Alarak

Title
 Role
 Franchise

**Alarak**, the Highlord of the Tal'darim, is a Melee Assassin Hero from the *StarCraft* universe. Not all heroes are born of altruism... some, like Alarak, simply desire vengeance. As the new Highlord of the Tal'darim, Alarak leads his people to a destiny free of the corrupt influence of the fallen Xel'Naga, Amon.

Alarak is a combo Assassin who can move enemies around and punish mistakes.

## Background

 This section concerns content exclusive to the *StarCraft* universe.

Alarak was born into the brutal and warlike society of the Tal'darim, a sect of the Protoss race. Brutal and canny, Alarak began to rise dramatically through his society's Chain of Ascension through trickery and guile, killing hundreds of Tal'darim by silently manipulating their ritual combat of Rak'Shir. This rocketed him up to Fourth Ascendant, the fifth highest rank in his society. However, First Ascendant Nuroka revealed to Alarak that he had discovered their god, the fallen Xel'Naga Amon, had betrayed them and sought their demise, and that Alarak needed to aid him in removing their Highlord Ma'lash from power. Instead Alarak betrayed Nuroka during the battle, rising to First Ascendant, but he never forgot that Amon's betrayal. He just needed allies...

During the End War, Alarak was tasked to command the Tal'darim's Death Fleet in their extermination of all who opposed Amon, but found that the Daelaam, under Artanis, had outfoxed him. Seeing Artanis as a useful tool, Alarak confronted the Daelaam during a battle and aided them in rescuing Artanis from a trap set by Amon. Alarak then made Artanis a deal: if he helped Alarak usurp Ma'lash and become Highlord, Alarak would keep the Tal'darim out of the war against Amon. Artanis agreed, and aided Alarak in defeating Ma'lash in Rak'Shir combat, allowing him to claim the Tal'darim as his own. Alarak was now Highlord.

Uncharacteristically, Alarak modified their deal and agreed to ally with Artanis to defeat Amon. The combined protoss force drove Amon from their homeworld of Aiur, and later dogged him into the Void, where alongside the forces of Sarah Kerrigan and Jim Raynor, they were able to kill the fallen Xel'Naga once and for all. In the aftermath, Alarak refused Artanis's offer to join the new Protoss government on Aiur, but did allow any member of the Tal'darim one chance to stay. He then set out to find a new homeworld for the Tal'darim.

Years later, an outpost of Alarak's came under attack by the Terran group the Defenders of Man, hoping to institute Tal'darim retaliation against the Dominion to weaken the rule of Emperor Valerian Mengsk. After a Tal'darim retaliatory strike was repelled by Agent Nova Terra in order to save civilians, Alarak confronted Nova, making an offer to help her recover her memories erased by the Defenders using a gas named terrazine if she lead him to the Defenders' leadership. The bargain was struck, and Alarak lead her to the gas, allowing her to uncover the leadership of the group. But as Nova had the leader, General Carolina Davis, in custody, Alarak unleashed the Death Fleet on her world of Vardona, killing Defender of Man, Dominion soldier and civilian alike. Nova rallied the terran forces of the planet and defeated Alarak's Tal'darim. Alarak saw this as a betrayal of their bargain, and warned Nova that she had made a terrible enemy before departing Dominion space.

## Gameplay

Alarak is a combo Melee Assassin who can move enemies around and punish mistakes.

### Strength

* Can Silence enemies often by using Discord Strike
* Can reposition enemies or himself with Telekinesis
* Great gank potential
* Strong solo laner
* Good counter pick to heavy melee compositions

### Weaknesses

* Poor siege damage
* High skill floor, due Discord Strike and Telekinesis requiring precision and timing.
* Death punishes Alarak harder than other heroes
* Hard to master

## Abilities

*See **Data page** for a table of scaled values at key levels.*

Sadism (Trait)

Alarak's Ability damage and self-healing are increased by 100% against enemy Heroes.

❢ Repeatable Quest: Takedowns increase Sadism by 3%, up to 30%. Sadism gained from Takedowns is lost on death.

**Type:** Offensive damage modifier, Healing dealt modifier**Affects:** Abilities**Max total Sadism:** 1000%

* Benefits all flat Spell Damage and healing instances and bonuses from Alarak's Basic and Heroic Abilities and Talents. Spell Damage and healing from other sources will not be amplified.
* *Sadism* stacks additively with itself and other damage modifiers affecting Alarak's Ability damage.
* *Sadism* stacks additively with healing modifiers that increase healing dealt and multiplicatively with modifiers that affect healing received.

