The newest Heroes of the Storm character, Probius, was revealed at IEM Katowice last weekend along with several major UI changes and proposals for future hero reworks.

In between matches, Blizzard led a discussion panel to discuss Probius, the newest hero to enter the Nexus. A short teaser last week featuring a Protoss unit (or building) warping in indicated that Blizzard planned to reveal a new hero at IEM Katowice. Naturally, there was a lot of speculation on whether it was an iconic figure like Fenix or Karax, but the gaming company surprised everyone with the demure, unassuming Probius.

Similar to Gazlowe, The Protoss Probe can entrench itself with pylons, photon cannons, and dimensional warps and take control of a lane. Trademark Protoss abilities like warping in cannons and using Photon Overcharge on pylons allow Probius to push constantly and force other players to deal with it. Probius also has plenty of utility talents that slow down enemy heroes and give shields to allies.

It’s unlikely that Probius will be a strong pick at first due to his “entrenchment” playstyle. Heroes of the Storm is generally a fast-paced game which relies on quick rotations that reward mobile and flexible heroes. Nonetheless, a few maps like Battlefield of Eternity and Braxis Holdout lend themselves to a pushing playstyle, so Probius might find some success there.

In addition to the new hero, Blizzard is hard at work updating the in-game UI to display more relevant information, and more importantly, to highlight the best performing players with redesigned killstreak flames!

Probius is already live in the Public Test Realm, along with the new UI and considerable changes to other various heroes. If you’ve got some free time this week, log in and check out the Protoss worker and the latest UI improvements!