Anyone else really dislike specialists?

[Keile]

Hammer is good if you aren't expected to lane against jaina. any decent jaina or other hero that can abuse your immobility and you are ruined.

This is why you need a good tank with you when you are Hammer. Someone who can peel off you (Diablo, for example, is an excellent tank to group with as hammer. He can flip or knock people into your range while peeling them off you if needed).

[chazus]

Specialists are my favorite.

Hammer, Zagara, Azmodan, are probably my fav, and the first heroes I bought.

[Keile]

My personal favorite Specialists are Azmodan and Murky.

With Murky I can get tons of kills and basically selectively eliminate heroes (usually a healer or squishy assassin) to make teamights easier for my team.

Whereas Azmodan is just great for bringing the pain all around. Once you get good with the dunks you will be able to kill people halfway across the map.

[RH92]

Specialist is actually my favourite role.

It just suits the way I like to play the game, that being objectives.

[Irian]

Hammer is the master at zoning, which is a huge deal when you have objectives that force enemy action. She is just as capable of a replacement to any kind of ranged assassin, her teammates just need to be aware of what she is and isn't good at (tip: defensive play, force enemies to come to you and keep her range in mind) and she also needs to be smart and know how to zone and how to not get caught with her figurative pants down.

After the buffs a couple of patches ago, Murky rose out of "oh for fuck's sake it's Murky" status for me. I used to loathe seeing this little idiot on my team but now I consider him a godsend. He's annoying, his combo can nearly solo 100-0 many enemy assassins without fail at equal level, and he supplies annoyance and disturbance to the extent that I almost see him filling the role - oddly enough - as a kind of Warrior if you think about it, diving in and distracting, drawing and demanding reaction from enemy assassins to kill him off only for him to come back only a few moments later while the battle is still going. I think a lot of people play him wrong, the truly good Murkys I've seen generally play just like a regular hero and don't abuse his short ress timer, but in teamfights intentionally make themselves as big of a kill target as possible.

Abathur...honestly, if you think he's bad then you either play heroes that Abathur doesn't benefit, you're terrible or you have bad luck with Abathurs. I can't say which it is, but I can say that as a dedicated Abathur mained, this patch I've absolutely stomped countless games and there have been so few where I've truly felt like I was any less of a boon than a normal character. He's a nichey hero, he requires a lot more understanding of each map, awareness and multitasking than any hero not named Time Lost Vikings can boast but if you're playing with a good Abathur you will know.

And Gazlowe...okay yeah, you got me there. This guy is frankly just not very good. He's just a little too nichey and it feels like he needs a solid buff or two, but I do have to say that his concept isn't the issue. It really feels like to me that he almost capitalizes on bad players' mistakes like standing in his bomb or engaging into turrets.
That being said, his gravity bomb ult is insane if you have a team comp that can capitalize on it, so it's not all bad for him. I saw an enemy team in ranked that would gravity bomb into Ring of Frost and absolutely annihilate at least two people each teamfight, it was pretty impressive. I've seen other uses of it too like with Valla strafes and Nazeebo's spirit that have shown that in a capable player's hands and with team coordination he can do okay, I just feel like it takes a lot more than the average hero.


That being said, overall? I'd say specialists are by far my favorite role and the primary reason I love HotS where other games didn't impress me as much. The sheer creativity of some of the heroes like Abathur makes this game worth it.

[Demona3]

I dunno.. I friggin' LOVE Murky. I got mine to level 20 already. See you on the battlefield. And if you get wrapped up by a white murky with bunny ears that rode on a pink billy goat with hearts floating off of it.... it was most likely me. muwahahahaha !

[darkwarrior42]

Specialists are strange because the game design itself doesn't really lend to them doing the very role they're supposedly designed to do. So yeah, they end up being valued more on how well they can imitate an assassin, which feels odd.

That said, there are a lot of fun ones.

I really do think it depends on the situations. In solo queues I find it hard to do well with some specialists just because you need to actually work together with your teammates, something you can't always depend on.

But if I actually got a full team of 5 together? No way in hell would I want to do it without at least one specialist.

[Deleted]

The issue is that most assassind can do what a specialist does and better. Sylv is should be removed as a specialist, she clearly is an assassin.

- - - Updated - - -

Specialists are strange because the game design itself doesn't really lend to them doing the very role they're supposedly designed to do. So yeah, they end up being valued more on how well they can imitate an assassin, which feels odd.

