After a short teaser, that had everyone guessing (Leah and Deckard Cain were the front runners) Blizzard has revealed the next character to enter the Nexus. Malthael will be playable in Heroes of the Storm at… some time in the near future. It’ll definitely be a Tuesday.
Malthael is an Assassin, and in keeping with his Angel of Death status, seems designed to kill the current meta. His trait is central to this; Reaper’s Mark. One of his basic abilities and his basic attacks apply the mark to a target for 4 seconds; each second, they take 2.5% damage (10% of their HP total over 4 seconds).
The mark is important, as the other two basic abilities can’t be used on a target unless they’re afflicted with the mark. Obviously, this guy was made to melt Tanks, and make everyone else’s day absolute hell.
(Q) – Soul Rip – Ruins everyone’s day by healing Malthael with their suffering. Good stuff. Needs enemies to be under the Reaper’s Mark, though. Probably synergizes well with Tormented Souls.
(W) – Wraith Strike – Also requires the Reaper’s Mark. Let’s you close in on an escaping enemy and murder them.
(E) – Death Shroud – Sends a shockwave in a straight line that inflicts Reaper’s Mark on all caught in it. Go to (Q).
(R1) – Tormented Souls – The ultimate party pooper; Reaper’s Marks for everybody in the vicinity. Oh, and 20 armor for Malthael.
(R2) – Last Rites – Lets you destroy what’s left of an enemy’s HP. Or melt a large target in one fell swoop. Its cooldown gets lowered every time you use it. Death comes on swift wings.
If I’m being honest, Tormented Souls builds will likely be the favorite. Being able to regen yourself while also slowly slaughtering a team is almost too good to pass up. Last Rites, however, will easily find a place in a really aggressive build. Carving out the heart of an enemy team is just that hard to pass up.
Especially since you can use it sooner and more often over time. It is, however, obvious that you’re going to want to avoid overextending with him; he has no disengage, which is something a lot of Assassins have. The only other real criticism? Why more Assassins? They make up the bulk of the roster, utterly dwarfing Support and Specialist classes in representation.
Still, he’ll probably be worth the purchase, just for that first week or so of utterly dominating people before he gets nerfed.
~Someday, I’ll be the one with the Horadric Cube, and I’ll be the one laughing!~
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