EPT
Some people have been calling this patch Heroes 2.0 and with good reason. A new hero, five hero reworks, lots of other balance changes, bans in Hero League and UI changes, death recaps, map changes and a new one added, and the list goes on. It's just a lot at once. I'm here to talk through some of the most important changes and what they mean for the game. I'm not going to go into Dehaka though, as I have not played him myself. Look out for our First Impressions article soon!
Heroes who were reworked will see a huge spike in popularity
Even if the reworks to one of the heroes is terrible and actually makes them worse (probably not the case with these reworks though), players will want to find out for themselves how a hero feels with the changes, especially on the old heroes like Tychus who haven't seen action in a while. All five of the reworked heroes will see massive playing time as people look for the next Tyrande/Rehgar hero that can dominate a game and raise their HL rank. I'm not going to go into too much detail here since there are a ton of changes I didn't get to test, but here's the general rundown on each:
![[image loading]](https://bnetcmsus-a.akamaihd.net/cms/content_folder_media/NG985DA0UWLQ1417483334267.png)
Illidan's a hard one to judge since he relies heavily on supports to back him up and excels at 1v1 fights, but either way he got a lot of burst damage potential added, and lost a big chunk of burst survivability. He lost First Aid, Stoneskin, Shadow Shield, Blood for Blood, and Regeneration Master, but he heals for more with his trait, has a really good Block talent in Reflexive Block, and can have a high uptime on Resistant with Nimble Defender. His entire defensive capabilities have changed, and that is going to take some getting used to. One thing is for sure about the rework, he can probably beat anyone 1v1 in the hands of a talented player.
![[image loading]](https://bnetcmsus-a.akamaihd.net/cms/content_folder_media/RRZWEAEXJ8441439221492336.png)
After getting destroyed, Kael'thas is back. He hasn't passed Li-Ming as the top mage (we don't want to go through that again), but he's in the conversation (rip Jaina). The first thing to note is Chain Bomb is baseline now. At level 1. The good news is that it only spreads to heroes now, and he can't cast another Living Bomb on anyone with it already so he can't instantly spread it to grouped up heroes anymore, which gives some time to react to it. His level 1 talents are amazing and possibly the best in the game. Two of them are Quest talents (see below) and are well done. His Chain Bomb build is gutted, so he actually has a lot of good options/hybrid builds to go now. I know some people see Master of Flames and freak out (level 20 talent - Living Bomb can now spread indefinitely between enemy Heroes), but I don't think it's that good in practice. Everyone knows "Oh hey it's Kael'thas, don't spread the bombs" and if they don't by this point they deserve to die a fiery death.
![[image loading]](https://bnetcmsus-a.akamaihd.net/cms/content_folder_media/C0A9M41RWSJQ1417483335476.png)
Tychus: the new tank killer. This guy's Auto Attacks can destroy a tank faster than a Stim Drone AA Raynor. Minigun has been redesigned to be an activatable Giant Killer on a short cooldown for some serious burst. He also got a really cool defensive talent at 13, Neosteel Coating. Activate to reduce incoming Ability damage by 50% for 3 seconds, 30 second cooldown. Now that's what Spellshield should be. His heroics stay mostly the same with the Drill getting a small health/range buff, but they were both solid and not why he was never played. Tychus will most likely see a lot of play. Not quite as much as the double health bar/First Aid/Stoneskin days, but still a lot.
![[image loading]](https://bnetcmsus-a.akamaihd.net/cms/content_folder_media/LG3RTGEBRHUN1417483334268.png)
I never really played Gazlowe before and didn't on the PTR, so frankly I have no idea what they even changed with him. Sorry but you'll have to ask someone else or try him for yourself. Personally I hope he still sucks :\
![[image loading]](https://bnetcmsus-a.akamaihd.net/cms/content_folder_media/I6HR01N9WF0Y1439221492511.png)
Sylvanas' level 1 talents got #rekt and is one of the worst talent tiers in the game, but some of the other changes are pretty good. The main changes are buffs to her Auto Attack damage and Withering Fire, which will increase her damage by quite a bit. The other is the introduction of a new heroic: Mind Control. Possession is now a level 7 ability. That's right, her old heroic was so bad it's just a bland level 7 talent that still might not be picked because it competes with Unstable Poison. Anyway, Mind Control is ridiculous. It's got a large range with a one second cast time that makes Sylvanas vulnerable, but even if you leave the range MC is still cast on you. She controls your movement for a full 2.5 seconds, but not your abilities. The level 20 upgrade gives a 100% movement speed increase. It's pretty funny actually (but OP as all get out). She's probably in a good place now.
