Blizzard has been teasing something related to its MOBA game, Heroes of the Storm, on the game’s official Twitter for the past two days. This is typical behavior on Blizzard’s part, as they frequently somehow tease the inclusion of new playable heroes coming to the game before making any official announcements. It turns out the reveal of a new hero is indeed what has been hinted at within the past forty-eight hours or so.

The hero in question is none other than Anduin Wrynn, the current King of Stormwind within World of Warcraft. As a direct result of his father Varian’s death at the hands of the Burning Legion, Anduin reluctantly ascended to the throne amid the heated conflict between the Alliance and the Horde. This has directly led to the events within the current WoW expansion, Battle for Azeroth. The fate of the Alliance now rests in the Holy Light-imbued hands of the man whom the Horde mockingly refers to as “the boy-king.”

Anduin believes that “peace must be fought for,” according to one of his voice lines within Heroes of the Storm. As such, Anduin has taken up his late father’s sword, known as Shalamayne, to fight for peace within the Nexus as well as in Azeroth.

In order to hold his own in combat, Anduin will call upon the power of the Holy Light to both protect his allies and smite his foes. Under the game’s updated hero classification system, Anduin is categorized as a “ranged healer.” Allow me to provide you with a brief description of his abilities.

Anduin’s first ability, Flash Heal, allows him to heal himself or a nearby ally for a set amount based on his level after channeling for 0.75 seconds. Secondly, Divine Star sends out a wave of light in a given direction which damages enemies it hits while it travels. The wave of light will then return to Anduin after traveling a certain distance, healing any allies in its path while doing so; healing provided by this ability increases by 25% for each enemy it hit as it traveled.

Thirdly, Chastise serves as Anduin’s only crowd-control ability. Chastise takes the form of a skill shot which slightly damages and temporarily roots the first enemy hero it hits. Finally, as is the case with most heroes in the game, Anduin can choose one of two Heroic abilities.

His first of these abilities is known as Holy Word: Salvation. Using this ability, Anduin channels and creates a barrier of light around himself which lasts for three seconds. Any allies within this barrier are healed for up to 25% of their maximum health and are immune to all damage as long as Anduin’s barrier is active.

Anduin’s second Heroic ability is called Lightbomb. With this ability, Anduin imbues an ally with the Holy Light. After 1.5 seconds, the Light within the target will explode, which damages and stuns any enemies caught in the explosion and grants a shield to Lightbomb’s target. The shield granted to the target absorbs a fixed amount of damage which increases based on how many enemy heroes were hit by Lightbomb’s detonation.

Additionally, Anduin’s trait is another active ability known as Leap of Faith. Once every 80 seconds, Anduin can activate his trait in order to pull an allied hero to his current location. The hero targeted by Leap of Faith is rendered immune to crowd control effects while they travel to Anduin.

Personally, I’m glad Anduin is being introduced to Heroes of the Storm. While he admittedly isn’t the Warcraft character I’d most like to see enter the Nexus (Highlord Tirion Fordring or bust), his addition to the game is most certainly welcome as far as I’m concerned.

I previously theorized that Anduin would be a healer of some description because of his devotion to the Holy Light. For the most part, it seems my theory was correct, though I couldn’t possibly have guessed which abilities might be included in his kit.

Having said that, though, I was hoping there might be a chance that, despite his status as a healer; Anduin might have an ability or two which is primarily used by priests in the Shadow specialization. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not asking for anything like Shadowform which would alter all of his abilities or anything like that. I just think that, for example, if his Flash Heal ability could be turned into, say, Mind Blast if he used it on an enemy hero or something along those lines, that would be quite cool indeed.

Additionally, for you mount collectors out there, the patch which contains Anduin’s official release onto live servers will also include the ability to purchase his horse; Reverence. I’m personally not much of a mount collector, in fact I’ve only got two or three that I think are cool enough to use often.

However, I can easily see myself purchasing Reverence as part of the limited-time bundle that will become available when Anduin officially enters the Nexus. The High King of the Alliance cannot be without his royal steed, after all.

Finally, on a purely sentimental note, I’m glad both Anduin and Varian will be in Heroes of the Storm. I’ve wondered for quite some time what it might be like to see Anduin fighting alongside his departed father. After all, Varian says in a cinematic that was added in WoW: Legion that Anduin has instilled within Varian the idea that “peace is worth fighting for, but to preserve it, you must be willing to fight.”

If you’re interested, you can play as Anduin now on the Heroes of the Storm Public Test Realm (PTR) from now until the week of April 29th.

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