Heroes of the Storm is getting a new hero. Blizzard president Johanna Faries opened the BlizzCon 2026 ceremony with Xal’atath, the void entity from World of Warcraft, as the first announcement of the show, and she made it personal.
“You’ll be hearing things that are near and dear to our hearts, including something near and dear to mine in this first announcement,” Faries said. On planning the show, she said: “I flat out told the team, I’m not going, I’ll cut the check, but I’m not going, unless we have something real to share about this game in particular.” The trailer followed, introduced as “something straight from the Nexus of our hearts.”
What the trailer shows
It opens on a Nexus battleground seen from above: a central fountain, forts with red banners, lanes cutting through gardens, and a stone temple guarded by a winged statue with objective markers on either side. A top-down skirmish plays out in a garden, then a hero fights alone on the temple flagstones, and the ground and a nearby structure start to crumble.
Xal’atath appears towering over the map in a column of purple and pink void energy, extra arms spread, over the forts. A close-up follows on a black void orb, and her energy spills over the winged statue.
She then drops to the ground at hero scale and walks a stone path in purple and gold armor, with two void orbs orbiting her shoulders. A single voice line plays over the trailer: “This will do nicely.”
The trailer ends on a split-screen clash between Xal’atath and a crowned skeletal warrior with long white hair, who appears to be Leoric, before the Heroes of the Storm logo with two void orbs beside it.
Dates, said on stage
No date card was shown. Faries gave the dates herself: “Heroes of the Storm is pleased to welcome Xal’atath. She will officially be coming to the game later this month, and she’ll be available on the PTR starting this Monday.” That puts the test realm at Monday, September 14 and the full release in September 2026. “Those of you here in Anaheim will be able to play her all weekend long in the Blizzard Arcade,” she added.
She closed with a message to the game’s players: “To all the HotS players out there, I hear you, I see you. Thank you for believing in this game, for carrying the torch, and for reminding us, sometimes very loudly, what this game means to you.” She also hinted at more: “We might even have another new hero on the way in the near future. So stay tuned and we will see you in the Nexus.”
What we still don’t know
The segment did not show Xal’atath’s kit, her role, her talents, or an exact release date beyond “later this month.” The second hero Faries teased has no name and no timing. No wider game update was mentioned.