EPTWe’ve lately been focused on how the competitive scene will do after HGC, but we can’t forget about the game itself. Heroes of the Storm keeps evolving and receiving more content, now with a new cadence more adapted for long-term sustainability. The last HGC games were played in Mal’Ganis patch, but the dreadlord was disabled so we never got to talk about him. It’s time to check how the Nathrezim, our first post-HGC hero, has been doing competitively.
Mal’Ganis abilities stand out for their high crowd control and sustainability. His trait (Vampiric Touch) synergizes with tons of AoE damage that grant self healing, and that healing can be increased when using the Carrion Swarm ultimate. On the crowd control end, the best tool in Mal’Ganis’s kit is Night Rush, which uses the brand new mechanic of sleep.
When the dreadlord was first announced, there was some debate about whether he was a proper tank or just a tanky offlaner. We’ve talked to Scope, the offlaner for Team Germany at the Nexus Contest, about Mal’Ganis:
“As a main tank, we considered him kinda bad because he is predictable (you got E for an engage, but that can be easily countered)...which means you would most effectively play him as an offlaner because an offlaner’s job is often holding flanks, which means you can disrupt engages and just sleep their backline while their tanks are trying to engage.”
In the first tournament where Mal’Ganis was available, Campeonato Brasileiro de Heroes of the Storm, he was often paired with solid offlaners such as Yrel. However, as players became familiar with the hero, he moved to the offlaner role he currently has.
“Basically, Mal'Ganis in a nutshell is high CC and great survivability against teams that cannot kite you around or interrupt your Q or E—[interrupting those] would make you vulnerable because you could never get out of a fight or use either of your panic ults.
In the offlane meta, he does fairly well since his waveclear is decent and survivability is kinda good. Moreover, whenever you wanna set up a gank on their solo laner, it is kinda easy to set up a sleep for a safe follow up. Also, solo laning right now is more of a waiting game since pushing towers will most of the time be disadvantageous for your team. [Pushing towers makes you] vulnerable to ganks, which makes Mal'Ganis really strong as a solo laner overall.”
In the offlane meta, he does fairly well since his waveclear is decent and survivability is kinda good. Moreover, whenever you wanna set up a gank on their solo laner, it is kinda easy to set up a sleep for a safe follow up. Also, solo laning right now is more of a waiting game since pushing towers will most of the time be disadvantageous for your team. [Pushing towers makes you] vulnerable to ganks, which makes Mal'Ganis really strong as a solo laner overall.”
Despite his potential, the dreadlord seemed a little shy of joining competitive games. In CBHoTS his popularity was only a discrete 28% (more banned than picked). Numbers seemed also bad when looking at the Nexus Contest, where Probius even doubles the number of appearances in the Group Stage.
But finally, our lonely dreadlord received some love.
In China, at Gold Series Heroes League Grand Finals, Mal’Ganis has been the fifth most popular character, tied with Raynor and Tyrande. He has become a fearful pick, drawing a 40% ban rate. In fact, when he isn’t banned, Mal’Ganis is the most first-picked hero. Scope drops some light on this matter:
“Personally, I would not first pick Mal’Ganis on most maps, but whenever teamfights are happening in narrow spots, just as it happens regularly on Infernal Shrines or Volskaya, it is definitely first pick worthy.”
The non-Chinese players know and respect the danger Mal’Ganis can bring, and it may be only a matter of time for him to become one of the most contested offlaners. For now, we’ll keep track of the upcoming tournaments to see how the dreadlord does.
Big thanks to Scope for his insight. Curious about who Mal’Ganis is? Want to learn more about his character? Check out his Lore of the Nexus!
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Top 5 GOAT: Team Edition
A Look Into the Nexus Contest
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