Gul’dan joins the Nexus alongside the free hero rotation

We’ve survived another Monday and Tuesday is once again upon us. And, you guessed it, that means another free hero rotation in Heroes of the Storm. But while we have a hum-drum, Raynor-again rotation, the excitement of the week is a huge balance patch that includes some major hero reworks. If you haven’t already, you’ll want to read all about them to see just what’s happened to your favorite heroes before you jump in to play this week.

And then, of course, there’s Gul’dan. This Nexus newbie will make his debut for the standard new hero price of 15,000 gold. If you haven’t had a chance to play him on the PTR, this new ranged Assassin seems to play a lot like a World of Warcraft Warlock. If you aren’t interested in making an investment in a yet unproven hero, delaying a couple of weeks just means you’ll pick him up at a discount.

Now let’s get into this week’s rotation plus the team’s thoughts.

Starting off with Gul’dan…

Mitch: Gul’dan actually feels like a really great addition to the game after Medivh because some of his abilities are pretty similar. His main attack is a small-coned, strong wave attack just like Medivh’s and he can talent into a teleport at level 20. It’s thematically appropriate that he seems like an Assassin version of Medivh.

Anne: With fear. The fear is too powerful.

Mitch: There’s almost no way anyone will take Rain of Destruction, sadly. It’s a really cool spell but it really doesn’t become strong until level 20 and that’s if you spec for it to slow heroes. The biggest change I think it needs? No channeling. The fact that you have to channel the spell is really bad. Rain of Fire in WoW no longer needs channeling, so I totally expected this to be like that. Another strike against RoD is that it isn’t even a guaranteed hit on heroes. The meteors have a decent damage radius, but you could get unlucky and have only one or two hit an enemy over the whole duration.

Anne: Who needs Rain of Destruction when you can just go boo and make peeps scatter, honestly?

Mitch: Anne’s enthusiasm is not misplaced.

Alex: It’s interesting that Gul’dan’s ultimates are total opposites. You can use Fear to scatter your opponents. Or you can use Rain of Destruction if your team is going to keep your opponents rooted/snared in an area. In a world where you could have two Gul’dan’s on your team (and I know you can’t), the Gul’dan using Fear would screw the Gul’dan using Rain of Destruction.

Assassins

Jaina

Alex: With the new balance patch, Jaina is one people will want to try. She’s one of the heroes getting a hefty overhaul.

Mitch: Her Blizzard is getting three waves by default, which was always my no-question talent pick. I can’t remember the exact wording, but they want to make her more of a zoning hero I think? Anyways, she’s getting playstyle tweaks that you’ll want to check out.

Anna: I’m very excited to see where Jaina ends up this week. She has such strong wave clear she may have a place in the new minion-centric meta.

Lunara (Unlocked at player level 7)

Joe: Lunara is pretty awesome. Takes a bit to get used to but once you master her ability flow she is a TON of fun. I also love using her to shut down Tracers, who leap just destroys.

Raynor

Specialists

Nazeebo

Xul (Unlocked at player level 5)

Mitch: Xul is still one of my favorites. There’s just something satisfying about swinging a giant scythe around and summoning undead minions. It helps that he’s strong in his own right. If you haven’t played Specialist all that much, I’d definitely give him a go. He can take a hit and deal the damage and there’s nothing too difficult that needs mastering to still be effective.

Anna: Speaking of minion-centric DPS classes, I’m curious to see where this is going to put Xul. His waveclear is so good, and his risen minions just add to what he brings to the table. Sylvanas and Xul are probably going to be battling out to see who’s top dog.

Support

Lt. Morales (Unlocked at player level 15)

Mitch: It’s a shame Morales is the only support in ages, because she’s not exactly my favorite. If Support is your thing, you might love her, though. She’s often times banned because of how strong a good Morales can be, but for more casual players, she probably will hurt more than help.

Liz: Morales joined the game back in October, so we haven’t seen a new Support in nine months now. But we are getting Auriel in three or four weeks.

Mitch: She appears to have a resurrection ultimate.

Liz: So Mercy the Second. [Ed’s note: we have now segued from actually talking about Heroes of the Storm.]

Joe: Morales has some of the craziest sustain available and pairs well with a ton of heroes. She can be a bit tricky to figure out at first, but the reward is definitely there once you do. She can be one of the most annoying heroes to play against.

Rehgar

Joe: Rehgar is life. Life is Rehgar. Play Rehgar.

Liz: I am shocked, shocked that you would recommend Rehgar this week.

Warriors

Chen (Unlocked at player level 12)

Mitch: Chen is… well, he’s different. Fittingly for a panda who drinks beer and does kung-fu, but definitely not in a way that everyone will like. To me, you either love him or hate him.

Alex: I love Chen, but I don’t know why I love Chen.  Playing him is annoying. But in a fun way. But annoying things aren’t supposed to be fun, so???

Mitch: I think Alex just described it in the best way possible.

Diablo

Mitch: Diablo is pretty simple in terms of abilities. He’s going to be your tankiest hero this week, but also one of your slowest. Outside of that, he’s great at displacing heroes.

Muradin

Joe: Muradin has a ton of disrupt and is one of my favorite tanks. There’s just something insanely fun about launching yourself into a team fight or over the wall into a boss for that last minute steal.

Liz: Though Dwarf Toss no longer gives him Unstoppable. We’ll see how that one plays out this week.

Mitch: It will mostly be something competitive players will notice. Muradin is pretty much the go-to Warrior for newer players, as he’s got a fairly straightforward kit but still plenty of power.

And that’s this week’s rotation! Are you going to be picking up Gul’dan when he goes live, or waiting for the price to drop? Or, perhaps, waiting to finally pick up a new Support when Auriel arrives next month? Let us know what you think about the latest hero in the comments!