Garden of Terror rework

The Fall of Kings Questline is now available for players. The hunt is on for the generals of the Raven Lord!
Loot Chests have been replaced with Seasonal Loot chests for the duration of this event.

Garden of Terror

Garden of Terror has received significant gameplay and layout changes. Find out more in the Garden of Terror Spotlight video or on the updated Garden of Terror Battleground site.

Heroes, Abilities, and Talents

Kerrigan and Brightwing have received some new and updated art to coincide with their gameplay updates.

Mercenary Camp and Banner floating text has received readability improvements.

Abilities

Ravage (Q)
Charges increased from 1 to 2
Range reduced from 8 to 6
Mana cost reduced from 40 to 20
Damage reduced from 210 to 130
Added functionality:
Now also refunds 20 Mana when used on an enemy that dies within 1.5 seconds
Impaling Blades (W)
Damage reduced from 261 to 180
Primal Grasp (E)
Pull damage reduced from 114 to 25
Added functionality:
2.5 seconds after using Primal Grasp, Kerrigan damages all nearby enemies for 180 damage
Summon Ultralisk (R)
Splash radius increased from 1.5 to 2
The initial cast of Ultralisk is now directional skill shot that causes the Ultralisk to charge in the targeted direction until impacting an enemy Hero. It deals 250 damage and stuns for .5 seconds to the first Hero it hits.
Assimilation (Trait)
Shield amount increased from 10 to 15% of damage dealt

Talents

Level 1
Siphoning Impact (Q)
New functionality:
Using Ravage on an enemy Hero grants an additional 90 Assimilation Shield
Assimilation Mastery (Trait)
Moved from level 7
No longer increases the duration of Assimilation Shield
In addition to increasing Kerrigan’s Health and Mana Regeneration by 100% while Assimilation is active, now also causes Regeneration Globes to grant 40 Assimilation Shield per second while active
Fury of the Swarm (Passive)
Moved from level 4
New functionality:
Kerrigan gains 10% more Assimilation Shields from Basic Attacks. Casting Ravage causes Kerrigan’s next 2 Basic Attacks within 3 seconds to splash for 100% damage around the target
Sharpened Blades (W)
Removed
Block (Passive)
Removed

Level 4
New Talent - Sharpened Blades (Q)
!Quest: Every time an enemy Minion or Hero dies within 1.5 seconds of being damaged by Ravage, increase Ravage's damage by .5 (5 for Heroes), up to 50
!Reward: After reaching 50 damage, gain an additional 50 damage
New Talent - Kinetic Fulmination (W)
Damaging an enemy increases the damage of Kerrigan's next Impaling Blades by 15%. Stacks up to 150%. Lasts 10 seconds.
Psionic Pulse (E)
New functionality:
Primal Grasp deals damage a second time 2.5 seconds after the initial burst
Clean Kill (Q)
Removed
Envenom (Active)
Removed
Level 7
New Talent - Queen of Blades (Q)
Every time Primal Grasp's pull or explosion hits an enemy Hero, reduce the cooldown of Ravage by 4 seconds
New Talent - Boundless Fury (Q)
Casting Ravage on an enemy Hero grants a charge of Ravage. Can only occur on each Hero once every 10 seconds
Bladed Momentum (Passive)
Now only triggers when attacking enemy Heroes
Now works with splash damage from Fury of the Swarm
Blade Torrent (W)
Removed
Level 13
New Talent - Psionic Barrier (E)
Kerrigan gains 15 Spell Armor for 4 seconds for every enemy Hero she hits with Primal Grasp's pull or explosion
New Talent - Volatile Power (Trait)
Increase the base Shield amount gained from Assimilation by 15%, but reduce the duration of Assimilation Shields from 6 to 3 seconds
New Talent - Chrysalis (Active)
Activate to place Kerrigan in a chrysalis with 550 Health for 5 seconds. Kerrigan regenerates 5% Health per second while inside the chrysalis. 90 second cooldown.
Eviscerate (Q)
Removed
Double Strike (Q)
Removed
Queen’s Rush (Active)
Removed
Level 16
New Talent - Mounting Potency (Q)
Casting Ravage on an enemy increases Kerrigan's Spell Power by 5% for 4 seconds, stacking up to 40%
New Talent - Painful Spikes (W)
After stunning an enemy with Impale, Kerrigan deals an additional 75 damage the next 6 times she damages them within the next 5 seconds
New Talent - Unbridled Energy (R)
When Kerrigan damages a Hero with a Heroic Ability she gains 30% Spell Power for 4 seconds
Aggressive Defense (Trait)
Removed
Essence for Essence (Active)
Removed
Overdrive (Active)
Removed
Level 20
Omegastorm (R)
New Functionality:
Maelstrom's duration is increased by .125 seconds every time it damages an enemy Hero
New Talent - Assimilation Blades (Trait)
Damaging an enemy increases Kerrigan's Basic Attack damage by 4%, up to 40%, for 5 seconds
Psionic Shift (Active)
Shield amount is now doubled when damaging enemy Heroes
Nexus Blades (Passive)
Removed

