Heroes of the Storm – Hero Deep Dive | Summary

• Silhouette is important
• Desire to break the rules of the genre

Phases of hero creation

• 1st Phase: Paper Design
• 2nd Phase: Tech Design
• 3rd Phase: AI Playtests
• 4th Phase: Design Playtests
• 5th Phase: Dev Team Playtests

Lunara

• during WC3, there were a lot of details in the concept art that couldn’t be included
• Ranged Assassin
• Skills
  • Z – Passive movement speed bonus of 20%
  • Trait: Nature’s Toxin
    applies a damage over time effect on the target
  • Q – Noxious Blossom
    Casts a pod that applies a AoE Damage
  • W – Crippling Spores
    Slows down enemies affected by her trait
  • E – Wisp
    Sends out a wisp to scout
  • R1 – Thornwood Vine
    Fast moving skillshot with 3 charges
  • R2 – Leaping Strike
    Jump over the target while attacking it, has 2 charges
• Lunara has talents that reduces magic damage

King Genn Greymane

• Greymane is a shape shifter, with a human and worgen form
• during the design there was a challenge to make him recognizable in both forms
• Ranged/Melee Assassin
• Wears down the enemy from afar to then turn into his worgen form to finishes him of
• Skills
  • Q – Gilnean Cocktail/ Razor Swipe
    • Gilnean Cocktail
      Human Greymane hurls a chemical-filled cocktail, dealing minimal damage to first enemy hit and increased damage to all other enemies
    • Razor Swipe
      Wolf Greymane dashes forward a short distance and performs a cleave attack with his claws
  • W – Inner Beast / ???
    • Inner Beast (?)
  • E – Darflight/ Disengage
    • Darkflight
      Human Greyman leaps to his enemy, becoming a wolf and tearing at his enemy with his claws
    • Disengage
      rolls away and shifts back into human form
  • R1 – Marked for the Kill
    Human Greymane fires off a silver bullet toward his opponents; first hero hit becomes vulnerable and takes additional damage
  • R2 – Go for the Throat
    Wolf Greymane leaps a short distance and swipes at them three times, dealing a large amount of damage. If the enemy is killed, Go for the Throat’s cooldown is reset

Cho’gall

• Cho’Gall’s character model is circa Twilight’s Hammer Cult in Cataclysm
• Cho’gall breaks the rules, having two players controlling one hero
• Two heroes in one:
• Cho controll’s hero movement and auto attack
• Cho’s Skills
  • Q – Surging Fist
    Wind up for at least 1 second temporarily slowing yourself, then reactivate to charge in a direction. Enemies in your path are knocked aside and take moderate damage.
  • W – Consuming Blaze
    Ignite nearby enemies, dealing heavy damage over 4 seconds. If this hits an enemy, gain a large amount of health over 4 seconds.
  • E – Rune Bomb
    Roll a bomb dealing heavy damage to enemies in its path. Gall can use Runic Blast to detonate it and deal massive area damage.
  • R1 – Hammer of Twilight
    Passively increases Basic Attack damage by 25%. Activate to swing the Hammer and deal massive damage, push enemies away, and stun for 0.75 seconds.
    
  • R2 – Upheaval
    After 1 second, pull enemies toward you, slowing them by 25% for 3 seconds and dealing moderate damage.
    
• Gall’s Skills
  • Q – Shadow Flame
    Deal heavy damage to enemies in the area.
  • W – Dread Orb
    Throw a bomb that will bounce three times, dealing heavy damage to enemies.
  • E – Runic Blast
    Detonate Cho’s Rune Bomb, dealing massive damage around it.
  • R1 – Twisting Nether
    After 1 second, nearby enemies are slowed by 40% while you channel, up to 5 seconds. Activate to deal massive damage.
  • R2 – Shadow Bolt Volley
    Unleash 20 Shadow Bolts over 4 seconds, each dealing heavy damage to the first target hit. The bolts fire towards your mouse pointer.
• Z: Cho’gall will carry around his mount, instead of riding it

Q&A

• The team will look into more fitting death effects for heroes like Diablo and Artanis fitting their lore
• Blackthorne is in the talks, but no details could be disclosed
• The option of “gender bendered” skins is worked on, but there are technical aspects that need to finished for implementation
• Gul’dan is right now being worked on by Phill Gonzales
• If Cho disconnects, the AI takes over and listens strongly to your pings, but the AI keeps control of