How to Improve quickly at HotS and other games (or Hobbies)

I used to teach public speaking and when we would evaluate someone we would often give them 30-40 things they need to work on. They would get overwhelmed and their next speech would always end up worse because of the lack of focus on their topic and spreading their attention to away from the presentation and on to a million other things.
We found focusing on one thing at a time was the fastest way to learn things and move onto other things.
In hots I recommend playing one hero so much until you know everything about that hero so the rest of the time you are learning game aspects like soaking, camps, objectives, ect.
I still agree with people watching informative videos and pro streamers. But there is so much information out there it gets hard to decipher what is truly important and what is a small improvement. So pick one thing and focus on that until you feel you have a good understanding, then focus on something else.
I recommend maining a role, a few heroes outside of your role as you start moving up in the ranks.

[@Trazynn]

Eye contact is one of the most important things in Heroes of the Storm. You always have to be able to see what you're clicking on.

[@Satanda007]

Illidan?!

[@justmakeitsimple23]

Best comment ever seen

[@MrTyorel]

Mal´Ganis: Am I a joke to you!?

[@begformercy8723]

hey that's me

[@Satanda007]

! lvl 340 Lunara with 63 percent winrate !

[@GoonBayBee]

Nice youtube pic

[@alexisgaribay5248]

Lunara is so lame

[@drb4074]

In LoL, LS (a player/coach) does a lot of coaching. He usually targets Diamond+, but for anybody below that? He tells them to play Annie (a dead simple Champion) exclusively for hundreds of games. Why? Exactly the reason you stated here: Since the Champ mechanics are so simple, it takes very little time to get them down. After that, you now have freed up your mental capacity to be spent elsewhere in the game. Things like learning to look at map, where are teammates, what should I be doing, where can I help, where should I be or NOT be, etc etc. Lots of players get upset at being told to OTP Annie because they wanted to Yasuo carry to Challenger. But LS is very explicit in saying that uncomplicated Champs are necessary to give the player time to learn the actual game, instead of being trapped trying to learn complicated/difficult/skill-reliant Champs.

[@garybaker8831]

Pick 1 hero and play 2 thousand games with it got it

[@JJacobsson]

“Don’t like go out and pick a Tyrande...” I feel personally attacked.

[@VArsovski10]

Same :/ :P

[@Scrytheux]

Well, Tyrande needs special team comp and is not a clear role. She just doesn't fits in alot of team comps

[@t0mcc]

@@Scrytheux boi now shes strong

[@theshard5697]

@@Scrytheux Dive comp? Heck yeah. Anti-mage? Got it! Soft cleanse? Yes! Auto-attack team? On it! Tank healer? Yup! Big maps? Shadowstalk! Smol maps? Starfall! Long teamfights? Slays! Short skirmishes? Yass! 1v1? Queen! Yeah I like Tyrande.

[@MarcosGarcia-kk8lc]

Now it becomes clear why you are so engaging while talking, you are a GM at it!

[@NotParadox]

;)

[@JsoProductionChannel]

Marcos García Master*

[@JsoProductionChannel]

Marcos García oh. u are talking about the public speaking coaching. mb.

[@Macatho]

But...those who can't do - teach.

[@georgewaltz69]

@@Macatho and those that can't teach, teach gym

[@Kirandio]

The Lost Vikings were free for a week and I played a lot of them that week. I learned a lot about map awareness, the value of XP soak, and how to get regen globes from laning by just playing them.

[@djS0nics]

Kirandio yeah, vikings teach you sick multi-tasking skills. I played a game a few days ago and had terrible headaches right after it, because I tried and focused really hard on each of those little Nordic warriors. :D Note: Abathur also teaches map awareness quite well and is a little less hard to play.

[@thedragonknight3600]

“Don’t shoot until you hit. Shoot until you don’t miss.” Halt; the Ranger’s Apprentice.

[@djS0nics]

I think every player should watch this once in a while. :D This is soooo helpful and does a lot for the game, for the players and for the community.

[@DreadlordZolias]

Learn one thing, then another thing, until you get good at that thing... And then Blizzard comes out with the reworks.

[@theshard5697]

You missed the point quite a bit didn't ya?

[@KideMirror]

@@theshard5697 I think you missed the joke...

[@tmstani23]

This is great advice in general. Thanks a lot.

