by JR Cook - 7 years ago     show comments

Be honest. Have you ever been traveling between lanes only to have your Hero die off-screen because you had your camera focused on something else entirely? I know I have and I suspect you have too.

It is a horrible feeling to realize that your Hero is being attacked while your attention is focused elsewhere. By the time you realize it and hit spacebar to recenter the camera on your Hero it is usually too late. You get your camera back in place just in time to watch your Hero die.

Fear not, I am here with a tip that will prevent that from ever happening again! Okay, that’s not true but it should make it happen less often. At the very least, this tip might buy you an extra second or two which might be the difference between life or death.

Heroes of the Storm is built upon the Starcraft 2 engine, which means many of the commands from SC2 have been carried over to Heroes. One example is the Attack-Move command, also known as A-Move. If you press the A key and then left-click on a location it will cause your Hero to move to that spot and automatically attack anything encountered along the way. If you have Quick Cast set to either On Release or On you don’t even have to left-click. Just press A and your Hero will A-Move to the location of your cursor. Some players use this for stutter-stepping, but it has other uses as well.

Players traveling between lanes often left-click their destination and use the time while their Hero is traveling to focus on something else. Maybe they take a peek at the area where the Objective is about to spawn, or the small fight that is going on in the Bottom Lane, or maybe they check the TAB screen to check on quest progress. While this type of multitasking can be useful, it is also dangerous. If your Hero is attacked while using a normal move command, they will get dismounted and continue to walk towards their original destination. The enemy is free to keep attacking you without any risk as your Hero mindlessly tries to walk away. This is a clear sign to the enemy player that your Hero is on auto-pilot.

Using A-Move instead allows your Hero to appear much more threatening. Your Hero will automatically attack any enemies they encounter, which will cause the enemy at least some hesitation as they decide whether or not they want to fight. If the enemy does manage to get off the first attack your Hero will stop and auto-attack them back as opposed to just walking away, which will also give your enemy a moment of pause. This type of hesitation not only buys you more time to regain control of your Hero, but the added sound effects from your attacks will make it easier to realize the danger in the first place. It may not seem like much, but that extra second or two might be the difference between a narrow escape or a respawn timer. It might even be enough to turn the tables and let you get a kill if your enemy is especially vulnerable.

There is one thing to keep in mind. A-move will cause your Hero to attack anything in their path, including Minions or Structures. If you try to A-move between the Top Lane and the Bottom Lane there is a very good chance your Hero will stop in the Middle Lane and attack the Minions. Plan accordingly and A-Move one lane at a time or use the SHIFT command to path around the Minions. Structures pose a similar danger. If your path takes you too close to enemy Structures your Hero will stop and attack those Structures.  You will probably die from return fire if there aren’t any friendly Minions nearby to soak the Tower shots.

Hopefully, this little tip will make your travel between lanes a little safer and keep you from looking like a sitting duck to your opponents.

GL & HF!