Heroes of the Storm

Heroes artists discuss their process… and manage to leak this year’s Greek Gods event

“Brew is awesome. Brew is amazing,” says Trevor Jacobs.

“I’m OK,” says Andrew Kinabrew, sitting back in his chair with a slight smile and arms folded.

“He’s amazingly OK,” says Jacobs.

Interviewing Jacobs and Kinabrew—Heroes of the Storm Assistant Art Director and Senior Artist, respectively—is like interrogating two giddy suspects who can’t get their story straight, except they’re riffing off of their own jigsaw-fitted dynamic so well that you almost don’t care what you pulled them in for anyway. Their crime, in this case? Creating hundreds of accessories for in-game murder. We sat down with the artists to find out what exactly has been going on behind the scenes of their criminally creative skin pack concoctions.

First: Some background on our suspects. The awesome, amazingly OK Kinabrew started at Blizzard eight years ago on the project that would soon become Overwatch. After a year he switched onto Heroes of the Storm and has been working with Jacobs ever since.

Jacobs, a Blizzard veteran of 24 years, worked on a range of projects, from Warcraft II and III to the original StarCraft, before coming to Heroes, where he says he’s found his passion project.

“Heroes gets to do so much fun stuff,” Jacobs says. “It’s like being a kid with this huge toy box. You get to play with everything. Selfishly, I feel like any dreams we have, we get to do.”

Well, a kid with a toy box doesn’t sound so dastardly after all.


The Toys in the Toy Box

So where exactly do these dreams start, and what’s the process of bringing them to completion in-game? As it turns out, skin concepts come from a diverse number of places. Some skins are drawn from the artists’ life experiences, or their fond memories of Blizzard IPs and pop culture during their childhood, inspiration from the community, jammed out during the annual team-wide Hackathon, and probably more. (It would be foolish to assume kids want to share all their toys in the box with you.) The nesting ground for these ideas is the art team’s backlog of over 200 skin concepts, where skins develop their own stories and mythos to surround them over the course of years. Making it off the backlog is no easy task: it means the skin probably combines several of the influences listed above, and it’s garnered enough admiration from the rest of the team to have accomplices to allow for its escape into the Nexus.

Nexomania's El Chamuco Diablo skin, which remained on the backlog for two years, was one such example, and we shudder to think of the sheer volume of player lives it’s claimed since its release.

Kinabrew, who created the original concept for the Legendary Mariachi Reaper skin in Overwatch, came up with a Luchador Diablo concept shortly after joining the Heroes team. He believed the skin could be part of a greater event and championed it internally for years, working to convince others, too. Finally, the Luchador Diablo domino elbow-dropped: others started to embrace and pursue the idea. A design manager used his previous experience writing for a wrestling game to help brainstorm wrestling moves. Another artist who grew up watching lucha libres with his family made concepts for other Nexomania skins.

“The animators came up with really cool poses. And then our community team made cool luchador masks for us,” says Jacobs. “Even getting an announcer, which is usually a pain because you have to do it in every language—people we didn’t expect to become advocates were championing [the event] with us.”

The event inspired everyone to add a little bit of themselves to its creation. Kinabrew, who is originally from New Mexico, adds that it was his opportunity to represent his home and family in one of his favorite games.

“[In New Mexico] we have a lot of Latino influence. My wife is Mexican-American,” he says. “It just reminds me of home."


My Big Fat Greek Leak

Nexomania wasn’t the only event that arose from the toy box like a plushy brought to life by a precocious child’s unconditional love. Let’s not forget why we pulled these two villainously artistic minds into interrogation in the first place—we have a lead on a new criminal plot in the works.

“I’m trying to think what we can leak. The Greek God stuff is pretty fun, right?” Jacobs says, looking sidelong at Kinabrew.

Kinabrew chuckles nervously, eyebrows threatening to leap off his face.

“Greek Gods was another idea we’d been mulling over for years,” Jacobs says.

The Myth skin pack, a subevent coming later in the year, also came together thanks to a diverse set of influences and several years on the backlog. A community skin for Uther, called “Uthor” after the Nordic God Thor, was part of the inspiration. But once the team translated the concept to Cassia with a lightning bolt for a weapon, the full event was finally born.

