heroes Heroes of the Storm Balance Patch Notes: September 27th

[Staff 1,496]

A new balance patch for Heroes of the Storm went live this week and here are the official patch notes.

(Source)

Heroes of the Storm has just been updated with Hero balance changes! Read on for details.

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Heroes

TANK	BRUISER	SUPPORT	HEALER	MELEE	RANGED
E.T.C.	Gazlowe	Zarya	Ana	Maiev	Kael'thas
	Thrall		Brightwing		Kel'Thuzad
			Li Li		Nazeebo
			Stukov		Valla
					Zagara

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Tank

E.T.C.

Base

• Rockstar [Trait]
  • Additional functionality: Heroic abilities grant 60 Armor for 2 seconds.

Talents

• Level 1
  • Guitar Hero [E]
    • Healing from Basic Attacks increased from 50% to 60%.
• Level 4
  • Crowd Surfer [Q]
    • Cooldown reduction increased from 5 to 7 seconds.
  • Speed Metal [Trait]
    • Duration increased from 2 to 2.5 seconds.
• Level 7
  • Hammer-on [E]
    • Damage bonus increased from 30% to 35%.
  • Echo Pedal [Passive]
    • Damage increased from 15 to 18.
    • PvE damage bonus reduced from 250% to 200%.
• Level 10
  • Stage Dive [R2]
    • Mana cost reduced from 100 to 70.
    • Slow duration increased from 3 to 4 seconds.

Developer Comment: E.T.C.'s strength has usually been centered around his powerful Heroics, but lately that hasn't helped him make the cut. We're trying reinforcing that identity with baseline Armor and a buff to Stage Dive before we look to broaden his power.

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Bruiser

Gazlowe

Base

• Vitals
  • Health reduced from 2375 to 2275.
  • Health regeneration reduced from 4.95 to 4.74.
• Rock-it Turret [Q]
  • Damage reduced from 38 to 36.
• Deth Lazor [W]
  • Damage reduced from 180 to 175.

Developer Comment: Gazlowe is a pretty dominant force in all non-master levels of play right now. We are starting with some baseline nerfs and will look to potentially make some talent adjustments in a later patch.

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Thrall

Base

• Feral Spirit [W]
  • Mana cost reduced from 60 to 40.

Talents

• Level 1
  • Echo of the Elements [Q]
    • Mana cost reduction increased from 15 to 20.
• Level 4
  • Feral Resilience [W]
    • Frostwolf Resilience stacks increased from 3 to 4.
• Level 13
  • Frostwolf's Grace [D]
    • Changed functionality: Frostwolf Resilience can be activated to instantly heal. This healing is increased by up to 100% based on Thrall's missing health.
  • Spirit Shield [Active]
    • Spell Armor duration increased from 2.5 to 4 seconds.
• Level 20
  • (New) Elemental Momentum [Passive]
    • Basic Attacks reduce Basic and Heroic Ability cooldowns by 0.25 seconds, doubled against Heroes.

Developer Comment: Thrall has begun to struggle in solo lane matchups, often unable to sustain himself after trading blows. We feel his Mana costs are too high due his reliance on frequently casting abilities to charge Frostwolf Resilience, even if choosing to learn Mana Tide. There seems to be a demand for a strong auto attack talent at 20, with many Thralls choosing Nexus Blades, so we're adding Elemental Momentum to keep the tier exciting.

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Support

Zarya

Talents

• Level 1
  • Feel the Heat [Trait]
    • Additional functionality: While above 40 Energy, Zarya’s Basic Attack size is increased by 35%.
• Level 4
  • I Am the Strongest [W]
    • Additional functionality: Damage absorbed by Zarya’s Shields contributes 20% more energy.
• Level 7
  • Hit Me [Trait]
    • Removed.
  • To the Limit [Passive]
    • Removed.
  • (New) Deep Burn [Q]
    • Basic Attacks against Heroes hit by Particle Grenade in the last 3 seconds generate 1 Energy.
• Level 10
  • Graviton Surge [R2]
    • Additional functionality: Deals 30 damage a second to affected enemies.

Developer Comment: Zarya's Basic Attack build is underperforming compared to her other options, so we're consolidating a few talents and giving her a new one in the form of Deep Burn. Historically, even slight buffs to Zarya have had a huge impact on her efficacy, so we're making light touches this time around. We'll be keeping a close eye on her performance and making more adjustments in the future if needed.

