[2020] Heroes of the Storm Balance Patch Notes - February 12, 2020

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
Cho	Deathwing	Abathur	Auriel	Maiev	Azmodan
Mal'Ganis	Malthael	Zarya	Malfurion		Fenix
Muradin			Uther		Gall
Stitches					Jaina
Tyrael					Raynor
					Sgt. Hammer

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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