EPT
Cho'gall
Patch Notes
Commentary and Analysis
There's a new patch out, and I figured I'd share my thoughts on them. It's not nearly as many balance changes this time around compared to most others, but combined with the scaling changes we could see a massive shift in the meta. Remember that these are opinions and predictions, and if you disagree, say so! It's tough to think of every way a patch will change the game, so I'm sure others have different perspectives I haven't considered.
General
Cho’gall has Arrived to the Nexus!
- Cho’gall is a unique new addition to Heroes of the Storm who requires two players to team up, each queuing as either Cho or Gall, in order to play together as one hero.
- Learn more about Cho’gall by reviewing the New Hero section below.
- Cho’gall Awarded to BlizzCon Attendees
- All players who attended BlizzCon 2015, or purchased a Virtual Ticket, will permanently receive Cho’gall in their Hero Collections.
- Unlock Cho’gall by Playing with Friends
- Cho’gall cannot be purchased using Gold or real money.
Instead, players who don’t own the two-headed ogre can unlock him by completing a brand new Special Event Quest!
- Cho’gall cannot be purchased using Gold or real money.
- Special Event Quest: Cho’gall Buddy Brawl
- Win 2 Games as Cho or Gall while partied with a player who owns Cho’gall to permanently unlock the Hero.
- Win 4 games as Cho or Gall while partied with players who have not yet unlocked the hero to earn 2,200 Gold.
- Those who own Cho’gall may only earn this gold reward once. However, they can still help as many other players unlock the hero as they wish.
- Win 2 Games as Cho or Gall while partied with a player who owns Cho’gall to permanently unlock the Hero.
Hallow’s End has… Ended!
- The Hallow’s End celebration has come to a close, and the following items are no longer available:
- The Hallow’s End Special Event Quest can no longer be completed, and the portrait reward it offered can no longer be earned.
- The Hallow’s End and Ultimate Hallow’s End Bundles have been removed from the in-game Shop.
- The Hallow’s End Special Event Quest can no longer be completed, and the portrait reward it offered can no longer be earned.
Get ready to see a LOT of Cho'gall. Since you get Gold by sharing him with other players it will encourage people to be the first to spread him to others, and it will be harder and harder to find people who haven't gotten him yet. So if you want that Gold, you better do it fast.
Notice that the Hallow's End event doesn't specify the year. I think it will come back around with the same portrait reward next year as well. We'll see; it's just a portrait if not so no big deal if you missed out.
New Battleground
Towers of Doom
The Grave Keeper and Raven Lord have risen over a dark and mysterious city, each seeking to add it to the territories under their control. Now, these Realm Lords call upon the aid of Heroes in their battle for dominance over the Towers of Doom.
- Each Core on this Battleground is surrounded by an indestructible barrier, and cannot be razed by Heroes, Minions, or Mercenaries.
- Instead, Heroes must capture the Altars that periodically activate within the city. Upon doing so, each of the Bell Towers controlled by the capturing team will fire a payload that damages the opposing Core.
- Bell Tower allegiance is fickle! A Bell Tower that has been destroyed will respawn after a short delay, aligning itself with the team that took it down.
- Toppling a Bell Tower not only increases a team’s area of control over the Battleground, but also grants an additional payload in the volleys that fire on the enemy Core after capturing an Altar.
When Blizzard first showed the preview for this battleground I was stoked. It looked really unique. After playing it on the PTR I can say that it certainly is unique, but I'm not sure if I'm a fan. Since the only way to kill the enemy's Core is to use the objectives, there's just no way to get ahead when you get kills on the enemy team. If you completely wipe the entire team but no Altars are spawning you get no advantage besides being able to take control of more Bell Towers, which aren't too hard for the other team to contest right next to their base.
And don't forget to apply the Scaling changes here. Under the old system wiping a team early would give a strong level lead to snowball your way to the win unless you throw a big fight. With the new system, winning a team fight won't give you nearly as much of an advantage as it used to. The only real advantage will be talent tiers.
The end of the game doesn't feel rewarding either, and feels like it ends abruptly. Yes, you can see the Core health, but it doesn't feel like you are actually doing something to kill it. Clicking an Altar isn't exciting. Maybe it'll grow on me, but hey, at least it gave the boot to Haunted Mines, so that's a plus right?
