Heroes of the Storm fans, rejoice: Blizzard has not forgotten you. Yes, shocking many, I’m sure. Blizzard has just released a new blog post announcing that Xal’atath is joining Heroes of the Storm alongside a major new update.

That’s right: for the first time in almost six years, the game is receiving a brand-new hero, making her the 91st to join the Nexus.

To celebrate the launch, fans can earn exclusive Twitch drops starting today, September 28, at 9:00 am PT, through October 5 at 11:59 pm PT. Rewards scale with watch time, ranging from 1,000 gold for an hour to Epic and Legendary loot chests, and even an Epic Deadly Chaos Wolf at the eight-hour mark.

Now, my personal knowledge of Heroes of the Storm is limited, but the blog post does detail the new hero. Xal’atath is a ranged assassin, and her ability kit is as follows:

• Trait - Void Volley. Basic attacks build Soul Essence; at full Essence, unleash a barrage of void orbs at a target area while moving freely.
• Q - Shadow Mark. Cast a large Void Orb that marks enemy Heroes hit by its inner radius; the Dark Heart moves to the impact point and detonates on marked enemy Heroes.
• W - Dark Heart Ritual. Summon the Dark Heart talisman to pulse void energy at nearby enemies, then follow and detonate on any Shadow Marked Hero.
• E - Void Step. Blink between three points in a triangular pattern, gaining attack damage at each stop; can be cancelled early to reposition or escape.
• Heroic - Void Eruption. Channel a growing void orb, launch it to blind enemies and dominate space, then detonate in a large area - cast on the Dark Heart for an instant, fully empowered eruption.
• Heroic - Void Convergence. Summon a portal that spawns relentless void minions to overwhelm nearby enemies, replacing fallen minions until the portal ends or is destroyed.

Xal’atath is a paid hero, available for $7.99 right now. For those who prefer to use gold, Blizzard aims to make her available for gold later this year, tentatively set for the end of November.

Outside of this new hero, Blizzard details a bunch of other stuff in the blog post, which you should check out, including a teaser that more might be to come... Fans of Heroes of the Storm seemingly have a lot to be excited about, and I for one hope the game can stick it to other MOBAs.

Do let me know your thoughts in the comments, whether you’re excited, not excited, or somewhere in between. And with that, do be sure to take part in our poll below:

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Winhanced is a launcher that essentially replaces Xbox Mode on your Windows handheld. Instead of simply fullscreening the Xbox app, Winhanced gives you a fully featured user interface that connects to your Xbox, Steam, GOG, and Epic libraries, alongside support for emulators, other apps, and much more.

I've talked quite extensively about Winhanced here on Windows Central, using the launcher for quite some time on my own handhelds, and seen it in both its current, near-complete state and its not-so-complete state a few months back.

The launcher is nearing version 1.0, which I’m sure I’ll cover when it releases, as the sneak peek I’ve seen — and will discuss closer to release — is extremely exciting. However, version 0.9.9.9 is available today and boasts new features and improvements. These are just a few that caught my attention:

• Friend cards, letting you message your friends, see what they’re doing, view their profiles, and more. (Public)
• Better integration with Discord, Steam, Xbox, and PlayStation. (Public)
• PC streaming through the new Winhanced Streaming Companion. (Public)
• Install Windows updates without leaving Winhanced. (Public)
• Improved driver detection for updating your handheld’s drivers through Winhanced. (Public)
• Game theme music, including the option to choose your own tracks. (Public)
• Improved Epic and GOG downloads, including resumable downloads. (Public)
• Create your own collections for easier access to different groups of games. (Early Access)
• A Discord server browser that can be navigated with a controller. (Early Access)

Those are just a handful of the additions, and 0.9.9.9 also includes substantial behind-the-scenes work to improve how Winhanced works in general, making it a pretty seamless experience. If you're interested, I urge you to join the Winhanced Discord and check out the full release notes because there’s simply far too much for me to reasonably cram into one overextended post without getting into the weeds.

I’ve moaned since the day I got my Xbox Ally X about just how unpolished and, frankly, disappointing the user experience was. Winhanced has genuinely changed that for me, though, and made me much more willing to pick up my Xbox Ally X and actually play games on it, which isn’t something I can say for the other launchers I’ve tried.

If you’ve tried Winhanced before and found it too buggy, I’d suggest giving it another shot now. A big part of 0.9.9.9 focused on squashing hardware-related bugs and improving consistency across supported handhelds, with the developer describing this release's device consistency as finally at a "1.0 level."

If Winhanced isn’t your thing, though, that’s okay too. Xbox Mode is improving, but I'll still use this instead. Let me know your thoughts in the comments, or just drop a vote on the poll!

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.