heroes Heroes of the Storm PTR Patch Notes: June 15th

Stan · June 15, 2020

The latest content patch for Heroes of the Storm adds Mei, a new Nexus Anomaly, the Nexomania II Summer Event, new Storm League rewards, and an unexpected Mal'Ganis rework.

Patch Highlights

The patch is available for playtesting for one week and will go live on June 23.
Mei is the latest Hero to join the Nexus. Check out the Mei spotlight for more details.
The Season 3 Nexux Anomaly is called Climate Phenomena and it revolves around weather disturbances that grant your character various effects.
- Rain Storms
  - Periodically strike all heroes with lightning, increasing Movement Speed and granting a Lightning Shield that damages nearby enemies.
    - Movement Speed increased by 25%.
    - Damage nearby enemies for 64 damage per second.
    - Buff lasts 8 seconds.
- Snow Flurries
  - Heroes accumulate a small shield over time while out of combat.
    - Shield starts at 28 and slowly accumulates up to 224.
    - Shield lasts until destroyed or until the Snow stops falling.
- Foggy Mists
  - Allows Heroes to gain Stealth after standing in shrubs for a few seconds.
    - After standing in a shrub for 1.5 seconds, Heroes gain Stealth.
    - Stealth lasts 40 seconds or until attacking, taking damage, using an ability, or until the Foggy weather dissipates.
Starting with 2020 Season 3, Blizzard is replacing Gold rewards with Loot Chests from Storm League/Seasonal Questlines.
Mount rewards are returning, and you will receive the Regal Tiger Mount for winning 50 games in Ranked Play in 2020 Season 3.
Nexomania II is the summer event for Heroes of the Storm running from the week of June 23 to the week of September 7.
Mal'Ganis has been reworked, and you can find all details in the patch notes linked below.

(Source)

Our next Heroes of the Storm patch has just hit the Public Test Realm and will be available for playtesting until the week of June 22, PDT. As always, if you encounter any bugs during your PTR play sessions, please stop by the PTR Bug Report forum to let us know about your experiences.

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Mei, A Climatologist

A brilliant mind with a sunny disposition, Dr. Mei-Ling Zhou joined Overwatch to help solve the world's growing climate problems. Armed with a host of weather-altering technologies, Mei now fights to protect her friends and secure a future for a troubled world.

Trait [D]

Cryo-Freeze
- Mei encases herself in ice, gaining a rapidly decaying Shield that absorbs up to 1104 damage. While active, this Shield grants Unstoppable and restores up to 35% maximum Health.
- Cooldown: 40 seconds.

Basic Abilities

Snow Blind [Q]
- Throw a snowball that hits all enemies in an area. Enemies hit take 70 damage, are Slowed by 35%, and are Blinded for 1.5 seconds.
- Cost: 35 Mana.
- Cooldown: 10 seconds.
Blizzard [W]
- Command Snowball to create a blizzard at the target location for 2 seconds. Enemies within the blizzard take 13 damage every .25 seconds and are Slowed by 7%, stacking up to 35%. When the blizzard ends, enemies within its area take an additional 75 damage and are stunned for 1.25 seconds.
- Cost: 70 Mana.
- Cooldown: 14 seconds.
Icing [E]
- Slide quickly in the targeted direction. When this effect ends, enemies near Mei are knocked back, take 52 damage, and are Slowed by 80%, rapidly decaying over 1.5 seconds.
- Cost: 70 Mana.
- Cooldown: 14 seconds.

Heroic Abilities

Avalanche [R1]
- After .5 seconds, roll a massive snowball that consumes enemy Heroes in its path. At the end of its path, the snowball crumbles, releasing the consumed Heroes, dealing 220 damage and stunning them for .5 per Hero consumed.
- Cost: 70 Mana.
- Cooldown: 65 seconds.
Ice Wall [R2]
- After a .75 second delay, create an impassible wall that traps enemy Heroes hit for 2.5 seconds. When the wall expires, trapped Heroes are slowed by 75% decaying over 3 seconds.
- Cost: 60 Mana.
- Cooldown: 90 seconds.

