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General10 years ago

Did Blizzard already hint at the Monk's abilities in his reveal trailer?

Below is the trailer in question. In it, we first learn about Eternal Conflict as a greater expansion and see some cool Johanna V.S King Leoric action.

The Monk comes in at around 45 seconds and it's an awesome entrance. If you haven't played Diablo 3 or a Monk for that matter, you may be surprised at one seemingly peaceful looking guy dish out so much ass-kicking, but I assure you, that's how Monks roll.

And in this particular Monk's battle with the Butcher, he appears to use several iconic abilities from Diablo 3. Fans of the series immediately recognize the flurry of punches as "Way of a Hundred Fist" and the series of teleporting flying kicks as "Seven Sided Strike". When The Butcher attacks, we can even see The Monk uses "Serenity" to protect him self.

Here are some tool tips you might expect to read once the Monk goes live.
 

  • Way of the Hundred Fists: Unleash a rapid series of punches that strike enemies generates spirit
  • Seven-Sided Strike: Dash rapidly between nearby enemies dealing damage over 7 strikes. Consumes spirit.
  • Serenity: The Monk is enveloped in a protective shield that absorbs all incoming damage


Will these three abilities make it into The Monk's Heroes of the Storm incarnation? Maybe. It doesn't seem likely that Blizzard would create a cinematic featuring a hero using spells and abilities that aren't present in the game, especially when a big part of the action is centered directly on said hero.

Seven-sided strike in Diablo 3

Letting our speculation run rampant, we can guess based previous Diablo 3 heroes that The Monk might also operate on a different resource system, similar to Sonya's rage. In Diablo 3, Monk's use Spirit and have certain abilities that generate spirit, and others that drain it. We already know that the Monk will feature a unique trait that allows players at level 1 to choose a support path or a damage dealer path, and if that is the case, here are some other extremely likely abilities you can expect.

Damage Monk's will most likely have access to the ability Exploding Palm (or some talent that replicates it's affect). This spell is a Diablo 3 staple and seems like a natural fit into Heroes of the storm:
 

  • Exploding Palm: Cause an enemy to Bleed over time, If the enemy dies while bleeding, it explodes and deals damage to all nearby enemies.


We might also see these two offensive Mantras or, again, some talent that replicates it's affect.
 

  • Mantra of Retribution
    • Passive: The Monk and their allies deal damage to attackers getting hit.
    • Active: Increase the amount of damage dealt 
       
  • Mantra of Conviction
    • Passive: Enemies near the Monk take increased damage.
    • Active: Damage bonus is increased for a short period of time.


Support Monk's will most likely do their supporting on the back of Mantras. What are these Mantras? Think of them like auras that come with activated abilities. The most fitting way The Monk might support allies is with "Mantra of Healing" and "Mantra of Salvation":
 

  • Mantra of Salvation
    • Passive: The Monk and his allies gain increased defenses
    • Active:The Monk and nearby allies gain additional increased defenses
      ?
  • Mantra of Healing
    • Passive: The Monk and their allies gain increased Life regeneration.
    • Active:Shroud the Monk and their allies with a mystical shield that absorbs damage


This is all speculation, but I would be pretty surprised if most of the mechanics from this list aren't implemented in the yet to be named Monk. For now, all we can do is flip-flop on which new hero we want to blow all of our gold on. I'm currently on that King Leoric hype train, but maybe once the Monks full talents are revealed I might change my mind.





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