Blizzard Virtual Press Tour: Ana, Junkrat and Volskaya Foundry Map coming to the Nexus

Blizzard Entertainment invited Blizzplanet to the Heroes of the Storm Virtual Press Tour, held on Wed Sept 13. We are grateful to the Community Managers for allowing us to view this content. Other media outlets invited to our virtual presentation session were Destructoid and Red Bull eSports.

I will cover here a few highlights of what Blizzard Entertainment showed us at the virtual press event. The upcoming major content for Heroes of the Storm will take players to the new Battleground map: Assault on Volskaya Foundry; plus two new Heroes: The Overwatch healer, Ana Amari and the defense trap-laying and lob-throwing nightmare Junkrat.

VOLSKAYA FOUNDRY

The Volskaya Foundry is a three-lane battleground map with very unique features compared with past maps. There are conveyor belts in some areas that increase Movement Speed as a moving walkway, which may be used in strategic situations.

The three capture points are similar in function to the Overwatch Quick Play/Competitive Play map mechanics: Escort, Assault, and Control. For example, the Control Point is contested if an enemy enters the point, and once the control progress reaches 99%, if the enemy doesn’t leave the point, the control progress goes into Overtime, until all enemies within the control point are killed or leave the point uncontested.

As a reward for winning a capture point, a giant Volskaya Mech spawns: the Triglav Protector. The first person to click the Triglav Protector becomes the Mech pilot, and the second player to click goes shotgun inside the vehicle, laying siege to enemies with devastating fire power. For the first time, Blizzard has added a mechanic similar to the Dragon Knight with a twist… the Mech is like Cho’gall, where the second player uses special abilities as a passenger while the pilot moves across the battlefield.

Enemy players can use crowd-control abilities like stun or fear to prevent players from entering the Mech vehicle.

The Pilot has an ability that commands the Triglav Protector to charge at a location doing damage to either enemy players or buildings at the charge destination. The second Pilot ability is a crowd-control named Rocket Boost which grabs an enemy Hero; and the third ability, Shield, gives the robot 25 Armor, and AOE shields nearby ally Heroes.

The Gunner (or passenger) has three abilities too. The Q-key triggers an AOE energy blast, the Gatling Cannon shoots projectiles at the target location, doubling damage to enemy heroes, and the Giant Lazer shoots the ground in a straight line, and explodes causing damage to enemies hit.

PACHIMARI MANIA EVENT

Like the past Lunar Festival or Treasure Goblin quest event, the upcoming major content patch will introduce a new quest event: Pachimari mania. When the game starts, Overwatch loot boxes drop to the ground, and your team has until the gates open to find the golden Pachimari.

NEW SKINS

The new skins are rad, featuring Ana Amari’s Shrike skin, Commandant Varian skin (Volskaya agent), and a very peculiar one that makes me wonder if Blizzard is hinting at what the future might hold, or it is just me stretching it: D.va the Destroyer skin. This skin adorns D.va’s Mech with Deathwing motifs, and her Pilot skin resembles Deathwing’s humanoid form as well.

NEW MOUNTS

Two new mounts coming soon to the Nexus: the Invisible Horse Mount and the Celestial Raptor Mount.

NEW BRAWL

Alongside all this plethora of content also comes a new Brawl available for the first week: Bash ‘Em Smash ‘Em Robots. This brawl map is an S-shaped one-lane battleground featuring the Industrial District. Each team starts with a mech which continually spawn as they battle for victory. Download Heroes of the Storm free.

We will be able to post More details very soon. Make sure to follow us on Twitter or Facebook for updates.

Update: In development video shows all the new skins, mounts, emoji, sprays, portraits, and more.

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