[@towhooshortonotwhoosh3114]

I agree with everything you said. I started playing the game vs ai with only brightwing as she was the first hero I bought. After half a month of playing I switched to playing vs real people and like after my 15 qm I went to hero league. Played almost all placement maches with brightwing and I got placed in plat 2. But I also think that not all heroes are for everyone, sure you can understand them but you are better of playing an other hero. That is why I think for new people finding a hero they like and fits their playstyle is also a very important key in learning the game faster. I guess I was lucky with brightwing.

[@NotParadox]

Oh yeah, and to add to your point of finding the right hero for you. ETC is one of those heroes I don't play. I don't know what it is, but I always feel like im not doing enough on him. I can't clear waves quickly, I can't do camps quickly, I can't roam kill as easily as diablo. I don't know I know hes good, I watch pro games where he gets tons of value, so finding the heroes that fit your mentality is huge.

[@bnjrvr8770]

that right there is why the HL system is fcked...

[@benjaminharris9392]

i like your profile pic

[@xxx_dunkmaster_xxxquicksco4390]

You deserve sooo much more creddit dude this technique is so great liked subscribed and shared the link👍👍👍👍

[@Tecknos29]

Hey, I just discovered your channel, I've been struggling to reach higher rank (i'm plat/diamond) but your advices opened my eyes, and I realise that I still have so much to learn about the game. Thank you for your video, you got a new sub :D

[@victor-costinalexandru3660]

Thank you for this guide! You speak truth!

[@Independent1206]

Very good point that you are making there, i'm playing LoL since it was in beta and now switched to playing more hots than LoL and i just played every hero in free rotation to level 5 just to know the basics of it and see which heroes i enjoy, then i picked a champion for each role and a main role in which i chose 3 heroes that i'll only play for the next weeks or months just to get my head around other stuff in the game. I find it especially hard to get your head around the draft and the different maps, so only playing a few heroes will help me with focusing on those things, since i already know what i am doing on the heroes i play. And another thing is... if you take a look at the Challenger (equivalent to GM in hots) in LoL you'll see that most of the players are OTP (One-Trick-Ponies) which means they only play one champion or you see players that have a very narrow champion pool they play, for exactly the same reasons that you stated in the video. I always cringe at some players profile who played like every hero in ranked matchmaking in a season and is wondering why he has a bad winrate and is stuck in the rank he is. Overall very good video and a nice tip for new players.

[@JsoProductionChannel]

Splidda HotS is also a lot about counter picks and making a comp that works in draft. One tricks can work but it's rare and not worth it at all. (Only playing one hero or a few also sounds boring). Another big factor is that HotS heroes has much simpler kits than in LoL. So it is easyer to learn more heroes. I would recommend to learn 3-5 heroes in tank and assassin. Healers are not so hard to play in HL and specialists is bad atm and can be replaced by an assassin or tank.

[@Independent1206]

Yeah you are right and i do partly agree with what you are saying. Just playing one hero in hots may be not the optimal choice for going to GM with it and staying there successfully but for learning a new game and getting your head around everything that is happening it is way easier to play only one champion for the first few weeks of playing and then expanding your champion pool. In my opinion LoL has the simpler kits, because you really can't do much wrong within your skills, because they don't change in any way. In Hots you have talents that will change your skills and adapt them to what you need at the given moment, which is much harder than just putting 5 points into your Q-Skill and making it stronger. As in every moba understanding the macro management is really important and you really can't get used to paying attention to the map/callouts/camp respawn times/rotations/death timers and so on whilst playing a different hero every game. You'll be overwhelmed with all the possibilities you have with skills and talents while you don't pay much attention to the important stuff. If you have a hero that you could play with closed eyes you can shift most of your attention to the macro play, which is necessary for higher levels of play and you have to understand it to stay at a high elo. So to conclude it, for beginners and newbies it is better to have one or two heroes that they will play most of the time after they had a look at all the heroes and focus on understanding each map and every aspect of the macro management. And if they feel confident about it, then they can expand their hero pool and focus on micro management for the heroes themselves and things like drafting/counters/map picks and so on. But you shouldn't start playing Hero League as soon as you can, because you'll probably just get placed in Bronze/Silver/Gold cause of the lack of knowledge. Always put in time in the important stuff and then succeed in Hero League afterwards. And for Quickmatch (which i play for learning heroes) you can get used to heroes and talents and the macro you'll more likely get in Unranked Drafts in which you should communicate over voice or text from the beginning and calling out what you can play and what not

[@lunte0198]

