heroes Imperius Spotlight

[Stan 5,240]

Imperius has been revealed on Friday as the next Hero to join the Nexus and he will be available for playtesting for one week. Check out the official spotlight to learn more about his kit.

In the meantime, Blizzard released the official patch notes for the latest content update.

Imperius, Archangel of Valor (Bruiser)

Strengths

• Dueling, Initiation, CC

Weaknesses

• Enemy Peel, Healing Reduction, Low Non-Hero Damage

Abilities

[Trait] Valorous Brand - marks enemy Heroes whenever they are damaged by the Archangel's Basic Abilities. Enemies can be marked up to 3 times for each ability. Imperius' next Basic Attack will deal increased damage for each mark and consume all marks in the process.

[Q] Celestial Charge - works as a tool for initiation. Imperius lunges forward and impales all Heroes after a short delay, stunning them for the duration of his channel. It's also an effective tool for escaping.

 [W] Solarion's Fire - releases a wave of fire that deals damage to all enemies in its path. Heroes hit by the center of the arch are slowed and take increased damage.

[E] Molten Armor - provides him with damage and self-sustain. When cast, Imperius becomes shrouded in flames that lash out at nearby enemies dealing damage and healing him for the damage dealt. It's most effective when his enemies are isolated.

[R1] Angelic Armaments - provides Imperius with extra protection. When cast, he gains a large shield for a few seconds. If the shield's not destroyed in that time, the ability can be recast as a skill shot that will rain angelic weaponry down upon his foes.

[R2] Wrath of the Angiris - after a brief delay, Imperius charges forward, pulls an enemy Hero up into the air, and slams them into the ground at high velocity, stunning them on impact.

Blizzard (Source)

Leader of the Angiris Council and Aspect of Valor, Imperius has valiantly led the armies of the High Heavens to innumerous victories over the demons of the Burning Hells. While his methods are exact and severe, there is no greater defender of righteousness in the entirety of creation. Imperius is now stepping out of the High Heavens and into the Nexus as our 85th Hero!

[Dejo93 1,023]

Is it just the hero release or will there be any other changes?

[mada7 29]

2 minutes ago, Dejo93 said:

Is it just the hero release or will there be any other changes?

There's probably gonna be patch notes for the PTR later today and those will probably have some balance changes

[lChronosl 182]

Kinda disappointed on his design, not to mention that he walks like a peasant instead of floating majestically.

But his kit seems solid and fun. Even if I am a bit worried with this trend of "heroes that are only strong against other heroes". _{My Boy Alarak is no pleased.}

[VinsX 33]

I don't want to be a complainer, but his basic kit feels like an enhanced version of Blaze's, and his trait is a weakened version of Orphea's.

[Kurosu 58]

People asking for Imperius for years ----> got ignored

Blizz announced they abandon the  game ----> announce imperious a few weeks later in a desperate attempt to keep people playing for just a bit longer.

[belgaer 4]

8 minutes ago, VinsX said:

I don't want to be a complainer, but his basic kit feels like an enhanced version of Blaze's, and his trait is a weakened version of Orphea's.

Blaze? He has more common with Sonya kit than blaze, wtf.

[Valhalen 1,484]

22 minutes ago, lChronosl said:

Kinda disappointed on his design, not to mention that he walks like a peasant instead of floating majestically.

But his kit seems solid and fun. Even if I am a bit worried with this trend of "heroes that are only strong against other heroes". _{My Boy Alarak is no pleased.}

I'm not sure what did you expect from his design. It is not like they were going to change how he looked like in Diablo III, which is already a solid one.

And I actually like the way he walks instead of floating like his brethen from the Angiris Council. Fits his hot-headed personality much better.

Now we need Itherael so we can finally make a full Angiris Council composition.

6 minutes ago, Kurosu said:

People asking for Imperius for years ----> got ignored

Blizz announced they abandon the  game ----> announce imperious a few weeks later in a desperate attempt to keep people playing for just a bit longer.

New Heroes are worked on at least 6 months before being announced. It is not like Blizzard made Imperius in a few weeks.

Edited January 2, 2019 by Valhalen

[Kurosu 58]

Just now, Valhalen said:

I'm not sure what did you expect from his design. It is not like they were going to change how he looked like in Diablo III.

I actually like the way he walks instead of floating. Fits his hot-headed personality much better.

