Overwatch’s Genji Makes His Way to Heroes of the Storm
Looks like the next Heroes of the Storm character is, in fact, Genji —Overwatch’s wall-climbing and shuriken hurling cyborg ninja.
Blizzard Entertainment announced that starting today, Genji will be playable as part of Heroes of the Storm’s 2.0 beta.
Genji’s Overwatch abilities are intact and implemented nicely into Heroes of the Storm, including his primary and secondary shuriken throws, blade dash, projectile deflect, and Ultimate ability. In Heroes of the Storm, every hero has two Ultimate abilities to choose from, so like all the other Overwatch heroes that made it to HotS, he is given an entirely new ultimate ability. You can see all his abilities in the video below along with a complete breakdown of all his abilities further below.
Also joining Genji is the Hanamura map, the first Overwatch themed battleground to hit Heroes of the Storm. Like all maps in HotS, Hanamura will have its own set of mercenaries and objectives including “explosive payloads”. Two heroes (Zarya & Auriel) will also be having Hanamura themed skins and Genji himself will have his Oni skin previously unlockable in Overwatch for completing a previous Nexus Challenge.
Genji’s Hero Abilities
TRAIT
Cyber Agility (D) – Activate to jump to a target area.
BASIC ABILITIES
Shuriken (Q) – Throw 3 Shuriken in a spread pattern dealing each damaging the first enemy it hits. Stores up to 3 charges. Shuriken’s cooldown replenishes all charges at the same time.
Deflect (W) – Become Protected for 1.25 seconds. Any damage blocked during this period causes Genji to throw a Kunai toward the nearest enemy, prioritizing Heroes and dealing damage.
Swift Strike (E) – Dash forward, dealing damage to all enemies in a line. Enemy Heroes who die within 2 seconds after being hit by Swift Strike cause the cooldown and Mana cost to be refunded.
HEROIC ABILITIES
Dragonblade (R) Unleash the Dragonblade for 8 seconds. While active, Dragonblade can be reactivated to lunge forward and slash in a huge arc. If any enemy Heroes are killed within 2 seconds after being hit by Dragonblade, Swift Strike’s cooldown is reset.
Alternative: X-Strike (R) Perform 2 perpendicular slashes that deal damage and ignite after 1.25 seconds, dealing additional damage to enemies in their area of effect.
All of this is currently only available in the 2.0 beta but will be officially released as part of the Heroes of the Storm 2.0 official release on the 25th of April.
Dian Raval
