Diablo 3's Skeleton King and Monk announced for Heroes of the Storm
New characters lead a focus on Diablo-themed expansions.
Heroes of the Storm's Eternal Conflict expansion, announced recently and due for release on June 30th, represents the start of a series of content updates for the game that are focused on the Diablo universe.
Two new Diablo 3 characters headed to Heroes were discussed at last night's PC Gaming Show: Leoric, the Skeleton King boss who features in the first Act, and the playable melee-orientated Monk class. The loot-spitting Treasure Goblins are also being added in due course, giving players the chance to hunt them down for bonus gold during the early, preparatory stages of the match.
Like every over character in Heroes of the Storm, Leoric gains access to two Heroic Abilities as he levels up in each fight. The first of these is called Entomb, and allows you to throw a walled area at your opponent, trapping them temporarily as you march towards them. This can be useful for finishing off a straggler who's attempting to flee, or if you just want to isolate a priority target for your team to get stuck into.
The second Heroic Ability is called March of the Black King. This sweeping area-of-effect move sends Leoric swooping forward through the battlefield, smashing away at anyone standing in his way - a memorable mechanic from the Diablo 3 boss encounter. Not only does the manoeuvre dish out some pretty tasty damage, it also restores some of Leoric's health at the same time
Perhaps most interesting of all is what happens to Leoric when he falls on the battlefield. Rather than being forced to sit idly back watching a timer, and waiting for their Hero to respawn back at base camp, players who choose Leoric will instead assume a wraith-like form and maintain a presence on the battlefield while the clock ticks down.
Leoric can't deal any damage or attack other Heroes while in this state, but he can befuddle the opponent with crowd-control effects which reduces the duration of the death timer. When the timer finally expires, Leoric will appear slap-bang where his wraith was positioned. All in all, the Hero sounds like a good choice for new players to the game, but will no doubt raise concerns about overpowered characters being introduced to the free to play mix over time.
There were fewer details on the Monk during the presentation. The Hero is still in the early stages of development, but will represent the first of Diablo's support class of characters to be added to the game. With a focus on mobility and agility, the team also want to do something a little different with the Monk, and allow players to choose a Trait at the start of each game. This will allow you to focus the Hero on one of a handful of different team roles.