Q
Discord Strike
55 Mana Cooldown: 8 seconds
After a 0.5 second delay, enemies in front of Alarak take 165 damage and are silenced for 1.5 seconds.

**Type:** Spell Damage, Crowd control**Scaling:** 4.00%**Affects:** Enemies**Targeting:** Point target**Properties:** Area of Effect, Clamping, Silence**Cast time:** 0.5 + 0.125 seconds**Area of Effect:** Triangle**Width:** 5.5**Height:** 6.5

W
Telekinesis
30 Mana Cooldown: 12 seconds
Create a force, pushing Alarak and all enemies hit from the targeted point towards the targeted direction. Deals 48 damage to enemies.

**Type:** Spell Damage, Crowd control / Crowd control**Scaling:** 4.00%**Affects:** Enemies / Self**Targeting:** Vector Targeting**Properties:** Area of Effect, Knockback**Cast time:** Instant**Range:** 8.0**Hitbox:** 1.5 x 0.5**Knockback duration:** 0.3125 seconds**Knockback speed:** 18

* Alarak does not get Dazed when using *Telekinesis* on himself.
* Self-casting sets the starting point at Alarak's location and pushes him (and nearby enemies) to the direction he is facing.

E
Lightning Surge
25 Mana Cooldown: 6 seconds
Deal 62 damage to an enemy and an additional 100% damage to enemies between Alarak and the target. Restore 70 health for each Hero hit.

**Type:** Spell Damage / Healing**Scaling:** 4.00%**Affects:** Enemies / Self**Targeting:** Unit taget**Properties:** Area of Effect**Cast time:** Instant**Range:** 10**Area of Effect:** Rectangle**Width:** 1.5

* The primary target of the cast is unaffected by any center bonuses.
* Healing is unaffected by center bonuses.
* The center bonus stacks additively with Sadism and other offensive damage modifiers that can affect *Lightning Surge*'s damage.

R
Deadly Charge
60 Mana Cooldown: 45 seconds
After channeling, Alarak charges forward dealing 200 damage to all enemies in his path. Distance is increased based on the amount of time channeled, up to 1.5 seconds.

Issuing a Move order while this is channeling will cancel it at no cost. Taking damage will interrupt the channeling.

**Type:** Spell Damage / Movement: Launch**Scaling:** 4.00%**Affects:** Enemies / Self**Targeting:** No target / Point target**Properties:** Area of Effect, Clamping, Weak Channel (stationary)**Cast time:** Instant**Range:**
- Min: 3
- Max: 18.25**Hitbox:** 3.0 x 1.0**Missile speed:** 42

* Interrupting the channel in any way does not put the Ability on cooldown.
* Mana cost is not consumed until the Ability has been fully cast, but can't be initiated if Alarak has insufficient Mana.
* Range increases by 0.6354 for every 0.0625 seconds channeled.
* Ability can be channeled indefinitely, but distance will no longer increase after reaching maximum distance at the 1.5 second mark.

R
Counter-Strike
50 Mana Cooldown: 30 seconds
Alarak targets an area and channels for 1 second, becoming Protected and Unstoppable. Afterward, if he took damage from an enemy Hero, he sends a shockwave that deals 275 damage.

**Type:** Spell Damage / Status effect**Scaling:** 4.00%**Affects:** Enemies / Self**Targeting:** Point target**Properties:** Area of Effect, Clamping, Protected, Stationary channel, Unstoppable**Cast time:** Instant**Range:** 13**Area of Effect:** Triangle**Width:** 4.6**Height:** 13**Missile speed:** 16

* Hitscan is done in 3 ticks over 0.1825 seconds, ranging from 0 to 6 on the first, 6 to 9 on the second and 9 to 13 on the third tick.
* Taking damage in the final tick of the channel only activates the sound, but not the damage, of the Ability.
* Incoming Basic Attacks still trigger the Ability, despite missing due to Evasion granted by Protected status.

## Talents

1

Overwhelming Power
Hitting an enemy Hero with Discord Strike grants 40% Attack Speed and causes Basic Attacks to heal for 50% of the damage dealt for 4 seconds.

**Type:** Healing, Status effect**Scaling:** -**Affects:** Self**Properties:** Attack Modifier, Attack Speed, Lifesteal

Ruthless Momentum
Reduce the Mana cost of Telekinesis from 30 to 20. Telekinesis's cooldown recharges 100% faster while above 80% Health.

* Reduces the cooldown of *Telekinesis* by 0.0625 seconds every 0.0625 seconds while active.

Extended Lightning
Reduce Sadism by 10%.

❢ Quest: Hit Heroes with the center of Lightning Surge.

❢ Reward: After hitting 5 Heroes, increase Lightning Surge's range by 20%.