“We were thinking, wouldn’t it be cool to see Cassia with a Zeus skin? Because her kit is all lightning. And then it started hitting like ‘what if we added this character? Or that character?’” Jacobs says, punctuating each sentence with a snap of his fingers, reminiscent of a lightning bolt striking earth.



The bolt of inspiration started from Thunder Goddess Cassia electrified the team to create a Hermes-inspired Tracer skin, a Cerberus mount, and a Pegasus mount—all of which the team can’t wait to unleash onto the live server.



The skins are in the pipeline now; Kinabrew recently finished his “consistency pass,” to make sure the whole pack is visually consistent. Soon, he and Jacobs will be on to the next project. On the Heroes art team, there’s always another dream to explore.

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


Quick Navigation:

• General
  
• Heroes
  
• Bug Fixes

General

• Brawl
  
  • Varian is now able to be selected in ARAM games.
    

Heroes

Tank

Arthas


Base

• Health increased from 2782 to 2860.
  
• Health Regeneration increased from 5.80 to 5.96.

Talents

• Level 7
  
  • Rune Tap [Passive]
    
    • Healing increased from 4% to 5% maximum Health.
      
• Level 10
  
  • Army of the Dead [R1]
    
    • Tooltip now states how much damage Ghouls do.
      
• Level 20
  
  • Legion of Northrend [R1]
    
    • Additional functionality: Increase Ghoul Basic Attack damage by 50%.
      
  • Absolute Zero [R2]
    
    • Root duration increased from 2 to 2.5 seconds.
      
    • Slow duration increased from 3.5 to 4 seconds.
      
  • Death’s Advance [Active]
    
    • Active Movement Speed bonus duration increased from 3 to 5 seconds.
      
  • Anti-Magic Shell [Active]
    
    • Duration increased from 3 to 4 seconds.
      

Developer Comment: Arthas is slightly underperforming compared to other Warriors, so we’re giving him a small baseline Health buff which we feel is appropriate since he doesn’t have the mobility that a lot of other Warriors bring to the table. We’ve also taken a look at his Level 20 talents and beefed them up all be much more epic.


Diablo


Base

• Devastating Charge [Q]
  
  • Damage when hitting enemies into terrain increased from 120 to 130.
    

Talents

• Level 7
  
  • Diabolical Momentum [Passive]
    
    • Cooldown reduction increased from 1.25 to 1.5 seconds.
      

Developer Comment: Since we changed Devastating Charge Diablo has fallen off a bit. While we believe he’s in a more healthy spot overall, we understand how players miss the unique role he had as a tank who had the ability to burst down enemies who are out of position. We’re giving a little bit of that back in the form of a baseline buff to Shadow charge so that he can have some of that fantasy back no matter how players choose to build him.


Tyrael


Talents

• Level 20
  
  • Defense of the Angels [Active]
    
    • Cooldown reduced from 120 to 60 seconds.
      

Developer Comment: Now the Defense of the Angels no longer has a cooldown reduction component, we’re reducing its cooldown to be more in line with similar effects.


Bruiser

Imperius


Talents

• Level 1
  
  • Impaling Light [Q]
    
    • Damage bonus increased from 100% to 125%.
      
• Level 4
  
  • Battle Hunger [Trait]
    
    • Healing bonus increased from 60% to 70%.
      
  • Press Forward [Passive]
    
    • Additional functionality: While Imperius is being healed by a Regeneration Globe, he gains 10 Armor.
      
• Level 7
  
  • Blaze of Glory [W]
    
    • Damage increased from 125 to 135.
      
• Level 13
  
  • Pathetic Mortals [Q]
    
    • Damage reduction increased from 40% to 50%.
      
• Level 20
  
  • Unrelenting Descent [R2]
    
    • Cooldown reduction increased from 5 to 10 seconds.
      
  • Brand of Solarion [Trait]
    
    • Duration increased from 3 to 5 seconds.
      

Developer Comment: We’re giving Imperius a slew of buffs to underperforming talents, which we believe will push him into being a more stable pick on most maps.


Rexxar


Base

• Basic Attack damage increased from 125 to 134.
  
