head to head
vs
Age of Empires II: The Age of KingsvsHeroes of Newerth
Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings leans Optimization (Grand Arena); Heroes of Newerth leans Optimization (Grand Arena).
Age of Empires II: The Age of KingsHeroes of Newerth
Axis by axis
Execution6 vs 7
Heroes of Newerth leans harder on execution: Last-hitting, denies, and fight micro
Reads7 vs 7
Even - both lean on reads about the same.
Variance4 vs 3
Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings leans harder on variance: Fog, map gen, civ matchups
Optimization8 vs 8
Even - both lean on optimization about the same.
Two games can score the same on an axis and still test it in very different ways - read each rationale, not just the number.