DISCLAIMER: This mini-review is based on experience from Quick Matches and VS AI in the latest PTR within a 24 hour period. Experience may vary among players of various skill levels.
Samuro is the new Hero released in The Nexus on 17th Oct. Samuro was built from the iconic Blademaster unit from Warcraft 3, he now continues to show his swift might against other Heroes, some familiar to him and some very strange.
With players knowing that he is a melee assassin with stealth, they might think of one hero in mind: Zeratul. But unlike Zeratul and Nova, his stealth ability is an active one, called Wind Walk. Unlike Zeratul’s and Nova’s stealth which are passive and relying on not getting hit from anything for a short duration. And unlike the previous stealth Heroes, upon using Wind Walk, he will not be revealed even when getting hit from any attack for 1 second while moving 30% faster (making his unmounted movement speed into 130%, practically same as the mounting speed) and can pass through any enemy or ally units. Talenting this ability for additional speed makes escaping a team fight or a gank easy.
His trait is called Advancing Strikes, where he gets an additional 25% speed boost (making his unmounted movement speed into 125%) for 2 seconds when he attacks an enemy Hero. This makes Samuro a very cunning hero, not only does he move faster upon attacking, he also cannot be revealed quickly when using Wind Walk, making him easily able to escape in team fights or fighting 1v1 or when ganked upon.
As for his abilities: most of them are taken from the Blademaster unit from Warcraft 3, so WC3 players and fans will recognize his abilities. His first ability is his Q: Mirror Image, which makes near identical clones of Samuro controlled by AI. Unlike Nova’s decoys, these do damage to all enemy units as baseline. What’s great about this ability is that all his clones have Samuro’s abilities and talents as well, this makes it harder for the enemy to tell who is the real Samuro since the clones are doing the same abilities as the player controlled Samuro does (with the exception of the already active Mirror Image of course). Next is his W: Critical Strike, which works in two ways: both a passive and active ability at the same time. Passively, attacking any enemy unit will build his Critical Strike meter and when hitting enough times, Samuro will deal 50% more damage to any enemy units and Heroes with his next basic attack, while activating this ability will instantly charge the meter, dealing critical damage in his next basic attack. With his W: Wind Walk, you can read 2 paragraphs above for its description and comparisons to other stealth Heroes.
Now for Heroics. His first Heroic (R1) is Bladestorm. Warcraft 3 players will be familiar with this ability. Using Bladestorm will turn Samuro into an Unstoppable (cannot be stunned/rooted) flurry of damage, dealing a significant amount to all enemies. Do note that while using Bladestorm, Samuro is still able to take damage from all enemy sources, so be careful in using this ability, especially in team fights. His second Heroic (R2), Illusion Master, can do two things: first, Samuro is able to switch places with his Mirror Images instantly wherever they may be on the map and second, the player can control the Mirror Images separately, similar to controlling The Lost Vikings. For example: Illusion Master can be used to either trick enemies thinking they are attacking a real Samuro, baiting for a gank or stall a contested objective. More powerful versions of these Heroics can have Bladestorm able to be used simultaneously with the Mirror Images, dealing an immense amount of damage over a larger area or give your clones the exact health as the main Samuro and make them last longer in the battleground.
The interesting part of Samuro is his talents. Samuro has a healthy pool of talents, where players can build Samuro in multiple ways, either build his damage and attack speed up, or make his Wind Walk more effective against enemies. But his weakness is mostly his survivability. While Samuro can be built to boost his defense like talenting Mirror Images for Spell Shield or giving his passive trait reduced basic attack damage by 25% upon attacking, Samuro is still easily taken down by high DPS or high burst Heroes like Kerrigan or Li-Ming. This weakness is similar to some assassins in the game, may they have escape abilities or not. Trickery will be the crucial for playing Samuro, especially playing with his Mirror Images and Wind Walk for guaranteed survival.
Samuro is an great addition to the Nexus as he perfectly captures the iconic Blademaster unit from Warcraft 3 and will easily become a favorite among players, he may be even very viable for competitive play. We’ll find out soon enough.
This article was contributed by an avid gamer of Heroes of the Storm, Oscar Mondia.