Deckard

Title
 Role
 Franchise

**Deckard Cain**, the Last Horadrim, is a Healer Hero from the *Diablo* universe. As an avid scholar, Deckard Cain has dedicated his life to the pursuit of knowledge. He has been an advisor, storyteller, and friend to Sanctuary's greatest Heroes, guiding them through peril time and again. When Deckard speaks, it's wise to stay awhile and listen.

## Background

 This section concerns content exclusive to *Diablo* universe.

**Deckard Cain**, or Cain the Elder, is a returning NPC from previous Diablo games. He narrated the reveal trailer for the Eternal Conflict event, and provided voiceovers in regard to treasure goblins at the start of matches held during said event.

Cain is the last surviving member of the original Horadrim, an ancient order of mages charged with trapping the Prime Evils within Soulstones and guarding them thereafter; his ancestor, Jered Cain, had led the party that pursued and captured Diablo. Cain acts as adviser and guide, accompanying the player's character through each act of the games and providing a great deal of the lore to be found in-game.

Cain remains in Tristram for the entirety of the first game, standing next to the fountain in the middle of town, where he provides his wisdom and identifies items for a small fee. In Diablo II, he is rescued by the player character from a gibbet next to that fountain, and travels with the player throughout; he continues to identify items for the player. In Diablo III, he is rescued from the ruins of Tristram's Cathedral as the Skeleton King Leoric, reanimated by the "fallen star," sends his guards to attack him. Directing most of the major quests of Act I, Cain is fatally wounded by the witch Maghda and her Dark Coven, who seek the "fallen star" (revealed to be the fallen archangel Tyrael) and his broken sword, recovered by the player. Cain's last act before dying is to use his Horadric magic to reforge the sword, and determine it is angelic in origin. At the cinematic leading into Act II, Cain is cremated on a pyre in the graveyard outside the Cathedral.

### Heroes of the Storm Comics

Deckard is exploring Dragon Shire when the forces of the Raven Lord accuse him of hiding a girl from them. Said girl, Orphea, turns out to be a powerful magician of some sort and the two of them travel to the court of Raena, the Lady of Thorns and a powerful Realm Lord. There, they warn her of the Raven Lord’s designs on her realm and the rest of the Nexus.

She is initially reluctant to get involved due to her own problems with a curse that's turned her husband to stone and is now slowly afflicting her. When Cain explains that her people are already in danger and that the Raven Lord has already set his eyes on a new realm which would give him more power than her, she rallies her armies and allies to defend King's Crest and oppose the Raven Lord's forces in his plans to conquer Alterac Pass.

Later, the Lady of Thorns, despite being deeply injured, confronts the Raven Lord and opens a portal, urging Deckard Cain to lead her people to safety. Raena then succumbs to her curse and is turned to stone.

## Gameplay

Deckard is a burst Healer who excels at preparing the battlefield before a fight and can cripple enemies with crowd control. Deckard's only healing Ability, *Healing Potion*, has a high healing-over-time output and the unique ability to be used "on the ground" to allow allies to heal at their leisure. Being able to set up several Healing Potions ahead of time is crucial to Deckard's ability to deal with burst damage.

### Strength

* Healing
* Area Denial
* Debuffing

### Weaknesses

* Mobility
* Silences
* Limited waveclear and general damage output

## Abilities

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

Fortitude of the Faithful

When at least 1 other allied Hero is nearby, Deckard gains 10 Armor and his Basic Abilities recharge 50% faster.

**Type:** Defensive damage modifier**Affects:** Self**Radius:** 6.5

* Stacks additively with other effects that can affect cooldown refresh rate.
* Does not stack with other positive Armor effects. Other defensive damage modifiers may stack.

Q
Healing Potion
25 Mana Cooldown: 4 seconds
Throw a Healing Potion on the ground that heals the first allied Hero who comes in contact with it for 285. Limit 5 active Potions.