❢ Reward: After hitting 15 Heroes, Lightning Surge's center also Slows enemies by 40% for 2 seconds.

❢ Reward: After hitting 3 Heroes with a single cast, increase Sadism by 10% and instantly gain all other Rewards.

**Type:** Crowd control**Affects:** Enemies**Properties:** Slow**Bonus range:** 2.0

4

Chaos Reigns
❢ Quest: Hit Heroes with Discord Strike.

❢ Reward: After hitting 15 Heroes, increase Discord Strike's damage by 60.

❢ Reward: After hitting 2 Heroes with a single Discord Strike, increase its damage by 60.

❢ Reward: After hitting 3 Heroes with a single Discord Strike, increase its damage by 100 and instantly gain all other Rewards.

**Type:** Bonus damage**Scaling:** -**Affects:** Ability

Negatively Charged
Increase the Lightning Surge damage bonus to enemies between Alarak and his victim to 175%.

❢ Repeatable Quest: Each Hero hit by the center of Lightning Surge permanently increases the damage bonus by 5%.

**Type:** Offensive damage modifier**Affects:** Ability

* Quest reward stacks additively with center damage bonus and other offensive damage modifiers that can affect *Lightning Surge*'s damage.

Show of Force
Heroes hit with 3 of Alarak's Abilities within 2 seconds take an additional 61 damage and increase Sadism by 2%, stacking up to 20%.

Sadism gained from Show of Force is lost on death.

**Type:** Spell Damage**Scaling:** 4.00%**Affects:** Enemy Heroes

7

Dissonance
Increase Discord Strike's Silence duration by 0.75 seconds.

Hindered Motion
Telekinesis Slows enemies by 30% for 3 seconds.

**Type:** Crowd control**Affects:** Enemies**Properties:** Slow

Applied Force
Reduce Sadism by 10%, but Telekinesis pushes 20% farther and has 20% increased range.

**Bonus range:** 1.6**Knockback duration:** 0.3125 seconds**Knockback speed:** 22

10

Deadly Charge
Cooldown: 45 seconds
After channeling, Alarak charges forward, dealing 200 damage to all enemies in his path. Distance is increased based on the amount of time channeled, up to 1.5 seconds.

Issuing a Move order while this is channeling will cancel it at no cost. Taking damage will interrupt the channeling.

Counter-Strike
Cooldown: 30 seconds
Alarak targets an area and channels for 1 second, becoming Protected and Unstoppable. Afterward, if he took damage from an enemy Hero, he sends a shockwave that deals 275 damage.

13

Blade of the Highlord
Basic Attacks against Heroes increase Sadism by 2%, up to 40%.

Sadism gained from Blade of the Highlord is lost on death.

**Properties:** Attack Modifier (Heroes)

Pure Malice
Increase Sadism by 10% any time an allied Hero dies, up to 40%.

Sadism gained from Pure Malice is lost on death.

Rite of Rak'Shir
Cooldown: 300 seconds
Activate to mark an enemy Hero for 300 seconds.

Hitting the marked Hero with Discord Strike increases Sadism by 3%. Killing the marked Hero increases Sadism by 5% and lowers the cooldown of Rite of Rak'Shir to 10 seconds.

Sadism gained from Rite of Rak'Shir is lost on death.

**Type:** Debuff**Affects:** Enemy Heroes**Targeting:** Unit target**Cast time:** Instant**Range:** 8.0**Max stacks:**
- Marked hits: 300% (x100)
- Marked Takedowns: 250% (x50)

* Debuff is only removed when the mark expires or the target dies.

16

Lethal Onslaught
Hitting an enemy Hero with Discord Strike grants 50% of Sadism's damage bonus to Alarak's Basic Attacks for 4 seconds. Basic Attacks against Heroes refresh this duration.

**Type:** Offensive damage modifier**Affects:** Self**Properties:** Attack Modifier

* Stacks additively with other offensive damage modifiers that can affect Alarak's Basic Attack damage.

Lightning Barrage
Hitting an enemy Hero with the center of Lightning Surge allows it to be cast again for free on a different primary target within the next 3 seconds. This free cast cannot benefit from Lightning Barrage.

**Recast cooldown:** 0.125 seconds

* Second cast interacts with all other talents affecting *Lightning Surge*.

Mocking Strikes
Basic Attacks against Heroes reduce the cooldown of Alarak's Basic Abilities by 1.5 seconds. This bonus is doubled against enemy Heroes who are Stunned, Silenced, Slowed or Rooted.

