Updates

Base

• Locust damage increased by 25%.

Bug Fixes

• Level 10
  • Ultimate Evolution
    • Clones of Kharazim that have selected Insight now treat the quest as completed.

Bug Fixes

• Level 20
  • Hivemind
    • Fixed an issue that caused Hivemind to grant more Shielding than intended when combined with Networked Carapace.

Bug Fixes

• Level 7
  • Calldown: MULE
    • Updated to use level-based scaling.
• Level 10
  • Ultimate Evolution
    • Fixed an issue that caused Pylons created by Ultimate Evolution clones of Probius to not be destroyed when the Ultimate Evolution expires.
    • Fixed an issue that caused traps created by Ultimate Evolution clones of Junkrat to only be removed when Abathur dies.
• Level 13
  • Soma Transference
    • Updated to heal the target for its amount as a singular combined effect.

Bug Fixes

• Level 10
  • Ultimate Evolution [R1]
    • No longer plays quest progress visual effects.
• Level 16
  • Volatile Mutation [R]
    • No longer displays an empty icon in the Death Recap.

Bug Fixes

• Evolve Monstrosity Stacks are now a Heroic Quest. Players will now be able to see how many stacks the Monstrosity has on the scoreboard, and when it has full stacks, it will display a quest complete indicator.
• Toxic Nest is no longer triggered by Invulnerable enemies.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that caused Envenomed Nest's Armor reduction to not be removed by Stasis or Invulnerability.
• Fixed an issue that caused Adrenal Overload to not apply to channeled Basic Attacks.
• Fixed an issue that caused Bombard Strain Locusts to not deal bonus damage to enemy Structures.
• Fixed an issue that caused Monstrosity to gain more than intended damage from Minion kills.
• Toxic Nest will no longer reveal attackers to Abathur during the Arming phase.
• Locust damage will no longer display as a critical against Structures. The damage bonus remains unaltered.
• Stab no longer reveals the area around the target and will now only reveal the target itself for 2 seconds.
• Spike Burst will now reveal the effected area for 0.75 seconds.
• Bombard Strain icon updated.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that prevented the Monstrositty from using the Force Move command.
• Fixed an issue that caused Ultimate Evolutions of Lost Vikings talents when cloning a Viking who had selected select talents.

Updates

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.

Updates

Base

• Locust Strain [Trait]
  • Locust Health increased from 316 to 350.
  • Additional functionality: Locusts deal 50% bonus damage to enemy Structures.

Talents

• Level 1
  • Envenomed Nest [W]
    • Additional functionality: Enemy Heroes who are hit by Toxic Nests have their Armor reduced by 10 for 4 seconds.
  • Reinforced Carapace [E]
    • Shield amount increased from 30% to 40%.
• Level 16
  • Volatile Mutation [R]
    • Healing increased from 75% to 100% of damage dealt.
• Level 20
  • Evolutionary Link [R1]
    • Shield amount Increased from 25% to 35% maximum Health.

Developer Comment: In addition to buffing underperforming talents, we're experimenting with giving Locusts a larger presence in Abathur's kit. If left unattended, they will now do increased damage to Structures, which will reward good Abathur players who pay close attention to their position on the map and the state of the game.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where Orphea's Eternal Feast would continue bouncing if an Abathur Ultimate Evolution clone expired in the area

Updates

Abilities

• Locust Strain (Trait)
  • Damage increased from 40 to 46
• Carapace (E)
  • Shield amount reduced from 157 to 150

Talents

• Level 1
  • Reinforced Carapace (E)
    • Bonus Shielding reduced from 40% to 30%
  • Survival Instincts (Trait)
    • Bonus Health increased from 60% to 100%
• Level 4
  • Prolific Dispersal
    • Additional Functionality: Now also increases the range of Toxic Nest by 30%
• Level 13
  • Bombard Strain (Trait)
    • Duration bonus increased from 50% to 75%
• Level 16
  • Volatile Mutation (Heroic)
    • Healing increased from 50% to 75% of the damage dealt

Developer Comment: Abathur has been performing fairly well since his rework. However, his non-Carapace related talents could use some love compared to other options. We're giving Abathur some buffs to play styles that focus more on controlling the map and taking some power out of Carapace to compensate.

