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by Published on 2018-09-17 10:59 PM

Heroes of the Storm PTR Patch Notes - September 17, 2018
Be sure to check up on everything related to the upcoming Fall of King's Crest event in case you missed it earlier.

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker)

Our next Heroes of the Storm patch has just hit the Public Test Realm and will be available for playtesting until September 24. 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.

NOTE: This patch also includes balance changes for an update that will be hitting the live servers later this week. You can find those notes here.


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General

New Event: Fall of King’s Crest
  • The Fall of Kings Questline is now available for players. The hunt is on for the generals of the Raven Lord!
  • Loot Chests have been replaced with Seasonal Loot chests for the duration of this event.


Battlegrounds

Garden of Terror
  • Garden of Terror has received significant gameplay and layout changes. Find out more in the Garden of Terror Spotlight video or on the updated Garden of Terror Battleground site.



Art

Heroes, Abilities, and Talents
  • Kerrigan and Brightwing have received some new and updated art to coincide with their gameplay updates.


User Interface
  • Mercenary Camp and Banner floating text has received readability improvements.


Heroes

Assassin

Kerrigan


Abilities
  • Ravage (Q)
    • Charges increased from 1 to 2
    • Range reduced from 8 to 6
    • Mana cost reduced from 40 to 20
    • Damage reduced from 210 to 130
    • Added functionality:
      • Now also refunds 20 Mana when used on an enemy that dies within 1.5 seconds
  • Impaling Blades (W)
    • Damage reduced from 261 to 180
  • Primal Grasp (E)
    • Pull damage reduced from 114 to 25
    • Added functionality:
      • 2.5 seconds after using Primal Grasp, Kerrigan damages all nearby enemies for 180 damage
  • Summon Ultralisk (R)
    • Splash radius increased from 1.5 to 2
    • The initial cast of Ultralisk is now directional skill shot that causes the Ultralisk to charge in the targeted direction until impacting an enemy Hero. It deals 250 damage and stuns for .5 seconds to the first Hero it hits.
  • Assimilation (Trait)
    • Shield amount increased from 10 to 15% of damage dealt

