Updates

Talents

• Level 13
  • Brutal Strike
    • Now loses stacks when attacking while Blinded or against Evading enemies.

Bug Fixes

• Base
  • Butcher's Brand [W]
    • Fixed an issue that caused Butcher's Basic Attack impact visuals to not be correctly altered against Branded targets.
• Level 13
  • Brutal Strike
    • Now consumed while Blinded or against Evading enemies.
    • Now displays in the Buff Bar.
  • Savage Charge
    • Now displays as Savage Charge in the Death Recap.

Bug Fixes

• Base
  • Ruthless Onslaught [E]
    • Fixed an issue that caused Ruthless Onslaught to not interrupt in certain situations.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that allowed The Butcher to disjoint while collecting Fresh Meat.

Bug Fixes

• Base
  • Hamstring [Q]
    • Fixed an issue that caused Hamstring to be instantly removed on targets with reduced duration on being Slowed.

Bug Fixes

• General
  • Talent sorting for The Butcher has been updated to be the same as other Heroes.
• Base
  • Fresh Meat [Trait]
    • Fresh Meat is now referred to as stacks instead of charges.

Bug Fixes

• Level 1
  • Invigoration
    • Fixed an issue that caused Invigoration to not activate if Hamstring killed its only Hero target.

Bug Fixes

• Base
  • Ruthless Onslaught [E]
    • Now soft reveals the target on impact.

Updates

Base

• Quickcast Settings
  • Removed Fresh Meat.
• Butcher's Brand [W]
  • Added a duration indicator to the button.

Talents

• Level 16
  • Enraged [Passive]
    • Added a health indicator.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that caused Butcher's charge to be cancelled prematurely.
• Level 13
  • Cleaver [Passive]
    • Can now trigger while Blinded.
    • Now heals if the cleaved-to-target has The Butcher's Brand.
• Level 20
  • Fires of Hell [R1]
    • No longer displays an empty icon in the Death Recap.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that caused Butcher's Fresh Meat spawning meat off of Possessed minions.

Bug Fixes

• Difficulty updated from Medium to Hard.
• Fixed an issue that caused Butcher to lose more Meat than intended when slain.
• Cleaver no longer reveals targets hit.
• Cleaver will now reveal the search area for 0.75 seconds.
• Furnace Blast will now reveal targets hit for 2 seconds.
• Butcher is no longer revealed to the enemy if unseen when Lamb to the Slaughter damages an enemy.

Updates

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.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where the Butcher's FX would appear outside of his model while cocooned

Updates

Bug Fixes

• Ruthless Onslaught's visual effects will no longer persist on the target if they interrupt the Ability by entering Stealth.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue in which A.I. Butcher would repeatedly cast and then cancel Ruthless Onslaught.
• Fixed an issue that prevented A.I. Butcher from casting Butcher's Brand.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that prevented The Butcher from collecting Meat while piloting the Triglav Protector, Dragon Knight, or Garden Terror.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue preventing The Butcher from using consumable items such as Healing Pulse or Turrets on Volskaya Foundry.

Updates

Stats

• Basic Attack damage increased from 125 to 130
• Health scaling per level increased from 4 to 4.5%
• Health Regeneration scaling per level increased from 4 to 4.5%

Developer Comment: While we'll be continuing to keep an eye on it, we believe that the Butcher's quest tuning is appropriate. He has seen a significant drop in win rate in Hero League since our last round of changes, so we felt it was appropriate to increase his late-game Health so that he can keep up with other heroes, who often get many tools to survive his initial damage in teamfights.

Bug Fixes

• Floating Combat Text will now correctly display Crit damage dealt by Basic Attacks benefitting from the Brutal Strike Talent.