• Misha Health reduced from 1620 to 1520.
  
• Misha Health Regeneration reduced from 3.38 to 3.17.
  
• Mend Pet [E]
  
  • Mana cost increased from 60 to 70.
    

Developer Comment: Rexxar’s ability to win the laning phase on point control maps is a little too powerful, so we’re nerfing his ability to keep Misha alive. To compensate him for this nerf, we’re increasing his Basic Attack damage, which will both help him in latter parts of the game and make the early game more about how well he can work with Misha to outtrade the enemy Hero. We’re hoping that this leads to more interaction in the laning phase, with fewer instances of Misha being able to stand on a point for prolonged periods of time while the opposing hero is unable to push her off. We know there is a fine line between keeping his unique role on these maps and feeling too oppressed when playing against him, so we’ll be keeping an eye on these changes and will tune as necessary going forward.


Xul


Base

• Health increased from 2000 to 2200.
  
• Health Regeneration increased from 4.17 to 4.58.
  
• Basic Attack damage reduced from 110 to 100.
  
• Spectral Scythe [Q]
  
  • Damage reduced from 240 to 210.
    
  • Additional functionality: Hitting enemy Heroes spawns a Skeletal Warrior.
    
• Bone Prison [E]
  
  • Now also causes nearby Skeletons to focus their target after the target is rooted.
    
• Raise Skeleton [Trait]
  
  • Skeletal Warrior Health increased from 225 to 240.
    
  • Skeletal Warrior Health lost per second increased from 15 to 20.
    
  • Skeletal Warrior duration reduced from 15 to 12 seconds.
    
  • Maximum Skeletal Warriors spawned from Minions reduced from 4 to 3.
    
  • Skeletal Warriors now explode, dealing 50 damage to nearby enemies when they die.
    

Talents

• Level 1
  
  • Shade [Passive]
    
    • Bone Armor cooldown increase reduced from 20 to 10 seconds.
      
• Level 4
  
  • Reaper’s Toll [Q]
    
    • Quest component removed.
      
    • Cooldown reduction reduced from 3 to 2 seconds.
      
    • Mana cost reduction reduced from 20 to 15.
      
  • Grim Scythe [W]
    
    • Additional functionality: Increase Xul’s Basic Attack damage by 15%.
      
• Level 7
  
  • New Talent: Wall Of Bones [Trait]
    
    • Increase the Shield amount of Bone Armor to 35% of Xul’s maximum Health, and Xul gains 20 Spell Armor for its duration.
      
• Level 10
  
  • Poison Nova [R1]
    
    • Damage increased from 57 to 63.
      
• Level 13
  
  • Executioner [Passive]
    
    • Removed.
      
  • Amplify Damage [E]
    
    • Moved from Level 16.
      
    • Duration increased from 1.75 to 2 seconds.
      
    • Additional functionality: Increase the duration of Bone Prison’s Root by .25 seconds.
      
• Level 16
  
  • Corpse Explosion [Trait]
    
    • Removed.
      
  • New Talent: Decrepify [Q]
    
    • Enemy Heroes who are damaged by Spectral Scythe or Skeletal Warriors are Slowed by 40% for 2.5 seconds.
      
  • Weaken [W]
    
    • Moved from Level 7.
      
    • New functionality: Enemy Heroes who are damaged by Cursed Strikes or Skeletal Warriors deal 40% less damage for 3 seconds.
      
• Level 20
  
  • Andariel’s Visage [R1]
    
    • No longer increases the damage of Skeletal Warriors.
      
    • Additional functionality: Increase the duration of Poison Nova by 50%.
      
  • Cold Hand of Death [R2]
    
    • No longer causes Skeletal Warriors to Slow enemies.
      
    • Additional functionality: Every 5th Spectral Scythe that hits enemy Heroes spawns a Frost Mage instead of a Skeletal Warrior at their location.
      
  • Kalan’s Edict [Trait]
    
    • New functionality: Each time Skeletal Warriors deal damage, reduce the cooldown of Bone Armor and Xul’s Heroic Ability by 1.5%.
      