**Type:** Healing**Scaling:** 4.00%**Affects:** Allied Heroes, Self**Targeting:** Point target**Properties:** Self-castable**Cast time:** 0.125 + 0 seconds**Range:** 8.0**Pickup radius:** 1.0**Travel time:**
- Range 0 - 3.0: 0.125 seconds
- Range 3.0 - 6.0: 0.375 seconds
- Range 6.0+: 0.5 seconds

* *Healing Potion* cannot be cast on unpathable terrain.
* Healing Potions do not grant any vision.
* Healing Potions cannot be picked up by Heroes at full health.
* Allies can see the landing location of the potion while it's in the air.
* Potions on the ground are also visible to the enemy.

W
Horadric Cube
35 Mana Cooldown: 12 seconds
Release the Horadric Cube. After 0.5 seconds it explodes, dealing 80 damage to all enemies in the area and Slowing them by 35% for 2 seconds.

**Type:** Spell Damage, Crowd control**Scaling:** 4.00%**Affects:** Enemies**Targeting:** Point target**Properties:** Area of Effect, Self-castable, Slow**Cast time:** 0.125 + 0 seconds**Range:** 12**Area of Effect:** Square**Width:** 8.0**Missile speed:** 20

E
Scroll of Sealing
40 Mana Cooldown: 16 seconds
Unfurl an enchanted scroll over 2.25 seconds, forming a triangle that deals 150 damage to enemies inside and Roots them for 1.5 seconds.

**Type:** Spell Damage, Crowd control**Scaling:** 4.00%**Affects:** Enemies**Targeting:** Point target**Properties:** Area of Effect**Cast time:** 0.1875 + 0 seconds**Range:** 12**Area of Effect:** Equilateral triangle**Width:** 12

R
Stay Awhile and Listen
60 Mana Cooldown: 70 seconds
After 1 second, Channel for 3 seconds, putting enemy Heroes in front of Deckard to Sleep while Channeling, and for 2 seconds after.

Enemies can only be put to Sleep once per cast, and Sleep's effects end instantly if they take damage.

**Type:** Crowd control**Affects:** Enemy Heroes**Targeting:** Point target**Properties:** Area of Effect, Channeled cast (stationary), Stationary channel, Sleep**Cast time:** 1.0 (ch) + CH + 0 seconds**Area of Effect:** Radial**Radius:** 10**Arc:** 150 degrees

* Interrupting the ability during its windup puts it on a 10 second cooldown.
* Sleep cannot be interrupted for the first 0.5 seconds.
* Sleep counts as a Stun effect and interacts with all effects that interact with Stuns.

R
Lorenado
35 Mana Cooldown: 30 seconds
After 1 second, create a swirling tome tornado that travels in the targeted direction, continually knocking away enemies that come into contact with it. Deals 20 damage to Heroes hit.

**Type:** Spell Damage, Crowd control**Scaling:** 4.00%**Affects:** Enemies**Targeting:** Vector targeting**Properties:** Area of Effect, Knockback**Cast time:** 0.1875 + 0 seconds**Range:** 14**Area of Effect:** Circle**Radius:** 2.5**Missile speed:** 3.0**Travel distance:** 18**Knockback duration:** 0.1875**Knockback speed:** 18

* Removes existing knockback effects from the target.
* Enemies cannot be hit by *Lorenado* while a knockback from it is still active on them.

## Talents

1

Scroll of Identify
❢ Quest: Hitting an enemy Hero with Scroll of Sealing permanently increases its damage by 2.

❢ Reward: After hitting 15 Heroes, Scroll of Sealing reveals and reduces the Armor of Heroes hit by 10 for 4 seconds.

❢ Reward: After hitting 30 Heroes this Talent's Armor reduction effect is increased to 15 and its duration to 6 seconds.

**Type:** Defensive damage modifier, Status effect / Bonus damage**Scaling:** -**Affects:** Enemy Heroes / Ability**Properties:** Armor reduction, Revealed**Maximum bonus damage:** 2,000 (x1,000)

* Continues to gain stacks after the Quests have been completed.
* Armor debuff and bonus damage is applied *after* the damage is dealt.
* The second Quest Reward also increases the duration of the reveal.
* Does not stack with other negative Armor effects. Other defensive damage modifiers may stack.

