Warcraft’s Maiev Shadowsong Has Arrived In HEROES OF THE STORM

While it seems that we just welcomed a new Hero, Blaze, to the Nexus, Blizzard decided that two new Heroes are better than one and I couldn’t agree more. Enter Maiev Shadowsong, the newest Warcraft character to Heroes of the Storm.

Players know her as the Warden who chased down Illidan and finally defeated him at the Black Temple. Since then she’s been dispensing justice to those who deserve it. Now she’ll be pitting her unique fighting style against the skilled fighters in the Nexus.

Maiev Shadowsong stood watch over the imprisoned Betrayer for ten thousand years, and hunted him relentlessly after he was released. Some say she’s determined; others say she’s obsessed. Either way, she will stop at nothing to ensure the security of her world.

Maiev becomes the 76^th Hero to join Heroes of the Storm and as an assassin, her strengths will be focused on damaging multiple enemies, dodging attacks, and containing Heroes. She has powerful abilities, but they work best when she is with her fellow Heroes. It is safe to say that you don’t want Maiev going solo, instead keep her with other big hitters and make sure she’s doing her multi-hero damage while keeping those enemy Heroes close.

Her Hero Trait is Vault of the Wardens which allows her to leap up in the air to avoid enemy attacks. For a few seconds, she will be immune to these attacks. With good timing she can bait other players to use up an ability before she lands. Her Primary Abilities include Fan of Knives, Umbral Bind, and Spirit of Vengeance. Fan of Knives is an AOE attack that can strike multiple Heroes at once. If she strikes two Heroes, the cooldown is shortened, which gives her a chance to hit the Heroes again with her Fans. Umbral Bind cleaves and binds an Enemy Hero to her, preventing them from escaping. If they get too far away, the tether pulls them back for some damage. Her last ability is Spirit of Vengeance. This ability shoots out a shadow of Maiev that hits all enemies in it’s path. Once it reaches its destination, the shadow returns to Maiev, causing more damage. This ability also serves a movement ability, much like Sylvanas’ Haunting Wave. Once the shadow goes out, Maiev can active it again to blink to the shadow’s location.

Maiev has two Heroic Abilities to choose from: Containment Disc and Warden’s Cage. Containment Disc can stop and blind a Hero for 4 seconds. Warden’s Cage summons eight wardens that surround Maiev. When a Hero touches one of the Wardens, that Hero is pulled towards Maiev who can do melee damage.

Maiev is available in the PTR so we can assume that she will released very soon. You can see her abilities and talents below as well as her Hero Spotlight and in-game screenshots in the Gallery.

Trait

[D] Vault of the Wardens

Leap into the air, becoming immune to all hostile effects for 0.75 seconds.
Passive: Maiev has 15 Armor.

Basic Abilities

[Q] Fan of Knives

Deal 180 damage to enemies in a crescent area. Hitting at least 2 enemy Heroes with Fan of Knives reduces its cooldown to 0.5 seconds, and refunds its Mana cost.

[W] Umbral Bind

Maiev’s next Basic Attack cleaves and applies a tether to enemy Heroes hit for 2.5 seconds. If a tethered Hero moves too far from Maiev, they are pulled toward her, dealing 110 damage and breaking the tether.

[E] Spirit of Vengeance

Send a shadow of Maiev outward that will return to its cast location, dealing 100 damage to enemies along both paths. Deals 100% more damage to enemy Heroes. Reactivate to Blink to the shadow’s location.

Heroic Abilities

[R1] Containment Disc

Throw a glaive in the target direction. If an enemy Hero is hit, Containment Disc can be reactivated to remove their vision and Time Stop them for 4 seconds. Containment Disc automatically activates 6 seconds after hitting a Hero.

[R2] Warden’s Cage

Summon 8 Warden Avatars as a cage around Maiev. After 1.5 seconds, enemy Heroes that come in contact with an Avatar consume it and are knocked to the center of the cage. Warden Avatars last 7 seconds.

