Rolling out today
Earlier this month, Blizzard announced a two-player hero in the form of Cho’gall for Heroes of the Storm. In essence, the primary player would control movement and their own set of abilities with Cho, and another would take care of Gall, who is attached to the former — almost like a permanent Abathur hat.
It makes for an interesting playstyle, but of course, it has its drawbacks.
Communication is paramount with Cho’gall. Playing in the same room is almost a given unless you’re on the exact same wavelength as your partner, as two heads are not necessarily better than one. While controlling Cho with a partner who wasn’t in my physical location and without the option of voice chat, I didn’t have a good feel for what areas I needed to be going in to suit my entire team’s needs on a consistent basis.
That’s important, because Cho’gall takes up two player slots, essentially making teamfights a 3v5 affair if he isn’t always present and on the ball. Cho is surprisingly mobile, as he can not only mount (and rely on a quick run from Gall, similar to The Lost Viking’s sprint), but also utilize his Q, which is a skillshot rushdown attack. It can be used for initiation or running away, and despite his size, he’s actually one of the more mobile characters in the game.
Beyond that, Cho sports an area-of-effect (AOE) damage over time attack (DOT), a rolling ball skillshot that must be detonated by Gall (again, teamwork is key), and a pair of Heroic abilities: a standard auto-attack damage increase, or a cone-based grab of sorts. He’s extremely fun to play, and deals assassin-like damage even if your partner is taking a nap. Of course, having a good Gall will make or break your game.
Gall is the magic-based part of the duo, and he sports a skillshot blast that’s constantly available, an arc-based orb attack, and the power to detonate Cho’s spiked ball attack. His Heroics are a bit less exciting, with a frontal homing spirit blast and another AOE attack. But that’s not to say he isn’t fun to play. I like the concept of relying on someone else for a change, and together, they are a very formidable and consistent source of damage.
I also feel like Cho’gall is balanced. While he is a force to be reckoned with, I think he needs to be wielded by a pair of players who both absolutely know what they’re doing, and have great timing. In that sense, a lot of people who do sport that level of technical prowess will likely just choose two separate top-tier characters to cover more ground. It’ll be interesting to see how the meta evolves with Cho’gall as a part of it, but I don’t see any major mixups happening soon. For now, I see him as a fun and viable gimmick. Interestingly enough, Cho and Gall are also separate characters in terms of leveling.
Now that he’s unleashed upon the world of Heroes, you only have to win two games with someone who has him (read: those people got him by attending BlizzCon or buying the Virtual Ticket) to own the character forever. There are plenty of resources for finding people who have him, so get out there and meet someone!
