by JR Cook - 10 years ago     show comments

Welcome to this weeks Storm Watch where we will be going over Uther the Lightbringer. Uther is a support character that will focus on keeping his team mates alive and if the game play videos are indicative of how he will be, then he also has an emphasis on never dying.

Back Story

Even at a young age, the boy who would become Uther the Lightbringer was on the path to become a great hero of the Alliance. Raised and mentored the Church of the Light, it was Uther who rallied the Alliance during the Second War against the Horde. Despite the victory, the fall of Stormwind to the orcs led the leaders of the Church to realize that its paladins, while powerful, needed to be organized into an actual fighting force. Thus Uther was annointed as the first Knight of the Silver Hand and was placed as the organization’s leader.

He would eventually be given the honor of training the Prince of Lordaeron, Arthas Menethil, as a paladin of the Silver Hand and came to see the young man as a son as well as a pupil. However, Arthas would eventually prove to be the great paladin’s undoing. During the early days of the Third War, an outbreak of the undead was creeping its away across Lordaeron. Discovering that the plague had infected the city of Stratholme, Arthas ordered his soldiers to raze the city and slaughter its citizens to prevent them from joining the undead ranks. Uther objected, believing that there must be another way to save the city without resorting to such violence. Convinced that Uther was too weak to see what must be done, Arthas disbanded the Knights of the Silver Hand, stripped Uther of his title, and slaughtered the people of Stratholme. Uther might have stopped Arthas there, but his devotion to the prince saw him leave the field rather than raising his sword against him, thus allowing Arthas to begin his bloody march through the city. This would serve to be the first step of many that would lead Arthas to one day slay his own father in the name of the Lich King.

Having failed to defend the people and their king from his own student, Uther and his remaining paladins stood vigil over King Terenas’ urn as the undead hordes attempted to desecrate it. Arthas himself eventually arrived, needing the urn for a ritual to bring the necromancer Kel’Thuzad back from the dead. This time, Uther stood fast against the insane prince but lost in the end, damning his former pupil to a special place in hell before with his last breath. To this day the tomb of Uther the Lightbringer stands as an eternal beacon of light in the otherwise desolate Western Plaguelands of Lordaeron, an eternal reminder of both the cost of allowing personal matters to sway one’s sense of justice as well as a paladin’s duty to always walk in the

Light, no matter how stifling the darkness becomes.

Backstory provided by Tim Bales (Twitter)

“Well met!”

Talent and Abilities

The ultimate troll. Already a hero that is insanely hard to kill, when you finally do manage to kill him he comes back alive to haunt you until the very end. Even at reduced effectiveness, he will be able to really help his team win a fight until the very end.

I foresee Uther being one of those Heroes where your entire team will sigh when you see that the other team picked him.

Holy Light (Q)

Self explanatory and extremely helpful, albeit a little boring at first and not as flashy as something that is mass death and destruction. Once you land a few heals to save your teammates and start to turn the tide of battle, it will become a lot more exciting.

Blast of Light (W)

Another heal. When one heal isn’t enough, you have two! And on top of that it’s also a cone damage/ aoe heal. In a team fight and I see everyone getting hurt, I would use this first and then use Holy Light for my teammate that really needs it. And if I end up dying, I will still be able to do it because Uther is immortal.

Judgement (E)

Stuns are always good and ontop of the heals this also makes Uther a really really good support hero. Stuns are always key for stopping spells, stopping people from running away, punishing people for over extending, or taking key people out of a team fight. Now this doesn’t allow Uther to solo 1v1 very much, but it does allow him to get out of a unexpected 1v1 and simply heal himself if he ended up taking too much damage. In a lane with an ally though, you can simply drop the hammer and Valla the Demon Hunter can sit there and pew pew to her heart’s content.

Heroic Abilities

Divine Shield (R)

Just when you thought it was bad enough and you start giving up wanting to actually kill Uther and start to focus on his actual teammates, he starts to drop this on them. Oh look, Valla is almost dead! kill her! Oh, she is invulnerable and now back to full life. DAMMIT UTHER!

Sadly we only know one of the Heroic Abilites, really curious to see what his other one will be. I bet that it will be something that is equally as frustrating but a little bit more offensive (another stun perhaps?)

Conclusion

Uther is going to be one of those key Heroes that will easily change the tide of battle. He isn’t as flashy as a Hero made to stack up tons of kills, but he will be the type of Hero that helps those heroes get those tons of kills. In a game like Heroes of the Storm which the very foundation is built on teamwork, it will be key to have at least one support Hero in every game you play. Remember kids, just like in games such as World of Warcraft where you need healers and need to be nice to them (or they will just let you die), supports are the same way. Next time you get 20 kills in one game, just remember who got you there.

Come back next week where we will talk about the formerly known as Archangel of Justice, now the Aspect of Wisdom (spoilers), Tyrael from the Diablo Universe.

Storm Watch featured image made by Heino Brand (Twitter)