heroes Kel'thuzad Coming to Heroes of the Storm

[Stan 5,240]

Kel'thuzad, Archlich of Naxxramas was revealed as the next Hero to enter the Nexus.

Check out the latest Gamescom 2017 Hero reveal in our Kel'thuzad preview.

It started with Hero leaks from reddit, where a user wrote that Kel'thuzad would be coming soon and he was right! Blizzard started releasing various Naxxramas teasers that culminated in the Hero reveal. The animated trailer titled "Obey the Call" mentions "Call of Kel'thuzad". If that's the name of a Warcraft Event, we'll get new skins, bundles - and hopefully - a Warcraft-themed map. Kel'thuzad is a Hero from the Warcraft Universe and in Heroes of the Storm, he will be fulfilling the role of an Assassin.

All shall feel the touch of despair as the darkest secrets of the Nexus are revealed... Drawn to the immeasurable power found within the Nexus, Kel’thuzad, Archlich of Naxxramas, has turned several of the noblest Heroes against their allies, and he will not stop until all become minions of the cold dark! (Source)

According to the german fansite Buffed.de, the developers plan to release Kel'thuzad Spotlight this Wednesday (August 23) at 6:00 p.m. CET. Share your thoughts in the comments and don't forget to check the ongoing discussion on reddit.

Kel'thuzad, Archlich of Naxxramas

Kel'Thuzad has faithfully served the Lich King both in life and after death. Reanimated as the Archlich of the Scourge and given domain of the Dread Necropolis, Naxxramas, Kel’Thuzad remains Arthas’s most trusted advisor and master of the cold dark.

Star Lich Kel'thuzad

What the heroes of this pitiful blue marble fail to understand is the Earth's fate cannot be delayed forever. In the end, the stars will fade and die, and in the cold dark... our empire is eternal.

Abilities

In this section you will find Kel'thuzad's abilities. A full list of talents will be added once it is available.

Trait

Master of the Cold Dark

• Quest: Gain 1 Blight every time a Hero is Rooted by Frost Nova or hit by Chains of Kel'thuzad.
• Reward: After gaining 15 Blight, the cooldown of all Basic Abilities is reduced by 2 seconds.
• Reward: After gaining 30 Blight, gain 75% Spell Power. Blight: 0/30

Primary Abilities

Death and Decay [Q]

• After 0.5 seconds, launch an orb that explodes upon hitting an enemy, dealing 150 damage to enemies in the area. The explosion leaves behind a pool of decay that lasts 2 seconds, dealing 70 damage every 0.5 seconds to enemies.

Frost Nova [W]

• Create a nova that explodes after 1 second, dealing 212 damage to enemies inside and Slowing them by 35% for 2.5 seconds. Enemies in the center are Rooted for 1 second.

Chains of Kel'thuzad [E]

• Launch a chain, dealing 97 damage to the first enemy Hero or Structure hit. For 4 seconds after hitting an enemy, Chains can be reactivated to launch to an additional enemy, pulling both enemies together and Stunning them for 0.5 seconds.

Heroic Abilities

Frost Blast [R1]

• Launch a meteor of ice at an enemy Hero. Upon impact, the meteor deals 100 damage to its target and 275 damage to enemies in the area. All enemies hit by Frozen Tomb are Rooted for 1.5 seconds.

Shadow Fissure [R2]

• Create a fissure anywhere on the Battleground that explodes after 1.5 seconds, dealing 440 damage to enemy Heroes in its area.

(Source & thank you to @Laragon for mentioning Kel'thuzad being up on the official website).

Talents

Below are Kel'thuzad's talents that were posted on reddit/r/heroesofthestorm (Source - kuddos to redditor Spazzo965)

