In the past few weeks we’ve brought you playlists for the Supports, Warriors, and Specialists in the Nexus—all to help commemorate the arrival of the official Heroes of the Storm soundtrack. Now it’s time for the big one: the Assassins.
Assassins. They’re the heart of many a team that braves the Nexus—diving into battle and dancing back-and-forth with death (sometimes literally) to bring down their foes before anyone can slay their teammates. They might not take the brunt of damage like Warriors, or repair damage inflicted like their Support counterparts, but they certainly dish out the most damage. And at the end of the day, it’s that barrage of damage-per-second that you always need to make it through the enemy team and destroy the core.
So what do these dealers or death put on their favorite mixtape? What does The Butcher bellow “FRESH MEAT” to the tune of when he’s charging down a lane? Let’s find out.
Alarak
Alarak might not be quite as evil as Scar, but like the villainous lion from Disney’s classic, the guy is always scheming. “For what?” you might ask. Who knows? But you better be prepared for something nefarious to go down whenever the Highlord of the Tal’darim is around.
Cassia
Cassia is the closest thing we have in the Nexus to Wonder Woman. It’s only proper that she get a song befitting a superhero. As with Taylor Swift swooping in to save Li Li in our Support playlist, we thank the good people behind Wonder Woman for their impeccable timing in showing their support for the Javazon.
Chromie
Chromie is, by far, one of the giddiest denizens of the Nexus. She loves to celebrate. And thanks to her time travelling and reversing capabilities, she can always celebrate something again if she wants to.
Falstad
In his younger days, Falstad Wildhammer journeyed throughout Azeroth in search of glory and adventure. He’s flown across the Great Sea, fought at Grim Batol to free the Red Dragon Queen Alexstrasza, and now serves on the Council of Three Hammers—in between Heroes matches, that is.
Genji
- I Need Healing by Fat Buddha
If there’s one thing we all know about Genji, it’s that he needs healing. And he always needs it, really, really badly. Even when he’s at full health! He might as well just steal a boombox from Lúcio and carry it around with him, playing the chorus of this song for all his allies to hear.
Greymane
Genn Greymane—the proud and often stubborn king of Gilneas—isolated his kingdom behind a mighty wall, turning his back on the Alliance. However, after the Worgen Curse struck Gilneas, Greymane realize he couldn’t save his people alone. Nowadays he unleashes his inner beast upon opponents in the Nexus, howling into battle with the Prince of Darkness.
Gul’dan
Gul’dan sided with a demon, quite literally, in exchange for the dangerous power of the fel. He betrayed his own people—and screwed over everyone else in Azeroth, too—just so he could have that power. And where did his betrayal get him, at the end of it all? “I tried, and I failed to teach you,” Gabriel & Dresden sing. If only the evil warlock had listened.
Illidan
Illidan is the essence of angst. He lives a wounded life, one of constant pain and bitter anger for all the bad things he’s done, all the people he’s hurt along the way—but, more importantly to Illidan, all the bad things they have done to
him. He might not seek absolution like the character in Linkin Park’s song, necessarily, but he does seek redemption…just by, you know, getting very violent vengeance on those he doesn’t like. He’s also made a killer appearance at BlizzCon.
Jaina
Jaina might have a pleasant, even noble demeanor. But anyone who’s gotten trapped in the Archmage’s Ring of Frost knows that she shows no mercy to her foes. Well, at least she sometimes give them a snow cone before they die.
Kael’thas
Kael’thas loves to get down to some disco almost as much as he loves to set things on fire. Do you think he’s ever stopped to ask himself
why everyone runs in terror once he shows up on the dance floor?
Kerrigan
Kerrigan might not have gunpowder, gelatin, or dynamite with a laser beam like the eponymous deadly monarch in this Queen ballad, but she’s absolutely guaranteed to blow your mind. Plus, don’t you think an Ultralisk is more powerful than any of those other things anyways?
Li-Ming
The opening track from Hole’s
Live Through This was written by frontwoman Courtney Love as a fierce breakup song—it’s a roaring, screaming expression of her rage and contempt around the loss of her agency. Violet captures Li-Ming’s defiant energy and unbridled passion—not to mention her iconic purple disintegration beam. The rebellious wizard’s ray of face-melting energy might last just moments, but if you can trigger the resets and “give more violet to the violents,” the enemy team will feel like the purple death beams last forever.
Engage Li-Ming head-on at your peril . . . she
wants you to. “Go on, take everything,”—she dares you to!
Lunara
We’ve all been there: you’re in the middle of a team fight when suddenly your health drops precariously low. Your healer isn’t there. Or maybe they’re just out of mana. So you run. The bad guys keep hitting you. Your health drops even lower. With one tiny sliver of HP left, you
just make it back behind your towers where they can’t hit you anymore . . . and then you die to Lunara’s damage-over-time effect. Sing it with me now:
That girl is pooooiiisssssonnnnn!!
