Blizzard announced today that they will be adding Genji from Overwatch as the newest playable hero in Heroes of the Storm, releasing first in a new update coming out today for the currently-ongoing Heroes of the Storm 2.0 Open Beta.

Genji will play very similarly in Heroes of the Storm as he does in Overwatch, as a quick assassin-type character with high mobility and good damage output.  His abilities are as follows:

TRAIT

Cyber Agility (D)


Activate to jump to target area


BASIC ABILITIES

Shuriken (Q)


Throw 3 Shuriken in a spread pattern dealing each damaging the first enemy it hits.

Stores up to 3 charges. Shuriken’s cooldown replenishes all charges at the same time.

Deflect (W)


Become Protected for 1.25 seconds. Any damage blocked during this period causes Genji to throw a Kunai toward the nearest enemy, prioritizing Heroes and dealing damage.

Swift Strike (E)


Dash forward, dealing damage to all enemies in a line. Enemy Heroes who die within 2 seconds after being hit by Swift Strike cause the cooldown and Mana cost to be refunded.


HEROIC ABILITIES

Dragonblade (R)


Unleash the Dragonblade for 8 seconds. While active, Dragonblade can be reactivated to lunge forward and slash in a huge arc. If any enemy Heroes are killed within 2 seconds after being hit by Dragonblade, Swift Strike’s cooldown is reset.

X-Strike (R)


Perform 2 perpendicular slashes that deal damage and ignite after 1.25 seconds, dealing additional damage to enemies in their area of effect.

Also added in this update is a new playable Heroes of the Storm battleground, Hanamura, based off of Genji’s hometown and the similarly-associated Overwatch map.  Hanamura will bring new gameplay elements the map experience, including new objectives and mercenary camps.

The update also adds new features to the game’s UI and Collections systems, as well as a host of bug fixes and balance changes to the game’s existing heroes.

Genji’s addition to Heroes of the Storm brings the total number of playable Overwatch heroes in HotS to four, as he joins Tracer, Zarya, and Lucio in being ported from Blizzard’s FPS title to its MOBA.