Field Study
Each enemy Hero hit by Scroll of Sealing grants 20% Spell Power for 16 seconds, up to 40%.

**Type:** Healing dealt modifier, Offensive damage modifier**Scaling:** 4.00%**Affects:** Self**Properties:** Spell Power

* Spell Power is calculated after damage is dealt.
* Spell Power from *Field Study* stacks additively with itself and other sources of Spell Power as well as other offensive damage modifiers and healing dealt modifiers affecting Deckard.

Sapphire
Cooldown: 30 seconds
**Active:**  Activate to increase the damage of the next Horadric Cube by 100% and its slow by 30%. Only 1 Gem may be active at a time.

**Type:** Offensive damage modifier**Affects:** Ability**Gem swap cooldown:** 0.5 seconds

* A Gem goes on cooldown once the Horadric Cube is cast.
* An activated Gem can be deactivated only by activating another Gem.
* Damage bonus stacks additively with other offensive damage modifiers.

4

Potion of Shielding
Whenever an ally is healed by a Healing Potion, they gain a 140 Shield for 6 seconds.

**Type:** Shield**Scaling:** 4.00%**Affects:** Allied Heroes, Self

* Shield from *Potion of Healing* does not stack with itself. Subsequent applications refresh the amount and duration.

Rejuvenation Potion
Healing Potions restore 15 Mana and heal for an additional 114 over 3 seconds.

**Type:** Healing / Mana**Scaling:** 4.00% / -**Affects:** Allied Heroes, Self**Properties:** Heal over time**Tickrate:** 2.0 per second (x6)**Healing per tick:** 19

* Healing-over-time does not stack with itself. Subsequent applications refresh the duration.

Ruby
Cooldown: 20 seconds
**Active:**  Activate to increase the next Horadric Cube's damage by 100% and it spawns 3 Lesser Healing Potions from each enemy Hero hit, healing allied Heroes for 250 when picked up. Lesser Healing Potions last for 10 seconds. Only 1 Gem may be active at a time.

**Type:** Healing / Offensive damage modifier**Scaling:** 4.00%**Affects:** Self, Allied Heroes / Ability**Pickup radius:** 1.0**Gem swap cooldown:** 0.5 seconds

* A Gem goes on cooldown once the Horadric Cube is cast.
* An activated Gem can be deactivated only by activating another Gem.
* Damage bonus stacks additively with other offensive damage modifiers.

7

Cube Mastery
Reduce the Mana cost of Scroll of Sealing from 40 to 25. Each enemy Hero hit by Horadric Cube reduces the cooldown of Scroll of Sealing by 4 seconds.

Kanai's Cube
Horadric Cube reduces Hero damage dealt by 30% for 4 seconds.

**Type:** Offensive damage modifier**Affects:** Enemy Heroes

* Damage debuff stacks additively with other offensive damage modifiers affecting the target Hero's damage output.

Emerald
Cooldown: 30 seconds
**Active:**  Activate to make the next Horadric Cube reduce healing received by 75% for 4 seconds. Only 1 Gem may be active at a time.

**Type:** Healing received modifier / Offensive damage modifier**Affects:** Enemies / Ability**Gem swap cooldown:** 0.5 seconds

* A Gem goes on cooldown once the Horadric Cube is cast.
* An activated Gem can be deactivated only by activating another Gem.
* Damage bonus stacks additively with other offensive damage modifiers.
* Healing reduction stacks additively with other healing received modifiers.

10

Stay Awhile and Listen
Cooldown: 70 seconds
After 1 second, Channel for 3 seconds, putting enemy Heroes in front of Deckard to Sleep while Channeling, and for 2 seconds after. Enemies can only be put to Sleep once per cast, and Sleep's effects end instantly if they take damage.

Lorenado
Cooldown: 30 seconds
After 1 second, create a swirling tome tornado that travels in the targeted direction, continually knocking away enemies that come into contact with it. Deals 20 damage to Heroes hit.

13

Super Healing Potion
If a Healing Potion isn't picked up for at least 2 seconds, it heals for 100% more.

Passive: Healing Potion heals for 25% more if the target is below 50% Health.

