Blizzard Entertainment deployed Heroes of the Storm Patch 49.3 to address a couple of bug fixes, and as a heroes update.
You might want to sit and relax before reading the patch notes. There are a few nerfs and buffs.
Cho got a big buff to his trait with two new functionalities which gives him more survivability and sustain. Mal’Ganis got the nerf bat pretty hard across the board. Muradin got a slight buff to Dwarf Toss (E) and Heavy Impact (Level 7), but lost the Level 1 passive: Block. It was removed from the game.
Stitches got a healing buff overall from minion and heroes sources, and his level 13 and 16 talents were swapped.
Tyrael’s trait has an additional functionality that reduces his death timer by 10% per hero hit.
Deathwing, Malthael, Abathur, Auriel, Uther got hit by the nerf bat.
Jaina, Raynor, and Fenix got slight nerfs but good buffs to compensate. Read the patch notes below for other heroes not mentioned as well.
Heroes of the Storm Patch 40.1 introduces Call of the Nexus (as discussed during the BlizzCon 2018 Heroes of the Storm: What’s Next panel — read the transcript).
Call of the Nexus rewards 50% XP to players who choose a role reqired for a match. This new sytem will end the aweful Quick Play queues with 3 Specialists, or 3 Warriors. Now the Queue system will always pick a Warrior, Healer, and fill in the gap of the other three slots with a combination of Assassins and Specialists.
Parties also have a minimum requirement of roles that will be enforced before that party can queue up, ensuring that the Quick Play roles are optimized.
This patch also includes balance changes for Abathur, Alarak, Ana, Azmodan, Blaze, Deckard, Genji, Hanzo, Kerrigan, Mal’Ganis, Nova, Orphea, Stukov, Tyrande, Whitemane, and Yrel. As well as three minor bug fixes.
Heroes of the Storm 40.0 introduces the new hero: Orphea, the new Raven Runner mount, new bundles, a Guldan buff for his level 16 talent: Rampant Hellfire, new art for the Dragon Knight, bug fixes, Stim Packs have been replaced by Boost packs, Mercenary camps have an XP overhaul, and other quality of life changes.
The Battleground Rotation for all Unranked modes has been adjusted to the following:
Alterac Pass
Battlefield of Eternity
Blackheart's Bay
Braxis Holdout
Cursed Hollow
Dragon Shire
Garden of Terror
Hanamura Temple
Infernal Shrines
Sky Temple
Tomb of the Spider Queen
Towers of Doom
Volskaya Foundry
Warhead Junction
Haunted Mines: Haunted Mines has been removed from all gameplay modes. It will still be available to be played in Custom Games.
Mercenaries: Sappers can no longer have their charge attack interrupted by a Silence effect. Silencing Sappers will still prevent them from starting to channel this ability
Cunning and intelligent, Mal'Ganis was chosen to bring Arthas Menthil into the Lich King's service. After manipulating the prince into purging Stratholme of life, he finally fell to Frostmourne as Arthas's first act as the Lich King's champion... yet a demon does not die so easily.
Trait
Vampiric Touch
Mal'Ganis heals for 45% of damage dealt to enemy Heroes and 15% of damage dealt to non-Heroes.
Basic Abilities
Fel Claws (Q)
Violently slash in the chosen direction, dealing 78 damage to enemies.
Reactivate to slash up to 2 more times. The third slash Stuns enemies for 0.75 seconds.
Necrotic Embrace (W)
Desecrate the air, dealing 119 damage to nearby enemies and gaining 25 Armor for 3 seconds.
Night Rush (E)
After 0.75 seconds, gain 50% Movement Speed for 2 seconds. While active, Mal'Ganis can move through enemy Heroes and put them to Sleep for 2.5 seconds.
Heroic Abilities
Carrion Swarm (R)
After 1 second, disperse into an Invulnerable swarm of bats for 3 seconds, dealing 74 damage per second to enemies.
Vampiric Touch heals for 100% of Carrion Swarm's damage to Heroes.
Dark Conversion (R)
Channel on an enemy Hero for 0.75 seconds, then swap Health percentages with the target over 3 seconds.
