And a pretty nostalgia-heavy stage

When I saw that trailer for Sephiroth in Smash, my first ??thought was "they can't kill Mario, can they?!" Well, they didn't: n??o, the belov??ed plumber was not gored by one of the biggest bads of all time.

Sephirot?h probably isn't?? murdering anyone anytime soon, but he's kicking a lot of ass already.

So let's start with the odd-but-fun?? release model for Sephiroth.

He's "officially" out on December 22. But you can actua?lly unlock him early through a very ?quick "boss battle" mission. You still have to pay for him, of course (whether it's piecemeal or through the Fighters [Season] Pass 2); but it's?? a neat, albeit gimmicky way to m??ake him feel like he's special.

In case you're curious, Sakurai toyed with the idea of  making it a permadeath "one-shot" type deal, but relented. Now you can just hop in, swap the difficulty to easy, and unlock him in less than 10 seconds. It would have been bold as hell to implement that system and force players into a max difficulty situation — but I'm sure that would have pissed a lot ??of ?people off.

Overall, Sephiroth works very well mechanically, even right down to the imposing way the announcer says "SEPHIROTHHHHHH." He has access to a flare projectile, a "timed detonation" shadow flare trap (nic??e for cross-ups), a pretty crazy multi-slash traversal dash, and a barrier that both counters and fires off automatically. He's stylish and imposing, which is part of the draw for a lot of Sephiroth fans.

But his kit is also practical, with helpful indicators for his up-special dash direction, and the ability t?o charge his flare with obvious visual cues and bright flourishes. A "winged form" boost also comes into play to further enforce his uniqueness (a boost that grants you extra power and move speed, two jumps, and super armor frames for smash attacks); but the jury is out on whether or not the hardcore community will enjoy its semi-randomess.

T?he important thing to note here is that Sephiroth is a methodical character, but he also has a lot of reach. The Masamune is iconic in name and stature, and its absurd length works in your favor. Sephiroth's normals can not only zone out 1v1 combatants; they can sweep a group of players in a high-player-count match.

This time, the music deserves a special shoutout, as we're getting more proper Final Fantasy VII tracks. Here's the rundown:

• Opening - Bombing Mission
• Those Who Fight (Advent Children)
• Those Who Fight Further (Advent Children)
• Aerith's Theme (new arrangement)
• Main Theme of Final Fantasy VII
• JENOVA
• Cosmo Canyon
• One-Winged Angel
• Advent: One-Winged Angel

Bangers! And several of them are Smash Ultimate arrangements no less! You know how kids in Japan use 3DS and Switch hardware to listen to music? I spent the last day or so doing that with the new tracks. Cosmo Canyon is an absolute favorite of mine, up there in my top-10 all-time song list, so seeing it represented here was a treat (and has me wishing Smash Ultimate&n??bsp;development could never stop, so we could eventually get Red XIII).

The Northern Cave stage (modeled after the area from FFVII's finale) is very plain, but I think people will dig the Small Battlefield layout mixed with the floating rock aesthetic of several other stage??s. That simplicity could? be a boon for folks who just want a rotating set of cool looking stages without the gimmicks (then again, that's what the Omega setting is for)

As usual, Sakurai has nailed the DLC release for another Smash Ultimate DLC fighter. He and his team show that it's not just about throwing characters in: they need a little heart and soul...a little spice to them before they make it in. Sephiroth might be "another Final Fantasy VII" character, but he fits right in and they did right by? his fans.

_{[These impressions are based on a copy of the DLC provided by the publisher.]}

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In Sakurai I trust

I kinda still can't believe it? Minecraft x Super Smash Bros. But it happened!

For years folks have speculated that one of the biggest games on the planet is a no-brainer for an appearance in Smash, exacerbated by the fact that Microsoft already teamed up with Nintendo for Banjo's appearance.

But the inclusion of Minecraft feels like a watershed moment for Smash, and director Masahiro Sakur??ai and his team didn't take the?? job lying down.

As a quick rundown of what the newest fighter adds to the table: you're getting Steve and Alex, the "main characters" of Minecraft (with zombie and Enderman skins), as well as a new stage and seven music tracks. That's $5.99, or as part of the $29.99 second Fighters [Season] Pass: which already hosted Min Min and still has four more DLC fighters to go.

The Minecraft fighter (which I'll refer to as "Steve" from here on out) has a few tricks up their sleeve that will take some getting used to, namely the Crafting Table mechanic. Steve can slash away with his sw??ord with the A button, but his B specials are really where he veers away from the rest of the crowd. In short, you'll need to actually mine the level (the efficacy of which varies depending on the terrain) to gathe?r resources and upgrade your tools at the table.

Steve can also place blocks to get around, glide with Elytra, create a minecart to ride in or smash into enemies with and craft TNT (which can be g??overned by a redstone fuse). It's just advanced enough to feel like an homage without going overboard. Placing blocks is low key one of his best abilities, as he's able to climb up to safety or ?screw up an enemy recovery by strategically laying down blocks near the edge. Micromanaging the durability of his items and his resources will be a thrill for some and a turnoff for others.

The stage (Minecraft World) has a lot more to it than meets the eye. Although it's a bit small and likely won't excite folks looking for bigger, more epic maps, it actually has six different biomes to choose from, all with different layouts. The background of the stage (like several DLCs before it) is particularly impressive, showcasing sprawling Minecraft vistas with a large attention to detail that fans will dig. Then there's the whole cheat code mechanic so you can select a biome. Perfection.

I've liked pretty much every DLC addition so far for Smash Ultimate, but the Minecraft pack is something else. Steve might not be your first, second or even top 10 pick of who you might want to appear in Smash: but Sakurai and h??is team made it happen, going above and b?eyond in the process. You gotta respect it!

Even if you never play Steve, his addition to the game will ??be felt for some time and will draw new people in.

_{[These impressions are based on a copy of the DLC provided by the publisher.]}

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I'm very into Arms representation

_{[Check out our previous Smash Ultimate DLC coverage: Piranha Plant, Joker, Hero, Banjo, Terry, Byleth.]}

It's been a while since the last Super Smash Bros. Ultimate DLC drop (January), and there??'s a few reasons for that.

For one, the?? current pandemic is causing issues for Sakurai ?and his team right now.  But it's also a very big transition period for Ultimate as it moves into the second Fighters [Season] Pass. While its debut fighter is seemingly out of left field (we were warned!), Arms deserves to be part of Nintendo's history and immortalized in Super Smash Bros. — Min Min is proof of that.

While I wasn't blown away by Arms when it was released in mid-2017, I really enjoyed the overall vibe. The theme song rocked the house (it's back!), and there was a lot of potential in those ch??aracter designs. That raw potential helps Min Min soar above heights that very few could have expected.

Min Min's main gimmick involves her extending noodle arms, which can be controlled independently of one another. She does things a bit differently compared to most of the Ultimate cast: most notably, the B button (which ??is usually reserved for specials) controls one arm, while A controls the other. It's eno??ugh of a shakeup to get a lot of people interested just on theory alone.

The key to Min Min's success is flexibility (ha). While one of her arms (a Dragon) remains constant, the other can be shifted into three forms: Ramram (a fast but less powerful disc), Megawatt (a giant p??owerful ball) and the aforementioned Dragon (long range, balanced damage). While on the ground, she can also "flex" aim her arms up or down, or throw out both arms at once. That last bit is key and gives Min Min a bit of a learning curve.

Although you can alw??ays hit your A Dragon arm at a range, you'll want to strategically choose your B to better kick up combo dust or adjust your zoning range depending on your opponent. Because of this, Min Min is an exceptional brawler at high player counts, able to extend her arms into the fray and dish out a ton of damage with strong long range attacks. The dragon is especially silly in terms of how far it reaches, as it breathes fire after a long smash attack charge and extends out.

Min Min isn't a slouch in the recovery department either, as she has a huge jump with her Up+B, as well as the chance to "hook" back onto the map like Samus and the like (with a huge range). While I'm not a fan of her Final Smash aesthetically (I'm a bit tired of the "all of their friends rush on screen and beat the opponen??t up" scheme); everything else is incredibly fun in practice.

The other part of this DLC drop is a new stage: Spring Stadium. I'm kind of torn on it, because while I get that DLC characters are a huge undertaking (given that they come with an arena and music to boot), it feels very much inline with a lot of the other flat arena stages. The columns, side bumpers and Arms charm are enough to elevate it to a slightly above average tier when compared to the rest of the pack, but if you showed it to someone who never played Arms they might mistake it for a default Smash battlefield.

Still, Min Min mixes things up considerably and like all the Fighter Packs before it, adds a lot to Smash Ultimate as a whole. Even if you're not an Arms fan she's worth tinkering with.

_{[These impressions are based on a copy of the DLC provided by the publisher.]}

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And she's fun to play

After a long hiatus, both a tank hero and an Overwatch character have re-invaded Heroes of the Storm.

Mei probably ???isn't the first pick for a lot of players when it comes to crossovers, but she slots in quite nicely with the crew on multiple levels.

Some time ago the Heroes dev team finally started to break up "bruisers" from actual "tanks," and the results?? were enlightening for many players.

Finally, people realized that bruisers weren't really cut out to take the heat off an entire team: allowing characters like Johanna, ETC and Muradin to shine more than they already did, among a few others. The problem is this tank meta never really evolved over time. The same few faces were clearly the tanking kings, Mei is not as sturdy so she's not going to be a catch-all tank, but?? she has some tricks up her sleeve that make her situationally interesting (not to mention fun to play across all modes).

Mei is pretty versatile. She can take huge hits with her passive on-demand Cryo-Freeze (basically an ice block with shields), she can blind enemies to counter auto-attack (AA) compositions, plus she has a minor amount of wave clear (blizzard). She's also great for finding stealth heroes (all of her abilities can suss them out and break a cloak) and ??her ultimates have the ability to change the course of any teamfight.

She can also feel like a fairly passive hero if you don't actually hit with her abilities. Her cooldowns are very long (10 seconds on Q, 14 seconds ??on W, 14 seconds on E); very few heroes have a universal 10 second minimum cooldown wait across their basic abilities (Leoric currently). Everything has to be deliberate, lest she lose out on a key blind, slow, chase or escape.