New Hero
Cho’gall has been added to Heroes of the Storm! This unique and powerful ogre is two Heroes in one body, requiring that two players team up and queue together as Cho and Gall.
Cho is a Warrior of unmatched might who charges fist-first into battle, controlling movement and Basic Attacks. While Gall cannot move on his own, he is a formidable Assassin armed with a devastating set of dark spells. Read on for a brief overview of their Abilities.
Cho
Trait
- Two-Headed
- Gall is permanently attached to you, going where you go.
Basic Abilities
- Surging Fist (Q)
- Wind up for at least 1 second, temporarily slowing yourself, then reactivate to charge in a direction. Enemies in your path are knocked aside and take damage.
Consuming Blaze (W)
- Ignite nearby enemies, dealing damage over 4 seconds. If this hits an enemy, gain Health over 4 seconds.
Rune Bomb (E)
- Roll a bomb that damages enemies in its path. Gall can use Runic Blast (E) to detonate it, dealing damage in an area.
Heroic Abilities
- Hammer of Twilight (R)
- Passively increases Basic Attack damage by 25%. Activate to swing the Hammer, which deals damage, pushes enemies away, and stuns them for 0.75 seconds.
Upheaval (R)
- After 1 second, pull enemies toward your location, slowing them by 25% for 3 seconds and dealing a small amount of damage.
Gall
Mount
- Hurry Up, Oaf! (Z)
- Increase Cho’s Movement Speed by 60%. This effect decays over 3 seconds.
Trait
- Two-Headed
- Permanently attached to Cho, going where he goes. You are immune to Stun and Silence effects.
Basic Abilities
- Shadowflame (Q)
- Deal damage to enemies in a line.
Dread Orb (W)
- Throw a bomb that will bounce three times, dealing damage to enemies on each bounce.
Runic Blast (E)
- Detonate Cho’s Rune Bomb, dealing damage around it.
Heroic Abilities
- Twisting Nether (R)
- After 1 second, enemies are slowed by 40% while you channel, up to 5 seconds. Activate to deal damage.
Shadow Bolt Volley (R)
- Unleash 20 Shadow Bolts over 4 seconds, each dealing damage to the first target hit. The bolts fire in the direction of your cursor.
The most ambitious Hero yet, and that's actually saying something for Heroes of the Storm. I have a feeling all Cho'galls we see for the first week will either be terrible or terrific, with no middle ground. It will take some coordination to get the most damage from him, especially considering Rune Bomb has to be thrown by Cho, then blown up by Gall for max damage. If Gall isn't paying attention it's a lot of damage lost. One thing is for sure though: don't try to 1v1 Cho'gall. It won't work.
I also wonder if Hivemind on Abathur will apply a Symbiote to both heads. OP?
Art
General
- Tower targeting ring size reduced by 50%
Heroes
- Artanis has received improvements for his walk animations
- Stitches has received additional facial animation polish.
Hero Abilities
- The following Hero Abilities and Talents have received visual polish:
- Magni Muradin – Storm Bolt (Q)
- Imposing Presence (Talent) – Heroes affected by Imposing Presence’s Attack Speed Slow will now display visual effects.
- Magni Muradin – Storm Bolt (Q)
The Tower targeting ring was indeed quite large, but the entire point is to draw your attention isn't it?
Maybe Artanis will see some pro play with the walk animations buff. We'll see.
User Interface
General
- Party and game invitation pop-ups will now display the inviting player’s portrait frame.
- Two-player parties in Hero League Draft Lobbies will no longer receive single pick slots, and will now always select their Heroes on the same turn.
- This way, partied players who would like to select Cho’gall can pick Cho and Gall at the same time.
In-Game UI
- In-Game Score Screen
- The Takedown column on the in-game Score Screen (TAB) has been split into two new columns: Kills and Assists.
- Kills can be earned by scoring the final blow on an enemy Hero.
- Assists function in much the same way that Takedowns did in previous versions of the game. Any ally that is nearby when an enemy Hero is slain will receive an Assist for that kill.
- Kills can be earned by scoring the final blow on an enemy Hero.
- The Takedown column on the in-game Score Screen (TAB) has been split into two new columns: Kills and Assists.