Level	Talent	Description
Level 1	The Plaguelands	Increase Death and Decay's Duration by 1 second. After gaining 30 Blight, increase the radius of Death and Decay's pool by 30%.
Level 1	Blighted Frost	Front Nova deals 50% more damage to enemies in the center. After gaining 30 Blight, increase Frost Nova's Root duration by 0.5 seconds.
Level 1	Barbed Chains	Increase Chains of Kel'Thuzad damage by 125%. After gaining 30 Blight, Chains of Kel'Thuzad reduces the armor of pulled Heroes by 15 for 4 seconds
Level 4	Strip Shields	Pulling a Hero with Chains of Kel'Thuzad grants Kel'Thuzad a permanent 246(at 20) shield, stacking up to 2 times. Additionally, Chains of Kel'Thuzad deals up to 442(at 20) bonus damage to Shields.
Level 4	Phylactery of Kel'Thuzad	Quest: Collect 10 Regeneration Globes to charge Kel'Thuzad's Phylactery. REWARD: Kel'Thuzad's Phylactery can be activated while dead to immediately respawn at the Hall of Storms, but must be charged again. PASSIVE: Kel'Thuzad heals for 10% of all Spell Damage dealt while the Phylactery is charged
Level 4	Armor of the Archlich	Activate to gain 50 Physical Armor for 4 seconds, upon activation, nearby enemies take 99(at 20) damage and are slowed 35% for 4 seconds, 25 second cooldown
Level 7	Accelerated Decay	Each time a hero is hit by Death and Decay's pool, they take 20% more periodic damage from Death and Decay for the next 4 seconds, stacking up to 6 times.
Level 7	Glacial Spike	Activate to create a spike that detonates after 4 seconds, dealing 360(at 20) damage to nearby enemies. The spike can be affected by Chains of Kel'Thuzad. 30 second cooldown
Level 7	Chilling Touch	Every 8 seconds, Kel'Thuzad's basic attacks hit nearby enemies. Deals Spell damage instead of Physical, and slows by 30% for 2 seconds.
Level 10	Frost Blast	Launch a meteor of ice at an enemy Hero. Upon impact, the meteor deals 168(at 21) damage to its target and 461(at 21) damage to enemies in the area. All enemies hit by Frost Blast are Rooted for 1.5 seconds. 100 second cooldown, 70 mana cost, radius can be seen here.
Level 10	Shadow Fissure	Create a fissure anywhere on the Battleground that explodes after 1.5 seconds, dealing 738(at 21) damage to enemy Heroes in its area. 50 mana cost, 15 second cooldown.
Level 13	Icy Grasp	Increase Frost Nova slow duration by 1.5 seconds
Level 13	Chains of Ice	After Chains of Kel'Thuzad stun expires, targets are slowed by 70% for 1.25 seconds
Level 13	Chain-Link	Pulling two Heroes with Chains of Kel'Thuzad reduces its cooldown by 4 seconds
Level 16	Arcane Echoes	Hitting Heroes with Death and Decay reduces its cooldown by 1.25 seconds.
Level 16	Hungering Cold	Enemies rooted by Frost Nova take an additional 103(at 22) damage each time they are damaged by Kel'Thuzad during the next 4 seconds.
Level 16	Power of Icecrown	Stunning, Rooting or Slowing a hero grants 6% Spell Power for 10 seconds, stacking up to 5 times.
Level 20	Deathchill	When Frost Blast's Root expires, enemies are Slowed by 40% for 3 seconds. Heroes killed while under the effects of Frost Blast instantly release another Frost Blast Explosion
Level 20	Might of the Scourge	Hitting an enemy hero with Shadow Fissure resets the cooldown
Level 20	Shifting Malice	Activate to Dash Forward, dealing 251(at 21) damage to enemies in the path.. Takedowns reset the Cooldown of Shifting Malice. 240 second cooldown
Level 20	The Damned Return	Activate to create a Shade of Naxxramas that lasts 15 seconds, which mimics Kel'Thuzad's casts of Death and Decay. 15 second cooldown.

Gameplay

MFPallytime got a chance to play Kel'thuzad at this year's Gamescom. Check out his impressions and theorycrafting in the video below.

[MrShark 1]

Are we getting  only kelthuzad as a hero or we gonna get event because it has a specific name "Call of Kelthuzad"

[MrPumpson 4]

I'm thinking it'll be a whole event, complete with a warcraft map.

[Fransoa 25]

Nice animation, although the dialogues are cringy.

NOW Zagara! :)))

[Yridaa 490]

Duh, of course he played well, he's Kel'Thu-freaking-zad.

[Majin 0]

Am I the only one losing my shit at the I'm Jaina, not a dreadlord skin?

[Yridaa 490]

1 hour ago, Majin said:

Am I the only one losing my shit at the I'm Jaina, not a dreadlord skin?