Updates

Abilities

• Carapace (E)
  • Cooldown reduced from 12 to 6 seconds
  • Duration reduced from 8 to 6 seconds
  • Additional functionality:
    • Shield now persists after Symbiote ends
  • Additional functionality:
    • Shield now Heals allied Heroes for 22 Health per second while Carapace is active
    • This heal now also has an initial application of 22 Health when Carapace is cast
• Locust Strain (Trait)
  • Duration reduced from 25 to 16 seconds
  • Damage increased from 34 to 40
• Evolve Monstrosity (R)
  • No longer takes 50% reduced damage from non-Heroic enemies
  • Now shows a warning indicator showing where it is going to burrow to
  • Additional Functionality:
    • Now has the ability to Deep Tunnel to a visible location every 80 seconds
    • The Monstrosity can now be healed by Carapace

Talents

• Level 1
  • Regenerative Microbes (E)
    • Removed
  • New Talent: Reinforced Carapace (E)
    • Increase the Shield amount of Carapace by 40%
  • Survival Instincts (Trait)
    • No longer increases Locust duration
    • Additional functionality:
      • Increase Locust attack damage by 40%
• Level 4
  • Ballistospores (Trait)
    • Removed
  • Sustained Carapace (E)
    • Removed
  • Needlespine (Q)
    • Moved from Level 7
• Level 7
  • Calldown: MULE (Active)
    • Healing per second reduced from 100 to 90
• Level 13
  • Assault Strain (Trait)
    • Removed
  • Bombard Strain (Trait)
    • No longer increases Locust attack damage
    • Additional functionality:
      • Increase the duration of Locusts by 50%
• Level 16
  • Volatile Mutation (R)
    • Additional functionality:
      • Damage dealt by Volatile Mutation against enemy Heroes heals the host for 50% of the damage dealt
• Level 20
  • Evolutionary Link (R)
    • Additional functionality:
      • Increase the duration of Ultimate Evolution by 50%
  • Evolution Complete (R)
    • No longer gives the Monstrosity the ability to Deep Tunnel
    • New functionality:
      • Now increases the Monstrosity's Basic Attack damage by 100%

Developer Comment: For a long time Abathur has had a unique place in Heroes, being a powerful force at high level play while having a relatively low win-rate across the board. These changes are meant to spruce up his talents while streamlining his gameplay and introducing more counter-play to the hero. Carapace, particularly with the Sustained Carapace talent, created some awkward gameplay where it was much more efficient to use Symbiote on cooldown, even when the desire was to stay on one target, due to the cooldown refresh that it gave Carapace. In order to clean this up, Sustained Carapace is baseline and the cooldown of Carapace has been reduced, so Abathur no longer has to continuously remove Carapace to be efficient. In addition, Abathur's Locusts are now more potent, but they last for a shorter duration, meaning Abathur players will be more rewarded for positioning themselves aggressively and punished when they overextend too much.

Updates

Abilities

• Evolve Monstrosity (R)
  • Health increased from 1000 to 1350
  • Basic Attack damage increased from 73 to 85
  • Health bonus per minion killed reduced from 5 to 2%
  • Damage bonus per minion killed reduced from 5 to 2%

Developer Comment: We discovered an issue with Evolve Monstrosity where its damage scaling was incorrect. To fix the bug, we would have massively increased its Basic Attack damage once it was fully stacked, which is already fairly high. Instead, we are taking this opportunity to re-tune the Monstrosity so that it is not quite so powerful once fully stacked, but is stronger right away, which should be an overall buff in most use cases.

Updates

Talents

• Level 1
  • Regenerative Microbes (E)
    • Healing reduced from 68 to 62

Developer Comment: Regenerative Microbes is dominating Abathur's Level 1 talent tier, as well as causing issues at the pro level of play. We are taking a look at Abathur to see what improvements can be made, but wanted to get this change out sooner rather than later while we iterate on him.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue preventing Monstrosity from gaining damage when nearby enemy minions die.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue causing Abathur's Monstosity to fail to gain damage when nearby enemy Minions are slain.

