By quincy0191
Join the discussion on this years Honcast Awards and earn Silver Coins!
They’re loud, they’re hilarious, they’re smart, they’re always on, and we love watching them. HoN streamers run the gamut from high-TMM and competitive players to educational streams to casters to semi-professional trolls, with just about everyone wearing multiple hats. This is the kind of place you can accidentally lose a few hours before you realize it.
KheZu (twitch.tv/khezzu)
KheZu is difficult to predict; one minute he’s screaming uncontrollably at his team to JUST KILL THAT GUY, and then he’s quietly playing TMM with some low-key music. Is he at his best when he’s telling us how to play Silhouette or Wretched Hag, or when he’s queuing with other competitive players and sniping some poor fools who don’t even know they’re about to get rekt. He might also be one of the biggest streamers who isn’t even the star – we’re all really here for Rocky.
Zlapped (twitch.tv/twoeasy)
If you’re looking for new stuff, Zlapped is your guy. New alt avatars, new heroes, he loves to test them out and see exactly how they work. As far as the older stuff goes, he’ll be happy to do educationals, so whether you’re new and looking to absorb information about everything, or a veteran that just wants to see the potential of a hero hours after it debuts, Zlapped has you covered. And for those who prefer to do without the high-energy intensity of many streamers, the guy is pretty damned chill to boot.
SaintroX (twitch.tv/saintrox)
Currently the best-known and most-followed caster that isn’t Breaky, he’s on every damned day or close to it with an endless parade of scrims. Solo casting most of the time, which makes it even more impressive, because after an hour or two of talking it’s pretty common to have your throat want to jump out of your mouth. Of course he brings the credentials of a top-rated competitive player, so you know he knows what he’s talking about, and every so often he’ll prove that with some high-tier TMM as a bonus.
DIMITRI (twitch.tv/remonk1337)
What’s there not to love about a guy who spends half the time playing only Devourer and pretending to be Russian? It’s tempting to just copy-paste his self-description, considering he apparently focuses on drinking vodka and trash talking people only after he has his hooker. But DIMITRI’s not just a comedy show, it’s a lesson in how to hook; you don’t get TobakaZ making hook compilations without some pretty sweet plays.
quincy0191 (twitch.tv/quincy0191)
Along with SaintRoX, quincy has hit the scene as one of the more popular new casters in HoN. Taking over the role of replay caster, he routinely brings coverage of matches that aren’t in the Honcast spotlight each weekend. His mathematical mind, combined with an unrelenting enthusiam make for an entertaining combination, and of course the stats he brings to Honcast each weekend aren’t too bad either! (Editor’s note: Quincy would not write this himself, because he is just that modest)
This isn’t just about the guys who win. It’s possible to win a bunch of HoN games while not being a particularly interesting player – cores that static farm, or supports that ward all game. No, we’re looking for the in-your-face, uber-aggressive, all-in guys. The players that bust out a weird hero on the regular or play an old one in a new style. Or just the ones who spend the entire game looking to create action, and more often than not, succeeding.
m`ICKe (SynC)
Speaking of creating action, here’s the master. There are some mid players who are content to farm in the early game and then initiate teamfights. m`ICKe plays ganking heroes. Doesn’t matter if the hero is actually good at ganking, in his hands, it’s a gank hero. He’s also recognized he farms much better in lane if spends a bunch of time killing the opposing mid, so he’ll often go for that too. When your best hero is Pebbles, one of the most action-oriented in the game, it’s pretty safe to say just right-clicking m`ICKes hero portrait and sitting back is a good time.
BOXl (tree)
Suicide players aren’t supposed to be aggressive. They’re supposed to play conservatively; don’t die, get experience and gold if you can, start moving around the map once you have the potential to set up kills elsewhere. BOXl doesn’t need any of your “elsewhere”. He wants kills now, in his lane, 1v2 if necessary. There aren’t too many players who use suicide Bubbles’ Shell Surf aggressively, not just to farm but to jump on to the opposing shortlane. Does it always work? Hell no. That’s the fun.
Superkge (BMG)
KGE’s played a disturbing lack of hook heroes lately, but that doesn’t mean he’s played no hook heroes, or that he can’t do anything else. There’s still 12 games of Prisoner, Gauntlet, and Devourer, threading ridiculously small needles and confusing the hell out of everyone – especially the surprised opponent – when we try to figure out how he hit that. The guy hits skillshots like he’s got an aimbot, and his most played heroes in Season 3 reflect that: Magmus, Pebbles, and Kraken have one targeted spell between them. Good luck dodging the guy who’s made of living out of this for years.
