Unlabelled Heroes of the Storm - Hero Discussion: Cassia

5/12/2018 11:58:00 am
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Heroes of the Storm - Hero Discussion: Cassia

Hero Discussion: Cassia

Posted: 11 May 2018 02:34 AM PDT

Welcome to Foe Fridays, where we feature a hero discussion about popular assassins every Friday.

Cassia Amazon Warmatron

HotS Birthday & Cost (Link): April 4, 2017 & 750 Gems / 10000 Gold

Cassia Wiki Entries Wikia (Link) Gamepedia (Link) Liquipedia (Link)

Balance History (Link)

List of Pro Builds (Link)

Hero Spotlight (Link)

Grandmaster HL match w/Grubby (Link)

Road to Grandmaster HL match w/Nubkeks (Link)

Cassia is currently a tier three assassin since the HGC 2018 Western and Eastern clash (Link). In HGC Phase 2 (Link), Cassia has a 9% Popularity and a 44% win rate. Cassia's popularity on the HotS ladder based on Heroes.report (Link) and HotsLogs (Link) is around 8% with a win rate of about 52% over the past seven days.

  • Cassia is classified as medium difficulty to play, do you agree?
  • What strengths and weaknesses do you think pros consider when choosing Cassia in HGC 2018 matches, and do those considerations apply to ranked and unranked matches?
  • When do you prioritizing drafting Cassia and on what maps?
  • What heroes do you draft to counter a Cassia pick?
  • Are there any particular hero synergies to complement a Cassia pick?
  • Is Cassia an early, mid or late-game hero, and where are the significant power spikes"
  • Is there a particular build you would recommend to someone wanting to learn the basics of Cassia?
  • Is there a high skill cap build you favor to optimize Cassia's performance and create flashy plays?
  • Do you have any tips or tricks for positioning Cassia in team fights and on rotations?
  • Which of Cassia's heroics do you favor?
  • Do you think Cassia is balanced; if not, what abilities or talents should be reworked?

Previous Hero Discussions (Link)
The sidebar for /r/Heroesofthestorm/ is updated to include the Hero Discussions wiki.

Please Upload Your Replays to HotsAPI.net & HotsLogs.com
Uploading your replays to these sites provides better data for the HotS community to analyze and learn from. Stats of the Storm (Link) is a utility that works for both PC and Mac that allows you to view replay stats locally on your computer and automate uploading replays to both HotsAPI and HotsLogs.

submitted by /u/LDAP
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Lunara Rework Spotlight

Posted: 11 May 2018 09:59 AM PDT

Ranked Play Enhancements Coming with 2018 Season 3

Posted: 11 May 2018 11:13 AM PDT

Cho Gall - Can we add an audio cue when either player takes the trait?

Posted: 11 May 2018 09:30 AM PDT

The same way Fenix has a "ding" play for his lvl 1 talent. I played a lot of CG this week and more than half the communication I have with Gall is telling him to take back the D. (hehe)

submitted by /u/Cromodileadeuxtetes
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Heroes of the Storm: Can We Win Now?

Posted: 11 May 2018 09:38 AM PDT

Friendly Reminder: Blizzard, new videos are great, but they need to be in-game.

Posted: 11 May 2018 02:44 AM PDT

It's great that you started to educate your player base, but I am afraid that people that actively browse reddit/youtube/hots website already are looking for the guides and educate themselves from the streamers, youtubers.

But players that don't spend any extra time to educate themselves (for any reason they have) won't find your video.

I would suggest to add "encyclopedia" in game and include it in the map loading screen and it's important for it to remember the page you previously read to show on next loading.

EDIT: Quickly drawn small example https://imgur.com/tA3J3qJ

submitted by /u/maximuslight
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Auriel E randomly doesn't stun, this has to be fixed already

Posted: 11 May 2018 04:21 PM PDT

A quick positive thing I noticed about the recent rework spotlights

Posted: 11 May 2018 11:07 AM PDT

In both Diablo and Lunara's rework videos, the desire to keep their old talent builds intact was explicitly mentioned, something I haven't seen enough of in previous reworks. A lot of people in the past have felt burned when a rework radically altered one of their favorite characters (myself included, with Zul'jin) and if this represents a change in Blizz's rework philosophy, it's a change I wholeheartedly embrace. Bundled with the massive balance patch earlier this week, I'm feeling pretty optimistic about HotS going forward--for the immediate future, at least.

submitted by /u/sensitiveluigi
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New Hero Spotlight Video Uploaded on Official HotS Youtube Channel

Posted: 11 May 2018 07:04 AM PDT

Stim Drone should play a Morales voice line that encourages the target to go in

Posted: 11 May 2018 08:38 AM PDT

I suspect some players run away when hit by Stim Drone because they confuse the screen effect for an enemy spell or the "almost dead" screen effect and instinctively flee.

submitted by /u/bonch
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Make Hero Spotlights available to view in game.

Posted: 11 May 2018 06:17 AM PDT

The videos could be available in a similar fashion to the ones that show on the main menu for new hero releases now. However, each individual heroes spotlight could be placed under the heroes' respective pages under the collection tab. I feel as though having these videos appear in-game, whilst not ripping the player out of the experience of the game, would be a great addition.

Quick Thread for a Quick Idea

Edit: Since most people seem to think this Idea would not work. How about having videos showing the application of abilities that heroes can use?

For instance:

Say I look at Fenix in the collections page and I hover over his Q ability, have a mini video or somthing show the application of the ability. Doesnt need sound or anything, just show the ability in use.

submitted by /u/madmonkey889
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Fnatic SmX’s Recipe for Cold Brew

Posted: 11 May 2018 10:05 AM PDT

Thanks to HotS Development team

Posted: 11 May 2018 04:19 PM PDT

Just wanted to say THANK YOU. I know this community has been a bit rough on them lately as it had seemed that things were a bit stale with HotS recently. But now we know why they been quiet.

