The November balance patch has arrived at the Nexus. Patch 52.2 is supposed to be the last iteration of the Medallion anomaly cycle. We’ll take a look at the current patch and see how it affects our beloved heroes.

First off, the most recent reworks look a bit overtuned. D.Va got her second nerf in a row, though this one is slight. The other rework of this season, Gazlowe, was unpopular at first, so he was buffed in patch 52.1…turning him into a bully. He has been ruling the meta the last month, but that reign may be over now that his numbers have been adjusted somewhere in between his reworked release and his buffed version.

These are the two unarguably nerfed heroes. We’ll have to wait to see how the tweaks in Sgt. Hammer, Orphea, and Lunara’s kits turn. But meanwhile we can enjoy some of the new buffs.

How to Read Patch Notes

When reading Heroes of the Storm patch notes we must differentiate between two kinds of buffs: plain buffs and talent diversity buffs. Direct buffs affect the baseline kit of a hero or their statistics. On patch 52.2 Mal'Ganis (health), Dehaka (damage), Leoric (damage), Varian (health), Alexstasza (range), Azmodan (All Shall Burn) and Sylvanas (Mind Control) have been improved this way.

The other type of buff is a forced talent diversity change. These changes try to empower talents with a low pick rate to try to make them viable or, at least, more interesting. This may enable new builds or just make underperforming ones better. However, popular builds may still be the best choice, so these changes can sometimes look unfruitful. The heroes affected by this kind of buffs in patch 52.2 are Anub'Arak, Chen, Dehaka, Leoric, Malthael, Varian, Alarak, Falstad and Tychus.

Balance Tool or Forced Changes?

But, does forcing talent diversity work? To check it, we’ve picked two recent examples: Zul’Jin new talent at level 20, A Surprise For Ya, introduced in patch 51.2 (August), and Ana changes to level 1 and 7 talents in patch 52.1 (October).

Many people tested the new Zul’Jin talent. In fact, two of the five most played builds in that patch featured A Surprise For Ya. Those builds even had a higher winrate than the ones with Amani Resilience, the most popular choice. However, after that patch the new talent disappeared, and everything came back to normal.



Ana received neither a buff nor a new talent. Her E build was overwhelmingly popular. Slumber Shells (level 1) and Night Terrors (level 7) had a popularity of over 60%. That’s why in patch 52.1 those two talents were nerfed to force people to make other builds viable. It didn’t go as intended. The E build remained popular, but its overall winrate dropped by 5%.

So, is forcing talent diversity useless? Not at all. There are hundreds of possible builds for every hero, so there might be a powerful build hidden somewhere, one that we may not find until a couple of patches later once we’re familiar with the new or adjusted talents. Or maybe those builds are already being played but they’re not popular yet. Progression of the metagame also plays a big role in the rise and fall of popular builds or talents.

However, truth is the changes may not be enough to force us to change our playstyle. That doesn’t mean the adjustments are in vain. Often they synergize with changes yet to come. Anub’arak’s Level 20 talents have just been buffed, and they may not compete with Rewind right now, but what if his heroic abilities are buffed? That’s what it takes for everything to come together.