Get ready for long queue times with Dehaka
![[image loading]](https://bnetcmsus-a.akamaihd.net/cms/content_folder_media/j2/J2REVNG7KJF21458057015059.jpg)
Yes this happens every time a new hero is introduced, but people are still surprised/mad. A huge portion of the player base will instantly buy Dehaka and queue with him, forcing the matchmaking system to throw Dehaka players in seemingly random compositions after 10min queues. Go on Twitter or Reddit and rage about it, trust me it'll help. It might be a little bit better this time since he's not as anticipated as Li-Ming and Xul were, but since players will have to get him to level 5 before playing in Hero League, it might make it worse.
Since he is a warrior, other warriors queuing should note that there will be a 90%+ chance that they will have a Dehaka on their team, so expect to play in a double warrior composition. It's probably best not to pick a warrior with no damage like Johanna for a few days.
New strategies required on Garden of Terror
The abilities of the Garden Terror have changed to involve less running around from base to base and more killing. Overgrowth (Placing the Pot that sends out roots at things) no longer deals damage. Instead, it increases the damage structures take from the Garden Terror's basic attacks, which incidentally also do an AoE splash to non-Heroic enemies. It will now work more like Dragon Shire, where if you don't push with your team the Terror will just be focused down and wasted. So make sure you don't run around trying to plant Overgrowth in each base anymore, you're just wasting your time and giving your teammates reason to yell at you.
Quest Talents introduced
A new type of talents have been introduced called Quest Talents. They involve hitting some threshold with an ability or gathering Regen Globes that then increases your power by a significant amount. For example Illidan has a Quest Talent at level 1 to replace Seasoned Marksman: 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. So once you reach a certain point the value of the talent is increased by a lot. It's even more noticeable for some talents like Mana Addict for Kael'thas. After 25 Regen Globes, Kael'thas gets the Arcane Barrier talent. It basically rolls two talents into one, and ideally you'll get 25 Globes by the time you would have gotten Arcane Barrier normally, but you don't have to use another talent pick for it.
Overall most people seem to think it's a cool mechanic, and I agree with that, with one caveat. There's no way for the enemy to know when you reach that extra tier. For some heroes it's just extra damage but in the case of Arcane Barrier it's a power spike that occurs at a seemingly random time during the game. If you are about to start a teamfight and don't know if Kael'thas has the shield ready, it really messes up your plans. I think it will matter much more at higher levels when players watch for that sort of thing, but it's something to keep in mind. If you are Kael'thas yourself you'll also need to make sure your team knows if you are at 24 Globes before a fight, as it's basically the difference in a talent tier.
Changes to Hero League drafting with bans added
![[image loading]](https://bnetcmsus-a.akamaihd.net/cms/content_folder_media/4HS51YZZOLO81458264280147.png)
Bans are here. Finally. The player with the most MMR on each team will get to ban, one each at the start before any picks happen, and one each midway through the drafting phase. If you've watched any competitive Heroes in the past 2 years or so you know how it works. If no hero was selected (or highlighted) the ban will be skipped. So we can at last remove the OP heroes from HL and actually have fun games. Why couldn't they add bans for the Li-Ming release?
Also note that there are UI changes to picking heroes, so don't let your pick creep up on you in your first draft as you are yelling at that guy for banning stupid heroes and not be able to find your own hero in time. You can pick favorites under the Hero Collection section of your profile to appear first in your draft lobby hero selection list.
Other Highlights:
So what are your thoughts on the patch? What's the best change? Who's going to be the next Rehgar? Why is your favorite hero screwed? Blizzard? Let me know!
