Details are limited, but that doesn't stop me from speculating. We already know Kharazim's abilities (I keep wanting to call him "The Monk") and a couple of things are for certain: The Monk is fast, has awesome heroics, and is versatile in a draft.
In the above video, I talk a bit about Kharazim's abilities and how I think they will be used in competitive play. We are going on a purely speculative basis here, so be sure to call me out if on release, we figure out everything I said was a lie.
Here are the major points if for the video averse:
- Radiant Dash comes in 2 charges Which is extremely useful for using this offensively while still remaining safe. You can keep 1 charge left for an escape and avoid what I like to call "Anub'araks dillema", that being having to choose between offense or defense when using your mobility spell.
- Kharazim dodges the two biggest problems support hero faces: Getting in range of allies in need of healing before they die, and avoiding focus fire from the enemy. Radiant dash solves both of these problems, with the added bonus of being what looks to be one of the best chase abilities in the game.
- His next ability Breath of Heaven, is Kharazim's go to heal ability. It heals in an AoE all around him, and also increases movement speed slightly.
- While the heal doesn't look like a lot, if the cool down is low enough it should provide a solid defense against AoE abilities currently dominating the meta. The move speed buff Is an interesting part of the ability, as it can be used both defensively as shown, or offensively.
- I imagine Kharazim being a strong partner to Arthas, Jaina, or other heroes that excell at ganking enemies early on in the game, As movement speed is crucial in these early game situations.
- The next ability is called Deadly Reach, and it looks to be the main source of damage for Kharazim players trying to build a Melee Assassin rather than a Support. The attack range and attack speed seems significant, but it probably needs the support of a slow or stun to hit an enemy with all of the strikes.
- One thing is for sure, Deadly Reach allows Kharazim to get in safe bits of damage in a team fight which is an extremely useful trait in a support hero.
- Kharazim's first Heroic ability is Seven-Sided-Strike and it just reeks with style. He's literally flexing on The Butcher in the clip and probably for good reason. It's already been reported that the Single Target damage of seven sided-strike is about half of your Average heroes Hp, which probably means that soloing Kharazim is a very bad idea.
- The ability will hit multiple targets in it's AoE, which is a very good thing. Aoe Heroics have been historically every strong in Heroes.
- And having the ability to quickly clean up a group of enemies can easily turn the tide of battle. What seems most powerful about this ability is how impossible to avoid it appears. Depending on the cool down, this heroic could easily be extremely powerful.
- But what is most likely the most game changing and unique part of Kharazim is his 2nd Heroic, Divine Palm. Divine Palm delivers a huge heal to a target that takes lethal damage while the Divine Palm buff is active. If the hero doesn't die when this spell is used, it will do nothing.
- This is similar to Rehgar's Ancestral Healing, but different. In this case, you WANT your target to die right before you cast it, which is a skill testing element that players will fail at quite often. This also adds a new element of skill when facing Kharazim, as it teaches a sort of trigger discipline to avoid killing a low HP target if it is being Divine Palm-ed. Proper use of this spell Is what separates the all star supports from everyone else, and I suspect to see this heroic often in competitive play.
Next up, I will take a look at Rexxar and conjecture wildly on his place in the meta. Stay tuned!
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