MOBAs To Watch In 2015

The MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) has come a long way since the days of being a handful of popular maps in the custom Warcraft III scene. From Aeons of Strife to DotA All-Stars, the genre has become one of the most popular on PC, and is currently spreading to consoles with its special brand of team-based action. While many titles still embrace the isometric real-time strategy roots, we’re seeing all kinds of spin-offs and genre blends as we move into a new era of refined options for a wide variety of players and preferences. Here’s a selection of titles that you don’t want to miss as we move into 2015.

Dota 2

While the original DotA maps were often inspired by many other MOBA-style maps at the time (Anyone remember Tides of Blood?), the game eventually became the leader in the custom world of Warcraft III. Dota 2 brings the game back with better graphics, a free-to-play structure that’s truly inoffensive, all your favorite characters, and some of the best spectator tools available.

While the game is considerably more complex than many of the other offerings popping up today, “putting in your time” to learn the hefty roster, smorgasbord of items, and all the intricacies of basic play from creep pulling and stacking to lane roaming is well worth it for the payout. It can be intimidating for new players, but the endgame makes the learning curve worth it, as it’s difficult to find a more dynamic and interesting game – item builds and strategy change on the fly and no two games ever play out alike.

Valve continues to update the game with new characters and of course, custom skins, announcers, loading screens, and even ability graphics to keep things fresh. Valve’s annual Dota 2 tournament, The International, commanded a $10.9 million prize pool in 2014 – where will it end up this year?

League of Legends

League of Legends continues to offer the some of the coolest characters alongside events and special maps. Even if you’re not interested in the classic 5v5 map template that defines most MOBAs, League offers a varied assortment of modes and maps, including a take on all-random all-middle for those just looking for a high intensity casual experience. It’s a great way to cut your teeth while you’re learning how to play one of these games without worrying about where you’re going to place in ranked games or if you’re building your character right or landing all your skills.

League’s character roster is bursting with personality and Riot has continually added systems in place to make sure the game experience goes smoothly, like players picking their role and lane preference long before the games even start. League also continues to make a huge impact on the burgeoning eSports scene, with a gigantic World Championship and League of Legends Championship series, arguably the biggest push for MOBA eSports around. If you’ve ever been on Twitch.tv, you’ve probably watched a game or two – it might be time to give it a try.

Smite

In a world of MOBAs attempting to capture the style and feel of the original’s isometric RTS roots, Hi-Rez decided to go with a different approach – a third person MOBA that almost feels like a shooter at times, with a heavy focus on skillshot abilities and aimed attacks. One incredibly attractive option with Smite over many other MOBAs is you can opt to purchase the game outright, receiving all current characters and all future characters for one base price, instead of having to save currency for new characters when they come down the pipe.

Smite has a lot going for it in the character department as well, as it’s hard to mess up when you’re taking your characters straight out of myth and legend. Watching Thanatos execute an assassination on Poseidon trumps a lot of the character interactions you’ll see in a lot of other games.

Smite’s definitely no slouch when it comes to the eSports scene as well, with its 2014 World Championship boasting a pool of over $2.5 million. Smite will be coming to the Xbox One in 2015 and could shake up the scene for the genre on consoles, as its control scheme lends itself to the world of the controller admirably.

Heroes of the Storm

Blizzard’s foray into the genre is one of the most accessible. There are no in game items to buy, removing a huge layer of complexity, towers have limited ammunition to help get pushes going, creep camps in the jungle join the teams that defeat them for added assault power, and games themselves take only 15-20 minutes instead of the overbearing, lengthy power struggles that can occur in other games. Instead of adhering to the traditional core 5v5 map, Heroes of the Storm places players in a wide variety of maps that all have different objectives.

While these all play out differently, the basic premise behind them is to spur the teamfights that are at the core of the MOBA experience, whether you’re trying to control several points to activate the Dragon Knight or struggling to maintain presence on a blasting obelisk, these objectives remove a lot of the questions that new players can struggle with in other games – should you be in lane? Should you be pushing with the team? Attempting to take an overextended opponent by surprise? During objective events, it’s generally pretty clear what you should be doing.

With all the characters under the Blizzard flag available for play, it’s a pretty amazing experience just to see Nova and Kerrigan team up to take on Thrall and Azmodan. If you’re a veteran MOBA player and think that Heroes might be too “dumbed down” for you, think again – characters like Abathur and The Lost Vikings give more experienced players new challenges and ways to play.

Gigantic

Motiga’s flagship title embraces a sort of third-person shooter take on the classic formula with some notable changes. There are no creep lanes that push from base to base, points have to be captured to summon creatures that will defend that point and provide power bonuses.

The bases themselves are outside of the norm too – instead of stationary bases with static defenses, the bases are actually titanic mobile creatures that can move around the map, dishing out death and destruction to any opposing player foolish enough to fight nearby. When matches are close, the game may end up being beast vs beast with players from each team fighting behind cover and underneath the gigantic monstrosities, making for a climatic conclusion.

