Tassadar

Tassadar, the Savior of the Templar, is a Ranged Assassin Hero from the StarCraft universe. An executor without equal, Tassadar fought valiantly to save Aiur from the Zerg. Channeling the Khala and Void, he destroyed the Overmind at the cost of his life. In the glory of combat Protoss warriors forever invoke his name: "En Taro, Tassadar!" Prior to patch 2.50.0, Tassadar was a Support hero.

Background
, once branded a heretic by the ruling body of the known as the, is now considered one of the greatest heroes in the history of this enigmatic race of psionic warriors. From an early age, Tassadar was wholly devoted to the, the protoss religion and psionic link that shared thoughts and emotions between their society. However, he also questioned the Conclave's rigidity, stoicism, and dogmatic obsession with tradition. Despite his reservations about the protoss leadership, his innate intelligence and strength allowed him to rise quickly through the ranks and eventually earned him the rank of Executor of the Empire's forces. He took in a young protoss named Artanis as a pupil, training him in the ways of the Templar.

It was Tassadar who made first contact with both the ravenous and the relatively young. Once the Conclave examined the zerg and realized the threat they posed, they ordered Tassadar to wipe out any signs of their infestation, including worlds inhabited by the terrans. Tassadar, however, felt it was the protoss' responsibility to protect the terrans and refused to carry out his orders unless there was absolutely no hope of saving the planet in question. Eventually Tassadar was ordered to return home and face the Conclave for his insubordination, but he refused in favor of continuing his fight against the zerg as best as he could without sacrificing terran worlds. His fight would eventually bring him into contact with several allies, including a terran named Jim Raynor as well as a group of protoss known as the, an individualistic sect that had been exiled in ages past for refusing to join the Khala. Though initially hesitant to interact with the Dark Templar, Tassadar came to appreciate the powers of the Dark Templar that were lost to those who embraced the Khala by interacting with their Dark Prelate Zeratul. Eventually learning to use those powers for himself and combine them with his understanding of the Khala, Tassadar gained completion beyond the scope of the Khala.

Despite his new abilities, the Conclave abhorred his interactions with the Dark Templar and branded him a heretic to be executed. Ever dedicated to protecting his home regardless of his own fate, Tassadar returned to the protoss homeworld of to defend it from the zerg, convincing Artanis, Zeratul, Raynor and the protoss hero Fenix to come to his aid. After defeating the Conclave forces that were more intent with stopping him than the zerg, Tassadar rallied what was left of his allies and made in one last stand against the. Despite their best efforts, nothing could significantly harm the Overmind, and thus Tassadar sacrificed himself by crashing his carrier into the massive creature while channeling both the Khala-based powers that he had grown up with as well as those of the Dark Templar. The resulting explosion succeeded in killing the Overmind, and while the zerg still rampaged across Aiur their loss of an all-powerful leader gave the protoss the room they needed to survive.

Gameplay
Tassadar is a Ranged Assassin hero based on area control and channeled abilities. His trait is Resonance Beam, which makes his Basic Attack a channeled beam that slows the target. While channeling, Tassadar gains Basic Attack damage and mana regeneration. His first ability, Shock Ray, fires a beam of energy across the ground that deals heavy damage in a line. His second ability is Psionic Storm, an Area of Effect attack that deals increasing damage each time it hits an enemy. His final basic ability, Force Wall, creates an impassable barrier at the target location.

His first Heroic allows him to transform into an Archon, which grants him a large shield and replaces his basic attack with a powerful energy blast. His second heroic, Black Hole', launches a black hole that travels forwards in a straight line. Nearby enemies are sucked towards the black hole, and enemies in the center take damage and are stunned.

Strengths

 * Waveclear
 * Heavy AoE damage
 * High poke range
 * Has great zoning potential, being good in small choke points

Weaknesses

 * Is very squishy, and can be easily killed or ganked
 * Weak against high mobility Heroes, since all his Abilities can be easily dodged.
 * Low mobility

Abilities

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

Development and Rework
Tassadar was initially conceived as a hero, but was eventually developed into a more lore-relevant character.

Tassadar was originally a Support for years, who provided scouting, shields, and battlefield control. His basic attack was Distortion Beam that slowed enemies hit, and his trait, Oracle, increased his sight range and revealed invisible enemies in the radius when activated. His first ability, Plasma Shield, placed a large shield on a target that also granted a small amount of lifesteal on basic attacks. His primary offensive ability was Psionic Storm, an Area of Effect attack that dealt increasing damage each time it hits. Dimensional Shift acted as his emergency button, turning him invisible, invincible, and intangible for a short period of time. His first Heroic was Archon, which granted him a Plasma Shield and replaced his basic attack with a powerful energy blast for the duration. His second Heroic, Force Wall, created an impassable barrier, and passively increases the slow of Distortion Beam.