Developer Comment: Xul’s rework has arrived! Our goal with these changes is primarily to make him feel more like a Diablo Necromancer, and to make his Skeletons a larger part of his kit outside of their pushing potential. Xul now has the ability to spawn Skeletal Warriors in combat via Spectral Scythe, and they now explode for damage when they die, giving enemy Heroes a reason to stay away from them while they mow them down. We also updated Xul’s talents to embrace this fantasy, with many options to use Skeletons as a mechanism to deliver various buffs to Xul and debuffs to the enemy team. We had a blast testing him, and hope you enjoy him as much as we have!


Healer

Anduin


Base

• Chastise [E]
  
  • Damage increased from 145 to 155.
    

Talents

• Level 1
  
  • Pursued By Grace [Passive]
    
    • Healing increased from 33 to 35.
      
• Level 7
  
  • Binding Heal [Q]
    
    • Healing amount increased from 104 to 115.
      
  • Divine Star [W]
    
    • Shield amount increased from 172 to 185.
      
• Level 16
  
  • Evenhanded Blessings [Q]
    
    • Additional functionality: If Flash Heal is cast on a different target than its last, it heals for 20% more.
      
• Level 20
  
  • Light of Stormwind [R1]
    
    • New functionality: While inside Holy Word: Salvation, Anduin’s allies are Invulnerable.
      

Developer Comment: While decently popular, from a win rate perspective Anduin has been underperforming compared to other Healers, so we’re giving him some buffs largely to underperforming talents to help him out.


Kharazim


Talents

• Level 20
  
  • Peaceful Repose [R1]
    
    • Additional functionality: Increase the healing of Divine Palm by 75%.
      

Developer Comment: We felt that Peaceful Repose could add something to Kharazim players who are good at proccing Divine Palm, so we’re greatly increasing its Healing when he does get a successful proc.


Rehgar


Talents

• Level 4
  
  • Feral Heart [Z]
    
    • Mana restoration when hitting enemy Heroes increased from 4% to 5%.
      
• Level 10
  
  • Bloodlust [R2]
    
    • Life Steal amount increased from 30% to 40% of damage dealt.
      
• Level 20
  
  • Gladiator’s War Shout [R2]
    
    • New functionality: Increase the range and duration of Bloodlust by 100%.
      

Developer Comment: We’re giving Gladiator’s War Shout a fairly substantial buff to make it more powerful and interesting, and as a result also buffing Bloodlust. We’re hoping this opens up an alternative playstyle for Rehgar that can compete better with Ancestral Healing.


Stukov


Base

• Health increased from 1765 to 1850.
  
• Health Regeneration increased from 3.68 to 3.85.
  
• Weighted Pustule [W]
  
  • Damage when expiring increased from 80 to 88.
    

Developer Comment: Stukov is underperforming a bit compared to other Healers, and his talents are in a fairly good place right now. To help him out, we’re beefing up some of his base stats, which should allow him to better trade with enemy Heroes and apply more pressure to the enemy team.


Melee Assassin

Kerrigan


Talents

• Level 13
  
  • Psionic Barrier [E]
    
    • Additional functionality: Hitting an enemy Hero with Primal Grasp also grants Kerrigan 4% Movement Speed for 4 seconds, stacking up to 20%.
      
  • Chrysalis [Active]
    
    • Chrysalis is now able to be cancelled early.
      

Developer Comment: We’ve heard feedback from Kerrigan players for some time that they would like to have the ability to cancel Chrysalis early. We originally intended it to be this way to separate it a bit from other similar mechanics and to give opponents a reliable way to counter it, but found that it ended up being less fun and interesting overall. Because of this, we’re adding the ability for Kerrigan to cancel the effect early.


Samuro


Talents

• Level 20
  
  • Dance of Death [R1]
    
    • Required Heroes hit to reset cooldown reduced from 25 to 20.
      

Developer Comment: Dance of Death was a little too hard to proc, so we’re lowering its requirement so that players can get resets more often from the Heroic upgrade.


The Butcher


Base

• Ruthless Onslaught [E]
  
  • Duration before the ability can be cancelled after charging reduced from 1 to .75 seconds.
    