Malthael
Malthael, the Reaper incarnate, the Aspect of Death. He must be smiling to himself behind that creepy hood while he floats around the Nexus reaping souls with his twin scythes listening to Blue Öyster Cult on his headphones (it’s easy to hide them behind his hood, just like his smile). “They told them not to fear the reaper,” he says, cackling to himself. “Little did they know!”
Nova
The Gap Band’s song is about a man falling for a woman despite (or maybe because of) the fact that she keeps dropping bombs on him. Nova might not have as many suitors in the Nexus since she can’t seem to stop sneaking up to kill them, but she blows enough kisses that you know she’s confident that special someone will come even if (or, really, when) she drops a bomb on them.
Ragnaros
Ragnaros keeps getting put to sleep in the Firelands, whether he wants to take a nap or not. While he unquestionably has a temper, nothing can match the righteous fury Zach de la Rocha brings to Rage Against the Machine. Maybe one day Ragnaros will be able to match Zach’s anger and emerge from his lava prison for good—never to be forced to sleep in the fire again.
Raynor
Sam Hunt’s mournful country tune tells a story of him being in love with a woman, but choosing not to pursue her because he knows she’s got a lot of other stuff going on in her life. Kerrigan being captured by the Overmind and transformed into a Zerg queen is probably the best example there is of someone having too many complications in their personal life to worry about landing a boyfriend. But just like Sam Hunt, Raynor was willing to wait as long as she needed.
Samuro
Samuro loves to make copies of himself whenever he’s in a tight situation. No doubt these clones have saved him many times over. But Trent Reznor’s song raises a troubling question: how do you think the clones feel about all of this? Do you think the weaker Samuro clone likes being a “shadow of a shadow,” always trying to catch up with himself? Samuro usually escapes after summoning up his copies; they’re the ones who are left to die.
The Butcher
Eaten is a song about a man who wants to be eaten. The Butcher loves to eat people. There is no better match made in hell or heaven. The Butcher wakes up to this song every morning and blasts it while brushing his teeth with a giant meat cleaver. He plays it on his commute to . . . wherever he goes to chop things. He will play it at his wedding, right before he eats his bride (or groom!). He will ask that it be played at his funeral, if he ever can be fully laid to rest.
Thrall
Thrall is a big fan of heavy metal. The Warchief of the Horde loves to ride the lightning every time he casts his Q—especially since that rework gave him all these new quest benefits for doing so.
Tracer
Who hasn’t tried to chase down Tracer, infuriated by her steady stream of niggling but deadly damage, only to have her Blink out of your grasp again and again and . . . again? You can practically hear her teasing you with MC Hammer’s signature beat as she zips away
Tychus
As a man who spent a significant part of his life caged within his own hulking metal space marine suit, Tychus knows to appreciate prison folk. Lucky for him he still managed to snag himself a cigar, just like the rich folk in Johnny Cash’s historic prison song.
Valeera
Valeera is pretty much unmatched when it comes to sneak attacks in Heroes of the Storm. You’re in lane, just biding your time soaking up XP while you wait for the next objective. A small blur or shimmer in the wind might catch your eye. Before you can even wonder what it was, there she is: stabbing you from every which way. And before you even have a chance to respond, she disappears, “a burst of black, a breath of smoke.” The only difference between her and The Faint is
you are usually the one who loses control after she shows up—because you’re dead.
Valla
As a Demon Hunter in Sanctuary, Valla has seen the worst of what happens when evil takes hold: Villagers left with their bones shattered, the purity of her people withered by demonic taint. Some are driven to ill deeds by demonic influence; Valla is driven to defend against it.
Zeratul
From the shadows of the Korpulu Sector to the rugged lands of Shaolin, the Dark Prelate strikes again. Zeratul is unquestionably the most Wu Tang Hero in the Nexus. He’s calm, quiet, and calculating in his every move, until he bursts forth, more deadly than the stroke of an axe.
Choppin’ through your back!
A game of chess is a perfect metaphor for the ninja blade battles the Protoss assassin enters into—you can deal more damage than almost anyone as Zeratul, but if you want to make it back out in one piece, you must think first before you move.
Zul’jin
Zul’jin is a real sucker for pain because, just like Kelly Clarkson, he knows that it will just make him all the stronger when he comes back swinging. Who knew Clarkson was such a big fan of berserkers?
So the Songs of the Storm winds to a close. But fear not, there are always more Heroes coming into the Nexus. So let us know what you think. Do you agree with our choices, or do you insist that Zeratul actually listens to Polka? Let us know what you think of the songs so far, and what you might have in mind for any future Heroes!
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