Heroes of the Storm Patch Notes — March 29, 2016

New Battleground: Lost Cavern

Lost Cavern, a new Battleground featuring just one lane —and a whole lot of team fighting— is now available for play exclusively in Custom Games!

• Lost Cavern has no Mercenary Camps, and just one objective: Battle through the opposing Fort, Keep, and Core to claim victory.
• Players cannot use Hearthstone and will not heal at the allied Hall of Storms.
• Corridors on either side of the lane contain neutral Regeneration Globes, which will respawn regularly throughout the game.
• Check out our recent blog to learn more about Lost Cavern. 

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New Hero: Dehaka

Dehaka, Primal Pack Leader, has been added to Heroes of the Storm and is now available for play! Read on for a brief overview of his Abilities.

Mount

• Brushstalker (Z)
  • You cannot use Mounts. Instead, you may burrow to any bush or vent on the Battleground. 40 second cooldown.

Trait

• Essence Collection (D)
  • You collect 10 Essence per Hero Takedown, and 2 per enemy Minion killed nearby, storing up to a maximum of 50 Essence.  
  • Activate to consume all stored Essence and regenerate Health over the next 5 seconds for each stack consumed.
  • Can be cast during Drag and Burrow.

Basic Abilities

• Drag (Q)
  • Lash out with your tongue, dealing light damage to the first enemy hit, and dragging them with you for 1.75 seconds.
• Dark Swarm (W)
  • Over the next three seconds, you gain the ability to move through units and deal damage in an area around yourself. Deals double damage to Heroes.
  • Can be cast during Drag and Burrow.
• Burrow (E)
  • Burrow into the ground, entering Stasis and becoming Invulnerable for 2 seconds.

Heroic Abilities

• Isolation (R)
  • Launch biomass that deals damage, silences, and slows the first enemy Hero it hits by 30% for 3 seconds. For the next 6 seconds, the affected enemy loses sight of allied Heroes, and has greatly reduced vision.
• Adaptation (R)
  • After a 5 second delay, 60% of all damage taken during this time will be returned to you as Health.

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User Interface

General

• Display Settings
  • Heroes of the Storm now supports most 'ultrawide' 21:9 monitor resolutions.
• Hero Select
  • The Ready, Skins, Mount, Abilities, and Talents buttons on Hero Select have received additional visual polish.
• Game Start Notification
  • If Heroes of the Storm is minimized, it will now automatically become the focus window when loading is finished and a match is about to begin.
  • If Heroes of the Storm is not the focus window (via ALT + TAB), it will now blink in the taskbar when loading is finished.

Ranked Play

• Bans have arrived!
  • Hero bans have been added to draft mode for both Hero and Team League games.
  • All Ranked games will use the “Mid Ban” method during drafts, which features two ban rounds per team —one round before hero picks begin, and a second halfway through the draft.
    • The player with the highest matchmaking rating on each team will be automatically selected to issue bans.
      • Players selected to issue bans can be identified by a new crown icon, which will appear over the Hero portrait, and animates during each team’s turn to ban.
    • Whichever team wins the coin toss before drafting begins will receive first ban and first pick.
    • The team that loses the coin toss will ban first during the second ban round.
  • Each team will have 45 seconds to ban a Hero during the first round, and 30 seconds during the second Ban round.
    • If no Hero is banned or highlighted before time expires, the ban will be skipped.
    • If a Hero is highlighted when time expires, that hero will be automatically banned.
  • Hero pick timers have been reduced from 45 to 30 seconds, but pick order has not been changed.
• Updated Ranked Requirements
  • Minimum Player Level requirements have been removed from ranked play, meaning that players no longer need to reach Level 30 in order to participate in Hero or Team League games.
  • Due to the addition of bans, Ranked play now requires that players have access to at least 14 Heroes who have reached Level 5 or higher in order to participate.
    • Weekly free-to-play rotation Heroes that have reached Level 5 or higher now count toward the minimum Hero requirement, and can also be selected for play in ranked games.
  • Those who have received penalties for leaving games will no longer be prevented from participating in Team League games —be sure to choose Team League allies carefully!

Draft Lobby

• The Draft Lobby has received an overhaul and additional visual polish.
  • Upon entering a draft lobby, the upcoming Battleground’s name and art will be prominently displayed on screen, along with an audible callout.
  • The draft lobby has received updated background art.
  • Animated Hero models will now be displayed for each pick and ban.
  • Draft lobbies now feature animated Hero portraits.
    • Glow animations have been added to player slots, which will more clearly indicate who will be picking or banning during each turn.
    • Skin selections will now be visible on Hero models and in portraits in the draft lobby.
• Hero Selection has been visually reworked
  • A “Favorites” bar has been added in order to help players more easily find and select their most preferred Heroes during the draft phase.
    • To select Favorites, navigate to the Hero Collection tab in the Player Profile, and then drag and drop up to 8 Heroes into the new favorites bar at the top of the screen.
    • If no favorites have been manually selected, the Favorites bar will be automatically filled with the player’s 8 highest-level Heroes
  • Click the new “Browse All” Heroes button to open a much larger Hero select pane, which features up to 48 heroes per page.
  • Heroes can now be sorted by role, and a search bar has been added which can be used to find heroes by name, universe, and other keywords.

Custom Games

• Several ban methods have been added for Custom Game Draft Lobbies
  • Change the Lobby Mode to Draft, and then use the new Ban Mode dropdown to choose which of the following ban methods to use during the upcoming draft:
    • Not Using Bans: Heroes cannot be banned in this mode.
    • One ban: One ban round prior to Hero picks.
    • Two bans: Two ban rounds that alternate teams before Hero picks begin.
    • Mid Ban: Two ban rounds. One round before Hero picks begin, and another halfway through the draft.
  • After selecting a Ban Mode, the Lobby Host may click the crown icons found on each player slot to designate which players on each team will issue Hero bans.