That said, there are a lot of fun ones.

Specialist are only effective in teamwork that is only possible commicating through microphone. Pinging isn't good enough in most cases.

[alucardtnuoc]

Out of all the specialists I think sylvanus is a bit too powerful. Her abilities are fine, it's the freeze effect on towers/forts that cause the biggest issue, Probably would be better balanced if it slowed towers attack rate and not stop it completely.

One thing i see a lot of hammer players doing, is sieging up in a 1v1 situation and end up losing, being able to orb walk with her is devistating as her attacks do large amounts of damage.

[Deleted]

Oi!
The background behind this is me and my friend were discussing the heroes we like and hate the most, and his favorites were all specialists I can't stand, and thus the discussion began.

Almost all heroes I detest and cringe everytime I see on my team are specialists, like Hammer, Murky, Abathur (x100) Gazlowe (x100000).

I just feel like they're utterly useless and bring nothing to the team that another hero wouldn't do better, that said though I'm all game for Vikings Zagara and Sylvanas, but those three are in my book the only acceptable specialists.

Anyone else with me on this one or am I just narrowminded? :3

Waw... Did you start playing this game very recently? Hammer is good, Murky is great, Abathur is good, Gazlowe is great.
I think you simply don't know how to play them or you've never had the fortune if seeing someone play them correctly. Gazlowe especially, he reks. Soloing boss camps is pretty neat.

[wonderlust]

Specialists are my favorite role. <3 Nazeebo, Sylvanas, Zagara, and I'm starting to really enjoy Azmodan as well.

[Acidbaron]

Out of all the specialists I think sylvanus is a bit too powerful. Her abilities are fine, it's the freeze effect on towers/forts that cause the biggest issue, Probably would be better balanced if it slowed towers attack rate and not stop it completely.

One thing i see a lot of hammer players doing, is sieging up in a 1v1 situation and end up losing, being able to orb walk with her is devistating as her attacks do large amounts of damage.

Sylv is too powerful due to how easy she is to play and how little weaknesses she has, i believe the solo lane pushing power is going to be on the chopping block "soon". Which is more than fair since it doesn't require any build up.

[Acidbaron]

No, it won't. I know this forum is hung up on "shutting off towers" for some reason, but she's not in need of a nerf. Not even close.

It's not just towers, the ability that sylv can almost snipe towers as in moving in and out without any prep. I very much expect this to be reduced in power time will tell but believe there was even a statement on it from blizzard.

I know people that are fans of this hero don't like to hear this but this hero laning capabilities are too strong especially considering how little effort is required and how easily she can escape also.

[unfilteredJW]

Gazlowe is the only character I've purchased so far and I absolutely love playing him.

[Deleted]

I dunno.. I friggin' LOVE Murky. I got mine to level 20 already. See you on the battlefield. And if you get wrapped up by a white murky with bunny ears that rode on a pink billy goat with hearts floating off of it.... it was most likely me. muwahahahaha !

Im doing same combo, pink bunny murky with pink pony :P
But haven't played him in a while, have been busy being pink master bright in hero league or pink anub/johanna/sonya in quickmatches. But soon I will return pink murky roll on the battlefield :P

[ro9ue]

Abathur is one of my favorite heroes. Such an amazing playstyle.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Abathur is immensely powerful hero in the right hands; he can as a hat be at any team fight or situation within mere seconds, setup traps to gain vision and secure objectives (such as delaying Raven Lord Tribute/Dragon Shrine caps), and has very high passive pushing power. With Abomination (despite it's flaws), he can pretty much raise the effective number of heroes on a team to 6 (Abominations that are left alone for long enough can grow to ridiculous power, and Abathur can hat another hero and make them practically twice as powerful with the right talents, pretty much outgunning the enemy team). Abathur can also salvage dire situations with his carapace and spike abilities.

[Post]

Specialists are my favorite too, Murky is my favorite hero and I'm getting Abathur next. Sylvanas is such a beast, Zagara is cool too but the creep mechanic is just annoying to me.

[Deleted]

I loved the game tonight on the event with murky and abathur <3

[Deleted]

Actually I love specialists, I feel that they can do everything assassins can and more.

Though I don't like Murky. And I don't think I've ever seen anyone play vikings in ranked so no opinion on them.