New Heroes are worked on at least 6 months before being announced. It is not like Blizzard made Imperius in a few weeks.

Who said anything about making him within the last weeks?

[VinsX 33]

1 minute ago, belgaer said:

Blaze? He has more common with Sonya kit than blaze, wtf.

They both have: A movement skill with stun except Imperius's can pierce; projectile(s) that deal(s) damage and slow(s) except Imperius's has both effects combined; an AoE skill that also provides self-sustain except Imperius's doesn't give armor and Blaze's doesn't have self healing baseline, but still quite similar and there might even be a talent that gains armor for his E. Plus, they both have the same fire and flame theme. So yeah, he's more similar to Blaze than Sonya.

[Arcling 898]

7 minutes ago, VinsX said:

So yeah, he's more similar to Blaze than Sonya.

There are some generic resemblances. He also shares some elements with Cassia and Johanna. Rather funny he can impale people so often, while Cassia has similar effect as heroic.

[Valhalen 1,484]

1 minute ago, Arcling said:

There are some generic resemblances. He also shares some elements with Cassia and Johanna. Rather funny he can impale people so often, while Cassia has similar effect as heroic.

I'd compare Valkyrie with Hook, to be honest, since it is a skill shot that pushes people towards you.

[Valhalen 1,484]

 

[lChronosl 182]

27 minutes ago, Valhalen said:

 

That was fast.

At first glance I can only see a Q build, and seems to be the best one for dueling.

[Sholto 32]

1 hour ago, Kurosu said:

Who said anything about making him within the last weeks?

You did, when you implied that the release of this hero was somehow related to the announcement of discontinuing the support of e-sports for this game (though the game is not abandoned, despite all the Chicken Little BS).  

[CyberDVonaven 82]

2 hours ago, Kurosu said:

People asking for Imperius for years ----> got ignored

No one was ignored...This have a list of heroes over a 100 long at the start of making this game 4 years ago. they making their way down a list in an order that feels right for the time.

2 hours ago, Kurosu said:

Blizz announced they abandon the  game ----> announce imperious a few weeks later in a desperate attempt to keep people playing for just a bit longer.

Blizzard DID NOT 'abandon' the game. It could be argued that Activision did, but that's a good thing in being the most likely case. Since that means that Activision doesn't have their money grubbing dirty hands in there trying to make everything the corporate way they feel it should be. After all it's cause of orders coming down from the Activision side that they did the whole 2.0 revamp and adding loot boxes to the game. And changing the way they sell skins and mounts and such and adding 3 forms of currency in the game. Yeah know, like a mobile game. Which is why Activision cut esports and moved people from other teams to work on 'new games'. Which you can guarantee are mobile games for the most part. Cause corporate thinking in the games industry business side is you have to have a new game every year or you're not doing it right. And also it's not ok to make SOME of the money, you have to make ALL of the money. Or you're not doing it right and should be shutdown. (Which if Blizzard wasn't half of the company I'm sure Activision would shut the studio down like they do every other studio that's not Activision.)

Blizzard side have never had this mentality. And I think we should be thankful with Activision not sitting over the team's shoulder going... 'Hey... whata... whacha doing there? I don't think you're doing that right... here, let me show you how to do that the right way.' Let's be thankful they have left them to do their own thing how they wanna do it. So long as they move some people to do some of those mobile games they want them to make, they get to do things their way again. Which is made apparent to us by the update the devs gave us saying they're likely gonna make it so we can buy skins and mounts individually like it was before the 2.0 update. And even give us the ability to buy some with gold too. Which again, is clearly them about Activision going... 'Thank Gods they finally left... OK! ...Time to get this show back on track again!'

And on the Imperious as a 'desperate attempt'. Like other people have said... yeah, heroes take time to make, like 6 months time. So your logic in this is just stupid. Since as someone else said you're implying they just throw him together in the last couple weeks like 'OH *filtered*! We better make that Imperious and put him out there now that the game is dead without those super important no game will ever survive without it eSports scene!' Right?! Cause that's how video games work, right? No Esports=dead game. Right? I'm sure we can all agree on this clearly common logic making complete and total sense...  ...Right? ...Right?

*rolls eyes*

 

[Valhalen 1,484]

1 hour ago, CyberDVonaven said:

After all it's cause of orders coming down from the Activision side that they did the whole 2.0 revamp and adding loot boxes to the game.