Developer Comment: We’re making this change to reduce the amount of time that The Butcher has to commit to a charge before he can cancel it. Currently there is an awkward time where he charges and may want to cancel it as soon as possible, but he is forced to move a fair amount forward before he can cancel his charge. To make this feel more responsive, we’re reducing this window of time.


Ranged Assassin

Mephisto


Talents

• Level 1
  
  • Malicious Intent [E]
    
    • Number of enemy Heroes required to hit for the Spell Power duration bonus reduced from 20 to 18.
      
• Level 7
  
  • Trickery [E]
    
    • Number of enemy Heroes required to hit to reset the cooldown of Shade of Mephisto reduced from 20 to 18.
      

Developer Comment: Malicious Intent and Trickery are getting their additional procs slightly less often than we would like, so we’re reducing the requirement.


Raynor


Talents

• Level 1
  
  • Ace in the Hole [Passive]
    
    • Damage bonus reduced from 15% to 10%.
      

Developer Comment: Our thinking with our Raynor changes in our previous patch was to solve a design problem with Ace in the Hole’s mandatory synergy with Unstable Compound, while simultaneously giving him a bit of a buff overall by making his other two talents measure up to its new power. While this was largely successful, we underestimated how much more powerful Ace in the Hole would become compared to the new, buffed alternatives. We’re lowering its damage a bit to compensate for the Slow that it gained, which should make the tier more even overall.


Bug Fixes

General

• Mac
  
  • Fixed a Mouse confinement issue when selecting higher resolutions.
    

Heroes

• Fenix
  
  • Fixed an issue where Emergency Protocol's passive movement speed could be always active.
    
• Tyrael
  
  • Fixed an issue where Defense of the Angels could last longer than intended time.
    

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


Quick Navigation:

• Heroes
  
• Bug Fixes

Heroes

Tank

Cho


Talents

• Level 1
  
  • Calloused Hide [Trait]
    
    • New functionality: While under 60% maximum Health, Cho receives 15% additional Movement Speed and healing received.
      
• Level 7
  
  • Enraged Regeneration [Trait]
    
    • New functionality: Each time Cho deals damage to enemy Heroes, he is healed for 60 over 3 seconds. Enemy Heroes hit by Gall’s Dread Orb receive 35% less healing for 4 seconds.
      

Developer Comment: In regards to his trait, we want optimal play for Cho’gall to be to have Gall’s Ogre Rage be active most of the time, with emergency switches to Cho’s Ogre Hide when he is in danger. There are a few talents on Cho’galls tree that disincentivize this behavior, which we are adjusting now. Calloused Hide in particular was becoming an issue, as players have recently been finding it optimal to stay in Ogre Hide for the entire game, which removes the gameplay around the trait.


Mal'Ganis


Base

• Health reduced from 2600 to 2500.
  
• Health Regeneration reduced from 5.41 to 5.21.

Talents

• Level 10
  
  • Carrion Swarm [R1]
    
    • Cooldown increased from 80 to 100 seconds.
      
    • Damage reduced from 63 to 60.
      

Developer Comment: Mal’Ganis have been slightly too powerful for some time, so we’re toning him down a bit.


Muradin


Base

• Dwarf Toss [E]
  
  • Armor amount increased from 25 to 30.
    

Talents

• Level 1
  
  • Block [Passive]
    
    • Removed.
      
  • New talent: Dwarf Block [E]
    
    • Casting Dwarf Toss grants Muradin 4 charges of 75 Physical Armor against the next enemy Hero Basic Attack. These charges last for 10 seconds.
      
• Level 7
  
  • Heavy Impact [E]
    
    • Slow duration increased from 1.25 to 1.5 seconds.
      

Developer Comment: It’s been a long time since we've looked at Muradin. He’s been such a staple in the meta for so long that we did not feel he needed any large changes. While minor, these buffs should help bring him back into the spotlight as a valuable member of any team.


Stitches


Base

• Slam [W]
  
  • Slow amount increased from 40% to 45%.
    

Talents

• Level 1
  
  • Patchwork Creation [Passive]
    
    • Healing from Minions dying increased from 30 to 33.
      
    • Healing from Heroes dying increased from 240 to 255.
      
• Level 13
  
  • Fishing Hook [Q]
    
    • Moved from Level 16.
      
