EPTKharazim
Patch Notes
Commentary and Analysis
With the new patch out less than 24 hours ago, I thought I'd take a look at the patch notes and give you some thoughts on the big changes. As with all patches, a small change for one hero can create ripple effects through the whole meta. These are more predictions than facts, but hopefully you learn something you didn't know. Feel free to add any insight you may have gleaned from your first day with Kharazim and the new changes!
Diablo III Rewards
- Add Diablo to Your Hero Collection
- Diablo III and Diablo III: Reaper of Souls players who log in to Heroes during the three weeks following the release of the upcoming patch will permanently receive Diablo in Heroes of the Storm.
- Malthael's Phantom
- Starting with Season 4, Diablo III players who reach level 70 with a Seasonal character will receive Malthael’s Phantom in Heroes of the Storm.
- Portrait Border & Pennant
- Diablo III players who reach Player Level 12 in Heroes of the Storm will receive a new Heroes-themed Portrait Border and Pennant in Diablo III.
Blizzard is once again cross-promoting their games by offering in-game rewards for owning and playing their other titles.. This time you’ll need to own Diablo III and Reaper of Souls (or buy them for $100) if you want the Malthael’s Phantom Mount in Heroes, and $0 plus some time to level up to 12 in Heroes if you want a Portrait Border and Pennant in Diablo III.
You also get Diablo in Heroes automatically if you own Diablo III, so you can practice flipping people into towers. Be warned that he’s one of the more mediocre Warriors in the game right now.
Treasure Goblin Portrait
- A new Special Event Quest has been added: Kill 50 Treasure Goblins
- Any player who manages to rid the Nexus of 50 pesky Treasure Goblins during the Eternal Conflict event will receive a special portrait reward for their heroism!
This is confirmation that either the Treasure Goblin or the Eternal Conflict (aka Diablo) event is going to end at some point so be sure to kill 50 more Goblins before it ends if you want another portrait in game.
Portrait Collections
- Many new portrait rewards have been added! Unlock them by reaching Hero Level 10 with the following Heroes:
- Diablo Villain Collection – Diablo, Leoric, The Butcher
- Diablo Heroes Collection Series 1 – Nazeebo, Sonya, Valla
- Diablo Heroes Collection Series 2 – Johanna, Kharazim
- StarCraft Rebels Collection – Kerrigan, Raynor, Tychus
- Swarm Evolution Collection – Abathur, Zagara
- Night Elf Betrayer Collection – Illidan, Malfurion, Tyrande
- Reign of Chaos Collection – Arthas, Jaina, Thrall, Uther
- Stormstout Collection – Chen, Li Li
- Undercity Collection – Stitches, Sylvanas
- Diablo Villain Collection – Diablo, Leoric, The Butcher
More new portraits if you’re desperate to make the top right corner of your screen look different. These combine 2-4 Heroes together to give you a new portrait if you level them to 10.
New Hero: Kharazim
Kharazim has been added to Heroes of the Storm and is now available for play! Read on for a brief overview of this new Support Hero’s Abilities.Trait
- Pick Your Trait
- Learn Transcendence, Iron Fists, or Insight using the Talents panel to select your Trait.
- Transcendence
- Every third Basic Attack heals the lowest nearby allied Hero.
- Iron Fists
- Every third Basic Attack deals 100% bonus damage.
- Insight
- Every third Basic Attack restores Mana.
- Transcendence
- Learn Transcendence, Iron Fists, or Insight using the Talents panel to select your Trait.
Basic Abilities
- Radiant Dash (Q)
- Jump to an ally or enemy. Enemies are immediately hit with a Basic Attack. Stores up to two charges. 12 second cooldown per charge.
- Breath of Heaven (W)
- Heal nearby allied Heroes, granting them a 10% Movement Speed bonus for 3 seconds.
- Deadly Reach (E)
- Your next Basic Attack increases your Attack Speed and Attack Range by 100% for 2 seconds.
Heroic Abilities
- Seven-Sided Strike (R)
- Become Invulnerable, striking 7 times over 2 seconds in a large area. Each strike deals 7% of the target’s maximum Health as damage, and prioritizes the Hero with the highest remaining Health.
- Divine Palm (R)
- Protect an allied Hero from death. The next source of fatal damage within 3 seconds is prevented, and the target is instead healed for a large amount.
For the first time since Heroes was officially released, we have a new Support joining the Nexus! Kharazim is based on the Monk class from Diablo (and a bit of Warcraft) and feels like another hybrid healer similar to Tyrande. The most interesting part of his kit is that you actually pick his trait at Level 1, and choose whether your melee attacks become stronger, heal a nearby ally, or restore mana.
His basic abilities are as follows:
•Radiant Dash - This is the core ability of Kharazim that causes him to be in the midst of every fight, forcing positioning changes and even blocking skill shots. He has two charges of this, and it’s sort of a combination of Chen’s Kick and Brightwing’s Blink Heal.
•Breath of Heaven - His main heal is sort of similar to a controllable Brightwing AOE with a short range heal and a speed boost.
•Deadly Reach - A self-buff that increases his attack speed and attack range, which could help his healing if you take his Transcendence Trait.
