The latest patch for Heroes of the Storm's closed beta hits three major beats—a new game mode, the debut of the Banshee Queen Sylvanas Windrunner and Team League play for players that have reached level 40. I can show you two of those.
First off we have a new addition to one of my favorite aspects of Heroes of the Storm, battlegrounds. Rather than relying on a single three-lane map as many multiplayer online battle arena games, Heroes of the Storm features a lovely assortment, each with special mechanics to enhance team play.
For example, in the new Tomb of the Spider Queen battleground, spider minions and enemy heroes drop gems when killed. Players pick up these gems and turn them in at Spider Queen altars—the number of gems being carried appears next to player names, so if you see an enemy with a big number, take them out. Once a set number of gems have been turned in by a team, powerful Webweaver minions are summoned to lay waste to the enemy's defenses.
Of course players could ignore this mechanic and just go about pushing down the lane in order to destroy the enemy base as per usual, but that's not any fun at all.
Speaking of fun...
Sylvanas is an absolute blast to play, and by that I mean players are expecting a power-reducing nerf within the next week.
Her basic attacks stun mercenaries, minions and towers. Talent upgrades can double the duration of the stun, and then make enemies killed by basic attacks explode. Her basic abilities include a powerful volley of arrows with charges refreshed by kills, a dagger strike that does damage over time and spreads to nearby enemies and a cone-based area-of-affect damage spell that also allows her to teleport.
I love her, at least for now. She's a monster in my hands. I can only imagine what she's like in the hands of a more skilled player.
Check out the video below to see Sylvanas in all her pre-tweaked glory, taking on AI enemies in the Tomb of the Spider Queen battlefield.
She's so dreamy.
Check out the official patch notes for more on the Banshee Queen, the Spider Queen, Team League and more.