In-Game UI

• Hero Portrait
  • Players can now right-click through the in-game Hero Portrait.
• Death Recaps
  • Death Recap notifications will now be displayed on the left side of the screen upon being killed.
    • These notifications briefly summarize the cause of death, list the player’s killer, and the source of damage that scored the killing blow.
    • Click the notification to open a detailed Death Recap on the in-game Score Screen.
  • Players may view their most recent detailed Death Recap at any time by clicking the “Show the last Death Recap” button added near the bottom of the in-game Score Screen (TAB).
    • Detailed Death Recaps will display a graph of the player’s remaining Health over time, as well as all sources of incoming damage and healing, during the final moments leading to death.
    • The top three sources of incoming damage will appear at the top of the detailed Death Recap, along with the percentage of total damage dealt by each.
• Score Screen
  • The Show Talents/Show Stats buttons on the in-game Score Screen (TAB) have been replaced by three new buttons on the in-game score screen: Stats, Talents, and Show Last Death Recap

Hotkeys

• Hotkey settings can now be accessed directly from the Main Menu by pressing Escape and clicking the new Hotkey button.
• Hotkey Profiles
  • A new “Show in Folder” button has been added next to the Selected Profile dropdown, which can be used to find Hotkey Settings files.
    • These files can be shared with friends or transferred to other Heroes accounts.
    • Multiple Hotkey Profiles can be created, but only the profile that is currently in use will be cloud saved.
      • A cloud saved Hotkey Profile will be available for use when logged into the same Heroes of the Storm account while using a different computer.
• Basic Hotkeys
  • Talent hotkeys have been moved from the Advanced tab to the Basic tab.
  • Hotkeys on the Basic tab can now be rebound to mouse buttons. 
  • Players can now rebind the hotkey for queuing commands using the new dropdown menu at the top of the Basic Hotkeys menu.
    • The queue commands hotkey will default to Shift, but can also be changed to Ctrl, Alt, or None.
• Advanced Hotkeys
  • Hotkeys for self-casting Abilities can now be rebound under the new “Hero Abilities (Self Cast)” category.
  • Hotkeys for overriding Quick Cast settings can now be set under the new “Hero Abilities (Quick Cast)” and “Hero Abilities (Quick Cast On Release)” categories.
• Quick Cast for Individual Abilities
  • Quick Cast Settings have been moved to the Hotkeys menu from the Mouse and Keyboard menu.
  • Quick Cast settings can now be modified for each Hero, including Abilities, Activated Talents, and Basic Attacks.
    • Open the Options Menu (ESC), click the Hotkeys button, and then select Quick Cast Settings from the list on the left.
    • Use the new dropdown menu under the “Per Ability Quick Cast Settings” header to switch among Heroes, or Battleground Objectives such as the Dragon Knight and Garden Terror.
      • After selecting a Hero, use the dropdown lists on the right side of the screen to change quick cast settings for that Hero’s Abilities and Activated Talents.
      • Most Abilities can be set to Off, On, On Release, or Use Global Setting
      • Quick Cast Settings for Abilities and Activated Talents that are already cast instantly cannot be changed.
        • Instant Abilities that are not targeted no longer follow the player’s Global Quick Cast setting, and will now be cast immediately on pressing down the associated hotkey, instead.
      • Abilities and Talents that are shared across multiple Heroes, such as Basic Attack and Cleanse, will also use shared Quick Cast settings for those Abilities and Talents.
  • Those who prefer to use the same Quick Cast setting for most actions may still do so using the “Global Settings” dropdown at the top of the Quick Cast Settings menu. 

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Art

Hero Abilities and Talents

• Many Heroes have received updated Ability and Talent button art.
• All generic Talents have received updated button art
• All remaining Talents that modify the same Ability and coexist on the same Talent tier have received new color tints to help players more easily tell them apart at a glance
• The following Hero Abilities and Talents have received additional visual polish:
  • Azmodan — General of Hell (D)
  • Cho — Consuming Blaze (W), Molten Block (Talent)
  • Gall — Shove (Talent), Psychotic Break (Talent)
  • Gazlowe — Rock It! Turret (Q), Xplodium Charge (E), Goblin Fusion (Talent)
•  The following Heroes have received updated visual effects for Abilities and Talents that have been reworked in today’s patch:
  • Gazlowe
  • Kael’thas

Skins

• Rehgar’s Ghost Wolf form will now more closely match his Skins and Skin Variations in-game.

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Shop

Bundles

• New Bundles have been added for a limited time!
  • Mecha Dehaka Bundle
  • Sovereign Fiends Bundle
  • Ultimate Sovereign Fiends Bundle

Heroes

• Dehaka has been added to the in-game Shop

Price Reductions

• Kerrigan’s prices have been reduced to $6.49 USD and 4,000 Gold.

Skins

• New Skins
  • Master Dehaka
  • Mecha Dehaka

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Sound

General

• Sound effects will now play during the following events when Heroes of the Storm is running in the background —even if the “Play in Background” Sound option is disabled:
  • Game is found while queued for matchmaking
  • Countdown begins prior to loading into a game
  • Loading has finished and the game is about to begin
  • Game has begun
  • Draft Mode: Player has 10 seconds remaining to pick a Hero
  • Draft Mode: Player’s Hero pick timer has expired
  • Draft Mode: Countdown begins after Drafting is finished, prior to loading into a game

Heroes

• New voiceover lines have been added for Li-Ming, who will now call out her own kill streaks.

