Blizzard has announced the newest playable character coming soon to Heroes of the Storm: StarCraft's Alexi Stukov, a Terran vice admiral who was killed, reanimated, and infested by the Zerg. In Heroes of the Storm, Stukov is a Support hero that can heal allies and slow and silence enemies.
Stukov's kit is centered around various viruses that can aid teammates and hinder enemies. His Q ability infests an allied hero with a Healing Pathogen that heals over time and can spread to nearby teammates, subsequently healing them as well. Next, his W ability hurls a pustule that impacts all enemies in its path, inflicting each enemy hit with a Weighted Pustule that does a small amount of initial damage. The pustule slows enemies by 5%, increasing to 50% over three seconds, and then deals an additional, larger amount of damage upon expiring or being removed.
These two viruses can further be manipulated by Stukov's trait (D ability), Bio-Kill Switch, which can be activated to detonate all active viruses, healing those with Healing Pathogen for a large amount and dealing damage and a 70% slow to those afflicted by Weighted Pustule.
Stukov's E ability is Lurking Arm, a channeled AOE that silences enemies inside it and deals damage over time. The ability only costs an up-front mana cost, as opposed to draining mana while channeling, and lasts until cancelled or interrupted.
Finally, Stukov has two very cool Heroic abilities. The first, Flailing Swipe, swings his infected arm three times, dealing damage and knocking back enemies who are hit, with each swipe hitting a larger area than the previous. His second ability is called Massive Shove, a skillshot that has the potential to affect the battle significantly. The ability extends Stukov's infected arm—if it hits an enemy Hero, they are rapidly shoved backwards until they collide with terrain and take 200 damage. Massive Shove has no maximum range, meaning that enemies hit have the potential to be pushed across the entire battlefield, assuming the angle is correct.
Stukov will likely be playable on the Heroes of the Storm Public Test Realm in the next week or two.
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