A couple of weeks ago, Rexxar joined Blizzard’s Heroes of the Storm. The uniquely ranged warrior brings his trusty pet Misha, a burly bear, with him into the fray.
To break down his kit, it is important to understand what role the hunter’s’ companion plays exactly on the battlefield. Misha is not really microed. Instead, Rexxar’s passive allows him to toggle her between a “follow” and “attack” stance. When Misha finds herself in “attack”-mode, she starts attacking the same target as Rexxar does with his auto-attacks. As soon as she is toggled into “follow”-mode, she de-aggros and returns to Rexxar, following his every step.
His first skill, Spirit Swoop, allows the half-ogre to call down a hawk in a straight line in front of him. Enemy units hit get damaged as well as slowed for 2 seconds. Not only is this skill useful when chasing down fleeing strugglers after a successful teamfight (or make it harder for chasers to get to you or your core if the roles are reversed), but also allows Misha to get in a few extra attacks once she got on top of an enemy.
The hunter’s second Skill, Misha, Charge!, commands Misha to charge in a straight line in front of her, stunning all enemy units hit as well as dealing moderate damage. Charge is your only form of hard CC, but is also a really nice tool to get your lovely companion out of harms way. Misha, Charge! also always toggles the bear into “attack”-mode.
Rexxars third skill is called Mend pet. It is a scaling, flat heal on Misha. This skill is as straightforward as it gets. Bear is low health, press button, and Bear starts healing. Easy-peasy.
Like every hero, the hunter can pick one of two heroic abilities. His first one, Bestial Wrath, is a simple buff that greatly increases Mishas basic attack power for 12 seconds. This ability enables Rexxar to greatly damage the enemy backline without having to be there himself.
The second one, Unleash the Boars, summons one boar per enemy hero in the target area which home in on them, slowing, revealing and damaging on hit. While it sounds really underwhelming, it has amazing utility when engaging or disengaging the enemy team.
Rexxars talent-tree is very well rounded and allows him to pick a variety of paths. Be it pushing, survivability, CC or just straight up damage, Rexxar has you covered. I personally prefer either going for a full Utility or Damage build, but there are other builds that people use with high success rates.
I will not be mentioning amazing talents like Flare, which provides you with fantastic, risk-free vision, Easy Prey which turns Misha into an absolute Pushing-Machine, or even Bear Necessities, which apart from having the best name also makes your bear basically inescapable.
Obliterate the enemy team with Mishas’ might claws!
The damaging build focuses mostly on Mishas ability to deal out heavy damage to the enemy backline with Bestial Wrath.
We combine Grizzled Bear (Misha periodically reduces the damage received from Hero Basic Attacks by 50%. Stores up to 2 charges.)
+
Hungry Bear (Misha’s Basic Attacks heal her for 3.9% of her maximum Health.)
To ensure the bear’s survival in the midst of the enemy team while ensuring mobility and reliable CC with Aspect of the Beast (Misha’s Basic Attacks lower the cooldown of Misha, Charge! by 2 seconds.). This build peaks at level 16 when the hunter gets a talent called Feign Death, which makes him invulnerable for 5 seconds and gives the player direct control over Misha.
Also, this synergizes amazingly with teammates that can lock down your target after the initial stun. Uther, Arthas, Kerrigan and similar heroes all work wonders with this. A special mention goes to Abathur whose Symbiote helps adding extra damage and survivability to your pet.
Unleash the Boars on your enemies to stop them in their tracks.
The utility-build is built around Unleash the Boars, building into heavy slows, numerous stuns as well as survivability for Rexxar to keep his backline safe. Stacking the slows of his heroic with Crippling Talons (Increases Spirit Swoop’s slow amount to 40% and its duration to 3 seconds.) makes enemies slow down to a crawl while they’re trying to get to you backline (or run away from it). Aspect of the Beast once again provides us basically with a spammable stun.
Picking up Thrill of the Hunt (Your Basic Attacks increase both you and Misha’s Movement Speed by for 25% for 2 seconds.) ensures us the we’ll always get in range for those auto attacks.This build truly gets online at level 20, where you can upgrade your heroic to also root enemies hit for 1,5 seconds, giving your team all the time in the world to wreak havoc among the backline while their warriors and healers have to watch. A bruiser like Johanna, Leoric or Tyrael really compliments this build and will give your assassins all the time in the world to do their thing.
All in all, Rexxar is a really interesting hero to play. He really expands the idea of the role a warrior plays in games due to the fact that he isn’t a straight-up tank. Instead we get a utility-based bruiser that can wreak havoc among the enemy lines while safely staying in the backline, being able to protect his teammates. This complex design gives him amazing replayability and a good spot in Pub-play. If you would like to try him out, purchase him for the standard price of 15’000 Gold or 9,99 Euros or give him a go in the Store.
Full Skillbuilds
DISCLAIMER: Adjusting builds according to who you are facing in a game is the mark of high skill. These are simply recommendations, not definite builds you should always use.
Damage:
Tier 1: Grizzled Bear
Tier 2: Hungry Bear
Tier 3: Aspect of the Beast
Heroic: Bestial Wrath
Tier 4: Wildfire Bear
Tier 5: Feign Death
Tier 6: Spirit Bond
Utility:
Tier 1: Hunter-Gatherer
Tier 2: Crippling Talons
Tier 3: Aspect of the Beast
Heroic: Unleash the Boars
Tier 4: Thrill of the Hunt
Tier 5: Feign Death / Primal Intimidation
Tier 6: Kill Command
Article Written By: Benjamin Bauknecht
What are your initial thoughts on Rexxar? Like him or not so much? Tell us in the comments below!