Talents
  • Level 1
    • Siphoning Impact (Q)
      • New functionality:
        • Using Ravage on an enemy Hero grants an additional 90 Assimilation Shield
    • Assimilation Mastery (Trait)
      • Moved from level 7
      • No longer increases the duration of Assimilation Shield
      • In addition to increasing Kerrigan’s Health and Mana Regeneration by 100% while Assimilation is active, now also causes Regeneration Globes to grant 40 Assimilation Shield per second while active
    • Fury of the Swarm (Passive)
      • Moved from level 4
      • New functionality:
        • Kerrigan gains 10% more Assimilation Shields from Basic Attacks. Casting Ravage causes Kerrigan’s next 2 Basic Attacks within 3 seconds to splash for 100% damage around the target
    • Sharpened Blades (W)
      • Removed
    • Block (Passive)
      • Removed
  • Level 4
    • New Talent - Sharpened Blades (Q)
      • !Quest: Every time an enemy Minion or Hero dies within 1.5 seconds of being damaged by Ravage, increase Ravage's damage by .5 (5 for Heroes), up to 50
      • !Reward: After reaching 50 damage, gain an additional 50 damage
    • New Talent - Kinetic Fulmination (W)
      • Damaging an enemy increases the damage of Kerrigan's next Impaling Blades by 15%. Stacks up to 150%. Lasts 10 seconds.
    • Psionic Pulse (E)
      • New functionality:
        • Primal Grasp deals damage a second time 2.5 seconds after the initial burst
    • Clean Kill (Q)
      • Removed
    • Envenom (Active)
      • Removed
  • Level 7
    • New Talent - Queen of Blades (Q)
      • Every time Primal Grasp's pull or explosion hits an enemy Hero, reduce the cooldown of Ravage by 4 seconds
    • New Talent - Boundless Fury (Q)
      • Casting Ravage on an enemy Hero grants a charge of Ravage. Can only occur on each Hero once every 10 seconds
    • Bladed Momentum (Passive)
      • Now only triggers when attacking enemy Heroes
      • Now works with splash damage from Fury of the Swarm
    • Blade Torrent (W)
      • Removed
  • Level 13
    • New Talent - Psionic Barrier (E)
      • Kerrigan gains 15 Spell Armor for 4 seconds for every enemy Hero she hits with Primal Grasp's pull or explosion
    • New Talent - Volatile Power (Trait)
      • Increase the base Shield amount gained from Assimilation by 15%, but reduce the duration of Assimilation Shields from 6 to 3 seconds
    • New Talent - Chrysalis (Active)
      • Activate to place Kerrigan in a chrysalis with 550 Health for 5 seconds. Kerrigan regenerates 5% Health per second while inside the chrysalis. 90 second cooldown.
    • Eviscerate (Q)
      • Removed
    • Double Strike (Q)
      • Removed
    • Queen’s Rush (Active)
      • Removed
  • Level 16
    • New Talent - Mounting Potency (Q)
      • Casting Ravage on an enemy increases Kerrigan's Spell Power by 5% for 4 seconds, stacking up to 40%
    • New Talent - Painful Spikes (W)
      • After stunning an enemy with Impale, Kerrigan deals an additional 75 damage the next 6 times she damages them within the next 5 seconds
    • New Talent - Unbridled Energy (R)
      • When Kerrigan damages a Hero with a Heroic Ability she gains 30% Spell Power for 4 seconds
    • Aggressive Defense (Trait)
      • Removed
    • Essence for Essence (Active)
      • Removed
    • Overdrive (Active)
      • Removed
  • Level 20
    • Omegastorm (R)
      • New Functionality:
        • Maelstrom's duration is increased by .125 seconds every time it damages an enemy Hero
    • New Talent - Assimilation Blades (Trait)
      • Damaging an enemy increases Kerrigan's Basic Attack damage by 4%, up to 40%, for 5 seconds
    • Psionic Shift (Active)
      • Shield amount is now doubled when damaging enemy Heroes
    • Nexus Blades (Passive)
      • Removed

Developer Comment: Kerrigan is receiving an update to increase the tactical depth of using her abilities and increase the impact that her Talents have on her playstyle. We've reduced the range on Ravage but added a second charge so that smart Kerrigan players can use it to maneuver on the battlefield, as well as utilize a lot of her Talents to get the most out of the ability. We've added a secondary explosion to Primal Grasp so that Kerrigan will want to continue to worry about her positioning after her initial engagement occurs, as well as provide the opportunity for new Talent interactions. We've also added a skillshot component to Ultralisk so that the Heroic can feel like it has a big moment when it is first unleashed. Overall, Kerrigan should play mostly the same, but have increased room for mastery and playstyle specific builds.


Support

Brightwing


Abilities
  • Arcane Flare (Q)
    • Outer damage from 87 to 75
    • Inner damage from 260 to 180
    • Missile speed increased ~30%
    • Added functionality:
      • If an enemy Hero is hit by the center of Arcane Flare, instantly pulse a free Soothing Mist
  • Polymorph (W)
    • Duration from 1.25 to 1.5 seconds
    • Cooldown from 10 to 12 seconds
  • Pixie Dust (E)
    • Range from 8 to 7
  • Phase Shift (Z)
    • Cooldown from 55 to 60 seconds
    • Added functionality:
      • Heals the target for 20% of their maximum health
  • Soothing Mist (D)
    • Heal amount reduced from 115 to 105
    • Added functionality:
      • Activate to instantly pulse a calming wave, clearing all Stun, Root, Slow, and Silence effects from nearby allies
      • 120 second cooldown
  • Emerald Wind (R)
    • No longer grants passive healing to Soothing Mist
    • Damage reduced from 303 to 225
    • Cooldown reduced from 60 to 50 seconds

