Overwatch's Hanzo And Warcraft's Alexstrasza Are Coming Heroes Of The Storm

A pair of new Heroes of the Storm characters have been announced at BlizzCon. Blizzard showed off a new cinematic trailer for the game that brings together one new addition from Overwatch and Warcraft--Hanzo and Alexstrasza.

According to Blizzard's Kaeo Milker, Alexstrasza is a ranged Support who can heal allies and transform into a dragon using her trait, Dragon Queen. Hanzo, meanwhile, is a ranged Assassin who can both take out enemies and serve as a scout.

Also coming to HotS are some other major updates to the way the game itself plays. In addition to voice chat and a refined camera, Blizzard said it plans to provide performance and laning improvements, a rework to how stealth functions, "evolved" mechanics, and more. All of this will be included as part of the 2018 gameplay update, which Blizzard will detail as BlizzCon continues. Milker also noted that we'll see "performance-based matchmaking" that better accounts for your skill level.

There's much more to come from BlizzCon. In addition to the HotS news, we've also learned that StarCraft II is going free-to-play, with players gaining access to a substantial chunk of the game without paying a dime. We'll report back as more news is shared; you can see everything announced in our roundup of the biggest BlizzCon 2017 news.