Heroes of the Storm is the big MOBA-style crossover that Blizzard has and adds to. It carries characters from each of their other titles, Overwatch, Diablo, World of Warcraft, the list goes on.It wasn’t until Blizzcon 2018 that they had added in their first ever original character to the hero line up, Orphea. She was met with a great response, and has been welcomed into the cast. Since then, the question on whether or not there would be another new original character. And not before too long, the Heroes of the Storm twitter teased a couple pictures:
This was all leading up to the big reveal of the next Heroes of the Storm original character, and melee assassin, Qhira:
The video goes into her backstory a bit, talking about her home land Iresia, and how the ambitions of her people destroyed the Mother Crystal that powered their city. It then shows off the moves she’ll have with her extendo-blade (whip-blade? It’s very similar to that of Ivy’s blade from Soul Calibur) and other utilities.
She gets a grappling hook that can pull her towards an enemy, or away from an oncoming attack. Her glade can also be used to connect to an enemy and pull whoever is nearby into a single position for some series AOE damage (or combo with another teammate like the D.Va bomb). And she can move a large strike down into the ground that appears to go through several enemies, as well as walls. So watch your feet, as it comes from below.
Qhira is currently playable in the PTR until she will eventually go live.
As for things that will also be going live soon, which is some changes to ranked play. Namely, ranked points will now be connected with a players MMR. Placement matches have also reduced down from 10 to 3, and the removal of both premotion and demotion games has happened. This encourages players to keep playing instead of freezing their account in fear of getting demoted. Team Leaders are now based on MMR as well, and ranked decay changing. Ranked decay will only affect players who are Diamond 5 or higher. The new rank changes will go live on August 6.