Heroes of the Storm Battlegrounds each have unique objectives, layouts, mercenary camps, and win conditions. This maps guide explains how every current Battleground works, what objectives matter most, how to approach rotations and teamfights, and which common map mistakes can cost your team the match.
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Heroes of the Storm is built around Battleground variety.
Instead of playing every match on the same map with the same objective, players must adapt to Battlegrounds that can reward completely different strategies.
One map may favor fast rotations and waveclear.
Another rewards sustained teamfighting.
Another makes objective damage extremely important.
Some maps encourage split pressure, while others repeatedly force both teams into confined areas.
That means knowing your Hero is only part of becoming a strong Heroes of the Storm player.
You also need to understand the map.
Current map resources cover 16 Battlegrounds:
Alterac Pass
Battlefield of Eternity
Blackheart's Bay
Braxis Holdout
Cursed Hollow
Dragon Shire
Garden of Terror
Hanamura Temple
Haunted Mines
Infernal Shrines
Sky Temple
Tomb of the Spider Queen
Towers of Doom
Volskaya Foundry
Warhead Junction
Haunted Mines was also officially added back to Ranked in the July 20, 2026 live patch, making older guides that still treat it purely as a retired Battleground outdated.
A strong Hero on the wrong Battleground can be less useful than a slightly weaker Hero whose abilities perfectly fit the map.
Battlegrounds influence the value of:
Waveclear
Global mobility
Mercenary clear
Sustained damage
Burst damage
PvE damage
Point control
Siege pressure
Poke
Vision
Double soaking
Area-of-effect abilities
Current map-based tier resources maintain different Hero rankings for different Battlegrounds precisely because the map can change the metagame considerably.
Before the gates open, understand what actually creates permanent advantage.
Ask:
Does the objective directly damage Structures?
Does it create a pushing unit?
Does it weaken the enemy team?
Does it directly damage the Core?
Can mercenary pressure be combined with it?
Once you understand what the objective accomplishes, deciding when to fight becomes much easier.
Alterac Pass is a large three-lane Battleground where teams fight to free prisoners from objective camps.
Successfully completing the objective summons Cavalry in all three lanes. These units push toward enemy Structures and provide a buff to allied Heroes fighting near them.
Alterac Pass rewards strong macro play.
Because the map is large, global Heroes and Heroes capable of controlling multiple lanes can create considerable pressure.
Waveclear and mercenary control matter because unattended side lanes can create problems while teams gather around the objective.
The confined objective areas also make poke and area control useful.
Do not focus so heavily on the objective that all three lanes are allowed to collapse.
If the enemy sends multiple players toward the prison camp, pressure elsewhere can still create meaningful value.
Starting a prolonged objective fight while your team is down experience or talent tiers.
Alterac objectives can take time to resolve, so there is often an opportunity to improve your position before committing completely.
Battlefield of Eternity is a two-lane Battleground centered around two massive Immortals.
Each team attacks the opposing Immortal while protecting its own. The winning Immortal then moves into a lane and helps push enemy Structures.
Because the objective itself is a large Monster, Heroes capable of dealing strong PvE damage can become significantly more valuable here.
Teams must constantly choose between two approaches:
Race the enemy Immortal
or
Defend your own Immortal and fight the opposing team.
Your composition determines which option is stronger.
A team with exceptional objective damage may want to race.
A team with superior teamfighting may prefer disrupting the enemy.
Do not automatically attack the Immortal just because it exists.
Check whether your team actually wins the damage race.
If not, forcing enemies away from your Immortal may provide more value.
Drafting too little objective damage and then trying to race a composition specifically built for it.
Know your team's strength before deciding how each objective should be played.
Blackheart's Bay revolves around collecting Doubloons.
Treasure Chests and certain camps provide Doubloons. Players then deliver them to Captain Blackheart.
When a team pays the required amount, his ship bombards enemy Structures.
Importantly, carried Doubloons can be dropped when the holder dies, making player survival unusually valuable on this map.
This map heavily rewards macro discipline.
You do not always need to force five-versus-five fights.
Collect coins safely, maintain lane experience, control camps, and watch which enemy player is carrying the largest amount.
