These three heroes (or should I say 5?) were announced at BlizzCon 2014 and they look fantastic.
In line with the showmanship and spectacle this years BlizzCon has so far embodied to the fulliest, three of the most iconic Blizzard champions have been announced. From the Warcraft series, Thrall excells and dealing with multiple enemies, where as Jaina is a ranged assassin true and true. The Lost Vikings, from the vintage Blizzard title of the same new, fills an extremely flexible role not yet seen in HoTS, as players are able to control all three dwarves seperately.
Thrall is home to some of the most iconic spells in Warcraft history: Chain Lighting, Feral Spirit, and Windfury. Chainlighting is an AoE move that tethers on hit that functions as you would expect it, however Feral Spirit is not the unit summon spell that fans have known in the past. It is more of a direct line of damage that is an AoE spell against minions, and a single target spell vs Heroes. Windfury appears to be the most damage spell, as it quickly allows for three attacks against the current target, which synergizes very well with Thrall's passive ability, Frost Wolf Resistance. This ability grants Thrall immediately healing after every 5th ability used against an enemy Hero. This, combined his multiple ways to clear minion waves seems to hint at a very strong laning hero.
But Thrall shines most in large group fights, thanks to his heroic abilities. Players can choose between "Sundering" or "Earthquake" two huge aoe spells that have the capacity to turn entire team fights. Earthquake drastically slows down all enemies caught in it, and Sundering is a powerful straight line aoe spell that throws enemies in the air. It is pretty clear that when facing Thrall, you do not want form a straight line.
And speaking of straight forward, Jaina wants to kill enemy heroes and she is very good at doing it. Frostbolt is a skillshot that does heavy damage to an enemy hero and slows. Cone of Cold does damage to conal group of enemys and her last ability Blizzard pelts two waves of glacial pain in an circular aoe. What makes all of these spells to devastating is her passive ability, Frost Bite. Frost Bite causes all spells to slow enemies who are hit by them, and while they are slowed, increases the damage Jaina does using spells by %50. If you enjoy Nova's tremendous burst damage capabilities, than you will feel right at home with Jaina.
Her two heroic abilities come in two very different packages. Ring of Frost casts a large well... ring of frost on the ground that causes any enemy inside to freeze and take damage. The aoe is very large, so I expect this heroic to become invaluble when choosing Jaina. Her second heroic is Water Elemental, which allows Jaina the protection of a ranged Water Elemental minion, similar to Nazeebo's Gargantuam heroic abilitiy. The Water elemental seems to do a lot of single target damage and may be the correct choice in early aggressive strategies.
The last new hero is certainly the most unique. The Meepo comparison is easy to make, but only serves to start the conversation on how to best utilize the trio. You start off with three different units: Erik, Baleog and Olaf. Erik is the red viking that has a ranged attack and much faster than normal movement speed. Baleog is the green viking with average movement speed with a more powerful ranged attacked. Olaf is the blue viking who is a noticeablly slower than any his brothers, and carries a large shield he uses for Melee attacks. Olaf is the tankiest, while Erik is the most fragile. To excell at the hero, you must play to their strengths constantly, and their unique talent tree allows a lot of room for innovation.
The vikings start off with no Q W or E moves, but as they level up you are given the choice to choose between various spells that all of them use simultaneously. For instance, one possible Q spell to choose is a Jump move that allows all three vikings to leap over map obstacles. The Vikings also have unit control options mapped to the 1, 2 ,3 and 4 keys. 1-3 selects the individual vikings, and 4 selects all three.
The Lost Vikings have pretty powerful Heroic abilities as well. When near each other the vikings can use Long Boat Raid and instantly hop into a viking capital ship, shooting fireballs automatically and the ability to fire a long range flaming cannonball. The second ability "Try Again!" allows you to instantly revive any and all vikings and place them at the location of a viking alive.
What other heroes do you think Blizzard should include? Do you think more heroes like The Lost Vikings should be included? Let us know in the comment section!
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