Heroes of the Storm

Heroes Closed Beta Patch Notes -- May 12, 2015

Heroes Closed Beta Patch Notes -- May 12, 2015

We’ve brought Heroes of the Storm offline for a period of extended maintenance today in order to bring you a brand new Closed Beta patch! Maintenance is ongoing, but don't worry; we'll let you know just as soon as the Nexus is back online. In the meantime, you can check out the complete patch notes below.

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General

Players that reached level 40 after the March 24 Closed Beta patch was released will now properly receive the associated portrait reward upon logging in to Heroes of the Storm.

  • Please note: In order to receive the portrait, players affected by this issue must log in to Heroes of the Storm before June 1, 2015. After that date, the portrait will no longer be awarded.

Performance

  • Improved Graphics Settings Auto-Detection
    • Several tweaks have been made to improve how Heroes auto-detects certain hardware configurations.
    • As a result of these improvements, all players’ default Graphic Settings will be re-detected and reset following today’s patch in order to provide better performance and play experiences across a wider range of hardware configurations.
  • Updated Performance Notification
    • The performance overlay (Ctrl + Alt + F) has been updated to track several additional metrics, which should help players better identify some common performance issues.
    • Several icons have been added, which will display in the performance overlay when the game client is experiencing certain types of significant performance issues.
  • Many additional performance improvements have been made across various aspects of the game, including reduced memory usage and fragmentation on all graphic settings.
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New Hero

Kael’thas Sunstrider has been added to Heroes of the Storm and is now available for play! Read on for a brief overview of this fiery new Assassin's Abilities.

Trait

  • Verdant Spheres (D)
    • Activate to make your next Basic Ability more powerful.

Basic Abilities

  • Flamestrike (Q)
    • After a short delay, deal damage in an area.
    • Verdant Spheres (Trait) -- Increases Flamestrike’s radius and damage.
  • Living Bomb (W)
    • Damages an enemy over a short time, after which the target will explode, damaging all nearby enemies. Casting a second Living Bomb on an enemy causes the first to explode immediately.
    • Verdant Spheres (Trait) -- Removes Living Bomb’s Mana cost and cooldown.
  • Gravity Lapse (E)
    • Stuns the first enemy hit.
    • Verdant Spheres (Trait) -- Causes Gravity Lapse to stun the first 3 enemies in its path.

Heroic Abilities

  • Phoenix (R)
    • Launch a Phoenix to target area, dealing damage to enemies along the way. The Phoenix persists, attacking enemies, and dealing splash damage to those near its primary attack target.
  • Pyroblast (R)
    • After a short delay, cast a slow-moving fireball that deals massive damage to an enemy, and medium damage to enemies near the target.
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Art

General

  • The Radial Ping Menu has received updated art, which more closely matches the appearance of pings issued in the game world.
  • Defeat, fidget, taunt, and victory animations have been added to a number of Heroes and summoned units.
  • Gazlowe, Illidan, and Kerrigan have received minor animation and pose updates on Hero Select.
  • Several Heroes have received polish on the animations that play when purchased in the Shop.

Battlegrounds

  • Various Battleground assets have received additional visual polish.
  • Various Battleground assets have received additional optimization to help improve performance.
  • The terrain surrounding the Core on all Battlegrounds has been changed to better indicate the Core’s attack range.
  • Siege Giant Mercenaries on Sky Temple and Tomb of the Spider Queen have received minor attack animation polish.
  • Water in enemy Healing Fountains will now appear red on all Battlegrounds.