Heroes who were reworked will see a huge spike in popularity
Even if the reworks to one of the heroes is terrible and actually makes them worse (probably not the case with these reworks though), players will want to find out for themselves how a hero feels with the changes, especially on the old heroes like Tychus who haven't seen action in a while. All five of the reworked heroes will see massive playing time as people look for the next Tyrande/Rehgar hero that can dominate a game and raise their HL rank. I'm not going to go into too much detail here since there are a ton of changes I didn't get to test, but here's the general rundown on each:
Illidan's a hard one to judge since he relies heavily on supports to back him up and excels at 1v1 fights, but either way he got a lot of burst damage potential added, and lost a big chunk of burst survivability. He lost First Aid, Stoneskin, Shadow Shield, Blood for Blood, and Regeneration Master, but he heals for more with his trait, has a really good Block talent in Reflexive Block, and can have a high uptime on Resistant with Nimble Defender. His entire defensive capabilities have changed, and that is going to take some getting used to. One thing is for sure about the rework, he can probably beat anyone 1v1 in the hands of a talented player.
After getting destroyed, Kael'thas is back. He hasn't passed Li-Ming as the top mage (we don't want to go through that again), but he's in the conversation (rip Jaina). The first thing to note is Chain Bomb is baseline now. At level 1. The good news is that it only spreads to heroes now, and he can't cast another Living Bomb on anyone with it already so he can't instantly spread it to grouped up heroes anymore, which gives some time to react to it. His level 1 talents are amazing and possibly the best in the game. Two of them are Quest talents (see below) and are well done. His Chain Bomb build is gutted, so he actually has a lot of good options/hybrid builds to go now. I know some people see Master of Flames and freak out (level 20 talent - Living Bomb can now spread indefinitely between enemy Heroes), but I don't think it's that good in practice. Everyone knows "Oh hey it's Kael'thas, don't spread the bombs" and if they don't by this point they deserve to die a fiery death.
Tychus: the new tank killer. This guy's Auto Attacks can destroy a tank faster than a Stim Drone AA Raynor. Minigun has been redesigned to be an activatable Giant Killer on a short cooldown for some serious burst. He also got a really cool defensive talent at 13, Neosteel Coating. Activate to reduce incoming Ability damage by 50% for 3 seconds, 30 second cooldown. Now that's what Spellshield should be. His heroics stay mostly the same with the Drill getting a small health/range buff, but they were both solid and not why he was never played. Tychus will most likely see a lot of play. Not quite as much as the double health bar/First Aid/Stoneskin days, but still a lot.
I never really played Gazlowe before and didn't on the PTR, so frankly I have no idea what they even changed with him. Sorry but you'll have to ask someone else or try him for yourself. Personally I hope he still sucks :\
Sylvanas' level 1 talents got #rekt and is one of the worst talent tiers in the game, but some of the other changes are pretty good. The main changes are buffs to her Auto Attack damage and Withering Fire, which will increase her damage by quite a bit. The other is the introduction of a new heroic: Mind Control. Possession is now a level 7 ability. That's right, her old heroic was so bad it's just a bland level 7 talent that still might not be picked because it competes with Unstable Poison. Anyway, Mind Control is ridiculous. It's got a large range with a one second cast time that makes Sylvanas vulnerable, but even if you leave the range MC is still cast on you. She controls your movement for a full 2.5 seconds, but not your abilities. The level 20 upgrade gives a 100% movement speed increase. It's pretty funny actually (but OP as all get out). She's probably in a good place now.
Get ready for long queue times with Dehaka
Yes this happens every time a new hero is introduced, but people are still surprised/mad. A huge portion of the player base will instantly buy Dehaka and queue with him, forcing the matchmaking system to throw Dehaka players in seemingly random compositions after 10min queues. Go on Twitter or Reddit and rage about it, trust me it'll help. It might be a little bit better this time since he's not as anticipated as Li-Ming and Xul were, but since players will have to get him to level 5 before playing in Hero League, it might make it worse.
Since he is a warrior, other warriors queuing should note that there will be a 90%+ chance that they will have a Dehaka on their team, so expect to play in a double warrior composition. It's probably best not to pick a warrior with no damage like Johanna for a few days.
