Just a few weeks after Blizzard Entertainment announced Varian would be coming to Heroes of the Storm, the studio has made him available to play starting today.

As we learned in his initial announcement, Varian is the first multi-class Hero to be dropped into the Nexus. Depending on the talents the player chooses, Varian can become either a Warrior who focuses on protecting his allies, or a well-armed Assassin. His Heroic Strike Trait allows his next Basic Attack to deal bonus damage, although it comes into play every 18 seconds. Thankfully, each Basic Attack reduces its cooldown by 2 seconds.

Here are all of Varian’s abilities:

• Basic Abilities
  • Lion’s Fang (Q)
    • Launch a shockwave that travels in a straight line, dealing damage and slowing enemies by 30% for 1.5 seconds.
  • Parry (W)
    • Parry all incoming Basic Attacks for 1.25 seconds, reducing their damage by 100%.
  • Charge (E)
    • Charge to the target enemy, dealing light damage and slowing them by 75% for 1 second.
      
• Heroic Abilities
  • Taunt (R)
    • Force the target enemy Hero to attack Varian for 1.25 seconds.
    • Passive: Maximum Health increased by 50%.
    • Passive: Attack speed reduced by 25%.
  • Colossus Smash (R)
    • Smash the target enemy, dealing damage and making them Vulnerable for 3 seconds.
    • Passive: Base Attack Damage increased by 75%.
    • Passive: Maximum Health reduced by 10%.
  • Twin Blades of Fury (Passive)
    • Basic Attacks reduce Heroic Strike’s cooldown by 9 seconds, and increase Varian’s movement speed by 30% for 2 seconds.
    • Passive: Attack speed increased by 100%.
    • Passive: Base Attack Damage decreased by 25%.

In addition to Varian’s availability, Blizzard has also launched the Nexus Challenge, Blackheart’s Revenge, and an improved new player tutorial. The Nexus Challenge challenges HotS players to complete at least 15 games in co-op vs AI, Quick Match, Unranked Draft, or Ranked modes between now and January 4th to earn in-game loot in both Heroes of the Storm and Overwatch.

Those who complete 15 games will receive an Oni Genji Skin, Spray, and Portrait in Overwatch and an Oni Genji Portrait and Zarya in Heroes of the Storm. Those who complete 30 games will receive Auriel, Greymane, Kerrigan, Li-Ming, the Orochi Hovercycle Mount, and a 30-Day Stimpack.

The latest update for Heroes of the Storm is now available to download, so get out there and earn some free loot!