Activision is a cancer that needs to be purged.

[cavitaro 1]

39 minutes ago, Valhalen said:

Activision is a cancer that needs to be purged. 

Apenas um Sith fala com tal convicção. Mas pode ser justamente o caso...

Only a Sith deals with absolutes. But it migh just be the case...

?

[Kuarinofu 78]

Feels like Leona from LoL (at least how she used to be when I played it in 2011).

[lChronosl 182]

You know what would be a cool voice line?

"You call that a poke? THIS is a poke!" - Celestial charges in.

[Sholto 32]

I would just like to point out that whether it was Activision's decision or it was totally internal to Blizzard, cutting e-sports support for Heroes was the right decision.  

F2P isn't done out of charity.  It's not a gift.  These games exist because of micro transactions, and those simply weren't happening for this game (unlike Hearthstone).  The coders and artists and managers that work on this game cost money and a game needs to make more than they cost the company or it's a loser.  Heroes is a loser, on pure economic grounds.  It is not being supported by the players.    This economic fact lead to the most recent cinematic shown at Blizzcon being the product of a lower cost outsource facility because the project could not afford to bill to Blizzard's own internal cinematics team this year.

Even still, the game continues.  New heroes (which have been in the works for months) and patch notes are proof of this.  There is still a core team working on it.  It was not moved to the Classic division.   Nobody lost their job.   But pouring money into trying to make this game viable for e-sports was not good management when those funds could be spent elsewhere on a game that has a supportive playerbase and actual grounds for the whole idea not being good money after bad.

And entitled little boys (mostly) want to talk smack about Blizzards mobile games well, guess what, this is the work of subcontractors because just like Heroes is not in Classic, which means EOL, actual Blizzard coders on the Diablo team are working on Diablo 4.  The sky is not falling.

Edited January 3, 2019 by Sholto

[Arcling 898]

9 hours ago, Sholto said:

It is not being supported by the players.    This economic fact lead to the most recent cinematic shown at Blizzcon being the product of a lower cost outsource facility because the project could not afford to bill to Blizzard's own internal cinematics team this year.

Outsourcing is actually quite common, Overwatch had some skins and animations outsourced to other companies for example. Even Starcraft Remastered had some outside help.

HotS was making money, we don't know how mouch though, but it was below expectations. Also, Activision Blizzard is a holding in charge of financial operations, Activision is it's subsidiary, publisher and developer, so the studio doesn't make such decisions. People like to make Blizzard "innocent", but it's more likely they are making these decisions themselves, hence the heavy and failed push for e-sports, which is common for them nowadays, like everthing they do has to be an e-sport now. They just want every of their games to explode in popularity like Overwatch did, and even that is gradually fading, as it's e-sport isn't as mainstream as they wanted to be.

Imo, their first mistake regarding HotS was their initial monetisation, "2.0" should have happened from the beginning to at least get bigger casual audience, than it ended up having. They probably overestimated popularity of their brands to carry sales alone, while also being late to the genre. It initially turned many people away, when they found out grinding for heroes takes quite long without any additional rewards, things like talent gating, and there were no skins to get for free.

Edited January 3, 2019 by Arcling

[belgaer 4]

19 hours ago, VinsX said:

They both have: A movement skill with stun except Imperius's can pierce; projectile(s) that deal(s) damage and slow(s) except Imperius's has both effects combined; an AoE skill that also provides self-sustain except Imperius's doesn't give armor and Blaze's doesn't have self healing baseline, but still quite similar and there might even be a talent that gains armor for his E. Plus, they both have the same fire and flame theme. So yeah, he's more similar to Blaze than Sonya.

He is not shooting fire as his aa, his E is more similar to Sonya, since they are both healing from their aoe, blaze's W is not doing any dmg, when Sonya's and Imperius do. Looking only at their kit, what does what He is way more similar to Sonya.

[Sholto 32]

6 hours ago, Arcling said:

HotS was making money

HotS was losing money.   How much we don't know.  Stopped reading there.

[Arcling 898]

24 minutes ago, Sholto said:

Stopped reading there.

Not my fault if your attention span is that of a goldfish.

Games are often downsized before they start losing money, as in it's not making what it was expected to. HGC was surely costly and overblown, but it was on e-sport side, and their other games' e-sports might face similar trouble eventually.

Edited January 3, 2019 by Arcling