**Affects:** Self**Properties:** Attack Modifier (Heroes)

20

Counter-Strike
Cooldown: 30 seconds
Alarak targets an area and channels for 1 second, becoming Protected and Unstoppable. Afterward, if he took damage from an enemy Hero, he sends a shockwave that deals 275 damage.

This Ability will take over Alarak's Trait button.

Deadly Charge
Cooldown: 45 seconds
After channeling, Alarak charges forward, dealing 200 damage to all enemies in his path. Distance is increased based on the amount of time channeled, up to 1.5 seconds.

Issuing a Move order while this is channeling will cancel it at no cost. Taking damage will interrupt the channeling.

This Ability will take over Alarak's Trait button.

Last Laugh
Cooldown: 30 seconds
**Active:**  Activate to teleport to the chosen location and remove all Roots, Slows, and damage over time effects. If Alarak fails to hit enemy Heroes 3 times with Basic Abilities within 4 seconds of using Last Laugh, his Health is reduced to 1.

**Type:** Movement: Teleport**Affects:** Self**Targeting:** Point target**Properties:** Clamping, Debuff removal**Cast time:** Instant**Range:** 12

* Hit requirement is the sum of all Heroic targets hit, with any of his Basic Ablities, within the time limit.
* Health reduction ignores all damage reduction and prevention effects.

Hasty Bargain
Cooldown: 20 seconds
**Active:**  Activate to permanently reduce Alarak's Sadism by 4% and reset the cooldowns of his Basic Abilities.

**Type:** Active**Targeting:** No target**Cast time:** Instant

* *Hasty Bargain* cannot be used if Alarak doesn't have enough Sadism.
* Alarak's innate Sadism is consumed first. If there is not enough innate Sadism, *Hasty Bargain* can consume Sadism gained from Takedowns and Talents.

## Builds and guides

**Icy Veins Alarak Guide**

**Alarak Community Build Guides @ HeroesFire**

**Alarak Community Build Guides @ Heroes Hearth**

## Trivia

* Alarak first appeared in the short story "Ascension" (October 2015). His first game appearance was in *StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void* (November 2015).
* Alarak is voiced by John de Lancie.
* Alarak was one of the two heroes revealed at Gamescom 2016.
* The Twilight Herald of N'Zoth Alarak skin resembles a devotee of any rank in the Twilight's Hammer clan.
* Because of the bulkiness of his armor, Alarak is limited to mounts he can stand on (such as Blackheart's Doubloon, Champion's Nexagon, Championship Banner, Hearthstone Card, Magic Carpet, Star Chariot, and Void Speeder).
* Alarak's Q ability Discord Strike is a reference to Alarak's voice actor John de Lancie's roles. Two of John de Lancie's roles have been Discord from *My Little Pony*, and Q from *Star Trek: The Next Generation*.
* Alarak's Telekinesis ability is based off of his Destruction Wave ability from *Legacy of the Void.* The ability has an upgrade named Telekinesis in the game's Co-op Missions mode.
* The Lightning Surge ability is based off of Alarak's anti-air Psionic Lightning attack in *StarCraft II's* Co-op Missions mode.
* Alarak's Deadly Charge ability is based off of his Deadly Charge ability in *Legacy of the Void* and Co-op Missions.
* Alarak's Counterstrike uses the same stance he uses when fighting Vorazun before the *Legacy of the Void* mission "Harbinger of Oblivion."
* The level 13 talent Blade of the Highlord is a reference to Alarak's rank of Highlord, as well as the former Highlord Ma'lash's title of "Blade of Amon."
* The level 13 talent Rite of Rak'Shir references the Tal'darim ritual of Rak'Shir, which allowed lower ranking members of their society to dethrone those above them through ritual combat.
* The level 20 talent Hasty Bargain is a reference to Alarak's tactic of making "bargains" with what he considers to be lesser beings in order to advance both their goals.

## Gallery

### General

* Alarak's artwork
* Alarak home screen
* Alarak on Hanamura

### Concept art

* Alarak
* Highlord Alarak concept
* Highlord Alarak concept
* Highlord Alarak
* Herald of N'Zoth concept
* Herald of N'Zoth Alarak
* Dark Nexus Alarak concept

### Abilities

* Q: Discord Strike
* W: Telekinesis
* E: Lightning Surge
* R1: Deadly Charge
* R2: Counter-Strike

## References

1. ↑ In Development - Machines of War – New Heroes & Skins

## External links

* Alarak Hero Week
* Alarak - Heroes of the Storm
* Alarak - StarCraft Wiki
* Alarak Balance Changelog - Heroes Patch Notes
* Alarak Sound Files - Sounds of the Storm

  **Melee Assassins**
 ***Unknown*** | Mekkatorque