heroes Heroes of the Storm Balance Update: Apr 11

[Stan 5,246]

This week's balance update was delayed, because the patch caused an issue affecting logins. The patch should now be live in all regions.

Blizzard (Source)

Edit: As an update, we believe we've identified the issue and are still planning to release this patch today. We'll let you know if anything changes. Thanks!

Hi everyone,

When we initially released today's patch in the Americas, we encountered an issue affecting logins. As a result, we've reverted the patch so that we can investigate the cause and roll out a fix as soon as possible.

For now, we've also pulled the patch notes out of the launcher to prevent any more confusion about which patch is currently live. You can still play normally on version 31.1 while we work to address 31.2.

Thanks for your patience!

What's New?

• Fenix and Tracer received nerfs in this update, while Chen and Kharazim have been buffed.
• Sylvanas' Black Arrows trait has changed so that her abilities no longer disable Structures.
  • The change does not affect her Basic Attacks.
• New functionality has been added to Falstad's Gathering Storm, Wingman & Updraft.

Read on for more details!

Blizzard (Source)

Assassin

Falstad

Talents

• Level 1
  • Gathering Storm (Q)
    • Added functionality:
      • Every Hero Hammerang hits also returns 10 Mana.
  • Wingman (Active)
    • Added functionality:
      • Reduces Lightning Rod’s cooldown by 3 seconds
• Level 4
  • Updraft (E)
    • Added functionality:
      • Removes the duration of Shields granted by Barrel Roll.

Fenix

Stats

• Basic Attack damage reduced from 96 to 86.

Abilities

• Plasma Cutter (Q)
  • Damage reduced from 145 to 135.
• Planet Cracker (R)
  • Damage increased from 105 to 108.

Talents

• Level 1
  • Advanced Targeting (Q)
    • Damage bonus reduced from 0.75 to 0.5.
    • Maximum bonus damage reduced from 75 to 60.
  • Arsenal Synergy (W)
    • Damage bonus increased from 100% to 175%
• Level 4
  • Emergency Protocoll (Trait)
    • Movement Speed bonus reduced from 30% to 25%.
• Level 7
  • Combat Advantage (Q)
    • Damage bonus against Slowed targets reduced from 50% to 40%.
• Level 13
  • Auxiliary Shields (Trait)
    • Shield regeneration reduced from 20% to 15% of Basic Attack damage dealt.
  • Dampening Field (Trait)
    • Spell Armor increased from 15 to 20.
  • Rapid Recharge (Trait)
    • Shield recharge increased from 20% to 40% of healing received.
• Level 20
  • Singularity Charge (W)
    •  Repeater Cannon bonus Attack Speed increased from 50% to 100%.
  • Unconquered Spirit (Passive)
    • Shield amount increased from 600 to 800.

Developer Comment: Fenix has proven himself quite powerful, mainly due to his capability for consistent damage output. While we’re happy with how he plays, we’re making a few changes to bring his damage in line and address Talent imbalances.

Hanzo

Abilities

• Natural Agility (Trait)
  • Cooldown increased from 20 to 25 seconds.
• Dragonstrike (R)
  • Damage increased from 64 to 70.

Talents

• Level 4
  • Serrated Arrows (W)
    • Bonus damage granted versus Minions, Mercenaries, and Monsters reduced from 150% to 100%.

Li-Ming

Talents

• Level 1
  • Aether Walker (E)
    • Reduced the time required after taking damage from 5 to 4 seconds.
• Level 4
  • Dominance (Trait)
    • Adjusted functionality:
      • Takedowns now restore 30% of missing Health.

Nova

Talents

• Level 7
  • Perfect Shot (Q)
    • Added functionality:
      • Each Hero hit also grants an additional Precision Sniper stack.
• Level 13
  • Ionic Force Field (Trait)
    • Armor duration increased from 2 to 3 seconds.
  • Double Tap (W)
    • Added functionality:
      • Also increases Pinning Shot’s cooldown by 2 seconds.
• Level 16
  • Lethal Decoy (E)
    • Holo Decoy damage bonus reduced from 35% to 30%.
  • Crippling Shot (W)
    • Armor negation reduced from 25 to 20.
  • Explosive Round (Q)
    • Area of effect damage increased from 50% to 70%.