When you actually do hit with everything, it all just clicks. She can blind, slow, root, stun and boop enemies: all the things a tank should be doing to peel for her team. While it's not exactly clear how she'll fit into the hardcore ranked meta right now or what tweaks she'll get in the near future, I'm excited to see her around in pretty much all levels of pl??ay.

It's great to see that even after a huge "new hero" hiatus, the Heroes team can still deliver. We're getting t??o the point where the ske??leton crew is keeping the game alive, without the work of the full development team behind them: and they're going great.

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The reveal that shocked the world

_{[Check out our previous Smash Ultimate DLC coverage: Piranha Plant, Joker, Hero, Banjo, Terry.]}

Look, I understand that people are mad that yet another Fire Emblem character is coming to Smash Ultimate: as paid DLC no less. I'd be insane not to address it im?mediately!

But as someone who found Fire Emblem: Three Houses to be one of the best games of 2019, I was a little more accepting of the reveal of Byleth. He's no Waluigi, but he is legitimately different from the rest of his Fire Emblem brethren.

I'm of two minds here. In theory, I'm not impressed by Byleth's addition. He's not so much a character as he is a vessel for the player (similar to some other Fire Emblem protagonists), a far cry from people like Roy, Lucia or Marth, who have a firmly rooted place in the story. Also, despite the fact that there's at least six more DLC characters?? on the way, there are so many other more interesting IPs Smash could have?? played with. But that doesn't mea?n Sakurai and his team didn't try.

Fitting in with his "chosen one" theme, the 75th Smash Ultimate roster addition can utilize multiple legendary weapons: a bow (Failnaught), a lance (Areadbhar), a stretchy whip sword (Sword of the Creator) and a slow but powerful axe (Aymr). Queued up with the press of neutral B, left/right+B, up+B and down+B respectively, Byleth has a number of tricks up his sleeve for mu?ltiple situations.

Failnaught allows Byleth a degree of ranged freedom that most of the Fire Emblem cast lacks, while Aymr can be aimed (you ca??n drop from platforms and turn) and used to "chop" onto an edge with the axe blade, making it one of the more strategic charge moves i?n the series: dating all the way back to the Nintendo 64's Falcon Punch/Giant Punch meta. His Sword of the Creator whip conceit should also be familiar, as it doubles as an edge grab.

When you mash it all together, Byleth is a versatile little fighter, and for any Three Houses fan, the idea of him using all of the ultimate weapons from the game is a cool little concept. Byleth also works in a flurry of kicks to add some style to his small arsenal of toys. Scoff at the character, but the kit works, both as a great entry point for newcomers (each direction ?triggers a different weapon) and veterans as they try to achieve his skill ceiling of chaining everything.

The rest of the pack also helps add more personality to Byleth's Smash persona. His arena, Garreg Mach Monastery, is full of life even though the whole "block roller coaster thing picks you up occasionally and transports you to a new arena" conceit is played out at this point. If you've spent a lot of time there in Three Houses, you'll probably enjoy it even more. The 11 music tracks aren't too shabby either, especially additions like Chasing Daybreak and The Apex of the World. Multiple gender options (true to Fire Emblem protag form) and a full Fire Emblem gauntlet in classic mode are nice touches.

If you already bought the first Fighter's Pass and feel like you were cheated with the addition of Byleth, you've arguably already gotten your money's worth with four fantastic characters. If you decided to buy piecemeal, this is the first time I'd probably recommend holding out. This Three Houses fan, however, is satisfied.

_{[These impressions are based on a copy of the DLC provided by the publisher.]}

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If only it caught on

I've been playing Heroes of the Storm for over four years now. There are very few games that manage to keep me captivated that long, but alas, the Heroes team managed to gra??b me where so ma?ny other MOBAs haven't.

While others chase DOTA's fame, Heroes did its own thing, and lived/suffered from ?that boldness. Now?? it's invited Deathwing into the fray, who is one of the most exciting and requested characters to date.

Deathwing's main claim to fame is that he's permanently unstoppable by default, and operates much like a MOBA boss character. He's big, with tons of health and an array of moves at his disposal. Conversely, he also can't be buffed or be healed by teammates (instead he'll be doing the latter by flying up in the air and escaping, which naturally takes him off the battlefield and out of the equation). It's a striking set of mechanics, but one reserved for what is the most-requested hero from the community and a huge part of the World of Warcraft lore.

He's also a ton of fun to play, which fulfills the whole power fantasy angle Blizzard goes for with new characters. There hasn't been an influx of traversal-heavy heroes, so having the option to peace out and fly over a wall to another skirmish makes playing Deathwing more strategic and engaging. He also has access to two forms (Destroyer and World Breaker), which grant different?? abilities that you need to keep t?rack of, typically of the skillshot or area-of-effect variety. 

Deathwing is kind of a mix between an assassin and a warrior, able to dish out lots of damage in short order as ??well as tank. You can also customize his build to be more tanky or live life on the edge, putting out more hurt if you fall below a certain life percentage. Cataclysm, one of the flashiest heroics (ultimates) in the game?, has its cooldown refreshed after taking down a fort or a keep. Deathwing is a beast, and the only thing I'd change at present is swapping his form change from "1" to "D."

With Blizzard taking a step back from Heroes, now is the time to experiment and give us more weirdness like the RTS-themed Abathur did so many years ago. Deathwing is one of the most refreshing hero releases in ??a long while, certainly this year amid a few safe cho?ices.

Deathwing is c??urrently in beta (via the PTR, or public test realm), and is expected to arrive i??n the live version sometime next week.

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How many of these article subtitles are 'Are you okay?!' All of them

_{[Check out our previous Smash Ultimate DLC coverage: Piranha Plant, Joker, Hero, Banjo.]}

"Is Smash Bros. a fighter?" has been the "are games art?" of the last 20 years or so, but when we're at the point where Smash is headlining EVO, you know you've made it.

Ryu and Ken also gave us a glimpse at just how much traditional fighting games have influenced the series, and now with Fatal Fury's Terry in the mix, it's even more evident.

Fatal Fury was my first fighting game, though Terry wasn't my first character! That honor goes to his brother Andy, who I've basically never used since. Poor An?dy.

Over time I gravitated toward Terry (and Joe), who stuck with me all this time through crossover after crossover. I'm talking King of Fighters, Capcom vs. SNK, SNK Heroines, Fighting EX Layer: you name it. Terry's kit is complete muscle memory at this point. So when I found out that you can use traditional fighting game inputs to trigger Terry's special moves in Smash Ultimate, I was even more floored to try him out.

If you want you can choose to play Terry like a typical Smash characte?r, directional inputs and special button and all. His side special is burning knuckle and crack shoot (forward/backward respectively), his up special is rising tackle (anti-air), down is power dunk and neutra??l is power wave (his core projectile). It has pretty much everything you'd want, albeit with limitations, as Terry is equipped to handle most situations that the rest of the cast throws at him.

At critical health (more than 100% in stock or 1/3 of his stamina) he queues up better versions of power wave (power geyser) and burn knuckle (buster wolf), which even have their own super commands. His Final Smash (triple wolf) can also hit multiple enemies at first, but primarily rips apart one person: it rules, as most Final Smash moves tend to just favor the latter. It was crazy how quickly I acclimated to Terry having played him nearly every year for 20 years. His?? rising tackle command (hold d??own, press up/attack, just like Guile's flash kick) actually worked, which is the exact point where I knew I was in for a wild ride.

Terry is also super fast, sporting ver??y quick dashes and a general sense of speed. It allows players to really up their footsies tech ("not a fighting game!") and really bait people into punishes. Further delineation with quicker or firmer presses (just like an SNK or Capcom game) is even more proof that Sakurai and his team went the extra mile for this appearance.

His stage, on the other hand (King of Fighters Stadium), is fine. The background characters are cute, as is the idea that different songs will play based on who shows up (more on that in a second), but there's no shortage of Omega layouts in Smash Ultimate.? I'?m glad it's there, and it's way better than giving us a convoluted mess that would throw a wrench in the random stage setting, but it's fine at best.

The music selection on the other hand, whoa doggie. Sakurai claims that his team provided SNK with 49 songs to choose from, thinking they'd narrow it down to 10 or so, but they approved all of the proposals. As a result there are 49 new songs that come with this Terry DLC, which is absolutely insane and one of the only cases in 2019 of a publisher over-d?elivering on previously announced paid DLC. SNK has such a long and storied history, and if this is how people are going to respect it, even outside of the bounds of Terry, so be it.

I can't believe Nintendo is four for four on paid DLC (five if you count Piranha Plant). Can we go for a hat trick plus two? We'll likely see sometime in 2020. For now, we have Ken with a hat.

_{[These impressions are based on a copy of the DLC provided by the publisher.]}

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Kudos to the duo

Banjo Kazooie's entrance in Super Smash Bros. is more than justified. Not only did the duo grace the Nintendo 64 with one of its most iconic games, but in recent years, Microsoft has been playing nice with Nintendo to the point where the cros?sover inclusion basically needed to happen now or (potentially) never.

It was weird hearing Sakurai tell everyone to "play the original Banjo Kazooie on Xbox" this week right? Although he's not technically a Nintendo employee he did say it on an official Nintendo stream, and that sort of collaboration (alongside of the release of Ori & The Blind Forest on Switch) hasn't happened in a long while.

So yeah, although Banjo Kazooie might not be a bombshell DL?C for some, it means a hell of a lot to me, and I'm glad they made it to the party.

Banjo is a pretty even-keeled fighter: he can excel at close range with his capable normals and smash attacks, b?ut also pepper enemies with a ?decent keepaway game, and recover nicely (I mean you'd expect a bird companion to have some sort of aerial prowess right?). Your main source of sustained damage is Kazooie's neutral egg cannon, which can be shot once or held down to create a slowly depreciating Breegull Blaster (you can also poop eggs out with your down special, "Rear Egg," which is great at heights).

The main Fighter's Pass DLCs have dropped with some sor??t of firecracker ability, and for Banjo Kazooie, it's the Wonderwing. Billed by Sakurai himself as something that takes priority against "basically any other attack," it's a powerhouse side dash special, but can only be used five times per stock. Banjo's up special calls out a spring pad (similar to Mega Man or Sonic in a way), and he can still jump after it triggers. His Final Smash calls for a Jinjo ass whoopin', and is all sorts of easy to hit, as it summons a column right in front of him (with height to ?it) that auto-hits and triggers a cutscene.

