Probius

Probius, the Curious Probe, is a Ranged Assassin Hero from the StarCraft universe. Since his activation, Probius has always wanted to prove himself. He may be small, but he made a big difference by warping in a critical pylon during the retaking of. As the bravest of Probes, Probius is eager to fulfill his purpose in the Nexus.

Background
Originally designed by the to lay the foundation for  settlements,  are robotic drones that service the Nexus and gather the numerous resources needed to power Protoss technologies. Probes also manufacture and plant the micro-beacons that anchor the teleport matrices of structures. These beacons allow the Protoss to warp-in prefabricated structures from their homeworld. Often Probes are used as rudimentary spies, sent ahead to survey the potential locations of enemy encampments.

is a Protoss Probe who took part in the initial stages of the as part of an  under. During the initial landing, Probius was able to set down a warp beacon for a while the conflict raged around him. Though the Akhundelar suffered heavy casualties, Probius's Pylon allowed reinforcements to be warped in at a key moment, allowing the to establish a beachhead on.

Probes are not programmed with individuality, personalities, or traits such as curiosity, as self-aware AI was deemed heretical to the Protoss at the time of Probius's creation due to an AI uprising named the in their distant past. However, Probius gained a spark of life upon entering the Nexus, bringing him to "life" and granting him a sense of curiosity and adventure.

Gameplay
Probius is a high damage Summoner who must stay near Pylons to be effective.

Strength

 * Strong area control
 * High burst damage

Weaknesses

 * Fragile
 * Requires setup time
 * Needs frontline

Abilities

 * See Data Page for a table of scaled values at key levels.

Quotes
Main articles: Probius/Quotes

Development

 * Probius's first design was of a builder doing a Cannon Rush or having Pylons occasionally warp in some Zealot Minions. However, it didn't work out very well. When the developers realized the pure builder angle wasn't working out, they took a step back and approached him from a different perspective, and they're very satisfied with the result. According to MattVi: "It was kind of like playing Abathur without his Q ability. It was cool for a couple of games, but the novelty wore off very quickly =( I think what we ended up with gives him a much more active playstyle and lots of room for mastery, while still being very builder/setup focused."
 * Alexstrasza's second Heroic Ability, Cleansing Flame, had its core concept originally meant for Probius, where he would summon a Protoss Mothership to bombard his enemies. The development team found that to contradict with his builder-oriented gameplay, and scrapped the idea. This was later moved to Alexstrasza instead.
 * There was a question during development as to whether Probius actually needed a Basic Attack, since his cooldowns are so short and he has nearly unlimited Mana. According to MattVi: "It's true that he rarely uses his BA, but even so it feels good to be able to use it when you need it - plus his little zap is just the cutest thing ever >_>"

Trivia

 * The Development Team started referring to Probius as "Beep, Boop - You're dead" because of his incredible burst damage.
 * Probes first appeared in StarCraft (March 1998). Probius first appeared in the opening cinematic for StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void (November 2015). However, he was not given a name, personality and identity until Heroes of the Storm.
 * The second tint of Probius's default skin depicts it as a Purifier probe, and the third one as a Tal'darim Probe.
 * The skin "Terran Probius 01" is a reference to the anime "Evangelion" in which a giant mecha called "Eva 01" has a similar color design.
 * Probius is the smallest StarCraft Hero in the game.
 * Probius appears as an Easter egg in StarCraft II's Co-op Missions mode as a special champion for the . If the player constructs all six champions and then constructs another Probe, the Probe will have a special Purifier model and be named "Probius." This Probe does not have any additional stats or Abilities.
 * Probius's Warp In Pylon ability spawns a, which serve as a power conduit for the race, and allow Protoss players to expand the number of units they can build.
 * The Warp Rift ability is a reference to the Probe's ability to set down micro-beacons that allow for warping in Structures from long distances.
 * are Protoss defensive structures that can fire at range. Much like in Heroes of the Storm, Photon Cannons cannot function without a Pylon.
 * Pylon Overcharge references the removed StarCraft II ability of the "Photon Overcharge," which allowed pylons to fire on the enemy.
 * Probius's Z ability Worker Rush is the name of a StarCraft tactic where the player sends their workers to attack the enemy base early in the game in hopes of catching them unaware.
 * The Level 1 talent Gather Minerals references the Probe's main function in the StarCraft series, which is gathering and . This Ability spawns mineral clusters on the field. The quest reward that allows Photon Cannons to detect Stealthed Heroes is a reference to their function as a detector in StarCraft and StarCraft II.
 * The Level 4 talent Shield Capacitor references the fact that all Protoss units, including Probes, are equipped with plasma shields.
 * The Level 7 talent Tower Defense references a genre of games where players construct static defenses to hold off hordes of enemies. This genre is often credited with having been started in StarCraft custom maps, many of which used Photon Cannons.
 * The Level 13 talent Shield Battery references the structure, which allows Protoss units to recover their shields.
 * The Level 13 talent Power Overflowing references the quote and StarCraft invulnerability cheat code "Power Overwhelming."
 * The Level 20 talent Construct Additional Pylons references the famous voice line when a Protoss player has reached their supply limit "You must construct additional Pylons."
 * The Level 20 talent Shoot 'Em Up references the Shoot 'Em Up genre of video games, as the many small pulses it fires are similar to those found in the genre.
 * The Level 20 talent Probius Loop is a reference to the geometrical shape of the Moebius Loop.