Heroes, Abilities, Mounts, and Skins

  • Heroes
    • Cloth physics have been added to the following Heroes:
      • Malfurion
      • Sylvanas
    • The following Heroes have received facial animation improvements:
      • Gazlowe
      • Sonya
  • Hero Abilities
    • The following Heroic Abilities will now apply an Invulnerability overlay to the affected player’s screen for the duration of their effects.
      • Tyrael -- Sanctification (R)
      • Uther -- Divine Shield (R)
    • The following Heroes have received new Ability icon art:
      • Zagara
      • Zeratul
    • The following Heroes’ Ability icons have received updated art to make them easier to differentiate from one another:
      • Abathur
      • Kerrigan
      • Nova
      • Sgt. Hammer
      • Tassadar
    • The following Hero Abilities and Talents have received visual polish:
      • Blood for Blood (Talent)
      • Abathur -- Symbiote (Q) Abilities: Stab (Q), Spike Burst (W), Carapace (E); Monstrosity (R)
      • Arthas -- Summon Sindragosa (R)
      • Diablo -- Received updated art and visual effects to coincide with his Talent rework.
      • E.T.C. -- Received updated art and visual effects to coincide with his Talent rework.
      • Jaina -- Ring of Frost (R) visual effects now more closely match the Ability’s duration.
      • Nova -- Anti-Armor Shells (Talent) target indicator
      • Raynor -- Raynor’s Raiders (R) target indicator
      • Sonya -- Basic Attack
      • Sylvanas -- Withering Fire (Q) target indicator, Haunting Wave (E) reactivation
      • Zagara -- Mutalisk (Talent), Nydus Network (R)
  • Mounts
    • Terror Charge has been added as a new Mount for Diablo, which will allow him to run across the battlefield on all fours.
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Shop

Bundle Packs

  • New Bundles
    • The Stormpunk Kael’thas Bundle Pack has been added to the in-game Shop for a limited time.
  • Starter Bundle
    • The Starter Bundle has been updated to include a 7-day Stimpack in addition to its other content. The Bundle Pack’s price has not changed.
    • All players who previously purchased the Starter Bundle will also gain a 7-day Stimpack, which will activate shortly after the patch has been released in all Battle.net regions. Please see the official forums for more information.

Heroes

  • New Hero
    • Kael’thas Sunstrider has been added to the in-game Shop!

Price Changes

  • The Kandy King Muradin Skin’s real-money price has been reduced to $7.49 USD.
  • The price to create a new team for competition in Team League has been reduced to 500 Gold.

Skins

  • New Skins
    • A Master Skin has been added for Kael’thas.
    • The Stormpunk Kael’thas Skin has been added to the in-game Shop.
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Sound

Battlegrounds

  • Battlegrounds have had their music playlists updated.
  • Voiceover that indicates when players rejoin, or disconnect from, a game will be played less frequently.

Heroes and Skins

  • The Pure Country E.T.C. Skin has received all new Ability sound effects.
  • The Lurkablo Diablo Skin has received a brand new voiceover set, which *MRGL! Mrglglbrlg rmgll MRGGLGLM! Mrrgrgbl…* 
  • Many Heroes have received additional sound effect polish.
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User Interface

Options Menus

  • Options menus have been cleaned up across the board, and a number of settings that were not applicable to Heroes of the Storm have been removed.
  • Social Options
    • An “Enable Allied Chat” checkbox has been added, which can be used to enable or disable in-game chat messages from teammates. This setting will be turned on by default.
  • Gameplay Options
    • A “Right-Click Through Minimap” checkbox has been added which can be used to toggle whether right-clicks will register on the minimap, or click through to the terrain underneath.
      • Please note that this is a first pass at implementation for this feature, and further improvements will be made with future updates.
  • An Observer and Replay Options tab has been added.
    • The “Save All Replays”, “Display Replay Time Info”, and “Observer Interface” settings have been moved from Gameplay Options into this new tab.

End-of-Game Score Screen

  • Summary
    • A gold border has been added to Hero and Player Level progress bars.
  • Talents
    • The Talents tab has been enabled on end-of-game Score Screens. Click to view the Talents selected by each player during the previous game.

Hero and Player Progression

  • Player Level Rewards
    • Upon reaching Player Level 25, all Heroic Abilities and Talents will now be automatically unlocked for Heroes that have not yet progressed to Hero Level 4.
      • Kindly note that, for the time being, players at or above Player Level 25 may still receive Heroic Ability and Talent unlock notifications as their Heroes progress through levels 1 - 4. This is a visual issue that will be resolved with a future game update.

