Maiev is one of the most intricate characters that’s arrived in Heroes of the Storm to date

Another hit

Maiev, like every other Warcraft III hero that isn’t currently implemented in Heroes of the Storm, was a long time coming. The warden that once bested Illidan is back, and she’s bringing her famous knives and fancy footwork along with her.

Like the vast majority of combatants added since the launch of Johanna in the full release, she’s worth picking up.

Maiev is an agile melee assassin that’s built around an escape and chase playstyle. She doesn’t hit hard when it comes to single-target damage, but she can pack a punch when facing down groups thanks to a ton of area-of-effect (AOE) damage. The core of this concept is the aforementioned Fan of Knives, which is on a very short four-second cooldown, or an even shorter half a second if you hit two or more heroes with it.

Her signature Blink is built into her Spirit of Vengeance power, which sends out a shadow to dole out damage — if she wants, she can teleport to it, almost like a makeshift version of Leoric’s Wraith Walk with a touch of Sylvanas. While her Containment Disc ultimate is a little wonky (I get that it fits the lore, but jailing other heroes that aren’t agents of the Fel feels weird), the Warden’s Cage (a souped-up version of Sonya’s level 20 Leap that traps enemies) is on point. When combined with her tether (which can drag enemies toward you and stun them), she can set up some incredible ganks.

Maiev promotes an active mentality I can get behind. She’s always roaming around clearing lanes with her AOE and trying to get into teamfight skirmishes, which is engaging from the laning phase (especially in two-lane maps) all the way to the endgame. I think what I like most about her is her trait, Vault of the Wardens, which makes her immune for almost a full second — perfect for skillfully dodging ultimates. If you don’t make good use of her trait or blow your traversal abilities to chase you can easily get caught out and explode.

Her abilities average out at 10-second-or-less cooldowns, ensuring that you always have something to do. She also sports a reigned-in set of quests (there’s just two, one at level one and another at level four), which is a relief given the quest-heavy insanity of some of the heroes from 2017. Most of her talents also codify her role as a hit-and-run assassin, and force players to actually hit in order to reap the rewards of greater damage or more movement. Other than the disappointing sound effect for Fan of Knives (the old one was great!) and lack of detail on some parts of her character model, I don’t really have any complaints.

Alongside of Maiev, Heroes is also getting a few tweaks (mostly Malthael changes) and another Lunar Festival event. Voice chat is also being tested out in the PTR, but “will not be enabled on the live servers until a later date.”