Talents
  • Level 1
    • Greater Polymorph (W)
      • Moved from Level 16
      • New functionality:
        • Increase the cast range of Polymorph by 30%. Anytime a nearby enemy Hero is killed, reset the Cooldown of Polymorph
    • Hyper Shift (Z)
      • New functionality:
        • Increase the heal amount of Phase Shift to 30% of targets max Health
        • Every Minion killed near you lowers the cooldown of Phase Shift by 2 seconds
    • Pixie Charm (1)
      • New functionality:
        • Every Minion killed near you grants you a Bribe Stack. Hitting an enemy with the center portion of Arcane Flare grants you 5 Bribe Stacks
  • Level 4
    • Manic Pixie (E)
      • Removed
    • Unstable Anomaly (W)
      • New functionality:
        • Increase the slow amount of Polymorph to 40%. When it expires, it explodes dealing 2% of all nearby enemy Heroes max Health in damage
    • Dream Shot (Q)
      • Moved from Level 1
      • New functionality:
        • Increase the range of Arcane Flare by 50%. If it hits an enemy Hero, lower the cooldown to 2 seconds.
    • New Talent – Magic Spit (D)
      • Increase your Basic Attack range by 20%. Attacks against Heroes reduce the cooldown of Soothing Mist’s active by 5 seconds
  • Level 7
    • Mistified (D)
      • Removed
    • Cleanse (Active)
      • Removed
    • Phase Shield (Z)
      • Removed
    • Sticky Flare (Q)
      • Moved from Level 13
      • New functionality:
        • Arcane Flare slows Heroes by 20% for 3 seconds, or 40% if hit by the center of Arcane Flare
    • Peekaboo! (Z)
      • Moved from Level 4
      • Added functionality:
        • Also grants the you and your target a temporary health Shield
    • New Talent – Critical Mist (D)
      • If Calming Mist removes a status effect from an ally, instantly heal them for 200
  • Level 13
    • Ice Block (Active)
      • Removed
    • Shield Dust (E)
      • Removed
    • Pixie Boost (E)
      • Movement Speed decay duration increased from 1.5 to 3 seconds
      • Movement Speed bonus reduced to 40%
    • New Talent – Safety Dust (E)
      • Increase the duration of Pixie Dust by 1 second. Healing dealt by Brightwing is increased by 25% on targets with Pixie Dust
    • New Talent – Pixie Power (E)
      • Lower the cooldown of Pixie Dust by 3 seconds and increase the Spell Armor it grants to 50
  • Level 16
    • Bouncy Dust (E)
      • Removed
    • Hardened Focus (Passive)
      • Removed
    • New Talent – Phase Out (Active)
      • Activate to phase out and become invulnerable for .5 seconds
        • 20 second cooldown
    • New Talent – Hush (Q)
      • Enemy Heroes hit with the center of Arcane Flare are Silenced for 1 second and deal 25% less damage for 3 seconds.
  • Level 20
    • Double Wyrmhole (R)
      • Removed
    • Continuous Winds (R)
      • Removed
    • Revitalizing Mist (D)
      • Removed
    • Storm Shield (Active)
      • Removed
    • New Talent – Invisible Friends (R)
      • Blink Heal grants you and the target stealth. They are unrevealable for .5 seconds. While under this effect, they regenerate 20 Health Per Second
    • New Talent – Intensive Winds (R)
      • Lower the cooldown of Emerald Wind to 3 seconds. It now costs 200 Mana
    • New Talent – Faerie Protector (Active)
      • Activate to instantly cast Pixie Dust on all nearby allied Heroes
      • 60 second cooldown
    • New Talent – Speedy Dragon (Passive)
      • Gain 20% permanent movement speed

Developer Comment: Late last year we decided that we wanted to add a fun mini-game to Brightwing utilizing her Arcane Flare as the focal point. As it often happens, while making the initial changes we started diving in deeper and deeper. Nearly a year later, we are excited to showcase a fully updated talent tree alongside some fundamental game-play changes to our resident Faerie Dragon. With a baseline AoE cleanse-type effect and added healing potential to her Arcane Flare, Brightwing should bring some new major play-making abilities to her team.