I've spent around five hours playing as Banjo and he really grows on you, beyond the novelty and past the nostalgia factor. Nearly all of his attacks, including his normals, have weight to them, and the little sound effects are always adorable to have goin??g off even if you're not actively playing as the pair. Some of Banjo's hits can put on the hurt (or knock weak to mid-weighted enemies out at a decent enough percentage), and right ??now he feels viable numbers-wise.

I'm also glad we're still getting new stages for Smash (just pack that cont?ent on in there for the next few decades of play sessions), even if Spiral Mountain isn't one of my favorites thus far. With such a rich tapestry of locales to draw from the team really could have gone anywhere, and while the hub world from the first game is an obvious choice, it might not have been the best one.

I dig the "spinning camera" gimmick and the occasional cameos from enemies in the background, but it just doesn't pop as much as Joker's Mementos Persona hellscape or the in-flight Dragon Quest Yggdrasil's Altar. The static feel of it wears after a while, compounded by the fact that you can play Banjo music whenever you want. Speaking of!

The alt-art costumes are mostly just reskins (the Grunty color scheme is pretty nice), but man does the pack make up for it with its soundtrack. You have the main theme, Mumbo's Mountain, Treasure Trove Cove, Spiral Mountain, Freezezzy Park, Mad Monster Mansion, Vs. Lord Woo Fak Fak, Vs. Klungo, Gobi's Valley, and Vs. Mr. Patch: a set of tracks that span Kazooie and Tooie. At least one track (Spiral Mountain) was arranged by music legend Grant Kirkhope, which ??gives it a lovin?g authentic touch.

Three DLCs in (and 3/3 in terms of quality), you really get a sense that Sakurai and his team aren't going to give us any duds. While Banjo Kazooie wasn't a part of everyone's childhood, it deserves to be a part of Super Smash Ultimate history. So what's next for the Fighter's Pass? There's two more characters (one is Terry, who is arriving in November) on the way for the first pass, and a second pass was teased this week.

Will it finally be Waluigi time?

_{[These impressions are based on a copy of the DLC provided by the publisher.]}

The post Uh huh ahh uh ahh uh (Banjo in Smash is another hom??erun) appeared first on Destructoid.

The second original creation

Heroes of the Storm is ha?ving an interesting year. Although a lot of people aren't happy with the way Blizzard decided to ramp down development, I've actu??ally been enjoying the game on a regular basis, just as frequently as I have in the past.

There's work to be done for sure. Middling issues that haven't been fixed in over four years are still present, and there are a lot of characters that still need to be added before the roster can really feel complete. But given that the game is alive all of that can come, and Heroes is bolstered b??y a strong MOBA core that is far less time-consuming than pretty much any competitor in the market.

Not ev?eryone is happy though. In a shocking turn of events Blizzard decided to actually debut an original "Nexus" character in?? its first cutback year, Qhira. Although it might not be the character everyone wanted, I'm happy to see her in the mix.

Qhira's main threat is mobility.

Her E, revolving sweep, is a targeted line skillshot that allows her to grapple onto an enemy, revolve around them, and slam into them on command: pushing them in the opposite direction. On top of that her trait, grappling hook, also pulls her into terrain and launches heroes hit on impact. Once someone is in her clutches she can pop her W, blood rage, damaging enemies she's hit with auto-attacks and healing herself (blood rage also provides a passive stacking bleed). Her heroics (ultimates) involve a radial sword spin with a stun and another skillshot that does 25%? increased damage if a hero is below 50% health.

In short, if she meets a squishy character in a lane and has full mana and all her abilities: they're likely dead. Now you need to aim all of these skills (and time her E), mind, so skirmishes aren't an automatic win. Even crazier: you can aim her passive while looping around enemies with her E, and she's granted immunity during said loop. Her niche is perhaps best exemplified by one of her level 20 talents, "No Sanctuary," which reveals nearby enemy heroes with lower than 50% health, with in?creased movement speed and damage to those targets to boot. You can also build her to almost completely cater to damage rather than utility, building up blood rage to the point where you're a hero-killing machine. 

That's pretty much all she does though. If you can pick enemies off (especially early, and build up XP) you w??ill succeed. If a good tank peels you off or keeps you at bay, you basically have no recourse. Qhira needs to really get her auto-attacks in to trigger her blood rage, which is one of her only sources of sustain. If things really get rough you can try to grapple away, but if you get hit with a stun in the process, it's game over.

Amid all this give and take during my matches with her, I was having a lot of fun trying to make the most out of her kit. I dig her particle effects and whole chain sword vibe (which is even wilder with her alternate chainsaw skin), complete with vibrant neon red lights. Flying around an enemy hero with her E is a highlight (especially if you talent in to ma??ke it an area-of-effect slam after re-activation), and hilarious to boot.

In the end, although she might not be as popular as Cairne Bloodhoof or Grommash Hellscream, she's the kind of hero I like to see in the Nexus: flashy and role-fulfilling. She also somehow beat out the long-awaited Imperius so far this year: with Anduin, the Heroes team is two? for three in terms of? good characters in 2019.

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Hero also heralds in a humble stage

Super Smash Bros. never fails to keep us guessing. Nintendo has truly proven that just about anyone can join the fr?ay, as nearly every publisher will welcome the publicity. We've seen all sorts of shocking additions over the years like Solid Snake, Cloud Strife, Bayonetta, and even Banjo & Kazooie.

The recent inclusion of Dragon Quest's Hero isn't so shocking. Square Enix and Nintendo have had a working relationship for ages, and the very first Dragon Quest (Dragon Warrior in t??he west) was released on the NES. It was a natural pairing.

But man, as usual, did they ever follow through.

_{[Previous Smash Ultimate DLC fighter coverage: Piranha Plant, Joker]}

One of the first good signs that Hero was a good egg: his fantastic norm??als. His neutral combo hits both high and low, and he puts out great numbers with swift tilts and smash attacks. True to his source, Hero'?s main gimmick is that most of his special actions are governed by an MP gauge, which regains over time naturally and by being aggressive. Oh and 1/8 if his smash attacks can crit.

His specials rock too. Hero's neutral is an always-useful charged fireball projectile, but interestingly, due to the aforementioned MP motif, you won't be able to fire it off if you don't have the mana (even if you have it pre-charged). Similarly, if you have the MP his up+special throws out a mean set of tornados as you ??leap into the air: if you don't, the jump is tiny. This sets up a little meta-puzzle game where you're constantly figuring out if you have the mana for something: whiffs can be deadly.

Speaking of mana, his down+special is his bread and butter. In what might be the purest JRPG mechanic possible, it queues up a command list with text and random spells. Buffs! Heals! H?uge jumps! Massive melee and ranged attacks! By default Hero has access to 17 more abilities because of this concess?ion, with the option to cancel them with a jump or a shield. It requires quick reaction time in tandem with MP management.

There is one hangup, and this mostly comes at the expense of the competitive crowd. If you couldn't tell (random crits, random command abilities, with randomness inside of all that), Hero is a character that can at times rely heavily on randomness, or as the competitive scene calls it: "RNG." If this really bothers you, you may not like what Hero is selling. In any other game, I'd actually be a bit more wary. But given that this is Smash, and I spend half my time playing casual matches with casual fans with items, and half my time in semi-competitive Omega Stages with items off, I feel like I'm goi?ng to get my money's worth with Hero, so to speak.

When it comes to Smash I'm all about the aesthetics, and Hero delivers. Like the lovely little Koopa Kid skins spawned from Bowser Jr., Hero's costume can be toggled to look like heroes from other Dragon Quest games. Al??ong with the whole random spell thing, it absolutely rules when it comes to? introducing another bit of entropy into the mix. You could queue up four Heroes on one map and the match wouldn't feel stale.

Yggdrasil's Altar and eight new music tracks (Adventure, Fighting Spirits, Battle for the Glory?, Wagon's Wheel March, War Cry, Marching Through the Fields, The Hero Goes Forth with Determination, and Unflinchable Courage) are the other part of the equation: keeping in line with Joker's release and Nintendo's promise to do each DLC drop as a trifecta of sorts. I hope they never stop this trend and we eventually get a "Fighter's Pass 2," because this whole immersion concept where you basically get a mini franchise expansion each content drop is fantastic.

"Humble" is probably the best way to describe Yggdrasil's Altar. This is a very commonly themed open air arena with a big spot to brawl in the middle, with smaller little floating islands off to the sides: a concept that's been in Smash since the beginning, with 64's Super Happy Tree. On paper it doesn't look all that exciting. But in motion, with the glorious Dragon Quest soundtrack playing in the b?ackground? while you're slinging spells and fighting off Mimics, it's a little more eventful. I'm happy every time it comes up in the random cycle.

Dragon Quest's Hero might not be a mind altering Smash DLC drop, but like his penchant for saving the day in any given universe??????????????????????????, he's up to the task. The game is better because Hero is in it.

_{[These impressions are based on a copy of the DLC provided by the publisher.]}

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For the Alliance

[Update: You can find the Spotlight embedded below.]

The last time Heroes of the Storm added a character (all the way back into January), it didn't really resonate with me. It wasn't the boon the game needed after it was put on notice last December, which was especially surprising given that Imperius was a long-r??equested hero.

Anduin, on the other hand, is a complete 180. He's relevant (love him or hate him) given his important storyline in the latest World of Warcraft expansion, he brings beloved old school WoW priest mechanics into the spotlight, and his visual??s are flash??y and functional.

I can get used to playing as him.

At first glance I thought Anduin would sidle up too closely to Uther, but you need to spend some quality time with him to see how different he really is. As a former holy/discipline priest main in World of Warcraft I appreciate the nuances in his kit, mostly proliferated through his m??any talent builds.

Anduin's base kit involves flash heal (classic priest), which runs on a four-second cooldown and a .75 second cast: the Q key is going to be putting in work. His W is divine star, a (fantastically animated and vibrant) bolt that damages enemies in a line, then heals allies (including Anduin) as it returns: it's rad. Chastise, his E, is a line skillshot root and his trait leap of faith is a command rescue that makes an ally invulnerable and pulls them to you. That's a passive unstoppable/cleanse every 70 seconds, baseline. It pretty mu??ch makes him playable day one, at the ?very least. His two heroics (a channeled shield and heal, or a stunning/damaging light bomb) aren't too shabby either.

