The imposing Tal'darim Highlord could be coming to The Nexus.
In a recent tweet, game director Dustin Browder may have given us a hint that the imposing leader of the Tal'darim, Alarak, is in the works. This is something of a long shot, but given his personal attachment to the character and how well received he is, it's entirely likely.
If you're unfamiliar with Alarak or have not played through Legacy of the Void, be prepared for mild spoilers (or interesting new lore). When you first encounter him it's clear that he's quite unique as Protoss go. In stark contrast with Artanis's nobility and lawful good nature, Alarak is vile, cruel, and heartless. Despite his wickedness, you must recruit him and his soldiers in order to combat Amon. To do so, you help him become the Highlord of the Tal'darim through a ritual combat known as Rak'shir.
As far as what his in game abilities could be, Alarak is a cruel manipulator, able to psionically torment his foes and feed off of their suffering. He would very likely be an assassin since there is already a Protoss warrior and Support, not to mention Alarak is far more worried about causing damage than controlling it.
His first in-game ability is called Deadly charge. It's basically a beefed up version of a standard Zealot Charge. Fits pretty well with his destructive and aggressive nature and lines him up as a solid 'engagement assassin' that has to finish fights fast due to not having an escape. The hard part here would be making this ability look and feel different from Artanis's Zealot Charge talent.
Here's where it gets interesting. This would make for a perfect passive for Alarak with some slight modifications. It fits perfectly with his love of watching his foes suffer, and for an all in melee assassin, nothing is better than having a bit of life steal. Granted there are already plenty of characters in HoTS that do this or something similar. Illidan, Nazeebo and anyone with Vampiric Assault all drain the health of their foes. Perhaps with Alarak, killing an enemy minion restores a small amount of health, while killing a hero restores a larger amount of health, and to make things interesting the stronger or weaker the enemy killed is (based on levels above or below Alarak's level) he restores more or less health.
The final ability he has in LoTV is Destruction Wave. This one seems more like an ult than anything else. It almost looks like it could be Thrall's Earthquake and Johanna's Falling Sword rolled up into one. Just think, Alarak charges into a fight, psi-blades flourishing, just when you think he's dead one of your allies fall and suddenly he's as healthy as ever. Suddenly everything around him is lifted into the air and crashes down with huge power, damaging each item and everything in an aoe around them too (à la Earthshaker from DoTA).
All in all, Alarak would be an amazing addition to Heroes of the Storm. We need more bad guys, less 'noble' Protoss, and more destructive melee assassins. He's a fan favorite and would be sure to spice things up.
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