Heroes of the Storm 'Eternal Conflict' update will add the Butcher and Diablo-themed map

Heroes of the Storm launched earlier this week, with Blizzard bringing along a new character for the ride. Johanna carried over her crusade from the depths of Sanctuary, but she's definitely not the last character that's joining the roster. In fact, Blizzard has more to add from the world of Diablo, detailing some new additions in the form of the hideous beast known as the Butcher and a whole new Diablo-themed battleground called the Battlefield of Eternity. They'll come as part of one massive update, titled the Eternal Conflict.

Long-time Diablo fans will remember the nightmare fuel that the Butcher brought to the classic dungeon crawler. For those that don't remember, this was an extremely powerful demon, coated in the blood of his victims. He would wield a giant cleaver and relentlessly pursued players, with his guttural war cry of "Fresh meat!" If the Butcher caught a player, it would mean certain death, as the demon would hack away mercilessly with his cleaver.

Heroes of the Storm will keep the Butcher's reputation intact by making him an extremely formidable melee assassin, who can add to his attack power by consuming the blood of his victims. His main trait is called "Fresh Meat," which will allow him to pick up the blood of any characters he kills to increase his attack power. Fresh Meat can greatly enhance the Butcher's abilities, which include:

• (Q) Hamstring - Deal damage and slow enemies in his area.
• (W) Butcher's Brand - The Butcher's signature attack and one that anyone using this character must seek to master. The Butcher's Brand ability damages an enemy and leaves them with a demonic mark. When the Butcher attacks any marked target, he will leave damage, as well as heal for 75 percent of the damage inflicted. That amount is doubled against Heroes for a whopping 150 percent heal rate, which means the Butcher can go toe-to-toe with just about anybody and win nearly all one-on-one situations.
• (E) Ruthless Onslaught - Taking a page from his Diablo days, the Butcher will slowly charge towards any enemy Hero, causing stun damage when he catches his target.
• (R1) Lamb to the Slaughter - The Butcher will raise a pole at a targeted area, which will then latch itself to the nearest enemy Hero. The enemy will then be tethered to that pole, making it impossible to escape. Even Zeratul and Muradin's abilities cannot escape this Ultimate.
• (R2) Furnace Blast - The Butcher will take three seconds to prepare a massive blast of fire. Any opposing team member caught over the newly-created furnace grate will get caught in a giant blast and suffer major damage.

The Butcher is extremely fun to play with. He's a lumbering brute, which is meant as a total compliment. He easily makes up for his lack of speed with his trait, which only allows him to grow more powerful. Because of his dependency on his trait, it's all the more crucial that the Butcher be kept alive. If he falls in battle, his attack damage resets and he'll have to start collecting meat all over again. In the hands of a skilled player, the Butcher can be any team's ace in the hole, especially since his Lamb to the Slaughter ability can prevent foes from escaping.

As long as he's kept in one-on-one scenarios, the Butcher will thrive. With that said, his biggest weakness is that he's very limited if the numbers game doesn't go his way. He can only use the Butcher's Brand on a single target, so if the Butcher gets ambushed by two or more Heroes, he'll go down quickly.

The other major reveal for the Eternal Conflict update is a whole new battleground called Battlefield of Eternity. This is a two-lane map set in an area reminiscent of Sanctuary, with high heavens and deep hell coming together in a single world. In the center of the map, two immortals (an angel and demon) will be locked in battle. The immortals will be in something of a stalemate, which is where the Heroes come in. Teams can help turn the tide of this battle by assisting their immortal and taking the fight directly to the enemy. Conversely, they can also try and take out the other team to prevent them from doing the same. Whichever team can push its immortal to victory will get its invaluable assistance in pushing down one of the two lanes.

Mercenary camps will also work in a slightly different way in the Eternal Conflict. Not only can they help out with the fight against the immortals, but there's a camp that includes hordes of the Fallen. They'll have a pack of hounds with them and if any of the hounds die, the Fallen mercenaries will simply resurrect them. They'll be valuable when pushing either of the two lanes, especially since towers will most likely aim for the hounds first.

Fighting in the Battlefield of Eternity is fast-paced and frantic, especially when teams are focusing on the clash of the immortals in the center of the map. Interestingly, I was able to cheese my way through this with the Butcher by putting the Butcher's Brand on an immortal and relentlessly slashing away, recovering health as quickly as I was losing it. Not sure if this was an intended functionality, but I wasn't about to pass up that kind of advantage, because the immortals can pack a heavy punch.

This is a small sample of what's to come in the future, with Blizzard noting that additional Diablo-themed content is on the way. In the meantime, look for the Eternal Conflict update to hit the PTR servers on June 23. The Butcher and the Battlefield of Eternity will then become available to all players on June 30.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?