Heroes of the Storm is a multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment. Announced at BlizzCon 2010, it was released on June 2, 2015, for macOS and Windows. The game features various crossover characters from Blizzard's franchises as playable heroes, as well as different battlegrounds based on Warcraft, Diablo, StarCraft, and Overwatch universes.
Matches are contested between two teams of five players, each aiming to destroy the opposing team's main structure, known as the "Core." The first team to do so wins the match, with a typical duration of around 20 minutes. Matches take place on various themed battlegrounds, each featuring unique level designs and secondary objectives, the completion of which grants significant advantages. Every player controls a single character, known as a "hero", with a set of distinctive abilities and differing styles of play. Heroes become more powerful over the course of a match by collecting experience points and unlocking "talents" that offer new abilities or augment existing ones, contributing to the team's overall strategy.
Heroes of the Storm is inspired by Defense of the Ancients, a community-created mod for Warcraft III, another video game developed by Blizzard Entertainment. Heroes of the Storm is free-to-play and is supported by microtransactions which can be used to purchase heroes, visual alterations for the heroes in the game, mounts, and other cosmetic elements. Blizzard originally referred to the game as a "hero brawler", but later started using the more common term for the genre – "multiplayer online battle arena" (MOBA).
As of July 2022, Blizzard scaled back major development of Heroes of the Storm, but the game continues to receive regular updates, including seasonal balance changes and bug fixes. At the 2026 Blizzcon, Blizzard announced they were reviving Heroes starting with its first new hero in several years.
Gameplay
Heroes of the Storm revolves around 5-versus-5 battles, hosted on Blizzard's online gaming service, Battle.net, with an average match duration of approximately 20 minutes. In each match, players work together as a team to achieve the ultimate victory condition: destroying the opposing team's main structure, known as the "Core", before enemy team does the same. To reach the Core, players must first break through at least one lane of defensive structures, which include "forts" and "keeps." To aid in this effort, teams can secure the assistance of mercenary camps, powerful battleground bosses, and waves of computer-controlled units called "minions." Minions periodically spawn in groups and march along designated lanes toward the enemy base, engaging any opposition along the way.
There are currently 15 battlegrounds, each with its own distinct metagame and secondary objectives Completing these objectives grants substantial advantages, often by requiring teams to contest key locations or engage in direct confrontations, ultimately increasing their ability to push through enemy defenses more effectively.
In all game modes, each player controls one of the 89 playable characters (as of March 2025), called "heroes", with each having a unique design, strengths, and weaknesses. Heroes are divided into six separate roles: tank, bruiser, ranged assassin, melee assassin, healer, and support. Players can purchase permanent access to heroes using the in-game currency, called "Gold," or through microtransactions. Additionally, there is always a free hero rotation available each week, allowing players to try out different heroes without cost.
Each individual hero comes with a set of distinctive abilities. Ability kit is generally composed of three basic abilities usable right from level 1, a passive or active trait, and a powerful "heroic ability". Upon reaching level 10, players can choose between two "heroics" which often have a devastating effect and a long cooldown. Heroics are usually the strongest tools in an arsenal that define a hero's strengths and playstyle. A hero can only gain one type of heroic per match. If a hero runs out of health points and dies, they are removed from active play until a respawn timer counts down to zero, after which they subsequently respawn at the rear of their team's base, known as the "Hall of Storms". Furthermore, the Hall of Storms allows heroes to quickly restore their health and mana over time as long as they are within the Hall. The Hall also offers protection from enemy damage and effects, and enemy players are repelled outward a slight distance in a sudden fashion upon entering an opposing team's Hall.
Experience points, which players can gain by gathering experience globes from fallen minions, are shared across the entire team. This is uncommon for the MOBA genre, in which most games employ a system of separate, per-player experience and leveling. In addition, certain enemy structures, such as towers, forts and keeps, will provide experience to the team who destroys them, as well as captured mercenary camps. When a team during the course of the match reaches a certain experience point threshold, every hero on that team levels up, acquiring slightly amplified powers, up to a maximum level of 30. Every few levels, players may select a "talent" which offers a new ability or augments an existing one. Two significant power spikes are at level 10 and level 20, where heroes gain access to some of the most powerful talents in the game, referred to as "heroic" and "storm talents", respectively. This leveling system emphasizes the importance of teamwork and planning since a player's action can affect the whole team.