Developer Comment: Kerrigan is receiving an update to increase the tactical depth of using her abilities and increase the impact that her Talents have on her playstyle. We've reduced the range on Ravage but added a second charge so that smart Kerrigan players can use it to maneuver on the battlefield, as well as utilize a lot of her Talents to get the most out of the ability. We've added a secondary explosion to Primal Grasp so that Kerrigan will want to continue to worry about her positioning after her initial engagement occurs, as well as provide the opportunity for new Talent interactions. We've also added a skillshot component to Ultralisk so that the Heroic can feel like it has a big moment when it is first unleashed. Overall, Kerrigan should play mostly the same, but have increased room for mastery and playstyle specific builds.

Abilities

Arcane Flare (Q)
Outer damage from 87 to 75
Inner damage from 260 to 180
Missile speed increased ~30%
Added functionality:
If an enemy Hero is hit by the center of Arcane Flare, instantly pulse a free Soothing Mist
Polymorph (W)
Duration from 1.25 to 1.5 seconds
Cooldown from 10 to 12 seconds
Pixie Dust (E)
Range from 8 to 7
Phase Shift (Z)
Cooldown from 55 to 60 seconds
Added functionality:
Heals the target for 20% of their maximum health
Soothing Mist (D)
Heal amount reduced from 115 to 105
Added functionality:
Activate to instantly pulse a calming wave, clearing all Stun, Root, Slow, and Silence effects from nearby allies
120 second cooldown
Emerald Wind (R)
No longer grants passive healing to Soothing Mist
Damage reduced from 303 to 225
Cooldown reduced from 60 to 50 seconds

Talents

Level 1
Greater Polymorph (W)
Moved from Level 16
New functionality:
Increase the cast range of Polymorph by 30%. Anytime a nearby enemy Hero is killed, reset the Cooldown of Polymorph
Hyper Shift (Z)
New functionality:
Increase the heal amount of Phase Shift to 30% of targets max Health
Every Minion killed near you lowers the cooldown of Phase Shift by 2 seconds
Pixie Charm (1)
New functionality:
Every Minion killed near you grants you a Bribe Stack. Hitting an enemy with the center portion of Arcane Flare grants you 5 Bribe Stacks
Level 4
Manic Pixie (E)
Removed
Unstable Anomaly (W)
New functionality:
Increase the slow amount of Polymorph to 40%. When it expires, it explodes dealing 2% of all nearby enemy Heroes max Health in damage
Dream Shot (Q)
Moved from Level 1
New functionality:
Increase the range of Arcane Flare by 50%. If it hits an enemy Hero, lower the cooldown to 2 seconds.
New Talent – Magic Spit (D)
Increase your Basic Attack range by 20%. Attacks against Heroes reduce the cooldown of Soothing Mist’s active by 5 seconds
Level 7
Mistified (D)
Removed
Cleanse (Active)
Removed
Phase Shield (Z)
Removed
Sticky Flare (Q)
Moved from Level 13
New functionality:
Arcane Flare slows Heroes by 20% for 3 seconds, or 40% if hit by the center of Arcane Flare
Peekaboo! (Z)
Moved from Level 4
Added functionality:
Also grants the you and your target a temporary health Shield
New Talent – Critical Mist (D)
If Calming Mist removes a status effect from an ally, instantly heal them for 200
Level 13
Ice Block (Active)
Removed
Shield Dust (E)
Removed
Pixie Boost (E)
Movement Speed decay duration increased from 1.5 to 3 seconds
Movement Speed bonus reduced to 40%
New Talent – Safety Dust (E)
Increase the duration of Pixie Dust by 1 second. Healing dealt by Brightwing is increased by 25% on targets with Pixie Dust
New Talent – Pixie Power (E)
Lower the cooldown of Pixie Dust by 3 seconds and increase the Spell Armor it grants to 50
Level 16
Bouncy Dust (E)
Removed
Hardened Focus (Passive)
Removed
New Talent – Phase Out (Active)
Activate to phase out and become invulnerable for .5 seconds
20 second cooldown
New Talent – Hush (Q)
Enemy Heroes hit with the center of Arcane Flare are Silenced for 1 second and deal 25% less damage for 3 seconds.
Level 20
Double Wyrmhole (R)
Removed
Continuous Winds (R)
Removed
Revitalizing Mist (D)
Removed
Storm Shield (Active)
Removed
New Talent – Invisible Friends (R)
Blink Heal grants you and the target stealth. They are unrevealable for .5 seconds. While under this effect, they regenerate 20 Health Per Second
New Talent – Intensive Winds (R)
Lower the cooldown of Emerald Wind to 3 seconds. It now costs 200 Mana
New Talent – Faerie Protector (Active)
Activate to instantly cast Pixie Dust on all nearby allied Heroes
60 second cooldown
New Talent – Speedy Dragon (Passive)
Gain 20% permanent movement speed