A huge patch with mostly welcome and needed changes to alot of heroes, and a couple reworks incoming that really look promising. And incoming changes to ranked play as well. I'm really looking forward to this and as well as seeing 3rd ban in HGC. I think it will help bring some life to competitive again.

I only wish HotS had a little more advertising to bring up the player base some and I would have made the megabundle they did on 2.0 release permanent for any new accounts starting to welcome and encourage new players to join.

Again doing a great job though. See you in the Nexus.

submitted by /u/HyperionsRevenge
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Make wall indicators an OPTION

Posted: 11 May 2018 09:27 AM PDT

I've dashed into the corner of a wall that I couldn't see with Tracer way too many times. I'm sure there are many other cases where being able to see the exact boundaries would be helpful. PLEASE make the wall indicators Hanzo and now Diablo are going to be able to see an option for EVERYONE. Maybe in the video options or game play options.

submitted by /u/Ratatat_Drugs
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HGC INTERCONTINENTAL CLASH: SURVIVAL GUIDE Tomorrow Saturday 12May!!

Posted: 11 May 2018 12:11 PM PDT

HotS Gets a Nod in Esports Watch Twitch April Report

Posted: 11 May 2018 06:13 PM PDT

Lore of Sylvanas Windrunner — Character Lore

Posted: 11 May 2018 12:12 PM PDT

Hello, all!

So it's been a long while since my last hero lore thread. I do apologize for taking such a long hiatus without warning, but there were various things that prevented me from posting anything the last few weeks.

Anyway, to get back into the swing of things, I figured I would cover another major character: Sylvanas! Certainly one of the most divisive characters in the entire Warcraft franchise, not just to fans of the series but to the inhabitants of Azeroth as well.

As you might expect, this thread is a very, very long read. There is a lot of lore to talk about, and I do want to go somewhat in-depth in these threads. I can provide a TL;DR version in the comments if people request it. You probably know the drill by now, but this also means I'll be making a separate thread on Sunday to cover Sylvanas' HotS quotes/skins/etc. rather than trying to cram them into this thread.

As usual, all previous Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diablo lore threads can be found in this handy spreadsheet. Anyway, let's get started.

The Bright Lady

Sylvanas Windrunner was born in Quel'Thalas, the golden kingdom of the quel'dorei (high elves). A member of the Windrunners, a distinguished high elf family with a long history of defending Quel'Thalas, Sylvanas was the second of four siblings, with two sisters, Alleria and Vereesa, and a younger brother, Lirath. Like her sisters, young Sylvanas eventually joined the ancient order of Farstrider rangers, where she quickly earned renown for fearlessly battling the high elves' ancient enemies, the forest trolls of the Amani empire, (Zul'jin's people) and eventually rose to succeed her mother Lireesa as the ranger-general of Silvermoon: the leader of the Farstriders and commander of Quel'Thalas' defenses. As ranger-general, Sylvanas made the controversial decision of inducting the human Nathanos Marris into the Farstriders. Several high elves — including crown prince Kael'thas Sunstrider himself — opposed the inclusion of a human in a high elven order, and many took note of the unusual amount of pride Sylvanas took in her human pupil, who rose quickly through the Farstrider ranks until he achieved the title of ranger lord. Rumors soon spread that the two were secretly romantically involved (and the short story Dark Mirror all but confirms that this was indeed the case).

Around this time, the marauding orcish Horde invaded Azeroth through the Dark Portal, destroyed the southern human nation of Stormwind, and drove the other human kingdoms to unite into the Alliance of Lordaeron to fight back against the invaders. The high elf ruler, King Anasterian Sunstrider, initially sent only token support to aid the Alliance, but before long the Horde forged a pact with the Amani trolls and their warlord Zul'jin to invade Quel'Thalas. Through the use of enslaved firebreathing red dragons, (the brood of the imprisoned Dragonqueen Alexstrasza) the Horde laid waste to Quel'Thalas' forests. Sylvanas and her sisters joined the fight against the Horde. After many long struggles, the Alliance and high elves managed to drive the Horde out of Quel'Thalas altogether, but not before countless elves and many members of the Windrunner family — including Lirath — perished at the Horde's hands. Not long after, the Alliance defeated the Horde and destroyed the Dark Portal, but when orcs on Draenor months later reopened the gateway, Sylvanas' older sister Alleria volunteered to accompany the Alliance Expedition that ventured to Draenor, where the expedition members ultimately managed to destroy the Dark Portal from the Draenic side just as the sorcery of the orc shaman Ner'zhul tore the planet apart. The fate of the expedition members was unknown, and most people on Azeroth presumed them to be dead. Sylvanas clung to the memory of her sister in the form of a sapphire necklace Alleria had delivered to her before her departure to the orc homeworld. Despite the losses her family had suffered and even after Quel'Thalas withdrew from the Alliance, Sylvanas remained steadfast in her duty as ranger-general and defender of Quel'Thalas for 12 years thereafter, until the Scourge came.

The Fall of Quel'Thalas

Roughly 20 years after the orcs first entered Azeroth, the demonic Burning Legion set its sights on invading Azeroth. The demon lord Kil'jaeden captured the orc Ner'zhul and transformed him into a spectral entity known as the Lich King, who was tasked with creating an undead army called the Scourge to weaken Azeroth's defenses in preparation for the Legion's invasion, all while under the supervision of Kil'jaeden's demonic agents — the nathrezim, or dreadlords. When a plague of undeath began to spread through the human kingdom of Lordaeron, raising its inhabitants as mindless zombies controlled by the Lich King, the nation's crown prince Arthas Menethil set out to stop the Scourge, but his desperation to save his homeland eventually drove him to take up the cursed runeblade Frostmourne, become a death knight sworn to Ner'zhul, kill his own father King Terenas, and lead the Scourge in conquering Lordaeron. Soon after, Arthas was ordered by the dreadlord Tichondrius to obtain the remains of the fallen necromancer Kel'Thuzad and travel to Quel'Thalas to resurrect the necromancer using the high elves' sacred Sunwell — an immense fount of magical energy that served as the heart of the quel'dorei's entire culture. (I'll stop bolding the name Arthas now so it doesn't turn into a solid wall of Arthases.)