- Minimap
- The minimap will now visually indicate when allied Heroes are using Hearthstone to return to the Hall of Storms.
- Additionally, a chat message will be displayed whenever an ally activates Hearthstone. This message will not display more than once every 10 seconds.
- The minimap will now visually indicate when allied Heroes are using Hearthstone to return to the Hall of Storms.
Blizzard originally was going to remove XP contribution, but the outcry was so large they added it back in. Personally I'm not on board with them changing to K/D/A instead of Takedowns. What does getting the killing blow on someone mean in Heroes instead of getting an assist? Absolutely nothing. No bonus XP, no extra Gold, nothing. It can only lead to some people trying to troll or get the kill every time to make them look better.
The chat message and minimap visual for Hearthing was a good idea, but there will still be some spamming, even with the cap.
Design & Gameplay
Scaling Changes
- Health and damage scaling for all Heroes, Battleground Events, Minions, and Mercenaries has been changed from flat, additive values to values that are multiplicative by percentage.
- A large portion of Heroes’ total scaling amounts, which were previously gained over the course of a game, have been added to their base values.
- Respawn timers have been increased for levels 1 – 10.
- Please review our recent blog on scaling and respawn timer changes for more details.
Attack Speed Slows
- Attack speed slows now apply only to Heroes and Summons.
Tooltips
- Several tooltips that lacked specific details regarding delays, charges gained, etc., have been updated with exact details.
This is the biggest change for the patch. The early game health, damage, and healing for all heroes is being scaled up to better mimic the relative damage/healing abilities and Basic Attacks in the late game. Level differences will mean a lot less. Currently being level 1 vs a level 2 can mean a huge difference in power, and the level 1 is at a clear disadvantage. After the changes, there will still be a difference, but the level 1 is a lot closer than before in terms of health/damage. It will take a while to get used to this, as everything everyone knows about balance just went out the window. Just be careful about dueling auto-attackers at low levels.
Battlegrounds
Haunted Mines
- This Battleground has been removed from all matchmaking queues for the foreseeable future, but is still playable in Custom Games.
Hallelujah!
Talents
Gathering Power
- Hero takedowns now increase Ability Power by 2% per kill, up to a maximum of 30%. All stacks are now also lost upon death.
The previous Gathering Power nerf threw it on the ground, stomped on it for a while, then left it for dead. It was brutal. This much-needed change will give it some life again, while not reviving it to its ultra-powerful state of old.
Heroes
Falstad
![[image loading]](https://bnetcmsus-a.akamaihd.net/cms/content_folder_media/XZ4PPH8K5IF51417483334088.png)
- Conjurer's Pursuit (Talent) removed
- Gathering Power (Talent) removed
- Hammerang (Q)
- Power Throw (Talent) moved from Level 1 to Level 4
- New Talent (Level 1): Gathering Storm
- Permanently increases Hammerang's damage by 1 every time it damages an enemy Hero
- Power Throw (Talent) moved from Level 1 to Level 4
- Flow Rider (Talent)
- No longer decreases Barrel Roll’s cooldown
- Now causes Basic Abilities to recharge 100% faster while the Tailwind trait is active
- No longer decreases Barrel Roll’s cooldown
First of all Falstad is getting one of the biggest proportional attack damage buffs with the scaling change. His health will still be very low, but don't underestimate his damage. I think we'll see a bit of a reemergence of Falstad with these changes. It's hard to say if Gathering Storm will be more valuable than Seasoned Marksman, but with Gathering Storm and Flow Rider he should be able to stack up the damage on his Q very quickly. Hammerang is only a 5 second cooldown with Flow Rider.
Jaina
![[image loading]](https://bnetcmsus-a.akamaihd.net/cms/content_folder_media/LTMUKLG8D4FC1417483334394.png)
- Frostbite (Trait)
- Deep Chill (Talent)
- Bonus to the Movement Speed slow applied by Chill decreased from 35% to 30%
- Deep Chill (Talent)
Jaina had one of the highest pick rates at BlizzCon, and was possibly in need of a slight nerf, and here it is. Deep Chill is the clear favorite level 1 talent before the change, but this will make for a more interesting choice at that tier. Lingering Chill will most likely become the go-to talent now, but Conjurer's Pursuit will also gain some popularity. Really though it's hard to tell if this was needed with the Scaling Changes. Jaina's early game will be a little bit weaker, so I feel like this could have been held until the next patch if she remained as a top pick.