In-Game UI

  • Buffs and Debuffs
    • Many buff and debuff icons, which were previously displayed to the left of Heroes’ in-game portraits, have been removed.
    • Some Hero-specific buff icons (such as Valla’s Hatred) have been moved to the right of the Hero’s in-game portrait.
    • Hero nameplates will now display the following status effects: Blinded, Invulnerable, Rooted, Silenced, Stunned, and Unstoppable.
  • Chat
    • Whispers from non-friends will now cause a help message to display, which indicates that the Chat Privacy Social Setting is turned off.
  • In-game Score Screens
    • The in-game Talents Screen (TAB) has received updated art.
    • Counters for Battleground Objectives (such as Doubloons, Skulls, etc.) are now also visible on the Talents Screen.
    • Players may mute chat messages from individual teammates by clicking the speech bubble icons found on the far-right side of the in-game Score Screen (TAB).
      • Teammates muted in this way will no longer be automatically added to the muting player’s “Blocked Communication” list.
    • Gear icons have been added to the far-right side of the in-game Score Screen, which can be clicked to report individual teammates or block all communication with them.
    • XP gains are now tracked more accurately for each Hero on the in-game Score Screen.
      • XP gains for takedowns, destroying structures, capturing Mercenary Camps, and securing Battleground Objectives are now split between all Heroes that are within standard XP range.
        • If no Heroes are nearby, XP earned this way is split evenly amongst the team.
  • Radial Ping Menu
    • The Radial Ping Menu has received updated art which more closely matches the pings issued by players in the game world.
    • Issuing an “On My Way” ping will now display an arrow on the terrain that indicates which direction that player is approaching from.

Play Screen

  • Hero Select
    • The Party Panel at the top of the screen will now indicate when party members have clicked the Ready button.
    • The tooltip that displays when hovering the mouse over portraits on the Hero Select screen will now indicate which Daily Quests can be progressed by playing as that Hero.
  • Training Mode has been added to the Play Screen.
    • Use Training Mode to play with A.I. teammates against A.I. opponents. Uther will feel quite compelled to offer advice during games played in this mode.
    • Games completed in Training Mode will not award any Gold or Daily Quest progress.
  • Versus A.I.
    • Use this game mode to play with human or A.I. teammates against more difficult A.I. opponents than those found in Training Mode.
    • Use the “Versus A.I. Options” box found in the lower-left corner of the Versus A.I. Screen to toggle between human and A.I. teammates.

Player Profile

  • Portrait Tab
    • Portrait borders have been added which will indicate the player’s current Hero and Team League ranks.
    • Navigate to the Portrait tab in the Player Profile to switch among the Player Level, Hero League, and Team League portrait borders.

Ranked Play

  • Ranks
    • Hero and Team League rank icons have received new art, and will now update visually upon reaching ranks 40, 30, 20, 10, and 1.

Shop

  • A number of visual improvements have been made to item display and layout in the Shop.
  • Each of the Heroes, Skins, and Mounts tabs will now display a featured item.
  • Discounts are now called out more prominently on item preview images.
  • Heroes Tab
    • Hero Ability layout on Heroes’ About pages has been overhauled.
    • An Abilities page has been added to Hero pages.
    • The Talents page has received visual improvements, and now more closely matches the Talent pane found on the Hero Select Screen.
  • Skins Tab
    • Skins have been classified as Rare, Epic, or Legendary based on how they alter a Hero.
      • These classifications will be displayed on each Skin’s preview image in the Shop, and Master Skins are also called out in this way.
    • Skin About pages will now list which aspects of the Hero they modify: Altered Voiceover, Replaced Voiceover, Themed Abilities, Themed Animations, and Themed Mount.

Tutorials

  • A pop-up dialog has been added to help new players track their progress through the Tutorial Missions.
  • The Introduction, Basic, and Advanced Tutorial Missions will now award the player with Gold upon completion.
    • If any Tutorial Missions are skipped, players may return to complete them (and claim their Gold rewards) at any time by opening the Main Menu (F10) and clicking the “Tutorials” button.
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Battlegrounds

Sky Temple

  • Healing Fountains found near each team’s Fort in the center lane have been repositioned to prevent them from being attacking outside of tower range.