As Arthas and his Scourge army marched into Quel'Thalas' forests, King Anasterian rallied his people. While the elves' magi and priests gathered in the capital of Silvermoon City, Sylvanas and her Farstriders gathered in the woods outside the city to mount a resistance. Sylvanas' rangers constantly attacked the dead from all sides, causing Arthas to grow more and more infuriated at the ranger-general's persistence, but even so the Scourge continued to advance north towards Silvermoon, leaving behind a trail of deathly corruption in their wake that would later be called the Dead Scar. The elves trusted in three magical barriers to protect their capital: two enchanted elfgates and a magical shield called Ban'dinoriel, the Gatekeeper. However, unbeknownst to Sylvanas, Arthas had learned from the elven traitor Dar'Khan Drathir of how to destroy the barriers, including that the second elfgate and Ban'dinoriel could only be brought down using the magical Key of the Three Moons, and before long all three barriers had fallen before the death knight.

Knowing that the rangers could not win, Sylvanas ordered her Farstriders to make a last stand outside Silvermoon. When the Scourge arrived, the rangers fought fiercely and Sylvanas personally clashed with the fallen prince of Lordaeron, but it wasn't long until Arthas' runeblade Frostmourne found an opening and tore through the ranger-general. As she died, Sylvanas told Arthas to give her a clean death, but he gloated that after all she had put him through, the last thing the death knight would give the ranger-general was the piece of death. Moments after she died, Arthas brutally ripped Sylvanas' spirit from her body, transforming it into a tortured, spectral being who could unleash her pain upon others in the form of deadly screams — a banshee. Unlike most of the mindless members of the Scourge, Sylvanas retained her self-awareness and ability to think independently, but she was bound to the iron will of the Lich King and her every action was dictated by Arthas' command. Arthas told Sylvanas that her people's suffering was her fault; he had initially only sought to reach the Sunwell, and it was the ranger-general's defiance that had caused him to decide to slaughter her people.

Sylvanas was forced to participate as the Scourge army marched into Silvermoon and massacred its inhabitants. Following his success with raising Sylvanas, Arthas transformed a number of other quel'dorei women into banshees as well, and he would later place these under Sylvanas' command, eventually causing her to become known as the "Banshee Queen". As Silvermoon fell, King Anasterian and the surviving elves retreated to the Isle of Quel'Danas, the island north of the city where the Sunwell was located. The Scourge had no ships with which to cross the water, but Arthas used Frostmourne to create a bridge of ice to the island. Sylvanas was forced to bear witness as the death knight and his forces killed Anasterian and most of the other high elf defenders, causing her to involuntarily let out a deafening banshee scream filled not only with pain and anguish, but also with hatred for the man who had taken her life, her capital, and her king. As a final violation, Arthas defiled the Sunwell by using it to resurrect Kel'Thuzad as an undead lich.

The Scourge then traveled south to the mage city of Dalaran, where Kel'Thuzad summoned Archimonde, the demon lord who would herald in the Burning Legion's invasion. Archimonde declared that since the Lich King and the Scourge had accomplished what they were created to do, the dreadlords would now command the Scourge. Not long after, the armies of the Legion invaded Azeroth in force, devastating what was left of the human resistance in Lordaeron before traveling across the Great Sea to the western continent of Kalimdor, taking with them most of the Scourge, including Arthas. Sylvanas, Kel'Thuzad, and the rest of the undead were left behind in Lordaeron under the supervision of the three dreadlord brothers Balnazzar, Detheroc, and Varimathras. Over in Kalimdor, the Legion was eventually defeated at the Battle of Mount Hyjal, where various mortal races banded together to destroy Archimonde and most of his forces. Arthas barely managed to survive and rally what Scourge he could find before retreating to the Eastern Kingdoms.

Rise of the Forsaken

Months after the Legion's defeat, Arthas suddenly returned to Lordaeron, declared himself king, and ousted the three nathrezim brothers to a region of eastern Lordaeron that had come to be called the Plaguelands in order to take control of the Scourge forces in the area himself. The Lich King's creator, the Legionlord Kil'jaeden, responded to this Scourge rebellion by sending the night elf-turned-demon Illidan Stormrage to destroy Ner'zhul. Using an artifact called the Eye of Sargeras, Illidan managed to inflict significant damage on the Lich King's icy seat/prison, the Frozen Throne, before he was thwarted by a group of other night elves. Ner'zhul's power began to bleed out from the damaged throne, weakening his control over some of the Scourge. As the Lich King's powers waned, so too did his greatest champion Arthas begin to weaken, and the death knight began being granted painful visions of the Lich King telling him that danger was approaching the Frozen Throne and that he had to rush to defend his master in the arctic land of Northrend immediately.

Sylvanas was quick to realize that she no longer heard the Lich King's voice in her head and that she had regained her free will. One night, she was invited to a secret meeting with the dreadlords, who told her of Ner'zhul's waning powers. Eager for revenge against Arthas, the banshee agreed to aid the nathrezim in overthrowing the death knight but insisted that she would do so "in her own way". The next day, the nathrezim took control of most of the Scourge and ambushed Arthas and Kel'Thuzad in the ruins of Lordaeron's Capital City, forcing the weakened king to rally what few undead remained loyal and fight his way through the rebels. Meanwhile, Sylvanas found and repossessed her physical high elven body, becoming a so-called "dark ranger". When Arthas fled from Capital City into the woods of the Tirisfal Glades, he was greeted by a number of Sylvanas' banshees and escorted to the heart of the forest, where Sylvanas suddenly appeared and shot him with an arrow laced with paralytic poison. She gloated to the immobilized Arthas that she would grant him a slow, painful death like the one he had given her, but she was interrupted when Kel'Thuzad arrived with a force of loyal Scourge to beat back the banshees, saving Arthas' life. Sylvanas was forced to flee but vowed to never stop hunting the death knight.