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Healer

Ana

Talents

• Level 1
  • Contact Healing [W]
    • Additional functionality: Biotic Grenade deals 30% additional damage per Hero hit.
  • Vampiric Rounds [Trait]
    • Stacking 5 Doses bonus Shrike healing increased from .75% to 1%.
• Level 4
  • Biotic Enhancements [W]
    • Cooldown reduction increased from 2 to 3 seconds.
  • Debilitating Dart [Active]
    • Additional functionality: If no Heroes are hit, reduce its cooldown by 8 seconds.
• Level 16
  • Sharpshooter [Q]
    • Additional functionality: Bonus healing increased by 35% while at maximum stacks.
  • Concentrated Doses [Q]
    • Bonus healing increased from 10% to 12%.
• Level 20
  • Deadeye [R2]
    • Bonus damage and healing per Hero hit increased from 4% to 5%.

Developer Comment: Ana has a grouping of talents that are becoming more and more popular, so we're helping their competitors. We hope Sharpshooter's additional functionality lets the best snipers truly shine.

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Brightwing

Base

• Vitals
  • Health reduced from 1450 to 1425.
  • Health regeneration reduced from 3.02 to 2.97.
• Soothing Mist [Trait]
  • Heal amount reduced from 115 to 110.
  • Activation cooldown reduced from 90 to 75 seconds.

Developer Comment: Our overly-friendly Faerie Dragon has been slowly collecting a few more wins than she should. We are bringing down a few of her base stats to bring her more in line with the rest of her peers.

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Li Li

Base

• Healing Brew [Q]
  • Missile speed increased by 20%.
• Blinding Wind [E]
  • Missile speed increased by 20%.

Talents

• Level 7
  • Let’s Go! [Active]
    • Range increased from 6 to 7.5.

Developer Comment: Li Li has been working on her throwing arm, which should help her spells become a tiny bit more consistent, especially when cast at longer ranges.

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Stukov

Talents

• Level 1
  • Fetid Touch [W]
    • Slow amount of Basic Attacks increased from 15% to 20%.
    • Reduction of Basic Attack damage while in Ranged Mode from 50% to 40%.
  • Reactive Ballistospores [W]
    • Search range of Talent activation reduced by 20%.
    • Bio-Kill Switch cooldown reduction while below 50% Health reduced from 150% to 100%.
    • Cooldown increased from 60 to 75 seconds.
  • Low Blow [E]
    • Bonus damage to Heroes below 50% Health increased from 100% to 125%.
• Level 13
  • It Hungers [E]
    • Bonus cast range increased from 20 to 30%.
    • Hero damage instances needed to proc cooldown reduction and Mana refund decreased from 8 to 6.
• Level 16
  • Universal Carrier [Q]
    • Healing Pathogen Healing reduction decreased from 40% to 25%.
  • Superstrain [Q]
    • Healing from being Stunned or Rooted increased from 250 to 300.

Developer Comment: Reactive Ballistospores is just too strong in its current form, completely dominating his tier 1 choices. We are making some adjustments to it in order to help level out the talent tier while also buffing some other under-performing Talents throughout his tree.

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Melee

Maiev

Base

• Vault of the Wardens [D]
  • Additional functionality: After reaching level 20, gain an additional charge.

Talents

• Level 4
  • Pin Down [Q]
    • First quest reward damage bonus increased from 25% to 35%.
• Level 7
  • Bonds of Corruption [W]
    • Armor reduction increased from 10 to 15.
    • Slow amount increased from 20% to 25%.
    • Duration reduced from 4 to 3 seconds.
• Level 10
  • Containment Disc [R1]
    • Additional functionality: Heroes leaving Containment are Silenced for 1.5 seconds.
• Level 16
  • Armored Assault [Passive]
    • Physical damage bonus increased from 20% to 25%.

Developer Comment: It can be hard for Maiev to outmaneuver her opponents late in the game, so we're excited to see what Maiev players will do with an extra charge of Vault of the Wardens. This is also the first time we're adding new functionality through a level unlock rather than converting a baseline quest or popular talent, so we're interested in your feedback. Additionally, Containment Disc has fallen quite a bit behind Warden's Cage at all levels of play, so we're adding a Silence to further isolate targets and to interrupt big moments.

