The new hero can be skilled in various ways

Jan 20, 2015 13:24 GMT  ·  By

Blizzard emphasizes that the latest addition to the roster of Heroes of the Storm – Thrall – can fulfill different roles on the game's various battlegrounds, as he can build his skills and talents to cater to ranged attacks, close-quarters one, or reduce damage and increase survivability.

Heroes of the Storm got its closed beta stage last week, and besides making quite a lot of changes to the game's mechanics, its existing hero lineup, and bringing a new battleground called Sky Temple, Blizzard also introduced a new character in the form of Thrall.

The character was initially revealed to the world back when Blizzard had another type of multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) project in development, and the Heroes of the Storm version of the famous Warcraft character is quite different from that initial iteration.

Thrall is a versatile hero

According to Blizzard's own in-depth article about Thrall, the team used mostly the same strategy as it did with the previous addition to the roster, Jaina, as the Orc character can fulfill various roles, depending on the situation.

The studio explains that players can opt to fight from a longer range thanks to the Chain Lightning ability, or go close quarters thanks to Feral Spirit or Windfury. Of course, sacrifices can also be made to increase damage output or survivability.

"For Thrall, you'll find builds that synergize the power of Chain Lightning casts, giving Thrall more power from afar to whittle his opponents down, before choosing his all-in moment. There are builds around Windfury and Feral Spirit that are focused towards a more physical nature, for a more ambush-oriented play style," the studio reveals.

"We also focused builds around his Trait that allow him a fair amount of survivability so he can be in the thick of things longer, but gives up some real offensive power to do so."

The studio also wanted to reference Thrall's Warcraft roots and the earth magic employed in Warcraft 3, so he can choose to get Earthquake or Sundering as his heroic ability, both affecting the ground near him.

Blizzard wants to continue releasing versatile heroes, so expect plenty of interesting additions to the multiplayer game in the future.