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Design & Gameplay

AFK Detection

• Players who are not present at the start of a game will now be more quickly removed.

Hero Movement Interaction Unification

• Several Abilities have been changed in an effort to unify their usage.
  • The following Abilities can now be used to move to invulnerable units:
    • Kerrigan — Ravage (Q)
    • Illidan — Dive (Q)
  • The following Abilities can now be used to travel to objects created by an enemy, such as Sgt. Hammer’s Spider Mines:
    • Kerrigan — Ravage (Q)
    • Lunara — Leaping Strike (R)
    • Illidan — Dive (Q)
    • Kharazim — Radiant Dash (Q)
    • Chen — Flying Kick (Q)

On-Hit Effects

• Effects applied when Basic Attacks strike the target will no longer be applied if evasion causes the Basic Attack to miss.

“On My Way” Ping Pathing Lines

• Allied "On My Way" pings will now display lines on the minimap that show the projected path of travel.

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Battlegrounds

Dragon Shire

• Dragon Knight
  • Now immune to Attack Speed slows applied by attacks from enemy Forts and Keeps
  • Savage Charge (W)
    • Targets punted by Savage Charge will no longer be stunned after landing

Developer Comments: We want to encourage players to be really aggressive and feel like they can tank shots from Forts and Keeps when piloting the Dragon Knight. The Attack Speed slows from these Structures were discouraging players from tanking the structures, and often led to a Dragon Knight having less than the desired impact.

 Garden of Terror

• Garden Terror (Player Controlled)
  • Basic Attack damage reduced by 15%
  • Basic Attacks now deal 50% damage to nearby non-Heroic enemies
  • Basic Attacks now instantly kill Minions
  • Overgrowth (W)
    • No longer affects Minions or Mercenaries
    • No longer deals damage to Structures
    • Garden Terror now deals 100% bonus damage to Structures disabled by Overgrowth
    • Maximum duration increased from 15 to 25 seconds
    • Cooldown increased from 15 to 25 seconds
    • Health increased by 100%

Developer Comments: We don’t like the common (and, usually, optimal) gameplay tactic of playing hit-and-run with the Garden Terror. Chasing it as it ran between lanes dropping Overgrowths wasn’t enjoyable for the defending team, and didn’t fit the spirit of what the Garden Terror was intended to do. The new functionality attempts to create a larger “moment” when Overgrowth is placed, as it gives a huge bonus—provided the Garden Terror can attack—and also makes killing the Overgrowth a bigger deal. Overall, we think Garden Terror combat will be more interesting and tactical.

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Talents

Arcane Power

• Duration increased from 5 to 10 seconds

Block

• Damage reduction increased from 50% to 75%

Developer Comments: We want to improve counter-pick talents like Block that are meant to be strong against certain hero types. We’re hoping that these kinds of Talents will have a more meaningful impact in games in which they are picked, and that there are more situations where the enemy team’s composition drives intelligent Talent choices.

Other effects similar to Block have been evaluated on a case-by-case basis for all Heroes, with some gaining increased Block damage reduction, while others stayed at 50%.

Dampen Magic

• This Talent has been redesigned
• Dampen Magic charges now cause all incoming Ability Damage to be reduced by 50% for 1 second

Developer Comments: Similar to Block, Dampen Magic is the first of many efforts we will be making to create more meaningful counter-pick Talents (in this case, against spell casters). We found that the original iteration of Dampen Magic did not truly fulfill its purpose of mitigating spell damage due to how many spell effects are done with incremental damage. This buff should make the Talent more universally viable against enemy spells.

Vampiric Assault

• Has been renamed to Vigorous Assault

Vampiric Strike

• Has been renamed to Vigorous Strikes

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Heroes

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Assassin

Gall

• Gall can now use Shove and Eye of Kilrogg while riding in the Dragon Knight or Garden Terror

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Greymane

• Greymane's Basic Attacks in Human form have received responsiveness improvements
  • Melee Basic Attack animation speed increased by 50% to match the speed of his ranged Basic attack animation
• Marked for the Kill (R)
  • Bullet range increased by 25%
  • Bullet speed increased by 45%