  • Meat Hook [Q]
    
    • Moved from Level 16.
      
    • No longer has a 4 second restriction after hitting enemy Heroes with Hook for its proc to reapply via Basic Attacks.
      
  • Pulverize [W]
    
    • Moved from Level 16.
      
    • Slow amount increased from 75% to 80%.
      
• Level 16
  
  • Lacerate [W]
    
    • Moved from Level 13.
      
  • Digestive Juices [E]
    
    • Moved from Level 13.
      
  • Gas Flare [Passive]
    
    • Moved from Level 13.
      

Developer Comment: We’re giving Stitches some love by slightly increasing his crowd control capabilities and moving his Level 16 talents to come online earlier in the game. Since they add a lot of power to his ability to function as a powerful front line Warrior for his team, this should help him make plays for a greater portion of the game.


Tyrael


Base

• Archangel’s Wrath [Trait]
  
  • Additional functionality: Each enemy Hero hit reduces Tyrael’s death timer by 10%.
    

Talents

• Level 1
  
  • Ardent Restoration [Passive]
    
    • Healing increased from 3.5 to 4 per stack.
      
• Level 20
  
  • Tyrael’s Level 20 talents have been reordered to follow normal conventions.
    
  • Defense of the Angels [Active]
    
    • New functionality: Activate to gain 50 Armor for 3 seconds. Each time Tyrael damages an enemy Hero with a Basic Attack or Basic Ability, increase the duration of this Armor bonus by .5 seconds.
      

Developer Comment: It has been a longstanding request to make Tyrael’s trait have some more oomph to it, so we’re giving him a thematic change where he can reduce his death timer when hitting enemy Heroes. We don’t expect this to be a huge winrate bump, but we do think it makes it feel a bit better to play as the Archangel of Justice.


Bruiser

Deathwing


Base

• Basic Attack damage reduced from 170 to 155.
  
• Incinerate [W]
  
  • Damage reduced from 75 to 70.
    
• Cataclysm [R1]
  
  • Periodic damage reduced from 11 to 10.
    

Talents

• Level 7
  
  • Skyfall [E]
    
    • Healing reduced from 3% to 2.5% maximum Health.
      

Developer Comment: Deathwing continues to be a force to be reckoned with, so we’re continuing to adjust his power level down. Rather than doing one fairly large set of Health, damage, and talent nerfs which can easily go overboard, we’re taking a more incremental approach.


Malthael


Talents

• Level 4
  
  • Throwing Shade [E]
    
    • No longer has a quest component.
      
    • Cooldown reduction reduced from 4 to 3 seconds.
      
    • Mana cost of Death Shroud after taking talent increased from 25 to 30.
      
• Level 10
  
  • Tormented Souls [R1]
    
    • Cooldown reduced from 80 to 60 seconds.
      
  • Last Rites [R2]
    
    • Cooldown increased from 65 to 70 seconds.
      

Developer Comment: Throwing Shade has not really worked out as an interesting Quest talent, as Malthael is often in a solo lane with only one opponent. Rather than gate the benefit behind what is often an arbitrary time gate, we’re going to give him its benefits immediately.


Support

Abathur


Base

• Locust Strain [Trait]
  
  • Bonus damage to enemy Structures reduced from 50% to 25%.
    

Talents

• Level 4
  
  • Prolific Dispersal [W]
    
    • No longer increases the range of Toxic Nest.
      
    • Additional functionality: Increase the duration of Toxic Nest by 45 seconds.
      

Developer Comment: To curb some of the frustrating gameplay where Abathur can continuously backdoor enemy Keeps, we’re reducing some of the buffs we gave to Locust Strain, as well as changing the functionality of Prolific Dispersal. While Abathur players can still do this strategy, it will be more difficult to pull off, as Abathur will have to travel to a more central location on the map to plant a Toxic Nest for vision to burrow into the enemy base.


Zarya


Talents

• Level 7
  
  • Pinpoint Accuracy [Q]
    
    • Additional functionality: also Slows enemy Heroes hit near the center of Particle Grenade by 25% for 2 seconds.
      
  • Explosive Barrier [W]
    
    • Damage increased from 100 to 110.
      