After Arthas departed for Northrend (where he would eventually merge with Ner'zhul to become the Lich King) and left behind Kel'Thuzad to watch over the Scourge forces in Lordaeron, Sylvanas and her free-willed followers remained in the Plaguelands, intent on taking control of Lordaeron for themselves. One day, Sylvanas was approached by Varimathras, who explained that the dreadlords intended to establish a new order in the Plaguelands and invited the dark ranger to be a part of it. Having struggled against the will of the Lich King for so long, Sylvanas had no intention of shackling herself to a new master and threw Varimathras' offer back in his face. In response, the nathrezim soon began sending his own undead warriors to attack Sylvanas' base camp, but the Dark Lady had the advantage of her loyal banshees, who possessed (heh) the ability to possess living beings and force them to obey Sylvanas. Sylvanas used this to recruit the leaders of several races in the region, such as the ogre warlord Mug'thol and the human bandit lord Blackthorn. Using these new servants, Sylvanas destroyed Varimathras' base and prepared to kill the dreadlord, but he pleaded for his life, vowing to serve Sylvanas and help her defeat his brothers if she let him live, an offer the Dark Lady accepted.

Sylvanas' forces continued further into the Plaguelands, where the dreadlord Detheroc had made his stronghold and telepathically enslaved a force of Alliance soldiers led by the xenophobic commander Othmar Garithos (a name you may recognize from my Kael'thas lore thread. Sylvanas sent her banshees to take control over some of the human footmen and force them to open the gates, allowing the Dark Lady's forces to attack the human and undead forces within. Upon Detheroc's defeat, Garithos and his men regained their senses and Sylvanas offered to give the humans their kingdom back if they helped her kill the final dreadlord, Balnazzar, who had taken control over the ruins of Capital City (though in truth she had no intention of giving Lordaeron to the humans). Garithos hesitantly agreed, and the next day, the undead and human forces met on the outskirts of the capital. Sylvanas, Varimathras, and Garithos stormed into the city, and despite Balnazzar's impressive force of undead and demons, he was eventually defeated. With Balnazzar at her mercy, Sylvanas ordered Varimathras to kill his brother. Varimathras protested that it was forbidden for one nathrezim to slay another, but after Sylvanas pulled an impression of Palpatine from that one scene in Revenge of the Sith, Varimathras obeyed and struck down Balnazzar. She then ordered him to kill Garithos as well, a request that he was far happier to accomodate.

With both the dreadlords and Garithos out of the picture, Sylvanas' undead now had full control of Capital City and the surrounding Tirisfal Glades region. The Banshee Queen declared that her people would be known as the Forsaken, and that she would be their queen. They would carve out their own place in the world, bring Arthas to justice, and slaughter anyone who stood in their way.

Reign of the Dark Lady

Under Sylvanas' orders, the Forsaken began carving out a new kingdom in the Undercity, a complex of crypts, dungeons, and sewers below Capital City which Arthas had intended to transform into a Scourge stronghold before he was forced to hasten to Northrend. Now, the Forsaken expanded and completed the Undercity's construction to serve as their new home. Sylvanas personally traveled with several of her fellow dark rangers — high elf Farstriders who, like her, had been reborn as undead — into the Plaguelands to search for her old pupil, the human ranger Nathanos Marris, whom she then freed from the Lich King's will and named as her personal champion.

However, despite their control of the Undercity, the Forsaken's old Lordaeron was tenuous. Kel'Thuzad's Scourge forces still held much of the Plaguelands, and a fanatical sect of paladins called the Scarlet Crusade began to harry the Forsaken every at chance they could. Sylvanas reached out to Quel'Thalas, where most of the surviving high elves had renamed themselves "blood elves", but they refused to send the former ranger-general any aid, since they feared and abhorred the undead. Desperate to protect her budding nation, Sylvanas sent out emissaries to various factions, including the Alliance as well as the Horde led by the orc warchief Thrall. The emissaries to the Alliance never returned, but Sylvanas did find hope in the form of one of the Horde's member races, the kindhearted tauren. Specifically, the tauren archdruid Hamuul Runetotem saw the potential for redemption in the Forsaken and convinced Thrall to invite Sylvanas to the Horde capital of Orgrimmar in Kalimdor. Thrall sympathized with the Forsaken, since the orcs themselves had a similar dark past, but he also recognized the strategic value of allowing the Kalimdor-based Horde to gain a foothold in the Eastern Kingdoms in the form of Lordaeron. Ultimately, Thrall made his decision, and the Forsaken were accepted as members of the Horde.

Over the months that passed, the Forsaken strengthened their hold on Tirisfal, battling the Scarlet Crusade, Scourge, and various other threats in the surrounding regions. At the same time, Sylvanas called on an order of alchemists called the Royal Apothecary Society to begin the creation of a New Plague, a blight that would kill not only the living but undead as well, making it the perfect weapon against Arthas' armies.

Meanwhile, Sylvanas' former homeland of Quel'Thalas remained in turmoil due to the Amani trolls and the Scourge, who retained control of the Ghostlands — the darkened southern region of Quel'Thalas — under the leadership of the now undead traitor Dar'Khan Drathir. Sylvanas, who sympathized with her homeland, urged the Horde's leadership to ally with Quel'Thalas. She also sent a number of Forsaken troops to aid the blood elves against the Scourge from the town of Tranquillien in the Ghostlands. Warchief Thrall was long skeptical of the blood elves' inclusion due to their apparent inability to deal with the Scourge forces on their own doorstep, but eventually, heroes of the Horde worked with the Forsaken and the blood elf leader — Regent Lord Lor'themar Theron — to contain the Scourge and kill Dar'Khan, finally convincing Thrall to allow the blood elves into the Horde.