Tutorials

  • Basic Training
    • Core Health reduced from 14,000 (+400 per level) to 11,000 (+300 per level)
    • Core Shields reduced from 7,000 (+200 per level) to 5,500 (+150 per level)
    • Fort Health reduced from 9,000 to 7,000
    • Keep Health reduced from 13,000 to 10,000
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Talents

Clairvoyance

  • Now breaks units within its radius out of Stealth, rather than revealing them

Focused Attack

  • Bonus to Basic Attack damage increased from 50% to 75%

Follow Through

  • Bonus to Basic Attack damage increased from 25% to 40%

Healing Ward

  • Can now be struck by Area of Effect Abilities
  • Healing Wards now have 50 (+15 per level) Health

Ice Block

  • Ice Block can now be reactivated to cancel its effects early

Promote

  • Buff duration increased from 15 to 30 seconds
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Heroes

            Assassin Specialist Support Warrior
             Nova Abathur Rehgar Anub'arak
             Raynor Azmodan Tassadar Chen
             Gazlowe Diablo
            Murky E.T.C.
             Sylvanas Muradin
             The Lost Vikings Sonya
             Zagara
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Assassin

 

Nova

  • One in the Chamber (Talent)
    • Bonus to Basic Attack damage increased from 50% to 80%

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Raynor

  • Penetrating Round (Q)
    • Knockback distance increased by about 23%
  • Inspire (W)
    • Attack Speed bonus increased from 25% to 30%
      • Allied Attack Speed bonus increased from 12.5% to 15%
    • Mana cost reduced from 50 to 40
    • Cooldown decreased from 15 to 10 seconds
    • Duration decreased from 8 to 6 seconds
  • Raynor’s Raiders (R)
    • New indicator art has been added that will highlight the Banshees’ current target.

     Return

 

Specialist

 

Abathur

  • Locust Strain (Trait)
    • Bombard Locusts (Talent)
      • Bombard Strain Locust attack range reduced by 30%
  • Symbiote (Q)
    • Stab (Q)
      • Damage increased from 44 (+9 per level) to 46 (+9.5 per level)

     Return

 

Azmodan

  • General of Hell (Trait)
    • Bound Minion (Talent)
      • Duration increased from 15 to 30 seconds

     Return

 

Gazlowe

  • Rock-it! Turret (Q)
    • Mana cost decreased from 70 to 60
    • Rock-It! Turret XL (Talent)
      • Now acquires targets in a cone rather than a circle
      • This change was made to prevent cases where bonus shots fire farther than the turret's indicated range.
    • Turret Storage (Talent) moved from Level 16 to Level 13
      • Maximum Turret charges reduced from 4 to 3
    • Long-Ranged Turrets (Talent)
      • Turret attack range bonus increased from 25% to 40%
  • Deth Lazor (W)
    • Damage gained per level reduced from 14 to 12
    • Mana cost decreased from 75 to 60
    • Cooldown decreased from 15 to 12 seconds, and now begins once Deth Lazor is fired
    • Damage now increases at 1.5 second, rather than 2 second, intervals while channeling, and reaches maximum damage at 3 seconds.
    • Maximum channel time decreased from 8 to 6 seconds
    • Goblin Fusion (Talent) moved from Level 16 to Level 4
      • Damage bonus reduced from 50% to 25%
    • EZ-PZ Dimensional Ripper (Talent)
      • Slow amount increased from 35% to 40%
  • Xplodium Charge (E)
    • Mana cost increased from 60 to 70
    • Kwik Release Charge (Talent) moved from Level 13 to Level 16
  • Grav-O-Bomb 3,000 (R)
    • Triggers 0.1875 seconds sooner in order to better align with the Ability’s visual effects

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Murky

  • Spawn Egg (Trait)
    • Murky now spawns into the game with an Egg automatically placed in the Hall of Storms.
    • If both Murky and his Egg are killed, a new Egg will be automatically placed in the Hall of Storms once he respawns.
    • Spawn Egg will not be placed on cooldown in either of the above scenarios.

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Sylvanas

  • New Talent (Level 7): Remorseless
    • After using an Ability, the next Basic Attack within 3 seconds deals 25% additional damage.
    • This is a Sylvanas-specific replacement for the Follow Through Talent.

     Return

 

The Lost Vikings

  • Jump! (Talent) cooldown increased from 20 to 30 seconds
  • Longboat Raid! (R)
    • The Lost Vikings will now become stunned for 1.5 seconds if the Longboat is destroyed before its duration ends.
  • Play Again! (R)
    • All of the Lost Vikings are now restored to full Health upon casting Play Again!

