If you've played Diablo III then you know Deckard Cain, the old scholar that looks as if he couldn't fight his way out of a paper bag. Yet here he is, a playable hero in Heroes of the Storm, and unsurprisingly, he is less a brawler and more of a caster/healer character. His abilities include one that has him toss a healing potion on the ground for allies to grab, one that uses Horadric Cube to damage and slow enemies, in addition to a scroll that damages enemies and roots them in place. Fortitude of the faithful is a trait that gives him buffs for staying near a teammate, boosting his armor and other abilities.
His heroic abilities are where he really shines, with the Lorenado ability that summons a tornado made of books that shoves back all the enemies that it touches. He also has a power called "Stay A While And Listen," where he reads from a tome, which casts a large cone in front of him. Anyone inside the cone falls asleep, which is both comical and effective.
Lead designer, Matt Villers recently discussed the character during a gamespot interview:
"He's this big iconic character from Diablo, and he's not someone you'd expect to see fighting, but he's the face of it in a lot of ways. In the Diablo III opening cinematic he's right there, and we thought it would be really cool to have him added in. We saw an opportunity to make him work and make him feel like he can stand shoulder to shoulder with Thrall and these other characters. We really wanted to tackle that challenge and it was a lot of fun."
Kaeo Milker, the production director for Heroes of the Storm added, "It's such a fun game to be a part of. This is the game we built out of the passion that our team and the community had for it. You often hear about how this game started as a custom map for StarCraft II, and it was really the excitement people had for it that pushed us to continue work on it. From past BlizzCons we had so much feedback from it that we spun it off into its own thing. We keep saying it, but it's really a love letter to Blizzard games. You get to play all these characters from other worlds and smash them all together. We really couldn't have done this without the community and their input. The game is in constant evolution, and seeing Deckard Cain be revealed during the panel--seeing all the fan reactions was really exciting and energizing for the team."
Deckard does not have an actual release date, but a public test is coming "soon".
