Blizzard has announced at Gamescom 2016 that Overwatch character Zarya will be joining their online battle arena game, Heroes of the Storm. This will be the second Overwatch character to join the roster, after Tracer joined near the launch of Overwatch.
Zarya joins Tracer as part of the upcoming Machines of War event which will take place in Heroes of the Storm. Machines of War is primarily a StarCraft themed update.
Zarya will be joining the roster of Heroes of the Storm as a ranged warrior character class. This will carry over most of what makes the character interesting in Overwatch, making for a great addition to Heroes of the Storm.
Machines of War will also introduce two new StarCraft II inspired maps to Heroes of the Storm: Braxis Holdout and Warhead Junction. Braxis Holdout is set on a Domination-controlled planet that serves as a Zerg testing facility. The map will feature beacons that once controlled can unleash a swarm of Zerg on the opponent. Warhead Junction will feature nuclear warheads across the map, and once all are collected, can launch a strike against the opponent.
Blizzard will also be releasing a series of skins to go along with the Machines of War. These skins include the legendary Queen of Ghosts skin for Kerrigan, Raider Rexxar and Thunder Guard Zarya, and a Mutalisk-themed skin for The Butcher.
The Heroes of the Storm: Machines of War update will also come with a special in-game event that will run during the update. The Xel’naga Artifact Hunt will task players to track down artifacts at the beginning of matches. Players will need to compete against AI-controlled SCVs who will be trying to beat players in this collection process, making it a race to see who can do it first.
While there is currently no firm release date for the Machines of War update, it will be playable at Gamescom this week.