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Illidan

• This Hero has received significant Talent changes
• Shadow Shield (Talent) removed
• Regeneration Master (Talent) removed
• Seasoned Marksman (Talent) removed
• Follow Through (Talent) removed
• First Aid (Talent) removed
• Giant Killer (Talent) removed
• Blood for Blood (Talent) removed
• Stoneskin (Talent) removed
• Health increased from 1426 to 1650
• Health Regeneration increased from 2.97 to 3.44
• Attack Speed increased from 1.66 to 1.82 attacks per second
• New Talent (Level 1): Unending Hatred
  • Permanently gain 0.1 Basic Attack damage for each enemy Minion killed nearby, and 1 damage for each enemy Hero killed nearby
  • Upon reaching 20 bonus Basic Attack damage, gain an additional 10 Basic Attack damage.
• New Talent (Level 16): Fiery Brand
  • Every fourth consecutive Basic Attack against the same enemy Hero deals damage equal to 6% of the target’s maximum Health
• Betrayer's Thirst (Trait)
  • Healing received increased from 20% to 40% of Basic Attack damage dealt
  • Thrill of Battle (Talent) removed
  • Thirsting Blade (Talent) redesigned and moved from Level 4 to Level 7
    • Increases Betrayer’s Thirst healing from 40% of Basic Attack damage to 60% of Basic Attack damage while Sweeping Strike is active
  • Hunter's Onslaught (Talent) moved from Level 16 to Level 7
    • Healing increased from 15% to 25% of Ability Damage done
    • Now only affects Basic Abilities
    • Healing doubled against Heroic targets
• Dive (Q)
  • Lunge (Talent) removed
  • Friend or Foe (Talent) moved from Level 13 to Level 4
    • Targeting an ally no longer reduces Dive’s cooldown
    • Now also increases Dive range by 33%
  • Rapid Chase (Talent) moved from Level 7 to Level 4
    • Movement Speed bonus reduced from 20% to 15%
  • Reflexive Block (Talent)
    • No longer triggered by Evasion
    • Casting Dive now provides 3 Block charges. Each charge reduces damage taken from the next incoming Basic Attack by 75%
  • Marked for Death (Talent) redesigned and moved from Level 4 to Level 16
    • Dive deals an additional 230 damage (+4% per level) each time it is cast against the same target within 10 seconds
• Sweeping Strike (W)
  • Damage bonus duration reduced from 4 seconds to 3 seconds
  • Fel Reach (Talent) removed
  • Second Sweep (Talent) removed
  • Battered Assault (Talent) redesigned
    • Hitting 2 or more enemy Heroes with Sweeping Strike increases its damage bonus from 35% to 100%
  • Immolation (Talent) moved from Level 4 to Level 1
    • Damage reduced from 29 (+4% per level) per second to 22 (+4% per level) per second
  • Unbound (Talent) moved from Level 13 to Level 4
    • Now also reduces the cooldown of Sweeping Strike by 5 seconds if it doesn’t hit any enemies
  • New Talent (Level 13): Nimble Defender
    • Hitting an enemy Hero with Sweeping Strike grants Resistant for 2 seconds
  • New Talent (Level 16): Blades of Azzinoth
    • Hitting an enemy Hero with Sweeping Strike grants 1 Blades of Azzinoth stack, up to a maximum of 5.
    • Upon earning 5 stacks, Blades of Azzinoth can be activated to gain 75% Basic Attack damage for 8 seconds. Activation consumes all stacks.
• Evasion (E)
  • Duration increased from 2 to 2.5 seconds
  • New Talent (Level 13): Elusive Strike
    • Reduce Evasion’s cooldown by 3 seconds for every Hero damaged with Sweeping Strike
  • Sixth Sense (Talent)
    • Ability Damage reduction increased from 50% to 75%
    • Now only affects the first 2 Abilities that would deal damage while Evasion is active
• Metamorphosis (R)
  • No longer increases Attack Speed
  • Health bonus increased from 183 (+4% per level) to 200 (+4% per level)
  • Demonic Form (Talent)
    • Now also provides a 20% Attack Speed bonus
• The Hunt (R)
  • Nowhere to Hide (Talent)
    • Now also passively reveals all enemy Heroes who are below 25% Health

Developer Comments: Illidan has had many problems with his Talent tree that have often led to one viable choice at each tier. The goal of the Talent system is to provide meaningful and tactical decisions, and this just hasn’t been the case with Illidan. His new Talent tree puts damage, survivability, and utility options within their own tiers, and allows you to customize how you want to do those things based upon your opponents and your preferred playstyle.

We also wanted to really embrace the skill cap required to play Illidan while not making him too difficult to pick up and learn. Some of his Talents are now harder to pull off, but offer much higher bonuses if you’re able to use them effectively. If those aren’t for you, then you can always pick the Talents that are more consistent and easier to use.

Finally, we buffed Illidan’s base kit to make up for losing some of the Talents that he was previously relying on. Overall, we think Illidan is now a lot more fun to play, and that you won’t know exactly what your Talent build will be until you’re in a game.

Illidan Talents

• White text indicates a NEW Talent
• Blue text indicates a MOVED Talent

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Jaina

• Bolt of the Storm (Talent) removed
• Improved Ice Block (Talent) moved from Level 13 to Level 20
  • Cooldown reduced from 60 to 20 seconds
  • Duration reduced from 3 to 2.5 seconds
• Frostbite (Trait)
  • Ice Barrier (Talent) moved from Level 16 to Level 13

Developer Comments: We’ve removed Bolt of the Storm from Jaina because it overcame a core weakness of hers that we think is essential to maintain: her lack of mobility. While there was always the potential for big plays with Bolt, we found that it was more often used as a “get out of jail free card” that helped make up for sloppy positioning after reaching level 20. We’re in the process of evaluating whether or not Bolt should be available to a number of Heroes, which is why it was also removed it from Kael’thas in this patch.

This doesn’t mean that no burst Assassins should have this type of mobility; it’s part of Li-Ming’s core gameplay design, for example. For the types of ranged Heroes for which Bolt is appropriate, we balance around their mobility. For Jaina and Kael’thas, however, we think removing Bolt and compensating them in other ways will result in healthier gameplay and Talent diversity.

