Up now on PTR
The last two characters in Heroes of the Storm have ended up with rather disappointing when it comes to rankings. After two weeks, Greymane is the fourth worst hero in terms of win-rate, and Lunara is the fifth worst. That’s not to say they aren’t fun (especially Lunara), but in terms of competitive play, they have a little ways to go.
Li-Ming on the other hand seems like a knockout — though she likely won’t be taking the mage crown away from Kael’thas, which puts her in an interesting place.
I took her for a spin in PTR this week, and I have to say I’m impressed. Her magic missile ability is really fun to aim, as it alters its skillshot path depending on the amount of heroes present. It allows for a unique kill potential that a lot of players won’t be expecting when she’s fresh on the roster. Her Arcane Orb is also really fun to use, especially on objective-heavy maps like Cursed Hollow. Throwing a few of those bad boys in will definitely disrupt things more than most characters, and if you score a kill, Li-Ming’s passive refreshes your cooldowns.
A five second cooldown on teleport also makes her quite the mobile character, especially on maps with lots of twists and turns to phase through. She’s fun to play if you’re quick with your fingers, as she can both chase and escape (or dodge) damage on a near constant basis. Think of her first Heroic as a modified Diablo Lightning Breath, as she remains stationary for an angled beam attack. It’s damage on top of damage, and it works with her passive.
But where Li-Ming falters is utility and crowd control. Unlike Kael’thas who has a killer stun, zoning Phoenix Heroic, and a similar kit, Li-Ming is pure damage. Her teleport is self-serving, as is her passive. Her second Heroic can be used as a minor zoning power of sorts with a forgiving 20-second cooldown, but it just isn’t enough, and takes insane coordination to really set up a kill like a stun can.
As a result, I think Li-Ming is in a good spot balance-wise. Sure she seems overpowered at first glance, but I can already think of a few counters, and she just hit the PTR. Since their debut, Artanis and Morales (the latter especially) have climbed in winrate, as Blizzard tends to favor newer creations first when it comes to balancing. As such, Li-Ming seems like a safe bet to buy when she arrives in early February — at the very least, she’ll be a competent pick.
There’s also a few big changes coming, as Nova and Rehgar have been completely reworked (nerfs and buffs respectively), and a ton of new stuff is on the way.