I'm sure a lot of people like the appeal that Blizzard went with a popular "meme", similar to Betrayer Malfurion as mentioned by Valhalen.

 

Blizzard likes to give a "nod" to the playerbase with a lot of both obvious "fanservice" (Such as this Dreadlord Jaina) and slightly (But not much) more subtle ones (Such as the bloodshard vendor on D3 PTR, or the continuation of the "poop" quests in WoW (People click through questtext so often, I'm sure 90% don't even recognize they're gathering poop at least once during each expansion!)

 

Edited August 21, 2017 by Yridaa
Edited because the original post was overly harsh.

[Valhalen 1,484]

It seems Blizzard finally embraced the fan theory "Jaina is a Dreadlord" in the form of that skin.

But of course, people are already losing their shit "Is this canon??", which I say "Fuck no."

Much like the Betrayer Malfurion skin, this is just a representation of Jaina from an alternate universe.

[Laragon 269]

http://us.battle.net/heroes/en/heroes/kelthuzad/#?skin=archlich-of-naxxramas

He's an assassin... Seems pretty accurate to his raid/lore mechanics though.

[Valhalen 1,484]

Just now, Laragon said:

http://us.battle.net/heroes/en/heroes/kelthuzad/#?skin=archlich-of-naxxramas

He's an assassin... Seems pretty accurate to his raid/lore mechanics though.

That Star Lich skin though... While Space Lord Leoric is a reference to Darth Vader, this is clearly a reference to Emperor Palpatine.

[PixieKnight 10]

So who's gonna be the new meme hero, now that Kel'Thuzad is finally confirmed?

[Valhalen 1,484]

Just now, PixieKnight said:

So who's gonna be the new meme hero, now that Kel'Thuzad is finally confirmed?

Deckard Cain.

CAIN LIVES.

[Yridaa 490]

1 minute ago, PixieKnight said:

So who's gonna be the new meme hero, now that Kel'Thuzad is finally confirmed?

Mr Bigglesworth

[Laragon 269]

3 minutes ago, Yridaa said:

Mr Bigglesworth

If there is not a voice line for him, I will quit HotS.

[positiv2 953]

4 minutes ago, PixieKnight said:

So who's gonna be the new meme hero, now that Kel'Thuzad is finally confirmed?

I will stay with Pepperoni Pizza and/or a car from Rock n Roll Racing. But my guess is Deathwing will be the one now. What do you think?

[Yridaa 490]

1 minute ago, positiv2 said:

What do you think?

I'd love to see Yogg-Saron, in a similar playstyle to Abathur. Except it's a lot more disruptive, "it" having complete mastery over illusions and everything.

[ArusVicious 156]

I'm so hyped to try him out. I was really wanting him to come into HoTS! He seems like a hero that punishes teams that stand close to each other. Chains of Kel'thuzad seems like a great combo starter too. He's like Kael'thas and Jaina except more CC and probably more damage when his trait is complete.

Edited August 21, 2017 by Maxkitty

[HenrySteinway 20]

malthael, stukov, garrosh, kel'thuzad.. where're all these pretty girls with flowers and.. rainbows?!

[Valhalen 1,484]

1 minute ago, HenrySteinway said:

malthael, stukov, garrosh, kel'thuzad.. where're all these pretty girls with flowers and.. rainbows?!

Edited August 21, 2017 by Valhalen

[Valhalen 1,484]

Sorry for the double post, but have you guys noticed the Carbot Zergling figurine hanging on Hammer's cockpit at 0:40?

[Stan 5,240]

6 hours ago, Yridaa said:

I'd love to see Yogg-Saron, in a similar playstyle to Abathur. Except it's a lot more disruptive, "it" having complete mastery over illusions and everything.

Yogg-Saron would be interesting.

Sara (direct combat) with deceiving skills like

• Sara's Fervor [Q] - increase damage dealt by 20% and damage taken by 100%.
• Sara's Blessing [W] - heals for a percentage of Health, but also causes damage over time.
• Sara's Anger [E] - inflicts Shadow damage, but increases physical damage (AP?)

