Technobubble: Blizzard designer breaks down Heroes of the Storm's Artanis

Technobubble covers games, gadgets, technology and all things geek. Follow Technobubble poobah Jason Hidalgo's shenanigans on Twitter @jasonhidalgo

Do you need a hero?

Are you holding out for a hero till the end of the night?

If he's gotta be strong and he's gotta have an impressive pony tail to boot, then Artanis just might be your man, er, Protoss.

Recently, I shared my initial thoughts about the Hierarch of the Daelaam with my Artanis preview for Heroes of the Storm. Then again, I also thought it would be good to get some insider insight from someone more intimately familiar with the character, so I reached out to Nathan LaMusga, associate technical designer at Blizzard Entertainment and all around nice guy. No, he did not pay me to say that.

Here are LaMusga's thoughts on Artanis and the Blizzard's thinking behind the new character.

What's the design lore behind Artanis and what do you want him to portray on the battlefield?

Artanis is the leader of the Protoss during their darkest hour. He has to set an example for his people, and No. 1 on that list is: Don't give up! He's simply not allowed to give up, even when faced with insurmountable odds. We really wanted to portray that with his trait, which is based on staying in the fight but also because it only activates when below 50% health. When you get an enemy low on health, they will likely cut and run. Not so with Artanis. He needs to stay, and he needs to fight. Because if he does, he has the potential to beat you through sheer attrition.

Why did you decide to pick Artanis as the next character? Did filling in the first warrior spot for a Starcraft character factor at all in how Artanis came about?

As we showed last year at Blizzcon, Artanis plays a major role in in the coming StarCraft II expansion Legacy of the Void, but we recognized that all of our players might not know him that well. Who he is in Heroes is a preview of the indomitable warrior and awe-inspiring leader you'll get to know in Legacy. This is a larger than life hero who deserves to stand right next to some our greatest, most epic characters from any of our games. We've been wanting to get a StarCraft warrior into Heroes for a long time, which ended up making this a perfect match.

Morales has her Medivac. ETC has his Mosh Pit. What do you consider Artanis' signature move or ability and why?

His heroic ability Purifier Beam is perhaps his most epic ability. The Spear of Adun was always a core component of his fantasy. We showed that off at Blizzcon last year and it's amazing. The Spear of Adun is one of the greatest ships in the entire galaxy, and it is fully in his command. I really wanted to showcase what it can do through his Heroic Abilities. Making both Heroics global range was a critical component to that. It really sells how the ship is up there at all times, ready for Artanis's command, and can completely melt an enemy with a single point of his finger.

What differentiates Artanis from other Warriors in the game? What are Artanis' key strengths and weaknesses?

Artanis is different because his survivability is directly tied to his aggression, but also because being aggressive is all he can do most times. He excels at diving into a fight with his Phase Prism ability, but he has no real way to fully disengage from a fight. This was a very intentional design decision. He has a lot of similarities to Sonya in that regard, specifically how she heals from her Whirlwind ability. But Sonya has Leap. Sonya also has the Mystical Spear talent. So she has ways of disengaging. When we approached Artanis we wanted to go all-in with, well, the all-in-Hero philosophy. By doing that, and combining it with his lack of any Movement Speed buffs, it allowed us to really tune up his Trait. I don't care who you're playing — If you go toe to toe Artanis, it is going to be a hard fought battle. But that's okay! You can just run, because he can't chase very well. Few other Heroes can make that claim.

With Artanis' arrival, if I wanted to make a team comprised of just Starcraft characters, how competitive would it be? Any good comp examples?

Artanis as a Warrior, Zeratul as an Assassin, Raynor as an Assassin, Zagara as a Specialist, and Tassadar as a Support would make for a very well-rounded team. We just recently made some changes to Tassadar, specifically, that made him more viable as a sole Support — especially for a high Basic Attack team like the example I gave. As an alternative, you could try Lt. Morales instead of Tassadar or Zeratul. Her Stim Drone heroic works really well with both Raynor and Artanis. We feel comfortable saying these compositions can succeed in quick match, hero league, and team league. Time will reveal how well they will fare in tournament play!

It looks like some folks are struggling with their initial attempts at using Artanis. Any tips for players trying out the character for the first time?

Get a feel for the nuances of his Phase Prism. The range, the speed of the missile, and so on. Landing it will be critical. Figure out how close you need to be to hit an enemy running away from you, versus one standing still. Find places to cast it from that will put your target in a very bad position. Chokepoints, bushes, and so on. Also, don't run! I know it's counter-intuitive, but his trait really sings if you keep attacking. Attack anything you can hit. Don't be picky. Just get into the fight and hit things, anything, and you will stay alive for far longer than anyone anticipates.

One thing that's noticeable about Heroes of the Storm is how quickly the meta evolves. It wasn't that long ago when burst assassins were the name of the game in the West and warrior comps weren't considered viable in competitive play. Then the matches between MVP Black and Tempo Storm happened and warriors that fell out of favor were suddenly competitive. Even now, new comps continue to pop up through experimentation. What are your thoughts on the fluid state of the game's meta? What would you like to see?

Seeing teams experiment with non-traditional team compositions and battling their way to success is awesome. This is supported not only by the new Heroes we release, but also by the unique Battlegrounds that we continue to introduce. We're also pleased by the variety of heroes that are currently seeing high levels of competitive play. Looking forward, we can't wait to get the heroes currently in development into the hands of our players. Our roster still has a lot of room for growth and some of the mechanics we're introducing will really expand what types of compositions are viable.