While Horde adventurers were traveling through the Ghostlands, they also came across Windrunner Spire, the now Scourge-infested former home of Sylvanas and her sisters, and found the old necklace that Alleria had gifted to Sylvanas years before. When the heroes brought the necklace to the Dark Lady in the Undercity, she disregarded the trinket and dismissed the adventurers, claiming that both Alleria and her life before becoming Queen of the Forsaken were dead to her. However, despite her protests, Sylvanas was clearly moved by the locket, as evidenced by the fact that she and her banshees shortly began to sing an ancient elven dirge — the Lament of the Highborne, which could be heard throughout the Undercity.

Fall of the Lich King

Not long after, the Lich King Arthas suddenly awoke in Northrend after a long slumber and began driving the Scourge to begin assaulting major Alliance and Horde cities all over Azeroth. Sylvanas and her grand apothecary, Putress, traveled to Orgrimmar to meet with other Horde leaders and discuss a course of action. Like several others, the Dark Lady urged the cautious Thrall to launch an invasion of Northrend. After the defenders of Orgrimmar were forced to repel a full-fledged Scourge attack on the city, the warchief agreed to send forces north under the leadership of the orc warrior Garrosh Hellscream. A Forsaken force dubbed the Hand of Vengeance accompanied the Horde's armies, and as both the Horde and the Alliance advanced across Northrend, the Forsaken put the finishing touches on their deadly New Plague. The Alliance and Horde ultimately banded together against the Scourge at Angrathar the Wrath Gate, the southern entrance into the Lich King's stronghold of Icecrown Citadel, but as the battle unfolded, disaster suddenly struck when Putress and a group of renegade Forsaken unleashed their deadly blight on Alliance, Scourge, and Horde alike, killing thousands of soldiers. At the same time, a coup took place in the Undercity as a faction of undead rebels and demons tried to kill Sylvanas, forcing her and the Forsaken to evacuate the city and seek refuge in Ogrimmar. It was revealed that Sylvanas' advisor Varimathras had been plotting against Sylvanas for years and had forged a pact with Putress in an attempt to overthrow the Banshee Queen in the name of the Burning Legion.

The Horde and the Alliance quickly launched separate offensives against the Undercity. The Horde, led by Sylvanas and Thrall, struck at Varimathras, while the human king Varian Wrynn led Alliance forces to kill Putress in the hopes of reclaiming Lordaeron for the Alliance. Both Varimathras and Putress were killed, but Varian quickly rushed to confront Thrall, declaring war on the Horde right then and there. Bloodshed was avoided when the sorceress Jaina Proudmoore teleported the entire Alliance army back to Stormwind City. The Undercity was once again in Sylvanas' hands, but resentment and distrust of the Banshee Queen and her people lingered throughout the Horde, prompting Thrall to post members of the elite Kor'kron guard to oversee the Undercity and prevent any further experiments on the plague.

Months later, after many battles across Northrend, the time had come to besiege Icecrown Citadel itself. While forces assaulted the citadel's front gates, Sylvanas led Horde champions and several dark rangers in infiltrating one of the citadel's side entrances in search of information that could lead to the Lich King's defeat. Sylvanas and her companions eventually reached Arthas' private sanctum, the Halls of Reflection, where they found Frostmourne floating unguarded. When Sylvanas attempted to commune with the sword, she was greeted by Arthas' former mentor, the legendary paladin Uther the Lightbringer, who revealed that even if Arthas was defeated, someone else would have to take his place as Lich King to keep the Scourge in check, and that the only place where Arthas could be defeated was at the place where the Lich King was created: the Frozen Throne atop Icecrown. Suddenly, the Lich King arrived, forced Uther's spirit back inside Frostmourne, picked up the blade, and left his lieutenants Falric and Marwyn to destroy the intruders while Sylvanas chased after him. After defeating the ghostly minions, the Horde champions caught up with Sylvanas, and together they fled from the Lich King through a side passage until they were saved at the last second by the Horde airship Orgrim's Hammer.

In the end, Arthas was destroyed at the Frozen Throne not by Sylvanas, but by the paladin Tiron Fordring and numerous champions of the Alliance and Horde, after which the human paladin Bolvar Fordragon sacrificed himself to become the new Lich King. Of the various items found on Arthas' body by adventurers, one was an old vial of blood, taken from Sylvanas in her dying moments. When this was brought to the Dark Lady, she reflected on the Lich King's defeat.

So, it is done. I had not dared to trust my senses - too many times has the Lich King made me to be a fool. Finally, he has been made to pay for the atrocities he imposed upon my people. May Azeroth never fail to remember the terrible price we paid for our weakness... for our pride. But what now, hero? What of those freed from his grasp, but still shackled to their mortal coils? Leave me. I have much to ponder.

Plight of the Forsaken

Shortly after the Lich King's fall, Sylvanas traveled to the Frozen Throne alone. The man who had tormented her for years and whom Sylvanas had dedicated her entire existence to killing was finally gone, and she had not even been present during his defeat. Sylvanas was watched by nine of the val'kyr — winged, spectral beings, conscripted from the warrior women of Northrend's vrykul half-giants to serve the Scourge and raise the fallen as undead, still bound to the dormant will of the new Lich King Bolvar. Sylvanas ignored them, and, believing that she had no more purpose in the world, committed suicide by leaping from the top of Icecrown. She landed on spikes of saronite, a metal formed from the blood of the Old God Yogg-Saron with the unique property of being able to destroy both the bodies and souls of the undead. Immediately after dying, Sylvanas found herself being kept in a state of limbo by the val'kyr and was given visions of what would happen if she died: the Forsaken would be used as cannon fodder by the Horde's new warchief Garrosh Hellscream and eventually driven to extinction by the Alliance. As the visions ended, Sylvanas found herself in a dark, terrifying afterlife where she was tortured and tormented by horrific beings (and briefly saw the spirit of Arthas Menethil in the form of a frightened blond child). She was rescued by the val'kyr, who offered a pact: they would return Sylvanas' soul to her body and allow her to return to the world of the living, but only if she bound herself to them. The val'kyr would thus be freed from the Lich King's will and instead serve Sylvanas, granting her power over life and death. Sylvanas agreed. The val'kyr leader Annhylde the Caller took the Banshee Queen's place in the afterlife, while Sylvanas returned to Azeroth with the eight other val'kyr to resume leadership of the Forsaken in Lordaeron. The Forsaken, being undead, were unable to procreate, but by using the val'kyr, Sylvanas was now able to create new Forsaken. Any undead raised by the val'kyr were given the choice of returning to the grave, pursuing their own path, or joining the Dark Lady if they so wished.

