Heroes of the Storm – Assassin Tips and Guide

There are four main classes in Heroes of the Storm: Assassin, Support, Warrior and Specialist. We already covered how to play Support, so this time around we’re taking a look at how to play Assassin. While it may seem obvious to some that you simply attack heroes on the opposing team, that’s where a lot of players fail at playing an Assassin hero. In Heroes of the Storm there’s a lot more to the game than simply killing the opposing team, and as an Assassin, you need to be aware of everything required of you, not just gunning for the other heroes.

Focus Down

It’s important to select one or two heroes from the opposing team your entire squad should focus on during team battles. In most cases this is either an Assassin or Support hero. Assassins generally dish out a ton of damage, but don’t have much in the way of defense, which makes them easy to kill if your entire team focuses on taking them down. Support classes are also easy to kill in most cases, and getting rid of them means the opposing team won’t be able to heal.

Focusing on a single hero also means you won’t end up in a scenario in which four of the opposing heroes have low health, but none of them died. You focus down one hero until they’re dead, then switch to the next one. Try to avoid focusing on Warrior heroes because they tend to have the most health points and better defensive options than other classes. This makes them harder to kill and therefore draws out team battles.

Run Away

One of the most important strategies in Heroes of the Storm involves knowing when to run away. This is especially important for Assassin heroes because they can be killed rather easily in many instances. While some Assassin heroes have defensive options that give them a shield, health or a way to quickly flee the battle, you need to know when to use these options. For example, Zeratul has the ability to teleport using Blink. However, if you wait too long before using Blink and run away, there’s a high probability Zeratul will still die.

It’s important to have good team chemistry, or at least know your teammates will attempt to keep you alive. This helps to know when you should stay and fight, and when it’s time to run. Most Warrior and Support classes have the ability to stun, make opponents miss attacks or heal. You should rely on your teammates to help out during battles, but if your health is starting to get low and your teammates assistance isn’t changing that, it’s time to go. If the tables turn you can always turn around and continue to fight, but it’s better to run away and replenish your health rather than die and give the opposing team an advantage while you wait to respawn.

Soak Experience Points

At the start of a match, it’s important to take out minions in the lanes in order to earn experience points (XP) and increase your level. One of the easiest ways to lose in Heroes of the Storm is by dropping behind the other team by two or more levels. It can be difficult to come back from a two-level deficit, and nearly impossible to make a comeback if you go down as many as four levels.

Soaking XP by killing minions in the lanes and pushing through enemy forts is a great way to quickly build XP. As an Assassin class, you deal quite a bit of damage and can go through lanes faster than most other classes. While it’s beneficial to take out any heroes you come across while soaking XP, it should not be your priority. Early in the game the respawn time after you die is short, which means you won’t gain much of an advantage by killing opposing heroes.  Take them down if you can, but focus on soaking XP as a priority.

Complete Objectives

Every map in Heroes of the Storm has a specific objective that should be met. Some players like to ignore these objectives and would rather kill the opposing team. While it’s not impossible to win this way, it’s generally much harder, especially if the other team focuses on completing the objectives. Most of the battleground objectives deal a lot of damage to enemy fortifications and allow you to push toward the enemy core much faster.

There are even some instances in which completing objectives can give you a guaranteed win. For example, on the Sky Temple battleground you capture temples that fire upon your enemy’s fortifications. If you’re soaking XP and pushing lanes on your own, it won’t take long to get down to the enemy core. If only your enemy’s core remains, capturing one temple will essentially end the match. By that time in the game, you should reach a point when all three temples activate at once, making it virtually guaranteed your team will take at least one and win the match.

We’re not done talking about Assassin heroes yet. Be sure to check out more Heroes of the Storm coverage on Prima by heading over to our tips for Raynor and Tychus!