Introduction

I have been playing Heroes of the Storm since Alpha, am at rank 36 in Hero League, and am at player level 40. Needless to say, I have some experience. When the Lost Vikings came out, I was told, "Don't buy them! Too hard!" and many other things. I still got them. Simply put, they are one of the best heroes at getting XP for your team and I have enjoyed them very much (my second favorite).

A look at each Viking

Olaf

While he does not have many hitpoints compared to most characters, he is the tanky character of the Lost Vikings. If you mostly focus on Olaf talents, he hard-counters characters who have high basic attack damage or have low mobility. His only weakness is that he is slow and melee.

Baleog

Baleog is the splash damage of the Lost Vikings as he damages enemies behind his primary target. If you focus on his talents, he can sustain himself for quite awhile and is strong against players who stick with their minions most of the game like Zagara. Like the other vikings, he is quite squishy and his basic attack is very low range.

Erik

Erik is the fastest viking and has good range with his slingshot. Erik is played very differently depending on what talents you get. He can be a spy, keeping an eye on the opponent's objectives. He can be an assassins, with his high speed and long range. Most of the time though, Erik stays in the back of the line and often behind the gate given his hitpoints.

How to play the Lost Vikings

There are many ways to play the Vikings, but it really depends on your APM (Actions per Minute). You can split them up or keep them together. If you keep them together, do the classic build where you get the talents that grant abilities. If you want them in different lanes, get talents that sustain your vikings. In the end, it comes down to your APM and how comfortable you are with it. The average actions per minute of a normal person are 40 to 50. I have an APM of 79 because I play a lot of Starcraft II. For your first game, play with the vikings together and as you get better at them, then you can split them up into different lanes.

Tier 1

Olaf the Stout

If Olaf is going to be alone in a lane, this is a good choice. This is a must take against characters with high basic attack damage like Sgt. Hammer and characters who favor focused attack and follow through.

Spy Games

This talent is great if you want to turn Erik into a reusable Clairvoyance. If you are going to split up your vikings that is, otherwise this talent is useless. On a side note, this is great for patrolling Blackheart to keep an eye on your opponent.

Viking Hoard

This talent is good if you are keeping your vikings together and it should be the default if you do not know what to take. I would recommend this to starters.

I am going to update the talents shortly.