heroes Patch Notes: Jan 16 - Tyrael Rework, Mecha Skins Now Available

[Stan 5,243]

A new patch just hit live servers and Tyrael received a rework. The previously teased Mecha skins are now available for purchase separately, or as a bundle.

Blizzard (Source)

Heroes

Warrior

Tyrael

General

• Tyrael will now face the target of his Basic Attack after attacking.  This is a visual change, and does not directly affect gameplay
• Passive Spell Armor has been removed

Stats

• Base Maximum Health increased from 2296 to 2468
• Health Regeneration increased from 4.78 to 5.14

Abilities

• El’druin’s Might (Q)
  • Mana cost reduced from 50 to 45
• Righteousness (W)
  • Mana cost reduced from 60 to 50
  • Allied Shield amount changed from a flat value to 40% of the Tyrael-only Shield value.
    • This is the same amount of Shields, but it makes it easier to understand new Talent interactions
• Smite (E)
  • Can now be cast while moving
  • Damage increased from 144 to 150

Talents

• Level 1
  • Salvation (W)
    • Moved from level 16
    • New functionality:
      • Increase Righteousness’ Tyrael-only Shield amount by 25%. If the Shield is destroyed, heal Tyrael for 125 Health.
  • (New) Justice for All (W)
    • Increases Righteousness’ allied shield value to 100% of the Tyrael-only Shield amount.
  • (New) Ardent Restoration (Passive)
    • Damaging an enemy Hero grants 2.5 Health per Second to Tyrael for 5 seconds.  Stacks up to 10 times.
  • Protection in Death (Trait)
    • Removed
  • Even in Death (Trait)
    • Removed
  • Regeneration Master (Passive)
    • Removed
• Level 4
  • (New) Stalwart Angel (Q)
    • Tyrael gains 25 Armor while El'druin's Might is out, and for 3 seconds after teleporting.
  • (New) Bound by Law (Q)
    • Increases El’druin’s Might’s slow amount from 25 to 35%. Tyrael’s Basic Attacks increase the duration of the slow by 1 second, up to 4 seconds.
  • (New) Divine Vigor (Passive)
    • Damaging an enemy with Smite causes Tyrael's Basic Attacks to heal him for 50% of their damage for 4 seconds.
  • Vigorous Strike (Passive)
    • Removed
• Level 7
  • Purge Evil (E)
    • Moved from level 1
    • New functionality:
      • Every enemy Hero hit by Smite increases Tyrael's Basic Attack damage by 30% for 4 seconds
  • Swift Retribution (E)
    • Movement Speed bonus increased from 10 to 20%
    • No longer increases the duration of Smite’s Movement Speed bonus
    • Added functionality:
      • Now also causes Smite’s friendly effect to increase Attack Speed by 25%
  • Angel’s Grace (Q)
    • Removed
  • Zealotry (W)
    • Removed
  • Follow Through (Passive)
    • Removed
• Level 13
  • Sword of Justice (Q)
    • Moved from level 16
    • New functionality:
      • Can teleport with El'druin's Might twice, returning to Tyrael’s original position.
  • Holy Ground (Q)
    • Moved from level 16
    • Duration reduced from 4 to 3 seconds
  • (New) Law and Order (W)
    • Reduce the cooldown of Righteousness by 1 second for each enemy Hero hit by Smite.  Righteousness increases the damage of your next Smite by 25% for each ally affected.
  • Burning Rage (Passive)
    • Removed
  • Angelic Absorption (W)
    • Removed
  • Angelic Might (E)
    • Removed
• Level 16
  • (New) Burning Halo (Q)
    • El'druin and Tyrael deal 15 damage per second to nearby enemies. This damage is increased by 100% for Tyrael for 3 seconds after teleporting to El’Druin.
  • Horadric Reforging (Q)
    • Moved from level 4
    • New functionality:
      • Basic Attacks reduce the cooldown of El'druin's Might by 1.5 seconds
  • (New) Smite the Wicked (E)
    • Smite’s cooldown recharges 100% faster while El'druin is out and for 3 seconds after teleporting to El’Druin
  • Blood for Blood (Active)
    • Removed
• Level 20
  • (New) Defense of the Angels (Active)
    • Activate to reduce all incoming damage by 40% for 5 seconds.  Any time Tyrael or an ally shielded by Righteousness take damage, reduce the cooldown by 3 seconds. 120 second cooldown
  • (New) Seal of El’druin (Passive)
    • Every time Tyrael casts a Basic Ability, increase his Attack Speed by 50% for 3 seconds
  • Nullification Shield (Active)
    • Removed
  • Nexus Blades (Passive)
    • Removed