Talent

Level 1
- Heavy Pack [Q]
  - Increases the duration of Snow Blind’s Slow by 100%. Each time Blizzard damages an enemy Hero, reduce the cooldown of Snow Blind by .125 seconds.
- Ice Storm [W]
  - Every 3rd hit of Blizzard against enemy Heroes deals an additional 45 damage. Blizzard’s final stun damage is increased by 125% against all enemies.
- Heat Transfer [Passive]
  - Basic Attacks against Rooted, Stunned, or Slowed Heroes deal 33% more damage. Each time Mei Stuns or Slows an enemy Hero she heals for 18 Health.
Level 4
- Slushball [Q]
  - Snow Blind deals 50% increased damage and Structures hit are disabled for 3 seconds.
- Cold Front [E]
  - If Mei enters her own Blizzard while Icing is active, the cooldown of Icing is reduced by 7 seconds and she gains 50 Mana.
- Crystallize [Trait]
  - Reduce the cooldown of Cryo-Freeze by 15 seconds. Mei gains 50 Spell Armor while Cryo-Freeze is active and for 2 seconds after.
Level 7
- Induce Hibernation [W]
  - Enemy Heroes inside of Blizzard’s area have their damage dealt reduced by 40%. When Blizzard ends, enemy Heroes within its area gain this effect for an additional 4 seconds.
- Skating Away [E]
  - When Icing ends, grant Mei and nearby allies 20% Movement Speed and 50 Physical Armor for 3 seconds.
- Backup Battery [Active]
  - Activate to remove all Roots and Slows and regenerate 20% of maximum Health over 2 seconds. The cooldown of this ability is reduced by 10 seconds each time Mei picks up a Regeneration Globe.
Level 13
- Flurry [W]
  - While in her own Blizzard, Mei gains 50% increased attack speed and Blizzard’s cooldown refreshes 75% faster. If Mei is in her own Blizzard when it ends, gain these bonuses for 3 additional seconds.
- Cooling Servos [Trait]
  - Basic Attacks Slow their target by 20% for 1.5 seconds. While Cryo-Freeze is active, Mei’s Basic Ability cooldowns recover 200% faster.
- Polar Vortex [Passive]
  - Using an ability causes Mei to deal 24 damage a second to nearby enemies for 4 seconds. Enemy Heroes damaged by this effect also have their movement and attack speed Slowed by 20%.
Level 16
- Fresh Powder [Q]
  - Snow Blind gains an additional charge and its range is increased by 33%.
- Black Ice [E]
  - Icing’s Slow effect no longer decays over its duration. Icing deals 300% more damage to enemies very close to Mei.
- Acclimation [Passive]
  - Each time Mei Slows or Stuns an enemy Hero, the damage she deals and healing she receives is increased by 1%, stacking up to 20 times. While at maximum stacks, Mei also gains 10 armor. Lasts 8 seconds.
Level 20
- Cascade [R1]
  - Reduce the cooldown of Avalanche by 25 seconds. While traveling, Avalanche constantly launches a volley of untalented Snow Blind snowballs ahead of itself.
- Shatter [R2]
  - When Ice Wall expires, trapped enemy Heroes hit take 210 damage and have their Armor reduced by 25 for 5 seconds.
- The Big One [Q]
  - Every 15 seconds, your next Snow Blind has 66% increased area and 200% increased damage.
- Flash Freeze [Trait]
  - Upon taking fatal damage, Mei instantly gains Cryo-Freeze. This effect has a 180 second cooldown.

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Nexus Anomaly

A Call For Help

Developer Comment: Firstly, thank you all for the overwhelming amount of feedback related to the Call for Help Anomaly. We appreciate the time you took to write out your responses, and it greatly helped us make a decision on where to go going forward. In regards to the changes, we decided to keep the tower aggro system with some adjustments. To help reward aggression in the laning phase of the game, we are removing both the negative Armor debuff that front towers used to provide and also reverting their aggro systems to no longer prioritize Heroes who attack other Heroes in their range. Forts, Keeps, and the Core will still prioritize enemy Heroes who attack other Heroes, which will make them stand out as important structures to both defend and take down. We will continue to monitor how these changes play out, and will adjust these systems more in the future if we believe it to be necessary.