Heroic Abilities:
•Seven-Sided Strike - A strong damage ability that could knock off 49% of a single enemy’s health bar in 2 seconds. It has no effect on your healing role, unless your plan is to kill the enemy before they kill your team. Obviously this is not as effective in full team fights, so you want to pick spots to use this where there are only one or two near-death enemies.
•Divine Palm - Think of this as Ancestral Healing with a shorter wind-up. This finally gives Rehgar a run for his money in burst healing, but still requires precise timing.
Kharazim is designed to dive into fights with melee allies and keep them up while dishing out a decent amount of damage. He combines the AOE healing elements of Brightwing with the high damage potential of Tyrande and a strong burst heal like Rehgar. It’s a welcome addition to have another healing option, and his kit allows for some fun combinations like an aggressive Butcher-Tyrande-Kharazim roam squad. In his PTR state, he wasn't quite strong enough to solo heal your typical ranged carry team, but perhaps skilled players can make it work. He shines when paired with melee Assassins and Warriors, but even then it remains to be seen how well he could fare as the lone healer.
Art
- Ancients rejoice! Sonya has received a dance animation.
- The following Heroes and Skins have received visual improvements:
- Tychus, Master Tychus Skin, and all Skin Variations
- Murky, all Murky Skins, and all Skin Variations
- Tychus, Master Tychus Skin, and all Skin Variations
- The following Heroes have received updated facial animations:
- Sgt. Hammer
- The Butcher
- Tychus
- Sgt. Hammer
Hero Abilities
- Various Hero Abilities have received additional optimization.
- The following Hero Abilities and Talents have received new art or additional visual polish:
- Brightwing – Revitalizing Mists (Talent), Spell Block (Talent), Unstable Anomaly (Talent)
- Illidan – Sweeping Strike (W), Metamorphosis (R)
- Tyrael – Judgment (R), Sanctification (R)
- Brightwing – Revitalizing Mists (Talent), Spell Block (Talent), Unstable Anomaly (Talent)
It’s comforting to know that Blizzard keeps going back to polish off older character models even as they continue to release new skins and heroes. Adding animations to make spells more unique or thematic is both helpful and awesome.
Dynamic Bundles
- Bundles that contain three or more items are now listed as Dynamic Bundles in the Shop.
- A Dynamic Bundle’s price will be automatically reduced if the player already owns one or more of the items that are part of that Bundle.
- Two-item Bundles are not dynamic, and players will be unable to purchase a two-item Bundle if they already own one of the items it contains.
- A Dynamic Bundle’s price will be automatically reduced if the player already owns one or more of the items that are part of that Bundle.
- Check out our recent blog on Dynamic Bundles to learn more about this new feature.
One of the most common requests for the Shop has finally arrived! Now you can get discounts on bundles if you already own parts of them, which is a nice quality of life change, and they may even go back and refund players’ gold for bundles they’ve already purchased.
New Mounts
- New Mounts
- The Treasure Goblin Mount has been added for a limited time, and is exclusively available for purchase using Gold.
- Malthael’s Phantom has been added and will become available exclusively to Diablo III players who reach level 70 with a Season Character, starting with Diablo III Season 4.
- The Treasure Goblin Mount has been added for a limited time, and is exclusively available for purchase using Gold.
- Mount Removals
- The Nazeebra Mount, which is exclusive to the Nexus Bundle, will be removed from the Shop one week following patch day. During that time, players will still be able to purchase the Nexus Bundle to obtain the Nazeebra Mount.
The fact that you can ride a Treasure Goblin is awesome and disturbing, but I think I need this now. Time to start saving for this Money Pig 2.0. Still not happy with the cost of Malthael’s Phantom though…
Price Changes
- Brightwing’s prices have been reduced to 7,000 Gold and $8.49 USD.
It’s good to see Blizzard lowering prices of older heroes finally, as usually they stick at 10k gold for way too long. Hopefully we’ll see a few price drops every month to help new players get the heroes they want.
UI Improvements
- Ability & Activated Talent Hotbars
- The Ability Hotbar has received new art, and is now more visually compact.
- The Activated Talent Hotbar has received new art, and its buttons are now slightly larger.
- The Ability Hotbar has received new art, and is now more visually compact.
- Nameplates & Status Bars
- Hero nameplates will now display the following status effects: Polymorphed, and Stasis
- Hero Status Bars have received additional polish and improvements.
- The color of allied Health bars has been changed from green to blue.
- Hero Health bars now more clearly denote 1,000 and 250 Health segments.
- Shields will now appear white, rather than blue, on Hero Health bars.
- Damage, damage over time, and quick Healing effects are now much easier to distinguish on Health bars.
- The color of allied Health bars has been changed from green to blue.
- Hero nameplates will now display the following status effects: Polymorphed, and Stasis
It’s always tough to change something as instrumental to the player experience as the hotbars and nameplates, but Blizzard threw some of that in this patch too. It will take some time to get used to, but hopefully we all will get used to it.
Game Server Selection
- Players may now select which game server they’d like to play on by selecting it from the Preferred Game Server dropdown on the Language and Region options menu.
- This setting will default to Best Match, but players may wish to change this if they notice connection issues when playing on a specific server.
- Please note: As we continue to improve and expand our game sites, Best Match will provide the best play experience for most players. If you are not experiencing issues, it is highly recommend that you leave this set to Best Match.