I agree with Jso's Productions that mastering a hero in LoL is much harder than in HotS. Im not too experienced with lol okay Im about level 15 I think. It is right that the skill system is very simple in LoL but I often waste a lot of time looking at the items and thinking about which to buy (even though I only look at the standard items) and I rarely feel the connection of me becoming stronger and an item that I bought. In hots, you can see a direct effect. And the talents come step by step, each talent level different skill, what eases your decision

[@user-wi3xp2wz7l]

Wow, it's actually very helpful. I always was afraid that if I would play one character in one role I just will end up being one-trick pony, so I always feel like I need to play all the characters in this role, even if sometime I don't like it. Thanks for your advice.

[@alexisgaribay5248]

Personally I started getting better when I learned other heroes and what made them good... for example someone might not know medivh needs 40 stacks without dying and little do you know you're giving him free stacks at times.

[@massi7973]

Before I start watching your videos I saw lot of streams of HOTS when I start watching your videos and doing almost all the things that you said in your videos I climb from plat 2 to Master with 3k points in over 60% win rate Thanks dude

[@rollstarify]

Love the infos im getting from your videos you sir got a new subscriber

[@thewatcherinthecloud]

From the tutorial, Blizzard shows you what mechanics you have to master before jumping into quick match. Out of all of these, I think the most important is knowing when to engage and when to retreat, and where you should be at any given moment. I think positioning is a subtle skill that separates having a good outcome in a fight versus losing everyone in your team. Maybe Blizzard should have let you experience what it's like to attack a minion wave or tower without the aid of allied minions to show how important it is to have those minions backing you up.

[@vojinvmilojkovic7622]

Amazing videos, glad i found your channel ♥

[@JohnnyJohnCY]

Thank you very much , we need more videos like that

[@Mixx10]

Would be interested in follow up video(s) on specific things to focus on. Could be broken down by roles/classes.

[@NotParadox]

That... is an interesting idea. I might look into doing that.

[@Krzyco007]

>uber lunara level >64% winrate

[@pun15h3r.]

Nice vid man! Now that you‘ve said it, it‘s really logical for me. I feel i have the problem trying to be good at many things at a time, mostly because i see me as a person who is okayish at many things but not great at one thing :/ Guess im trying to improve on one thing at a time to be good at many things at the end :D

[@Skadooshbag]

Think you could do a series called How to Master insert hero name. Break down the specifics of what to learn for each hero. Wouldn’t need to be lengthy just a quick run down i.e. after stuttering on Maiev work on her dive and bind.

[@zbigniewchrusnik1245]

WTF Maiev 100 lvl

[@NotParadox]

Yeah that guy is nuts. He one tricks like no other haha.

[@nillerudenc5668]

that dude has no life man.

[@ailurusludens1342]

Maiev I understand. But Cho /and Gall?

[@Smarackto]

dude me and my buddy can 2 v 5 with chogall its insane

[@McCulsky]

Lunara 340 you understand? WTH?!

[@DawiFromAnotherHold]

I believe "practice makes permanent" comes from Tim Ferriss 's 4hour body. Nice to see it apply to games ^^

[@theshard5697]

from public speaker to HotS youtuber ... what went wrong? Jokes aside, awesome tips! :D Unfortunately, I cannot use the one hero at a time tip since I get bored very quickly. What I can and am doing is focusing on one aspect at a time. I started maining supports this season and first I just focused on getting high healing numbers. Now that I have that done, I'm trying to not waste my cc off-cooldown and instead only use it when absolutely necessary. Got from gold 4 to plat 3 so far and I'm not stopping there :)

[@NerisX]

For me it is difficult to find my favourite role. I would like to stick to one role but I can never decide which I like the most.

[@filipedoria9561]

amazing video

[@geminirox8635]

"once you get your eye contact well" - public speaker instuctor

[@Pyro1208]

lvl. 340 Lunara?? Wow...

[@vash1080]

Which general things should bei learned and how? Ich hoped to get a hint, like practice map awareness by doing this and tust... Maybe in another Video

[@GijZagevent]

I used to do this for dota2, i noticed my teamfight overview wasn't that good. I started playing rubick, a hero that can steal another persons last used ability, to make sure that i'dd pay a lot of attention in teamfights, letting me steam good abilities and making my overview better (: Find it a bit harder to include this type of learning in HOTS tho :/

[@carcarcar000]

Thanks !