Battleborn

While Battleborn doesn’t self-identify as a MOBA, everything we’ve seen so far points to the title having all of the core aspects that make these games tick (along with some campaign and co-op options).

As a first-person game, Battleborn could easily make a big name for itself this year as it’s outside the scope of many others in the genre, whether it’s the obvious run and gun tactics for a hero with ranged weaponry or the slash of a close-range samurai sword, consoles especially could gain a lot from a first-person MOBA.  I’m incredibly interested in how things will shake out for this title in 2015, and can’t wait to get some hands-on time with it.

Heroes of Newerth

One of the first to hit the scene with its own client, Heroes of Newerth began very close to the original DotA. While the game originally had a box cost, it’s long since moved to a free-to-play model and has been exploring various game modes to keep things fresh.

With the recent Blitz mode, players can enjoy a much faster way to play with massively reduced cooldowns, costs, damage, and regeneration. For those that find standard MOBA matches going to long or becoming coin-slogging grinds, this might just be the mode for you.

Strife

S2 is back for its second title in the genre with Strife, which keeps the standard 5v5 3 lane game alive with a few tweaks. Players can actually craft and modify items to their liking, allowing an insane amount of character customization beyond simple skill point allocation or a traditional item build.

If you want to take an item that confers say, attack damage and attack speed and turn it into a pure damage stick or add some health, that’s your call. Players also bring a pet into the game with them, each offering a select set of focused skills to suit different playstyles from defense oriented boosts to increased gold generation. Players gain materials for crafting and pet advancement after each match.

Prime World

The MOBA combines with the castle sim here to create a rather unique take on the tried-and-true. Nival’s cast of characters and their varied abilities is interesting; as is the route you take to level up and customize your hero.

There are no in-game items to purchase, but there’s plenty of options as the way you equip your character outside of the match determines what abilities are available over the course of a game. The Farmville-esque castle zones allow you to do everything from accumulate resources and new talents outside of the game, and logging in to collect your goodies each day may not resonate with some players, but I’ve found it an effective way to get you on and interacting with your clan.

Solstice Arena

Zynga’s mobile/PC MOBA is ultra-fast, and while I don’t think I’d ever play it on my PC, it’s great on the go.

Games take around 5 minutes and are 3v3 battles centered around grabbing powerups and small scale combat that’s perfect on a tablet. If you’re looking for a bite-sized brawl perfect for travel, this is one you may want to check out.

Vainglory

This touch-centric mobile MOBA has been designed for tablets, and it’s about as meaty as it gets for a mobile title in the genre. Vainglory feels like a fully-functional title that you’d see on PC, but with touch controls.

As the game length is fairly hefty for a mobile offering, I’ve been staying away in favor of faster titles on my tablet, but if you’re looking for an experience that’s consistent with what you’d find on PC on the tablet, this is definitely one you should check out. The touch controls do an excellent job of imitating the full control you’d find with a mouse and keyboard, and allow for precise attacks and coordination.

Sins of a Dark Age

Sins of a Dark Age adds some new quirks like questing to the mix. While the map itself is rooted in the genre’s standard 3 lane 5v5 brawl, players are incentivized to move out of their comfort zones and lanes through the inclusion of quests, from battling dragons and other epic monsters off in the woods to commanding a plague.

This one has been in beta/early access for some time, and I’m actually curious to see what it looks like when and if it gets off the ground into a launch phase.

Dead Island: Epidemic

Epidemic is trying things outside of the common template, offering both a co-op mode where players take on the zombie hordes and a three-team competitive mode. The co-op mode has players struggle to survive against bosses and scrounging up supplies.

Having three teams instead of two in the MOBA mix makes things crazy chaotic as you’ll be dealing with zombies in addition to two other teams vying for map control.

Tome: Immortal Arena

Tome: Immortal Arena is a fast take on the core template, allowing players to purchase items in-lane and heal amazingly fast when not in combat. This means there’s almost never a time when the correct decision is to head back to base to heal or get mana, and you don’t need to go back to buy items either – so you’re spending your time in lane either killing opponents or being killed yourself.

These little changes make a big difference, and it’s nice to be able to spend your entire play session focused on actually playing instead of managing trips back to base.

Awesomenauts

As a part MOBA, part platformer, Awesomenauts does things much differently in style and execution than its isometric RTS counterparts. With 3v3 fast-paced battles involving all kinds of jumping and ability spam, it’s a blast to get in there with some friends for cartoony chaos.

While there are definitely ways to min/max with your character and item builds, this one is great as an option to just pick up and play without having to worry about finding a hardcore team of friends.

Orcs Must Die! Unchained

An interesting blend of deckbuilding and hero customization has gone into this curious MOBA-style base buster. Players create traps and upgrade their armies to push into opposing bases, while allocating team resources to offense and defense.

With a huge supply of varying cards to collect that give players access to customized creep waves and a plethora of traps to keep enemy forces at bay, Orcs Must Die! Unchained offers a ton of customization on top of the standard hero selection and abilities. Decks can be swapped out and edited between each match, and players receive regular pack rewards to keep their options growing as they progress from game to game.