Bug Fixes

• Removed an excess visual effect that could appear after casting Symbiote on a Monstrosity while using the Xenotech Abathur skin.
• Ultimate Evolution clones of Lil' Ragnaros will now use the correct death model when the Ability expires or the clone is destroyed.
• Increased the volume of Xenotech Abathur's voiceover lines during Symbiote.
• Symbiote now correctly creates a crown icon above an allied target's minimap portrait.

Bug Fixes

• The number of Minions Absorbed stacks no longer appear inconsistent in the Buff bar after Abathur dies while a Monstrosity is active.
• Fixed an issue causing Spike Burst's visual effects to appear much larger than intended when cast while targeting a Mercenary with Symbiote.

Bug Fixes

• Monstrosities will no longer deal area of effect damage on death if Abathur hasn't learned the Volatile Mutation Talent.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a pair of small holes in Xenotech Abathur's model.

Bug Fixes

• Casting Ultimate Evolution will no longer cause visual effects to persist on the terrain at Abathur's previous location.
• Locusts will now correctly retain their selected skins during Ultimate Evolution.

Updates

Abilities

• Spawn Locust (Trait)
  • Health increased from 288 to 316

Talents

• Level 1
  • Survival Instincts (Trait)
    • Bonus Health decreased from 50% to 40%
• Level 7
  • Calldown: MULE (Active)
    • No longer refills Structure ammo

Bug Fixes

• Casting Ultimate Evolution on Jaina will no longer cause Abathur's Calldown: MULE Talent icon to permanently switch to the icon for Improved Ice Block.
• Attempting to cast Toxic Nest in an area that is already densely populated by existing Nests will no longer consume a charge without placing a new Toxic Nest.

Updates

Abilities

• Spike Burst (W)
  • Damage increased from 116 to 120
• Ultimate Evolution (R)
  • Cooldown increased from 50 to 70 seconds

Updates

Miscellaneous

• Deep Tunnel (Z) will now go on a 10 second cooldown when interrupted by enemy or allied abilities, including self-cancelling.
• Deep Tunnel (Z) now has an allied chat announcement upon activation.

Bug Fixes

• Locusts will now assist Heroes who are attacking a Mercenary Camp rather than immediately traveling to a lane.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue in which Networked Carapace provided a lower than intended Shield amount.
• Secondary Shields granted by Networked Carapace will no longer benefit from Sustained Carapace.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue in which Networked Carapace provided a lower than intended Shield amount.
• Secondary Shields granted by Networked Carapace will no longer benefit from Sustained Carapace.

Bug Fixes

• Heroes can no longer push a player-controlled Monstrosity by walking into it.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that caused Heroes affected by Abathur's Symbiote to fail to trigger Valeera's Assassinate talent.

Updates

Abilities

• Stab (Q)
  • Damage increased from 113 to 119
• Spike Burst (W)
  • Damage increased from 111 to 116
• Carapace (E)
  • Shield amount increased from 150 to 157

Updates

Abilities

• Toxic Nest (W)
  • Abathur is now locked out of casting Toxic Nest for .5 seconds after exiting Symbiote

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue causing Abathur's Ultimate Evolution clones to deal damage to nearby enemies on expiration without learning the Volatile Mutation talent.

Bug Fixes

• Monstrosity can no longer push Minions or captured Mercenaries by walking into them.

Bug Fixes

• AI that has taken over Abathur after the controlling players leaves the game will no longer use Hearthstone while Symbiote is active on another Hero.