Where Anduin shines is through the depth of his talents, which make him a more complex healer to micromanage. At level one he can heal or imbue his flash heals with auto-attacks, or go for "bold strategy," which grants him both abilities while hamstringing his flash heal with an extra second cooldown. As time goes on you can choose to further e??nhance your auto-attack build or upgrade all three basic abilities, all of which drastically alter the way you approach each skirmish?.

One of my personal favorite builds is to take "enchant boots - lion's speed" (nice WoW reference, guys and gals), which gives Anduin a 5% passive speed boost that triples to 15% if his passive is off-cooldown. At level 20 you can opt to take another passive charge, ensuring that you pretty much always have that boost, allowing you to zip around fights and position your skillshots with ease. Another great build is what I call "Tankduin." By taking a talent that always heals Anduin when healing a teammate, then lightwell (an area-of-effect heal that can't be targeted, and only goes away after 10 heals or a recast), which gr??eatly increases your survivability

I've tanked many enemies with lightwell alone, which lasts a long while if you're the only target. Inner focus is micro-heaven: it's a??n active 20-second cooldown ability that resets your flash heal cooldown, which reduces its own cooldown by 10 seconds if you hit an enemy with your W wave. This basically creates a see-saw effect where you're resetting your flash heal constantly while juggling three actives. The team really nailed Anduin's relentless indomitably from a thematic standpoint and made him fun to play: bravo.

As someone who fondly recalls the roaring crowds during the HGC finals (twice) and the lively eSports events throughout the rest of the year, it's absolutely wild to see Anduin arrive without Kevin "Cloaken" Johnson's cheery voice accompanying a Spotlight video. There's a lot we don't know, but from where a lot of us are sitting, Blizzard pulled out of Heroes far too?? early. There's still plenty of life in the game itself even if the overlords that be aren't willing to invest in it.

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Putting in the stage and the music was the perfect amount of hot sauce

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has had a hell of a run so far.

While everyone struggled to blow through everything in one of the most expansive fighting game packages ever released, Piranha Plant crept onto the scene a full month and change later, and how Persona 5's Joker is making a splash on top of a stage builder, share features, and a new level that pays homage to the entire Persona series.

I'm not sure it matters how long it is until the next big DLC drop: we have our hands full aga??in.

Joker excels at mid-ra??nge, which fits his ferocious, yet sneaky archetype. His ranged attacks include the "gun" ability (which can be held down indefinitely, perfect for multiplayer spam) and Eiha, an angled magic-type projectile that has a surprising amount of knockback. Although he does have a grappling hook for throwing opponents (and getting back into the arena), he does thankfully still have a melee grab. Rebel's Guard, a stance move typically reserved for swordfight?ers, allows Joker to gain more meter for his persona and take reduced damage: it also needs to be timed as it only guards for just over a second.

You want to do this as often as possible to charge up your meter and unleash the persona Arsene, but at this powered-up point, Joker is on borrowed time. His meter depletes even if he doesn't act, but Arsene buffs all of his abilities. The gun is now a three-shot rapid-fire burst, your grappling hook (which might not be enough to save you from falling off the edge) is now a Wings of Rebellion super boost, Eiha is easier to land as Eigaon, and your Rebel's Guard is just straight-up beastly as a reflect/absorb Tetrakarn. Playing around Arsene is the key to taking down Joker, eve??n if he has plenty of chances to rush you down while beefed-up. Interestingly, Joker's meter automatically builds even if you do nothing, so you'll get to use Arsene at least once per match.

Beyond his gimmicks Joker is just fun to use, period. His blade strikes are fast and fluid and nearly all of his movements are stylish: I especially dig the additional animations for firing his gun special. Speaking of style, the new stage, Momentos (packaged with Joker) also rocks. It captures the simultaneously discordant and soothing nature of the Persona series, exemplified by 11 (!) songs that alter the level's aesthetics depending on the ?game the tune is from. N?ow that's detail: I don't think anyone expected this level of dedication. Don't forget he gets his own Classic Mode run too and brings extra spirits to the table.

Nintendo is sma??rtly making DLC character drops a big deal, and leading with one of the most shocking gets in recent memory is the right move. Now we can expect the unexpected when it comes to cameos, but also know that the team is going to give us a fully fledged add-on with a level that matters and a soundtrack (not just a few throwaway songs) to boot.

_{[These impressions are based on a copy of the DLC provided by the publisher.]}

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Feed me

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's post-launch legacy is well underway. In addition to the revelation that Persona 5's Joker is heading in??to the ring, Nintendo just released another highly anticipated oddball of a roster addition that was announced all the way back in November.

Piranha Plant is pretty much everything yo?u'd expect out of a DLC character: it's outlandish and unique, functional and fun to play.

If you don't care about technical terms in the slightest, you'll ?enjoy pretty much everything Piranha ?Plant's kit has to offer. If you do (or aspire to care), let's break him down a bit.

Although he might seem like a small fry, the ol' plant is actually what's classified by many players as a "heavyweight." It actually weighs more than roughly 90% of the entire roster, coming in just under Incineroar in eighth place. What does that mean? Well he's extremely resil??ient and won't be knocked off easily. Naturally, as is the case with many heavy characters, his moves are also slower than average and run the risk of getting punished (counter-attacked while vulnerable) if they whiff. Given that a few of his special attacks require setup, it's even more imperative that you learn him inside and out before you bring him to a local tourney.

His specials include a spiked ball (neutral), a helicopter jump (up), a charged pipe attack (down) and a poison cloud (left or right). On paper they might not seem so chic (what does that word mean?), but they all serve a purpose. The former is a great zoning tool and can be balanced over Piranha Plant's head or chucked in ??a direction of your choice as a projectile. The up special is fun??ctional and the poison cloud can be charged similar to Samus or Donkey Kong's neutral specials.

Having messed around with it for some time I just love how vertical Piranha Plant is. I've hit some pretty nice combos with charged pop-ups followed by a Down+Special aimed upward. The character is also great in casual group situations, as the poison cloud can knock off some serious percentages and the aforementioned down special extends far enough to smack up unsuspecting players on different tiers of the stage. It also exudes confidence and comedy at every turn, really selling that wide grin whenever possible. Oh, and they stuffed in some extra details for good measure, including a humorous bit of Palutena's Guidance dialogue (try it!).

I'm not over the moon but I'm more than impressed that Sakurai and his team were able to transcend joke character status with this little plant that could. For reference, you can play with Piranha Plant in World of Light (it's available right away if you have a file for it) and it gets its own Classic mode. You can grab Piranha Plant for free if you register your copy of the game before January 31. Otherwise, you'll be able ?to purchase it separately (it will not be part of the Fighter/Season Pass). Its amiibo will be released on February 15.

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Not worth the wait, yet

Heroes of the Storm's development is winding down, but as of now, n?ew chara??cters are still arriving.

We can likely expect this cadence throu?ghout the year as heroes who were previously in development ne??ed to see the light of day, but after that: who knows what will happen.

In the meantime, let's take a look at Imperius.

Imperius has a simplistic bruiser kit that'?s more like an amalgamation of existing Assassins and Warriors: a dash stun (Q), a line skillshot (W) and an area-of-effect flame (E) that also heals. As you can imagine his Q alone can successfully pull off sniped ganks from hidden bushes, while his E helps him sustain himself in lane.

Sometimes, if Im??perius is allowed to run wild (which he often is in casual quick matches), he can stomp. If people take the time to work around him and kite (lead) him, or your teammates don't bother to secure kills you set up, he can fail miserably. ??Thus is the conundrum of Imperius on top of a kit that doesn't feel particularly fun to play in any given moment (using his Q just made me want to swap to Sonya). We've even seen the "mark enemies with basic attacks and do increasing amounts of damage to them" concept before.

Angelic Armaments is a utilitarian heroic/ultimate in practice (he pops a shield, which can be re-casted as a damage ability if it lasts three secon?ds), but it lacks im??pact and flair. His other heroic (Wrath of Angiris) while a MOBA staple, is really satisfying to pull off. In short Imperius grabs an enemy hero, goes up into the heavens, and slams them down after aiming a circular reticle. It's a lot like the existing off-screen flying mechanics such as Alexstrasza's Cleansing Flame, but can secure kills if your team is paying attention. Cool, but familiar.

Another underwhelming aspect of Imperius is his model. While Blizzard did right by the Angel of Valor and increased his wing size before launch (he had baby wings in the PTR, or, public test realm staging ground), he still looks a bit odd in the Heroes style. His imposing Diablo demeanor doesn't really come across he??re, and this is on??e character you don't really want to compromise on.

The Heroes team has knocked it out of the park more often than not, but this time I think I'm fine letting this do-gooder sit on the sidelines. Imperius can easily be patched to feel more exciting as time goes?? on: this is a MOBA after all. 

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She heralded a lore overhaul, too

Blizzard took to the stage at this year's BlizzCon to announce that Orphea, the Raven Lord's daughter, was coming to Heroes of the Storm. For Heroes players who even know who the Raven Lord is there was a mixed reaction. For everyone else??, there were blank stares all-around.

Such is the uphill battle that MOBA prod??ucers fight as they attempt to inject more lore into a combat-centric game.

For what it's worth I'm glad that Blizzard decided to try something new with Orphea, an original character, and I don't mean that just in terms of the scope of the Heroes of the Storm development team. Sure Overwatch is still fresh out of the oven, but Blizzard is the king of mining its own IP to excite its fans, a practice that's had mixed results over the past five years or so. Heroes is kind of the culmination of that concept, a "Bl?izzard All-Stars DOTA" that came a few years too late.

Orphea kind of represents the daring of the Heroes team to unbind themselves from the shackles of fandom, and naturally that sort of st?atement has its own risks. For one, Orphea's kit is a little uneven, mostly due to a tug of war between Blizzard's worry of power creep and ambition. Her entire style is modeled around "dancing," which the fantasy only half achieves. Her Q, a line skillshot, allows her to swiftly move around as she hits enemy heroes, which gives off a sort of ballet/ice skating fe??el to it on top of the utility it provides.

