Heroes of the Storm: Alexstrasza, Hanzo and Gameplay Update

Blizzard presented two new characters for Heroes of the Storm, as well as upcoming gameplay changes, including stealth rework, changes to laning phase and camera height. Alexstrasza is already available on the Live Server, while Hanzo will find his way into the Nexus in the next major update.

Alexstrasza, The Life-Binder – Support

Alexstrasza, the queen of dragons, was empowered by the titans to be the guardian of all life on Azeroth. She has aided mortals time and again, even at great personal cost. Now, she soars across the Nexus, protecting life wherever she finds it.

Hero Abilities

Trait
	DRAGONQUEEN After 1.25 seconds, transform into a dragon and gain 500 Health. While Dragonqueen is active, Alexstrasza's Basic Abilities are empowered, her Basic Attacks deal 143 damage and heal allied Heroes for 43 in an arc in front of her, and the duration of incoming Slows, Roots, Blinds, and Stuns is reduced by 50%. Lasts 15 seconds.
Primary abilities
	GIFT OF LIFE Sacrifice 15% of Alexstrasza's current Health, healing an ally for 150% of that amount. Dragonqueen: Breath of Life Cooldown greatly reduced and does not cost Health.
	ABUNDANCE Plant a seed of healing that blooms after 3 seconds, healing nearby allied Heroes for 20% of their maximum Health. Dragonqueen: Preservation Heal area and amount greatly increased.
	FLAME BUFFET Launch a fireball, Burning enemies hit for 75 damage over 5.5 seconds. Hitting enemies that are already Burning deals 125 bonus damage upon impact, Slows them by 40% decaying over 2 seconds, and refunds the Mana cost. Dragonqueen: Wing Buffet Damage and Knockback enemies in an arc.
Heroic abilities
	LIFE-BINDER Bind Alexstrasa's life force with an allied Hero. After 2 seconds, the Hero with a lower percentage of Health is set to the same Health percentage as the other Hero.
	CLEANSING FLAME After 1.25 seconds, take to the sky and drop 5 fireballs over 6 seconds at the position of the mouse cursor. Fireballs deal 150 damage to enemies and heal allied Heroes for 300 Health. 2 seconds after dropping all fireballs, Alexstrasza lands at the position of the mouse cursor.

Hanzo, Master Assassin

Once heir to the Shimada clan's criminal empire, Hanzo abandoned his birthright after he almost killed his younger brother. He now strives to perfect his skills as a warrior, and sees the Nexus and its endless conflict as the ideal training ground.

Hero Abilities

Trait
	NATURAL AGILITY Target unpathable terrain or a Structure to jump to the other side of it.
Primary abilities
	STORM BOW Activate to charge an arrow that deals 270 damage to the first enemy hit. Storm Bow's range increases the longer it is Channeled. Reactivate to fire.
	SCATTER ARROW Fire an arrow that deals 85 to the first enemy Hero hit. Scatter Arrow can collide with terrain and Structures, splitting into 5 arrows that travel extra distance, ricochet up to 4 additional times, and deal 85 damage each to the first enemy hit.
	SONIC ARROW Fire an arrow that grants vision in a large area for 8 seconds. Enemies inside are revealed for 1 second. If Sonic Arrow lands directly on an enemy, it deals 150 damage to them and follows them as they move.
Heroic abilities
	DRAGNSTRIKE After 1.5 seconds, summon a pair of Spirit Dragons which travel forward, dealing 52 damage every 0.25 seconds to enemy Heroes in its area. Enemies in the center take 150% damage.
	DRAGON'S ARROW Fire a missile that travels across the battleground. Explodes upon hitting an enemy Hero, dealing 100 damage to all nearby enemies and Stunning them for 0.5 seconds. After traveling a medium distance, the damage is increased to 200 and the Stun duration to 1.25 seconds. After traveling a long distance, the damage is increased to 350 and the Stun duration to 2 seconds.

Gameplay Update

Blizzard also announced changes and new features for the upcoming 2018 Gameplay Update, which should be available later this months on Test Server. Below are the main changes.

A New Camera Perspective

The in-game field of view was slightly increased to help improve team fight clarity and overall visibility.

Stealth Rework

In order to properly balance Stealth for both casual and high-end play, stealthed Heroes will be easier to spot. This is accompanied by buffs to the Stealth Heroes.

• Stealthed Heroes are much easier to spot
• Keeps and Forts will reveal stealthed Heroes
• To offset these changes to Stealth, we will be buffing Samuro, Nova, Valeera and Zeratul:
  • Samuro: Improving Samuro's ability to fake out opponents; Image Transmission available at baseline on a 25s cooldown
  • Nova: Increasing mobility during Stealth and overall damage with Snipe Master added at baseline
  • Valeera: Openers will teleport Valeera a medium distance after being stealthed for 3 seconds; longer silence and blind duration
  • Zeratul: Adding a new Heroic that rewards high mechanical skill; increasing mobility with Vorpal Blade at baseline

Refining The Early Game

To better showcase individual skill in lane matchups, Blizzard are exploring ways to make the laning phase more meaningful without increasing overall game length.

• Removing Ammunition to encourage aggressive play and require more player agency for winning a lane
• Removing standalone towers and adding True Sight to Forts
• Regen Globes can be collected by either side for a brief period before expiring, allowing players to win lanes harder
• Standardizing first objective timers to 1:30 or 3:00, both with a 30-second warning, depending on Battleground

Mercenary Updates

To create more impactful choices about how, when, and which Mercenary Camps to capture, Blizzard are making changes to various Mercenaries.

• Siege Giant Camps - Heroes can now dodge Neutral Siege Giant attacks at all times
• Knight Camps - The Caster Mercenary in a Knight Camp will now generate an aura that offers increased Armor for units inside its area of effect
• Hellbats - Hellbats will debuff armor when they attack a Hero
• All Other Mercenaries - Will receive balance tuning to ensure they are always meaningful.

Voice Chat

It's about to get easier than ever to coordinate plays with your allies, because the developers are integrating Blizzard Voice directly into the Heroes of the Storm client! Voice chat in Heroes will be available in the months to come.

Performance-Based Matchmaking

Blizzard are further increasing the accuracy of the matchmaking system by taking your individual performance and contributions into account after each match, rather than relying solely on victory or defeat.

All the changes above will be soon available on the Test Sever for an extended period of testing, and the developers are eager to hear your feedback!