- If players in a party have conflicting server preferences, the server that is most commonly selected among the party’s members will be used.
- This setting will default to Best Match, but players may wish to change this if they notice connection issues when playing on a specific server.
There were matchmaking issues that were causing parts of the South America and Oceania player base to be lumped in with North American servers and some players were complaining about the latency. This is an attempt to fix this. The issue is because the game is still growing and Blizzard had to combine regions in order to ensure quick matchmaking, so this problem should die down as more players enter the Nexus. For now, if you really hate high ping, you can turn off the option using this new feature.
New Reporting Categories
- New Report Categories
- Reporting Options have been reworked, and now include categories for Abusive Chat, AFK/Non-Participation, and Intentional Feeding.
It’s certainly nice to have more options to report toxic players. Note that “You suck at that hero” is still not an option, so stop being that player who threatens to report people just because you lost the game.
Ranked Play
- Hero and Team League are no longer separated in the out-of-game menus, and can now be found using the new Ranked page on the Play screen.
- Placement Rank
- All players’ Hero and Team League ranks have been reset with today’s update.
- Please Note: Matchmaking ratings have not been reset.
- A new placement system has been added
- All players must now play 20 placement matches in order to receive an initial ranking for Hero League or Team League.
- Read our recent blog on Ranked Play Updates to learn more about Placement Matches.
- All players’ Hero and Team League ranks have been reset with today’s update.
- Hero League
- Hero League is now limited to a maximum party size of four players.
- Team League
- Five-player parties will now be automatically queued for Team League when attempting to find a Ranked match.
- The ability to create a named team has been removed, while this feature undergoes additional review.
- Players who have spent Gold to create named teams in the past will have that amount of Gold returned to them in the days to come.
- Team League draft lobbies will still use the First Come First Served draft format.
- Team League will still use a separate matchmaking rating (MMR) from Hero League.
- However, because Team League parties do not have static rosters, Team League MMR will now functions much like it does for Hero League. This means that each player’s Team League MMR is based on their own individual performance in Team League matches.
- Five-player parties will now be automatically queued for Team League when attempting to find a Ranked match.
Another of the common complaints about Heroes is the confusing matchmaking in Ranked play, and the inconsistency of how you can hit Rank 1. This patch attempts to address that and several other issues by adding placement matches similar to Starcraft II. This should help more experienced players climb the ranked ladder faster, while also giving a more accurate placement for players of all skill levels.
In addition, Team League is basically being removed entirely, which is great because it seemed like full groups only queued for Hero League anyway. It did have the benefit of letting your team draft in whatever order you wanted, but that’s been rolled into the new 5-player version of Hero League, aptly named...Team League.
Luckily if you spent gold on making a team, you will have that refunded.
Versus AI
- A difficulty dropdown has been added to the Versus A.I. screen, which can be used to switch among five different A.I. difficulty settings: Beginner, Recruit, Adept, Veteran, and Elite.
- Please note: Elite A.I. development is not yet complete, and improvements are slated to arrive with a future game update.
- A.I. teammates will mirror the difficulty selected for A.I. opponents.
- When playing in a party, only the party leader may change the A.I. difficulty setting.
- Please note: Elite A.I. development is not yet complete, and improvements are slated to arrive with a future game update.
- When attempting to find a Versus A.I. game with human allies, the matchmaker will work to find other players who have selected the same A.I. difficulty level.
- If it takes too long to find a suitable match, the matchmaker will expand its search to include difficulty levels above and below the player’s selection.
- If the human players on a team had selected a variety of A.I. difficulties, an A.I. opponent of each selected difficulty will be used for that game.
- For example: If two players selected Adept A.I. and three selected Veteran, the game will be filled with two adept and three veteran A.I. opponents.
- If it takes too long to find a suitable match, the matchmaker will expand its search to include difficulty levels above and below the player’s selection.
Adding difficulty levels to the A.I. seems pretty standard. Another simple way to welcome new players into the game.
Ability Power Gains and Bonus Effects from Kills
- To clarify the rules for temporary Ability Power gains, the following rules have been added:
- For permanent or very long duration pets or persistent effects, their damage and maximum Health will now update dynamically when Ability Power or Hero levels are modified. This includes:
- Abathur's Monstrosity
- Nazeebo's Gargantuan (with the Humongoid Talent)
- Abathur's Monstrosity
- For short duration pets or persistent effects, their damage and maximum Health should snapshot based upon the Ability Power/level of the character when they are cast. This includes:
- Jaina's Water Elemental
- Sgt. Hammer's Blunt Force Gun
- Tychus' Drakken Laser Drill
- Jaina's Water Elemental
- For permanent or very long duration pets or persistent effects, their damage and maximum Health will now update dynamically when Ability Power or Hero levels are modified. This includes:
- Talents and Abilities that gain bonus effects from kills will now only trigger from Minions and Mercenaries, and will no longer gain benefit from killing neutral Mercenaries, map event creatures, summoned units, etc.
Both quality of life changes to make the game design a little easier.
Tomb of the Spider Queen Scaling
- Increased the damage and Health scaling of Webweavers and their minions by 50% past the 15 minute mark.