It feels cool, sure, but at higher levels of play it's much easier to dodge the telegraphed line shot, hamstringing her efficacy. Her W, which summons her chompy little demon friend to clamp down on a wide area in front of her, can be altered to provide a hop back of sorts but doesn't grant it baseline. Blizzard broke down this decisio?n on stage at BlizzCon but I think the problem could have been solved with a key prompt that al??lowed players to hop back if they wanted after the ability triggers (a mechanic Blizzard has been moving away from).

The issue is that for such a mobile character in theory a lot of her powers are best used while stationary. The lock-in-place base W is a prime example, but her E (another line skillshot that bursts into an area-of-effect) also feels passive, as does her actual passive that buffs her auto-attacks after using skills. Both heroics (ultimates) suffer similar fates, and only one of them (Crushing Jaws) gives her group utility while the other functions as dece??nt (but easily countered) zone control that stops working as soon as enemies move out of its range. She's fun to use but there's an awful lot of stopping and stifled movement for what Orphea is supposed to be on paper. Strides are being made (she had some improvements this very week) but I'd like to see more before I work her into my rotation.

I'm looking forward to watching her evolve over time and I hope that Blizzard is able to slot her into the meta. It would be nice to see her play??ed on a pro level more but right now she's not faring so well, even in the highest Master leagues.

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He could have came with WoW: Legion but that's okay

After years and years of Warcraft III (I'm so glad that game doesn't have a /played command) I've had plenty of tim?e to assess which hero is my favorite. All of them have their own charm, but the Dreadlord (a role often times filled by Mal'Ganis) was my jam. The vampiric voice, the imposing visage, the sheer tactical?? value of a point and click sleep crowd control spell: all of it added to his allure.

Over a decade later and he finally made it into Heroes of the Storm, nearly closing the door on Warcraft III characters that have yet to make it in. Blizzard missed the chance to usher him in with the more relevant launch of World of Warcraft: Legion with a badass Lightforged Dreadlord skin, but I'll settle for him being included at all.

Mal'Ganis is a complete beast in terms of utility. As a warrior he's tanky, bolstered by his passive ability "Vampiric Touch," which heals him for 45% of damage dealt to heroes (unbuffed) or 15% dealt to non-heroes. His Fel Claws ability (three activated slashes) stuns on the third slash. Necrotic Embrace provides armor and damages enemies in an area-of-effect circle around him and Night Rush (the equivalent of Warcraft III's aforementioned sleep) grants him 50??% movement speed for two seconds and sleeps heroes in his wake. One of the greatest things about his swath of crowd control is how teammates can benefit from hard to hit skillshots, often making it easier to complete their talent quests that ramp up more damage.

His heroics Carrion Swarm (an area-of-effect abi??lity that makes him invulnerable for three seconds and heals) and Dark Conversion (swap health percentages with a hero after a quick channel) only add to this survivability. Outside of his cartoonish face (which you won't be focusing on so much in the heat of combat, zoomed out), he's as imposing as a Dreadlord should be.

Right now Mal'Ganis is pretty dominant, which isn't necessarily a bad thing if he's properly tuned. Heroes of the Storm has needed more meta-worthy tanks for some time, and adding another formidable warrior into the mix will only spice up your everyday quick matches and the pro scene. The thing about Mal'Ganis is that he works? best at midrange, so to counter him you'll need to snipe him down and kite him (someone like Jaina will work wonders against his limited mobility).

And with the Dreadlord box checked off, we only have a few Warcraft III heroes left to make the journey to HOTS: The Pitlord, Naga Sea Witch, Shadow Hunter, and Goblin Alchemist. The Tauren Chieftain is debatably already in with ETC but could also technically count, as he sports a slightly different kit. If I had to guess the specific characters that would fill these roles respectively: Magtheridon, Lady Vashj, Mezil-kree (or a troll in the new World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth storyline), Zovzik ??an??d Cairne Bloodhoof.

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Master mage

Bless Blizzard for they had sinned: it had been one year and three months since the launch of the last evil Diablo character in Heroes of the Storm.  Th?at is until Mephisto, Lord of Hatred, entered the fray this?? week.

Having taken him for a spin through the PTR and in the live version I can't say that his Heroes incarnation fits the fantasy of the character, but his penchant for big plays ensures that he'??ll al?ways be a fun pick depending on the mode.

On paper Mephisto's kit as as simple as it comes. He's a mage that can throw a skillshot skull missile (Q), pop a 2.5 second nova ring (W), and throw a shade to teleport (then teleport back, E). You've seen all of these abilities before in Heroes of the Storm on multiple characters, but where he really comes together as a complete beast of burst is ??his trait. "Lord of Hatred" reduces your cooldowns by hitting enemy heroes. Boom.

If you play with this rule in mind Mephisto's day-to-day as it ??were shifts priorities entirely. You're going to want to actually connect with your hits so all of your abilities can cast quicker, so you can further reduce them and...you get the picture. Missing with something with another character is usually associated with a mana cost that could ?force a costly retreat back to base, but with Mephisto it's even more damning.

You also really need some good support and peeling (a MOBA term when a tank literally peels enemies off someone who's vulnerable). A common combo is to teleport in unexpectedly with your shade, pop a W nova and go to town. If you hit enough people you can do insane area-of-effect (AOE) damage as your nova will be readily available quickly due to your trait, and you can possibly work in one of the two team-hitting heroics into there. If your tank doesn't come thro??ugh or you're out of position though you'll be squished in seconds.

Having experienced the genre since the dawn of the original DOTA mod, playing Mephisto feels like using a token genre mage. It's genuinely exciting when you hit those explosive plays and take out multiple foes but I don't really feel like I'm using the Lord of Hatred. Heroes i??mplements occasionally terrifying visuals to help differentiate their cast, and I think that would have benefited Mephisto with that sparing use of them.

If you don't dig his art style there isn't a lot of fluff to help. The "Star Wraith" premium skin goes well with Space Lord Leoric, but eliminates the whole "swirling mist" vibe of the original Diablo II look. A 400 shard Mephisto announcer is always welcome (I pop these like candy whenever a new hero is out), but his inability to ride on any floating mounts (even clouds), a lack of Diablo baddie banners, and only o?ne spray isn't a lot of flair to?? go along with the launch.

While I normally work new heroes into my rotation for the foreseeable future, especially in quick match, I'm not so sure about Mephisto. Having played League of Legends' Karthus (a?nd Zeus) for so long I'm not as excited to use the Consume Souls heroic as some, which is arguably the most impactful part of his kit. That's perfectly fine though: there's a ton of options to choose from over thr??????????????????????????ee years into 1.0, including Tyrande's recent rework.

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Finally, a priest!

I've been waiting for a priest, specifically of the shadow variety, since Heroes of the Storm was first announced. While Anduin, poised to reclaim the glory of the alliance in the upcoming World of Warcraft expansion, seemed like the most obvious choice -- along comes Sally Whit??emane, High Inquisitor of the zealous Scarlet Crusade.

No one expected this particular inquisition, but once again the Heroes team mostly nailed it.

Sally Whitemane is a healer that errs on the side of damage. Her active healing with her Q, Desperate Plea, is the most interesting aspect ?of her character. Not only can you specialize in it with pretty much every talent tree, it also impacts healing based on damage because of her passive, Zeal. The gist is that anyone you heal with it, including yourself, gains a Zeal ??passive for four seconds -- if you do damage in that time, folks with the passive will get a latent heal on top of the initial burst.

I found myself using it to stay alive in instances where I was being chased (Whitemane doesn't have a traditional escape), and a quick alt-Q for a self-cast is commonplace in teamfights where everyone else is already good to go with a passive. Her W, Inquisiton, brings back plenty of fond Mind Flay beam memories from World of Warcraft's Shadow Priest class. It has some utility as it not ?only doles out consistent damage, but slows the target as well. Searing Lash (E) on the other hand is one of the more dull abilities in recent memory, calling down a basic fire blast in a line pattern, with another crossed-up line if it hits a hero.

Whitemane also has a ton of personality, which helps prop up her sometimes uneventful kit. All of her lines are done to aplomb by Erica Lindbeck, the current voice of Barbie, among many other bodies of work spanning anime and video games -- including the main role in Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night as Miriam. Whiteman's laugh in particular is a highlight and I'd like to see more of Lindbeck in the Heroes of the Storm universe (for now a? Wh??itemane announcer will have to do).

I think her heroics (ultimates) are going to need to some tuning because everyone is going to pick Scarlet Aegis, which heals all heroes in an area-of-effect (AoE), and grants 40 armor, and provides the Zeal passive for everyone, including Whitemane herself. Divine Reckoning, an easy-to-dodge four second area-of-effect damage-ov??er-time tick (DoT) is small potatoes by comparison. At level 20 Scarlet Aegis can make people unstoppable for one second: this is on top of her own take on an individual Cleanse (Intercession) at talent level seven.

Even though I don't like passing definitive judgments until the live version of a character has had time to settle, right now Whitemane seems like a force to be reckoned with. She can put out a lot of healing with her Q, and its downside of taking more mana to?? cast as she rapidly uses it is downplay?ed by her mana regeneration. She can also dole out a decent amount of damage, which again plays into her trait, Zeal.

Blizzard is making all sorts of weird tweaks to supports right now and many of them have fallen from grace. If Whitemane is heading into the Nexus with her kit as-is, she'll probably make at least a short term impact on the meta at a high level of pl?ay.

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Not quite a bruiser or a tank

Although I'm a horde member at heart (my fi??rst World of Warcraft character was an?? Orc Warlock during the beta, and my first 1.0 and subsequent main until Burning Crusade was an Orc Shaman), I gravitated toward the Alliance at the behest of a friend and a server-first raid guild.

It was too good of an offer to pass up, and thus, my ;Draenei Shadow Priest was born. Although my?? spirit stayed with the horde I really grew attached to my little Draenei guy, and frequently visited the Exodar, the race's capital city, just for fun.

For the past two years I've wanted Draenei representation in Heroes of the Storm, and now we have it with Yrel.