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Kael'thas

• This Hero has received significant Talent changes
• Gathering Power (Talent) removed
• Envenom (Talent) removed
• Clairvoyance (Talent) removed
• Arcane Barrier (Talent) removed
• Bolt of the Storm (Talent) removed
• Mana Addict (Talent)
  • Upon gathering 25 Regeneration Globes, Kael’thas gains the Arcane Barrier Ability. 
  • Activate Arcane Barrier to receive a Shield equal to 100% of Kael’thas’ maximum Mana for 4 seconds. 45 second cooldown
• Verdant Spheres (Trait) (D)
  • Fel Infusion (Talent)
    • Now also increases Ability Power by 5%
  • Mana Tap (Talent) redesigned
    • Activating Verdant Spheres restores 4% of maximum Mana
  • Sunfire Enchantment (Talent)
    • Damage reduced from 203 (+4% per level) to 183 (+4% per level)
  • New Talent (Level 16): Twin Spheres
    • Verdant Spheres gains an additional charge
• Flamestrike (Q)
  • Damage reduced from 237 (+4% per level) to 213 (+4% per level)
  • Damage (empowered by Verdant Spheres) reduced from 356 (+4% per level) to 320 (+4% per level)
  • Flamethrower (Talent) removed
  • Convection (Talent) redesigned
    • Now increases Flamestrike's damage by 5 for each enemy Hero hit by Flamestrike, up to 100 damage.  Lose all bonus damage on death.
    • Once Flamestrike reaches 100 bonus damage, gain an extra 50 bonus damage and keep all damage bonuses permanently.
  • New Talent (Level 7): Burned Flesh
    • Hitting more than one Hero with Flamestrike causes each to take damage equal to 8% of their maximum Health
  • Fury of the Sunwell (Talent)
    • Delay between Flamestrike casts reduced from 1 to 0.5 seconds
• Living Bomb (W)
  • Explosion radius increased by 10%
  • Explosions now spread Living Bomb to all nearby enemy Heroes not already affected by it
  • Can no longer be cast on targets already affected by Living Bomb
  • Chain Bomb (Talent) removed
  • Pyromaniac (Talent)
    • Cooldown reduction decreased from 2 seconds to 1 second
  • Fission Bomb (Talent) moved from Level 7 to Level 13
    • No longer increases Living Bomb damage
    • Bonus to Living Bomb’s explosion radius reduced from 30% to 20%
  • Backdraft (Talent) moved from Level 16 to Level 13
    • Movement Speed slow reduced from 50% to 30%
  • New Talent (Level 16): Sun King's Fury
    • Basic Attacks deal 190 (+4% per level) damage to targets affected by Living Bomb
  • New Talent (Level 20): Master of Flames
    • Living Bomb can now spread indefinitely between enemy Heroes
• Gravity Lapse (E)
  • Using Verdant Spheres to empower Gravity Lapse now also increases its Stun duration by 50%
  • Tri-Optimal (Talent) removed
  • Gravity Throw (Talent) removed
  • Energy Roil (Talent) redesigned and moved from Level 1 to Level 4
    • Hitting an enemy Hero reduces the cooldown of Gravity Lapse by 7 seconds
  • Nether Wind (Talent) redesigned
    • Increases Gravity Lapse range by 30%. Refunds 85 mana when an enemy Hero is hit by Gravity Lapse
  • New Talent (Level 7): Gravity Crush
    • Gravity Lapse causes enemies hit to take 25% additional damage from Kael'thas for 4 seconds

Developer Comments: Kael’thas has had a lot of problems with his Talent pick rates. Chain Bomb has also evolved into a core part of the fantasy of playing the Hero, but was tied to a level 13 Talent. We decided to embrace this aspect of Kael’thas while introducing more counter-play to how he explodes Living Bomb so that it’s less frustrating to play against. Kael’thas should now be very effective at punishing enemy teams who clump together.

We also added many Talents to promote Flamestrike as his primary source of damage, as well as a few higher skill-cap Talents which allow players to better show off their mastery of the Hero.

All of this power comes at a price, however, and for Kael’thas it’s his survivability. He no longer has access to Bolt of the Storm, and Arcane Barrier’s Shield amount has been lowered and tied to a quest on Mana Addict. While Kael’thas can dish out a ton of damage in teamfights, he should be a much more viable target for enemy teams to focus down.

Kael'thas Talents

• White text indicates a NEW Talent
• Blue text indicates a MOVED Talent

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Kerrigan

• Ultralisk (R)
  • Attack damage increased from 91 (+4% per level) to 100 (+4% per level)
  • Torrasque (Talent)
    • Egg timed life decreased from 8 to 4 seconds
    • Egg Health decreased from 1095 (+4% per level) to 594 (+4% per level)

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Lunara

• Noxious Blossom (Q)
  • Choking Pollen (Talent)
    • Damage bonus increased from 50% to 100%
• Crippling Spores (W)
  • Let Them Wither (Talent)
    • The Slow amount applied by Crippling Spores no longer decays over its 3 second duration
    • Slow amount reduced from 60% to 50%

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The Butcher

• Lamb to the Slaughter (R)
  • Targets affected by Lamb to the Slaughter are now Silenced for the Ability’s duration
  • Duration reduced from 4 to 3 seconds
  • Lamb to the Slaughter’s chain and Silence effects will now be removed if the target becomes Invulnerable or Unstoppable
  • Cooldown increased from 60 to 90 seconds

Developer Comments: As you might have noticed from our numerous Lamb to the Slaughter changes over the past year, we have been trying to create rule-sets that make this Heroic work the way we envisioned it. Every time we solved one problem, another one would pop up. After many long discussions about the proper use-cases and our intended design, we decided to make this ability a little bit meaner toward the intended target, while still allowing some counter-play through Talents and abilities that grant Unstoppable.

