Along with being the game’s first ranged warrior, the beast master will also have a unique mechanic in the form of his loyal bear, Misha, who essentially comprises the other half of his kit. Your ursine companion will get up close and personal with enemies while Rexxar hurls axes to finish them off.
Misha’s behavior is largely controlled through his passive, with which the player can toggle between an offensive and defensive stance. The “attack” command will have her target whoever Rexxar is attacking, along with acting as something of a shield. However, she has her own health bar so if she’s taking too much damage, the “follow” command can be used to have her retreat and stay out of combat.
(Q) Spirit Swoop – Rexxar sends his hawk in a straight line, damaging and slowing the first enemy it hits. Good for catching up to fleeing foes to follow up with his, or rather Misha’s, next ability… (W) Misha, Charge – Misha charges forward a short distance before damaging and stunning all enemies in a small area around her. If Rexxar’s passive is set to “follow”, this will toggle it to “attack. ” (E) Mend Pet – Heals Misha for a large percentage of her total health over the course of several seconds. (R1) Bestial Wrath – Misha temporarily receives greatly increased attack damage. The damage will make her enough of a threat to ensure the enemy spends more time attacking her than you and your team. The short cooldown on Mend Pet will allow her to better tank the incoming damage.
(R2) Unleash the Boars – Summons a boar for each enemy hero in range that will then track them down, damaging them on impact in addition to briefly slowing and revealing them. Following the pattern for most heroes, especially warriors, of having a damage and crowd-control option for their heroic, this ability provides potential team-wide slow.
His kit points to Rexxar being a supplemental warrior such as Arthas or Sonya – a relatively durable damage dealer, but unable to take as much punishment as the likes of Johanna, Anub’arak or Muradin.
While not requiring quite as much micro as The Lost Vikings, players will still have to keep an eye on two health bars, as well as both Rexxar and Misha’s positioning in a team fight. This is especially key if you plan to have any shot at filling the role of your team’s primary warrior in supplying crowd-control, tanking, and peeling enemies off your more fragile teammates. Misha’s area-of-effect stun will likely see the greatest use here (as the video shows, it can disrupt multiple channeled abilities).
While men might have dogs, it’s pretty clear that bears are an orc-ogre hybrid’s best friend.