I’ve seen quite a few matches go 30+ minutes on Tomb, so this is a welcome change to prevent endless turtling. It doesn’t affect the professional scene, but Spiders were one of the weakest map mechanics so it’s good to see them buffed and the continued commitment to keeping Heroes games short.
Talents
With most of these upcoming changes, Blizzard just saw too much uniformity in choices and decided to make some changes to open up more options. It’s not the first time they’ve done this (RIP Resurgence), and it probably won’t be the last.
Bolt of the Storm
- Cooldown increased from 40 to 70 seconds
The talent was too strong and in pro games you would regularly see 5-6 players taking it. It is still the only escape for many squishy heroes, so it will have its place, but hopefully there will be some more diversity now. Players using Bolt aggressively will have to be a lot more careful or consider another talent. Stay tuned to the pro-scene to see how they react.
Cleanse
- No longer makes the target Unstoppable for 1 second
- Now adds Relentless to the target for 2 seconds (50% shorter CC duration)
This was a long time coming as we saw a clear distinction between Supports with and without Cleanse, before it was added to almost all of them. I think it’s probably dead, except against certain stun-heavy teams (Tyrael’s Judgement), but I’ve never been great at using it so what do I know?
Focused Attacks
- The increased damage effect will now only trigger when hitting Heroes
Even Blizzard isn’t sure if this is a buff or a nerf. As such, it probably isn’t that big a difference, but will be nice for Zeratul who was the top hero using the talent.
Gathering Power
- The 5% starting Ability Power has been removed
- Percentage gain from killing a Hero reduced from 2% to 1%
- Instead of losing all stacks on death, players will now only lose half their stacks (rounding up)
RIP. It now requires you to get 15 kills without dying to max out at 15%, unlike before where you only needed 5 kills. The fact that you keep half the stacks now is nice, but it’s still going to be a much weaker talent in the early game. Nova and Falstad were especially reliant on this talent, so they may see new popular builds.
Imposing Presence
- Attack Speed slow reduced from 50% to 40%
- The Attack Speed slow will now be removed when attacking a target that has not learned the Imposing Presence Talent
Never really a sexy talent, but mandatory against auto-attack heroes. Considering it was level 16, this should open up Warriors to get talents that are more fun. The nerf to this talent is a nice buff to Sgt. Hammer (more on that in a bit).
Mercenary Lord/Superiority
- The functionality of the Superiority Talent has been rolled into Mercenary Lord, which is now available to the following Heroes at Level 4:
- Anub'arak, Arthas, Azmodan, Gazlowe, Nazeebo, Sonya, Stitches, and The Lost Vikings
- New combined functionality reads: Non-Boss Mercenaries near your Hero deal 50% more damage. Reduces damage taken from Minions and Mercenaries by 50%.
Ever since Blizzard added the range requirement to this talent, it’s fallen off the map, but this might just bring it back and opens up some new strategies for Specialists going forward. I don’t know that anyone ever picked Superiority seriously before this, so it won’t be missed. The new talent isn’t game breaking, but I might actually pick this talent sometimes now. Gazlowe buff???
Heroes
As with the talents, a lot of these tweaks are just to force people to use the less picked Heroics.
Falstad
- Mighty Gust (R)
- Cooldown decreased from 50 to 40 seconds
- Slow duration increased from 2 to 5 seconds
- Cooldown decreased from 50 to 40 seconds
Hinterlands Blast was just too popular and they needed to buff Mighty Gust. It will now be up constantly and the slow sees a 150% increase in duration. I still don’t think it will be taken as much as Hinterlands, and I’m not even sure if Falstad has a place in the Meta with the change to Gathering Power. Maybe we’ll start seeing more auto-attack builds for him, and Mighty Gust could be useful against aggressive melee teams that Kharazim might make popular.
Jaina
- Ring of Frost (R)
- Cooldown decreased from 100 to 80 seconds
- Water Elemental (R)
- No longer deals damage or Chills at the Water Elemental’s spawn location
The nerf to Water Elemental is significant, but not enough to make her stop taking it. Blizzard recently admitted there was a bug with how her Ring of Frost’s initial spell effect was not matching the actual spell, so maybe a fix there and a shorter activation time or greater area will make it more powerful. Jaina will still be a great Assassin, but it seems like the Meta may be too shifting towards more melee/auto-attackers, so she might not be able to withstand that aggression.
