Samuro The Blademaster will be the next hero to invade Heroes of the Storm
With Zarya and Alarak doing damage on live servers, it’s time for Blizzard to tease another Heroes of the Storm hero. This time, it’s a melee assassin by the name of Samuro, or “The Blademaster.”
According to Warcraft lore, Samuro is the last remaining Blademaster to don the banner of the Burning Blade. He is seeking revenge for his fallen clan in an effort to restore their honor.
More importantly, Samuro is a tried and true Auto-Attack hero. His kit is centered around his W talent, Critical Strike. When activated, the Blademaster’s next attack within 10 seconds will deal 50% increased damage. This also applies to the two Mirror Images (Q) he can spawn at will. Each mirror image deals 30% of Samuro’s damage and has 50% of his health. They last a full 18 seconds if they aren’t killed. At level 20, Samuro gets a Storm tier talent called “Three Blade Style” in which Mirror Images gain an additional 50% of your health and nearly double the duration, lasting 32 seconds.
While his damage output seems pretty straightforward, what makes Samuro especially deadly is his “Advancing Strike” trait, which increases the Blademaster’s movement speed by 25% for two seconds after every basic attack against enemy heroes. Coupled with “Wind Walk” (E), this makes Samuro one of the most interesting sustained damage dealers in the game. Wind Walk grants Samuro stealth, and increases his movement speed by 25%, allowing him to pass through other units. It should be noted that damage taken during the first second will not break stealth.
The Blademaster’s first Heroic is Bladestorm, where Samuro spins his sword to wildly deal unstoppable AOE damage over four seconds. The second, and probably more viable, is “Illusion Master,” which allows Samuro to swap places with his Mirror Images (which deal an additional 15% damage with this talent), and control them separately or as a group. If these images soak XP you can expect this talent to see a lot of play.
Based on his kit alone, Samuro seems like a strong assassin with gank, siege, and team fight potential. His Heroics don’t seem terribly impactful, though having another Hero in the game that isn’t “ult” dependent is healthy and something the Nexus will hopefully see more of.
Blizzard has not given a firm release date yet for Samuro. Chances are he won’t be playable prior to Blizzcon in November.
Dylan Walker is on Twitter @dyluuxx