I had to give that bit of background so you can understand where I'm coming from. Yrel was a pleasant surprise as a big WoW player, but for many others her reveal fell flat. I totally get that, and although she does have her own (mo?destly priced, in shards) announcer voice accompanying her launch, her Harley Quinn inspired alternate cos??tume is just as underwhelming as the idea of introducing another Paladin into the mix.

In my games with her, she also failed to make?? a major impact in higher level play. There are simply more mobile characters available that can do more damage and have more utility, and it's safe to call her undertuned for the time being, even with so??me slight buffs when she hit the live version of the game yesterday.

The thing is, she's really fun to play in quick??match due to her ability to catch out of position players. She can 1v1 almost anyone in the game if they've been tapped by someone else, and has great chase potential thanks to her E (Avenging Wrath), which lets Yrel leap and slow an enemy upon impact. Her first heroic (ultimate), Ardent Defender, which makes her basically invincible for three seconds and heals 50% of the damage received during that period has amazing playmaking potential (blocking Pyroblasts or turning the tables instantly on an asassin is satisfying). These are the sort of things higher level players don't let you exploit so much.

Because of that, ?Yrel is in a weird spot. She doesn't do as much damage as many other tanks, and several of her abilities only benefit her unless you talent into a more utility build -- at which point you've sacrificed damage and tankiness. Oddly enough her Sacred Ground heroic, which sanctifies the ground and grants 40 armor, only applies to her. The same goes for her base healing ability (Q). Add in that her charge mechanic, while very unique, slows her down while charging (this probably can be removed altogether and she'd still be balanced), and you have a recipe for more counters from more mobile heroes.

Again, I'm into Yrel and plan on working her into my normal rotation. It's just that she needs a bit more love than the ?average hero due to the c??omplications regarding her role (what does Blizzard really want her to excel at -- a healer, bruiser, or tank) and her charging shtick.

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I'm not big on his heroics, but his talents and abilities are ace

For what feels like decades Diablo fans have wanted a playable Deckard Cain. The old loremaster was an immediate favorite after his debut in Diablo, and his involvement in future iterations on top of his classic rap only helped fuel the fire.

Cain is a support, heavily anchored by his potion-dropping power (Q). As Cain your job is to strategically place (at first, five max) healing potions at key points (or throw them on top of allies to insta-h??eal) to keep your team alive -- a drastically ne?w style of play that kind of marries the specialist turret-placing strategy with healing.

To effectively play Cain you're going to need a high amount of awareness (something most high-level MOBA players already have), as directing allies into safe pockets of healing is key to keeping them alive and re-engaging enemies after a stealth heal they didn't see coming. My favorite thing to do is to have a trail of potions going in one lane leading back to my base: so if I need to retreat I can just follow a steady stream of health back into safety. His control-based abilities of a slowing Horadric Cube and a rooting Scroll of Sealing, both of which require a bit of lead and aim, only make him more valuable in a teamfight -- not to mention his passive armor buff and 50% faster cooldown recharge when h??e's near at least one teammate.

I've found that Cain has great chase potential, as he can chuck a cube a rather long distance, root them, and then use his "Stay Awhile and Listen" ultimate to sleep them (or Lorenado to force them back to you), sealing the deal if basically anyone else is with him or your foe is low health. Speaking of heroics; while reading a book to sleep a group of enemies and displacing them with a book tornado are practical, they're not nearly as flashy or fun as other ultimate abilities. I spoke to a Blizzard hero desi?gner about this aspect in particular, and initially, Cain had a meteor smash heroic as an homage to Diablo III and a power that would utilize various Diablo hero techniques, but they decided against it for a more grounded approach. I get that, but they don't feel? as impactful from a visual stan?dpoint as they could have been.

Perhaps more so than the vast majority of the Heroes cast, Cain's talents feel important. Each choice colors how he plays, quite literally in the form of the various Cain also has a few tricks up his sleeve that will keep him relevant even if he's tweaked stat-wise. This initial "Scroll of Identify" talent that links up with Scroll of Sealing reveals heroes for eight seconds (16 after hitting 20 opponents), a great counter to stealth or slippery characters. He's also great for zoni??ng and preventing structure damage on top of his primarily goal of healing his team -- something he can spec into further if you grab specific talents, like ones that reduce healing and will force a sustain hero to retreat to a well.

The haggard aesthetic and raw joy of hearing Deckard Cain speak in Heroes of the Storm is going to be well worth the 15,000 coins he'll go for at launch, much less the eventual reduced 10,000 so long as you're a Diablo fan at heart. There's a few aspects of his kit that feel uninspired, but for the?? most part the elaborate array of talents and general trickiness will keep people on their toes.

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He wrecks and does it in style

We're about to hit the 20th anniversary of StarCraft, which in most circles, is a big deal. StarCraft is coming back in a big way, with a full-on remaster on top of a bigger push for StarCraft II, as well as a Blizzard initiative to just give out the original StarCraft and Brood War for free.

Two decades later and its initial shockwave is still felt -- even in other games like Heroes of the Storm.

As a general rule I'm a fantasy man, and thus prefer say the world of Warcraft over StarCraft, but for some reason I just really enjoy playing as StarCraft characters in Heroes of the Storm. Maybe it's the technological edge juxtaposed to the traditional swords and sorcery angle the game generally leans upon, but seeing blue lasers dance around the screen is just plain fun. Fenix lets me do more of that, and I l??ove him for it.

For those of you who aren't caught up with the inner workings of StarCraft's lore, Fenix is a respected warrior of the Protoss that fell in battle, and was reborn as a Dragoon. You know those little spider crawly things? That's what Fenix is? housed in, and out??side of an avatar and a Protoss vocal performance, you're going to be playing a tank.

An assassin tank that is; not a traditional warrior "t?ank," and damn what an assassin he is. It's just PTR but right now I find myself t??opping the damage meters in every game, mostly due to the fact that players don't know how to deal with his kit -- which involves relentless damage nearly every second.

On paper Fenix seems easy to play. He has an area-of-effect circular beam that you can control the circumfurence of, th??e power to swap his auto-attack from a machine-gun burst to a longer, more deliberate splash attack, and a teleport. But it's how players use these abilities that counts -- and I think we're going to be seeing some pretty incredible team takedown videos soon enough. This isn't even taking his full-screen laser blast or missile heroics into account.

I immediately took to ?Fenix's playstyle and started scooping up damage numbers within the first skirmish. He doles out a deceptive amount of pain, especially if you can nail two or more foes in one laser, but the kicker is that he can continue to auto-attack while the laser is going off. Add in constant ammo management to ensure that you can always hit someone whether they're near or far, an ultimate that can finish someone off no matter how far their escape takes them, and a teleport that can act as a chasing mechacism, and your opponent is going to have a bad time if you know what you're doing.

Fenix also seems to just wreck a lot of PVE matchups too. With his splash cannon he can take out a minion wave in roughly three attacks, and he has a decent amount of siege too if he can aim his laser to hit walls, towers, and gates. I don't think there's any doubt that Fenix ??will be tooled, mostly damage-wise, before his official release. But in the meantime I'm going to enjoy playing as a mecha-Godzilla, blowing up structures in my wake.

With another great hero, I'm almost willing to call Heroes the most consistently quality MOBA to date when it comes to character releases. Lord knows any given MOBA has its own mark on the genre, but I'm constantly looking forward to new heroes in HotS.

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Another hit

Maiev, like every other Warcraft III hero that isn't currently implemented in Heroes of the Storm, w??as a long time coming. The warden that once bested Illidan is back, and she's bringing her famous? knives and fancy footwork along with her.

Like the vast majority of combatants added since the launch of Johanna in the full release, ??she's worth p?icking up.

Maiev is an agile melee assassin that's built around an escape and chase playstyle. She doesn't hit hard when it comes to single-target damage, but she can pack a punch when facing down groups thanks to a ton of ?area-of-effect (AOE) damage. The core of this concept is the aforementioned Fan of Knives, which is on a very short four-second cooldown, or an even shorter half a second if you hit two or more heroes with it.

Her signature Blink is built into her Spirit of Vengeance power, which sends out a shadow to dole out damage -- if she wants, she can teleport to it, almost like a makeshift version of Leoric's Wraith Walk with a touch of Sylvanas. While her Containment Disc ultimate is a little wonky (I get that it fits the lore, but jailing other heroes that aren't agent??s of the Fel feels weird), the Warden's Cage (a souped-up version of Sonya's level 20 Leap that traps enemies) is on point. When combined with her tether (which can drag enemies toward you and stun them), she can set up som?e incredible ganks.

Maiev promotes an active mentality I can get behind. She's always roaming around clearing lanes with her AOE and trying to get into teamfight skirmishes, which is engaging from the laning phase (especially in two-lane maps) all the way to the endgame. I think what I like most about her is her trait, Vault of the Wardens, which makes her immune for almost a full second -- perfect for skillfully dodging ultimates. If you don't make good use of her trait or blow your traversal abilities to ??chase you can easily get caught out and explode.

Her abilities average out at 10-second-or-less cooldowns, ensuring that you always have something to do. She also sports a reigned-in set of quests (there's just two, one at level one and another at level four), which is a relief given the quest-heavy insanity of some of the heroes from 2017. Most of her talents also codify her role as a hit-and-run assassin, and force players to actually hit in order to reap the rewards of greater damage or more movement. Other than the disappointing sound effect for Fan of Knives (the old one was great!) and lack of detail on some parts of he?r character model, I don't really have any complaints.

Alongside of Maiev, Heroes is also getting a few tweaks (mostly Malthael changes) and? another Lunar Fest??ival event. Voice chat is also being tested out in the PTR, but "will not be enabled on the live servers until a later date."

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I think he'll get tweaked

Sometimes the Heroes of the Storm?? team doesn't nail a hero's fantasy, or as I call it, fluff. This is mainly an issue with older characters (which are usually the subject of reworks), but in the past few years several newer additions have committed this sin. They might be enjoyable to play and add to the meta, but they don't feel like you're controlling something from the appropriate source material.

Blaze the Firebat on the other hand, does nail it. Playing him on Braxis Hideout with the StarCraft theme blaring and calling ?down a bunker is damn fun.