Kael’thas
- Spell Shield (Talent) removed
- Arcane Barrier (Talent)
- Shield duration increased from 3 to 6 seconds
- Verdant Spheres (Trait) (D)
- Sunfire Enchantment (Talent)
- Damage increased from 78 (+16 per level) to 85 (+18 per level)
- Sunfire Enchantment (Talent)
- Flamestrike (Q)
- Damage increased from 74 (+20 per level) to 80 (+22 per level)
- Mana Tap (Talent)
- Now restores 5% Mana per target killed, rather than a flat amount
- Ignite (Talent) removed
- New Talent (Level 16): Fury of the Sunwell
- Casting Flamestrike will cause a second Flamestrike to be cast 1 second after the first explodes
- Damage increased from 74 (+20 per level) to 80 (+22 per level)
- Living Bomb (W)
- Damage over time increased from 60 (+18 per level) to 60 (+22 per level)
- Explosion damage increased from 30 (+9 per level) to 30 (+11 per level)
- Fission Bomb (Talent)
- Damage bonus reduced from 75% to 30%
- Now also increases the explosion radius by 30%
- Damage bonus reduced from 75% to 30%
- Pyromaniac (Talent)
- Cooldown reduction increased from 1 to 2 seconds per tick
- Backdraft (Talent)
- Slow amount increased from 40% to 50%
- Slow duration reduced from 2.5 to 2 seconds
- Slow amount increased from 40% to 50%
- Damage over time increased from 60 (+18 per level) to 60 (+22 per level)
- Gravity Lapse (E)
- Range increased by 25%
- Gravity Throw (Talent) moved from Level 16 to Level 13
- Range increased by 25%
- Pyroblast (R)
- Range increased by 20%
Ever since Blizzard announced they would be doing another pass on Kael’thas, players have been holding their breaths to see if he gets hit by the nerf bat like other “reworked” heroes have in the past. The problem with Kael before this patch was that he went from mediocre to monstrous when he hit 16. It looks like they’ve upped some of his damage in the early game, but at what cost? Ignite, the main source of his power at 16, is gone. Instead he will probably be built more around Living Bomb. His Gravity Lapse stun range was increased too, so he should be able to lockdown players while his Living Bomb ticks down on people. The Mana Tap change also keeps him topped off as a single flamestrike on a minion wave will keep him in lane for as long as he wants to be. He seems like he might be more fun to play now, but we’ll have to wait and see if this patch was merely a setback...
Kerrigan
- Seasoned Marksman (Talent) removed
- Focused Attack (Talent) removed
- Searing Attacks (Talent) removed
- Sprint (Talent) removed
- Blood for Blood (Talent) removed
- New Talent (Level 13): Queen’s Rush
- Activate to increase Movement Speed by 25% for 4 seconds. Hero Takedowns automatically activate this effect.
- New Talent (Level 16): Essence for Essence
- Activate to steal 10% of an enemy Hero’s Health, and gain twice that amount as Assimilation Shields
- Assimilation (Trait)
- Lingering Essence (Talent)
- Assimilation Shield duration increased from 12 to 20 seconds
- New Talent (Level 7): Assimilation Mastery
- Increases Health and Mana Regneration by 100% while Assimilation Shields are active
- Lingering Essence (Talent)
- Ravage (Q)
- Damage increased from 50 (+20 per level) to 60 (+22 per level)
- Mana cost decreased from 75 to 50
- Clean Kill (Talent)
- Now also increases the damage dealt by Kerrigan’s next Ravage by 20%
- Adaptation (Talent)
- Half of Ravage’s Mana cost is now refunded when jumping to an ally
- Eviscerate (Talent)
- Range bonus increased from 25% to 40%
- Damage increased from 50 (+20 per level) to 60 (+22 per level)
- Impaling Blades (W)
- Mana cost increased from 60 to 75
- Primal Grasp (E)
- Range increased by 20%
- Mana cost increased from 50 to 60
- Cooldown increased from 8 to 10 seconds
- Damage decreased from 50 (+13 per level) to 40 (+10 per level)
- Sweeping Grasp (Talent) removed
- Psionic Pulse (Talent)
- Damage per second increased from 12 (+2.4 per level) to 15 (+3 per level)
- New Talent (Level 1): Energizing Grasp
- Refunds 10 Mana per enemy hit, up to a maximum of 60
- Range increased by 20%
- Maelstrom (R)
- Damage per second increased from 25 (+2.5 per level) to 30 (+3 per level)
- Cooldown reduced from 120 to 100 seconds
- Duration reduced from 9 to 7 seconds
- Damage per second increased from 25 (+2.5 per level) to 30 (+3 per level)
- Ultralisk (R)
- Cooldown now begins once the Ultralisk is killed
- Torrasque (Talent)
- Ultralisk can now be reborn more than once, so long as the egg isn’t destroyed within 8 seconds of the Ultralisk’s death
- Cooldown now begins once the Ultralisk is killed
She’s had several ups and downs, and Blizzard now wants to show her some love. Is this the patch that she finally storms back onto the scene as a dominant melee? Maybe? She got a few quality of life adjustments and should be tankier now. Really the key to her success is how well she pairs with Kharazim, as he is a natural fit for in-your-face dives. If you pair her stuns with his melee healing, they could be a gank combo that’s more effective than Butcher-Tyrande
Raynor
- Basic Attack damage increased from 35 to 40
- Mercenary Lord (Talent) removed
- Puttin’ on a Clinic (Talent) moved from Level 13 to Level 7
- Relentless Leader (Talent) moved from Level 16 to Level 13
- A Card to Play (Talent)
- Cooldown reduction per Hero killed increased from 10 to 15 seconds
- Penetrating Round (Q)
- Cluster Round (Talent)
- Damage bonus per target hit increased from 10% to 20%, up to a maximum of 100%
- Bullseye (Talent)
- Bonus damage removed
- Stun duration increased from 1 to 1.5 seconds
- Bonus damage removed
- Cluster Round (Talent)
- Inspire (W)
- No longer places Raynor’s Basic Attack on cooldown
- Adrenaline Rush (E)
- Cooldown reduced from 45 to 40 seconds
- Activated Rush (Talent) removed
- Fight or Flight (Talent)
- Now also allows manual activation of Adrenaline Rush
- No longer removes movement impairing effects, and instead reduces damage taken by 25% for 4 seconds after activating Adrenaline Rush
- Now also allows manual activation of Adrenaline Rush
- Cooldown reduced from 45 to 40 seconds
More changes to Raynor! Is it just a coincidence that Raynor and Kerrigan are getting tweaks with Legacy of the Void on the horizon? I can’t tell if these are buffs or nerfs, because Raynor has been in such a weird place for so long. At this point, I’m going to say he remains near the bottom of the ranged assassins unless the Meta shifts drastically.
