#161 - Into the Nexus: “Drain the Bear”

• Garrett • Kyle

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• Patreon.com/ITN

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Intro:  Welcome to Into the Nexus! The Heroes of the Storm podcast!

Heroes of the Dorm Concluded

Winners, UT Arlington

About 5 thousand live views, but Facebook counts 1.1 million views.

Links

• http://us.heroesofthestorm.com/esports/en/
• https://sports.yahoo.com/news/heroes-dorm-2017-results-ut-arlington-win-first-place-032037600.html
• https://www.facebook.com/BlizzHeroes/videos/vb.146483702227809/597079993834842/?type=2&theater

News

Reminder, you can go to ITNcast.reddit.com to submit stories or upvote submissions for the next episode.

Heroes Timeline

Memory lane.

Links

• http://us.battle.net/heroes/en/heroes20/timeline/

HGC Returns Tomorrow

Heroes esports running Friday - Sunday 2:00 pm - 6:00 pm Pacific for the next 6 weeks until the play offs.

Starts with Gale Force eSports vs. Team 8.

Links

• http://us.heroesofthestorm.com/esports/en/
• http://us.heroesofthestorm.com/esports/en/news/20702815/six-questions-heading-into-week-6
• http://us.heroesofthestorm.com/esports/en/schedule

2.0 Beta Rarity Update

Item Rarity Changes

• Updated the following items from Rare to Epic:

• Brown Dire Wolf Mount
• Dire Wolf Mount
• Horde Dire Wolf Mount

• Updated the following items from Epic to Legendary:

• Kael’thas Hero
• Tracer Hero
• Azure Nimbus Cloud Mount
• Jade Nimbus Cloud Mount
• Nimbus Cloud Mount
• Abathur Announcer
• Brightwing Announcer
• Murky Announcer

• Updated the following items from Epic to Rare:

• Saddled Battle Beast Mount
• Tan Saddled Battle Beast Mount
• Teal Saddled Battle Beast Mount

Loot Chests

• The gold cost to re-roll Epic Loot Chests has been increased to better capture the value of those chests.

Hero Levels

• The amounts of XP required to reach Hero levels 2 and 3 have been reduced.

http://us.battle.net/heroes/en/blog/20696570/heroes-20-open-beta-hotfix-notes-april-12-2017-4-12-2017

Patreon Mention: Patreon.com/ITN

Thanks to our Patreon producers Declan H, CheezyBob, and Mythdol.

Patron Thanks

• Nidus        
• Giovane Cesar
• Rob Coupar
• ThatMrMatt
• Aegis        

Strategy

Solo Laners. Who can solo!

Solo Laning Guide by Ryoma

• https://www.reddit.com/r/heroesofthestorm/comments/631k2k/ryomas_no_nonsense_solo_laning_guide_including/
• http://imgur.com/a/qOklj
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OaNK_2JdWM

What to look for in a Solo Laner

• Self-Sustain

• Wave clear isn’t even that important. You just survive to soak XP.
• Arthas, Alarak, Artanis, Chen, Leoric, Illidan, Thrall

• Kiting

• Can you kite enemy heroes?
• Greymane, Falstad, Zagara

• Can’t kite? Escape!

• If you’re not the best at kiting enemy heroes grab a hero who can escape.
• Leoric, Arthas (skill-shot dependent), Illidan, Chen, Thrall, Zagara

• Specialists are not automatically solo laners

• Their siege or shut down empowers other players to get work done.
• Sylvanas is not a solo laner.

More important than all of this: Know your enemy

• Zone out Butchers or Probius’s looking for collectables.
• Stop players from grabbing orbs and gems.
• Interrupt channeled spells.
• Lead your target with Aoe effects. Force bad decisions

Top Lane

Towers of Doom, Braxis, Infernal Shrines, Dragon Shire, Battlefield

Bot Lane

Tomb of the Spider Queen

It Depends

• Garden of Terror

• Solo-laner should be pushing a lane you don’t plan to push with the Terror.