Tracer

Stats

• Health reduced from 1350 to 1280.
• Health Regeneration reduced from 5.625 to 5.332.
• Basic Attack damage reduced from 29 to 28.

Multiclass

Varian

Stats

• Health increased from 1850 to 1924.
• Health Regeneration increased from 3.8554 to 4.0078.

Abilities

• Taunt (R)
  • Bonus Health and Health Regeneration reduced from 30% to 25%.

Specialist

Medivh

Talents

• Level 7
  • Force of Magic (W)
    • Bonus Spell Power increased from 20% to 25%.
  • Arcane Explosion (W)
    • Base damage reduced from 90 to 80.
    • Maximum additional damage reduced from 350 to 315.
• Level 13
  • Circle of Protection (W)
    • Now also increases Force of Will’s cooldown by 2 seconds.
  • Reabsorption (W)
    • Heal amount increased from 60% to 70%.

Sylvanas

Stats

• Basic Attack damage increased from 85 to 90.

Abilities

• Black Arrows (Trait)
  • Abilities no longer disable Structures.

Developer Comment: As part of our ongoing quest to increase counter-play and curb frustration when playing against certain Heroes, we’re changing Sylvanas’ Black Arrows trait so that her Abilities no longer disable Structures. This effect is incredibly powerful and, in the past, has limited how Battlegrounds can be designed and played. We realize that turning off enemy Structures is an important part of Sylvanas’ identity, so rather than removing this functionality completely, we’re addressing it in such a way that she now has to put herself in danger to get maximum value. This should allow more counter-play for opponents when Sylvanas is pushing, and enable us to improve her teamfight capabilities, which we’re doing initially via a small Basic Attack damage buff. We’ll be keeping an eye on her performance, and are ready to make further tuning changes as needed.

Support

Kharazim

Stats

• Health increased from 1949 to 2027.
• Health Regeneration increased from 4.0585 to 4.2226.

Talents

• Level 1
  • Transcendence (Trait)
    • Healing increased from 98 to 104.

Malfurion

Abilities

• Regrowth
  • Heal amount reduced from 400 to 380.
• Moonfire
  • Heal amount reduced from 140 to 135.

Talents

• Level 4
  • Strangling Vines (E)
    • Heal reduction duration increased from 2 to 3 seconds.

Warrior

Chen

Talents

• Level 1
  • Accumulating Flame (Q)
    • Adjusted quest reward functionality:
      • Gain 15 Armor per Hero ignited with Breath of Fire. This lasts 3 seconds.
  • Freshest Ingredients (Trait)
    • Health Regeneration granted by gathering Regeneration Globes no longer caps at 30.
• Level 4
  • Keg Toss (W)
    • Bonus damage per Hero hit increased from 3 to 4.
    • Bonus damage maximum increased from 60 to 80.
• Level 7
  • Purifying Brew (Trait)
    • Added functionality:
      • Spell Armor persists as long as Chen has Fortifying Brew Shields.

Dehaka

Abilities

• Adaptation (R)
  • Cooldown reduced from 90 to 80 seconds.

Talents

• Level 1
  • Enduring Swarm (W)
    • Spell Armor increased from 40 to 50.
• Level 4
  • Lurker Strain (E)
    • Slow duration increased from 2 to 3 seconds.
  • Hero Stalker (Trait)
    • Added functionality
      • Enemy Heroes hit by Dark Swarm grant 1 Essence.
• Level 13
  • Ferocious Stalker (W)
    • Bonus damage increased from 40% to 50%.

Leoric

Stats

• Basic Attack damage increased from 105 to 109.

Abilities

• Drain Hope (W)
  • Cooldown reduced from 11 to 10 seconds.

Tyrael

Talents

• Level 1
  • Ardent Restoration (Passive)
    • Healing increased from 13.75 to 15 per stack.
• Level 4
  • Stalwart Angel (Q)
    • Armor increased from 20 to 25.
    • Armor duration reduced from 3 to 2 seconds.
• Level 7
  • Purge Evil (E)
    • Basic Attack damage bonus increased from 35% to 45%.
• Level 16
  • Burning Halo (Q)
    • Damage increased from 15 to 18.
    • Bonus damage after teleporting increased from 100% to 150%.
    • Bonus damage duration reduced from 3 to 2 seconds.
  • Smite the Wicked (E)
    • Cooldown recharge rate increased from 100% to 125%.
    • Cooldown recharge rate duration after teleporting reduced from 3 to 2 seconds.