Following the worldwide disaster called the Cataclysm, Warchief Garrosh Hellscream sought to initiate a war against the Alliance and claim as many resources in Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms as he could to ensure the Horde's survival. This included establishing a new port in Lordaeron, specifically in Gilneas, a coastal human kingdom which had isolated itself from the rest of the world many years before but had now been left exposed after the Cataclysm shattered the great Greymane Wall. Garrosh gave Sylvanas control over the Horde's invasion of Gilneas but also forbade the Forsaken from using their plague except in a greatly distilled and weakened form. At the time, Gilneas was reeling both from a civil war and from the spreading of the worgen curse, an affliction that transformed humans into werewolf-like worgen. The Forsaken invaded Gilneas in force, eventually claiming control over the capital of Gilneas City itself, but unexpectedly, King Genn Greymane managed to unite his people in spite of their differences and lead a counterattack, assaulting the Forsaken in Gilneas City with the aid of his son, Prince Liam Greymane, as well as the former rebel Lord Darius Crowley. In the final confrontation, Sylvanas personally dueled Genn until she stunned all of the nearby combatants with a banshee wail. She then fired a poisoned arrow at Greymane, but at the last second, Prince Liam leapt in front of his father and absorbed the arrow with his own body. Sylvanas fled but was pursued by worgen, who discovered via eavesdropping that Sylvanas was planning to unleash the plague on Gilneas despite Garrosh's explicit orders. The Gilneans were left with no choice but to abandon their homeland, evacuating to Kalimdor with the help of the night elves and eventually becoming members of the Alliance.

However, a significant force of Gilneans led by the worgen Darius Crowley and his human daughter Lorna, dubbed the Gilnean Liberation Front, remained in the Eastern Kingdoms to oppose the Forsaken's push through Silverpine Forest, the wooded region immediately north of Gilneas. After Garrosh witnessed a demonstration of the powers of Sylvanas' val'kyr, which disgusted him, he left his lieutenant High Warlord Cromush to oversee the Forsaken's efforts in Silverpine. With the help of Garrosh's orcish soldiers and the new Forsaken raised by the val'kyr, Sylvanas' armies clashed against the Gilneans and their allies. Sylvanas soon devised a plan to defeat the Gilneans by resurrecting the worgen-hating Gilnean traitor Lord Vincent Godfrey. Horde adventurers ventured into the ruins of Gilneas and retrieved the bodies of Godfrey and his two cronies, Baron Ashbury and Lord Walden, allowing Sylvanas to raise them as Forsaken. The Horde adventurers and Godfrey then managed to capture Lorna Crowley. Sylvanas, the Horde adventurers, High Warlord Cromush, and three of the val'kyr quickly traveled to the Greymane Wall, where they confronted Darius and ordered him to surrender Gilneas to the Forsaken, threatening to raise Lorna as an undead if he refused. Not willing to sacrifice his daughter's life, Darius surrendered and quickly fled the scene with Lorna. Sylvanas began to proclaim the Horde's victory, but she was interrupted when Godfrey suddenly walked up behind her and shot her in the head, killing her instantly. Godfrey and his cohorts then fled to the nearby haunted ruin of Shadowfang Keep, leaving the adventurers, Cromush, and the val'kyr with Sylvanas' corpse. The three val'kyr resurrected Sylvanas, sacrificing themselves in the process and convincing the Dark Lady more than ever before that the val'kyr were the future of her people.

Some time later, the Forsaken advanced in another direction: east into the Plaguelands and towards the ruined city of Andorhal, which had become a three-way battleground between the Alliance, the Horde, and the remnants of the Scourge. The Alliance and Horde forces were commanded by two members of the Knights of the Ebon Blade, an order of death knights who had broken free from the Lich King's control and aided in Arthas' downfall during the events in Northrend: the Alliance soldiers were led by the human Thassarian, the Horde ones by the blood elf Koltira Deathweaver. Sylvanas disguised herself as a Forsaken woman named Lindsay Ravensun and saw how Koltira dealt with the Scourge and, more importantly, the Alliance. Thassarian and Koltira had formed a close friendship when they were still death knights of the Scourge, a friendship that remained even after they joined opposite sides of the war between the Alliance and Horde. Thus, Koltira was reluctant to attack the Alliance, even as the Alliance armed a number of human peasants and sent them against the Forsaken forces. "Lindsay" soon shed her disguise and unleashed her val'kyr to raise the human soldiers and turn the battle in the Horde's favor, eventually forcing the Alliance to abandon Andorhal completely. Dissatisfied with Koltira's "weakness", Sylvanas sent him to the Undercity, apparently to be tortured and "improved". (Koltira would years later be rescued from the Undercity by Thassarian and the other Knights of the Ebon Blade.)

Rise as Warchief

As the years passed, Sylvanas continued to oppose Garrosh's reckless leadership of the Horde, notably opposing his plans to destroy the Alliance port town of Theramore (Jaina's home), though of course the warchief went through with this course of action regardless. Months later, Vol'jin — leader of the Horde's Darkspear trolls — began to organize a rebellion to depose of the increasingly tyrannical and extremist warchief, eventually openly leading a revolution against Garrosh with backing both from the Horde's other leaders and from the Alliance. Vol'jin's revolutionaries eventually besieged the warchief-controlled capital of Orgrimmar itself, with Sylvanas and her Forsaken accompanying Lor'themar Theron and the blood elves in attacking Bladefist Bay, a port just east of Orgrimmar. Sylvanas offered to raise Lor'themar's fallen rangers as undead. The Regent Lord was not amused.