Blaze is labeled as a ranged warrior, but he pretty much does it all. In several games I approached top damage in the match, had a ton of damage soaked, all with little to no deaths. There's a good chance that my style of play meshes well with this new entry, but he's pretty much j??ust a better?? version of several other warriors right now.

His double-line Q is great for waveclearing and damage when the enemy team is grouped up, his W oi?l slick toss is an ?insanely good slow that can be lit on fire, and his E is an impactful dash with a very small delay that may as well not even be there. The latter is probably the most important part of his kit, as it's a lengthy stun that can hit multiple foes. It just comes out of nowhere!

To make matters even worse for the opposing side, he also has a? built-in trait that he can execute to deal even more area-of-effect damage, and gain armor -- and it can tricked out to restore health and decrease enemy damage while they're in the radius of it. I've tanked an entire team while using this in tandem with his level one shield stimpack talent and a good healer.

He also benefits from a fun heroic (the aforementioned bunker, where your entire team can hop into a cozy structure with 1200 HP and fire flamethrowers), and a useful on??e (an area-of-effect explosion that has a cool "overheating" animation). Blaze doesn't feel like a wholly unique addition to the MOBA field, which is a problem, but since his kit cycles in and chains off of itself it's fun to get some really crazy combos in.

I think Blizzard is going to tweak a few of his talents and abilities in the coming weeks. If they do, I hope they decide to actually ?keep him tanky, as there's a distinct shortage of solo warriors in the game -- something that's been a problem for too long when it comes to variety in casual play.

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A roundup of Champions

As always, I like to keep up with League of Legends despite the fact that I also p??lay several other MOBAs.

It just consistently delivers when it comes to new characters, even if it becomes increasingly difficult to balance them all. With Zoe's appearance in the Rift, there are now a whopping 139 Champions to choose from.

Here's a look at a few recent additions.

Kayn's lore spills over into the way he works in-game. He's constantly at odds with the duality of a good and evil spirit, and depending on what types of Champions he att??acks (dark for ranged or light for melee), he can power up into a new form and gain one of two passives. Going back to base will initiate the form that "won," and you can swap later on. Think of his trait, and his overall gimmick, like a quest.

Depending on what form he's in, it modifies his abilities. As a rule, his Q is an area-of-effect slice for waveclear, his W is a line skillshot, and his E shadow steps through walls. Kayn's ulti?mate involves jumping into an enemy Champion with a possession event of sorts (even though he has no direct control over them), with a damaging skillshot exit. Kayn sports a massive amount of movement if you include his ult to warp around, which makes him very sneaky.

Kayne is a Jungler, and has a high usage rate right now because he's a lot of fun to play, even if his winrate isn't particularly gr?eat.

I love every?thing about Ornn's aesthetic, including his prim and proper, bellowing vocal presence. He's a blacksmith at heart, which is shown in his kit as he's allowed to craft non-consumables on the battlefield (with a gold cost, of sorts, and from a limited pool) for himself or teammates. That doesn't take up the spot of any ability, it's just built in.

Ornn's skillshot is mixed up a bit by a fissure that appears at the targeted area, and the same goes for his frontal cone W breath, which debuffs an enemy with the brittle effect if the last? flame hits (which increases the effectiveness of immobilizing effects. His massive waveclear charge E gels well with his fluff, especially since he creates a shockwave if it collides against terrain. His ultimate, a charging lava ram (which you target in a huge line and comes into the arena behind your enemies), also causes brittle, which makes him an amazing combo Champion with the right team.

If you're going to play Ornn you'll be heading into the top lane, and he's mostly viable at lower levels. Out of these three he's ??easily my favorite.

Zoe, the Aspect of Twilight, is an over-the-top silly character meant to bring some levity back after a series of ultra-serious Champions. Unlike Jinx though, which I feel strikes that unique League balance, Zoe is meant to be ultra-cute. Although her dialogue ?is a bit generic, I love that she skip??s a celestial rope occasionally when walking -- Riot's fantastic art department strikes again.

Her kit involves a Q skillshot that can be re-positioned after it's been casted, a sleep bubble that doubles as a trap if it misses, a spell-stealing passive, and a portal-jumping blink ultimate that can go through walls. Her passive, which buffs auto-attacks after casting a spell, encourages constantly use of her abilities. It's not as fun as it sounds though because of her high c?ooldowns, and the faint effect of the buffed auto (it's there, just a little muted).

That said, she's entertaining enough to play, and can be rather tricky?, especially with her 11-second cooldown ultimate. She has one of the best escapes in the game without having to resort to any items, so she can poke effectively, dive out, and dive back in with ease.

It's too early to tell where Zoe is going to en??d up so I won't even try to speculate!

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Trying out the two new characters at BlizzCon

Heroes of the Storm getting Overwatch characters is the new normal. Just a year ago the battle cry from the community was that there were "too many Warcraft assassins," and now, folks are pushing back a bit when it comes to the injection of more Overwatch heroes. Just in the past seven months we've gotten Genji, D.Va, Ana, and Junkrat, and now we're getting Hanzo -- on top of Alexstrasza from Warcraft -- which might counterbalance it a bit for some.

I for one love the Overwatch presence in Heroes, so I'm glad this dragon duo is happening.

Right as the opening ceremony closed out I knew I had to get my hands on the latest Heroes of the Storm build, so I rushed to get to work as soon as possible and chose Alexstrasza first (too many WoW memories).

I was immediately drawn into her support/healing playstyle, which revolves around her Q -- an ability that sacrifices 15% of her health to give 150% of that amount to an individual ally. She also sports a fireball skillshot that stacks a burning debuff, and a three-second delayed bloom area-of-effect (?AOE) heal. Now that last one is important. I quickly picked up that due to the fact that you can't Q yourself, you need to be hitting that delayed heal as often as possible to keep yourself topped up, especially if y??ou don't have a double support composition.

It's tough, because you or your allies can be peeled out of the ground area, or people can just plain old walk out of it while it pops. Another thing that's really interesting about Alex is that many of her traits are based around buffing herself at high health. Naturally that's tough to do if you're not hitting your bloom heals. Depending on w?hat you need you can also take a health link heroic (after two seconds, the lowest-health hero that you tether with is brought up to the highest-health hero), or a dragon-based damage heroic, cleansing flame -- where you go off-screen and rain fire down automatically where your mouse cursor is every few seconds.

Wait, dragon form? I forgot the most important part of Alex's kit, her trait! Every 150 seconds she can morph into a dragon, gain a bit of health, swap out her line fireball for a knockback conal breath, and use her other abilities as normal. It's pretty rad without feeling overpowered (so far, at least), and very similar to the "raid boss" mentality of Ragnaros' trait. Her imposing presence and excellent voice acting make her that much more fun to pla??y.

Then there's the other dragon.

Hanzo will find his place in the meta even if he's a lot less exciting than the dragon queen. He's a pure skillshot-based character, with a storm bow charged shot (complete with a quest for hitting every enemy hero at least once), a scatter arrow (which the game encourages you to use to peer/shoot/scout around corners), and the sonic arrow, which is a circular reveal much like the millions of other abilities in the game like flare (this one deals out damage if you hit someone directly though). Oh, and you can't forget his wall-jump trait (which is a lot like Genji's but not really, since he needs to use it to traverse terrain and not out in the open)??, his classic line shot dragon heroic, or his other global arrow her??oic.

He's....fun to play, though like Varian he's not as flashy as his counterpart. His damage seems low unless the stars align and you hit with all of your abilities consistently, and he lacks a dynami?c escape since he can be caught or stunned out in the open. I think due to his skill-based nature he'll have an audience though, and won't fall into the trap of becoming a gimmick character. After all, sonic arrow is a nice bit of utility and he can be slippery enough if he needs to be.

Based on the reactions so far that I've witnessed live at BlizzCon, both during and after the announcement, people are stoked on Alex and less so on Hanzo. And that's fine, because as long as they play well and get some play (thus, adding more variety to my matches), I'm happy. Because even if I'm not particularly invested in a character, the Heroes of the Storm team has a way of getting me to play them.

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He's crazier than his Overwatch iteration

More Overwatch in Heroes of the Storm is just what everyone wanted, right?

Well, it's what I want (I wouldn't mind if every character was in eventually), but a lot of people have pushed back on it. Some of the power creep -- like the power to move and shoot for some of them -- is a concern, as is the over-saturation of a brand new property like Overwatch.

I don't think Jun?krat is going to be earning much ire though. Just pure confu?sion.

Junkrat is the seventh Overwatch character in Heroes of the Storm, and one of the four (from that lot) that doesn't utilize mana.? As a mix of Genji and Zarya of sorts, his Q grenade launcher can be used in charges (which recharge all at once like the former), and the projectiles wil??l continue until they hit something. His W and E operate just like his source material, as mines and bear traps respectively, and his Total Mayhem passive (which drops bombs upon death) is a nice touch.

Here's where it gets interesting. Just like his FPS versi??on, Junkrat can put mines down and use them to explode himself into position. But given the dimensions of how a top-down MOBA operate, he can leap over walls and nail some fairly amazing escapes in the process. Likewise, mines also bounce enemy heroes, leading to all sorts of funny scenarios where you plop them over a wall or into your t??eam's open arms.

His mine is really where his skill ceiling grows. A good Junkrat can place and detonate a mine on a dime, putting either himself or his team into a spot where they can instantly win a teamfight. With his constant output of Q explosions he dishes out a decent amount of hero and siege damage, making ??him a factor in any skirmish, whether it's pursuing squishes with the help of ??a teammate or annoying people by stalling at objectives.

It's tricky as hell, especi?ally when using it in tandem with your bear traps. You really need to have some amazing awareness to be able to detonate a mine ?that's getting vision halfway across the map, and you need to utilize raw skill in angling your mine blasts favorably.

Where Junkrat really gets crazy is his ultimates. Rip Tire, the predicted heroic from Overwatch, is a safe pick. Provided that you let it rip in a good spot without a Valeera or Nova sneaking up on you, it can turn the tide in a teamfight and force people to react to it, or even chase down low-health heroes. No, it's Rocket Ride that's insane, the new addition for Heroes of the Storm.