Developer Comment: We’re making adjustments focused on the viability of some of Tyrael’s Talents. In particular, Sword of Justice was not picked very often, and was underperforming. We’re addressing this by taking a few Talents (Stalwart Angel, Burning Halo, and Smite the Wicked) and increasing their synergy with Sword of Justice by increasing the bonuses that Tyrael receives while El’druin is out, but reducing the bonuses for teleporting. This should enhance Sword of Justice’s playstyle, by allowing players to teleport into a fight, but still having an active El’druin’s.

Zarya

Stats

• Health increased from 2225 to 2292.
• Health Regeneration increased from 4.6406 to 4.7750.

Abilities

• Particle Grenade (Q)
  • Damage increased from 71 to 75.
• Graviton Surge (R)
  • Cooldown reduced from 80 to 60 seconds.

Bug Fixes

General

• Fixed a pair of issues that could cause the game client to crash.

Art

• Johanna: Learning Holy Renewal and casting Shield Glare while using one of Johanna’s Enforcer Skins no longer causes placeholder art to appear at her feet.

Heroes, Abilities, and Talents

• Ana: After learning Grenade Calibration, Biotic Grenade’s floating combat text now displays the correct amount of Healing received with each tick.
• Auriel: Bestow Hope’s buff and visual effects will no longer be removed if the target enters a Stasis effect, like Zagara’s Devouring Maw.
• Cassia: After learning Martial Law, Basic Attacks now correctly apply bonus damage against Slowed Heroes.
• Fenix: Fixed an issue that could prevent the Rapid Recharge Talent from providing its Shield recharge effect when Healed.
• Fenix: Plasma Cutter is now correctly interrupted by Stasis effects, like Stitches’ Gorge and Anub’arak’s Cocoon.
• Fenix: Casting Plasma Cutter on an Invulnerable target no longer grants quest progress for theAdvanced Targeting Talent.
• Fenix: After learning Singularity Charge, the Talent description that is appended to the Weapon Mode Ability tooltip now states the correct amount of bonus range provided to Phase Bomb Basic Attacks.
• Greymane: The Wizened Duelist Talent’s Basic Attack counter no longer continues to update after achieving maximum quest progress.
• Leoric: Fixed an issue preventing Leoric from casting Hearthstone while in Undying form.
• Malthael: After learning Black Harvest, quest progress indicators now correctly appear every second while a target is affected by Reaper's Mark.
• Medivh: Fixed an issue in which Medivh could create four Portals at once after learning Portal Mastery.
• Medivh: Is no longer dismounted after casting Arcane Brilliance.
• Probius: Disruption Pulse no longer gains bonus damage from the Particle Accelerator Talent when it passes through non-targetable units, like Gazlowe’s Scrap.
• Varian: Learning Colossus Smash no longer reduces Varian’s Health Regeneration by more than the intended 10%.
• Zeratul: Casting Void Prison on Blaze’s Bunker while players are inside no longer halts their Ability cooldowns indefinitely after Void Prison expires.

[lChronosl 182]

Where does this Sylvanas' nerf comes from? I haven't even seen her on higher ranks for a while. This cripples her pushing power by almost half.

 

@Edit: it seems that only her abilities will not affect structures anymore, her basic attacks are still the same. I think it is better like this, smaller changes each time.

Edited April 11, 2018 by lChronosl
Finished reading the source.

[Aasgier 36]

Great, a lot of useful nerfs and buffs. I don't think it's enough in the case of Fenix or Chen, but it is definately a good start.

 

@IChronosl; Sylvanas can be broken in lower leagues and in QM, and in Unranked I tend to flat out ban her once the broken stuff has been adressed because no one can deal with her.  Which is a problem, but it is also a L2P issue so I don't thjnk it's that severe.