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Ranged

Kael'thas

Base

• Vitals
  • Health increased from 1520 to 1595.
  • Health regeneration increased from 3.17 to 3.32.
• Gravity Lapse [E]
  • Cooldown reduced from 14 to 12 seconds.

Talents

• Level 4
  • Energy Roil [E]
    • Cooldown reduction for hitting and enemy Heroes reduced from 9 to 8 seconds.
  • Mana Tap [Trait]
    • Mana restore from activating Verdant Spheres increased from 4% to 5%.
• Level 10
  • Phoenix [R1]
    • Damage increased from 78 to 84.
    • Splash damage increased from 39 to 42.

Developer Comment: It's been a hot-minute since we showed our resident fire mage some love, so we are making a few baseline changes to increase his survivability, as well as tweak a couple of underperforming talents.

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Kel'Thuzad

Base

• Vitals
  • Health increased from 1445 to 1490.
  • Health regeneration increased from 3.01 to 3.10.
• Glacial Spike [1]
  • Damage increased from 60 to 70.

Talents

• Level 7
  • Ice Cold [1]
    • Bonus cooldown reduction increased from 8 to 10 seconds.
• Level 13
  • Icy Grasp [W]
    • Bonus cooldown reduction per Basic Attack increased from .5 to .75 seconds.

Developer Comment: Much akin to Kael'thas, we feel like Kel'Thuzad has been left out in the cold for too long. We are giving him some slight baseline buffs while also tuning up some underperforming talents.

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Nazeebo

Base

• Plague of Toads [E]
  • Damage over 6 seconds increased from 119 to 125.

Talents

• Level 1
  • Widowmakers [Q]
    • Slow amount decreased from 30% to 25%.
    • Slow duration decreased from 1.5 to 1 second.
    • Quest reward bonus damage decreased from 30% to 25%.
  • Pandemic [E]
    • Heroes needed to be hit to unlock Tier 1 quest reward decreased from 40 to 35.
    • Heroes needed to be hit to unlock Tier 2 quest reward decreased from 80 to 70.
• Level 4
  • Blood Ritual [Trait]
    • Bonus Voodoo Ritual stacks per takedown decreased from 5 to 3.
• Level 13
  • Guardian Toads [E]
    • Armor duration per Hero hit increased from 2 to 3 seconds.
• Level 16
  • Spider Colony [Q]
    • Cooldown reduction for Plague of Toads and Zombie Wall reduced from .25 to .125 seconds.

Developer Comment: The entire team has become extremely arachnophobic lately, and we believe its directly due to Nazeebo. We are trying to exterminate a few of the unholy critters while at the same time show his less bite-happy toads some love.

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Valla

Base

• Multishot [W]
  • Damage decreased from 165 to 159.
  • Cooldown increased from 12 to 13 seconds.

Talents

• Level 1
  • Puncturing Arrow [Q]
    • Damage per enemy Hero hit decreased from 7 to 6.
  • Creed of the Hunter [Trait]
    • Maximum bonus damage from Basic Attacking enemy Heroes increased from 5% to 6%.
    • Gambit Attack Speed increased from 20 to 25%.

Developer Comment: While Multishot is actually being slightly outperformed by Hungering Arrow builds, we feel like its still too powerful for how safe of an option it is. We would also like to see a bit more auto-attack focused builds so we are going to start slowly increasing the strength of some of those Talents, starting with Creed of the Hunter.

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Zagara

Base

• Vitals
  • Health increased from 1500 to 1550.
  • Health regeneration increased from 3.12 to 3.23.

Talents

• Level 20
  • Broodmother [Q]
    • Additional functionality: Gain 20% bonus Attack Speed.

Developer Comment: The previous Health changes hurt Zagara more than we had intended and are backing off of them a bit. On top of that, Broodmother was being heavily outshone by her other level 20s so we decided to add a bit of extra spice to it.

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Bug Fixes

Heroes

• E.T.C.
  • Rockstar talents apply to E.T.C. after casting Stage Dive.

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[Dejo93 1,023]

Shame this game isn't getting any more events or updates. It had so much potential, but greed ruined it

[Arcling 898]

There are few skins from spring and summer events missing. Collection still remains unfixed, months after release of the last skin pack.

