by JR Cook - 10 years ago     show comments

If you didn’t get the BlizzCon Virtual Ticket or the opportunity to travel out to Anaheim for BlizzCon, you’ve probably missed out on a lot of delicious information about Blizzard’s upcoming character brawler, Heroes of the Storm. While the initial panel told us a lot, Saturday’s Deep Dive panel offered more in-depth detail on the characters we can expect, along with some of their ability sets.

Stitches, Jim Raynor and Tyrael all had their abilities broken down and we learned about their unique roles and correlating team fight potential.

Stitches

Intended or otherwise, Stitches will function in a fairly similar fashion to his DotA equivalent, Pudge. His signature hook ability will allow him to pull in an opposing hero, either preventing escape, or beginning a team fight in a very promising manner, separating one opponent from the rest of his or her team. We also learned that, through talents, this hook can be augmented, allowing it to travel greater distances. In terms of initiation, this will likely be the smartest build. Beyond the hook, Stitches has abilities that mirror his role as a large, unholy brawler. He will not output the sort of DPS that Kerrigan or Illidan will, but he will be able to do some burst damage while being able to absorb significant punishment, all while preventing the escape of his enemies through the use of Putrid Bile.

Raynor may be for beginners, but he’s got some high skill options too.

Jim Raynor

Arguably the most well-known character in the Starcraft universe, Jim Raynor will supposedly serve as the character players utilize in the Heroes of the Storm tutorial. He was explained as being a beginner hero, with the potential for deep customization through the use of talents. At least one of his abilities, Penetrating Round allows for him to fire a shot which pushes back enemies in front of him. Given the usual nature of ranged heroes, that’ll be handy in staying alive. When it comes to heroic abilities, Raynor has options that either focus on base destruction or dueling with other heroes. The Hyperion is slow, and somewhat easily evaded, but does a lot of area of effect damage, making it ideal for sieging opposing bases. The Banshees however are quick and agile damage dealers that offer Raynor a boost in firepower and, as a neat caveat, extended sight because of their airborne nature. The boone will make it easier for Raynor to track down opposing heroes trying to juke him.

Tyrael

The angelic form of man’s best friend, Tyrael will be most successful functioning as either a melee support or an initiator. Blessing of Sacrifice, one of Tyrael’s support abilities, allows him to actually take damage for another hero, which will be fantastic when used in conjunction with an Assassin archetype character who lacks the durability to take a hit. Don’t let this ability fool you though, Tyrael’s more than capable of brawling and Blessing of Sacrifice can actually be repurposed into Fire Chains, allowing the angel and another allied hero to link up, incinerating opposing forces that get in-between them. Might of Eld Rune allows Tyrael to teleport on top of an opposing hero, a great ability for chasing down escaping enemies. Finally, Judgment, one of Tyrael’s heroic ability options allows him to dive right into a fight, stunning enemies around him and dealing large amounts of damage. This ability gives the holy warrior a lot of potential when it comes to initiating fights.

We’ve seen other hero powers in passing, such as Tassadar’s ability to create a psionic wall, or Kerrigan’s ability to drag an enemy hero in with her wings, and hopefully we’ll have more in-depth information in the coming days. At present though, knowing what we do, we can already begin cooking up team compositions, based on potential synergy we do know about.