Heroes of the Storm fans are in for a treat with a major content update titled Machines of War on the way. The StarCraft-themed update that was announced earlier today at Gamescom outlines its various features including an in-game event as well as highlighting two new playable heroes, the Tal’darim highlord, Alarak — a towering Protoss melee assassin, along with the surprise addition of Zarya of Overwatch fame.
Zarya will be the second character from Blizzard’s newest title to be featured in Heroes of the Storm after Tracer’s introduction in April. Notably, she has been confirmed to be one of the two warrior class heroes to be ranged — with the first being Rexxar who was released September last year.
Machines of War will also be bringing two Battlegrounds to the player base, Braxis Holdout and Warhead Junction. In Braxis Holdout players will be fighting to hold beacons that when controlled will unload the iconic series staple, the Zerg rush upon the enemy’s base. Whereas on Warhead Junction teams will be posturing to collect nukes which can be used to strike enemy structures.
New skins will also be coming to the Nexus which are available both individually and as a bundle. These include the Queen of Ghosts legendary skin for Kerrigan, Raider-Rexxar and the Butcherlisk which all have new thematic animations. Launch skins for Alarak and Zarya will be Herald of N’zoth and Thunder Guard respectively, and will also be available to purchase upon release. Upcoming mounts the Ghost Speeder and Obsidian Cyberwolf are exclusives to specific bundles, which also provides early access to the upcoming event content.
The Machines of War event will see staggered content releases between September 13th and October 4th which may vary on region.