New strategies required on Garden of Terror
The abilities of the Garden Terror have changed to involve less running around from base to base and more killing. Overgrowth (Placing the Pot that sends out roots at things) no longer deals damage. Instead, it increases the damage structures take from the Garden Terror's basic attacks, which incidentally also do an AoE splash to non-Heroic enemies. It will now work more like Dragon Shire, where if you don't push with your team the Terror will just be focused down and wasted. So make sure you don't run around trying to plant Overgrowth in each base anymore, you're just wasting your time and giving your teammates reason to yell at you.
Quest Talents introduced
A new type of talents have been introduced called Quest Talents. They involve hitting some threshold with an ability or gathering Regen Globes that then increases your power by a significant amount. For example Illidan has a Quest Talent at level 1 to replace Seasoned Marksman: 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. So once you reach a certain point the value of the talent is increased by a lot. It's even more noticeable for some talents like Mana Addict for Kael'thas. After 25 Regen Globes, Kael'thas gets the Arcane Barrier talent. It basically rolls two talents into one, and ideally you'll get 25 Globes by the time you would have gotten Arcane Barrier normally, but you don't have to use another talent pick for it.
Overall most people seem to think it's a cool mechanic, and I agree with that, with one caveat. There's no way for the enemy to know when you reach that extra tier. For some heroes it's just extra damage but in the case of Arcane Barrier it's a power spike that occurs at a seemingly random time during the game. If you are about to start a teamfight and don't know if Kael'thas has the shield ready, it really messes up your plans. I think it will matter much more at higher levels when players watch for that sort of thing, but it's something to keep in mind. If you are Kael'thas yourself you'll also need to make sure your team knows if you are at 24 Globes before a fight, as it's basically the difference in a talent tier.
Changes to Hero League drafting with bans added
Bans are here. Finally. The player with the most MMR on each team will get to ban, one each at the start before any picks happen, and one each midway through the drafting phase. If you've watched any competitive Heroes in the past 2 years or so you know how it works. If no hero was selected (or highlighted) the ban will be skipped. So we can at last remove the OP heroes from HL and actually have fun games. Why couldn't they add bans for the Li-Ming release?
Also note that there are UI changes to picking heroes, so don't let your pick creep up on you in your first draft as you are yelling at that guy for banning stupid heroes and not be able to find your own hero in time. You can pick favorites under the Hero Collection section of your profile to appear first in your draft lobby hero selection list.
Other Highlights:
- The ARAM community just got a lot bigger with the new map
- Blizzard adding the Lost Cavern single lane map is just what ARAM players needed. It doesn't really effect game balance at all, and it's great to see them supporting those players. Now we wait for Arenas...
- Supports and Warriors really didn't get any changes
- If you are a Support or Warrior main most of your heroes didn't even get touched, so you won't need to relearn talents or anything. However, Illidan, Kael'thas, Sylvanas, Gazlowe, and Tychus all got new toys, so get ready to adjust to their new styles.
- Free Week heroes will show up more in both HL and QM
- Since you can play free week heroes in Hero League if they are level 5 or above, expect to see those heroes have an impact on HL now. Not only that, but anyone who doesn't have a hero at level 5 will be encouraged to get that hero level 5 so they are unlocked during rotations to play in HL.
- Death Recaps are here!
- Not much to say, but I'm really happy that I hopefully won't ever be able to exclaim "What just killed me???" angrily at the screen. Really, it's well done.
- Captain Blackheart will no longer skip numbers during the countdown at the start of a game.
- Rehgar's Earthbind Totem can now be hit by area of effect Abilities.
- While inside a Nydus Worm, Zagara's Health and Mana are now restored at a rate equal to the Hall of Storms.
- Targets affected by Lamb to the Slaughter are now Silenced for the Ability’s duration.
- Improved Ice Block on Jaina has been moved to level 20, and Bolt of the Storm removed.
- The Dragon Knight is now immune to Attack Speed slows applied by attacks from enemy Forts and Keeps.
So what are your thoughts on the patch? What's the best change? Who's going to be the next Rehgar? Why is your favorite hero screwed? Blizzard? Let me know!
