Varian’s spotlight showcases multiclass hero

We’ve already seen the trailer showing an epic showdown between Varian and another upcoming hero, Ragnaros, but that didn’t really give any information on how he’ll feel to play in practice. Today, the Heroes of the Storm development team released a video to showcase his play style, and it’s nearly as epic as the cinematic trailer.

Varian is the very first multiclass hero we’ve seen entering the Nexus. He functions as both as Assassin or a Warrior depending on how you choose his talents. He counts as both for the purposes of daily quests, too. This multiclassing is centered mostly on his level ten epic choices. Unlike other Heroes, Varian has three. One lets him be more like a classic Protection Warrior, while the other two are focused on different styles of DPS — burst or auto attack.

Augmenting those choices are the level 13 talents, which serve as a group buff. Banner of Ironforge complements the Protection style nicely by reducing damage taken by his teammates in range, while Banner of Dalaran increases ability damage done by your team, nicely dovetailing into the burst spec.

Varian’s role as a part of a team will likely be linked to counterplay, since he can swap his role after the hero select screen. Whether he’ll be picked in pro play depends largely on his tuning. If he is picked up, I’d guess he’d go early, so teams have the option of either snapping up a clutch soaky Warrior like Muradin or swapping it up to a burst damage Assassin like Thrall. We’ll see after he enters the Nexus.

If you’d like more information about Varian, our own Dan O’Halloran got a chance to play him at BlizzCon.