Yogg (indirect combat) - various tentacles (channeled) with diferent abilities. They would be stationary and interruptible whenever Yogg's attacked with a Basic Attack or ability. Tentacle abilities (inspired by the raid encounter)

• Diminish Power - weakens enemies standing in an area around the tentacle reducing their damage dealt by 20%.
• Squeeze - grabs enemies stunning them for 0.5 seconds. The tentacle would throw the Hero in a random direction when destroyed.
• Death Ray - causing damage to enemies, lasts until destroyed.

Heroic ability: Fake map pings for the enemy team with a sound file "MADNESS WILL CONSUME YOU!"

[PixieKnight 10]

6 minutes ago, Stan said:

Yogg-Saron would be interesting.

Sara (direct combat) with deceiving skills like

• Sara's Fervor [Q] - increase damage dealt by 20% and damage taken by 100%.
• Sara's Blessing [W] - heals for a percentage of Health, but also causes damage over time.
• Sara's Anger [E] - inflicts Shadow damage, but increases physical damage (AP?)

Yogg (indirect combat) - various tentacles (channeled) with diferent abilities. They would be stationary and interruptable whenever Yogg's attacked with a Basic Attack or ability. Tentacle abilities (inspired by the raid encounter)

• Diminish Power - weakens enemies standing in an area around the tentacle reducing their damage dealt by 20%.
• Squeeze - grabs enemies stunning them for 0.5 seconds. Lasts until destroyed.
• Death Ray - causing damage to enemies, lasts until destroyed.

Heroic ability: Fake map pings for the enemy team with a sound file "MADNESS WILL CONSUME YOU!"

The idea of having enemy map pings sound like the most troll-tastic ability in a Moba since Techies

[Yridaa 490]

38 minutes ago, Stan said:

Yogg-Saron would be interesting.

Sara (direct combat) with deceiving skills like

• Sara's Fervor [Q] - increase damage dealt by 20% and damage taken by 100%.
• Sara's Blessing [W] - heals for a percentage of Health, but also causes damage over time.
• Sara's Anger [E] - inflicts Shadow damage, but increases physical damage (AP?)

Yogg (indirect combat) - various tentacles (channeled) with diferent abilities. They would be stationary and interruptable whenever Yogg's attacked with a Basic Attack or ability. Tentacle abilities (inspired by the raid encounter)

• Diminish Power - weakens enemies standing in an area around the tentacle reducing their damage dealt by 20%.
• Squeeze - grabs enemies stunning them for 0.5 seconds. The tentacle would throw the Hero in a random direction when destroyed.
• Death Ray - causing damage to enemies, lasts until destroyed.

Heroic ability: Fake map pings for the enemy team with a sound file "MADNESS WILL CONSUME YOU!"

Mmm I like it in terms of flavor, but I'd ideally see the Insanity mechanic in the game for Yogg to further emphasize the disruptive effect. I remember (I was a total raid rookie at the time!) being totally amazed suddenly being teleported into a random room with the lich king that you had to escape.

 

I'm not sure how to properly handle the Insanity mechanic or what the consequences would be without making it too strong or weak. It doesn't necessarily have to be a heroic ability (It was something that just trickled in slowly during the raid as well)

 

Perhaps at high Insanity, enemies entering and leaving the fog of war might appear as allies for a second making it harder to track? Perhaps create a fog of war effect? Something a lot more simple like 0.2% chance to miss (basic attack only) per 1 insanity (Might be disfavored because RNG)?

 

Perhaps tie it to your map ping thing, but a well coordinated team could probably communicate over VOIP too well to counter it. Or have map pings by players hit random spots on the map instead of where they want it to be. 

[50m8r4 11]

Oh ok, another wow hero!

NEVER AGAIN SHALL WE GET 5 IN A ROW

[Plaguestorm 43]

Kinda sad A. doesent look like bigglesworth is with him for anythng, was hoping maybe a talent that gives him mr bigglesworth like a lunara wisp, and if killed kelthuzad becomes enraged for abit. (wont be targeted by minions/towers) so people choose to give him a short buff for killing his scout kinda thing, would be interesting

 

No more master skins!? Ever since DVA and Genji, as i am sure they were being made well the old system was still in place

since then, since master skins are no longer earn, we wont be getting any more master skins, and im super sad cause i loved em, they allowed you to see "Hey what if a character was even more epic"

 

That i am not a mega fan of his playstyle... I love kelthuzad, fav charecter in lore i think. But i dont know how i feel about his abilities...