Zeratul
![[image loading]](https://bnetcmsus-a.akamaihd.net/cms/content_folder_media/3NXNLQWMI4YQ1417483335830.png)
- Focused Attack (Talent) removed
- New Talent (Level 4): Master Warp-Blade
- Every 3rd consecutive Basic Attack against the same Hero deals 100% bonus damage
A definite nerf to Zeratul's burst combo. With Wormhole only being 2 seconds, Blink combos will do a lot less damage, not allowing for three Basic Attacks before Blinking back out. However using this talent will increase his sustained damage by a lot. Zeratul's role is changing from a burst damage dealer to more of a sustained damage bruiser with some burst. Recently First Aid has overtaken Follow Through, and we might see more of Vampiric Strike soon as well.
Kharazim
![[image loading]](https://bnetcmsus-a.akamaihd.net/cms/content_folder_media/ZNF0FO7V6W8J1439221492354.png)
- Insight (Trait)
- Mana regeneration granted on every third hit increased from 12 (+0.21 per level) to 14 (+0.36 per level)
- Iron Fists (Trait)
- Damage bonus granted on every third hit increased from 100% to 125%
Frankly I don't think these changes are enough to warrant not taking Transcendence. The heal is just too important. Kharazim doesn't really have mana issues, and the damage isn't significant enough on a Support.
Uther
![[image loading]](https://bnetcmsus-a.akamaihd.net/cms/content_folder_media/5W8VDU5725O81417483335719.png)
- Eternal Devotion (Trait)
- Spirit form duration decreased from 10 to 8 seconds
- Divine Shield (R)
- Cooldown increased from 70 to 90 seconds
Uther's been the best Support for quite a while now. He brings so much to the table for any team and Divine Shield is a major part of it. The cooldown nerf won't knock him out of the top tier of Supports, but it will make people think harder about picking other Supports first, and probably lower the number of Uther bans. The Eternal Devotion nerf should only be a single Flash Heal less, so it's not too big of a change.
Leoric
![[image loading]](https://bnetcmsus-a.akamaihd.net/cms/content_folder_media/10VUJ6C6M9DG1439221492653.png)
- Drain Hope (W)
- Cooldown decreased from 12 to 11 seconds
- If Leoric is stunned while casting Drain Hope, the stun will no longer cancel the Ability and the missile will continue to travel
- Damage dealt and Health gained reduced from 25% to 20%
- Damage and Healing no longer gradually increase over the Ability’s duration, but instead does a consistent amount of damage and healing with each tick.
The stun change seems fair to me as it mainly just affects the Muradin matchup. Has there been a patch since his release where Leoric wasn't nerfed?
Rexxar
![[image loading]](https://bnetcmsus-a.akamaihd.net/cms/content_folder_media/vi/VIQFO0SSQW1W1442362642092.png)
- Misha (Trait) (D)
- Misha's death timer portrait will now appear in the death timer bar while she is respawning
- The frequency at which Rexxar's voiceover will play when commanding Misha has been reduced
- Misha's death timer portrait will now appear in the death timer bar while she is respawning
- Misha, Fixate (1)
- Misha, Fixate has been renamed Misha, Focus!
Yay quality of life changes! Misha's death timer should have always been shown, so it's good that it's finally happening. Misha is more of a Hero than Rexxar is anyway.
Bugs
- Fixed an issue which could cause a team with no Support Heroes to be matched against a team with Support Heroes in the Quick Match queue.
- Fixed an issue in which the Auto-Select Hero could occasionally fail to give the player a Support Hero on teams that lacked Supports.
Sure, it's a bug that keeps giving people bad matchmaking...
- Heroes that are simultaneously struck by Diablo’s Overpower and Stitches’ Hook will no longer be thrown outside the playable area.
I want to see this bug in action.
- Sonya’s next Basic Attack after casting Ancient Spear will now properly benefit from the Follow Through Talent.
If they keep finding these Sonya bugs that lowered her damage she'll be able to 1-shot entire teams in a few patches.
So what stood out to you in the patch notes? What are your thoughts on the Towers of Doom? Have you played Cho'gall yet? Let us know!
