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

• Health increased from 1926 (+4% per level) to 2026 (+4% per level)
• Health Regeneration increased from 4.01 (+4% per level) to 4.22 (+4% per level) Health per second
• Dampen Magic (Talent) added at Level 1.
• Mercenary Lord (Talent) removed.
• Spell Shield (Talent) removed.
• Imposing Presence (Talent) removed.
• Locust Needles (Talent)
  • Area damage increased from 50% to 60% of Basic Attack damage.
• Scarab Host (Trait)
  • Assault Scarab (Talent)
    • Beetle Basic Attack damage bonus increased from 25% to 30%.
  • Beetle, Juiced (Talent)
    • This Talent's functionality has changed, and now reads as follows:
    • Every third Basic Attack against enemy Heroes spawns a Beetle.
• Impale (Q)
  • Bed of Barbs (Talent) moved from Level 7 to Level 13.
    • Damage increased from 26 (+4% per level) to 46 (+4% per level) per second.
  • Extended Spikes (Talent)
    • Now also increases Impale damage by 25%.
• Harden Carapace (W)
  • Shield amount increased from 260 (+4% per level) to 300 (+4% per level)
  • Cooldown decreased from 8 to 7 seconds
  • Mana cost decreased from 35 to 30
  • Persistent Carapace (Talent) removed.
  • Symbiotic Armor (Talent) removed.
  • Urticating Spines (Talent) moved from Level 7 to Level 13.
    • Area damage reduced from 105 (+4% per level) to 80 (+4% per level), and deals double damage to enemy Heroes.
  • Chitinous Plating (Talent) moved from Level 13 to Level 7.
    • This Talent's functionality has changed, and now reads as follows:
      • While Hardened Carapace is active, taking damage from enemy Abilities decreases its cooldown by 0.75 seconds, up to 3 seconds maximum.
  • Shed Exoskeleton (Talent)
    • Movement Speed bonus increased from 25% to 30%.
• Burrow Charge (E)
  • Underking (Talent)
    • No longer reduces the cooldown of Burrow Charge, but still increases range by 20%.
    • Now also increases Burrow Charge damage by 100%.
  • Epicenter (Talent)
    • No longer increases Burrow Charge damage, but still increases its impact area by 85%.
    • Now also decreases the cooldown of Burrow Charge by 4 seconds per enemy Hero hit.
• Locust Swarm (R)
  • Mana cost decreased from 100 to 75
• Cocoon (R)
  • Cryptweave (Talent)
    • Channeling will now occur automatically while Anub'arak remains near the Cocooned enemy.

Developer Comment: We want Anub'arak to be a Warrior who is good against enemy spell casters, so we gave him some Talents that point him in that direction. We also saw an opportunity to improve his Talent tree, as many of his Talents are outdated. He should feel much better at diving squishy backline Heroes, and his Talent choices should be more compelling.