Thrall
- Thrall’s Basic Attacks have received improvements in responsiveness, especially when stutter-stepping
- Thrall’s first Basic Attack after Windfury ends will no longer have an abnormally long weapon period
I guess this is nice since he has always seemed very slow, but is it going to make him better than any other melee? He feels like he’s still missing something in his kit to push him into the top of the Meta but, like Kerrigan, maybe Kharazim is the missing piece to the puzzle.
Abathur
- Volatile Mutation (Talent)
- Damage increased from 36 (+7 per level) to 50 (+10 per level)
- Damage radius increased by 20%
- Damage increased from 36 (+7 per level) to 50 (+10 per level)
- Locust Strain (Trait)
- Survival Instincts (Talent)
- Locust Health bonus increased from 30% to 50%
- Survival Instincts (Talent)
- Symbiote (Q)
- Carapace (E)
- Regenerative Microbes (Talent)
- Healing per second increased from 7 (+2 per level) to 9 (+3 per level)
- Regenerative Microbes (Talent)
- Hivemind (Talent)
- Now searches for a new Hivemind target every second, rather than only on the first cast
- The secondary Symbiote target’s Stab and Spike Burst deal half their normal damage, and Carapace grants half its normal Shield amount
- Now searches for a new Hivemind target every second, rather than only on the first cast
- Carapace (E)
- Toxic Nest (W)
- Cooldown reduced from 12 to 10 seconds
- Envenomed Nest (Talent)
- Bonus damage increased from 50% to 75%
- Cooldown reduced from 12 to 10 seconds
I guess improved land mines are useful, but everything else is pretty minor. The Hivemind change is really great for solo-queue Abathur, but not something that coordinated groups ever needed, so the nerf to damage and shielding actually hurts high-level players.
Azmodan
- Healing Ward (Talent) removed
- Superiority (Talent) removed
- First Aid (Talent) removed
- Storm Shield (Talent) removed
- Mercenary Lord (Talent) moved from Level 7 to Level 4
- New Talent (Level 4): Sin’s Grasp
- Activate to deal 115 (+19 per level) damage over 6 seconds to the target enemy Hero; can be cast while channeling All Shall Burn
- Minion kills each reduce Sin’s Grasp’s 100 second cooldown by 5 seconds
- Activate to deal 115 (+19 per level) damage over 6 seconds to the target enemy Hero; can be cast while channeling All Shall Burn
- New Talent (Level 7): Gluttonous Ward
- Activate to place a ward that restores 25% of Azmodan’s maximum Health and Mana over 10 seconds
- General of Hell (Trait) (D)
- Bound Minion (Talent) moved from Level 4 to Level 7
- New Talent (Level 20): Forced Recruitment
- Reduces General of Hell’s cooldown from 30 to 20 seconds
- Allows Azmodan to store up to two General of Hell charges
- Reduces General of Hell’s cooldown from 30 to 20 seconds
- Bound Minion (Talent) moved from Level 4 to Level 7
- Globe of Annihilation (Q)
- New Talent (Level 13): Hedonism
- Reduces Globe of Annihilation’s Mana cost from 60 to 30
- New Talent (Level 13): Hedonism
- Summon Demon Warrior (W)
- Demon Warrior damage changed from 20 (+3 per level) per second to 40 (+2 per level) per second
- Enduring Warriors (Talent) removed
- Blazing Demons (Talent) removed
- Army of Hell (Talent)
- No longer increases maximum Demon charges
- Now increases Demon Warrior damage by 20%, and reduces Demon Warrior's Mana cost from 40 to 20
- No longer increases maximum Demon charges
- Hellforged Armor (Talent)
- Now also causes Demon Warriors to deal 10 (+1 per level) damage per second to nearby enemies
- Demon Warrior damage changed from 20 (+3 per level) per second to 40 (+2 per level) per second
- All Shall Burn (E)
- Spare Nothing (Talent) removed
- Master of Destruction (Talent) moved from Level 7 to Level 1
- Now also increases damage against Structures by 25%
- New Talent (Level 7): Infused Power
- All Shall Burn gains an additional charge-up level, increasing its damage by 25%
- Spare Nothing (Talent) removed
Blizzard mentioned they like his Taste for Blood build, but wanted to give him some other options. I wasn’t expecting this many changes, but they actually sound pretty great. Mana was always an issue with Globe builds, so improvements there make it a lot easier to stay in lane. The removal of his Support-style talents makes sense and makes him a little easier to stop if he’s just solo-pushing endlessly. Demon builds go back to his core kit of pushing with minions, and considering he already was very good at it, he might be the top pusher now. Beam builds could be very strong against melee that don’t have stuns like Illidan and Kharazim.
