Selecting the right Hero can create synergy with your allies and disrupt your enemies. The best place to start a team composition is with one of the strongest Heroes. Although Blizzard does their best to balance the game and level the playing field, there will always be a metagame to Heroes of the Storm.
By mastering the Heroes on this list, your Hero pool will be a great fit within most team compositions. These Heroes have the power and utility to stand up against all who oppose them. While every Hero will always have good and bad matchups against certain other Heroes, the ones on this list have more opportunities to shine than any others.
10 Stukov
The power of Stukov lies in his ability to displace enemy formations. His most dominate ability, Lurking Arm, will continually damage and silence all enemies in the area of effect. This is one of the most powerful single abilities in the game. By placing Lurking Arm on an objective, gate, or directly on an enemy, Stukov can dictate the enemy’s position.
Some abilities can be ignored and dealt with by just waiting them out or carrying on. Lurking Arm cannot be ignored. Teams must move out of the area, reassess their formation, and focus on this mechanic over anything else that’s happening on screen.
9 Dehaka
Instead of having a mount, Dehaka has the ability to burrow into any bush on the Battleground. This global ability gives Dehaka free reign to move around the map. The power of having a global ability lies in being able to push off-lanes and soak extra waves of XP before joining a team fight.
While Dehaka’s global is his primary strength, the rest of his toolkit is also very powerful. His abilities include displacement, wave clear, as well as utility to keep himself alive. When playing the solo lane, Dehaka is one of the best Heroes you can pick.
8 Johanna
When playing a tank, you generally want abilities that stun, slow, or reduce enemy damage. Johanna has all of these capabilities, as well as a strong wave clear and an escape. She is the total package as a tank with a strong and well-balanced set of tools.
Johanna really shines on Battlegrounds like Infernal Shrines or Garden of Terror — 3-lane maps with a lot of small creeps. By dropping Condemn, followed by a Shield Glare and Punish, Johana can 1-shot minion waves and allow your team to rotate freely.
7 Uther
Versatility is the major advantage of Uther. He can be your team’s medic with ease, as he has a powerful single-target heal and a second heal with an area of effect. In addition, he can protect allies with Divine Shield or choose to damage and stun enemies with Divine Storm.
Not only does Uther have a strong array of abilities, but he can also soak a lot of incoming damage. Uther protects the frontline by being part of it; he can brawl in the frontline with the best of ‘em. In fact, Uther is such a strong tank that you can play Uther as your team’s main tank and select a 2nd healer.
6 Diablo
If your team isn’t comfortable with an Uther main-tank, you can always pick the Lord of Terror, Diablo. A menace on the battlefield, Diablo is the most aggressive tank in the Nexus. He Shadow Charges in and isolates an enemy, chain-stunning them and dealing massive damage.
Diablo is best played as an initiator of brawls, throwing himself into the enemy. A tank like Johanna prefers to play the long game, continually soaking lanes while rotating around the map, but Diablo wants to fight. If your team has a Diablo, watch him closely, as he will start team fights at a moment’s notice.
5 Valla
Valla is an auto-attacker that can stand up against any Hero in the Nexus. Valla is the perfect 1st pick in a team draft. Not only is she one of the strongest Heroes, but she can adapt to any situation. With 3 separate builds that are all viable in competitive play, Valla is versatile and a lot of fun to play.
If you’re playing on a Battleground that has a lot of creep camps, play Valla with a Hungering Arrow build. If your game has frequent team fights, play a Multishot build. If you need to deal sustained damage during long brawls, use the Hatred Attack Damage build.
4 Leoric
On certain Battlegrounds like Towers of Doom and Dragon Shire, the optimal strategy is to have a solo laner double soak. Characters like Dehaka, Xul, and Leoric can quickly clear a minion wave and then rotate. This allows the remaining 4 allies to group up and push a single lane.
Leoric is amazing at double soaking. He can clear a minion wave with Skeletal Swing, heal himself, and then dash away with Wraith Walk. Particularly on maps that need a dedicated lane soaker, Leoric is one of the most formidable solo laners.
3 Anub’arak
Aside from just staying alive, tanks need to soak incoming damage and disrupt the enemy plans. Anub’arak has an excellent toolkit for a tank. He can take damage, initiate fights, and stun enemies. Through only his three primary abilities, Anub’arak is already a scary tank.
Anub’arak’s ultimate ability Cacoon is also one of the best in the game. He wraps an enemy in a cocoon, isolating a single Hero and removing them from the battlefield. This can restrict a healer from contributing, catch a squishy damage dealer out of position, or simply turn every 5v5 team fight into a 5v4 fight.
2 Azmodan
Ranged damage dealers are split into two categories: auto-attackers and mages. Mages like Kel’Thuzad, Jaina, and Azmodan deal mainly in magic damage and are relatively less mobile. Mages do a tremendous amount of burst damage, followed by the downtime of waiting for their skills to come off cooldown.
Azmodan is a mage that can not only eliminate a team but can also destroy every structure with ease. The threat of Azmodan is that he can be a beast in team fights, or he can quickly destroy all of your Forts. If you want to top the scoreboard in every category, pick Azmodan.
1 Rehgar
A strong healer is a great Hero to build a team composition around. Rehgar is an amazing Hero because he can heal an entire team, contribute damage, and even solo creep camps or objectives. Rehgar is the Swiss army knife of HotS as he can fit into nearly every team composition.
If you want to run two healers, Rehgar is great. If you have a team that likes to dive aggressively, pick up a Rehgar with Bloodlust. If you need someone to catch minion waves, clear a camp, or handle anything that comes up, Rehgar is your Hero.