Ultimately, adventurers stormed into Garrosh's inner sanctum and defeated the warchief once and for all. Afterward, Vol'jin looked to Thrall to once again take up his old mantle of warchief, but Thrall instead named Vol'jin the new warchief of the Horde. The other Horde leaders, including Sylvanas, acknowledged Vol'jin's new title, but afterward, Sylvanas claimed that she would certainly not be taking orders from a troll. After his defeat, Garrosh was taken to Pandaria to stand trial for his numerous crimes, though Sylvanas would have preferred to see him executed on the spot. As the trial progressed, Sylvanas was contacted by her younger high elf sister, Vereesa Windrunner, who shared her hatred for Garrosh, since the warchief's attack on Theramore had killed Vereesa's husband Rhonin. Together, Sylvanas and Vereesa began planning to poison the former warchief. Over their meetings, the two of them rekindled old bonds, and Sylvanas invited Vereesa to join her as a co-ruler of the Undercity. However, Sylvanas knew the Forsaken would not accept a living ruler, and so she secretly planned to kill Vereesa and raise her as an undead so that they could rule together forever. As promised, Sylvanas provided Vereesa with a deadly poison, which the high elf then laced Garrosh's food with. However, Vereesa eventually changed her mind and told King Varian's son, Prince Anduin Wrynn, of the poison, allowing the prince to save Garrosh's life. Sylvanas was outraged by this turn of events and vowed that she would never attempt to love again.

Over a year later, an alternate universe version of the orc warlock Gul'dan opened the way for the demonic Burning Legion to launch its greatest-ever invasion of Azeroth. As the Legion began making incursions into Horde lands, Sylvanas called on her old champion, Nathanos Marris (who had become known as the "Blightcaller" in undeath) and had him partake in a special ritual wherein a val'kyr would sacrifice a portion of its own essence, as well as the body of Nathanos' younger cousin Stephon, to transform Nathanos and make his body stronger and more enduring, as opposed to the half-decayed, rotting state that most Forsaken's bodies are in. Not long after, the Alliance and Horde traveled in force to the Broken Shore, an island in the Great Sea housing the Tomb of Sargeras, the structure through which Gul'dan had opened the way for the Legion's invasion. During the battle, the leaders of the Horde pushed their way through the demons' stronghold on the island and fought alongside Varian Wrynn and the Alliance's forces against the demonic monstrosity Krosus. As the Alliance rushed towards the area in front of the Tomb of Sargeras to stop Gul'dan, Sylvanas and the Horde offered to cover the Alliance's flank by holding a nearby mountain ridge. However, when the Burning Legion began to call in massive amounts of new reinforcements, the Horde was quickly overwhelmed with Warchief Vol'jin being stabbed and poisoned by a demon's blade. Sylvanas found herself forced to sound a retreat back to Orgrimmar, which from the Alliance's perspective looked like she intentionally betrayed them by leaving their flank open. Back in Orgrimmar, the dying Vol'jin called for a meeting of the Horde's leaders and told Sylvanas that the loa — the spirits revered by all trolls — had whispered to him that she must step out of the shadows and lead the Horde as its warchief. With that, Vol'jin expired, and Sylvanas became the warchief of the Horde.

Later, Sylvanas traveled with the Forsaken fleet to the Broken Isles and the land of Stormheim, an ancient region inhabited by the brutish vrykul from Northrend. While the mission was primarily to search for the Aegis of Aggramar, one of the so-called Pillars of Creation required to seal the Legion portal in the Tomb of Sargeras, Sylvanas also had her own ulterior motives for traveling to Stormheim. The Forsaken fleet was suddenly attacked by an Alliance force, but during the ensuing battle Sylvanas disappeared. She eventually managed to enter Helheim, the realm of Helya, the first val'kyr. (For some quick exposition: in ancient times, the titanic keeper Odyn ordered Helya to transform vrykul into val'kyr in order to ferry the souls of fallen vrykul warriors to Odyn's domain, the Halls of Valor, where he hoped to create an army called the Valarjar to protect Azeroth. When Helya refused, she was forcibly transformed into a val'kyr by Odyn. After many long years of brooding, Helya betrayed Odyn and created curse that imprisoned him and his Valarjar in the halls and subsequently created a new realm for herself in the form of the watery underworld of Helheim.) While there, Sylvanas made a mysterious bargain with Helya which involved her receiving a magical lantern called the Soulcage, which could compel the soul of any living being. With this artifact, Sylvanas intended to enslave Eyir, the being who had taken Helya's place as the one responsible for creating new val'kyr for Odyn, and by doing so ensure the future of the Forsaken. Eventually, with the help of Horde adventurers, Sylvanas managed to enter the ancient vault of Skold-Ashil and begin using the Soulcage to enslave Eyir; however, she was suddenly ambushed by Genn Greymane, who had pursued her to Stormheim and was eager to exact vengeance. After a fierce duel, Genn managed to shatter the Soulcage, freeing Eyir and foiling Sylvanas' plans.

The Legion and its godlike ruler Sargeras were ultimately defeated, but in the final moments before his defeat, Sargeras impaled Azeroth with his gargantuan sword, causing a mysterious new substance called azerite — Azeroth's lifeblood — to well forth from the earth. The goblins of the Horde's Bilgewater Cartel were the first to discover this material, and when the Bilgewater Cartel's leader — Trade Prince Jastor Gallywix — brought this news to the warchief, she declared that it would change everything. Ultimately, it remains to be seen where Sylvanas' story will eventually lead and how future events will unfold leading up until a renewed war between the Alliance and the Horde.

And that is the lore of Sylvanas, as long and convoluted as it is. As always, feedback and suggestions are appreciated, and I'll see you on Sunday for the quotes and abilities thread.

submitted by /u/StuntedSlime
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Is it too late for me to get into this game?