[@Gergo049]

I feel like I can only play a few heroes well at once. I don't know if it's because my skills deteriorate quickly, or if I'm only able to be good at a few things at once.

[@NotParadox]

That is everyone honestly. It's best to main a role. Then in that role you have 6 heroes to play really well, and shift around in drafts. then you pick one hero of each role and you have a list of about 10 heroes you ever need to play. Some people can hold a larger list, but it's like learning a new language, if you don't use it, you lose it.

[@renem.5852]

Great Video (like all of yours IMO), but still a question. Would you recommend training mechanical things first, like stutter stepping or hero-specific things, and then improve the things around (map awareness, camp timing etc.), or do u think u can start with anything if you want to improve?

[@RuskieSC]

Hey man! Great vid. How did you get a gig teaching public speaking?!

[@brandonrobinson4124]

I have a question about control preferences. I am in low plat right now and have been playing with my camera locked the entire time. Does unlocking your camera honestly give you that much of an advantage ? I know you can scroll for vision but you can do that by clicking the mini map. I've tried playing with an unlocked screen and it's very difficult for me. Is playing with an unlocked screen mandatory to get better? If so why?

[@GravityCat190]

For example if you learning how to shoot in basketball. Is few things like aim, balance, grip, deliver and some other. You should concentrate on only one things and practice this, ignoring other things?

[@piotrtw5]

exactly, it worked for me at least focus on one thing, doesnt always mean forget all the other tough

[@kl3r1k3r-7]

can you give examples for each class that are "always" a viable pick. like e.t.c. great video =]

[@drb4074]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/oH2toZawirOamNU There are several Heroes in that Tier 1 that are fairly simple, versatile, useful, and *viable* on most maps. ETC (easier) or Diablo (slightly more difficult) for tank, LiLi for heals. Jaina/Falstad for DPS. Sonya is good anywhere and on almost any team (only wouldn't pick her if team already has a solo-laner/merc specialist like Zag for example). Nazeebo is incredibly simply and stupid strong if you learn to farm PVE minions for stacks and Vile Infection (at 20).

[@Satanda007]

Imho Jaina, etc, diablo, muradin, lili, johanna, raynor, sonya, nazeebo. Did i miss something? I dont own the full roster :)

[@orange-vlcybpd2]

thank you.

[@fenchellforelle]

i think this might be my biggest problem, i just cant stick with a single hero i bounce around so much, basically switching "main" every time i unlock a new character and the few times i tried playing a single hero for a long period of time i got incredibly bored and put the game down for a few months - wich is another habit i really want to get rid of but dont know how. i would LOVE to get good in rainbow six siege, but by the time i would consider myself decent at a game, im almost allways allready bored of it. any tips?

[@kwestyo8579]

I love your videos man, i learn alot. Maybe you can help me with this issue im having? I Really like HoTS, but i just get fatigued after maybe 5 games, especially the ones that last very long or took alot of effort to win. I feel like i will never climb out of gold if i can only play like 5 games a day.Because so far ive understood that i have to play a crap load of games in order to progress. So basically this: How to reduce mental fatigue?

[@Independent1206]

You don't need to play a ton of games to get higher than gold or anything, it'll just take a longer time most likely. What works for me is just having a break after every 25+ minute game for about 10-15 minutes, get out of your chair use the bath/go out on your balcony and simply get your thoughts away from the game essentially, no matter what you do it's just important to clear up your mind from the game or the last games you had, especially if you maybe lost the last 2 games, you gotta get that out of your mind (at best after you've thought about what mistakes you maybe made in that games and what you could improve on... but that's just a bonus really). Furthermore it helps to just play a few champions, like @NotParadox already stated in the video, with that you will be more relaxed going into a game because you know what you are doing on your hero. Hope i could help.

[@magnuslennon3315]

How long would you advise sticking to one hero?

[@captainchaos5922]

This applies to learning music too

[@SuperDud3ed]

Damn good video

[@JPdrrraws]

Simple and well served sir. Are you member of toastmasters? :)

[@X7007]

What program do you use to record ?

[@gyrozeppeli6193]

Yo wanna play some HOTS together? You seem like a real good team player

[@gilgvirts]

I have seen a guy who played Lili till lvl 100 and he still knew nothing on her or on the game

[@thewatcherinthecloud]

How can that be? Lili is a beast when it comes to running around as a distraction to aa enemies. What makes you say he learned nothing about her or the game?