     Return

 

Zagara

  • Infest (Talent)
    • Duration increased from 15 to 30 seconds

     Return

 

Support

 

Rehgar

  • Healing Totem (Talent)
    • Cooldown increased from 45 to 60 seconds
  • Farsight (Talent)
    • Now breaks units within its radius out of Stealth, rather than revealing them

     Return

 

Tassadar

  • Oracle (Trait)
    • Now reveals enemy units slightly faster

     Return

 

Warrior

 

Anub'arak

  • Scarab Host (Trait)
    • Beetle A.I. has received several improvements.
      • If Anub’arak is attacking an enemy when a Beetle is spawned, the Beetle will also attempt to attack that target.
      • If Anub’arak is not attacking anything when a Beetle is spawned, the Beetle will attempt to find a nearby target to attack.
      • Beetles will now attack and pursue a target found this way until that enemy dies, or the Beetles lose track of the target (through teleporting away, for example). Only then will the Beetles return to a lane.
  • Impale (Q)
    • Casting delay removed
  • Burrow Charge (E)
    • Casting delay significantly reduced

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Chen

  • Chen’s Brew will now be fully restored after using Hearthstone (B) to return to the Hall of Storms.
  • Storm, Earth, Fire (R)
    • Chen’s status bar will now be hidden during the period of invulnerability that occurs while casting Storm, Earth, Fire, in order to better communicate this state to players.

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Diablo

  • Diablo has received significant updates.
  • Health decreased from 1060 (+260 per level) to 1050 (+250 per level)
  • Amplified Healing (Talent) removed
  • Relentless (Talent) removed
  • Storm Shield (Talent) removed
  • New Talent (Level 13): Life Leech
    • Basic Attacks against enemy Heroes deal bonus damage equal to 1% of that Hero’s maximum Health, and heals Diablo for the same amount.
  • New Talent (Level 20): Lord of Terror
    • Activate to steal 10% of the maximum Health of all nearby enemy Heroes
  • Black Soulstone (Trait)
    • Maximum Health gain changed from +5 per Soul to +0.15% per Soul
    • Endless Death (Talent) removed
    • Soul Feast (Talent)
      • Health Regeneration bonus increased from 2% to 3% per Soul
    • Siphon the Dead (Talent) moved from Level 7 to 13
      • Will no longer interrupt movement when activated
      • No longer consumes Souls upon activation, and Black Soulstone now heals 15% of Diablo’s maximum Health over 3 seconds
    • Soul Steal (Talent)
      • This Talent has been repurposed and now affects Diablo’s Black Soulstone Trait.
      • Now increases the maximum Health gained per Soul from 0.15% to 0.25%
    • New Talent (Level 4): Soul Catcher
      • Passively generates a Soul every 4 seconds
    • New Talent (Level 4): Essence of the Slain
      • Gain 10 Mana whenever a nearby enemy Minion dies
  • Shadow Charge (Q)
    • Mana cost increased from 50 to 60
    • Cooldown increased from 10 to 12 seconds
    • Diablo is no longer Unstoppable during Shadow Charge.
    • Stun duration when the target of Shadow Charge is knocked into a wall has been decreased from 1 to 0.75 seconds.
    • Crippling Shadows (Talent) removed
    • From the Shadows (Talent) has been redesigned
      • Moved from Level 13 to Level 7
      • Now increases Shadow Charge’s stun duration, inflicted when the target is knocked into a wall, by 0.5 seconds
    • New Talent (Level 1): Overwhelming Force
      • Increases the range and knockback of Shadow Charge by 25%
    • New Talent (Level 7): Devastating Charge
      • Shadow Charge reduces the duration silences, stuns, slows, roots, and Polymorphs against Diablo by 50% for 3 seconds.
  • Fire Stomp (W)
    • Swallowing Flames (Talent) removed
    • Molten Impact (Talent) removed
    • Fire Devil (Talent) moved from level 16 to level 4
      • Damage reduced from 12 (+3 per level) to 10 (+2 per level)
    • Firestorm (Talent) moved from level 16 to level 13
      • Damage bonus decreased from 150% to 125%
    • New Talent (Level 16): Rampage
      • Fire Stomp increases Diablo’s Movement Speed by 20% and Basic Attack damage by 50% for 2 seconds.
  • Overpower (E)
    • Mana cost increased from 50 to 60
    • Demonic Strength (Talent) has been redesigned
      • Now slows the target by 25% for 2 seconds once Overpower’s stun expires
    • New Talent (Level 16): Domination
      • Overpower reduces Shadow Charge’s cooldown by 8 seconds.
  • Apocalypse (R)
    • Dying Breath (Talent)
      • Now also reduces Apocalypse’s cooldown by 20 seconds, in addition to its other effects

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E.T.C.