New Nexus Anomaly - Climate Phenomena
Strange weather disturbances have been spotted across the Nexus, with realms experiencing rain storms, snow flurries, and foggy mists! Mei's arrival is just in time to help analyze and study these strange weather conditions that have begun occurring. Climate Phenomena is our newest Nexus Anomaly, bringing a variety of fun weather effects to the game. Each battleground has a specific type of weather event that will occur periodically. Each weather event lasts for a few minutes at a time before clearing up. This cycle will repeat periodically until the game ends. While these weather events are active, Heroes can gain a unique buff based on the type of active weather. These buffs are:
- Rain Storms
  - Periodically strike all heroes with lightning, increasing Movement Speed and granting a Lightning Shield that damages nearby enemies.
    - Movement Speed increased by 25%.
    - Damage nearby enemies for 64 damage per second.
    - Buff lasts 8 seconds.
- Snow Flurries
  - Heroes accumulate a small shield over time while out of combat.
    - Shield starts at 28 and slowly accumulates up to 224.
    - Shield lasts until destroyed or until the Snow stops falling.
- Foggy Mists
  - Allows Heroes to gain Stealth after standing in shrubs for a few seconds.
    - After standing in a shrub for 1.5 seconds, Heroes gain Stealth.
    - Stealth lasts 40 seconds or until attacking, taking damage, using an ability, or until the Foggy weather dissipates.
Weather events will be active on these Battlegrounds:
- Rain Storms
  - Garden of Terror
  - Sky Temple
  - Warhead Junction
  - Braxis Holdout
  - Dragon Shire
  - Blackheart's Bay
- Snow Flurries
  - Cursed Hollow
  - Infernal Shrines
  - Volskaya Foundry
  - Alterac Pass
- Foggy Mists
  - Tomb of the Spider Queen
  - Battlefield of Eternity
  - Hanamura Temple
  - Towers of Doom
- All other Battlegrounds will use a random weather, including Brawls mode.

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General

A.I.
- The maximum follow distance for A.I. agents has been increased from 5 to 7. This will allow melee Heroes who are following ranged Heroes to attack targets at maximum range.
Favorite Talents
- New hotkey named "Quick Talent Selection Favorite (Ctrl + `)" has been added under the Hero Management section in Advanced Hotkey settings.
- You can press this hotkey to select the favorite talent you prepicked when the quick talent selection panel is open.
- If the prepicked talent is disabled or a future tier is selected, pressing this hotkey will have no effect.

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Event

Nexomania II Event Quests
- Nexomania II is the summer event for Heroes of the Storm running from the week of June 23 to week of September 7, PDT.
- One of the most prestigious stops on the Nexomania circuit is the Intermultiversal Nexoweight Championship: No rules, no mercy, just nonstop, bicep-busting carnage. This time, many fans expected Mal’gaucho Mal'Ganis to win it all. The Swingin’ Scourge of Stratholme tore a bloody path through his side of the bracket, burying opponents beneath a deluge of demonic blows. But on the other side of the bracket, a mysterious upstart known only as La Gata de Batalla has proven herself a worthy challenger, defeating foes many times her size en route to the championship match. The arena is packed, with Nexomania legend MC Tombstone roaring away on the mic, and the final battle is about to begin. Whose side are you on?
Loot Chests
- During the Nexomania II event, all Loot Chests you earn through progression, Heroes Brawl, or by spending gold will be Nexomania II Loot Chests. (Except Hero-specific Chests, which will remain unchanged.) Most limited-time items shown above have a chance to drop from Nexomania II Loot Chests only. You can also score Items from previous years’ summer events limited-time loot chests!
- Note: Loot Chests earned prior to the start of this event will not become Nexomania II Loot Chests.

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Collection

Many seasonal items will be returning to the collection, and will be available for crafting and in Loot Chests for a limited time!

New Bundles (Limited Time Only!)
- Pajama Party Mei Heroic Bundle
- Nexoweight Championship Bundle
- Mal'gaucho Mal'Ganis Skin Pack
- El Bandido Imperius Skin Pack
- Gata de Batalla Li Li Skin Pack
- Nexomania Best Bros Bundle
- Nexomania Bitter Rivals Bundle
- Pumped up Pato Bundle
New Skins
- Renowned Mei
- Vanguard Mei
- Pajama Party Mei
  - Panda Pajama Party Mei
  - Gnoll Pajama Party Mei
- Mal'gaucho Mal'Ganis
  - Nemesis Mal'gaucho Mal'Ganis
  - Underworld Mal'gaucho Mal'Ganis
- El Bandido Imperius
  - El Fuego Imperius
  - Sinister El Bandido Imperius
  - Vigilante El Bandido Imperius
- Gata de Batalla Li Li
  - Comeback Gata de Batalla Li Li
  - Underworld Gata de Batalla Li Li
- Hulking El Chamuco Diablo
- Pink Singlet El Chamuco Diablo
- El Festejo Garrosh
- El Jefe Amarillo Garrosh
- La Medianoche Lunara
- La Rosa Lunara
- La Campeona Sonya
- Pink Pantera Sonya
- Championship El Mariachi E.T.C.
- El Cielo E.T.C.
New Mounts
- Ratón de Batalla
  - Comeback Ratón de Batalla
  - Underworld Ratón de Batalla
- Pumped Up Pato
  - Pumped Up Swan
  - Underworld Pumped Up Pato
- Championship Luchihuahua
- Festive Luchihuahua
- Wild Pigñata
- Festive Pigñata
- Thraller Bill
New Announcer
- Mei Announcer
New Content
- Several new Portraits, Sprays and other items have been added to the Collection!