• Sky Temple

• Solo-laner starts in the Bottom lane. After the first two altars are finished, the laner rotates Top. The team should then focus on mercs to pressure the bottom.

• Blackheart’s

• The Top/Mid rotation obviously works here (Xul/Gul’dan).
• If you don’t want the risk of the gank-able lane-rotation heroes, send your solo-laner to focus on Bottom.

No one knows

Cursed Hollow, Warhead Junction

Example Braxxis Top Lane:

• Pro - The solo lane is drafted as late as possible to avoid counters
• Home - Just be your best solo laner. Make sure you have one and a good one.

• Counter Drafting: Common Braxis Picks

• Rexxar - Poke him or sustain off the bear (Alarak, Leoric)
• Dehaka - Avoid tongue. Don’t attach sustain spells, he will just burrow. Poke him down, engage hard if Drag is missed. (Falstad, Greymane, Rexxar, Zagara)
• Thrall - Avoid getting hit by root. Protect yourself during Q cooldown. (Chen)
• Ragnaros - Don’t fight in your own minion wave. Abuse him, make him over invest. Clear his wave faster. (Basically any solo laner)

Alarak 8/14

Rexxar 8/14

Chen 6/14

Thrall 5/14

Falstad 4/14

Illidan 4/14

Zagara 4/14

Arthas 3/14

Dehaka 3/14

Greymane 3/14

Artanis 2/14

Leroic 2/14

Ragnaros 0/14

Emails

Sharku - The Gathering Storm Tournament

Amove.tv, Frogpants, Convert to Raid, Geekly and Lords of the Storm are hosting a community tournament together!

A for fun tournament in the spirit of Heroes of the Pants from 2016. Choose a community and wave a flag in this for fun throwdown.

The Gathering Storm will be June 3rd and 4th.

http://gatheringstormtournament.com

Korix

Hello Garrett & Kyle

I really love the show and the advice you both give really helps my game.

After hearing Kyle’s success with Muradin I decided to give him a go myself, however I always seem to run into Mana issues. Can either of you advise how you manage his Mana and any tips on doing so?

I also get a little stuck on what talents to pick, so a general overview of the best build would be fantastic!

Many thanks for all of your great shows.

I’m having the same problem. Would love some tips.

Edlobi

Blizzard seems to get the draft more into a rock-paper-scissors principle (e.g. Johanna vs AA, Anub vs Mages, etc.).

And "pro players" are giving tips how to draft on which map against (or with) certain heroes (e.g.Nubkeks, McIntyre or Grubby).

You tell us to play the few Heroes that we are comfortable with.

How does that match together? Where is the line? I feel like could go into a HL game with a say LVL 7 hero, that I played a few times in the past weeks rather than playing a lvl 11 hero, that doesn't match that well in the team comp.

Thanks for your insight. Love the show!

Greetings from EU!

Outro

Patreon Shout Out

ITN is supported by our badass Patrons. You can become a ITN Patron by going to Patreon.com/itn.

Thanks to our Patreon producers Declan H, CheezyBob, and Mythdol. ITN coffee mugs and glasses are over at bit.ly/amovestore.

Catch the live show Thursday nights at 8pm Eastern on Twitch.tv/Amovetv. Mobile live stream provided by Alpha Geek Radio. Go to mobile.alphageekradio.com.

Follow the show on Twitter @ITNcast, Facebook.com/Amovetv, And ITNpodcast.reddit.com.

Thanks to Brian Griffith, the musician responsible for our intro music. He can be found at briangriffithmusic.com or @briangriffith on twitter..

Personal Stuff

Garrett

Follow Garrett @GarrettArt

NOMOONart.com for Garrett’s stream designs.

The Angry Chicken: A Hearthstone Podcast

The Angry Nerd

Kyle

Kylefergusson.com

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