A successful kill on a heavily loaded enemy can change the entire map state.
Use the scoreboard to track who carries the most Doubloons.
That player becomes strategically important.
Protect your own high-value carrier and look for safe opportunities to punish the enemy's.
Carrying a huge amount of Doubloons while pushing aggressively into fog or enemy territory.
Sometimes the safest and strongest play is simply completing the turn-in.
Braxis Holdout is a two-lane Battleground built around two Beacons.
Teams attempt to control both Beacons and build objective progress. Once the objective resolves, both sides receive a Zerg Wave, but the team that wins the objective receives the stronger wave.
Braxis strongly rewards individual lane strength and point control.
The solo-lane matchup can have enormous influence because control of one Beacon often depends heavily on the offlaner.
Meanwhile, the four-player group fights around the other Beacon.
Heroes with sustain, dueling strength, displacement, and reliable control are especially valuable.
Do not panic because the enemy temporarily controls both Beacons.
Objective progress can be contested and reversed.
Focus on winning your local fight rather than repeatedly dying trying to touch a Beacon alone.
Leaving one lane completely exposed because everyone rotates toward one Beacon.
Maintaining experience remains important even when the objective is active.
Cursed Hollow revolves around collecting Tributes.
When one team captures three Tributes, the opposing side becomes Cursed.
During the Curse, enemy Minions are reduced to extremely low Health and enemy Structures become disabled, creating an enormous pushing opportunity.
Not every Tribute has equal value.
The enemy's first Tribute is not immediately game-changing.
The Tribute that would activate a Curse is far more important.
This means some early objectives can be traded for experience, structures, or mercenary pressure when contesting them would require taking an unfavorable fight.
When your team earns a Curse, push aggressively enough to convert it into permanent map damage.
Disabled Structures create opportunities that normally would be too dangerous.
Treating every Tribute as mandatory.
Giving away one Tribute is often much better than losing several Heroes while attempting to contest it.
Dragon Shire has three lanes and two Shrines.
A team must control both Shrines before one player can activate the central objective and take control of the Dragon Knight.
The Dragon Knight is a powerful Vehicle designed to damage enemy Structures.
Dragon Shire is about controlling several areas simultaneously.
One team may own the top Shrine while the other owns bottom.
The real fight is therefore not always at the Dragon Knight itself.
Strong rotations, good offlane play, and understanding where the enemy has committed players are essential.
If the enemy commits heavily to one Shrine, pressure the opposite side.
You do not need to win every location at once—you need enough control to prevent the enemy from securing the Dragon Knight while creating opportunities elsewhere.
Sending all five players toward the center while neither Shrine is controlled.
The Dragon Knight cannot be activated without both Shrines.
Control the requirements first.
Garden of Terror revolves around collecting Seeds.
Once a team obtains three Seeds, a Garden Terror spawns in each lane.
These powerful objective units push with allied forces and can disable enemy Structures through their Overgrowth mechanics.
Garden of Terror combines objective control with three-lane macro pressure.
Because Garden Terrors appear across the map, teams should avoid grouping mindlessly behind only one.
Defend lanes that are threatened and push alongside the Terror where your presence can create the most value.
When attacking with a Garden Terror, take advantage of disabled Structures.
When defending, destroying its Overgrowth is important because doing so restores your Structures.
Winning the objective and then accomplishing very little because everyone continues chasing enemy Heroes instead of pushing with the Garden Terrors.
Objectives are strongest when converted into Structures.
Hanamura Temple is a two-lane Battleground centered around a contested Payload.
Standing near the Payload allows your team to move it toward its destination.
Successfully delivering it causes a barrage that damages enemy Structures.
Hanamura also contains its distinctive Sentinel mercenary camp, which provides considerable pushing pressure.
The July 2026 live update also added additional brush to several parts of Hanamura Temple.
The Sentinel can be extremely important.
Do not think of Hanamura as a map where only the Payload matters.
Mercenary pressure can force opponents away from the objective or create additional structural damage.
Payload control is about space.
Heroes who can safely occupy or deny the area around it provide enormous value even if they are not producing the highest damage numbers.