**Type:** Healing dealt modifier**Affects:** Ability

* Does not benefit the additional healing from *Rejuvenation Potion*.
* Bonuses stack additively with themselves and other healing dealt modifiers that can affect *Healing Potion*'s healing.

Potion of Revival
When a Healing Potion is picked up, it also heals all nearby allied Heroes for 75% of the healing amount.

**Type:** Healing**Scaling:** 4.00%**Affects:** Allied Heroes, Self**Properties:** Splash**Area of Effect:** Circle**Radius:** 3.0

* Only the primary target of *Healing Potion* benefits from additional effects from talents, such as *Potion of Shielding* and *Rejuvenation Potion*.
* Reduction to healing amount stacks additively with healing dealt modifiers that can affect *Healing Potion*'s healing.

Ancient Blessings
Cooldown: 45 seconds
Activate Fortitude of the Faithful to empower nearby allied Hero Basic Attacks for 8 seconds, causing them to deal an additional 62 damage in an area and heal for 90 for each Hero hit. This effect can only occur once per second.

**Type:** Spell Damage / Healing**Scaling:** 4.00%**Affects:** Enemy Heroes / Allied Heroes, Self**Targeting:** No target**Properties:** Area of Effect, Attack Modifier, Splash**Cast time:** 0 + 0.125 seconds**Area of Effect:** Circle**Radius:**
- Cast: 7.0
- Splash damage: 2.5

* *Ancient Blessings* is independent from *Fortitude of the Faithful*'s aura - The buff is applied one time upon cast to allies within the talent's radius for 8 seconds. The affected allies are not required to remain near Deckard to keep gaining its benefits.
* The damage is dealt in a separate instance of Spell Damage.
* The damage and healing are affected by the offensive damage modifiers and healing dealt modifiers on the **attacker**. Deckard's modifiers only affects his own attacks.
* The bonus damage is scored to the attacker, but the healing is scored to Deckard.

16

Scroll of Stone Curse
Scroll of Sealing deals 200% more damage when hitting at least 2 Heroes.

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

* Bonus damage stacks additively with other offensive damage modifiers that can affect *Scroll of Sealing*'s damage.

Safety in Numbers
If at least 2 allied Heroes are nearby, Fortitude of the Faithful grants an additional 10 Armor, 50% Mana regeneration per second, and causes Deckard's Basic Abilities to recharge an additional 50% faster.

Horadric Staff
Every 5 seconds, Deckard's next Basic Attack Stuns Heroes for 0.75 seconds.

**Type:** Crowd control**Affects:** Enemy Heroes**Properties:** Attack Modifier, Stun

20

Respect the Elderly
Stay Awhile and Listen Silences and Blinds enemies for 3 seconds upon waking up from Sleep.

**Type:** Crowd control**Affects:** Enemy Heroes**Properties:** Blind, Silence

Morenados!
Lorenado gains an additional charge and its cooldown is reduced by 10 seconds every time an enemy Hero is knocked back. This effect can only occur once per 0.5 seconds.

**Cooldown between charges:** 1.0 seconds

Bottomless Flask
After use, Healing Potions recharge after 8 seconds.

* Recharged potions benefit from every talent affecting Healing Potion, including this talent.

Perfect Gems
Reduce the cooldown of all Gems to 5 seconds and the cooldown of Horadric Cube by 6 seconds.

* This talent does not require any Gem talent to be picked.

## Builds and guides

**Icy Veins Deckard Guide**

**Deckard Community Build Guides @ HeroesFire**

**Deckard Community Build Guides @ Heroes Hearth**

## Development

Deckard was intended for inclusion in Heroes of the Storm as of April, 2014.

When being worked on, Deckard originally had an "explosive magic" set. However, the developers felt that this wasn't true to the character. Rather, they found that abilities that were tactical and strategic were a better fit. The Horadric Cube originally worked differently. Here, Deckard would place it on the ground, 'throw' abilities into it, and thus change how they worked. It was found that putting the cube on the ground limited players' decisions, where they were constantly casting on the single point.It was shifted to its current form. His E ability was originally Identify (an ability of his from the Diablo series). In this form, he would channel the ability against an enemy hero, which would reveal them and reduce their armor. When it came to playtesting however, it didn't seem to fit, given that the channel ability was a 'destructive ability' that didn't match his nature as a scholar. Scroll of Sealing was created as the replacement, which better fit Deckard's tactical playstyle.