Nazeebo
- M.U.L.E. (Talent) removed
- Clairvoyance (Talent) removed
- Sprint (Talent) removed
- Stoneskin (Talent) removed
- Hardened Focus (Talent) added at level 16
- Gidbinn (Talent)
- No longer increases the Plague of Toads explosion radius
- Zombie Wall and Corpse Spider duration bonuses increased from 25% to 33%
- No longer increases the Plague of Toads explosion radius
- New Talent (Level 13): Thing of the Deep
- Increases the range for all of Nazeebo’s Basic Abilities by 25%
- Voodoo Ritual (Trait)
- Blood Ritual (Talent)
- Health and Mana restoration bonuses increased from 100% to 125%
- Blood Ritual (Talent)
- Zombie Wall (W)
- Fresh Corpses (Talent)
- No longer increases Zombie damage
- Now permanently reduces Zombie Wall’s cooldown by 4 seconds
- No longer increases Zombie damage
- Dead Rush (Talent)
- Now also increases Zombie damage by 50%
- Fresh Corpses (Talent)
- Plague of Toads (E)
- Toads of Hugeness (Talent)
- Now also increases Toad explosion radius by 20% each time they hop
- New Talent (Level 7): Toad Affinity
- Each enemy hit by Plague of Toads restores 5 Mana and reduces its cooldown by 1 second
- Toads of Hugeness (Talent)
- Gargantuan (R)
- Gargantuan Stomp (R)
- Animation duration reduced from 1 to 0.5 seconds
- Hovering the cursor over Gargantuan Stomp on the Ability Hotbar will now display a range indicator
- Animation duration reduced from 1 to 0.5 seconds
- Gargantuan Stomp (R)
- Ravenous Spirit (R)
- Damage changed from 30 (+8 per level) to 25 (+9 per level)
- Damage radius increased by approximately 22%
- Damage changed from 30 (+8 per level) to 25 (+9 per level)
Some nice buffs to his Zombie Wall here, and he could seriously cause headaches in positioning with talents that increase its duration and decrease its cooldown. It’s nice to see Ravenous Spirit with a little buff, because that is one of the scariest Heroics in the game when Nazeebo has the Harlequin skin. He’s already been coming back into the Meta, and I expect he will continue to be used going forward.
Nazeebo also had his Sprint removed which seems to be in keeping with Blizzard’s goal for ranged damage dealers. You can’t use Sprint to escape, you need to position better and maybe take some ranged/CC talents to protect yourself instead.
Sgt. Hammer
- Health increased from 720 (+140 per level) to 740 (+150 per level)
- Artillery (Trait)
- Damage bonus against distant targets increased from 20% to 30%
- Siege Mode (E)
- Cooldown decreased from 5 to 2 seconds
- Mana cost reduced from 40 to 20
- Cooldown decreased from 5 to 2 seconds
Could it be the return of the Hammer? There’s a lot of buzz that she might be the winner of this patch, going from rarely played to a top pick. She’s got more health, more mobility (low CD on Siege), and higher damage, plus there were nerfs to a lot of her biggest threats (Imposing Presence and mages). She does a decent job on Battlefield of Eternity, and Napalm Strike could be incredible on Infernal Shrines. Let’s roll out!
Brightwing
- Soothing Mist (Trait)
- Healing increased from 25 (+7.5 per level) to 30 (+9 per level)
She was nerfed to the ground last patch, so this increase in healing should let her hold her own. Kharazim has a similar sort of AOE healing, and maybe combining them has some potential for both supporting and ganking if you build him around more damage? I still don’t think she’ll crack the top tier of healers unless double Support makes a comeback.
Malfurion
- Regrowth (Q)
- Rampant Growth (Talent)
- Initial Heal bonus increased from 20% to 50%
- Rampant Growth (Talent)
They finally recognized that Rampant Growth was one of the worst talents in the game and gave it a buff. You should probably still take Elune’s Grace over it, but now you won’t be too held back if you follow an incorrect guide. He should still be a top-tier healer.
Rehgar
- Bloodlust (R)
- Cooldown decreased from 120 to 90 seconds
If you’re picking Rehgar it’s usually for the Ancestral Healing, so I’m not sure Bloodlust buffs will change that. Anything is possible, though.
Tassadar
- Spell Shield (Talent) removed
- Oracle (Trait) (D)
- Cooldown increased from 30 to 40 seconds
- Mental Acuity (Talent)
- Cooldown reduction increased from 15 to 20 seconds
- Cooldown increased from 30 to 40 seconds
- Plasma Shield (Q)
- Mana Cost decreased from 60 to 50
- Minion Bulwark (Talent) removed
- Reinforce Structure (Talent) moved from Level 4 to Level 1
- Mana Cost decreased from 60 to 50
- Psi-Storm (W)
- Mana Cost decreased from 65 to 50
- Psi-Infusion (Talent)
- Mana returned per target hit reduced from 7 to 5
- Mana Cost decreased from 65 to 50
The nerf to Oracle is a small buff to Zeratul and Nova, but Tassadar is also getting some nice mana fixes. Tassadar’s bigger problem is that he just isn’t a strong support, and nothing here fixes that issue.
