Another smooth hero release for Blizzard’s Heroes of the Storm team. Blaze’s arrival has me playing with fire and writing this piece reminded me of that one time the internet stopped and listened to an L.A. radio station play Nelly’s classic “Hot in Herre” for over 24 hours straight

I am gettin so hot, I wanna take my clothes off!

This month we welcome a previously unmet figure, Corporal Miles “Blaze” Lewis, who joins Lieutenant Rosa Morales and Bama Kowalski AKA Sergeant Hammer as legendary StarCraft units given life in the Nexus.

Blaze is a Firebat who fights for StarCraft protagonist, Jim Raynor, and his elite forces, Raynor’s Raiders. Along with Hammer the Siege Tank and Lt. Morales the Medic, I look forward to possibly seeing these HotS originals appear in future StarCraft games and lore.

From his preview spotlight video, I expected Blaze to be somewhat weak. I didn’t think anything in his kit looked like a gamechanger and his “Bunker” ultimate, which summons a protective fort with cannons for Blaze and his teammates, seemed like it would be imaginative but gimmicky in practice.

I feared Blaze would be Chen 2.0, a lovable character and once fearsome anti-mage bruiser who has fallen out of the meta for over a year now despite several attempts to rework him; their kits are quite similar in how the player approaches the game in both laning and engaging, perpetually seeking to place a combo.

Fast forward to his release and I can say that my expectations for Blaze were both true and not true after 5 Quick Matches played with him.

Strengths:

Laning — I thought Blaze would have a typical, kinda bland, Warrior level of waveclear, but I was wrong. This fella can hold his own in a lane with anyone. With the new changes to Mercenary damage, Blaze is also able to easily solo camps with a little bit of dancing. (although I must note, you must be cautious or certain that you are alone when doing so as Flame Stream and Oil Spill pass through terrain and can potentially give away Blaze’s position to nearby enemies jungling.)

I was able to flummox a challenging Nazeebo and deny him any push, allowing my minions to chip away at his gate cannons. After an extended lane-phase battle that felt more like a chess match and saw us both hit our healing fountains twice without dying, hearthing, or pinging for help, we were cautiously but frantically AAing minions as we preserved our 10% HP until finally I was able to deliver an unexpected killing blow with Jet Propulsion following a Nazeebo misstep that I’m sure had the player slamming his keyboard in self-rage. This game is flush with moments like that.

It felt great, Blaze feels great in lane. I have yet to encounter a Zagara or Sonya in lane as Blaze but I expect he is capable of potentially winning and at the very least certainly capable of managing a lane against those 2 bullies competently. I thought Oil Spill would be a lackluster ability but it’s not, the damage over time can just about clear a full lane once ignited. He can clear much faster and more safely than Arthas and slightly faster than Johanna.

Health Regen — I’m not sold Blaze can reliably solo tank, but who can these days? Even E.T.C, the Elite Tauren Chieftain feels like he has to be played with the mentality of a squishy dodger occasionally and Garrosh is in a weird place right now as he is seemingly being nudged in the direction of becoming a teammate enabler, rather than opponent disabler. Blaze doesn’t suffer from the health pool problems at all, I felt more fearless running around with him than as Garrosh and with a bit more patience than I usually care to espouse, he can absorb sustained damage.

Blaze is sturdy and the low expectations I had for Oil Spill’s regen capabilities were proven wrong in practice as his beneficial flames always seem to be healing him. He is a bit susceptible to burst but has multiple talents to shield him if need be.

Weaknesses

Engagement

It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, I’d much rather see a solo tank Blaze over a solo tank Sonya or Leoric on my team in ranked mode, but it feels about as risky as rolling the dice on solo tank Artanis. Yea, it can be done, but the lack of hard crowd control might come back to bite you.

Jet Propulsion is almost the dreaded point and click stun, a design element universally hated by MOBA communities, as it nearly always makes for an overpowered character. It is still technically a skill shot gap closer but the arrow’s hitbox is so generous that it feels impossible to miss, it also has the added benefit of being usable as an escape.

In spite of this, Blaze’s short stun feels less devastating than Varian’s gap closing slow. This is a good thing, we want balance like this. Blaze is a bit more tanky than Anub’arak but his crowd control is significantly less devastating than the Spider King’s stuns.

But as for what it means to Blaze, it feels better when Jet Propulsion is used as a gank tool or an escape than it does amidst a chaotic teamfight; I feel like I’m more likely to endanger Blaze than disable an opponent for my teammates to follow up on in many instances.

Fortunately for Blaze, a series of cleverly placed flaming Oil Spills can become overwhelming for the opposition when talented, especially if the Fuel Leak talent is taken at 13 which leaves a trail of oil every time Jet Propulsion is used. The mess adds up!

Teamfight

What concerns me most about is Blaze is that I get the initial sense he is overpowered early but does not scale well in the late game. I don’t really like these sorts of characters, although I’m sure they produce normal winrates, losing with them in the late game is really demoralizing as it makes the player feel helpless. I’m not saying Blaze is a liability at all, but the teamfight is a tad weak. You will notice his lack of damage when he is playing as an offtank as well although his combination of sturdiness and laning ability could prove to be the key to victory in some team compositions.

Additional Thoughts

Pyromania — Activatable armor is always welcome but the damage output and limited area of effect around Blaze makes it feel negligible as an offensive tool. Cassia has a similar activatable trait if she selects the level 7 talent, Surge of Light, but her little centrifugal burst feels more impactful, even though it competes with her ferocious Impale talent on the 7 tier.

Bunker is cool, it proved to be particularly effective against Sgt Hammer; in combination with a Jet Propulsion dive I was able to protect my teammates and force Hammer to start playing according to my movements rather than safely carve up my team with suppressive fire behind her front line.

It did however, struggle against Jaina, a character I was hoping it would counter, and her Ring of Frost combo. Bunker might need a little bit more durability. It feels balanced against some comps but I witnessed it get blown up multiple times as well. It is an excellent point defense tool though when used properly and it’s hilarious to envision an Azmodan or Brightwing frantically operating a flame cannon in a fortified bunker during live warfare conditions.

My intial impression is that it will be the superior ult, Bunker’s short cooldown makes it even easier for Blaze to solo camps as well. Combustion has a very large Area of Effect and can totally screw opponents on the run or in cramped areas such as Haunted Mines, but it is a channeled ability and such abilities endanger the character in a game as fast-paced as HotS and also require masterful positioning and timing in order to earn value from them.

Conclusion

These balanced weaknesses aside, Blaze feels right at home in game and is a welcome addition to the roster. Think a more aggressive Rexxar for people who don’t like playing Micro.