Warcraft 3’s Mal’Ganis the dreadlord is Heroes of the Storm’s next character

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Twitter teasers look increasingly like a dreadlord is on the way.

Update

Blizzard has confirmed that Mal'Ganis the dreadlord, of Warcraft 3 fame, is coming to Heroes of the Storm, a warrior with disruptive abilities who will likely excel as a solo-laner with strong sustain. In addition to strong abilities and a lot of health steal, Mal'Ganis has some weird, quirky talents, like one that makes him blind. According to Blizzard's announce video, Mal'Ganis will be available 'shortly.'

  • Vampiric Touch is his passive, an ability that drains health on hit from enemies, and drains more from enemy heroes.
  • Fell Claws is a damage dealing ability that lunges forward. It can be triggered three times in a row, stunning on its third hit.
  • Necrotic Embrace is an AoE damage dealer around Mal'Ganis that buffs him with armor.
  • Night Rush is a mobility power that, after a short channel, gives him increased movement speed and sleeps enemy heroes he passes over.
  • Carrion Swarm is his first heroic ability, which turns him into an invulnerable swarm of bats. While he's a swarm of bats, Mal'Ganis' Vampiric Touch heals for 100% of the damage that he deals.
  • Dark Conversion is his second heroic, and is pretty simple (and terrifying). After a short channel, Mal'Ganis swaps his health percentage with an enemy hero.

Original

After a few days of tweeting cryptic gifs, the Heroes of the Storm Twitter account has put out an image of a full-on Warcraft Nathrezim Dreadlord. Yesterday, it tweeted a gif a lot like some people getting destroyed by the dreadlord ability Carrion Swarm, and today, voila: a full body shot of a bat-winged corruption demon. It’s about time for the game to get a new character, so we’re expecting that this big demon is it, and it seems like the demon may well be Mal’Ganis. An exciting prospect if you’ve played Warcraft 3, since Mal’Ganis is so pivotal to that game’s plot.

Why Mal’Ganis? Well, he’s the green one in Warcraft 3, and the dreadlord Blizzard has posted is in green armor. Beyond the obvious color association, Mal’Ganis is one of the most famous dreadlords, since he’s responsible for the corruption of young prince Arthas throughout the Warcraft 3 story campaign, a tragedy that ends with Arthas becoming the Lich King. Finally, Mal’Ganis utters a line a lot like the one that the Heroes of the Storm Twitter account put out alongside Sunday’s tweet:

If not Mal’Ganis, maybe Tichondrius? Varimathras? Balnazzar? I don’t know, there are a lot of these guys. 

Jonathan Bolding
Contributor

Jon Bolding is a games writer and critic with an extensive background in strategy games. When he's not on his PC, he can be found playing every tabletop game under the sun.