The ultimate solo achievement in Heroes of the Storm is to reach Rank 1 on the Hero League ladder. As someone who just recently conquered that climb, I wanted to share some tips that will help you win more games and eventually climb to Rank 1 yourself with a little practice and determination.
Be Comfortable Playing Enough Heroes
If you want to make it to the top of Hero League, you'll need to have enough heroes to play. That basically means you'll want at least two heroes in every role, and that's just barely enough to get by. More realistically you'll want to have a large pool of heroes in order to match your team's style and composition, or to counter the opposing team's hero choices. As you start to rank, you'll realize what you're missing and be able to fill in gaps as you climb.
Don't Forget to Soak
One of the most commonly overlooked strategies in Heroes of the Storm is soaking experience from minion waves early in the game. If someone on your team isn't present for the death of a minion wave or two, you'll quickly find yourself falling behind in levels and lacking talents when it comes to the first objective fight. Attentive Hero League players will always be mindful of potential missed experience, then soak those lanes when it's safe or appropriate to do so. That can lead to early advantages that snowball into quick wins, or simply keep your team evenly matched for later engagements.
Understand Counters
Most players will simply draft their favorite hero that fits the role required by their team. That's usually a reliable strategy, but sometimes you'll have to consider counters to gain the upper hand. You may not want to select Illidan into an enemy Brightwing, Muradin, and Tyrande for instance, even if he's your best assassin. You should also think about selecting counters to shut down enemy drafts. If they go for the Butcher, you can build your team tankier with more crowd control to counter him. As you learn matchups and counters, you'll be able to out-draft the enemy team and earn wins you would've otherwise lost.
Communicate
There's nothing worse than five skilled players who lose a game because of poor communication. You should always talk to your teammates about team composition and roles that people are comfortable with in the draft phase. If someone isn't a confident tank, you don't want them leading your charge. You should also stay chatty on the battlefield, discussing strategy, objectives, and even enemy talents. Pings are vital to success, as is a good shot-caller who rallies a team. As you become more experienced, you should also get more vocal. Just be sure to stay positive at all times!
Make Friends
It's entirely possible to make it to Rank 1 via solo queue, but I can't recommend it. As you play, you'll run into other players who impress you with your skills, and there's nothing wrong with sending them a quick message after the game asking to group up! If you develop a small roster of 4-5 friends that you can duo- or trio-queue with, it can make the grind more enjoyable and wins more reliable.
Not Being Bad is More Important Than Being Great
A lot of Hero League players take the name too literally and try to be the hero for their team. This can result in overly-aggressive play, impatient shot-calls, or an assumption that you're without fault. All of those things are dangerous, even if you are the best player on your team. Be careful that you're not going overboard trying to win. It's usually better to play conservatively and safely. In other words, focus on "not being bad." If you avoid mistakes and throws, you'll get more reliable results.
Be Flexible With Builds
Many players read a build guide online and then stick to it no matter what they encounter in the game. While most heroes do have talent builds that are undeniably stronger than others, that doesn't mean you can totally ignore the circumstances of the match. For instance most Kael'Thas players would choose Phoenix over Pyroblast 9 times out of 10, but if your team has no way to shut down Illidan, perhaps you should pick Pyroblast to blow him up immediately upon diving into your team. There are a million different combinations and variations that fit specific team compositions, and it's important that you're flexible enough to identify and implement those variations to gain an edge.
Team Composition Comes First, Map Comes Second
Some heroes are perfect for certain maps. There's nothing better than Sylvanas or Tassadar on Haunted Mines, and Brightwing's teleport can always give you an advantage on big maps. Knowing heroes who excel on specific maps is incredibly important to success, but blindly picking them when your team has a need simply won't work. For instance, if your team needs a tank on Haunted Mines, you can't last-pick Tassadar just because he's powerful. You'll notice Sylvanas loses on Haunted Mines rather often because the other team will have a balanced draft with loads of synergy.
Be Ready to Grind
In the early stages of your climb, you'll probably be getting 300-400 ranked points per win. But you will most likely reach a point when your wins are worth 100 points and your losses cost you 100 points, meaning a grind is in your future. You'll need to win substantially more than 50% of your games to advance, and that can be tough. You'll have losing streaks that drop you a few ranks, and you'll have winning streaks that shoot you unexpectedly high. Just keep at it, stay focused, and settle in for the grind. I personally leveled out with ranked points at Rank 26, meaning I had to suffer the grind through 25 ranks. I focused on improving a little at a time, won 61% of my games, and finally cracked the elusive top rank after loads of work.
Learn From Your Mistakes
The most important tip for reaching Rank 1 is to learn from your mistakes. You will have to get better at the game if you want to advance, so recognizing your errors and identifying opportunities for improvement will go a long way. Watch your replays if you have to, but pay attention to your own play and find ways to make it better. The only thing you can control is yourself, so doing everything possible to be better than your counterpart on the other side is the best way to win.
Source: Heroes2P
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