Heroes of the Storm made a surprise return at BlizzCon 2026 — and I still think it's secretly the best MOBA out there

It’s been eight years since I last played a match in Heroes of the Storm .

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For the majority of my late twenties, though, it was the MOBA my group of friends and I played night after night.

Sure, everyone else was on League of Legends or Dota 2 as they were deemed to be the superior games in the genre, but we enjoyed our home in Blizzard’s crossover brawler, battling away as iconic faces such as Thrall, Jim Raynor, Tracer, and Diablo himself.

I fondly remember the nights spent playing HOTS, and our group would regularly reminisce about the hours we spent together on the game.

We’d retell the same stories of the incredible plays and frustrating losses that we would experience every session — and never tire of joking about all the times someone would overextend in mid lane.

However, in that time between my last game and now, and following Blizzard’s decision to put the game into maintenance mode in July 2022, I had fully moved on.

But suddenly, that all changed.

At this year’s BlizzCon, the opening keynote presentation kicked off with a surprise that no one could have anticipated.

Heroes of the Storm is getting a new hero: Xal’atath, the Harbinger of the Void.

Cue a flurry of messages in the group chat, a Robin Williams ‘what year is it?’ gif, and exclamations of “we’re so back.” The game’s subreddit, a near-dormant sanctuary for players still fighting away in the Nexus, exploded back to life as well.

The passion and excitement were reactivated in an instant — and I felt the same too.