  • To the Limit [Trait]
    
    • Energy requirement for bonus attack size reduced from 50 to 40.
      
  • Hit Me [Trait]
    
    • Energy bonus increased from 15% to 20%.
      
• Level 10
  
  • Expulsion Zone [R2]
    
    • Radius increased by 10%.
      
• Level 16
  
  • Plasma Shock [Q]
    
    • Removed.
      
• Level 20
  
  • Clear Out [R2]
    
    • No longer increases the radius of Expulsion Zone.
      
    • Additional functionality: Reduce the cooldown of Expulsion Zone by 25 seconds.
      

Developer Comment: It’s been a long time since we made some serious changes to Zarya’s talents, so these changes should shake things up a bit for her. Plasma Shock in particular was not seeing much play, so we’re rolling its functionality into Pinpoint Accuracy, and buffing other talents on the tier to keep their competitiveness. We’re also redesigning Clear Out to give a massive cooldown reduction to Expulsion Zone instead of a radius increase, as we found the radius increase to not be the most impactful or fun Level 20 upgrade.


Healer

Auriel


Base

• Basic Attack damage reduced from 68 to 64.
  
• Sacred Sweep [Q]
  
  • Outer damage reduced from 45 to 40.
    
  • Inner damage reduced from 180 to 160.
    

Talents

• Level 10
  
  • Resurrect [R1]
    
    • Cooldown increased from 80 to 100 seconds.
      
    • Delay before the target is resurrected increased from 3 to 5 seconds.
      

Developer Comment: While our recent changes to Resurrect have put Auriel in the spotlight, she has been performing a bit too well compared to other Healers for some time now. We’re reducing some of her power to keep her more in line with her peers.


Malfurion


Talents

• Level 1
  
  • Rejuvenation [Q]
    
    • New functionality: Casting Regrowth on an ally also grants Malfurion its effect for 50% of its normal duration.
      
• Level 13
  
  • Revitalize [Trait]
    
    • Mana gain increased from 50 to 80.
      
• Level 16
  
  • Ysera’s Gift [Q]
    
    • Now has Crit kickers when bonus healing is applied.
      

Developer Comment: While reasonably powerful, Rejuvenation didn’t give much feedback to the player in regards to the benefit that it provided. We’re changing the talent to have a little more visual clarity and gameplay compared to before, which should help improve its performance.


Uther


Base

• Health reduced from 2075 to 2000.
  
• Health Regeneration reduced from 4.316 to 4.168.
  
• Hammer of Justice [E]
  
  • Cooldown increased from 8 to 10 seconds.
    

Talents

• Level 4
  
  • Holy Shock [Q]
    
    • Damage reduced from 50% to 40% of Holy Light’s Healing.
      

Developer Comment: Uther has recently risen to the top of the ranks as the most powerful Healer in the game. Whether he’s played as a Healer or a Tank, he has proven to be a too effective at his role, so we’re reducing some of his overall power.


Melee Assassin

Maiev


Talents

• Level 16
  
  • Cruel Chain [W]
    
    • New functionality: Umbral Bind grants 25% Movement Speed for 2.5 seconds. In addition, each time Maiev deals damage to tethered targets, Umbral Bind’s pull damage to all targets is increased by 30%, up to 150%.
      
    • This is a reversion to Cruel Chain’s previous functionality before last balance patch.
      

Developer Comment: We weren’t satisfied that the changes we recently made to Maiev’s Cruel Chain talent were a clear enough win for the hero overall, so we’re going to revert the changes we made to this talent. However, we do believe that Vengeful Knives is in a better, more competitive spot compared to before, so we are keeping those changes in.


Ranged Assassin

Azmodan


Base

• All Shall Burn [E]
  
  • Mana cost reduced from 30 to 25.
    

Talents

• Level 16
  
  • Trample [Active]
    
    • Moved from Level 20.
      
    • Damage increased from 240 to 275.
      
    • Slow duration increased from 1 to 1.25 seconds.
      
• Level 20
  
  • Sins Grasp [E]
    
    • Moved from Level 16.
      
    • Now only grants benefits when hitting enemy Heroes.
      
