A new patch on the test servers brings concrete information about Artanis, the next warrior in Heroes of the Storm. We take a look at his abilities.
Artanis – Hierarch of the Daelaam
From the game data of the next Heroes of the Storm patch, a lot of information about Artanis, the upcoming StarCraft character, has already been gleaned. He is expected to enter the Nexus around the release of Legacy of the Void and is thus the first warrior from Blizzard’s sci-fi universe to venture into the MOBA.
As befits a proper Protoss, many of his abilities are based on teleportation and shield energy, but orbital support is also a must.
- His passive ability Shield Overload grants Artanis a shield whenever he is below 50% of his health and takes further damage. The shield lasts for 5 seconds and has a cooldown of 20 seconds. Successful basic attacks reduce the cooldown by 4 seconds.
- Blade Dash allows Artanis to charge forward, piercing through enemies and dealing minor damage. After a short delay, he charges back to the starting point, dealing triple damage again.
- The Twin Blades enhance the next basic attack, allowing it to strike twice instantly.
- The Phase Prison is thrown at an enemy hero, dealing minor damage and swapping the positions of Artanis and his enemy.
- The first heroic ability is the Purifier Beam. It conjures a persistent laser beam on a selected enemy hero, dealing massive damage over 8 seconds. The laser beam slowly follows the targeted hero. Infinite range.
- The second heroic ability is Suppression Pulse and is significantly more control-heavy. A very large target area deals minor damage, and all affected enemies are blinded for 4 seconds (causing basic attacks to miss). Infinite range.
Overall, Artanis looks like a new, exciting warrior to watch out for. Especially the Phase Prison promises amusing moments when enemy heroes are suddenly trapped behind enemy walls. His talents also promise a lot of fun.
A level 20 talent upgrades the Purifier Beam so that it automatically targets a new hero when the first victim dies from the beam. This gives Artanis – at least in theory – the ability to eliminate an entire enemy team without even being present. Whether the hero plays as great as it currently sounds remains to be seen.
For more information about the game, new heroes, and future plans, you can find it on our Heroes of the Storm topic page.