His rework was the most extensive in the entire game, turning him into a Ranged Assassin with a completely different playstyle. In terms of his development, as well as in the release cycle, Tassadar went firmly into new hero territory. David Warner wrote: "''We had talked about shifting him from a support role to an assassin for years, but we didn’t have a solid plan as to what this transition would look like. I knew from the beginning that Plasma Shield would have to be cut in favor of another damage ability, so I started experimenting with various abilities and what became Shock Ray fell into placepretty quickly. We experimented with just that addition for a while, but we realized very early on that that there was no reasonable way we could keep Dimensional Shift *and* inject more numeric power into his kit without it becoming overpowered or making extreme concessions elsewhere. Removing that safety option really broadened the possibilities for what we could do with Tass and we spent a good amount of time (~4-5 months I want to say) trying different things until the base kit resembled what it is now. Figuring out talents took another few months, but came together fairly easily. Moving Force Wall from an ultimate to a Basic Ability was a little contentious at first, but as we got used to playing with it we realized it worked well. Black Hole came very late in the design cycle and went through multiple iterations before it became what it is today. We stopped making big design changes to him probably 2-3 months ago, so his total iteration time was probably a year’s worth of time, which is fairly close to how long we iterate on brand new heroes."''

Trivia

 * Tassadar first appeared in StarCraft (March 1998).
 * Tassadar is voiced by.
 * Tassadar was one of the 18 heroes revealed at BlizzCon 2013.
 * Tassadar's 3D design in StarCraft II was based off of an action figure made by Toycom, after the launch of the first StarCraft. Heroes of the Storm created a Tassadar model much closer to the figure's design.
 * During the Technical Alpha, the flavor text for the Mecha skin referenced the Transformers.
 * Although they are unwilling to admit it, Tassadar Prime and the Zealobots are losing the civil war against the Judicons. Little do they know, deep within the core of Aiurtron an infestation is growing...
 * Tassadar's Mecha skin references the  franchise (1984).
 * Tassadar's Cobalt Mecha skin references the leader of the Autobots; Optimus Prime.
 * Tassadar's Astral Mecha skin references the leader of the Decepticon; Megatron.
 * The Psionic Storm ability is a the ability, and Tassadar in his high templar hero form, have in the StarCraft series. This does a large amount of damage in a small area.
 * In beta builds of the game, Tassadar's psionic storm was replaced with an ability named "time warp" which slowed in a small area and left behind a bubble. This was changed due to fan outcry.
 * The ability references the archon unit, which is a fusion of two  or  into a being of pure power.
 * Black Hole is a reference to the ability used by in the  mode. A similar ability named "Wormhole" is used in older versions of the protoss.
 * The Level 1 talent Khaydarin Amulet references the high templar use to focus their power, wearing them as amulets
 * The Level 4 talent Plasma Shield references the protoss shields the protect all of their units and structures. In prior builds of Heroes of the Storm, Tassadar could give himself and allies these shields with his Q ability.
 * The Level 13 talent "Feedback" is a reference to the ability used by the in StarCraft and high templar in StarCraft II, which drains the enemy's energy and deals it as damage.
 * The Level 13 talent "Shadow Walk" is a reference to the ritual of the, where one Nerazim would have go pass through a valley with their brethren in the shadows waiting to strike them. Tassadar took this trial as his final test when training with Zeratul. In older builds of the game, this was Tassadar's E ability, named "Dimensional Shift."
 * The Level 13 talent "Oracle" may be a reference to the protoss, a sect of Nerazim who could see the strands of time. In older builds of Tassadar, this served as his D ability.
 * The Level 16 talent "Thermal Lance" is a reference to the name of the weapon of the protoss war strider, the, which has the same name.
 * The Level 16 talent "Executor's Will" references Tassadar's former rank of.
 * The Level 20 talent Twilight Archon comes from the, an archon made from a fusion of a dark templar and a high templar. This also served as a cut unit in StarCraft II. To match its infused power, the Tassadar's archon with the Twilight Archon talent becomes purple.
 * The level 20 talent "Khala's Gift" reference the . The Khala was a mind link all protoss shared which allowed for the transfer of thoughts, emotions and memories, and high templar such as Tassadar were considered masters of it.
 * Tassadar was reworked into a ranged Assassin, with the release of patch 2.50.0.