Heroes of the Storm returns to life – the first new hero in six years

Blizzard announced at the BlizzCon opening ceremony that Heroes of the Storm will get a new hero, Xal'atath, the Harbinger of the Void. It's the first roster addition since 2020, when Hogger joined the game. The six-year gap marks the longest stretch of its kind in the MOBA genre.

For a game many assumed had been shelved for good, this counts as the first truly substantial update since 2022. After shifting the title into maintenance mode, Blizzard limited itself to light-touch balance passes and bug fixes. The servers never went dark, though, and players kept logging in.

Xal'atath will be familiar to World of Warcraft players from the Legion expansion, where she started as a voice tucked away in Shadow Priest artifact weapons. She later stepped into the spotlight as one of the game key antagonists, and in the current Midnight expansion she serves as the face of the main threat.

Blizzard also confirmed that another new hero will be revealed down the line, without sharing a name or timeline. That suggests this return to active development won't stop at a single addition.

Xal'atath arrives on the public test realm this Monday, with a full release scheduled for Sep. 28.