Bug Fixes

Heroes, Abilities, and Talents

• Blaze: Fixed an issue allowing players to cast Flame Stream while dead if they entered a Bunker while dying.
• Blaze: Fixed an issue that could cause Heroes to enter permanent Stasis if they were killed just as they entered a Bunker.
• Hanzo & Leoric: Fixed an issue causing Towers to spawn if Leoric was directly impacted by Sonic Arrow.
• Malfurion & Stitches:  Fixed an issue that could cause Heroes to become unplayable if Nature’s Cure was cast while they were affected by Stitches’ Gorge.
• Malfurion & Zagara: Nature’s Cure can no longer cleanse Heroes of the Devouring Maw effect.
• Uther:  The Well Met talent will no longer affect non-Heroic units.
• Valeera: The Strangle talent will no longer affect non-Heroic units.

[Dejo93 1,023]

So he's basically more of a bruiser now

Edit: Next up, Raynor and TLV, and hope they remove some redundant talents like MULE or Merc Lord on Sonya

Edited January 16, 2018 by Dejo93

[Valhalen 1,484]

I like these changes. Tyrael now feels more like a Bruiser, which is what he is supposed to be, because he was always in that thin line between a Tank and Bruiser, but not excelling at any. The El'druin and Basic Attack builds look very interesting, and the removal of generic talents was great. I'm a bit disappointed they didn't include any additional functionality to his trait, much like when Uther was reworked.

However, I'm not a Tyrael main, so I don't know all the nooks and crannies behind his complexity. As someone who just likes to play him every now and then, I like what I see and the possibilities it can provide (on paper). Further testing will be required, though.

Edited January 16, 2018 by Valhalen

[Aglommon 21]

This is the kind of content Heroes need.

Some cool-looking skins outside of events. And also Tyrael changes ? Oh my.

[Dejo93 1,023]

12 minutes ago, Aglommon said:

This is the kind of content Heroes need.

Some cool-looking skins outside of events. And also Tyrael changes ? Oh my.

Just add some more mounts and it'll be just fine

[SteveFrost 97]

WUT? ARE MY EYES PLAYING GAMES ON ME? TYRAEL GOT A REWORK-AND ONE THAT WAS FAST PUSHED TO LIVE SERVERS INSTEAD OF WAITING IN THE PTR? Second Coming is upon us. REPENT SINNERS! (props to everyone who got where this is coming from; both angles of it).

Seems nice, imaginative and diverse alright. Thing is, I think I'm gonna take them with a few grains of salt for some reasons. Tyrael has been one of my most favorite Heroes ever since I started playing (got him level 10 complete with Master skin on 2 accounts, same with Jaina-with the old system). Never played Diablo but I'm liking most of its characters, from a holistic standpoint. Now, Tyrael, as the Archangel of Justice had such potential of a better Talent tree in a rework and this one seems kinda.. wasted.

For one, no unique questing talents or even a baseline quest. For example, Justice for All could be something like that (Shield Allies for x damage and then you get it). That it's immediately available is better ofc, but quests are something nice to have. Also, devs still seem like they don't know exactly what they want him to do, so they left him like that; jack-of-all-trades master of none. Lastly, level 20 talents (except maybe Defense of the Angels) don't seem eye-poking and particularly strong.

Could sound like I'm biased and maybe I am, cause I love Tyrael so much and maybe nothing will be good enough for me. I'm trying to be objective tho.

P.S. Now I just need Fenix added and I can die happy

[MrPumpson 4]

The rework feels pretty good overall!

I still HATE HATE HATE his trait.