Developer Comment: Late last year we decided that we wanted to add a fun mini-game to Brightwing utilizing her Arcane Flare as the focal point. As it often happens, while making the initial changes we started diving in deeper and deeper. Nearly a year later, we are excited to showcase a fully updated talent tree alongside some fundamental game-play changes to our resident Faerie Dragon. With a baseline AoE cleanse-type effect and added healing potential to her Arcane Flare, Brightwing should bring some new major play-making abilities to her team.

New Bundles

The following new bundles are available for a limited time:
Fall of King’s Crest Bundle
Spectral Wyrm Alextrasza Skin Pack
Spider Warden Maiev Skin Pack
Cursed Witch Whitemane Skin Pack
Phantom Knight Zarya Skin Pack

New Announcers

Queen Nightshade
Blackheart
Lady of Thorns

New Skins

Alexstrasza
Spectral Wyrm Alexstrasza
Infernal Wyrm Alexstrasza
Phantom Wyrm Alexstrasza
Brightwing
Spectral Bewitching Brightwing
Kerrigan
Spectral Countess Kerrigan
Maiev
Spider Warden Maiev
Forgotten Spider Warden Maiev
Night Spider Warden Maiev
Whitemane
Cursed Witch Whitemane
Forgotten Witch Whitemane
Court Witch Whitemane
Zarya
Phantom Knight Zarya
Infernal Knight Zarya
Geist Knight Zarya

New Mounts

Redeemed Tombstone
Corrupted Tombstone
Copper Money Pig
Pumpkin Eye Pad
Sunny Side Eye Pad

New Portraits, Sprays, and Emojis

Several new emoji packs and portraits have also been added to the Heroes of the Storm Collection tab.

General

Fixed several confusing or incorrect tooltips across all parts of the game.
Drag Scroll: Fixed an issue that could occasionally cause the camera to jump in the direction of the cursor when using the drag scroll feature.
Reconnect: Fixed an issue that could cause players to lose control of their Hero if they reconnect while piloting a vehicle.
AI: A number of improvements have been made to AI Hero behavior.

Art

Chromie: Fixed an issue that caused Chromie’s hourglass to go missing during her Hearthstone animation.

Heroes, Abilities, and Talents

Abathur: Fixed an issue preventing Monstrosity from gaining damage when nearby enemy minions die.
Alarak & Gazlowe: Fixed an issue that allowed Gazlowe and Alarak to cast charged abilities while time stopped.
Ana: Fixed an issue that allowed Ana to used Eye of Horus shots between mine levels on Haunted Mines.
Lúcio: Fixed an issue preventing Lúcio from issuing attack commands while silenced.
Mephisto: Fixed an issue preventing the Static Barrier talent from granting Mephisto shields if damage was dealt to Shields or Protected Heroes.
Raynor: Raynor’s Raider will now clear attack or move order when entering or exiting the mines on Haunted Mines.
Stealth: Fixed an issue that prevented Ping markers from being visible on clones if the clones were created after the ping was initiated.