Chen
- Flying Kick (Q)
- Flying Kick is now much more accurate and will hit enemies much more consistently.
Missing with Flying Kick was aggravating, especially because this ability has the best sound effect in the game. I’d love to see the Warcraft monk paired up with Diablo’s monk, so maybe someone will come up with a comp there.
Leoric
- Undying (Trait)
- Many of Leoric’s healing effects during Undying are now half as effective
- Reanimation (Talent)
- Health regeneration during Undying decreased from 1.5 to 0.75 Health per second
- Ossein Renewal (Talent)
- Heal amount during Undying reduced from 20% to 10% of Leoric’s maximum Health
- Ghastly Swing (Q)
- Consume Vitality (Talent)
- Healing reduced during Undying from 2% to 1% of Leroic’s maximum Health per target hit, capping at 5%
- Consume Vitality (Talent)
- Drain Essence (W)
- Now restores up to 12.5% of Leroic’s maximum Health during Undying, rather than a flat amount (was approximately 10%)
- Willing Vessel (Talent)
- Now also increases Drain Essence’s healing to 15% during Undying
- Now restores up to 12.5% of Leroic’s maximum Health during Undying, rather than a flat amount (was approximately 10%)
- Many of Leoric’s healing effects during Undying are now half as effective
- Skeletal Swing (Q)
- No longer deals 100% increased damage to structures
His resurrection timers were just too short as he was nearly always up like a taller, bonier Murky. This nerf should make his deaths more meaningful and give opposing teams a chance to catch their breath and work on other objectives when he’s dead. I still don’t love Leoric, and I think he was only popular because of his short deaths, so he might fall out of favor really quickly.
Sonya
- Health increased from 930 (+210 per level) to 950 (+220 per level)
- Fury (Trait)
- Shot of Fury (Talent)
- No longer dismounts Sonya on activation
- Shot of Fury (Talent)
- Whirlwind (E)
- Healing reduced from 25% to 20% of damage dealt
- Healing for damage dealt to Heroes has increased from double to triple
- Life Funnel (Talent)
- Healing bonus decreased from +10% to +5% of damage dealt
- Healing reduced from 25% to 20% of damage dealt
Every patch we see tweaks to Sonya’s damage, Fury cost, or self-healing. This patch is no different as her whirlwind is now less effective against lane minions, but more effective against heroes. Will it make a difference? No….unless Kharazim (I have said this for every hero, haven’t I?)
Tyrael
- El’Druin’s Might (Q)
- After throwing El’Druin, a timer bar will now display on screen to indicate how much time remains before El’Druin’s Might expires
- New Talent (Level 1): Horadric Reforging
- Reduces the cooldown for El’Druin’s Might by 3 seconds if it hits an enemy
- After throwing El’Druin, a timer bar will now display on screen to indicate how much time remains before El’Druin’s Might expires
- Sanctification (R)
- No longer requires Tyrael to channel the Ability. All Heroes, including Tyrael, will be invulnerable while within Sanctification’s area of effect
- Now has a 0.5 second cast time
- Cooldown increased from 50 to 70 seconds
- Area of effect radius reduced by approximately 53%
- No longer requires Tyrael to channel the Ability. All Heroes, including Tyrael, will be invulnerable while within Sanctification’s area of effect
- Judgment (R)
- Casting time increased from 0.5 to 0.75 seconds
- Judgment’s target is now briefly revealed upon casting
- New art has been added that will better notify the target of an incoming Judgment
- The distance that an enemy targeted by Judgment must travel beyond the Ability’s maximum cast range in order to interrupt it has been increased by 66%
- Casting time increased from 0.5 to 0.75 seconds
Sanctification got a huge change and it’s going to see more use now. Overall, a lot of heroes that are aggressive divers are seeing improvements this patch, and this could be yet another piece of the greater puzzle. It might mean you can run Tyrael as a solo Warrior again, but I still prefer the dive style of Judgment.
Bugs
Wonder Billie Mount
•The Wonder Billie Mount can now be properly selected for use in Hero League and Custom Games.I think this is a positive change, but it’s possible that Kharazim might have an affect on this.
Li Li
•Li Li's Cloud Serpent will now attack at the proper speed whether Li Li is moving or standing still.Fixed cloud serpent damage, so this should help that talent.
Malfurion
•Malfurion's Tranquility will no longer heal him for double the intended amount.Double healing on Tranq removed, which is a small nerf. But Kharazim might affect this too. YOU NEVER KNOW!
Stitches
•Fixed an issue that could cause Stitches’ Hook to become visually stuck to an enemy Hero and fail to pull the target under certain circumstances.I want to see this bug in action, it sounds awesome.
User Interface
•Takedown and Death counters in Player Profiles have been updated with totals from all previous patches, and will no longer reset with each Heroes patch.•Most Takedowns As, Most Deaths As, and Games Played statistics will now update correctly when a Hero in the Top 3 is replaced.
I like looking at the stats in my player profile, but I hate that they are never accurate. I’m excited for this, but more excited for Rexxar!
What have you found in the new patch that's been the biggest change for you? How's Kharazim treating you? What do you wish was addressed that wasn't fixed? Let us know!