We've unified certain Support abilities to only work on Heroes (not minions or Mercenaries):
Alexstrasza
Gift of Life (Q)
Breath of Life (Q-Dragon Form)
Brightwing
Pixie Dust (E)
Li Li
Healing Brew (Q)
Rehgar
Healing Totem (Active - Level 4)
Earth Shield (W - Level 13)
Tyrande
Light of Elune (Q)
Uther
Holy Light (Q)
Developer Comment: We're unifying the vast majority of our heals for their intended purpose: healing allied Heroes. We're maintaining the ability for a few heals to affected Minions still where we think it's an important part of their gameplay: Lt. Morales Healing Beam (so that she can heal herself), Rehgar's Chain Heal (to allow bounces travel across Minions), Tyrael's Righteousness (because shielding Minion waves is part of the lane interaction with the ability), and Uther's Holy Radiance (to unify expectations, since it can damage Minions).
AI Heroes: Fixed multiple cases of AI-controlled Heroes incorrectly using their abilities.
Spell Power: Fixed an issue where Spell Power would no longer affect a Hero’s abilities after they died. (For example: Jaina’s Blizzard will now continue to deal bonus damage if she received increased Spell Power but died before the second and third waves.)
Statis/Time Stop: Fixed an issue where player created terrain could move Heroes affected by Stasis or Time Stop.
Battlegrounds
Garden of Terror: Fixed an issue where all three Garden Terrors could spawn in a single lane.
Minions/Mercenaries: Fixed an issue where Heroes could block the movement of Catapults, preventing them from passing through intact gates.
User Interface
Fixed an issue where a space would appear before the player’s name in a Whisper.
Heroes, Abilities, and Talents
Ana: Fixed an issue where Ana’s Shrike healing was not accurately reflecting her damage done (via Spell Power or her target’s Armor).
Chromie: Fixed an issue where Temporal Loop’s return location would appear incorrect if a movement ability was used by the target.
Diablo: Fixed an issue where Diablo would not be displaced by knockback and similar effects while casting Overpower.
Gall: Fixed an issue where not all cases of Damage Reduction would work on Gall.
Gul’dan: Fixed an issue where Darkness Within’s bonus Spell Power would not increase the healing of Drain Life.
Kharazim: Can now Radiant Dash to all allied units, including Mercenaries, Creep Tumors, and Toxic Nests.
Li-Ming: Fixed an issue where Tal’Rasha’s Elements would grant bonus damage to Calamity after being twice in a row.
Murky: Egg Hunt’s Slime no longer benefits from Slime talents.
Sylvanas: Targets of Mind Control will now clear their move orders when affected by the ability.
Uther: Fixed an issue where Holy Fire’s damage was affected by Spell Power.
The Patch 38.0 is now live introducing new rework changes to Kerrigan and Brightwing. The Garden of Terror 2.0 can be played today. Garden of Terror now is a merge between Cursed Hollow and Alterac Pass mechanics.
A few days ago, I posted video of the Kerrigan & Brightwing Rework versus AI.
You can also check out their new Ability and Talent changes for Kerrigan and Brightwing.
The Heroes of the Storm: Fall of King’s Crest (Patch 38.0) is now on the PTR servers. Kerrigan and Brightwing now have talent reworks. Some of them are brand-new. Their level 20 Heroic Abilities have been changed too. You can check their new talents changes by following these links: Kerrigan and Brightwing.
The Gardens of Terror map rework is also available in the PTR. The videos below take place in the new Gardens of Terror. Let me tell you… forget what you knew about the map the past 2-3 years. It has been changed completely.
When the seeds spawn, there is no longer a Terror boss on the north and south of the map. As a matter of fact, there is no longer two spots to secure simultaneously.
Instead, there is only one spot that spawns in only one of four random locations. Think of Gardens of Terror now as a combination between Cursed Hollow and Alterac Pass. Once the sole tribute spot is dominated by either team, vines dig their way to each of the three lanes and three Terror bosses spawn in the same fashion as Alterac Pass.
Below you can watch a video per hero, playing against the AI (due to long queue time).
Certain game visuals now appear smoother, such as Channel/Duration progress bars and Fog of War.
Dynamic Spell Power Updating
Ability Damage is now calculated while abilities are in flight instead of only at the time of cast.
Hanamura has been renamed to Hanamura Temple and has received a significant gameplay update.
Hanamura Temple has been added to the Battleground Rotation.
Battleground Rotation
Cursed Hollow
Dragon Shire
Alterac Pass
Hanamura Temple
Towers of Doom
Infernal Shrines
Dul’Mephistos, the Lord of Hatred, is said to the be most cunning among his brethren. Even while imprisoned in a soulstone, his vile influence corrupted the Zakarum and manipulated them into breaking the seal, giving him free reign to reunite the Prime Evils and enslave humanity.
