Hero Selection

With the new heroes we have access to in the new set, selecting which hero is right for your deck is becoming a more important decision during deckbuilding. With only Heroes of Azeroth, "choosing" your hero was simply a matter of double checking which ally matched your abilities and allies. If you were playing Alliance Hunter rush, you were playing Elendril. Horde solo Warrior, Gorebelly's your only option. But with more than one option in each faction and class, you now have a choice which hero you want to play. Let's take a quick look at some of the factors leading to which hero fits your deck.

For the purposes of this exercise, I'm going to assume you have already chosen Horde/Alliance and which class you will be playing and simply need to choose which hero best fits your deck.

Factor #1: Race

Not to sound racist, but some races just have it better than others. When evaluating race for your deck, right now there are 4 things to consider. The first is your race specific ability. Each race got an ability that is only playable by that race. Some are very good (Cannibalize). Others are not so hot (War Stomp). Whether you want to play one of these abilities or not will help determine which hero is best for you.

The second thing to consider when thinking about the race of your hero is your race specific quest. Each race got one quest that is only playable by a hero of that race. Again, some of these are very powerful and others aren't quite as good, but getting access to one of these quests might help you decide to play one hero over another.

The third racial consideration is still in the quest department, and that is your 2-for-1 quest. There are 10 quests that give you a choice of rewards, but if you're playing a certain race you can do both. Getting both rewards from one of these quests may be the deciding factor in which hero to play.

The last thing to consider as far as race goes is your race specific ally. Each race has an ally that requires a hero of that race. To me, most of these are rather unexciting but a few seem pretty good. These are the four things to consider when thinking about letting race decide your hero.

Factor #2: Talent Spec

This factor may be more important than Factor #1. The talent spec of your hero gives you access to either one or two extra abilities that are only available to a hero with that talent. If you choose to play an ability that requires a certain talent, that inclusion makes your hero choice for you since neither faction has access to more than one hero with the same talent spec and class (2 notes here. There are 2 Retribution Paladins for Alliance already so this doesn't apply there, and don't forget I'm still assuming you have already chosen your faction). For example, if you decide you want to play Aimed Shot in your Hunter rush deck, you have to play Elendril.

Factor #3: Flip ability

If you've already decided that none of the available races are exciting enough to base your decision on, and you're not using any Talent Spec'd abilities, you've always got the flip ability to fall back on. Some flip abilities are better than others, and some are just not very good at all. If you're playing Alliance Mage and can't decide between Litori and Ruby, don't particularly like either race enough to let that be your decision and don't want to play any Arcane or Frost talents, then Ruby's flip is just light years better so there's your choice.

Hero choice is going to become even more important as more sets are released and open up even more options for deckbuilding. Professions should start to mean something in a future set, and I wouldn't be surprised to see more racial abilities quests.