During an interview, Matt Villers talked about the difficulties of adapting the iconic character in a MOBA: "There were concerns in adapting Cain for sure, it was fun to try and tackle that. As is the cast with most heroes we started in earnest on him about a year ago, and he took the standard six to nine months of development time. We needed to create a version of Deckard that could stand up to these characters, which is basically how we approached his design. It's less destructive, and more about how he can be clever and strategic. I really like his super potion, where if you leave your potion for a while it heals for more, and the Ruby talent upgrade spits out a bunch of tiny potions if you hit them with a cube. It's great!"

He expanded on how he got his two heroics, a sleep debuff brought on by a magical scroll reading (Stay awhile and Listen), and a tornado of books (Lorenado): "We knew right away we wanted 'stay awhile and listen.' But we initially tried giving him the ability to use heroics of other Diablo heroes and thought 'that's not really Deckard.' Then we had this idea called 'The End Times,' where he would summon a meteor strike at his location and leap out of a town portal unharmed in a comical fashion, which started to work but in testing kind of fizzled. We found that people wanted to run into the enemy team and call the strike which didn't make sense for a support. Then we pulled Lorenado in, which was in the Diablo III April Fools joke for the Archivist class and it worked!"

During the PAX East in April 5, 2018, Deckard Cain was announced as a playable Hero.

## Trivia

* Deckard Cain was announced to be the next healing hero in the game on April 5 during PAX East 2018.
* Deckard Cain is just called 'Deckard' in-game and not 'Cain'. According to Matt Villers: "*We always have many opinions around the office on how to shorten hero names, and Deckard was no exception. I think in English the name 'Cain' by itself conjures a more rough image, so Deckard felt like a better fit."*
	+ However, his full name appears on the battlefield when Deckard is controlled by AI as well as in ping messages (e.g. "Deckard Cain is on the way.") and on the MVP screen.
* Deckard made his debut in *Diablo* (December 1996).
	+ His book debut was fifteen and a third years later, in *Diablo III: The Order* (May 2012).
* Deckard is voiced by Micheal Gough.
* Deckard Cain was the narrator of the reveal trailer for the Eternal Conflict event, and provided voiceovers in regards to treasure goblins at the start of matches held during said event.
* Deckard Cain's design is a blend between his appearance in Diablo II (light blue cloak and white beard and well kept appearance) and Diablo III (overall posture, holding a cane, and carrying tomes and scrolls).
* Due to his age, Deckard often has to pop the joints in his dorsal vertebrae before hearthing or exiting combat stance.
* One of Deckard's gag quotes references the Horadric Cube and the uses of footstools.

## Gallery

### General

* Deckard's artwork
* Deckard home screen
* Deckard menu screen
* Cain in Dragon Shire

### Concept Art

* Deckard Cain concept art
* Wastewalker Deckard concept art

### Abilities

* Q: Healing Potion
* W: Horadric Cube
* E: Scroll of Sealing
* R1: Stay Awhile and Listen
* R2: Lorenado

## References

1. ↑ Secrets of the Storm
2. ↑ Fall of King's Crest (Comic)
3. ↑ Heroes of the Storm Pax East 2014 Panel, New Characters, Character Creation Q & A Full Conference
4. ↑ PAX East 2018 Heroes of the Storm Interview: Deckard Cain
5. ↑ Destructoid: Heroes of the Storm's Deckard Cain almost had a meteor smash and an ultimate that replicated abilities from Diablo characters
6. ↑ Matt Villers on Twitter

## External links

* Deckard - Heroes of the Storm
* Deckard Cain - Diablo Wiki
* Deckard Balance Changelog - Heroes Patch Notes
* Deckard Cain Soundfiles

  **Melee Assassins**
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