  • E.T.C. has received significant updates.
  • Scouting Drone (Talent) removed
  • Superiority (Talent) removed
  • Relentless (Talent) removed
  • Hardened Shield (Talent) removed
  • Follow Through (Talent) added at Level 7
  • Spell Shield (Talent) added at Level 13
  • Storm Shield (Talent)  added at Level 20
  • Echo Pedal (Talent)
    • Moved from Level 4 to Level 16
    • Pulse damage increased from 10 (+3 per level) to 30 (+5 per level)
    • The first pulse now fires immediately, and fires the follow-up pulse after 2 seconds in order to allow for more cohesion with Face Melt and Powerslide.
  • Rockstar (Trait)
    • No longer affects allied Minions or Mercenaries
    • Duration increased from 3 to 4 seconds
    • Rockin’ Out (Talent) removed
    • Uber Rockstar (Talent) renamed to Speed Metal
      • Moved from Level 13 to Level 16
      • Now lasts 2 seconds, separate from Rockstar
    • New Talent (Level 4): Hammer On
      • Increases Rockstar’s duration by 2 seconds, and reduces the cost of all Abilities by 10 Mana while Rockstar is active
  • Powerslide (Q)
    • Mana cost increased from 50 to 60
    • New Talent (Level 1): Rolling Like a Stone
      • Increases Powerslide’s range by 25%
    • New Talent (Level 4): Double-Necked Guitar
      • Increases Powerslide’s width by 100%, and speed by 30%
    • New Talent (Level 13): Show Stopper
      • E.T.C. gains Resistant, reducing all damage taken by 25%, for 4 seconds after casting Powerslide.
  • Face Melt (W)
    • Mana cost increased from 50 to 60
    • New Talent (Level 4): Mic Check
      • Hitting 3 or more targets with Face Melt reduces its cooldown by 4 seconds
    • New Talent (Level 4): Pinball Wizard
      • Face Melt deals an additional 50% damage to enemies recently affected by Powerslide.
    • New Talent (Level 16): Encore
      • Face Melt now leaves behind an Amplifier, which will knock enemies back again after 2 seconds.
  • Guitar Solo (E)
    • Mana cost decreased from 60 to 40
    • Pwn Shop Guitar (Talent) moved from Level 4 to Level 1
      • Mana cost reduction decreased from 50% to 40%
    • Groupies (Talent) moved from Level 4 to Level 13
      • Healing provided to nearby allied Heroes increased from 12 (+3 per level) to 30 (+6 per level) Health per second while active
    • Guitar Hero (Talent) has been redesigned
      • Now heals for 50% of damage dealt by Basic Attacks while Guitar Solo is active
    • New Talent (Level 1): Prog Rock
      • Permanently increases Guitar Solo’s healing per second by 2 for each Regeneration Globe picked up
    • New Talent (Level 7): Just Keep Rockin’
      • Reduces the duration of all silences, slows, stuns, roots, and polymorphs against E.T.C. by 50% while Guitar Solo is active
  • Mosh Pit (R)
    • Death Metal (Talent) has been redesigned
      • Upon death, a ghost of E.T.C. will now cast Mosh Pit at his death location
      • This Talent may now be picked even if Stage Dive has been selected as E.T.C.’s Heroic Ability.
    • New Talent (Level 20): Tour Bus
      • Allows E.T.C. to cast Powerslide during Mosh Pit, and doing so increases Mosh Pit’s duration by 2 seconds
      • Additionally, casting Mosh Pit now refreshes Powerslide’s cooldown.
  • Stage Dive (R)
    • Cooldown decreased from 100 to 75 seconds
    • Rock God (Talent) removed
    • New Talent (Level 20): Crowd Pleaser
      • Increases Stage Dive’s impact radius by 50%, and reduces its cooldown by 15 seconds for each enemy Hero hit