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Tychus

• This Hero has received significant Talent changes
• Health increased from 1545 (+4% per level) to 1669 (+4% per level)
• Health Regeneration increased from approximately 3.22 to 3.48 Health per second
• Regeneration Master (Talent) removed
• Scouting Drone (Talent) removed
• Focused Attack (Talent) removed
• Vampiric Assault (Talent) removed
• First Aid (Talent) removed
• Sizzlin’ Attacks (Talent) removed
• Problem Solver (Talent) removed
• Executioner (Talent) removed
• Stoneskin (Talent) removed
• Nexus Frenzy (Talent) removed
• Bolt of the Storm (Talent) removed
• Relentless (Talent) renamed Relentless Soldier and moved from Level 13 to Level 7
  • Duration reduction for silences, stuns, slows, and roots decreased from 50% to 33%
• New Talent (Level 4): Master Assassin
  • Hero takedowns increase Attack Speed by 2%, up to a maximum of 20%
  • While at maximum stacks, Tychus gains an additional 10% Attack Speed bonus
• New Talent (Level 13): Neosteel Coating
  • Activate to reduce incoming Ability damage by 50% for 3 seconds. 30 second cooldown
• New Talent (Level 20): Sizzlin’ Attacks
  • Basic Attacks deal 1% of the target’s maximum Health as damage
• Minigun (Trait) (D)
  • Minigun has been redesigned
    • No longer requires wind-up
    • Activate to cause Basic Attacks against Heroes to deal bonus damage equal to 1.5% of the target’s maximum Health. Lasts 3 seconds. 12 second cooldown
  • Rapid Fire (Talent) removed
  • Lock and Load (Talent) removed
  • New Talent (Level 4): In the Rhythm
    • While Minigun is active, each Basic Attack against an enemy Hero permanently increases its duration by 0.03 seconds
  • New Talent (Level 4): Fully Loaded
    • Decreases Minigun’s cooldown by 4 seconds
  • New Talent (Level 4): The Bigger They Are…
    • Increases Minigun damage bonus to 3% of the target’s maximum Health against enemy Heroes who are above 40% Health.
    • Minigun has no effect against targets under 40% Health
  • New Talent (Level 13): That’s the Stuff!
    • Tychus is Healed for 100% of damage dealt while Minigun is active
• Overkill (Q)
  • Duration reduced from 5 to 4 seconds
  • Armor Piercing Rounds (Talent) moved from Level 1 to Level 16
    • Damage bonus increased from 20% to 50%
  • Spray ‘n’ Pray (Talent) moved from Level 4 to Level 13
    • Bonus to Overkill range increased from 15% to 25%
  • Lead Rain (Talent) moved from Level 13 to Level 16
• Frag Grenade (W)
  • Shredder Grenade (Talent) removed
  • Melting Point (Talent) removed
  • Concussion Grenade (Talent) moved from Level 16 to Level 7
    • Now also increases Frag Grenade’s radius by 25%
  • New Talent (Level 16): Titan Grenade
    • Enemy Heroes take additional damage equal to 5% of their maximum Health
• Run and Gun (E)
  • No longer interacts with Minigun
  • Cooldown increased from 8 to 10 seconds
  • Stim Pack (Talent) removed
  • Dash (Talent)
    • This Talent’s functionality has changed
    • Gather Regeneration Globes to increase Movement Speed after casting Run and Gun by 1% for 2 seconds, up to a maximum of 25%
    • After reaching 25 stacks, Run and Gun’s range is increased by 50%
  • New Talent (Level 1): Shrug it Off
    • Run and Gun grants Resistant, reducing incoming damage by 25% for 3 seconds
  • New Talent (Level 1): Press the Advantage
    • Run and Gun increases Basic Attack range by 25% for 4 seconds
  • New Talent (Level 1): Combat Tactician
    • Each Basic Attack reduces Run and Gun’s cooldown by 0.75 seconds
  • New Talent (Level 20): Bob and Weave
    • Run and Gun now has 3 charges, and its Mana cost is reduced from 50 to 25
• Drakken Laser Drill (R)
  • Health increased from 1141 (+4% per level) to 1255 (+4% per level)
  • Attack range increased by 10%

Developer Comments: When we approached Tychus, we noticed that he had a lot of generic Talents that were underutilized and failed to push him into a unique role. He could essentially overlap with several other ranged assassins such as Valla, and so we wanted to differentiate him through new Talents and a redesigned Trait. We decided to make his Trait an active ability, since it allowed us to be more aggressive with tuning it as compared to a passive Trait. A core part of Tychus’ gameplay now centers around his effectiveness against targets that have a lot of Health.

As part of this update, we made an effort to pit Talents with similar uses against one another so that players aren’t focused on going down a single build path, such as picking every survivability option.

Tychus Talents

• White text indicates a NEW Talent
• Blue text indicates a MOVED Talent

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Specialist

Abathur

• Ultimate Evolution (R)
  • Will now inherit Kharazim's Trait

     Return

Azmodan

• Globe of Annihilation (Q)
  • Taste for Blood (Talent)
    • Duration in which enemy deaths will permanently add to Globe of Annihilation damage increased from 1 to 1.5 seconds

     Return

Gazlowe

• This Hero has received significant Talent changes
• Demolitionist (Talent) removed
• Promote (Talent) removed
• Calldown: MULE (Talent) removed
• First Aid (Talent) removed
• Burning Rage (Talent) removed
• Stoneskin (Talent) removed
• Fury of the Storm (Talent) removed
• Hardened Shield (Talent) removed
• Salvager (Trait) and Break It Down (Talent) tooltips have been updated to match their live functionality.
• New Talent (Level 20): It's Raining Scrap
  • Activate to create 1 Scrap every second for 5 seconds near Gazlowe. 60 second cooldown
• Rock-It! Turret (Q)
  • Mana cost increased from 60 to 70
  • Range increased by approximately 27%
  • Long-Ranged Turrets (Talent) removed
  • New Talent (Level 16): Superior Schematics
    • Rock-It Turrets deal 25% more damage when Gazlowe is in their attack range
• Deth Lazor (W)
  • Goblin Fusion (Talent) moved from Level 4 to Level 16
  • Hyperfocus Coils (Talent) moved from Level 16 to Level 7
  • New Talent (Level 20): Firin' Mah Lazorz
    • Firing a Deth Lazor now causes each Rock-It Turret to fire its own Deth Lazor as well.
    • Charging Deth Lazor to its second and third power levels increases the range of turrets’ Deth Lazors, but not damage.
• Xplodium Charge (E)
  • Mana cost reduced from 70 to 60
  • Cooldown increased from 12 to 14 seconds
  • New Talent (Level 4): ARK Reaktor
    • Reduces the cooldown of Xplodium Bombs by 2 seconds, and adds 2 charges of Rock-It Turret when hitting an enemy Hero with Xplodium Bomb
  • New Talent (Level 13): X-Tra Large Bombs
    • Increase the cast range and radius of Xplodium Charge by 25%
  • Kwik Release Charge (Talent)
    • Cooldown between Xplodium Bomb charge uses reduced from 2 to 1 second
• Robo-Goblin (R)
  • Functionality has been added
  • You can now press R to manually target active Turrets