Skull Missile and Shade of Mephisto grant 1.5 seconds of cooldown reduction per Hero hit, and Lightning Nova grants 0.3 seconds per Hero hit.
Basic Abilities
Skull Missile (Q)
Conjure a skull that travels in the target direction after 0.75 seconds, dealing 127 damage to enemies hit and Slowing Heroes hit by 25% for 2 seconds.
Lightning Nova (W)
A ring of lightning appears around Mephisto for 2.5 seconds. Enemies within the ring take 48 damage every 0.25 seconds.
Each time a cast of Lightning Nova hits a Hero, its damage is increased by 4%, up to 40%.
Shade of Mephisto (E)
Teleport to a location, dealing 78 damage to nearby enemies and leaving behind a Shade of Mephisto at Mephisto's original location. After 2.5 seconds, Mephisto is teleported back to the Shade's location.
Heroic Abilities
Consume Souls (R)
Channel for 2.5 seconds, revealing all enemy Heroes. After the Channel completes, all enemy Heroes take 357 damage and are Slowed by 40% for 2.5 seconds.
Durance of Hate (R)
After 1 second, unleash a wave of evil spirits that Root the first enemy Hero hit for 2 seconds and deal 160 damage to them over the same duration.
Durance of Hate spreads outwards from its initial target, Rooting and damaging additional nearby enemy Heroes.
Jaina
Jaina has received updated UI elements for her baseline Frostbite quest
Support
Tyrande
Stats
Basic Attack damage reduced from 82 to 55
Basic Attack range increased from 5.5 to 6
Abilities
Light of Elune (Q)
Heal increased from 270 to 275
Cooldown increased from 11 to 15 seconds
Mana cost reduced from 30 to 10
New functionality:
Now has two charges that refresh simultaneously.
The cooldown is lowered by 1.5 seconds every time you Basic Attack.
The cooldown is lowered by 1.5 seconds every time you damage an enemy Hero with an ability.
There is a one second cooldown between charge uses.
Sentinel (W)
Mana cost reduced from 70 to 50
Cooldown reduced from 18 to 15 seconds
Damage reduced from 165 to 120
The Sentinel baseline quest has been removed.
Lunar Flare (E)
Damage reduced from 195 to 150
Hunter’s Mark (D)
Armor reduction decreased from 25 to 15
Range increased from 5.5 to 6
Shadowstalk (R)
Cooldown increased from 60 to 80 seconds
New functionality:
Grant Stealth to all Allied Heroes and heal them for 400 Health over 10 seconds.
Talents
Level 1
Moonlit Arrows (Q)
Moved from Level 4
Celestial Attunement (Q)
Moved from Level 4
New functionality:
Light of Elune now removes all Stuns and Slows from its target
Kaldorei Resistance (Q)
Moved from Level 4
Duration of Spell Armor decreased from 6 to 3 seconds
Maximum stacks of Spell Armor decreased from 3 to 2
Level 4
Ranger (W)
Moved from Level 1
Bonus travel damage increased from 75 to 150%
Added functionality:
Activate to have your next Sentinel pierce all targets. 30 second cooldown.
Lunar Blaze (E)
Moved from Level 1
New functionality:
Increase the range of Lunar Flare by 50%
Quest: Hitting a Hero increases the damage of Lunar Flare by 5% up to a maximum of 100%
Activate - Instantly reset Hunter’s Mark and grant nearby allies 20% additional Basic Attack damage for 5 seconds. 60 second cooldown.
Level 7
Mark of Mending (D)
Moved from Level 16
Elune’s Chosen (Active)
Moved from Level 16
Duration increased from 5 to 10 seconds
Your Basic Attacks heal your target for 200% of the damage they deal. 30 second Cooldown.
New Talent: Everlasting Light (Q)
The healing granted by the second charge of Light of Elune is increased by 40% if used on a different target.
Level 13
Quickening Blessing (Q)
Movement Speed decreased from 30 to 20%
Added functionality:
Tyrande permanently gains 10% Movement Speed
Ranger’s Mark (D)
Moved from Level 1
New functionality:
Basic Attacks lower the cooldown of Hunter’s Mark by 1 second. Tyrande’s Basic Attacks against marked targets extend the duration of Hunter’s Mark by .5 seconds
Harsh Moonlight (W)
Adjusted functionality:
The first Hero hit with Sentinel is slowed by 40% and deals 40% less damage for 4 seconds.