Allowing strong mercenary pressure to destroy Structures because the entire team refuses to leave the Payload.
Sometimes defending the lane is more important than moving the objective a short additional distance.
Haunted Mines returned to current map play and was officially added to Ranked in July 2026.
It is a two-lane Battleground containing an underground mine.
Players enter the Mines and defeat the Undead Army to collect Cursed Skulls.
Both teams receive a Grave Golem, but the side collecting more Skulls receives the stronger one.
The central strategic question is how much your team should commit to the Mines.
Collecting Skulls matters, but abandoning every lane and mercenary opportunity can allow opponents to generate more value above ground.
Because both teams receive a Grave Golem, the objective is not simply "winner gets something, loser gets nothing."
Prepare lane pressure that complements your Grave Golem.
Mercenaries supporting the same push can make the objective significantly harder to defend.
Treating every Skull as worth dying for.
A small increase in Golem strength is rarely worth feeding multiple kills.
Infernal Shrines contains three lanes and objective Shrines that summon Guardians.
The first team to defeat 40 Guardians earns a Punisher.
Punishers come in different forms and create powerful lane pushes.
Area damage is extremely valuable because the objective requires repeatedly clearing groups of Guardians while simultaneously fighting enemy Heroes.
A composition that can damage both the Shrine monsters and opposing players efficiently has a natural advantage.
Pay attention to which Punisher type is available.
Knowing the objective reward helps determine how aggressively both teams should fight for it.
Standing too close to Structures while defending.
Punishers can leap onto Heroes and create dangerous crowd-control opportunities for the attacking team.
Respect the engage.
Sky Temple has three lanes and periodically activates Temples.
Holding a Temple causes it to fire shots directly at enemy Structures.
This makes Sky Temple unusual because objective control converts directly into guaranteed structural damage.
You do not necessarily need every active Temple.
If two are available, teams can sometimes trade them.
The important question is which Structures each Temple will damage and whether fighting over one is actually worth the risk.
Structural advantage becomes increasingly important.
If one team's outer Forts are already destroyed, Temple fire begins reaching more valuable targets.
That makes defending and attacking specific lanes strategically important before objectives appear.
Starting a terrible teamfight simply because the enemy controls one Temple.
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Trading objectives while gaining value elsewhere can be completely acceptable.
Tomb of the Spider Queen is a compact three-lane map where enemy Minions drop Gems.
Players carry those Gems and turn them in at the Spider Queen's altars.
Once enough Gems are paid, a Webweaver appears in each lane and pushes toward enemy Structures.
Players drop carried Gems when they die, making survival extremely important.
Waveclear is one of the most valuable attributes on Tomb.
Middle and top lane are close together, allowing teams to rotate quickly and clear repeated waves while collecting Gems.
The map rewards disciplined rotations more than unnecessary brawling.
Turn in your Gems.
Holding a huge number for too long creates unnecessary risk.
A player carrying a large portion of the team's objective progress becomes a high-value target.
Chasing a kill while carrying a large number of Gems.
If you die and those Gems cannot be recovered, the mistake can delay an entire Webweaver objective.
Towers of Doom has one of the most unusual win conditions in Heroes of the Storm.
The enemy Core cannot be attacked normally.
Each Core begins with 40 Health.
Teams capture Altars, which fire at the opposing Core. The damage increases based on how many Bell Towers your team controls.
Structures remain important even though you cannot simply march into the enemy base and attack the Core.
Controlling more Bell Towers strengthens your objective damage and changes control of the Battleground.
The bottom lane is especially valuable because of its relationship with mercenary pressure and nearby objectives.
Core Health is a resource.
Losing a few points does not automatically mean the game is slipping away.
The more important question is whether the enemy is approaching a position where one objective can end the match.
Playing Towers of Doom like a normal map and thinking destroying Keeps directly exposes the Core.
The victory condition is different.
You win through Altars, Bell Tower control, Sapper pressure, and other mechanics that damage the Core indirectly.
Volskaya Foundry is a three-lane Battleground built around a large Capture Point.
The team that completes the objective gains control of a Triglav Protector, a two-player Vehicle.