Developer Comments: One of our major goals with these changes was to make our favorite one-man wrecking crew the premier zone-control Hero in the game, and we feel that his new Talents help push him in that direction. Gazlowe now has three playstyles that he can build around with his Talent tree: Rock-it! Turret, Deth Lazor, or Xplodium Charge.

The buff to base Turret range should help him a lot in this regard, as he is much more effective during the early stages of the game. He can now also be a big threat if he can set up at an objective before the enemy team arrives.

We also took this opportunity to remove a lot of generic Talents and replace them with much more interesting ones--like, ya know, the ability for Turrets to shoot friggin’ lasers!

Gazlowe Talents

• White text indicates a NEW Talent
• Blue text indicates a MOVED Talent

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Murky

• Block (Talent) renamed to Fishtank
  • Fishtank provides 2 Block charges. Each charge reduces damage taken from the next incoming Basic Attack by 50% 
• March of the Murlocs (R)
  • Damage increased from 19 (+4% per level) to 25 (+4% per level)

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Nazeebo

• Gargantuan (R)
  • Basic Attack damage increased from 228 (+4% per level) to 274 (+4% per level)
  • No longer deals bonus damage to Minions or Structures

     Return

Sylvanas

• This Hero has received significant Talent changes
• Basic Attack damage increased from 74 (+4% per level) to 85 (+4% per level)
• Corruption (Talent) removed
• Envenom (Talent) removed
• Blood for Blood (Talent) removed
• Will of the Forsaken (Talent) moved from Level 16 to Level 13
• Remorseless (Talent) moved from Level 7 to Level 16
  • Damage bonus increased from 25% to 40%
• New Talent (Level 7): Possession
  • Turn the allegiance of a non-Catapult enemy Minion. Stores up to 3 charges
• Black Arrows (Trait)
  • Paralysis (Talent) moved from Level 4 to Level 1
    • Duration bonus reduced from 100% to 75%
  • Unstable Poison (Talent)
    • Explosion damage no longer affects Heroes or Structures
  • Overwhelming Affliction (Talent) moved from Level 13 to Level 16
    • Slow amount per stack increased from 5% to 6%
  • New Talent (Level 1): Mercenary Queen
    • Nearby non-Boss, allied Mercenaries deal 50% more damage
• Withering Fire (Q)
  • Damage increased from 39 (+4% per level) to 48 (+4% per level)
  • Splinter Shot (Talent) removed
  • With the Wind (Talent) moved from Level 1 to Level 4
  • Barbed Shot (Talent) moved from Level 1 to Level 7
  • Evasive Fire (Talent) moved from Level 13 to Level 16
  • Overflowing Quiver (Talent)
    • This Talent’s functionality has changed
    • Now releases a free Withering Fire shot whenever a nearby enemy Minion dies. The free shot can only hit non-Heroic targets
  • New Talent (level 4): Withering Barrage
    • Gain an additional charge of Withering Fire, and charges fire 33% faster.
• Shadow Dagger (W)
  • Life Drain (Talent) moved from Level 7 to Level 13
  • Lost Soul (Talent) moved from Level 1 to Level 4
    • This Talent’s functionality has changed
    • Now reduces the cooldown of Shadow Dagger by 1.25 seconds for each enemy Hero hit
  • Cold Embrace (Talent)
    • This Talent’s functionality has changed
    • No longer reduces Shadow Dagger’s range
    • Only the initial Shadow Dagger target becomes Vulnerable
• Haunting Wave (E)
  • Ranger’s Ambush (Talent) removed
  • Shade Form (Talent) removed
  • Windrunner (Talent) moved from Level 16 to Level 13
    • Withering Fire charges now refill after teleporting
    • The duration in which Haunting Wave can be cast a second time for free has been increased from 2 to 5 seconds
• New Heroic (R): Mind Control
  • After channeling for 1 second, gain control of an enemy Hero’s movement for 2.5 seconds
  • Dark Lady’s Call (Talent)
    • This Talent’s functionality has changed and now affects Mind Control
    • Now increases target’s Movement Speed by 100%

Developer Comments: We started these changes off by looking for a more exciting Heroic ability for Sylvanas. After many iterations, we think we finally found something that can compete with Wailing Arrow. We’re excited to bring Mind Control to the Nexus, which will allow Sylvanas to ruin an enemy’s positioning while possibly sacrificing her own to do so.

Given its gravity, this change quickly led us down the rabbit hole of trying to fix her Talent pick-rates, so we took the opportunity to look into those while applying some of our newer Talent tree design philosophies. After the dust had settled, we realized our changes were going to remove a bit of the damage offered by her popular build paths, so we decided to increase her Basic Attack and Withering Fire damage to help even things out.