However, a far bigger issue is that Sylvanas' Trait is stupidly oppressive from a map design perspective, so it needed to go. Heck, I'd go as far as to say it should have never existed in the first place.

This being said, I do agree it nerfs a character which isn't very good in the first place, so she probably needs a few buffs to compensate other than her AA damage.

Sure, Sylvanas will lose some of her uniqueness, but in exchange become an overall much more game-friendly character, if given a balance patch or two.

 

 

Edited April 11, 2018 by Aasgier

[FunnyGinMan 11]

Quote

Black Arrows (Trait)

• Abilities no longer disable Structures.

It says that her *Abilities* no longer disable Structures. The way I read this her basic attacks still do, but none of her abilities, primarily her knife throw, will leak onto structures and disable them long enough for her to get into position. This means she'll be forced to get within shooting range if she wants to disable a structure, which if she's smart she'll go with a group of minions to take the hits for her.

[Aasgier 36]

That goes for every character though - bursty mages like Jaina can deal a lot of damage to structures while minions soak the hits.

I would not be surprised if Sylvanas' AA will eventually no longer disable structures too, though, and instead Sylvanas gets a major rework into a teamfight hero.

[Brauchief 6]

so zarya is going to have a grav up for the beginning of every fight now, eh

[SleepySheepy 41]

Sylvanas got change exactly because people at lower ranks tend to ignore her, while solo pushing doesn't work at higher ranks. At first, it's likely she is being nerfed, but as they said they will change it accordingly.

By the way, Chen buffs?

I immediately need to check how far can I push globe collection. He still needs actual survival increase through HP, but this works for now. By the way, I'm not sure does duration still increase per affected Hero for burn quest, or is it fixed 15 armor.

After reading, armor is 15 or more, for 3 seconds. Logical change, since 25 armor for adjustable 1s or more (but mostly 1s) does nothing.

Edited April 11, 2018 by SleepySheepy

[Dejo93 1,023]

Glad to see all those virgin sacrifices finally paid off and that lord Lucifer nerfed Fenix. Also, Falstad buffs :D

[Valhalen 1,484]

No one is talking about the Dehaka buffs that pretty much skyrocket him to Prime Tier?

[Morcalivan 86]

Arsenal Synergy damage buff for lvl 1 Fenix is downright confusing. It can already one-shot minion waves when damaging enemy heroes and make finishing blows on runners easy. But they did not change the truly most devastating part of Fenix, which his Warp resets. In fact, saying his continuous damage is what makes him OP and then leaving him the ability to keep pace with runners and be rewarded with an escape or chase reset is a little bit contradicting.

Tyreal seems to be going back and forth in stats for some reason.

[lChronosl 182]

The thing with Sylvanas is that she's got decent damage and mobility, no sustain and is quite fragile. My default play style for her is as an aggressive bully quick to run away or doing hit-and-run pushing on structures. What really defined her is her trait, even if she had always had decent team fighting presence with her ults. While this nerf won't make that much of a difference, I hope they won't remove her stunning of structures completely, since it would really damage her uniqueness.

[Plergoth 277]

Remember when Blizzard removed entire maps out of the game entirely because of Sylvanas' trait? Pepperidge Farm remembers. 

[Migol 433]

This is actually a huge nerf to Sylvannas.     She can't solo push against two towers now, she has to get in firing range before she can disable a fort, she loses a lot of damage that comes from buildings getting her DoT from spreading out of a minion wave, and so on and so on.

This wouldn't be a problem if her teamfight was good, but...it isn't.     She generally can do her ult, and then is reduced to "squishy poker" with low/slow dps.

[PixieKnight 10]

I think the nerf to Sylvanas is due to edge cases where winning the first objective with Sylvanas in low-level games can potentially end the game right there. E.g., there was a BoE match where a teammate went Aba with enemy Sylvanas shown, and we got annihilated by the first immortal; it still had shields when it reached our core.

[Fliits 112]

Chen getting buffs?

He's way too OP already, and now they're buffing him?!

In other news, Fenix has finally come back to the mortal plane, less played characters are getting buffs, other meta defining characters are being nerfed, Sylvanas's dagger can't push forts alone now and ALL SHALL SUFFER, PEASANTS!

