer: This article represents the opinion of the writer and not necessarily that of Team Dignitas.

Much of what is said about how to manage the Hero League climb assumes a certain skill level from your allies. I have played many, many ranked games, hit high Grandmaster multiple times, and three things were constant throughout.

Rule #1

No matter what division you are at, you will find that everyone sucks:

My friend in bronze complains about his team. My friend in gold complains about her team. Everyone from diamond to grandmaster complains about their team.

Welcome to HL. Hero League is the mess that emerges when a matchmaker shuffles players of varying skill and aptitude into random pick orders. Assassin main, support main, tank main - the HL matchmaker cares less about team composition than Quick Match does. Everyone sucks at some point in their games, including yourself. Your teammates are not going to care that you are #1 GM in hero select; they are still going to lock Azmodan, Gazlowe, and Murky in because they are higher in the pick order, and there is nothing you can do to change that outside of begging and wheedling.

Everyone sucks, and it is not their fault.

So you have an unfavoured team. It does not matter. Telling them how terrible they are is not going to change anything. Either Blizzard’s matchmaker placed them in a game they were ill-prepared for, or Blizzard’s matchmaker overestimated your ability to carry.

Rule #2

Because that is what is relevant in HL: your ability to carry.

There have been very few games where I can cruise through on unfamiliar heroes without a massive match-up advantage. In Hero League, what matters is your ability to 1v5, metaphorically speaking. You need to pull not only your weight, but that of as many of your teammates as you can. View each of your teammates an unreliable asset unless you recognise their names, and you will be better informed in how to choose your hero to best influence the game.

For example: hero synergies.

While hero synergies are important, unless you know the player in question, it is best not to pick heroes that rely heavily on those synergies to function. For instance, Tassadar is incredibly powerful when paired with heroes like Valla, Greymane, or Zul’jin, and a Tassadar-Carry duo of this sort can easily take over the game. However, if an unknown player has locked in any of these heroes, it can be a huge mistake to take the complementary hero if that hero is unable to excel on its own.

Always think about the worst-case scenario - if the other half of the duo is playing poorly, does that make your pick subpar? In this case, Valla and Greymane are excellent heroes for HL regardless of synergy, and are safe locks that do not rely on ally skill. Archon Tassadar is a decent pickup, though not ideal, even without any heroes to enable with his shield. Zul’jin, on the other hand, often requires an enabler. Therefore, unless you are extremely comfortable with him, it would be safer to pick one of the other synergetic carries that are individually powerful or another comfort pick entirely.

Which brings us to:

Rule #3

Pick what is comfortable.

Rule #1 tells us that everyone is terrible

Rule #2 tells us that you need to be able to carry.

Rule #3 says that because of #1 and #2, playing your best hero will give you the highest overall chances of winning.

It sounds like an obvious conclusion, but it sometimes runs against the conventional wisdom of always needing to fill the support and warrior roles. Before the pitchforks are dragged out, I do not claim that a composition without a tank or support is more likely than a proper composition is to win. However, a proper composition with players who are unfamiliar in their roles is not going to perform better than a wacky composition of heroes played by people who know those heroes inside out. Again, obvious, but you would be surprised (or perhaps not so) how many people bend over backwards to ensure that every game goes in with at least one support and one tank, or fight for 'meta' picks at the behest of their draft captain that they are unable to play.

The vast majority of players will not boast more than a few heroes that they are proficient with in their role, let alone across roles. While it is important to watch for counters and synergies, as well as fill hero positions, it is most important, above all, to be comfortable with the hero one is playing. At almost all levels of HL, personal skill trumps composition, and being able to show that personal skill is most relevant to having an impact on the game. I would rather a one-trick pony pick their hero every time and leave us without a support or tank (though I would rather set up the composition to allow them to pick that hero instead), than force them on an unfamiliar role and hero. Likewise, if to fill a role you are forced into playing a hero you are uncomfortable on, it could be better simply to leave that role unfilled and pick something you know you can carry on.

Rule #3 is the most difficult of these to analyse and put into practice, as the effect varies based on your individual proficiencies with a given hero, as well as the raw power level of the hero in question. Some heroes are just so powerful, even at low skill levels, and are able to turn out results even if the player is terrible at them. I have picked Stitches to fill the tank role (over comfort picks like Muradin or Tyrael) because of how incredibly strong the Slam build is right now; even though I overextended multiple times and missed most of my hooks, eventually the build just took over the game. Pre-nerf Malfurion is another example of a pick-and-play hero, being incredibly efficient even when the player is an inexperienced support.

As an exception to the rule, if you are able to flex into the roles that your team is unable to fill and flex them well or at a level comparable to that of your main heroes, feel free to lock them in even if they are not your strongest positions. As long as you are confident in what you can do on those heroes, the disadvantage of playing at a lower skill level is outweighed by the advantage of your team having a complete composition.

The only person’s performance that you can affect in HL is your own, so pick what you are good at and carry hard. Avoid relying on your teammates - analyse your own capabilities and make smarter choices in draft.

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