Posted: 11 May 2018 11:41 AM PDT

I've never played this game before. I used to love LoL back in 2013 and 2014 but lost interest due to it being too competitive and toxic for me. I haven't played a MOBA since then and currently considering trying HOTS. Is it a toxic game? Does it ever get stale? What are your honest opinions? Thank you everyone!

submitted by /u/SandwichMan96
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Genji experiences wrestlemania

Posted: 11 May 2018 06:15 AM PDT

Did the bot AI get worse recently?

Posted: 11 May 2018 08:16 AM PDT

I've played four or five games with bot AI and it seems like it's gotten a whole lot worse than it used to be out of nowhere. I had a Cassia AI pinged to follow me who would run though the enemy team without us, and wouldn't use any abilities or attack them and a Valla AI who wouldn't attack the people I was attacking in favor of farming the wave. She would also run out into the middle of the map. I don't remember the bots ever being this awful. Anybody else seem to notice this?

submitted by /u/Mr_Skittles213
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[opinion:] Solo queue should be added to TL. HL should remain solo only.

Posted: 11 May 2018 03:14 PM PDT

I agree with the sentiment some players have that duo/trio queue can be more fun than solo queue, but the fact TL rn is not viable makes them turn to HL for a ranked experience.

The thing I don't agree with this tho is that often it's suggested that HL should have duo queue back, when I actually think the better idea would be to add solo queue to TL.

Solo queue-only is an important part of the ranked experience for many of us. It's theoretically an "even playing field". We know from past experiences that some players would queue with better players for them to be carried, which Im not saying is right or wrong, it's just something me and others believe should not be a part of the HL experience, or at least that there should be at least one game more (ranked) where you can only play vs solo queuers as well so you know for sure - at least theoretically - that they're all on the same skill range, or at least that none of them are necessarily friends on discord or something or with a special draft/shenanigans in mind.

I highly value TL. I think it's the closest to HGC experience we can get and that's awesome. I dream of the day where clans are a thing and people can forge teams in which they play competitively and one day could even try and make their way into HGC because of how well they've been playing in TL. This is not a reality at the moment, but still I think some improvements could be made.

The main issue is obviously TL's queue time. I think there's nothing in the world that could help TL more than adding solo queue to it. I can't even count how many times I was on a party with 3 others players and we just couldn't find that 5th one and bc we didn't want to kick anyone out we'd play QM or something. We also know for a fact many people like due queue more (Trikslyr always comes to mind here) and would probably wanna play the new team league rather than HL. If that was the case I predict a big decrease on TL's wait time. HL doesn't have to be the default ranked experience just because it has the word "hero" in it. TL could also be competitive if solo players are also allowed to play in it.

I dont want to write a huge post so I'll leave it at that, but nothing I'm saying here is anything new, it's been proposed by others other times and been explained better and more thoroughly. If anyone shares the similar opinion and has links to their original suggestions I'll gladly link them on OP. All I'm trying to say is I think preserving solo queue as a game mode option is more important than preserving no solo queue for TL. The "no solo queuers" restriction is not an important one imo and should be revised now since we do now have voice chat.

TL;DR: - you wanna play solo vs only solos? Here's HL for you. - you wanna play solo but don't mind facing duos/parties? Here's TL for you (with voice chat) - you wanna play in a party of any size without the drawback of longer wait times? Here's the new TL for you

Edit: from the comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/heroesofthestorm/comments/8irp8u/comment/dyu8z2c?st=JH2SMWGW&sh=28ebee9f

submitted by /u/Ultrajante
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[Bug] Popular HotS Streamer Caught Maphacking monkaS

Posted: 11 May 2018 12:23 PM PDT

https://clips.twitch.tv/KitschyGorgeousBadgerPhilosoraptor

Jokes aside, seems like there is some crazy bug going.

submitted by /u/itsMihr
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I just lost 16 out of my last 19 games. How do you motivate yourself to keep going?

Posted: 11 May 2018 04:55 PM PDT

Been having a rough time with my recent games and getting more and more frustrated. What have you guys found to help yourself keep going?

submitted by /u/thebrentster911
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Please change Thrall's legendary skin colors to represent his skill

Posted: 11 May 2018 08:45 AM PDT

Blue tint should have blue skill colors for a legendary skin.

submitted by /u/doozyjr
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AFK players ruin the game

Posted: 11 May 2018 07:26 PM PDT

This has been discussed previously, but it's incredibly frustrating. I only play QM, and getting an AFK player usually ruins any chance of a match turning out fun. I'd love to see Blizzard make some improvements on this front.

It doesn't matter what team they're on! Winning because your enemy is down a player is not satisfying in the slightest. And losing just fills you with a feeling of frustrated helplessness as the enemy slowly grinds away at you. Even the worst of players is usually better than the AI that replaces em; at least at lower skill levels, which I think is where I'd rank.

One of the best suggestions I've seen to help cut down on AFK players is to have a popup confirm that all players are present before stating the match. As I understand it, this exists in other similar games such as DotA2 and LoL. Has it been acknowledged by Blizzard as a possibility?

Another option I've thought about: what if the AFK timer were shorter at the start of the match? Right now you won't get dropped until it reaches around the 2:15 mark, which feels way too long. Having a stupid AI soaking is better than nothing.

Quite frankly, instead of playing out a clearly lopsided +15 minute match, I wish you could end the match early and re-queue with the same players, minus the AFKer. But I don't think that's likely to happen.

Sometimes an AFKer returns... But the relationship with that player is usually beyond mending at that point. It's hard to trust, rely on, and want to help someone that's been gone half the game, despite your best efforts to maintain a positive outlook on the situation. It's hard to shake the feeling of: I'm having a shitty match because of this player. But even if you're willing to look past that, they're probably going to have an unexpected build and any quests will be far from completion; potentially a very big handicap.

submitted by /u/TheAceOfHearts
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As an average player I was very proud of this move.

Posted: 11 May 2018 03:01 PM PDT

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