User Interface

Fixed an issue that caused Garrosh’s Groundbreaker splat to appear under the wrong team color in observer mode.
Fixed an issue that could cause Heroes to fail to play stun animations and effects if stunned twice in quick succession.
Lúcio: Fixed an issue causing the UI displaying the number of allies in range of crossfade to stop working after Lúcio exits a vehicle.

Sentinel and Engineer camps have had their XP and XP scaling values adjusted to grant more overall experience
Recon camps have had their kill and capture XP adjusted to grant slight less overall experience
NOTE: These changes are intended to slightly increase the amount of overall experience available from mercenary camps, but in a more consistent spread.

Stats

Base Maximum Health increased from 1323 to 1390
Health Regen increased from 2.76 to 2.9

Abilities

Dragon’s Breath (W)
Cooldown reduced from 9 to 8 seconds
Bronze Talons (Trait)
Bonus attack damage increased from 125 to 140%

Talents

Level 1
Mounting Sand (Q)
Bonus Echo damage increased from 40 to 50%
Deep Breathing (W)
Damage per quest stack increased from 3 to 5
Hits required to complete quest reduced from 20 to 12
Level 5
Mobius Loop (W)
Cooldown reduction for Hero hit increased from 2 to 3 seconds
Mana refund from Hero hit increased from 50 to 100

Abilities

Hammerang (Q)
Mana cost reduced from 70 to 60
Lightning Rod (W)
Cooldown reduced from 15 to 13 seconds
Mana cost reduced from 70 to 60
Barrel Roll (E)
Cooldown reduced from 14 to 13 seconds
Mana cost reduced from 75 to 70
Flight (Z)
Cooldown increased from 55 to 60 seconds

Abilities

Purification Salvo (R)
Cooldown increased from 75 to 90 seconds

Abilities

Swift Strike (E)
Damage reduced from 205 to 190

Abilities

Lightning Nova (W)
Damage reduced from 48 to 45
Damage bonus reduced from 4% to 3%
Maximum damage bonus reduced from 40 to 30%
Consume Souls (R)
Slow amount reduced from 40 to 25%
Durance of Hate (R)
Missile Speed increased by 25%
Ability range increased by 25%
Root duration increased from 2 to 2.5 seconds
Damage increased from 160 to 250 over its duration

Talents

Level 1
Unyielding Power (Q)
Damage bonus upon hitting 20 Heroes increased from 60 to 100
Anger (Passive)
Basic Ability cooldown reduction from Basic Attacking Heroes increased from .75 to 1 second
Level 4
Static Barrier (W)
Shield amount reduced from 50% to 40% of Lightning Nova’s damage dealt to Heroes
Level 16
Lightning Reaction (Q)
Damage reduced from 144 to 138
Static Field (W)
Damage reduced from 12% to 10% of enemies maximum Health
Level 20
Shade Lord (E)
Cooldown reduced from 60 to 40 seconds

Developer Comment: Mephisto is certainly making an impact on the Nexus. He's been on the higher end of Hero winrates and, judging from how players with a lot of games are performing with him, we expect that he will continue to rise as players gain experience. Our goal with these changes is to bring his overall damage down, balance out a few of the Talent tiers performance, and increase the consistency of Durance of Hate.

Talents

Level 1
Advanced Cloaking (Trait)
Movement speed bonus increased from 5 to 10%

Level 7
Perfect Shot (Q)
Cooldown reduction on Hero hit increased from 3 to 4 seconds

Level 16
Explosive Shot (Q)
Area of effect damage increased from 70 to 80%

Stats

Basic Attack Damage reduced from 103 to 101

Abilities

Neosteel Plating (E)
Cooldown increased from 12 to 16 seconds

Talents

Level 4
Siege Tactics (E)
Shifting out of Siege Mode now removes the Unstoppable effect.

