In a patch that has just gone live for Heroes of the Storm, new hero Blaze is now playable. Corporal Miles “Blaze” Lewis of StarCraft fame is a ranged tank with a flair for pyromania. “The Firebat is definitely a fan favorite unit from StarCraft with some memorable voice work,” hero designer Jade Martin told PC Gamer last week. “I know our team has been itching to get the Firebat in as well so we could relive some of that nostalgia, it just so happened that we were looking for a StarCraft hero who was also a Warrior and Blaze really fit what we were looking for!”
Each of Blaze’s combat abilities incorporate his affinity for fire. “Blaze is really effective at pushing the fight, his Jet Propulsion makes him potent at engaging the enemy team and when he lights his Oil Spills on fire his sustain can be very hard to deal with,” Martin added. Blaze’s spotlight video below highlights his abilities, and you can check out Blaze’s full hero profile for more details.
The rest of the patch includes adjustments to Nova and Hanzo, tweaks to Mercenary camps, and a reduction in the power of Regeneration Globes. “We overestimated how much more powerful unlimited ammo would be for Structures, and as a result pushing mechanics have become too strong, resulting in lower game times on nearly all maps,” Blizzard wrote in the patch notes. “We’re giving our towers some of their teeth back with this update, which should help teams hold pushes from Mercenary Camps and map events. We’re also making some tuning changes to some of our Mercenary Camps… Hellbats and Knights in particular are pushing harder than we would like, so we’re reducing their power.”
“These are some hefty changes, and it’s likely that there will be more needed to be done over time as things continue to settle,” Blizzard continued. “We’ll be keeping an eye on things, and are prepared to make more updates as they’re needed.” Blizzard’s full patch notes are available for review here.