In addition to the talent system, each player is able to use a "Hearthstone", an ability that allows heroes to teleport back to their base from anywhere on the battleground after a few seconds of channeling without receiving damage, using abilities, or attacking. Players can also utilize various mounts, such as animals, bikes, and clouds, to increase their movement speed, automatically dismounting when attacking, receiving damage or using most abilities.
Game modes Heroes of the Storm offers various game modes, allowing players to choose between battling computer-controlled heroes or competing in team-based matches against other players. Tutorials - The tutorials are composed of three scripted 'levels' that are aimed at new players with the intent of teaching movement, use of abilities and other basic controls. The player controls Jim Raynor, who is teleported from the StarCraft universe into the Nexus, receiving instructions from Uther the Lightbringer from the Warcraft series. Training - A reduced experience mode where a player teams up with four AI teammates against five AI opponents set at the Beginner difficulty. Versus A.I. - Players face off against five AI opponents. Before starting the match, the player can choose to have human-controlled or AI allies. The difficulty setting of the AI can also be chosen prior to initiating a match. Quick Match - In this mode, players select their heroes before entering the match, without knowing the battleground or the heroes they will be matched with or against. Two teams of five human-controlled heroes are pitted against each other in player-versus-player (PvP) combat on a random battleground. Players are free to queue solo or in a party, and the teams are formed based on the players' past performance and the roles of the chosen heroes to ensure a balanced match. For instance, if a player queues solo as a Support, they are unlikely to be matched with four other Support heroes, promoting a more diverse team composition. Unlike the Draft mode, where selecting a hero in coordination with teammates and considering the enemy composition is crucial, Quick Match allows players to play their preferred heroes. Unranked Draft - Before the start of an Unranked Draft game, opposing teams engage in a "draft" phase, where they alternate selecting Heroes to form their respective compositions of five characters. As the draft progresses, both teams can observe the others' selections, along with the battleground on which the match will take place. This adds a layer of strategy, as players must carefully choose their Heroes based on the compositions of both teams, as well as their knowledge of how the different battlegrounds affect gameplay. During the draft, each team can ban up to three Heroes, preventing either team from selecting these characters for the remainder of the draft. Unranked Draft is often considered a mode that introduces players to a system similar to the ranked Storm League, but without the pressure of impacting their MMR (Matchmaking Rating). It offers a more structured and strategic experience compared to Quick Match, allowing players to practice their hero selection and team composition skills without risking changes to their ranking. Storm League - Storm League utilizes a draft phase before gameplay, similar to the draft system in Unranked Draft. Players are matched with and against each other based on their rankings, which are determined by their past Storm League performance. Players are ranked in leagues from Bronze (lowest) to Grand Master (highest) based on their in-game performance. Leagues below Master (the second-highest league) are divided into five divisions, numbered 1–5, with Division 1 being the highest and Division 5 the lowest. Each league—Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond—contains these five divisions. In Master league, divisions are not used; instead, players are ranked directly by their MMR points. The top 100 players in Master, who have won at least 35 games during the current season, are considered Grand Masters. An online leaderboard, maintained by Blizzard, is updated nightly to display the current list of Grand Master players in each major region. Players can choose to compete either individually or as part of a team of up to five players in Storm League matches, where they will be matched with others in their selected region. To participate in Storm League, players must have access to 16 heroes at hero-level 5 or higher, as well as an account-level of 50 or higher. Heroes that are unlocked during the weekly free rotation (which are available to all players without needing to be specifically unlocked) count toward the required 16 heroes. As players compete, they earn rank points, which affect their rank and are used to match them with other players of similar rankings. Player rank is expressed in League Tiers and Divisions, and each player is assigned a rank individually. Rank is determined by the player's MMR and adjusted for penalties, such as the Leaver Penalty. The first official Ranked Play season began on June 14, 2016, and ended on September 13. Each Ranked Play season is set to last for approximately 3–4 months. Heroes Brawl - Added on October 18, 2016, this game mode had four different subcategories with varying rules. By completing 3 games of Heroes Brawl each week, players earn a reward of one loot box. The rules of Heroes Brawl change every two weeks, including the following variations:. Arenas - Players pick one of three (mostly) randomly selected Heroes and try to complete the objective. The first team to complete the objective will claim victory. The first to win two rounds wins the match. There are multiple arena maps exclusively designed for this mode. The Hero options given to the players are not entirely random, as certain characters are banned from the game mode, and certain precautions have been made to ensure team balance. For example, if one team is offered the choice of a healer-role Hero, the other team will be offered a healer as well.