Talents

Level 4
Potion of Shielding (Q)
Shield amount reduced from 135 to 122
Level 13
Ancient Blessings (Trait)
Cooldown increased from 30 to 60 seconds

Stats

Light of Elune (Q)
Mana cost increased from 10 to 15
Heal amount reduced from 275 to 265

Shadowstalk (R)
Heal amount reduced from 40 to 38

Talents

Level 4
Lunar Blaze (E)
Bonus range from reduced 50 to 40%
Trueshot Aura (Active)
Bonus Basic Attack damage reduced from 20 to 15%
Activated Basic Attack damage reduced from 20 to 15%
Level 7
Elune’s Chosen (Active)
Duration reduced from 10 to 8 seconds
Level 13
Quickening Blessing (Q)
Movement Speed granted from Light of Elune reduced from 20 to 15%
Level 16
Darnassian Archery (Active)
Duration reduced from 8 to 6 seconds

Abilities

Desperate Plea (Q)
Heal amount reduced from 145 to 140
Searing Lash (E)
Cooldown increased from 5 to 6 seconds

Talents

Level 1
Righteous Flame (E)
Bonus damage increased from 50 to 75%
Level 4
Indulgence (E)
Mana return on hit increased from 10/25 to 20/40

Abilities

Harden Carapace (W)
Cooldown reduced from 7 to 6 seconds

Stats

Base Maximum Health increased from 2650 to 2782
Health Regeneration increased from 5.52 to 5.80

Abilities

Frostmourne Hungers (Trait)
Cooldown reduced from 12 to 10 seconds

Stats

Base Maximum Health increased from 2775 to 2900
Health Regeneration increased from 5.78 to 6.04

Abilities

Flame Stream (Q)
Mana cost increased from 25 to 30
Oil Spill (W)
Mana cost increased from 40 to 50
Jet Propulsion (E)
Cooldown reduced from 12 to 10 seconds
Bunker Drop (R)
Flamethrower damage reduced from 179 to 170
Cooldown increased from 60 to 80 seconds
Mana cost increased from 40 to 80
Combustion (R)
Damage increased from 52 to 55
Self-Slow amount decreased from 50 to 40%

Talents

Level 1
Endurance Stimpack (Active)
Shield amount increased from 450 to 480
Neural Stimpack (Active)
Mana restoration reduced from 50 to 30
New Habits (Trait)
Regeneration Globe collection cooldown reduction increased from 5 to 8 seconds
Level 13
Nanomachine Coating (W)
Attack Speed slow increased from 40 to 50%
Level 16
Thermal Protection (E)
Cooldown reduction decreased from 2 to 1.5 seconds

Developer Comment: Blaze is performing very well in professional play but is currently our lowest winning Warrior in the game. To balance his effectiveness in the pro scene, we’re increasing the cooldown and lowering the effectiveness of Bunker Drop. His laning phase is also not as interactive as we’d like it to be, so we’re increasing the Mana costs of his abilities to reduce his perpetual wave clear and sustain in the early phases of the game. In exchange for these nerfs, we’re giving him some base survivability buffs, reducing the cooldown of Jet Propulsion, and improving some of his talents.

Stats

Base Maximum Health increased from 2180 to 2250
Health Regeneration increased from 4.54 to 4.69

Stats

Health increased from 2468 to 2517
Health Regeneration increased from 5.14 to 5.24

Abilities

Righteousness (W)
Cooldown decreased from 10 to 9 seconds
Mana cost reduced from 50 to 45

Abilities

Vindication (Q)
Mana cost increased from 50 to 65
Righteous Hammer (W)
Mana cost increased from 50 to 65
Avenging Wrath (E)
Mana cost increased from 50 to 65

General

Tyrande: Fixed an issue preventing the cooldown for the Ranger talent from appearing in the tooltip.

Heroes, Abilities, and Talents

Li Ming: Fixed an issue that could cause Disintegrate to cast immediately and become uncontrollable if Li Ming’s abilities were reset with specific quick cast settings.
Tyrande: Fixed an issue preventing damage dealt to targets with Hunter’s Mark from splashing to Laning Mercenaries after learning the Huntress’ Fury talent.
Tyrande: Fixed an issue allowing Shadowstalk to affect players in vehicles. (Garden Terror, Dragon Knight, etc)