Hemet Nesingwary by Spreee

Back-Story

Hemet Nesingwary is a quest giver and game hunter seen in Nagrand, Sholazar Basin, Valley of the Four Winds, alternate Nagrand and Highmountain. Considered the greatest hunter on Azeroth, he leads safaris to hunt the wildlife of Azeroth and beyond, and is the author of The Green Hills of Stranglethorn. He is generally to be found in the wild, camped out with a group of fellow hunters, surrounded by a variety of grizzly trophies collected from the native game of the area. Nesingwary and his cohorts tutor adventurers on the hunting and trapping of wild creatures.

Role and Design

This hero concept is a tentative at conveying the World of Warcraft Survival Hunter specialisation into Heroes of the Storm. Indeed, Heroes of the Storm has recently been given Varian and Valeera who embody the whole Warcraft classes Warrior and Rogue respectively. Heroes of the Storm has already a Hunter in the person of Rexxar who represents mainly the Beast Mastery specialisation. Consequently, the specialisation Survival and Marksmanship, while being somewhat present in Sylvanas and Tyrande's kits, are up to be implemented.

I felt like Alleria Windrunner or Shandris Feathermoon would be the obvious candidates for the Marksmanship spec and rightfully so. Thus, I went for another Hunter hero, one that would be really different from elves. Hemet Nesignwary was my obvious choice, as it's a way to add another Dwarf in the game and as Hemet is well known by World Warcraft players, being one of the most popular quest giver. In addition, while he could be classified in every Hunter specs, I think that the Survival specialisation fits him the most.

As for the Survival Spec, I think that it can be divided into 3 main aspects:

• Traps and CCs;
• Hard Dots (hybrid between Direct Damage and Classical Dots);
• Melee Attacks as a last resort.

This observation is what I based his kit on. I also paid a lot of attention to use names and abilities from World of Warcraft to pay hommage to it. In addition, I tried my best to have text consistency in tooltips. As a side note, it's worth noting that I am basing this concept on the Vanillia-Wotlk Survival spec.

Now, regarding Hemet's role, he is labelled as a specialist. However, there are 3 "main" ways to play him:

• Trap build. This build is all about CCs. This makes Hemet the ultimate Specialist/Assassin when it comes to CCs. Just like Hunters in WoW, he can pretty much do anything (for CC) but slightly less effectively.
• Dots/damage build. This build is an hybrid between slow dot heroes such as Lunara/Nazeebo and more bursty dot heroes like Sylvanas. It revovles around the "Stings", abilities from WoW Hunters. (Poison/Explosive).
• PvE build. As a specialist, Hemet has also the option to go for a Jungler/Wave Clear build.
  Overall, I went for those 3 options as I feel they represent best the Survival Spec.

Kit Description

Serpent Sting (Q)

This ability is pretty straightforward, however it used to be one of the main ability for Hunters in WoW but also the first "Sting" which usually reside in the Survival spec. It's a simple Dot skill shot. It can be improved in many ways through talents and allow Hemet to provide some sustained DPS (charges).

Counterattack (W)

This one was more tricky. I wanted to convey the melee aspect of the Survival Hunters. I thought about Wing Clip and Raptor Strike or even Mongoose Bite but in the end, I went with Counterattack which used to be the lvl 60 talent of the Survival Talent Tree. Indeed, I believe that this reactive ability which activates only when a condition is met feels more dynamic. This is a way to give Hemet a way to escape dives and melee heroes and thus increase his survivability. It can also be used as a trap enabler in some circumstances.

Scatter Shot (E)

Another iconic Hunter spell, Scatter Shot is THE trap enabler for WoW Hunter. In Heroes of the Storm, it kept its role of setting up traps. Consequently, it functions exactly the same way as in WoW, with a reduce effect to respect the Moba rules. You can't really build around this ability however.

Lay Trap (D)

This is what give Hemet his identity. This trait works similarly to Valeera's Trait Vanish. You first activate it and it gives you access to new abilites, 3 Traps which has different abilities. It's worth noting that the traps will be laid at your feet just like Time Trap from Chromie but it can be improved with talents. It gives Hemet an insanely strong and versatile way to CC in team fights, to secure kills or to survive. The baseline range of Lay Trap is about half the one of Chromie's Time Trap to give you an idea.

Explosive Shot (R)

The iconic lvl 80 talent. This is the damage oriented heroic. See it as an hybrid between Wailing Arrow/Mark-for-the-Kill and Living Bomb from Kael'thas. This skill shot deals moderate damage to a main target but when reactivated with a good timing, it will deal tones of damage to a packed enemy team.

Trap Launcher (Passive)

This is the CC option and in my mind the more interesting choice. Just like in Burning Crusade, it gave Hunters a more reactive playstyle. Your traps are upgraded and your utility in team fights will greatly improved, mainly thanks to Freezing Trap which is a similar ability to Cocoon from Anub'Arak. It will also enhance your traps as they will trigger instantly.

Screenshots

I tried here to show you how Hemet Nesingwary would look in game. It took me a fair amount of time but I feel like the result is credible.



You can see below how the trap mechanic works. Just like Valeera you first have to press D to access 3 new abilities. Traps works just like Chromie's Time Traps and can be spotted and destroyed.