No one saw this coming. Heroes of the Storm, Blizzard’s “simple” MOBA, is emerging from hibernation after seven years and is introducing a new hero, Xal’atath, right off the bat.
BlizzCon is taking place this weekend in Anaheim, California. After a two-year hiatus from its in-house convention, the American development studio has plenty of new things to show and announced during the opening ceremony, among other things, that the free-to-play MOBA Heroes of the Storm is making a surprise comeback after seven years in hibernation.
Many players still feel nostalgic about HotS to this day. In the Warcraft creators’ take on the MOBA genre, you can not only play as many familiar Blizzard characters like Anduin, D.Va, or Kerrigan; Heroes was also always perceived by many players as comparatively easy and requiring less of a learning curve than League of Legends or DOTA 2.
However, Blizzard’s MOBA was never able to truly establish itself in the market behind the genre’s two market leaders. Consequently, Heroes of the Storm went into maintenance mode at the end of 2018. There have been no major updates or new heroes since then, and Blizzard also discontinued the official HotS esports league. The servers, however, remained online.
Now it’s clear: Blizzard hasn’t given up on Heroes of the Storm and has been diligently preparing the MOBA’s comeback over the past few months. Right from the start, Heroes is set to receive a new playable champion: the WoW rogue Xal’atath.
As early as next Monday, September 14, it’s set to be available in the game’s public test environment (PTR). Blizzard head Johanna Faries also hinted that another playable character will be joining the HotS roster in the coming months. It certainly looks like Blizzard is aiming to breathe new life into its MOBA.
We’ll be covering BlizzCon 2026 and keeping you up to date. If you want to know what games, expansions, and updates Blizzard has in store for you in the coming weeks, months, and years, check out the link box above.
Which BlizzCon 2026 announcement excited you the most? What else would you have liked to see? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments!