Like seriously, I'd even take Ardent Restoration, make it baseline, and feel better overall. I just hate the idea of doing something when you fuck up and die. Maybe it's just because it doesn't feel like it does enough dmg. Or at least you should have a 10% move increase or SOMETHING. It's so hard to land because everyone has some kind of move ability and you just fudge along after them.

[Leadblast 28]

Old Tyrael was always more of a bruiser than a tank, so this makes no difference in that regard. What now makes the difference is how all these new talents make him much harder to use than before. It's exactly what they did to Malfurion - they ignored all of his problems while making him 1000x times harder to use. I hate that.

at this point, I'm sure Blizzard's idea for a Raynor rework will be like "leave his trait completely unchanged" while giving talents like "hit 3 or more enemy heroes with Raynor's Q to gain 150% attack speed for 3 seconds".

 

27 minutes ago, MrPumpson said:

The rework feels pretty good overall!

I still HATE HATE HATE his trait.

Like seriously, I'd even take Ardent Restoration, make it baseline, and feel better overall. I just hate the idea of doing something when you fuck up and die. Maybe it's just because it doesn't feel like it does enough dmg. Or at least you should have a 10% move increase or SOMETHING. It's so hard to land because everyone has some kind of move ability and you just fudge along after them.

the problem with Ardent Restoration is it only works on enemy heroes. meaning it's now 100x harder to clear merc/boss camps with him now. Old Tyrael was fine with Vigorous Strikes or whatever that level 4 lifesteal talent was called - it worked off everything, including enemy structures. 

he didn't have much problem with sustain, or even at staying alive, his main problems were his huge mana consumption and his useless trait. Blizzard did NOTHING for the latter, and for the former they just reduced mana costs a little which does not help much in the long run.

not to mention they took away all his goodies like his spell armor and shield at 20 and stuff.

Edited January 16, 2018 by Leadblast

[Fliits 112]

He's the hero The Nexus needs, not the one it just deserved...

This is a fantastic change to Tyrael's kinda stale moveset. Previously he suffered from way too high cooldowns and lack of synergy with his abilities and talents (who ever picked any of the talents buffing his trait???), and now his talent synergies are of the charts and YOU CAN SMITE WHILE WALKING OMG WHY DIDN'T THEY THINK OF THIS EARLIER?!?! Previously he was a sometimes extremely useful enabler who was mostly frowned upon in lower elo and they changed him into the tankiest chaser you have seen this side of the Nexus.

This has been a long time coming and it didn't disappoint. Fantastic job, Blizzard, keep this up, and maybe show some love for The Vikings? I've heard they still have a regular bribe and mercenary lord. Can you believe that? Me neither.

[Leadblast 28]

3 minutes ago, Fliits said:

He's the hero The Nexus needs, not the one it just deserved...

This is a fantastic change to Tyrael's kinda stale moveset. Previously he suffered from way too high cooldowns and lack of synergy with his abilities and talents (who ever picked any of the talents buffing his trait???),

this has to be a troll.

Tyrael didn't have high cooldowns, in fact he had SHORT cooldowns, but he absolutely needed to spam his W and E repeatedly in a fight making him run out of mana, and forcing him to go back to fountain even at full health

it seems you have NO idea who this Tyrael hero is.

[Erathis 53]

7 minutes ago, Leadblast said:

What now makes the difference is how all these new talents make him much harder to use than before. It's exactly what they did to Malfurion - they ignored all of his problems while making him 1000x times harder to use. I hate that.

Seems a bit early to make much judgement on his rework since I doubt anyone has had a lot of time to play with him just yet.  On top of that he has basically had a complete talent overhaul.  Perhaps give it a couple days before saying that?

This is also a rather generic statement, what problems specifically are you worried about?  Why do you feel this rework has made him "1000x" harder to play?  His mechanics seem to either be focused on constant basic attacks or having El'Druin "out" to have an effect active...  Neither of these things seem unreasonably complicated.

[Leadblast 28]

7 minutes ago, TSRD said:

This is also a rather generic statement, what problems specifically are you worried about?  Why do you feel this rework has made him "1000x" harder to play? 