Collection

New Bundles
  • The following new bundles are available for a limited time:
    • Fall of King’s Crest Bundle
    • Spectral Wyrm Alextrasza Skin Pack
    • Spider Warden Maiev Skin Pack
    • Cursed Witch Whitemane Skin Pack
    • Phantom Knight Zarya Skin Pack

New Announcers
  • Queen Nightshade
  • Blackheart
  • Lady of Thorns

New Skins
  • Alexstrasza
    • Spectral Wyrm Alexstrasza
    • Infernal Wyrm Alexstrasza
    • Phantom Wyrm Alexstrasza
  • Brightwing
    • Spectral Bewitching Brightwing
  • Kerrigan
    • Spectral Countess Kerrigan
  • Maiev
    • Spider Warden Maiev
    • Forgotten Spider Warden Maiev
    • Night Spider Warden Maiev
  • Whitemane
    • Cursed Witch Whitemane
    • Forgotten Witch Whitemane
    • Court Witch Whitemane
  • Zarya
    • Phantom Knight Zarya
    • Infernal Knight Zarya
    • Geist Knight Zarya

New Mounts
  • Redeemed Tombstone
  • Corrupted Tombstone
  • Copper Money Pig
  • Pumpkin Eye Pad
  • Sunny Side Eye Pad

New Portraits, Sprays, and Emojis
  • Several new emoji packs and portraits have also been added to the Heroes of the Storm Collection tab.


Bug Fixes

General
  • Fixed several confusing or incorrect tooltips across all parts of the game.
  • Drag Scroll: Fixed an issue that could occasionally cause the camera to jump in the direction of the cursor when using the drag scroll feature.
  • Reconnect: Fixed an issue that could cause players to lose control of their Hero if they reconnect while piloting a vehicle.
  • AI: A number of improvements have been made to AI Hero behavior.

Art
  • Chromie: Fixed an issue that caused Chromie’s hourglass to go missing during her Hearthstone animation.

Heroes, Abilities, and Talents
  • Abathur: Fixed an issue preventing Monstrosity from gaining damage when nearby enemy minions die.
  • Alarak & Gazlowe: Fixed an issue that allowed Gazlowe and Alarak to cast charged abilities while time stopped.
  • Ana: Fixed an issue that allowed Ana to used Eye of Horus shots between mine levels on Haunted Mines.
  • Lúcio: Fixed an issue preventing Lúcio from issuing attack commands while silenced.
  • Mephisto: Fixed an issue preventing the Static Barrier talent from granting Mephisto shields if damage was dealt to Shields or Protected Heroes.
  • Raynor: Raynor’s Raider will now clear attack or move order when entering or exiting the mines on Haunted Mines.
  • Stealth: Fixed an issue that prevented Ping markers from being visible on clones if the clones were created after the ping was initiated.

User Interface
  • Fixed an issue that caused Garrosh’s Groundbreaker splat to appear under the wrong team color in observer mode.
  • Fixed an issue that could cause Heroes to fail to play stun animations and effects if stunned twice in quick succession.
  • Lúcio: Fixed an issue causing the UI displaying the number of allies in range of crossfade to stop working after Lúcio exits a vehicle.
by Published on 2018-09-17 05:10 PM

Event: Fall of King's Crest


Official Event Site: Fall of King's Crest

Note: The Fall/Hallow's End event items from previous years will be available for the duration of this event.


The Fall of King's Crest Comic
The next issue of the Heroes of the Storm comics will be out on September 24th. Be sure to catch up on issues #1 and #2.