    • Final Slow amount increased from 45% to 50%.
      
    • Slow duration increased from 2 to 2.5 seconds.
      

Developer Comment: Azmodan’s Level 16 All Shall Burn talents have been in a bit of an awkward spot due to competing with one another. We’re putting the talents on separate tiers and moving Trample down to Level 16, which should prove to be a powerful option for players who want a its utility at that level.


Fenix


Talents

• Level 4
  
  • Inhibiting Energy [W]
    
    • Adjusted functionality: Inhibiting Energy’s Slow can now spread from itself.
      
    • Slow duration reduced from 3 to 2.5 seconds.
      
  • Emergency Protocal [Trait]
    
    • New functionality: While Fenix has shields from Shield Capacitor, he gains 10% Movement Speed. This bonus is increased to 15% when Fenix loses shields from Shield Capacitor.
      
• Level 13
  
  • Rapid Recharge [Trait]
    
    • Additional functionality: Reduce the period before Shield Capacitor begins regenerating shields from 5 to 3 seconds.
      

Developer Comment: Fenix has a fairly good talent tree, but we found some room to improve some of his talents. Inhibiting Energy in particular will now give him the ability to permanently Slow enemy Heroes provided he can keep hitting them with Phase Bomb, which should be a fun addition to what he can potentially bring to his team.


Gall


Talents

• Level 7
  
  • Ogre Rampage [Trait]
    
    • New functionality: Increase the damage bonus of Ogre Rage by 5%. Each time Gall damages enemy Heroes this bonus increases by 1% for 4 seconds, up to an additional 10% bonus damage.
      

Developer Comment: In keeping in line with our changes to Cho, we’re adjusting Ogre Rampage to have a design that better matches how we want Cho’gall to manage his trait.


Jaina


Talents

• Level 7
  
  • Ice Lance [Q]
    
    • Cooldown reduction reduced from 1.5 to 1.25 seconds.
      
  • Ice Floes [E]
    
    • Cooldown reduction increased from 3 to 3.5 seconds per Hero hit.
      
• Level 16
  
  • Snowstorm [W]
    
    • Damage bonuses increased from 20%/60% to 30%/70%.
      

Developer Comment: These are minor tuning changes intended to help Jaina’s build diversity. Ice Floes in particular is in a potentially powerful spot in the right situations, as when combined with Icy Veins and Northern Exposure or Numbing Blast, can do a lot of AoE damage to the enemy team in a short amount of time.


Raynor


Talents

• Level 1
  
  • Veteran Marksman [Trait]
    
    • Bonus damage increased from .75% to 1%.
      
  • Ace in the Hole [Passive]
    
    • Additional functionality: Enemies hit by Give’Em Some Pepper are Slowed by 10% for 2.5 seconds.
      
  • Exterminator [Passive]
    
    • Damage bonus increased from 50% to 75%, and from 100% to 125% while Inspire is active.
      
• Level 7
  
  • Unstable Compound [Trait]
    
    • No longer adds a Slow to Give ‘Em Some Pepper.
      
    • Additional functionality: Enemy Heroes hit by Give ‘Em Some Pepper grant Raynor 10 Mana and reduce the cooldown of Penetrating Round and Inspire by 1 second.
      

Developer Comment: Similar to Orphea last patch, we’re removing a use case where it often felt like a requirement to take two talents together for their full effect. Ace in the Hole will now give Raynor the Slow that he desperately wants for its proc, and to make sure that his other Level 1 talents are competitive, we’re giving them a boost as well.


Sgt. Hammer


Talents

• Level 4
  
  • Barricade [W]
    
    • Additional functionality: Reduce the Mana cost of Concussive Blast from 80 to 40.
      

Developer Comment: We like how the new Barricade is playing, but since Sgt. Hammer’s Mana tension is now fairly high, taking the talent often meant that she would very quickly run out of Mana. We’re giving it a hefty Mana cost reduction, which should make it an even more attractive pick.


Bug Fixes

General

• Fixed an issue where some Grand Master accounts could be restricted from queuing with Masters.

Heroes

• Yrel
  
  • Fixed an issue where Holy Avenger could grant the damage bonus to non-Hero targets.