Because he's harder to play.

take his Purge Evil talent, for example. Old Purge Evil did like 150% Smite damage on heroes. New one? it increases Tyrael's attack damage on enemy heroes for like 4 seconds.

Old Purge Evil = instant extra Smite damage. you cast Smite once on an enemy hero and you're instantly dealing more damage on him.

New Purge Evil = you now have to cast Smite on enemy hero AND attack him. So if you can't attack that hero, for whatever reason (eg. some enemy tank body-blocking you), the talent effectively goes to waste

and there's plenty of shit like that with these new talents.

Edited January 16, 2018 by Leadblast

[Erathis 53]

9 minutes ago, Leadblast said:

Because he's harder to play.

take his Purge Evil talent, for example. Old Purge Evil did like 150% more Smite damage on heroes. New one? it increases Tyrael's attack damage on enemy heroes for like 4 seconds.

Old Purge Evil = instant extra Smite damage. you cast Smite once on an enemy hero and you're instantly dealing more damage.

New Purge Evil = you now have to cast Smite on enemy hero AND attack him.

I suppose that is true.  I don't know if I'd call that a 1000x increase but sure he is more complex now than he was.  That said he was an exceptionally simple hero design previously so a minor increase in his complexity isn't unexpected.  He isn't as complex as many heroes even after this rework though (Kel'Thuzad, Zeratul, ect...).   He might still have issues but I don't think complexity will be one that gets called out moving forward.

Edited January 16, 2018 by TSRD

[Leadblast 28]

5 minutes ago, TSRD said:

I suppose that is true.  I don't know if I'd call that a 1000x increase but sure he is more complex now than he was.  That said he was an exceptionally simple hero design previously so a minor increase in his complexity isn't unexpected.  He isn't as complex as many heroes even after this rework though (Kel'Thazad, ect...).   He might still have issues but I don't think complexity will be one that gets called out moving forward.

it's not literally 1000x difficulty increase but you get my point. He is HARDER to play, while not necessarily more effective than before. Just like Malfurion.

I don't understand why some easy-to-use heroes now have to be harder because Blizzard says so.

[Erathis 53]

46 minutes ago, Leadblast said:

He is HARDER to play, while not necessarily more effective than before. Just like Malfurion.

I think Malf had a lot more reworked than Tyr did.  Malf had his core mechanics and talents changed, Tyr just had his talents changed.  Also, while Malf lost some things in exchange for gaining other things (of questionable value), Tyr for the most part only seemed to get better with the changes.  If nothing else, Holy Ground at level 13 straight up makes this Tyr better than his previous version.

46 minutes ago, Leadblast said:

I don't understand why some easy-to-use heroes now have to be harder because Blizzard says so.

I believe this comes from a few subjective reasons: Fun and Interest.  A simple talent that adds 40% more damage to an ability isn't exactly going to intrigue nor make a talent that much more fun to play with.  It just makes the number bigger (which is itself fun to an extent true).  Moving that extra damage onto your attacks changes things.  Now you need to "chain" actions together (generally seen as interesting and enjoyable in games).  Likewise it offers synergistic potential (again generally seen as an interesting or fun thing in games).  They could try and push synergy with his abilities but the character is more seen as a melee fighter and as such they're pushing his AA synergy.

That's the idea behind it anyway IMO.  How effective they were with the idea is another thing that we'll need to find out.  Of course there is something to be said for simple heroes and play being attractive too but honestly I'm not necessarily seeing Tyr's changes really pushing him out of the "simple to use" category.  More complex than before? Yes. In a general sense?  I'm not sure.

Edited January 16, 2018 by TSRD

[Leadblast 28]

54 minutes ago, TSRD said:

I think Malf got a lot more rework going on that Tyr did.  Malf had his core mechanics and talents changed, Tyr just had his talents changed.  Likewise, while Malf lost some things in exchange for gaining other things (of questionable value), Tyr for the most part only seemed to get better with the changes.  If nothing else, Holy Ground at level 13 straight up makes this Tyr better than his previous version.