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Storm League

With the upcoming third Season of 2020, we wanted to make some changes to the reward structure of Storm League.

Replacing Gold Rewards
- Starting with Season 3 of 2020, we are removing all Gold rewards from Storm League, End of Season prizes and Seasonal Questlines. This will also affect Season 2 rewards. The new Seasonal Questline reward structure is as follows: a Nexomania II Chest after 5 wins, a Rare Nexomania II Chest after 15 wins, and an Epic Nexomania II Chest after 30 wins.
Storm League Reward Mounts
- Since the inception of Storm League, we have received a lot of feedback about the retirement of Ranked Play reward Mounts. We have heard you and are extremely happy to announce the return of exclusive Storm League Mounts starting next season. The ultimate and final reward of the 2020 Season 3 Questline will be the Regal Tiger Mount, which will be awarded after winning 50 games in Ranked Play.
- As of Season 3, you won't have to wait for the end of the Season to claim your well-earned Regal Tiger. It will become available as soon as you complete the four-step Storm League Quest Line. The mount only requires you to win 50 games and will be granted to players in all Leagues and Divisions.
- As usual, we're happy to listen to your feedback. Please share your thoughts with us, so we can continue to adjust and evolve the Storm League rewards further.

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Heroes Rework: Mal'Ganis

Base

Vitals
- Health reduced from 2500 to 2375.
- Health Regeneration reduced from 5.21 to 4.95.
Basic Attack
- Basic Attack damage reduced from 100 to 92.
Fel Claws [Q]
- Damage reduced from 69 to 63.

Talents

Level 1
- Vampiric Aura [Trait]
  - Additional functionality: Mal'Ganis heals for 30% of Physical Damage dealt.
- Time to Feed [Passive]
  - Healing reduced from 52 to 44.
  - Additional functionality: If Mal'Ganis damages a nearby enemy Hero with Fel Claws, double this healing.
Level 4
- Fueled by Torment [W]
  - Bonus Healing against enemy Heroes increased from 15% to 20%.
- Might of Sargeras [W]
  - No longer reduces the duration of Necrotic Embrace.
- Echo of Doom [W]
  - Explosion damage increased from 50 to 54.
  - No longer increases the duration of Necrotic Embrace when its explosion damage hits enemy Heroes.
  - Additional functionality: Gain 5 Mana and reduce the cooldown of Necrotic Embrace by .75 seconds for each enemy Hero hit by its explosion damage.
Level 7
- Nightmare Fuel [E]
  - Removed.
- Black Claws [Q]
  - Additional functionality: Basic Attacks after hitting enemy Heroes with Fel Claws also reduces their Armor by 15 for 2 seconds.
- Will of Tichondrius [Q]
  - New functionality: Each enemy Hero hit by the first 2 slashes of Fel Claws causes the final slash to steal 1% maximum Health, up to 4%. If Mal'Ganis hits at least 4 enemy Heroes with the first 2 slashes of Fel Claws, then the final slash Stuns enemies for an additional .25 seconds.
- Spreading Plague [E]
  - Adjusted functionality: Spreading Plague’s effect now starts when Mal'Ganis begins using Night Rush instead of when Night Rush expires.
Level 13
- The Night Beckons [E]
  - Additional functionality: Basic Attacks deal 200% more damage to Sleeping targets.
Level 16
- Frenzied Assault [Passive]
  - New functionality: Basic Attacks against enemy Heroes with a higher Health percentage heal for an additional 50% of damage dealt. Basic Attacks against enemy Heroes with a lower Health percentage grant 35% Attack Speed for 2 seconds.
- Blind as a Bat [Active]
  - Additional functionality: Enemy Heroes hit by the final slash of Fel Claws reduces the cooldown of this Ability by 5 seconds.
Level 20
- Vanquish the Weak [Q]
  - Slow amount increased from 15% to 25%.
- Alone in the Dark [E]
  - Additional functionality: Reduce the cooldown of Night Rush by 4 seconds.