Updates

Stats

• Basic Attack damage reduced from 130 to 125

Abilities

• Fresh Meat (Trait)
  • Meat from Hero kills reduced from 25 to 20
  • Meat lost on death increased from 10 to 15

Talents

• Level 7
  • Insatiable Blade (W)
    • Adjusted functionality:
      • Removed the bonus healing
      • Increased movement speed bonus from 20 to 25%
  • Victuals (Passive)
    • Heal increased from 4 to 5% per minion death
• Level 16
  • Crippling Slam (Q)
    • Bonus duration increased from 25 to 30%
  • Enraged (Passive)
    • Armor bonus reduced from 25 to 15

Developer Comment: From inception, The Butcher has had a long healthy life amongst the top 5 win-rate Heroes in the game. Previously this was primarily isolated to Quick Match and his overall play-rate wasn't high enough for us to have any major concerns. After the newest round of changes, he has stayed true to his name in Quick Match and is beginning to pick up steam in Ranked play. We agreed with the massive amounts of feedback that it felt odd that a Butcher could so willingly trade his life for an enemy kill to progress his quest. These changes to his Meat gain/loss should help bring these situations more in-line, while the talent changes were directed fully at bringing over and under-tuned talents closer to the power level expected at the respective tiers.

Updates

Stats

• Basic Attack damage lowered from 140 to 130

Abilities

• Fresh Meat (Trait)
  • Meat required to complete his quest increased from 125 to 200
  • Damage bonus per Meat stack decreased from 1 to .5
  • Meat dropped by enemy Heroes increased from 5 to 25
  • Bonus damage on quest completion increased from 100 to 125
  • Once the quest is completed, enemy Heroes continue to drop Meat, giving The Butcher 5 permanent Basic Attack damage per Meat collected

Talents

• Level 1
  • Abattoir (Trait)
    • Removed

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that allowed Sanctification to go off despite Tyrael being stunned by Ruthless Onslaught.

Bug Fixes

• Minions that die near The Butcher will now always drop Fresh Meat stacks.
• Fresh Meat earned via Hero Takedowns, and collected while piloting the Garden Terror or Dragon Knight, will now correctly increment The Butcher's Fresh Meat stacks.
• Insatiable Blade's Movement Speed bonus is now properly granted when Butcher's Brand is applied to non-Heroic targets.

Bug Fixes

• Victuals will no longer stop functioning after completing Fresh Meat's quest.
• Butcher's Brand visual effects will no longer persist on a Punisher until it is killed.
• Will now properly receive Healing for Basic Attack damage dealt to a Punisher affected by Butcher's Brand.

Updates

Abilities

• Fresh Meat (Trait)
  • Hold ALT and click the Fresh Meat Ability icon to notify allies of The Butcher's current number of Meat stacks.

Updates

Abilities

• Butcher's Brand (W)
  • Casting animation has been sped up by roughly 33%. This should reduce instances of canceling this ability by rapidly issuing other commands.

Bug Fixes

• Hamstring will now correctly deal bonus damage to non-Heroic targets after learning the Cheap Shot Talent.

Updates

Abilities

• Furnace Blast (R)
  • Cooldown reduced from 80 to 60 seconds

Updates

Stats

• Basic Attack damage reduced from 169 to 140

Abilities

• Fresh Meat (Trait)
  • New functionality:
    • Quest: Nearby Minions drop 1 Fresh Meat and Heroes drop 5 Fresh Meat when they die. You can pick up Fresh Meat to gain 1 Basic Attack damage per Meat. Can hold up to 125 Meat. You drop up to 10 Fresh Meat upon dying.
    • Reward: After acquiring 125 pieces of Fresh Meat, gain and additional 100 Basic Attack damage and 25% increased Attack Speed. You also no longer lose Fresh Meat on death.
• Hamstring (Q)
  • Mana cost reduced from 50 to 40
• Butcher's Brand (W)
  • Base duration decreased from 5 to 4 seconds
  • Mana cost increased from 60 to 65
  • Added functionality:
    • Basic Attacks against enemy Heroes affected by Butcher's Brand will increase the duration by .5 seconds
• Ruthless Onslaught (E)
  • Slightly reduced the time between The Butcher hitting his target and his first Basic Attack

