World of Warcraft: The War Within Hero Talents explained

World of Warcraft: The War Within was announced at Blizzcon as the first part of the three-expansion series The Worldsoul Saga. Since then, Blizzard has gone into further detail about some specific new features, the latest of which are the new Hero Talent trees.

The story is set to take players into the Heart of Azeroth, after the cinematic trailer revealed that Thrall had been hearing voices and seeing visions from the center of the world. He and Anduin agree to investigate the threat together, and it is from there that the story will begin.

As well as promising to correct the course of WoW’s presently convoluted story, the expansion is set to introduce many new features and experiences for players to participate in. One of those is Hero Talents, which are designed to complement the existing talent trees with new powers and buffs.

The War Within Hero Talents provides evergreen progression

Hero Talents are self-contained talent trees that operate independently from the existing talent systems from previous expansions. First unlocked at Level 71 as players start their journey through the new leveling zones, there are three paths within each class’ Hero Talent trees. Of those, each spec will have access to two different paths.

The example provided by Blizzard to demonstrate the point is Warriors, whose three Hero Talents options are Mountain Thane, Colossus and Slayer. Fury spec will be able to access Mountain Thane and Slayer, Arms can use Colossus and Slayer, while Protection has Mountain Thane and Colossus available.

Blizzard Entertainment

Within each of those three options is a node-based tree that players will recognize as similar to the versions already existing in the game. Each has 11 nodes in total, with a “Keystone” and “Capstone” ability at the beginning and end.

These new abilities are set to provide further differentiation between classes and specs, with the developer referring to their use in a similar fashion to subclasses. Aside from the three above, Blizzard has also revealed tantalizing names, including San’Layn Death Knight, Chronowarden Evoker and Lightsmith Paladin.

As part of an early look at the Hero Trees above, Blizzard explained the details in each tier of the new setup for Mountain Thane Warriors:

Mountain Thane Row 1

Call of Thunder: The Stormstrike damage or Nature damage your abilities deal is increased by 5%. Stormstrike damage ignores Armor. Thunder Clap damage increased by 50%. For Fury only, Thunder Clap generates 5 Rage and Improved Whirlwind and Meat Cleaver now improve Thunder Clap as well as Whirlwind. 

Ground Current: Lightning Strikes also deal low amounts of Nature damage to enemies near their target. Damage reduced beyond 5 targets.

Strength of the Mountain: Shield Slam damage increased by 20%. Bloodthirst and Rampage damage increased by 10%.

Mountain Thane Row 2

Thunder Blast: Shield Slam and Bloodthirst have a 20% chance to grant you Thunder Blast, stacking up to 2 charges. Thunder Blast causes your next Thunder Clap to become a Thunder Blast that deals Stormstrike damage.

Choice Node: Storm Bolts & Storm Shield

• Storm Bolts: Storm Bolt also hits 1 additional nearby target, stunning them for 2 seconds.
• Storm Shield: Intervening a target grants them a shield for 5 seconds that absorbs magic damage equal to 3 times your Armor.

Choice Node: Flashing Skies & Valarjar Training

• Flashing Skies: Chance for Lightning Strikes to critically strike is increased by 5% and their critical strike damage is increased by 10%.
• Valarjar Training: Lightning Strikes reduce the cooldown of Ravager by 0.5 second.

Mountain Thane Row 3

Choice Node: Steadfast as the Peaks & Keep Your Feet on the Ground

• Steadfast as the Peaks: Victory Rush increases your maximum health by 10% for 5 seconds. 
• Keep Your Feet on the Ground: Thunder Blast reduces damage you take by 4% for 5 seconds.

Choice Node: Gathering Clouds & Thorim’s Might

• Gathering Clouds: Your attacks trigger Lightning Strikes 15% more often.
• Thorim’s Might: Lightning Strikes generate 3 Rage. Revenge, Raging Blow, and Execute damage increased by 15%.

Burst of Power: Lightning Strikes have a 20% chance to make your next 2 Shield Slams or Bloodthirsts have no cooldown.

Mountain Thane Capstone Ability

Avatar of the Storm: Casting Avatar grants you 2 charges of Thunder Blast and resets the cooldown of Thunder Clap. While Avatar is not active, Lightning Strikes have a 10% chance to grant you Avatar for 4 seconds.

Exact details on how these talents will function are yet to be announced, but it’s a fairly safe bet that respeccing and building into new paths will operate in a similar way to the existing talent setup.

With full details for each tree set to release over the next few months, check back into Dexerto for complete guides on each Hero Talent tree and their respective classes heading into the release of The War Within.

For more breakdowns of The War Within’s upcoming Hero Talent trees, check out our other guides below:

Colossus Warrior | Keeper of the Grove Druid | Dark Ranger Hunter | Frostfire Mage | Oracle Priest | Elune’s Chosen Druid | Wildstalker Druid | Herald of the Sun Paladin | Scalecommander Evoker | Trickster Rogue | Templar Paladin | Diabolist Warlock | Rider of the Apocalypse Death Knight | Deathbringer Death Knight | Aldrachi Reaver Demon Hunter | Druid of the Claw Druid | Pack Leader Hunter | Flameshaper Evoker | Spellslinger Mage | Shado-Pan Monk