I wonder if we are going to see any new release this year. Supposedly, there were some heroes lined up in development (this was said long after the cuts), but whatever happened with them, no idea. This might be the first year without anything new. They don't even flip a switch to properly start returning events anymore.

Edited September 28, 2021 by Arcling

[Kuarinofu 78]

1 hour ago, Arcling said:

There are few skins from spring and summer events missing. Collection still remains unfixed, months after release of the last skin pack.

I wonder if we are going to see any new release this year. Supposedly, there were some heroes lined up in development (this was said long after the cuts), but whatever happened with them, no idea. This might be the first year without anything new. They don't even flip a switch to properly start returning events anymore.

Yea, the game seems mostly abandoned right now. This really sucks cause it seems like even Diablo 3 approaching its 10th year after the realease is still getting some or another form of content. 

I understand that releasing new heroes with a limited team isn't easy, but minor updates like these once a month look like they're putting in minimal effort, and I can' t see why, since people still play the game.

[darkgreenwax 413]

Am I tinfoil hatting too hard into this that they removed the Zarya [hit me] talent in light of all the blizzard recent removals?

I know it's a gym slang but I think they're trying to be extra safe. 🤷‍♂️

Edited September 28, 2021 by TyZone
edit: also sad they nerfed the nazeebo spider build.

[Arcling 898]

23 hours ago, Kuarinofu said:

I understand that releasing new heroes with a limited team isn't easy, but minor updates like these once a month look like they're putting in minimal effort, and I can' t see why, since people still play the game.

I've seen some dev comments recently, but they were all about balance. It seems they are avoiding any questions about heroes or events. Anyway, what's kinda weird is that they are still doing those balance changes, yet they can't fix bugged collection? Curious about that supposed content still in development, is there any work being done on it, or was it just left unfinished? After over a year we should have seen at least some of it being released. Would like to know, but it's very unlikely they are going to confirm anything, with how silent they are about those things.

Edited September 29, 2021 by Arcling

[Kuarinofu 78]

On 9/29/2021 at 2:23 AM, TyZone said:

Am I tinfoil hatting too hard into this that they removed the Zarya [hit me] talent in light of all the blizzard recent removals?

I know it's a gym slang but I think they're trying to be extra safe. 🤷‍♂️

Ahah, I would never even link the name of the talent to it being removed, you might have a point here. Re-naming it probably wouldn't work.

Zeebo spiders nerf is a welcomed change since the amount of damage, slow and sustain he got after the re-work was insane, at least on ARAM, since I only play this mode. I remember a match against 2 skilled Zeebos being absolute pain.

 

[Valhalen 1,485]

On 9/28/2021 at 12:24 PM, Arcling said:

There are few skins from spring and summer events missing. Collection still remains unfixed, months after release of the last skin pack.

I wonder if we are going to see any new release this year. Supposedly, there were some heroes lined up in development (this was said long after the cuts), but whatever happened with them, no idea. This might be the first year without anything new. They don't even flip a switch to properly start returning events anymore.

Given the cuts and reduced resources, I think development for those Heroes still is progressing, but a very VERY slow pace. Even back when the game was at its prime it still took them between 6 to 8 months to fully develop a new Hero.

[Arcling 898]

30 minutes ago, Valhalen said:

Given the cuts and reduced resources, I think development for those Heroes still is progressing, but a very VERY slow pace. Even back when the game was at its prime it still took them between 6 to 8 months to fully develop a new Hero.

We can only hope! But almost a year has passed, so it wouldn't be unreasonable to expect something to be finally released. What's bothering me is why they can't even properly activate past events. Nothing new, so it wouldn't require any development time. Just give us another chance to earn those skins.

Another thing, HotS is running multiple language versions, so each new release requires getting multiple voice actors to record their lines. Obviously that means more costs for whatever small budget they still got, probably why we are no longer getting any new skins with unique voice lines.

[Valhalen 1,485]

12 hours ago, Arcling said:

We can only hope! But almost a year has passed, so it wouldn't be unreasonable to expect something to be finally released. What's bothering me is why they can't even properly activate past events. Nothing new, so it wouldn't require any development time. Just give us another chance to earn those skins.

Another thing, HotS is running multiple language versions, so each new release requires getting multiple voice actors to record their lines. Obviously that means more costs for whatever small budget they still got, probably why we are no longer getting any new skins with unique voice lines.

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. The past event part is really bothering me as well.