Updates

Abilities

• Symbiote (Q)
  • Symbiote will now be paused if the allied target enters a Stasis effect or if Tracer uses her Recall ability
  • Symbiote can still be cancelled in these situations, but no Symbiote Abilities can be used

Talents

• Level 1
  • Regenerative Microbes (E)
    • Heal changed to “over 4 seconds” instead of the full duration of Carapace
    • Heal amount changed from 31 to 68 Health per Second
• Level 4
  • Ballistospores (W)
    • Toxic Nest duration increased from 20% to 25%
  • Sustained Carapace (E)
    • Now increases the Carapace Shield amount by 40% instead of increasing the duration by 50%
• Level 7
  • Networked Carapace (E)
    • Now also applies an untalented Carapace Shield to all nearby allied Heroes
  • Vile Nest (W)
    • Decreased the slow duration from 3 to 2.5 seconds
• Level 13
  • Assault Strain (Trait)
    • Increased explosion damage from 68 to 102
  • Spatial Efficiency (Q)
    • Now also lowers the cooldown of Stab from 3 to 2.5 seconds in addition to its current functionality
• Level 16
  • Adrenaline Boost (E)
    • Movement Speed boost duration increased from 3 to 3.5 seconds
  • Volatile Mutation (R)
    • Increased pulse damage from 114 to 137
• Level 20
  • Evolution Complete (R)
    • Monstrosity Deep Tunnel cooldown reduced to 25 seconds from 30
  • Evolutionary Link (R)
    • Ultimate Evolution Shield increased from 20% of maximum Health to 25%

Developer Comment: As part of our ongoing process to improve our talent system, we are doing a pass on all heroes in the game to increase the health of their talent trees. We know that there are a fair number of talents that feel like they are either mandatory or insignificant, and this is our first pass on putting in fixes. These fixes take many forms, and can range from simply buffing or nerfing numbers to changing functionality. We're excited to keep our heroes feeling fresh, and you can look forward to additional changes to more of our heroes in upcoming patches.

Bug Fixes

• You can no longer use Hearthstone to port back to base while channeling Ultimate Evolution.
• Fixed an issue that allowed Evolve Monstosity to pick up coins and gems, which were then permanently lost upon death.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that could cause Abathur and Gall players to be flagged as AFK if they did not move from the starting area, despite issuing commands to their Heroes.

Updates

• Evolve Monstrosity (R)
  • Maximum Minion stacks increased from 30 to 40.
  • Health increased from 931 (+4% per level) to 1000 (+4% per level).

Developer Comment: We want to make some basic improvements to a lot of the lesser-picked/lower win-rate Heroic Abilities. Most of these are pretty simple changes to make them more enticing, like adding more damage, reducing cooldowns, or lowering Mana costs. We realize that the primary use case for Abilities like Li Li's Water Dragon or E.T.C.'s Stage Dive is not damage, but having more of it might help them feel more effective. We're trying to do something a little bit different with Brightwing's Emerald Wind and Malfurion's Twilight Dream by compensating for some of the Support capability you miss out on by picking these Heroics. We're excited to see how these go! In Thrall's case, Sundering was a little too strong, so we're reducing its stun duration.

Updates

• Ultimate Evolution (R)
  • Will now inherit Kharazim's Trait

Updates

• Symbiote (Q)
  • Carapace (E)
    • Shield amount increased from 137 (+4% per level) to 150 (+4% per level)
• Toxic Nest (W)
  • Vile Nest (Talent)
    • Slow amount decreased from 50% to 40%
    • Slow duration reduced from 4 to 3 seconds

Developer Comment: It's extremely difficult bartering with a space slug. Abathur refuses to allow us to nerf devolve him without also buffing evolving him. In exchange for lowering the overbearing slow amount and duration of Vile Nest, he has gladly accepted a baseline increase to his Carapace Shielding.

Bug Fixes

• Abathur players will no longer become locked out of casting Abilities if Symbiote is cast at the same moment that Abathur is killed.

Updates

• Symbiote (Q)
  • Stab (Q)
    • Damage increased from 108 (+4% per level) to 113 (+4% per level)
  • Spike Burst (W)
    • Damage increased from 106 (+4% per level) to 111 (+4% per level)

Developer Comment: Buffs. Acceptable.

Bug Fixes

• Abathur players will no longer become stuck in Symbiote mode if the Symbiote target is displaced by a respawning Bell Tower on Towers of Doom.

