Tomorrow is another Friday, and you know what that means: a developer live stream! Even better, it appears that we’re approaching the next update (so far referred to as 1.5) and with the San Fransisco LAN partiers (FooJee and others) getting to test this hero it seems that he is near release and will be ready for this update, making tomorrow a likely candidate for a hero reveal. So let’s speculate on what this hero could be in the time we have before he’s revealed (#hype!).

We don’t have an actual name or any lore for this hero, so I’ll just call him Wolfie, in honor of a flamboyant werewolf character I once played in an obscure Halloween musical. Anyways, let’s get down to the speculation right now. The first thing we can do is speculate about what he won’t be: he’s definitely not ranged, so he’s not a mage or a sniper; meaning he could be a warrior, a protector, or assassin. So then which of those roles are already saturated?

Well let’s take a look at the break down of percentage of heroes in each role.

So skimpiest melee hero role at the moment is the assassins; we only have two out of fourteen. It seems like there’s a strong chance that Wolfie will be an assassin, and it wouldn’t be too surprising given his physical form. He could easily have that beast like speed, and to this point there seems to be an animal motif among the assassins with all of them being part animal, so he’d easily fit with that.

So let’s assume he is an assassin. What might his kit look like? Well, he looks like he’s some kind of dark, cursed or demented wolf, perhaps he’s a werewolf? So then that would give him some sort of transform ability or perk, which would be the first in the game. This sounds pretty cool, let’s run with it.

Assassin Werewolf Wolfie

With only three ability spaces in the game, I think it’s unlikely that one of them would be consumed by an ability that only transforms you, especially on an assassin who needs those spaces for burst and escape. So then that makes his transform is a heroic perk? Sounding pretty cool so far, perhaps he builds up a unique resource (similar to Ardan’s vengeance; maybe rage?) until he has get his meter filled and then unleashes himself transforming uncontrollably into a large wolf-like beast. When in this mode his abilities are could be different or more focused on burst damage? That’s sounding like an assassin. So then what does he do in his human mode? Maybe his A is focused on escaping and his B is damage dealing and gives a burst of that rage so that he can force a transformation when he’s close to a full meter? Now we’re talking, go in as a human and transform into a wolf by boosting yourself with your B ability, deal a bunch of burst while in berserk-mode. After your hulk-mad time ends gets out with your A. I’m loving this concept; but what should his ultimate be? It could be something that can only be used while you’re a wolf? That’d really make him stand out from the crowd. Plus, then you can have it up every time you go into wolf mode instead of a boring cool down.

So let’s review this concept: You enter the fold as a human; you have two abilities, you’re gap closing or escaping dash. As you attack and use your abilities you gain lots of rage; when your rage is full, you transform into a wolf. When you’re a wolf you have two different/more damaging A & Bs, also your ultimate is available as a wolf. Your ultimate can only be used once per transformation, but it’ll be available every time you go full wolf.

Sounds like a pretty solid assassin.

Keep in mind, everything here is pure speculation. Who knows what we’ll see when they reveal Wolfie? Do you guys agree with my concept, is that what you’re all expecting? Anything big or small you think will be different?

Also, SEMC, if you name him Wolfie, or if his name is already Wolfie, I will die of happiness. Just a heads up.

Finally, you guys can all expect full coverage of the live stream tomorrow here. Expect a live blog and the new remodeled recaps. They should be consistent now through summer!