I felt pretty bad for Malfurion users back then, the rework he got was so awful... it now revolves around "hit enemy heroes 100x times with Moonfire in order to properly heal your allies", Old Malfurion didn't have to do THAT in order to heal someone. And now I feel horrified that they did almost the same thing with Tyrael. See that Ardent Restoration talent there? it works only on enemy heroes. See a pattern here?

old Holy Ground lasted 4 seconds iirc. New one lasts 3. That's not an improvement. I doubt that your concept of "better" actually means BETTER. His trait is still as useless as before (or perhaps actually WORSE now that you can't even talent into it), he still has his mana issues. Harder to use doesn't mean BETTER. Having to "chain" several diverse actions doesn't mean BETTER, in fact it means WORSE than before because before you didn't even have to chain anything. His sustain talent worked on everything, etc etc.

if he doesn't turn out to have an utterly broken talent a la Hanzo or something this "rework" may as well count as a massive nerf. People who used this hero like me were clamoring for YEARS for a better Tyrael trait. What does Blizzard do now? REMAKE ALMOST EVERYTHING WHILE LEAVING HIS TRAIT AS USELESS AS BEFORE.

That is NOT an improvement.

Edited January 16, 2018 by Leadblast

[Erathis 53]

1 hour ago, Leadblast said:

I felt pretty bad for Malfurion users back then, the rework he got was so awful... it now revolves around "hit enemy heroes 100x times with Moonfire in order to properly heal your allies", Old Malfurion didn't have to do THAT in order to heal someone. And now I feel horrified that they did almost the same thing with Tyrael. See that Ardent Restoration talent there? it works only on enemy heroes. See a pattern here?

I feel sorry for Malf as well, I don't think his rework as it stands is amazing (yet) but no, I don't think Tyr had anything like that done to him.

 

1 hour ago, Leadblast said:

old Holy Ground lasted 4 seconds iirc. New one lasts 3. That's not an improvement. I doubt that your concept of "better" actually means BETTER. His trait is still as useless as before (or perhaps actually WORSE now that you can't even talent into it), he still has his mana issues. Harder to use doesn't mean BETTER.

Getting Holy Ground three levels earlier in exchange for only one second off?  Yes, that is a massive improvement.  The talent still works for everything it did before (realistically) and you get it much, much earlier.

And no, harder to use does not mean better necessarily, but he isn't just harder to use (again I think you're overstating exactly how "hard" he really is to use).  I honestly do think his talents are generally speaking more interesting now than they were.  Whether they are stronger (or better if that's what you mean by better) I'm not sure on yet because he was just released hours ago.  Same with his mana issues, we'll need to see.

Finally, yes I agree his Trait still sucks (and no the talents for it before didn't help much).

[Leadblast 28]

12 minutes ago, TSRD said:

Same with his mana issues, we'll need to see.

Finally, yes I agree his Trait still sucks (and no the talents for it before didn't help much).

We don't "need to see" anything, I mean really just check the changelog again.

I don't need to check anything. I have played him a few times already in Vs AI/QM modes. His mana problem still exists, just as I have predicted. Unless they reduce further his mana costs to "5 mana, 10 mana", levels where mana costs are barely perceptible so that his DEFAULT mana regeneration can cope with those, we Tyrael users are still going to have mana problems with him. 70%~80% health and 0% mana, return to fountain? You're still going to see this shit.

you don't seem to agree in that his trait sucks, because of your very biased concept of "better".

Edited January 17, 2018 by Leadblast

[Erathis 53]

4 minutes ago, Leadblast said:

We don't "need to see" anything, I mean really just check the changelog again.

I don't need to check anything. I have played him a few times already in Vs AI/QM modes. His mana problem still exists, just as I have predicted. Unless they reduce further his mana costs to "5 mana, 10 mana", levels where mana costs are barely perceptible so that his DEFAULT mana regeneration can cope with those, we Tyrael users are still going to have mana problems with him.

you don't seem to agree in that his trait sucks, because of your very biased concept of "better".

So...  I guess I must be slow.  It took me to this point before it finally occurred to me that you're just messing with me.

I honestly thought we were really discussing this.  You got me.

[Leadblast 28]

1 minute ago, TSRD said:

So...  I guess I must be slow.  It took me to this point before it finally occurred to me that you're just messing with me.

