Heroes of the Storm is a crossover multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment.

[1][2] The game features various characters from Blizzard's franchises as playable heroes, as well as different battlegrounds based on Warcraft, Diablo, StarCraft, and Overwatch universes.

Each themed battleground has a different level design and secondary objectives, the completion of which award substantial advantages.

Every player controls a single character, known as a "hero", with a set of distinctive abilities and differing styles of play.

Heroes become more powerful over the course of a match by collecting experience points and unlocking "talents" that offer new abilities or augment existing ones.

[3][4] Blizzard originally referred to the game as a "hero brawler",[5] but later started using the more common term for the genre — "multiplayer online battle arena" (MOBA).

[6] As of July 2022, Blizzard ended major development of the game; however, it continues to receive seasonal balance updates and bug fixes.

Players can use the assistance of mercenary camps, battleground bosses, and a small group of computer-controlled units, called "minions", to assault the enemy more efficiently.

In all game modes, each player controls one of the 90 playable characters (as of November 2020),[9] called "heroes", with each having a unique design, strengths, and weaknesses.

In addition, certain enemy structures, such as towers, forts and keeps, will provide experience to the team who destroys them, as well as captured mercenary camps.

[11] Players can also utilize various mounts, such as animals, bikes, and clouds, to increase their movement speed, automatically dismounting when attacking, receiving damage or using most abilities.

Heroes of the Storm is free-to-play, based on the freemium business model, and is supported by micropayments using three in-game currencies: "Gems", "Gold", and "Shards".

Gold is in-game currency that can be earned by playing the game, completing daily, seasonal and event quests, and leveling up (Loot Chests can be acquired in the same way).

Players can use either Gems or Shards to buy skins, mounts and other cosmetic elements, such as banners, sprays, announcers, voice lines, emojis, and portraits.

Gem-only items in Collection are "bundles" (dynamic groups of Heroes of the Storm content), and "boosts" (formerly called "stimpacks") which increase Gold and account experience earned per match.

[44] Heroes of the Storm entered a technical alpha testing phase on March 13, 2014,[45] which went offline on September 22, 2014.

[1][29][41] While the game was in Alpha testing, Blizzard ran a promotion as part of the pre-order for Diablo III: Reaper of Souls which unlocked Valla as a free hero.

[51] Players who reached account level 20 in Heroes of the Storm received a Grave Golem battle pet in World of Warcraft and after reaching level 100 in World of Warcraft received an Ironside Dire Wolf mount in Heroes of the Storm.

[57] During the Nexus Challenge 2.0 event (April 24, 2017 – May 22, 2017), all players could choose to permanently unlock 1 of 4 Mega Bundles; Assassin, Flex, Support & Specialist, and Tanks & Bruisers.

[65][66][67] Members of the esports community around Heroes stated they were caught off guard by the announcement and had been told as recently as BlizzCon 2018 that HGC would continue.

[72] Nexus Anomalies were seasonal gameplay changes that directly affected all game modes in Heroes of the Storm.

[74][75] The introduction of any new Nexus Anomalies was ended on December 1, 2020, with Blizzard promising to continue attempting to improve the game in other ways.

[76] Heroes of the Storm takes place in the Nexus, a strange limbo of clashing universes which collide from across space, time, and dimensions.

Some of the central realms in the Nexus, such as Raven Court, King's Crest, and Luxoria, are examples of these points of stability.

"[86] Positive reviews praised its objective-based gameplay and greater accessibility than its competitors, with Destructoid's Chris Carter giving it a 9.5 out of 10 and calling it "A hallmark of excellence.

"[85] In a review for PC Gamer, Chris Thursten focused on the game's accessibility, giving it a score of 84 out of 100 and concluding "The most any studio has done to open up a complex genre to a new audience.

"[92] Polygon's Arthur Gies approved of the title's accessibility but expressed worry that "sometimes something [felt] lost along the way," scoring it at 7.5 out of 10.

[91] On release, IGN's Mitch Dyer gave the game a mixed review and concluded, "Heroes of the Storm is a flawed, varied MOBA with terrific team fighting and poor objectives," awarding it a 6.5 out of 10.

[94] IGN's re-review by Ian Nowakowski awarded it 8 out of 10 in March 2018, saying the game "packs a ton of variety and excellent characters.