One player controls movement and combat functions while another operates the second seat, allowing the Protector to damage Structures and support allied Heroes.
Volskaya objectives can create prolonged fights.
Sustain, positioning, and control of the Capture Point therefore matter considerably.
The map's Turret and Biotic Emitter items can also influence major teamfights when used correctly.
Do not waste map items immediately after obtaining them.
A well-used Turret or healing item during a contested objective can be much more valuable than deploying it during a minor skirmish.
Putting the wrong players into the Triglav Protector.
Remember that players inside the Vehicle are temporarily not using their normal Hero kits.
Consider which Heroes your team most needs outside the Protector during the push.
Warhead Junction is a large three-lane Battleground where players collect Warheads.
A Warhead can then be launched at a target area, dealing heavy damage that is particularly effective against enemy Structures.
The map also contains the powerful Slime Boss.
The July 2026 update reduced the Warhead channel penalty after an interrupted launch from 10 seconds to 5 seconds.
Warhead Junction's size makes mobility exceptionally valuable.
Global Heroes, strong solo-laners, and players who pay close attention to missing enemies can create major advantages.
Warheads are generally best used where they can damage multiple Structures.
Warheads do not gain extra damage simply because the center of the blast lands perfectly on a target.
Position the area to hit as many valuable Structures as possible.
Walking alone into dangerous territory while carrying a Warhead.
Like Gems and Doubloons, the objective can become a liability if the carrier takes unnecessary risks.
Map knowledge should affect your Hero selections before the match even starts.
Maps such as Warhead Junction, Cursed Hollow, and Alterac Pass give additional value to:
Global mobility
Fast rotations
Waveclear
Independent offlaners
Heroes who can influence one side of the map and quickly join the team elsewhere become especially useful.
Battlefield of Eternity, Braxis Holdout, Hanamura Temple, and Haunted Mines concentrate players more heavily.
Team composition and lane matchups can therefore have greater impact.
There are fewer lanes where an opponent can quietly recover experience after losing control.
Tomb of the Spider Queen heavily rewards waveclear and efficient four-player rotations.
Small distances between important lanes allow coordinated teams to repeatedly clear waves and threaten turn-ins.
Braxis Holdout and Volskaya Foundry reward sustained fighting and point control.
A team composed entirely around short burst windows can struggle if enemies survive the first engagement and continue holding the objective.
Battlefield of Eternity and Infernal Shrines make non-Hero damage particularly relevant.
A Hero's ability to quickly damage Immortals or clear Guardians can change their value dramatically compared with another Battleground.
Mercenary camps should support your strategy rather than distract from it.
The basic concept is to create pressure in one location while something important happens somewhere else.
If enemies must choose between:
Defending mercenaries
and
Contesting the objective
then the camp has created strategic value before it even destroys anything.
Starting a camp while your team is about to fight four-versus-five is usually poor macro.
Always check:
Where your teammates are
Where enemies are
Which lanes need attention
Whether an objective can be contested
Whether the camp will create useful pressure
A camp is only valuable if the timing allows you to benefit from it.
Strong players do not contest everything.
Sometimes the objective belongs to the enemy.
Situations where giving it up may be correct include:
Multiple teammates are dead
Your team is down an important talent tier
Several Heroics are unavailable
The enemy controls the area
Contesting requires entering through a dangerous choke
You can obtain more value elsewhere
Instead of repeatedly dying, use the time to:
Collect experience
Defend lanes
Push Structures
Take mercenaries
Prepare the next defensive position
One lost objective is often survivable.
An objective plus several unnecessary deaths is much more dangerous.
Winning the objective is only the beginning.
Ask what permanent value can be created.
Possible results include:
Destroying a Fort
Destroying a Keep
Taking a Boss
Capturing mercenaries
Stealing enemy camps
Gaining map control
Creating Catapult pressure
Attacking the Core
Do not win a major fight and then spend the advantage chasing one surviving enemy Hero through the map.
Objectives and kills create opportunities.
Structures and Core damage convert those opportunities into victory.
The minimap becomes even more important because every Battleground has different distances between lanes and objectives.
