Heroes of Newerth

In the world of MOBAs, Heroes of Newerth is one of the main competitors. It has been around for a very long time and since its release it has grown along with its community into a great game.

Just so as to get it out of the way, yes, Heroes of Newerth seems to have copied the essence from Defence of the Ancients, or DOTA (the Warcraft III custom map) , almost to the letter when it comes to hero skills, items and map layout. Heroes had basically the same skills but with different names, items had almost the same properties and again, with a different name.

Heroes of Newerth made its appearance way before before DOTA 2 started to take shape as a standalone game. For DOTA players and MOBA fans in general HoN’s appearance was actually a breath of fresh air. It came with excellent graphics and fluid animations which it still possesses. It delivers great looking and blood pumping teamfights which challenge your sense of reaction and quick thinking every time.

The core mechanics are some with which you should be accustomed to by now. You get two teams of five who have to destroy the enemy base in order to win. There are three lanes on which to push an attack, items to equip, hero skills to level up and of course, lots of (preferably) well planned teamfight strategies to apply.

In the hero department, HoN takes the cake. The number of heroes you can play is enough to guarantee you won’t get bored anytime soon with any of them. Traditional to the MOBA genre, they are grouped by the three main attribute groups, agility, strength and intelligence, but individually, they can assume different roles in a team.

Combining your hero’s skills with those of the teams and equipping him or her with the items best suited for combat can make or break the entire game. And although any of those two cases can occur at any time, Heroes of Newerth is a very well balanced game.

On a closing note, with Heroes of Newerth as with all MOBAs it’s a matter of taste, of personal preference. Compared to other games from the genre, it might have or seem to be less but in all fairness it also delivers plenty of other things which do make playing it entertaining and challenging.

If you’re looking for some great five on five teamfights that never look or play out the same, Heroes of Newerth is a great choice.