Talents

HERO LEVEL 1

[W] Bonds of Justice

Quest: Each tether applied to a secondary target of Umbral Bind permanently increases Umbral Bind’s pull damage by 15.
Reward: After applying 5 tethers to secondary targets, increase Umbral Bind’s pill damage by 75.
Reward: After applying 10 tethers to secondary targets, increase Umbral’s Bind cleave damage by 30%

[W] Pursuit of Vengeance

Each Hero tethered by Umbral Bind reduces the cooldown of Spirit of vengeance by 1.5 seconds.

[Active] Naisha’s Momento

Activate to make primary Basic Attacks bounce between nearby enemies up to 2 times, dealing 30% more damage to bounce target. Lasts 8 seconds.
Recharge Naisha’s Memento by hitting at least 2 Heroes with a single Fan of Knives.

HERO LEVEL 4

[Q] Pin Down

Quest: Hit 3 enemy Heroes with a single Fan of Knives.
Reward: Increase fan of Knives damage by 15%.
Reward: Each additional time 3 enemy Heroes are hit by a single Fan of Knives, gain an additional 5% damage, or to 30%.
Reward: Hit 4 enemy Heroes with a single fan of Knives to instantly gain all Rewards.

[Q] Blade Dance

Using Fan of Knives deals 54 Physical Damage to enemies around Maiev.

[E] Sudden Vengeance

Using Blink within 0.35 seconds of Spirit of Vengeance hitting an enemy Hero causes the shadow to explode, damaging all nearby enemy Heroes for 5% of their maximum Health.

HERO LEVEL 7

[Q] Elune’s Wrath

Hitting at least 2 Heroes with a single fan of Knives causes the next fan of Knives to drop a star on targets that deals 77 damage when it impacts.

[W] Bonds of Corruption

Enemy Heroes pulled by Umbral Bind have their Physical Armor reduced by 25 for 3 seconds.

[E] Ruthless Spirit

Spirit of Vengeance’s damage is increased by 3% per Minion, Mercenary, or enemy Summon hit, and 24% per enemy Hero hit.

HERO LEVEL 10

[R1] Containment Disc

Throw a glaive in the target direction. If an enemy Hero is hit, Containment Disc can be reactivated to remove their vision and Time Stop them for 4 seconds. Containment Disc automatically activates 6 seconds after hitting a Hero.

[R2] Warden’s Cage

Summon 8 Warden Avatars as a cage around Maiev. After 1.5 seconds, enemy Heroes that come in contact with an Avatar consume it and are knocked to the center of the cage. Warden Avatars last 7 seconds.

HERO LEVEL 13

[Q] Bladed Armor

Each enemy Hero hit by Fan of Knives grants 5 Armor for 5 seconds, up to 20 Armor.

[W] Chain Gang

Tethering at least 2 enemy Heroes with Umbral Bind grants 35 Armor for 4 seconds.

[E] Shadow Armor

Blink grants 25 Armor for 2.5 seconds. Maiev’s Basic Attacks against enemy Heroes refresh this duration.

HERO LEVEL 16

[W] Cruel Chain

Umbral Chain grants 25% Movement Speed for 2.5 seconds. In addition, each time Maiev deals damage to tethered targets, Umbral Bind’s pull damage to all targets is increased by 40%, up to 200%.

[E] Vengeful Knives

For each enemy Hero Spirit of Vengeance hits, Maiev’s next Fan of Knives deals 1% maximum Health as bonus damage to enemy Heroes.

[Passive] Armored Assault

While Maiev has more than 15 Armor of any kind, all Physical Damage dealt is increased by 35%.

HERO LEVEL 20

[Active] Shadow Orb: Vengeance

Activate to reset the cooldown of Spirit of vengeance.
Recharge Shadow Orb by damaging enemy Heroes with Spirit of Vengeance 5 times.

[Active] Shadow Orb: Huntress

Activate to increase Movement Speed and Attack Speed by 40% for 5 seconds.
Recharge Shadow Orb by dealing Physical Damage to enemy Heroes 10 times.

[Active] Shadow Orb: Shadow Strike

Activate to deal 75 damage to an enemy Hero, slowing them by 30% and reducing their Armor by 20 for 4 seconds.
Recharge Shadow Orb by dealing Spell Damage to enemy Heroes 10 times.