Watch for:
Missing enemies
Uncollected experience
Enemy camp pressure
Objective positioning
Weak Structures
Overextended teammates
Possible gank paths
On Warhead Junction or Cursed Hollow, reacting late can mean arriving after the important fight has already begun.
On Tomb of the Spider Queen, moving efficiently between close lanes can create repeated numerical advantages.
Good map awareness is not simply seeing enemies.
It is understanding what their position allows them to do next.
Objectives matter, but entering every fight several levels behind because your team never soaked lanes is worse.
A map objective appearing does not erase normal combat advantages.
Five players with a talent disadvantage are still disadvantaged.
A well-timed camp can create enough pressure to influence an objective without directly participating in the fight.
A Hero that dominates one Battleground can be mediocre on another.
Not every early objective deserves several deaths.
If you receive a Punisher, Webweavers, Garden Terrors, Cavalry, Immortal, or other pushing objective, help create structural value from it.
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After winning a teamfight, check Structures, camps, Bosses, and the Core before chasing survivors.
There is no universal best Hero for every Battleground.
Current map-specific rankings differ because map design changes what matters.
Broadly:
Global Heroes gain value on large maps.
Waveclear Heroes thrive on rotation-heavy maps.
Sustained damage is useful during long objective fights.
PvE damage becomes stronger on maps such as Battlefield of Eternity.
Point-control Heroes excel on Braxis Holdout and similar objectives.
Poke Heroes become valuable when objectives require long channels.
Area damage is particularly strong around tightly packed objective zones.
Draft based on what the Battleground asks your team to accomplish, not only a generic tier ranking.
Current map-guide resources cover 16 Battlegrounds, including Alterac Pass, Battlefield of Eternity, Blackheart's Bay, Braxis Holdout, Cursed Hollow, Dragon Shire, Garden of Terror, Hanamura Temple, Haunted Mines, Infernal Shrines, Sky Temple, Tomb of the Spider Queen, Towers of Doom, Volskaya Foundry, and Warhead Junction.
Yes.
Haunted Mines has returned to current play and was officially added to Ranked on July 20, 2026.
Battlefield of Eternity.
Teams damage the opposing Immortal while defending their own, and the winning Immortal then assists its team in a lane push.
Tomb of the Spider Queen.
Players collect Gems from enemy minions and turn them in to summon Webweavers in all three lanes.
Blackheart's Bay.
Players collect Doubloons and pay Captain Blackheart, whose ship then bombards enemy Structures.
Infernal Shrines.
Teams compete to defeat 40 Shrine Guardians, with the winner receiving a Punisher.
Dragon Shire.
A team must control both Shrines before activating the Dragon Knight in the center of the Battleground.
Towers of Doom.
The Cores are damaged through Altars and related map mechanics rather than normal Hero attacks.
There is no single answer, but large maps generally increase the value of global movement.
Warhead Junction, Cursed Hollow, Alterac Pass, Dragon Shire, and Towers of Doom can all reward Heroes capable of creating pressure in one location and quickly joining their team elsewhere. Current map-based evaluations specifically recognize global presence as a valuable factor on several of these Battlegrounds.
No.
If your team is outnumbered, down a talent tier, missing key cooldowns, or badly positioned, giving up an objective can be better than losing several Heroes.
The important skill is recognizing what can be gained elsewhere while the enemy takes it.
Heroes of the Storm Battleground knowledge can change matches before the first major teamfight happens.
The strongest players understand that every map asks different questions.
On Battlefield of Eternity, objective damage matters.
On Braxis Holdout, lane and point control become critical.
On Tomb of the Spider Queen, waveclear and safe Gem management dominate the macro game.
On Towers of Doom, normal Core-rushing rules no longer apply.
On Warhead Junction, mobility and map awareness become especially important.
Learning these differences makes drafting easier, rotations cleaner, and objectives much less confusing.
Do not simply ask:
Where is the next fight?
Ask:
What does this Battleground reward, and what is the best way for our team to create permanent value from it?
Once you begin thinking that way, map objectives stop feeling like isolated events and become part of a complete strategy for winning the match.
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