Sylvanas Talents

• White text indicates a NEW Talent
• Blue text indicates a MOVED Talent

     Return

The Lost Vikings

• Olaf the Stout (Talent)
  • Time between Block stacks reduced from 8 to 5 seconds

     Return

Xul

• Cursed Strikes (W)
  • Attack Speed slow now only affects Heroes and Summons

     Return

Zagara

• Nydus Worm (R)
  • While inside a Nydus Worm, Health and Mana are now restored at a rate equal to the Hall of Storms
  • Nydus Worm can now be cast while inside another Nydus Worm
  • Zagara now exits Nydus Worms instantly, and can also exit by right-clicking the minimap

Developer Comments: Nydus Network has been in a tough position for a long time. We realize it is pretty difficult to compete with Devouring Maw, which is an incredible team-fight Heroic. Zagara may also have bigger changes coming Soon ™. The current set of changes are intended as quality-of-life and usability improvements for Nydus Network. We will be keeping a close eye on these changes, but we are also excited to see if they can potentially open up some new play-styles for our wonderful Creep Queen.

     Return

Support

Brightwing

• Pixie Dust (E)
  • Damage reduction amount changed from 50% to 75%

     Return

Li Li

• Fast Feet (Trait)
  • Elusive Feet (Talent)
    • Damage reduction amount increased from 50% to 75%

     Return

Rehgar

• Earthbind Totem (E)
  • Can now be hit by area of effect Abilities

     Return

Warrior

Chen

• Fortifying Brew (Trait) (D)
  • A 0.5 second cooldown has been added between activation and cancellation of Fortifying Brew channeling

     Return

Johanna

• Reinforce (Talent)
  • Damage reduction amount increased from 50% to 75%

     Return

Rexxar

• Grizzled Bear (Talent)
  • Damage reduction amount increased from 50% to 75%

     Return

Bug Fixes

General

• Heroes of the Storm will no longer override the operating system’s mouse sensitivity settings.
• Fixed an extremely rare issue that could cause the same Hero to appear twice on the same team during Ranked games.
• Custom games that contained all A.I. players and human observers will no longer cause rejoin prompts to display after exiting the game.

• Corrected several typos and tooltip errors across several aspects of the game.
• Fixed an issue that caused the vision granted by some projectiles to appear off-center. 

Art

• The visual effects for Nova’s Precision Strike should now animate more smoothly.
• Fixed an issue that could cause Nova and Tychus to stand while mounted.

Battlegrounds

• Successfully turning in enough Gems to summon Webweavers on Tomb of the Spider Queen will now properly interrupt other players who were also channeling at that time.
• A.I. players on Towers of Doom will now better avoid enemy Core defenses.
• Exiting the Tunnel on Towers of Doom will no longer prevent Heroes from automatically attacking enemies near the Tunnel exit.

Heroes and Talents

• Fixed a bug affecting Stitches and The Butcher that could cause performance issues under certain circumstances.
• Fixed an issue that could prevent Rehgar’s Feral Lunge from properly connecting with enemies who were running in the opposite direction.
• Regeneration Globes will now properly grant healing and Regeneration Master stacks when collected as a Shield expires.
• Fixed an issue which caused several Heroes’ Trait icons to appear greyed-out at all times.
• Floating combat text for Artanis’ Twin Blades is now properly colored orange after learning the Zealot Charge Talent.
• Block stacks granted by Brightwing’s Pixie Dust will now last the full 4 second duration listed in the Ability’s description.
• Cho’gall will now be Healed for the proper amount for Basic Attacks against affected by Consuming Blaze after learning Cho’s Fuel for the Flame and Fire Eater Talents.
• Fixed an issue that could allow Cho to repeatedly cast Surging Fist under certain circumstances.
• E.T.C. can no longer change the direction of Powerslide while trapped by Zeratul’s Void Prison.
• Gall will no longer count as a secondary target for Li Li’s Healing Brew with the Two for One Talent.
• Fixed an issue affecting Greymane’s Gilnean Cocktail, which caused a slight delay between the Ability’s damage and graphic effects after taking the Draught Overflow Talent.
• After learning the Perfect Aim Talent, Greymane’s Gilnean Cocktail will now properly refund Mana when an enemy Hero is struck by the far edge of the Ability’s explosion.
• Jaina’s Basic Attacks will now properly refund Mana after learning the Arcane Intellect Talent.
• Li-Ming’s Arcane Orb can no longer hit the Sandstorm created by the Boss on Sky Temple.
• Lunara's Leaping Strike will now fire appropriately when cast at the same moment as the target enters a line-of-sight blocker.
• The player will no longer lose control of Lt. Morales if she is killed immediately after casting Medivac Dropship.
• Enemy Minions that have been picked up by Nazeebo’s Gargantuan will now be killed when the Gargantuan expires.
• Fixed an issue that prevented Nova from entering Stealth when activating the Ghost Protocol Talent while affected by damage over time effects.
• The visual effects for Tassadar’s Dimensional Shift will now properly display if it is cast after breaking the Stealth effect applied by Tyrande’s Shadowstalk.
• Xul’s Skeletal Mages now properly prioritize Heroes, Dragon Knights, and Garden Terrors over enemy Minions.
• Clicking Reset Talents in Try Mode will no longer cause Zagara’s Hunter Killer to deal reduced damage.

Sound

• Captain Blackheart will no longer skip numbers during the countdown at the start of a game.
• Li-Ming will now properly play death sounds when killed.

User Interface

• A dark smudge has been removed from the background art on the main loading screen.
• Fixed an issue that could cause a player to be dropped from the Draft Lobby.
• Using the middle mouse button to drag scroll will no longer occasionally cause the screen to jump in an undesired direction.
• Clicking empty item slots in the Shop’s Featured tab will no longer cause an error message to display.
• Sending Whisper messages to another player should no longer result in an “INVALID” error message.
• Clicking the “Mute Player” button on in-game Score Screen while that player is disconnected will no longer cause the Mute Player button to disappear.
• Fixed an issue in which the filter buttons on the Hero Select screen could become unclickable when running the game in 4:3 and 5:4 resolutions.