I honestly thought we were really discussing this.  You got me.

Yeah, I dislike trolls too, so I assure you the feeling is mutual. You cannot even read a changelog now. Good nite.

[Fayte 6]

Tyreal was actually one of those heroes that was easy to play, difficult to master, Sanc alone was difficult to use well but a good sanc can single handedly decide fights.  can't say much for new tyreal but to play tyreal well was usually not a simple thing.  you can't just judgement the morales every fight and hope to be successful, it takes timing positiong, and technical skill.  

[Othello 2]

That Tyrael-Rework :-/

1.) Weak wavecleaning until 16
2.) Heavy on autoattacks and support for melee autoattackers --> Easy to counter
3.) Difficult to play now...has to set his E right for damage and support
4.) Talents often cause effects on heros, so it will be hard for him to get or def camps
5.) Non of the new talents hit really hard on the enemy team...so, he has a lot of self-sustain and supports his team quite good, but thats it...he is no longer a Bruiser / he may be hard to kill, but against a Varian or Artanis he can't duel
6.) Has not really a great damage-output
7.) There is not really a improvement for his shield
8.) Trait is still one of the most useless in the game
9.) Weak CC
 

It seems to be an fast and loveless rework...there is also no comment from the developer, where they discribe there rework...very very sad. One more time they destroyed a really good balanced hero.

[Leadblast 28]

1 hour ago, Fayte said:

Tyreal was actually one of those heroes that was easy to play, difficult to master, Sanc alone was difficult to use well but a good sanc can single handedly decide fights.  can't say much for new tyreal but to play tyreal well was usually not a simple thing.  you can't just judgement the morales every fight and hope to be successful, it takes timing positiong, and technical skill.  

I agree with that (and also with what Othello said, in that this was a completely loveless, heartless rework of a character, given how they utterly refused to give the things Tyrael players had always asked for, like a better trait) they just ramped up his difficulty to use without actually helping his issues, Tyrael is now worse than before as he now depends a lot on Smite casts (much like how the new Malfurion needs to spam Moonfire on enemies to heal), which is really bad because he runs out of mana (yes he still runs out of mana, I cannot emphasize this enough) from spamming shield and Smite. Many of his talents have been nerfed if not removed entirely (like the old Regeneration Master talent which finally had become decent to use with the change to regen globes), his Holy Ground reduced duration at the expense of being available earlier, which doesn't count as a buff as they also made his Burning Rage talent (now called Burning Halo) available latter so in the end these talents just swapped places.

He has a noticeably harder time dealing with merc camps, bosses and monsters (like the neutral Garden Terrors or the temple Guardians in Sky Temple) because Ardent Restoration only works on enemy heroes and the Smite talent works only for 4 attacks and only if you can keep spamming Smite but you'll eventually run out of mana as I said... strong talents like Nexus Blades removed, Holy Ground duration reduced by 1 second, Burning Rage moved to level 16, all the while ignoring his useless trait, his mana problems, it's impossible to call this rework a "buff"

Edited January 17, 2018 by Leadblast

[Odin 0]

This is quite ridiculous and I mean no offense but most of the coments are obviosly by low level players. I am a high diamond player, I have spent whole day trying out new Tyrael and I am absolutly in love with him. They really did great job in the talent synergy and all on the right level. He is given much more dmg now thus making him much more dangerous and prob the best jumper/bruiser atm. Just a few things now, u vine cause u dont have 30% bonus dmg on smite (on lev20 the value of that bonus was 100 dmg), but that new increased aa dmg after smite...its 30% for each hero...procked right it can get u from 170 (on lev20 values) to 350 dmg per aa, combined with the 50% aa selfheal....almost feels like a warrior Illidan now :) ...even the lev1 is good since u will stack it very fast in tf giving u 55 additional selfheal per second...and that is just one part... Fiendly advice, first do your math and the testing before u do the crying.

[Orshova 31]

I always look for the bright side of changes to get excited for Heroes!!!! Can't find it with this rework... fixed the good,  kept the bad,  and no comment to illuminate us to see what they were designing towards. I hope they don't do this to any heroes I like ?