Level 16
Overflowing Light (Q)
Removed
Huntress’ Fury (D)
Moved from Level 7
Basic Attacks now splash to all nearby targets
Range increase reduced from 50 to 25%
Added functionality:
Increases the duration of Hunter’s Mark by 1 second
Empower (W)
Moved from Level 13
New functionality:
Reduce the cooldown of Sentinel by 3 seconds. The first enemy hit takes an additional 7% of their Maximum Health in damage.
Darnassian Archery (Passive)
Moved from Level 7
Damage bonus per attack increased from 5 to 10%
Duration increased from 4 to 8 seconds
Level 20
Eyes of the Huntress (R)
Enemy reveal duration reduced from 3 to 2 seconds
Added functionality:
Increase Shadowstalk’s heal by 50% for allies who are under 50% of their Maximum Health
Shooting Star (Passive)
Attacks needed reduced from 10 to 8
No longer requires Heroic targets to gain stacks
No longer only targets Heroic units (but does prefer them)
Developer Comment: While we enjoy the flexibility of Tyrande's kit, she has struggled to find a home in the current meta. As we started looking at broadening our Hero roles, we felt like we had an opportunity to make some simple yet very substantial changes to our Night Elf Priestess. This rework pulls her slightly away from her hybrid status, reducing her damage output potential while introducing a lot more healing potential. While she keeps the vast majority of her older talents, they have been updated and shuffled to better coincide with her changes. We have enjoyed playing her internally and are excited to see what our players can do with her!
New Bundles
The following new bundles are available for a limited time! Be sure to check out the latest In-Development blog for more details.
Mephisto Heroic Bundle
Hellforged Heroes Bundle
New Announcers
Mephisto
Beleth
Athena
New Skins
Mephisto
Star Wraith Mephisto
Cybernetic Star Wraith Mephisto
Eternal Star Wraith Mephisto
Golden Mephisto
Soulburn Mephisto
New Portraits, Sprays, and Emojis
Several new emoji packs and portraits have also been added to the game. You can get a look in our most recent In-Development blog.
General
Loading Screen: Fixed an issue that could cause a vertical black line to appear on loading screens in certain resolutions.
Custom Games: Fixed an issue that could cause game stalls when launching custom games with more than 8 players.
Art
Fixed an issue that could cause Heroes to appear to walk on their mounts if certain abilities were cast immediately after mounting.
Battlegrounds
Volskaya Foundry: Fixed an issue that caused Time Stop effects to fail to cancel channels on the Volskaya Protector.
User Interface
The Unstoppable effect now has a status duration bar underneath nameplates.
Alarak: Alarak's Deadly Charge now has an icon in the death recap screen.
Ana: Ana's abilities amplified by Nano Boost's Spell Power buff now display critical effects.
Heroes, Abilities, and Talents
Cassia: Fixed an issue that could cause the stun effect from Valkyrie to end early if the target collided with terrain.
Diablo: Fixed an issue that prevented Diablo from being thrown by Garrosh’s Wrecking Ball if Diablo was casting Overpower.
Johanna & Li-Ming: Fixed an issue that prevented some “marked” effects from being consumed if the target was Shielded or Protected.
Lunara & Stitches: Fixed an issue that could cause permanent screen shaking if Lunara was hooked by Stitches under certain conditions.
Mac
Fixed an issue that caused responsiveness degradation when using the middle-mouse button on fullscreen settings.
Blizzard Entertainment put the new Nexomania skins in the Heroes of the Storm PTR, along with new changes to Diablo, and Lunara; as well as visual changes for Garrosh, Diablo, and Malfurion abilities. Read more about gameplay updates.
Blizzard Entertainment deployed Heroes of the Storm 32.2 on Wednesday, May 9th to make Hero Balance changes to multiple heroes: Fenix, Guldan, Hanzo, Kael’thas, Maiev, Thrall, Tracer, Tychus, Medivh, Ana, Auriel, Deckard, Li Li, Lt. Morales, Malfurions, Stukov, Garrosh and Sonya.
The latest PTR 30.3 introduced new rework changes to Medivh, Ana, and Sonya. Follow the links to check out the talent changes.
Alarak and Diablo got a repeatable quest; there were some art/design updates for Nova, Thrall and Sgt. Hammer; 13 new skins; and a long list of bug fixes.
