Dehaka, new battleground, skins coming to ‘Heroes of the Storm’

Fans of one-armed monstrosities unite! Blizzard has just revealed the primal zerg hero, Dehaka, for “Heroes of the Storm.”

Dehaka first appears in “StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm,” where he is a playable hero unit.

Dehaka is from the planet Zerus, where he led a pack of primal zerg. Unlike the other pack leaders, he allied himself with Kerrigan and her Swarm. He and his pack were instrumental in helping Kerrigan achieve victory in the Battle of Korhal, which ended with the death of Arcturus Mengsk.

Dehaka consumes the essence, or genetic information, of living creatures. He does this to survive, which may or may not be a euphemism for “to get high.” It is unclear how he lost his arm, although we’re not ruling out the possibility that it was ripped off by an irate ex-lover.





In “Heroes of the Storm,” he is classified as a Melee Warrior. He retains some of his moves from “Heart of the Swarm.”

His Trait (D) is Essence Collection. He receives 10 Essence for every hero he kills, and 2 for every minion. He can store up to 50 Essence. By consuming Essence, he can regenerate his Health for every stack, for a duration of five seconds. Essence Collection can be cast while he’s using Burrow or Drag.

Dehaka is great with his tongue. His first Basic Ability, Drag (Q), has him whipping at an enemy with his long, slimy organ. This deals minor injury, and pulls the victim towards him for 1.75 seconds.

With Dark Swarm (W), Dehaka moves through his enemies, harming all within his proximity. It lasts for three seconds, and does twice the damage to enemy heroes.

With his Burrow (E) skill, Dehaka digs a hole in the ground and dives in. He enters Stasis in the process, and becomes invincible for two seconds.

His first Heroic Ability, Isolation (R), is all about introducing the enemy to the horrors of loneliness. He lobs a biomass into the air, which silences and harms the first enemy hero it comes into contact with. For three seconds, the hero is slowed down by 30%. For six seconds, said hero’s vision is also greatly diminished, and they won’t be able to see their allied heroes.

His second Heroic Ability is Adaptation (R). 60% of any damage he receives within 5 seconds will instead heal him.

Dehaka can’t use a mount, but pressing Z allows him to use Brushstalker. This lets him tunnel underground, then pop out from any vent or bush on the battlefield, like some kind of giant, nightmarish mole. It’s great for sneak attacks, although players should be mindful of the cooldown, which lasts 40 seconds.

Blizzard has also unveiled the Mecha Dehaka Skin, which turns the primordial zerg into a rad-looking robot.
 

Lost Cavern

In addition to Dehaka, “Heroes of the Storm” will be getting a new battleground called “Lost Cavern.”

Lost Cavern is unique in many ways. It has no map objectives, no starting area heals, and only a single lane. Regeneration Orbs spawn in strategic locations around the battlefield. All this will ensure the fighting will have as few lulls as possible, as players will have more reason to stay in the fight and push forward than to retreat.

Lost Cavern, however, can only be played as a custom game. Battle.net has detailed instructions on how to use this special battleground.


The skinny on skins

But wait, there’s more! Two heroes are also getting new skins.

It seems the motif here is “Japanese badasses.” There’s the ninja-esque Shadowpaw Li Li, and the samurai-inspired Shogun Artanis. Both skins boast themed abilities.

Expect more news about Dehaka, the Lost Cavern, and the new skins in the upcoming weeks! — TJD, GMA News