Chromie and balance changes arrive with the hero rotation

It’s Tuesday once again, which means it’s time to talk about this week’s Heroes of the Storm free hero rotation. But before we get to that, this week brings another balance patch with a bunch of hero changes, including tweaks to Brightwing, Chromie, and Zagara, all of whom are on the week’s rotation. If you haven’t picked up Gul’dan yet, this week is a good time to do it because the patch brought him a nice round of buffs — plus his price dropped to 10,000 gold this week.

And perhaps the best news from the patch: the body blocking bug has been fixed, so heroes can’t be (literally) pushed around. While the fix may not make the difference between a win and a loss, it certainly helps. Now let’s get into this week’s rotation plus the team’s thoughts — and a poem!

We’re kicking today off with an all-new poetic effort by Mitch, who hasn’t graced us with his abilities in far too long:

“Give me your thoughts,” said she,
“I’ll take serious or silly!”
And so Mitch wrote,
Of Li Li, one-note,
And Rexxar the bird-throwing half-ogre.

But the list is not over,
There’s still Brightwing, the rover,
Leoric, the skeletal tower,
And Chromie, whose size hides her power.

We’re not done yet,
Azmodan, your lanes should fret,
While Butcher in you will strike fear,
Though you’ll be safe with ETC near.

Lastly, there’s gun-wielder Tychus,
Who won’t wear a tiara,
But loves his ficus,
It’s hard to rhyme with Zagara.

Assassins

Butcher

Chromie (unlocked at player level 12)

Liz: It’s interesting that Chromie’s on the lineup at level 12. New heroes usually hit the rotation with a level 15 restriction because they’re typically higher skill cap.

Tychus

Specialists

Azmodan (unlocked at player level 5)

Zagara

Support

Brightwing (unlocked at player level 7)

Li Li

Liz: If you didn’t already know it, I’ll tell you: Li Li’s the best Support for beginning Heroes players. Her self-targeting heals let you be effective while you’re learning the ropes. In fact, she’s such a basic Heroes staple that she should really just be a freebie for anyone, giving newbies the opportunity to jump into the game without worrying about who’s on rotation this week. But when you do learn the ropes, Brightwing is fun (if only for the emotes), though she got a healing downgrade this week.

Warriors

ETC

Leoric

Rexxar (unlocked at player level 15)

Joe: I have very recently learned that Rexxar is amazing fun. There’s just something about Misha running around while literally on fire eating other heroes that warms the dark spots of my heart.

And that’s this week’s rotation! Who are you going to play this week — and how have the latest rounds of Horoes nerfs and buffs affected them?