Bug Fixes

• Abathur can no longer capture objectives at his body's location while using Ultimate Evolution.
• Abathur's Adrenal Overload Talent now properly increases Monstrosity's attack speed while it is under the effects of Symbiote.
• Ultimate Evolution Clones and Monstrosities will now properly receive the benefits of Abathur's Volatile Mutation Talent if it is selected after a Summon is already active.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue preventing Abathur's Toxic Nests from dealing splash damage.

Updates

• Locust Strain (Trait)
  • Locusts will no longer spawn as soon as the game begins, and will now wait until the first Minion wave spawns
• Evolve Monstrosity (R)
  • Pressing R with a Monstrosity active will now automatically cast Symbiote on the Monstrosity and move your camera to its position

Developer Comment: Abathur's initial Locust would previously sit idle until Minions spawned. This change will allow Abathur to get in position before the first Locust spawns at the start of a game.

Bug Fixes

• Abathur will now properly receive Takedown credit after dealing the killing blow to Leoric.
• Abathur will no longer receive Takedown credit after casting Symbiote on an allied Leoric that is then killed by the enemy team.
• Abathur's Hivemind Symbiote will no longer persist on Leoric after he enters Undying form.
• A Sgt. Hammer clone created by Abathur's Ultimate Evolution will no longer be granted the Napalm Strike Heroic Ability after entering Siege Mode.
• The Butcher will no longer stop his Ruthless Onslaught charge if Abathur's Ultimate Evolution clone charges the target first.

Bug Fixes

• Abathur's Toxic Nests will no longer provide larger than intended areas of vision.

Updates

Developer Comment: We've tuned up some of his weaker talent picks to make them more viable. We really like the level 20 Hivemind talent, but it can feel clunky to use as when allies move out of range, you have to decide whether to cancel and recast it, or stay focused on only a single target. With these changes, Hivemind will be much more fluid to play with and consistent in its effectiveness.

• Volatile Mutation (Talent)
  • Damage increased from 36 (+7 per level) to 50 (+10 per level)
  • Damage radius increased by 20%
• Locust Strain (Trait)
  • Survival Instincts (Talent)
    • Locust Health bonus increased from 30% to 50%
• Symbiote (Q)
  • Carapace (E)
    • Regenerative Microbes (Talent)
      • Healing per second increased from 7 (+2 per level) to 9 (+3 per level)
  • Hivemind (Talent)
    • Now searches for a new Hivemind target every second, rather than only on the first cast
    • The secondary Symbiote target's Stab and Spike Burst deal half their normal damage, and Carapace grants half its normal Shield amount
• Toxic Nest (W)
  • Cooldown reduced from 12 to 10 seconds
  • Envenomed Nest (Talent)
    • Bonus damage increased from 50% to 75%

Bug Fixes

• Abathur's Evolve Monstrosity cooldown will no longer begin counting down when Abathur is killed while a Monstrosity remains alive.
• Fixed an issue that could allow Abathur to become permanently invulnerable under certain circumstances.
• Abathur's Stab and Spike Burst Abilities will now deal the proper amount of damage to Promoted Minions.
• After learning the Evolution Complete Talent, Abathur's Monstrosity will no longer retain some of the Minions Absorbed stacks earned by a previous Monstrosity.
• Casting Abathur's Ultimate Evolution on Tyrael just as Tyrael is killed will now properly place Ultimate Evolution on a reduced cooldown.

Updates

• Symbiote (Q)
  • Carapace (E)
    • Networked Carapace (Talent)
      • Carapace now always Shields nearby Minions and Mercenaries, regardless of Symbiote's target

Bug Fixes

• Visual effects for Abathur's Spike Burst Ability have been appropriately scaled up when cast while using Symbiote on a mechanical spider Minion.
• Abathur's Toxic Nests once again display activation and expiration timers.
• Uther's Holy Radiance will now properly damage Abathur's Toxic Nests and Zagara's Creep Tumors.
• Abathur once again plays a digging sound when using his Deep Tunnel.