After channeling for 1.25 seconds (!) Junkrat jumps onto a rocket, and in an Ion Cannon sort of way, explodes on the ground after a 3.5 second delay, which also triggers Total Mayhem. In theory, that's not all that out-there, but the fact that he comes back immediately with an extra 150% mount speed is. At level 20 y?ou can use this ability every 20 seconds, and essentially deny a kill and secure one so long as your aim is true and you're targeting heroes that don't have escapes.

I hesitate to say that he's overpowered, because again, his skill ceiling is high. If you spam Rocket Ride you're going to be forcing your team into a constant 4v5 situation, which any good opposing side will take advantage of. This has been one of the hardest heroes to pin down for me -- I'm not even sure if I like playing as Junkrat consistently because I still have so much to learn. While I typically provide my thoughts on a character after some PTR sessions, I've thought about h??im for a week now and I still can't com??e up with an answer.

Until I ?figure ?it out, I'll be happily and haphazardly blowing stuff up.

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A ranged support

More Overwatch is coming to Heroes of the Storm. Some of you didn't even want one more character, but lo and behold, two are coming on top of a new Volskaya battleground. It's inevitable when the former is so massively zeitgeisty, but I truly think that every Overwatch hero has translated very well into? the MOBA arena.

But it's not just about translating those heroes, the HotS team needs to ensure that they're battling power creep and keep??ing all of the roles in check. "We won't take a year to add more supports into the game," a Blizzard representative told me during a recent interview. Well, if they're an??ything like Ana, that's fine with me.

I was having fun with Ana within 30 seconds of starting my first match with her. You have to constantly use her Q healing skillshot, which refreshes every few seconds, to keep your team up, which forces her into an extremely active role. If you're not constantly using Q, or hitting teammates with it, your healing numbers are?? going to be low, and you're probably going to have a bad time.

Surprisingly she can rack up great damage numbers, mostly due to her "Dose" trait, which applies poison to enemies up to five stacks. Keeping the same enemies dosed is the key to pumping up your numbers, and she can crush just about any other suppo??rt in a direct one-to-one confrontation so long as she can kite them around and fill them with poison. If she gets back into a corner or gets rushed down, she can pop a sleeping dart into them and get back into position. It's glorious.

Her only major weaknesses are getting rushed by multiple enemies (you can only sleep one at a time, it's a skillshot you need to hit, and it can be ?cleansed, or simply cance??led with damage) and self-healing -- since she can't shoot herself with her healing dart, she needs to drop a grenade at her feet to recover health.

A grenade, mind, that doubles as a way to debuff healing from en?emy sources, which is a perfect opportunity to practically negate an incoming healing wave or a huge burst heal, like anything Uther throws out. With a lot of coordination and great aim, you can surgically remove squishy enemy heroes from the game by crippling their healing ca??pabilities, a task that's much easier to do while on voice chat.

As for her heroics, one will probably be the go-to in competitive games (Nano Boost, which buffs a teammate's ability damage and cooldowns, the inverse of Morales' auto-attack buffing Stim Drone), and the other will be used heavily in quickmatch (E??ye of Horus). While Nano is an obvious situational buff, Eye is a much wackier heroic, as it allows Ana to post up in a sniper position and shoot anyone on the entire map.

It's a mechanic that's been used in pretty much every MOBA to date, but it fits the character and is a unique way to acclimate her to the Heroes universe, free from the shackles of a 1:1 Overwatch clone. The other Overwatch characters are similar in that regard, and the end results are so wonderful that I'd even be okay with seeing some of the Heroes heroics end up in the source material.

Long story short, Ana is a success. I hope Blizzard is able to monitor and adjust her accordingly, as it's too early to tell how powerf??ul she is one day in PTR. Personally th??ough I can see getting her to level 20 fairly quickly and working her into my long term rotation.

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I think he'll be relevant for a while

Kel'Thuzad is a massive part of Warcraft's history. Not even including his two featured WoW raids, Kel'Thuzad set Arthas on his path to become the Lich King, and is one of the original Undead heroic units in Warcraft III.

The wait for him to enter Heroes of the Storm's Nexus has been lengthy, but I'm just glad t??he team got him right.

Although I'm frequently at odds with how Blizzard handles balance changes or certain heroes over time (what gives with Chen?), I feel that they absolutely nail new hero releases. Even if they don't fit the fantasy per se they still offer up a fun playstyle to engage with, as was the case with Garrosh and Probius. I'm partial to Kel'Thuzad  because really, you can always use more ma??ges.

There's a lot of inherent skill built around his basic abilities. You need to hit to fuel his baked-in quest for more damage, and nearly all of his powers are either skillshots (his plague area-of-effe??ct even needs to hit a target manually) or delayed actions. Everything needs to be deliberate and chained, but if you can handle that, he'll dish out a massive amount of p??ain.

This need for accuracy is exasperated by the way everything works together, as most of his talents play off one another. Kel'Thuzad ca??n use his chains to pull enemy heroes together (or tie them to structures temporarily), but in solo situations with the right talent, he can create a block of ice that can be used as a chain target -- so even in a one-on-one match chains is a great tool if you build around it.

Even with basic abilities and any given heroic  he's a beast. Shadow Fissure, my favorite heroic, is simply a delayed area-of-effect blast that has a 15 second cooldown -- if you opt for the level 20, you can reset it instantly after a hit (not a kill, a hit). He can also get a cool shade power at 20 or a dash that resets after a kill (much like Genji's E). Kel'Thuzad's design also makes an impact on the battlefield. He has his original voice actor (the same one as Arthas and Uther), comes with a built-in floating mount effect, and feels as imposing as he should. Maybe a little too imposing (his model ??is huge), but im?posing all the same.

Due to his tricky mage sty??le that has the potential for huge burst when enemies are rooted (from his own toolkit and other party members), I think we'll be seeing a decent amount of Kel'Thuzad play. Even with tweaks or nerfs at launch (which I don't necessarily think are coming), he'll have a place in a lot of compositions.

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Heroes of the Storm PTR impressions

Garrosh, another widely requested hero to follow up the perhaps most requested Malthael, has entered the arena in Heroes of the Storm.

Much like his storyline players are already up in arms regarding his abilities and fantasy, but afte?r putting? him to the rest in the public test realm, I'm ready to chalk this up as a win.

Garrosh's core "solo tank" mentality comes from his trait -- for every 2% of missing health he he has, gets one armor (1% of mitigated damage). Right there it's kind of an auto-pilot, a reverse Zul'jin situation if you will. It's a given that he's going to take a beating and keep kicking, and that's before you take any mitigatio??n talents. Oh, he also get's an unstoppable talent at level 4. He's a mountain!

Limited by lower damage, he makes up for it with a good crowd control kit out of the gate. He gets two base abilities (a conal pull, like Cho's heroic, and a flip-cup t?hrow) that can stun or otherwise manipulate enemy positioning, and it gets even sillier if you take the group taunt ultimate. Interrupts are thrown out left and right, which makes a well-placed skillshot all the more satisfying when you're halting an enemy heroic or channel.

Wrecking Ball is very satisfying to hit and skill-based. It auto-targets the closest en??emy (including mobs), and you have to aim its direction, which is tough to get used to on the fly. Think of it like Diablo's flip with a longer range and a sillier animation. Garrosh's talent tree also seems very balanced at the moment, with many viable picks at multiple levels.

There's a debate over whether or not Garrosh's kit feels like it fits the fantasy but I don't really care. The game has another really fun solo tank Warrior, and I'm pretty happy about it. With a few games und??er my belt I'm almost ready to just take the plunge and get him to level 15 (RIP hero skins).

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Spreading your healing virus is addicting

I was pretty heavily into StarCraft in...what...middle school (man), but the universe, not so muc??h -- well, at least as much as other Blizzard games.

There's something about it that didn't really capture me until the final expansion for Starcraft II, but I still followed along all that time so I wasn't completely lost when new faces started interacting with old ones. As a result of that cursory interest, when Stukov's name popped up as a potential character for Heroes of the Storm, I kind of shrugged.

But after act?ually playing him, I'm a little m?ore stoked.

Although he looks as formidable as a Resident Evil boss, Stukov is actually a support character with a heavy emphasis on healing. His healing pathogen (Q) ability operates like an infection, spreading to allies that are close together, including Stukov himself. This conceit right here, that not only feels different from pretty much anything else in Heroes (outside of say, Kael'thas' living bomb, which is offensive in nature), also fundamentally dictates how you play Stukov. Every time you pop his Q it makes you want to ??spread it, especially if you to?ok a quest talent that revolves around it.

You can also detonate it for a burst heal, which factors into his W, a small line skillshot that infects other players, dealing damage and slowing them when you pop it. It's a sort of dance trying to infect your team and everyone on the othe?r side, and knowing when to detonate his trait? is key to dealing and mitigating damage. Having two abilities linked to the same trait is a great idea.

Yet, his E power is my favorite part of his kit, and I think it'll be tuned a bit in the future. For a nominal initial mana fee he can channel an area-of-effect damage ability at a massive range (more if you upgrade it with talents) that also silences enemies inside. Using it at chokepoints or to delay escapes is insane, and although it theoretically does 50% less damage to non-heroic targets, it's still amazing for waveclearing. I like?? taking the additional radius talent and sucking the life out of doub?le minion waves when they stack up. 

His shove? heroic (which will probably be the most popular choice) is pretty amazing too. While his other choice is basically just a worse Falstad Gust (that holds Stukov in place for the duration) where he flails his arms three times for a knockback, his shove is an insane power that can turn the tide of a teamfight.?? In essence he uses a line skillshot to shove an enemy with an unlimited range until they collide with a piece of pathable terrain (like a wall or a building).

When used correctly this thing can secure kills. If anyone is out of position post level 10, just move around them and shove them into your side. It's something you can count??er for sure but incredibly satisfying to pull off, especially in uncoordinated modes like quickmatch. It's also possible to set up with a teammate if they use a root or stun. But because of said ability to dodge and that it leaves Stukov completely opened (stunned basically) for the duration, it feels balanced. 20 seconds is a crazy low cooldown though.

I'm not super into the idea of Stukov or even his character design, but the more I played him the more I was down to keep queuing as him. I can see mys??elf choosing him as a competitive off-support just because of how much utility he brings to the table. In quickmatch games I was healing for over 100,000 with a half healing build, which is a lot more than expected (though he may be bugged at the moment -- this is?? PTR after all).

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