Talents

• Level 1
  • Victuals
    • New functionality:
      • Every time a nearby Minion dies, regain 4% of maximum Health.
    • Moved to level 7
• Level 4
  • Envenom (Active)
    • Removed
• Level 7
  • Final Assault (Passive)
    • Removed
  • Abattoir (Trait)
    • Decreased the reduced amount of Meat lost on death from 10 to 5. Once you complete the Fresh Meat quest, Heroes will continue to drop Meat. This bonus Meat is not lost on death.
    • Moved to Level 1
  • Insatiable Blade (W)
    • Reduced the amount of bonus healing gained from 125 to 100%
    • New functionality:
      • While an enemy is affected by Butcher's Brand, you move 20% faster towards them
  • New Talent: Meat Shield (E)
    • Hitting an enemy Hero with Ruthless Onslaught grants Spell Shield, reducing damage from enemy spells by 50% for 2.5 seconds
• Level 13
  • Burning Rage (Passive)
    • Removed
  • Crave Flesh (Passive)
    • Removed
  • Spell Shield (Passive)
    • Removed
  • New Talent: Cleaver (Passive)
    • Basic Attacks deal 35% of your Basic Attack damage to nearby enemies.
  • Brutal Strikes (Q)
    • New Functionality:
      • After using Hamstring, your next 3 Basic Attacks within 5 seconds deal an additional 15% bonus damage.
• Level 16
  • Blood Frenzy (Passive)
    • New Functionality:
      • Basic Attacks against enemy heroes increase your Basic Attack and Movement Speed by 5% for 3 seconds. Stacks up to 5 times.
  • Enraged (Passive)
    • No longer reduces the duration of disabling effects by 75%
    • Added functionality:
      • Now provides Resistant, reducing all damage taken by 25% for the duration of Enraged.

Developer Comment: We've redefined The Butcher to have a more unique role as a powerful late-game hero who feeds on the flesh of his victims via his Fresh Meat Trait. His early game is weaker than before, but if he can complete his quest he will become an incredibly potent force that the enemy team must answer. We had a ton of fun testing him, and hope you all enjoy the new Butcher!

The Butcher Talents

• (!) indicates a Questing Talent.
• Italic text indicates a NEW Talent.
• Bold text indicates a MOVED Talent.

Bug Fixes

• The cooldown of the Enraged talent now accurately matches the tooltip at 25 seconds.
• Hamstring now deals the correct amount of damage to Heroic targets when both the Cheap Shot and Chop Meat talents are selected.

Updates

• Enraged (Talent)
  • Cooldown reduced from 30 to 25 seconds.
• Hamstring (Q)
  • Chop Meat (Talent)
    • Bonus damage to Minions and Mercenaries increased from 50% to 100%.
• Butcher's Brand (W)
  • Insatiable Blade (Talent)
    • Bonus Healing from Basic Attacks increased from 25% to 50%.
• Ruthless Onslaught (E)
  • Cooldown reduced from 20 to 15 seconds.
  • Mana cost from 75 to 55.
  • Unrelenting Pursuit (Talent)
    • Cooldown reduction decreased from 40% to 33%.
• Furnace Blast (R)
  • Cooldown reduced from 90 to 80 seconds.
  • Damage increased from 456 (+4% per level) to 500 (+4% per level).

Developer Comment: There are a lot of ways for enemy teams to shut down our favorite meat-cleaving demon friend. We want to give him some more opportunities to engage enemies by reducing the cooldown of Ruthless Onslaught, which we feel is appropriate since he puts himself at risk when diving opponents. While taking a look, we saw an opportunity to buff up some of his weaker Talents, which should make him feel more compelling to play.