     Return

 

Muradin

  • Basic Attack damage gained per level increased from 8 to 9
  • Follow Through (Talent) removed
  • Skullcracker (Talent) moved from Level 4 to Level 7
  • New Talent (Level 16): Give ‘em the Axe!
    • Basic Attacks deal 75% additional damage against targets that are rooted, stunned, or slowed
    • This is a Muradin-specific version of the Executioner Talent.
  • Thunder Clap (W)
    • Reverberation (Talent)
      • Attack speed slow amount increased from 33% to 50%
      • Attack speed slow duration decreased from 3.5 to 3 seconds
    • Thunder Burn (Talent)
      • Movement Speed slow duration applied by Thunder Clap’s secondary explosion increased from 2 to 2.5 seconds
  • Dwarf Toss (E)
    • Landing Momentum (Talent)
      • Movement Speed bonus duration increased from 2 to 4 seconds
  • Haymaker (R)
    • Cooldown decreased from 50 to 40 seconds

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Sonya

  • Follow Through (Talent) added at Level 7
  • Fury (Trait)
    • War Paint (Talent)
      • Heal amount per Basic Attack increased from 25% to 30% of damage dealt
    • Endless Fury (Talent)
      • Maximum Fury increased from 150 to 200
    • No Escape (Talent)
      • Movement Speed bonus increased from 20% to 25%
  • Ancient Spear (Q)
    • Boon of the Ancients (Talent) removed
    • Composite Spear (Talent) moved from Level 13 to Level 7
    • Poisoned Spear (Talent)
      • Bonus damage increased from 50% to 75%
    • Mystical Spear (Talent)
      • Moved from Level 16 to Level 13
      • Now permanently reduces Ancient Spear’s cooldown by 4 seconds in addition to its other effects
  • Seismic Slam (W)
    • Damage increased from 90 (+13 per level) to 100 (+16 per level)
    • Furious Blow (Talent) moved from Level 4 to Level 16
    • Shattered Ground (Talent) moved from Level 7 to Level 4
      • Splash damage bonus reduced from 100% to 75% of primary target damage
  • Whirlwind (E)
    • Fury cost reduced from 50 to 40
    • Duration reduced from 4 to 3 seconds
    • Cooldown reduced from 10 to 4 seconds, and now begins once Whirlwind completes
    • Heal amount reduced from 40% to 25% of damage dealt, this effect is doubled for damage dealt to enemy Heroes
    • Enduring Whirlwind (Talent) removed
    • Dust Devils (Talent) removed
    • Life Funnel (Talent)
      • No longer removes movement impairing effects
      • Bonus to Whirlwind healing reduced from +15% to +10% of damage dealt
    • New Talent (Level 4): Hurricane
      • Casting Whirlwind removes any active slows and roots affecting Sonya.
  • Leap (R)
    • Leap has received responsiveness improvements.
    • Arreat Crater (Talent)
      • Crater duration increased from 4 to 5 seconds
  • Wrath of the Berserker (R)
    • Anger Management (Talent)
      • No longer reduces Fury needed to prolong Wrath of the Berserker
      • Now increases all Fury generated while Wrath of the Berserker is active by 50%

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Bug Fixes

General

  • Fixed a rare issue that could allow a Quick Match game to start with fewer than 10 players.
  • Closing the client during a match countdown will no longer occasionally cause the player to become unable to rejoin that game.
  • Fixed an issue, in which voice chat functionality that does not apply to Heroes of the Storm, could cause the player’s webcam to activate upon launching the client.
  • New SystemInfo.txt files will no longer be generated every time the Heroes of the Storm client is launched.
  • Several typos and tooltip errors have been corrected across various aspects of the game.

Art

  • Physics objects, such as ragdolls, can now be appropriately manipulated by Sonya and Gazlowe’s Abilities.
  • The Spider Emblem on the Tomb of the Spider Queen Battleground will no longer appear team-colored.
  • The color of Baleog and Erik’s Basic Attack projectiles will now appropriately match the selected Skin Variation.
  • The crystal at the end of Master Tassadar’s nerve cords is no longer flexible.
  • The visual effects for Flying Monkey Brightwing's Blink Heal now appropriately match the Skin.