[@Scrytheux]

Latelly i had a game when there was like worst Lucio ever. Then i checked his profile... 100 lvl Lucio xd

[@jamesburton4352]

People do have bad games.

[@Letzal]

That means you don't have lvl 100 hero, right?

[@patricksviola]

Your friend Spencer, did he happen to go to the Cleveland Institute of Music by chance?

[@NotParadox]

Patrick Prejean in fact he did

[@patricksviola]

NotParadox I know him then. :O small world. Also thanks for the content. My mental game has gotten stronger thanks to the vids man. Maybe one day I will get out of silver...

[@picapica9240]

Just a personal experience, I met someone in draft who insisted he has really high level of a hero and he must play him, our team lost two game with him, and personally I think his performance reflected in the stats wasn't that great. So could it be someone played tons of games with a hero and still suck with it?

[@jonathonharlan5709]

Picapica maybe he played a lot in quickmatch, and was new to draft? Sometimes a lot of tricks that can work in qm, fall flat in ranked.

[@skevoid]

Then the bastards rework your main character! Gah! RIP old, awesome Muradin.

[@scimitaradp]

My highest level hero is Tyrande... Damn...

[@andreyrojasmadrigal6940]

So, to get better...we should BegForMercy? :Thinkingface:

[@Lesandwish]

I know someone playing only 3 champs of whom ETC, like ETC lvl 50+. He probably knows ETC perfectly. Still, he always dies alone, ruins the pogo when everyone is dead - or not arrived in fights yet - and throws the game again and again. And we continuously say to him to communicate, ask if we're ready before, telling he's gonna pogo but no, goes pogo then "oh you weren't there". It's like that for 2 years. What you're saying may be a good idea to improve people able to improve, the fact is my other friends has best champ lvl 20, take ETC lvl 1 and with my jaina ult combo win the game in 2 team fights. He can play better any champ my first friend has played more time. Sry to disappoint, it's question of being "genius", or something like that.

[@renem.5852]

Nope, it's question of wanting to improve. Like Paradox said, if you play a hero just to play the hero, you won't get better. But if you play a hero and actively trying to improve small things, u get better.

[@Lesandwish]

@@renem.5852 Do you think that any person can be able to actively try to improve ? My guess is that some people may want to improve but are not able to do it "actively"

[@renem.5852]

@@Lesandwish the question is: What do you want to improve? Mechanical everyone has his limits, so u cant improve endlessly and maybe u are already at your limit. But things like map awareness? Like Paradox said: Start with specific things. Everyone (literally everyone) can look on the minimap and just count, how many enemies do I see? Or in your ETC's case you described: where are my mates? Nothing more. He has eyes, he can look at the minimap. He should just Focus a few days at looking every 5-10 sec at the minimap. If he do that in every game in these days, he'll start doing that automatically. It's work, and you have to want to improve (= you mustn't blame others. Always ask yourself "What could I, and only I, have done better?") Maybe you can't improve in more complex things (e.g. overall decision making) alone. Just because you don't know what exactly you could've done better. But even then you could just lookup guides or ask someone who has an higher rank. There are many helpful Masters that even look through your replays to give you tips. TL;DR: Mechanical? Not if you reached your biological limit. Decision making? Yes. Just Start with small things. Post went longer than expected. But I've got no potato for you, sry.

[@diegoguardiaparada9926]

Hey, remember me (Phyotr)? And how me helped BegForMercy to get his level 100 Maiev

[@kaibe5241]

wow. 340 lunara? lol. My highest lvl hero is 22 :P

[@superdahoho]

level 300 lunara...?!

[@adept7497]

How to improve? You have to love what youre doing or atleast like. If you dont, just stop doing it.

[@selachimorpha2000]

Wtf level 340 Lunara

[@pawlesslol]

Hey buddy, I made a long response about this video and some other stuff I've been having on mind lately on the post you made on reddit. Hopefully you can check it out soon, would love to hear your response :)

[@TangentChaos]

This is awesome advice, thank you so much for making your videos, I comment sometimes and already did recently because I'm looking for more people to play, and learn with and haven't heard back from anyone reading yet. anyone reading if you are learning HoTs and want to play vs AI with me, holler at me, I'm TangentChaos #1131

[@MartinX192]

not everyone is good at every role. I personally get bored with assassins and warriors

[@niilofriden4465]

.

[@alexanderwilliams5797]

You weren’t teaching public speaking right lol.