Diablo's Deckard Cain is coming to Heroes of the Storm

Here's a turn-up for the books: Diablo's Deckard Cain is the next playable character in Blizzard's MOBA Heroes of the Storm.

The creaky old lore nerd is famous for being a recurring character in the Diablo series. Fans are used to seeing The Last Horadrim leaning heavily on his walking stick and casting the occasional helpful spell - he's not much of an action hero.

So it's weird to see Cain running around in Heroes of the Storm, smacking up enemies with his staff, but the way Blizzard has designed the hero - as a support class with good healing, area denial and debuff abilities - makes him work on a battlefield while preserving his character. Conversely, though, he's got weak mobility (as you'd expect of a chap his age) and is pretty much useless when silenced.

There are nice nods to Diablo in Cain's design. He drops healing potions on the floor, and his first heroic ability is named "stay awhile and listen", which is his famous line from Diablo (it sends enemies to sleep). His second heroic ability is the wonderfully named "lorenado", which sees loads of Cain's books come together in a swirling vortex that pushes back opponents.

Heroes of the Storm: Deckard Cain Spotlight

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All in all, it looks like Blizzard's done a good job of making Cain, who most people wouldn't expect in a MOBA, work in Heroes of the Storm. He's due out at some point in April.