Event Content

Legendary Skins
  • Spectral Wyrm Alexstrasza
  • Phantom Wyrm Alexstrasza
  • Infernal Wyrm Alexstrasza


(click to enlarge)


Legendary Skins (Includes special mounting animation)
  • Cursed Witch Whitemane
  • Court Witch Whitemane
  • Forgotten Witch Whitemane


(click to enlarge)


Epic Skins
  • Spider Warden Maiev
  • Forgotten Spider Warden Maiev
  • Night Spider Warden Maiev

  • Phantom Knight Zarya
  • Geist Knight Zarya
  • Infernal Knight Zarya


(click to enlarge)


New Mount
  • Pumpkin Eye Pad Mount
  • Sunny Side Eye Pad Mount

Banners
  • Raven Army Warcrests
  • Witches & Warden Warcrest
  • Spectres & Phantoms Warcrests


(click to enlarge)


New Portraits


(click to enlarge)


New Sprays


(click to enlarge)


New Mount
  • Copper Pig

Announcer Packs
  • Queen Nightshade
  • Blackheart
  • Lady of Thorns

New Skin Tints
  • Spectral Bewitching Brightwing
  • Spectral Countess Kerrigan


(click to enlarge)


New Quests: Last Stand Against the Raven Lord

Dive behind enemy lines to defeat the Raven Lord’s generals and stage a last-ditch defense of King’s Crest. Complete four Questlines (with four Quests each) to unlock themed rewards. Once all four generals are defeated, choose between two Quests in a final act of resistance against the Raven Lord. Unlock a different Tombstone Mount depending on the final Quest you choose.


(click to enlarge)


(click to enlarge)


(click to enlarge)
by Published on 2018-09-16 05:25 PM

September 16th Teaser
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker)

The Raven Lord and his generals seek retribution for the defiance at Alterac Pass. The siege of King’s Crest begins soon.

Brightwing & Kerrigan Rework Interviews
InvenGlobal sat down for a talk with Lead Live Designer, Brett Crawford and Senior Live Game Designer, Alex Neyman about both the Brightwing and Kerrigan reworks coming to the game soon. The Brightwing interview in particular includes a few talents that were not covered in the rework video preview, so be sure to check it out!

Brightwing
  • This rework, as with other recent support reworks, is part of making healers feel less like healbots and give them more fun gameplay options, with Arcane Flare being the prime target of this since it already has the bullseye mechanic
  • Her new Cleanse on Soothing Mist is on a long cooldown (120 seconds), but the team expects players to make massive plays with it
  • She will remain as a really strong global hero, but with options to make up for her weaknesses such as burst healing
  • This is in line with the reworks and recent releases of other supports. Healers being super strong in one respect and weak in all others was part of what made the double-support meta happen. Players picked a second support to make up for that weakness
  • The level 20 upgrade to Emerald Wind lowers the cooldown to 3 seconds but makes it cost 200 mana
  • This rework has been in the works for almost a year


Kerrigan
  • A lot of factors go into deciding when a hero is up for a rework. Outdated kits, pick-/win-rates, etc.
  • Kerrigan is the last hero left with a combo of the original generic talents (Envenom and the Essence for Essence talents)
  • The generic talents were a result of the talent system as we know it being added to the game very late in development, so the team had to come up with a lot of things to populate the trees with very quickly
  • Chrysalis was the obvious choice for a strong defensive talent that incorporates a mix of first aid and ice block abilities. It also has strong lore connections
  • The goal with reworks such as Kerrigan's is to maintain character identity, such as the iconic Q-W-E combo, while at the same time updating the character to the current hero standards of the game
  • That means she now has things to think about and do after using her combo, instead of standing around waiting for it to be ready to use again
  • The team also wants talent options that actually alter gameplay instead of just being stat boosts in some way
  • Stun-charge added to the Ultralisk is an effort to make the ability feel like a proper heroic ability and not "just" a pet. The stun-charge also fits well with her base combo-based gameplay
  • The developers also know that some people enjoy the pet control aspect of the ability, so they kept the original spirit of the ability intact


HeroStorm Episode 47 - Rogue Won
Carbot Animations returns with yet another HeroStorm animation. This one has Valeera doing Valeera things, as one would expect.

by Published on 2018-09-15 08:15 PM

September 15th Teaser
Originally Posted by Blizzard

Prepare yourselves, Heroes. A battle for the fate of a realm looms on the horizon.

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