Updates

• Lamb to the Slaughter (R)
  • Targets affected by Lamb to the Slaughter are now Silenced for the Ability's duration
  • Duration reduced from 4 to 3 seconds
  • Lamb to the Slaughter's chain and Silence effects will now be removed if the target becomes Invulnerable or Unstoppable
  • Cooldown increased from 60 to 90 seconds

Developer Comment: As you might have noticed from our numerous Lamb to the Slaughter changes over the past year, we have been trying to create rule-sets that make this Heroic work the way we envisioned it. Every time we solved one problem, another one would pop up. After many long discussions about the proper use-cases and our intended design, we decided to make this ability a little bit meaner toward the intended target, while still allowing some counter-play through Talents and abilities that grant Unstoppable.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug affecting Stitches and The Butcher that could cause performance issues under certain circumstances.

Updates

• Lamb to the Slaughter (R)
  • Invulnerability and Unstoppable now suppress the chain effect, rather than remove it
  • Stasis effects no longer remove the chain
  • Enemy Heroes affected by Lamb to the Slaughter can no longer enter the Dragon Knight, Garden Terror, or Lt. Morales's Medivac, and Tyrael can no longer cast Judgment

Developer Comment: We really like what Lamb to the Slaughter brings to The Butcher's kit, but felt there were too many hard counters to it. These changes should help make The Butcher's target feel more like they should when bound to a stake: scared and helpless.

Bug Fixes

• The visual effects for Butcher's Brand will no longer persist on a target that is protected from death by Kharazim's Divine Palm.

Updates

• Ruthless Onslaught (E)
  • Savage Charge (Talent)
    • Bonus damage changed from 15% of the target's current Health to 10% of the target's maximum Health
• Lamb to the Slaughter (R)
  • New art has been added that will better indicate which players are affected by Lamb to the Slaughter

Developer Comment: We'd like to avoid ‘current Health' for the Savage Charge Talent, as what players get out of this can vary wildly. Using Savage Charge against a low Health target could net less than a Basic Attack, so the damage will be much more consistent with this change.

Bug Fixes

• Falstad's Hinterland Blast will no longer be placed on reduced cooldown when it is successfully cast at the same moment that Falstad is stunned by The Butcher's Ruthless Onslaught.
• The Butcher will no longer stop his Ruthless Onslaught charge if Abathur's Ultimate Evolution clone charges the target first.

Bug Fixes

• The visual effects preceding Furnace Blast's explosion will now remain visible while The Butcher is affected by Brightwing's Polymorph.
• The Butcher's Savage Charge Talent will now properly apply its damage bonus when using Ruthless Onslaught on an enemy Hero that has less than 50% Health remaining.
• Ruthless Onslaught will no longer cause The Butcher to continue searching for the target even after losing vision of that Hero.
• Heroes that are struck by Tyrael's Judgment and another knockback effect, such as The Butcher's Ruthless Onslaught, in rapid succession will no longer be pushed farther than intended.
• Entering Void Prison while using The Butcher's Ruthless Onslaught will no longer cause Ruthless Onslaught's sound effects to loop.

Releases

The Butcher, Flesh Carver, has been added to the Nexus and is now available for play! Read on for a brief overview of his Abilities.

Trait

• Fresh Meat
  • Nearby Minions and Heroes drop meat when they die. Pick up meat to gain a 1% bonus to Basic Attack damage, up to a maximum 25%. All meat is lost upon death.

Basic Abilities

• Hamstring (Q)
  • Deal damage and slow enemies by 50%, fading over 2 seconds. Your next Basic Attack will strike immediately.
• Butcher's Brand (W)
  • Deal damage to an enemy, and cause your Basic Attacks against the branded target to heal you for 75% of the damage done for 5 seconds. Healing doubled versus Heroes.
• Ruthless Onslaught (E)
  • Charge at an enemy, becoming Unstoppable and gaining Movement Speed. If you reach the target, they take damage and become stunned for 1 second.

Heroic Abilities

• Lamb to the Slaughter (R)
  • Throw a hitching post that attaches to the nearest enemy Hero after a 1 second delay. This deals damage, and chains the enemy to the post for 4 seconds.
• Furnace Blast (R)
  • After a 3 second delay, fire explodes around you, dealing massive damage to enemies in the area. Furnace Blast can be cast while using Ruthless Onslaught.