Developer Comment: Our main goal with these changes is to make Mal'Ganis’s talent tree as a whole more interesting and impactful. While we need to slightly nerf his base kit to keep him at a similar relative strength compared to other Warriors, we believe these changes will overall leave him in a powerful state while also giving players more expression in how they want to play Mal'Ganis in regards to his survivability and in how he controls the flow of battle.

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Heroes

Murky

Base

Spawn Egg [Trait]
- Health increased from 324 to 420.
- Health Scaling changed from 30 to 4% per level.

Developer Comment: We’re changing Murky’s Spawn Egg to have the standard 4% scaling that is present in most other places throughout the game. This is a buff to the egg’s Health for most of the game, with its Health value being the same as its current level at around the Level 20 mark.

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Bug Fixes

General

Fixed an issue where Toys 1 Event reward Portraits could not be equipped for those who had earned them in Toys 1 Event in 2018.

Heroes

Anduin
- Anduin's Light of Stormwind now correctly removes damage over time effects.
Murky
- Murky's Egg Health now properly scales at 4% per level.
Stitches
- Fixed an issue where Slam would go on cooldown when Stitches was interrupted during its initial cast.
Tassadar
- The Ranged Assassin tooltip at the bottom is now properly displaying for Tassadar.

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The latest content update adds Mei, a new Nexus Anomaly, Nexomania II, and more!

lChronosl · June 15, 2020

All awesome things, excited to try Mei and the Malganis changes. The new skins and Nexomania 2 look amazing, as we expect from the devs.

A bit surprised with the weather anomaly. I personally don't mind, even looking forward for it, but I don't really play SL much. I have seen many layers worried about it on Reddit. Anyway, we should at least trust the devs and give it a fair try for a couple weeks before coming to conclusions.

Valhalen · June 15, 2020

The highlight of the patch for me. This is the perfect mount, and you can't change my mind.

Arcling · June 15, 2020

2 hours ago, Valhalen said:

The highlight of the patch for me. This is the perfect mount, and you can't change my mind.

Indeed, best mount since toy train. Might even become my default one. ?

Mal'Ganis changes seem like a nerf for the most part, baseline damage and hp nerfed. Only slight increase to some of his self healing talents, seems like they want to promote auto-attack build, which is rather difficult to play (not to mention numerous blinds, including those from Mei).

Valhalen · June 16, 2020

2 hours ago, Arcling said:

Indeed, best mount since toy train. Might even become my default one. ?

Mal'Ganis changes seem like a nerf for the most part, baseline damage and hp nerfed. Only slight increase to some of his self healing talents, seems like they want to promote auto-attack build, which is rather difficult to play (not to mention numerous blinds, including those from Mei).

I think they went with a good route for Mal'ganis. Nerfing his health and damage while buffing his already high self-sustain seems like a logic choice. It is not that difficult to slap a few Heroes in between abilities, and by testing him on the PTR I think his Fel Claws build is still solid. All in all, doesn't feel much like a rework in my opinion, more like re-balance and power shifting.

Edited June 16, 2020 by Valhalen

Angela · June 16, 2020

11 hours ago, Valhalen said:

I think they went with a good route for Mal'ganis. Nerfing his health and damage while buffing his already high self-sustain seems like a logic choice. It is not that difficult to slap a few Heroes in between abilities, and by testing him on the PTR I think his Fel Claws build is still solid. All in all, doesn't feel much like a rework in my opinion, more like re-balance and power shifting.

It is a nerf to Malganis in the high leagues not in the low leagues

darkgreenwax · June 16, 2020

lore nerd in me triggered they had braxis have rain and not snow, welp

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heroes Heroes of the Storm PTR Patch Notes: June 15th

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Stan 5,246

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Quick Navigation:

Mei, A Climatologist

Nexus Anomaly

General

Event

Collection

Storm League

Heroes Rework: Mal'Ganis

Heroes

Murky

Bug Fixes

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