[Morcalivan 86]

Meh. The Wail and Dagger still lets her lock down a bruiser camp until killed right from the start though? She should still be able to push hard on camp heavy maps early. While we're at it, we can remove that stupid mule from Abathur for something that fits his theme. Yuck!

[Stan 5,246]

Update #2: Patch notes are up.

A quick update: They still plan to release the patch today.

Thanks @FunnyGinMan for bringing it up.

[CyberDVonaven 82]

1 hour ago, Fliits said:

Chen getting buffs? He's way too OP already, and now they're buffing him?!

I'm assuming this was sarcasm and you're making a joke, right? Cause we all know the opposite is the truth. 

[CyberDVonaven 82]

Oh ok I see, Sylvanas's abilities still proc Black Arrow and leak onto everything. It just won't disable structures effected by it anymore.

[MurkyFelix 51]

7 hours ago, CyberDVonaven said:

I'm assuming this was sarcasm and you're making a joke, right? Cause we all know the opposite is the truth. 

There's an on-going joke on the HoTS subreddit where Chen is so OP that he needs constant nerfs and any nerfs make him more OP (at least my understanding of it). A line I've seen a lot before is "Oh look, X is OP right now, better nerf Chen". You are correct; we know he's quite sub-optimal right now ;-;

[Valhalen 1,484]

3 hours ago, MurkyFelix said:

There's an on-going joke on the HoTS subreddit where Chen is so OP that he needs constant nerfs and any nerfs make him more OP (at least my understanding of it). A line I've seen a lot before is "Oh look, X is OP right now, better nerf Chen". You are correct; we know he's quite sub-optimal right now ;-;

That joke originally came from Super Smash Bros. 4, where Nintendo released a plethora of patches that nerfed Greninja, and that joke "X is OP now, better nerf Y" came to life.

[XeaKon 23]

It seems they buffed some half-tanks(Leoric,Dehaka) and nerfed some oppresive heroes(Tracer). On Fenix it seems they are lowering and spreading his damage over multiple talents. It is always good when you have multiple builds.

Regarding Sylvanas they apparently decided that its trait was too powerfull and reduced its power ONLY AGAINST STRUCTURES. So she still maintains the waveclear and merc clearing capacity.

On another topic, Chromie needs some serious nerfs to its damage/range/escape or at all three. It always forces you to play aggresively.

[Valhalen 1,484]

1 minute ago, XeaKon said:

On another topic, Chromie needs some serious nerfs to its damage/range/escape or at all three. It always forces you to play aggresively.

If they nerf Chromie she'll be a sitting duck. She has one of the highest learning curves of all the Mage characters alongside Kel'Thuzad. I think she is fine. A pro Chromie can carry the team and a bad Chromie is nothing more than a dead weight.

[Evincare 39]

What are they doing to Nova? ^^ Why did they nerf lethal decoy even more? Did anyone still play that build or Nova at all for that matter :)

And Tracer got hit again... And they reduced Hanzos mobility - yet somehow Genji remains untouched still :) I fear they might be overdoing the changes "because it can be frustrating to play against suchandsuch hero". I mean all those frustrating to play against heroes do have counters (read: a stun and a followup) as you have all discussed here concerning Sylvanas. So are they trying to Balance the game around QM? I may be wrong, but most of those heroes they keep hitting aren't played that much in ranked or at tournaments anyway... (apart from genji that is)

[XeaKon 23]

15 minutes ago, Valhalen said:

If they nerf Chromie she'll be a sitting duck. She has one of the highest learning curves of all the Mage characters alongside Kel'Thuzad. I think she is fine. A pro Chromie can carry the team and a bad Chromie is nothing more than a dead weight.

A bad player is always bad, more or less. It might be that I have encountered a lot of good Chromies but was always dificult to reach her and moreso kill her. Afk is my advice for bad(and underline bad) Chromies, seriously; the A.I. has pinpoint accuracy with her and also leads her targets. I am not joking, the downside is that you might miss the exp in qm and sorts but in ranked IS an alternative.

Regarding Kel'Thuzad, I consider him having almost unavoidable damage and CC(except when dealing with Unstoppable) if used right(average use and above).