WhaT_YoU_GoT (tUS/Null)
Let’s just start with three Lord Salforis games. In general that would be weird and cool, but then you have to add that he’s a jungle player. And the War Beast is fun too, but the most impressive thing about WhaT_YoU_GoT is his god hole-to-hole ratio. The man just hits four and five man Tempest ults like it ain’t no thing. Then when he’s done he can pick up Parasite, where he’s more active by kills per game than any other player. Give WhaT_YoU_GoT pretty much anything, traditional or otherwise, and he’ll make it work and make it look easy.
Xibbe (BMG/KNX)
Okay, so not everything Xibbe does works. But when it does, it’s pretty incredible, and when it doesn’t, it still gives you something to talk about. Speaking of which, that suicide/aggressive jungle Parasite thing deserves a mention here. What the hell was that, and why did it beat SynC? Why does he keep getting Grimoire of Power on suicide Hag, and why does it only occasionally bite him in the ass? What’s with all the Alchemist Bones? Xibbe offers more questions than answers usually, but every so often we get to see something great, and in between there’s at least something new.
Sure, it’s easy to be the best. Okay, it’s not easy, but sometimes it’s boring. We as viewers want kills, crazy strategies, new heroes, big teamfights, perfect ganks, huge plays. Plenty of good teams are kind of uninteresting, and some mediocre or even bad teams are insanely fun to watch.
Bad Monkey Gaming (BMG)
The “LIONS gank” never really became the “BMG gank”, but not because they stopped using it. BMG loved to fight early and often and we loved watching it, as they used their impeccable teamwork and ridiculous individual mechanical skill to perfectly execute an early pickoff or two that let them snowball to an easy victory. Of course, a few kills right off the bat didn’t mean they were done, but when watching BMG, you were rarely in for a static laning phase or a farm game. They got out and got it done.
SynC eSports (SynC)
Speaking of teams that keep up the pace constantly, SynC fits that profile to a T. They’ve adopted much of BMG’s strategy, but it’s probably not unfair to stay they rotate even better, moving players (especially iNsania) around the map incredibly efficiently to set up early kills, and never stop pressuring the opponent no matter what stage of the game. Right now they’re massively ahead of every other HTS3 team in kills per minute, as they average the most kills per game in the second-shortest average game time.
willowkeeper (tree)
tree is the most strategically innovative team on the scene right now, and they have been for some time. That jungle pulling thing isn’t new; they’ve been doing it for months. They’ve played 57 heroes in Season 3, from the typical to the Rampage, Midas, Ellonia, Riptide, Pandamonium, Sand Wraith, Gunblade, Draconis…the list goes on. They switch roles and lanes constantly, sending baltazar` mid or even long lane, putting BOXl mid or short, whatever the situation dictates. Predicting what willowkeeper will do is an exercise in futility, but watching them is just pure fun.
Nullstone Gaming (Null)
Could they be called the comeback kings? Nullstone win games somehow, it isn’t entirely clear how. They’re often down early and win late, with one of the best winning percentages beyond 60 minutes of any team. They’ve got that BeaverBanger guy who goes nuts in teamfights, but then they’ll also pull out a `Drentz 0/0/22 Empath or 8/0/14 Blitz. WhaT_YoU_GoT on jungle Salforis for a little bit of off-the-wall action, or back to Tempest for too many god holes. CholoSIMEONE picking up big eruptions on Magmus. Why not FuzzySloth quietly hitting 400 GPM on Chipper and bursting the crap out of an opposing carry? Nullstone love taking viewers on a rollercoaster ride of “will they/won’t they” and it’s never clear when it will end.
Dawn (Dawn)
There are two relevant iterations of Dawn, and they can both be defined by their carry. First there was sertas, a player with an admittedly limited but entertaining hero pool. Oogie and Silhouette are action-oriented and fun to watch, and he plays them both extremely well. But now it’s probusk with the huge GPMs and man-ups, putting his team on his back after they pour as many resources as possible into him, and more often than not carrying them to a victory. Along the way there’s usually a ton of action, as neither carry is really the sit-back-and-farm type, while Dawn constantly looks to expand their map control and therefore the farmable portion of it.
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quincy0191 is a HoN veteran with a focus on the numbers. Fascinated by quantifying and valuing human beings, he shunned the world of finance in favor of sports and competition. When not on Honcast you can find quincy playing games like Civilization and Pokemon, or watching movies, writing, pondering, or catching a game of baseball.
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jimjar
dimitri is the best
Posted about 3 months ago
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