Battlegrounds

  • Players will no longer enter an infinite rejoin loop if both Cores are destroyed simultaneously, and victory will be assigned to one team at random.
    • Please note: Randomly assigned victory/defeat is intended as a temporary solution, intended to fix the infinite rejoin loop as soon as possible. A more robust solution for games that end in a draw will be implemented with a future patch.
  • Alerts proclaiming that the Core is under attack will no longer play when an enemy Hero is within range of the Core before a Keep has been destroyed.
  • Fixed an issue that could cause Mercenary Camps on the Dragon Shire Battleground to permanently vanish when the Dragon Knight is killed.
  • Heroes killed just before being struck by the Dragon Knight’s Savage Charge Ability will no longer fly to the location where they would have landed upon respawning.
  • Fixed an issue that could cause the neutral Grave Golem in the Haunted Mines to drop Skulls outside the playable area.
  • Allowing a Temple to return to neutral ownership while it is firing its final 5 volleys will no longer generate error messages.
  • The Clear Cooldowns button in Try Me Mode will now properly reset the cooldowns for Tychus' Commander Odin and E.T.C.’s Mosh Pit Heroic Abilities.  

Sound

  • Fixed an issue that could cause Heroes’ “ready” voiceover to play repeatedly during Hero Select.
  • Sound effects for Diablo's Fire Stomp will no longer play if the Ability becomes interrupted during its casting time.

Heroes and Talents

  • Casting a targeted Ability on a Hero that is disappearing into the Fog of War will no longer cause the casting player’s Hero to become briefly unresponsive.
  • Abathur’s Bombard Strain Talent will no longer increase Locust Health.
  • Baleog and Erik can no longer walk through Nazeebo’s Zombie Wall.
  • Casting Diablo's Shadow Charge on a Structure at melee range will no longer move him to that Structure’s opposite side.
  • E.T.C.’s Rockstar Trait will no longer buff Gazlowe’s Scrap.
  • Illidan’s Hero model will no longer disappear when casting The Hunt immediately after Dive.
  • Fixed an issue which could allow Nazeebo to summon a second Gargantuan while the first was still alive.
  • Stitches’ Hook can no longer pull a Hero that is about to be consumed by Zagara’s Devouring Maw outside of the Ability’s area of effect.
  • Sylvanas can no longer cast a second Haunting Wave after the Windrunner Talent’s timer has expired.
  • Sylvanas' Wailing Arrow Heroic Ability is now properly placed on a reduced cooldown if it becomes interrupted during its casting time.
  • Tassadar’s Oracle properly reveals Zagara’s Creep Tumors once again.
  • Framerate drops that occur while Valla uses Strafe have been significantly reduced.

User Interface

  • Fixed an issue which could cause players to search for a match in a game mode that they did not intend to enter.
  • Heroes that have progressed beyond Hero Level 4 will no longer occasionally load into games with locked Talents.
  • Inviting a player to join a party while viewing tutorial help tips will no longer cause the user interface to become unresponsive.
  • During Training Mode games, Uther will no longer prompt players to use a Mount when they are controlling the Dragon Knight.
  • During Training Mode games, Uther will no longer prompt Illidan players to use a Mount when already Mounted in Demon Form during Training Mode games.
  • The Quest Log’s clickable area now more closely matches its appearance.
  • The error message displayed when multiple party members attempt to queue for matchmaking using the same Hero, at the same time, will now indicate the cause for the error.
  • The ability hotkey for Kerrigan's Primal Grasp is now properly displayed in her Abilities tab on the Hero Select screen.
  • Items that players do not own will no longer appear purchasable during Draft Mode.
  • In-game Score Screen sorting options no longer prevent players from using the block communication function.
  • The in-game Score Screen (TAB) will now properly display the total number of Gems being carried by all three of The Lost Vikings on the Tomb of the Spider Queen Battleground.
  • Pressing the Escape key will now properly open the Main Menu when Heroes of the Storm is disconnected from the internet.
    Hovering the cursor over other players on the end-of-game Stats tab will now properly indicate their current online statuses.
  • The preview image displayed when selecting Tomb of the Spider Queen Replays now properly displays the Battleground’s loading screen art. 

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