Updates

• Health increased from 2382 (+4% per level) to 2582 (+4% per level)
• Health regeneration increased from 4.96 (+4% per level) to 5.37 (+4% per level)
• Regeneration Master (Talent) removed
• Mercenary Lord (Talent) removed
• Spell Shield (Talent) removed
• Relentless (Talent) removed
• Stoneskin (Talent) removed
• Rewind (Talent) removed
• New Talent (Level 7): Icebound Fortitude
  • Activate to reduce damage taken by 25% and reduce the duration of silences, stuns, slows, roots, and polymorphs by 75% for 3 seconds. 50 second cooldown.
• New Talent (Level 20): Death's Advance
  • Passively increases Arthas's Movement Speed by 10%. Activate to increase this bonus to 30% for 3 seconds. 50 second cooldown.
• New Talent (Level 20): Anti-Magic Shell
  • Activate to reduce Ability damage taken by 100% for 3 seconds, and heal for 25% of the damage prevented. 60 second cooldown.
• Frostmourne Hungers (Trait) (D)
  • Destruction (Talent) removed.
  • Obliterate (Talent) removed.
  • Eternal Hunger (Talent) has been reworked as a Questing Talent.
    • Quest: Using Frostmourne Hungers on an enemy Hero permanently increases the Mana it restores by 4, up to a maximum of 40.
    • Reward: After hitting 10 Heroes with Frostmourne Hungers, its damage bonus is increased to 125%.
  • Frost Strike (Talent) moved from Level 7 to Level 13
    • Now also reduces the cooldown of Frostmourne Hungers by 2 seconds.
• Death Coil (Q)
  • Death Touch (Talent) removed.
  • Immortal Coil (Talent) moved from Level 16 to Level 7
    • Casting Death Coil on an enemy Hero now restores Health equal to 100% of the damage dealt.
  • New Talent (Level 4): Deathlord
    • Reduces Death Coil's cooldown by 2 seconds and increases its range by 25%.
• Howling Blast (W)
  • Frost Presence (Talent)
    • Now reduces Howling Blast's cooldown by 6 seconds if it hits an enemy Hero.
  • Trail of Frost (Talent)
    • Now also increases the range of Howling Blast by 30%.
• Frozen Tempest (E)
  • Damage per second increased from 48 (+4% per level) to 52 (+4% per level)
  • Biting Cold (Talent) moved from Level 13 to Level 4
    • Damage bonus reduced from 50% to 30%
  • New Talent (Level 13): Frigid Winds
    • Frozen Tempest reduces enemy Attack Speed by 8% per second, up to 40% maximum.
  • New Talent (Level 16): Remorseless Winter
    • Enemies that remain in Frozen Tempest's area of effect for 3 seconds are rooted for 2 seconds. This effect can only occur once every 10 seconds.
• Army of the Dead (R)
  • Ghoul Health increased from 799 (+4% per level) to 960 (+4% per level).
  • Legion of Northrend (Talent)
    • Ghoul bonus Heal amount increased from 25% to 50%.
• Summon Sindragosa (R)
  • Damage reduced from 255 (+4% per level) to 230 (+4% per level).
  • Slow duration increased from 2 to 3.5 seconds.
  • Disable duration against non-Heroic enemies increased from 10 to 20 seconds.
  • Absolute Zero (Talent).
    • Slow duration increased from 2 to 3.5 seconds.

Developer Comment: As one of the very first heroes that we created, and one who hasn't had many changes since his release, Arthas has been on our radar for some time as a Hero whose Talents needed some sprucing up. In addition to giving him some powerful new Talents befitting of the Lich King, we also moved around and modified many of his options so that he has multiple build paths with different playstyles.

Arthas Talents

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

Bug Fixes

• Additionally, if one of The Lost Vikings or Chen's Storm, Earth, Fire Spirits are hit by Isolation, only the affected unit will have reduced personal vision, but the player should retain allied vision.

Bug Fixes

• Gall's Shove can no longer be used while Cho'Gall is Rooted.

Releases

Chromie, Keeper of Time, has been added to the Nexus and is now available for play! Read on for a brief overview of her Abilities.

Trait

• Timewalker
  • You've traveled into the future, and as such, will learn your Talents 1 level earlier than your teammates.

Basic Abilities

• Sand Blast (Q)
  • After 1 second, fire a long-range blast that damages the first enemy Hero it hits.
• Dragon's Breath (W)
  • Fire a blast into the air that lands after 1.5 seconds, dealing damage to enemies in an area. Enemies cannot see where the blast will land.
• Time Trap (E)
  • Place a Time Trap that arms and Stealths after 2 seconds. The first enemy Hero to touch it will be placed into Stasis for 2 seconds. Only 1 Trap can exist at once.

Heroic Abilities

• Slowing Sands (R)
  • Create a swirling vortex of sand which greatly slows enemies caught within its area of effect. The longer Slowing Sands is active, the greater its slow becomes.
• Temporal Loop (R)
  • Target enemy Hero will be teleported 3 seconds back in time to the position they were in when you initially cast Temporal Loop.

Bug Fixes

• Casting Dehaka's Isolation on a summoned unit or Heroic pet, such as Misha, Gargantuan, or a Holo Decoy, will no longer also cause the Hero who owns that unit to lose allied vision.

Updates

• Shadow Charge (Q)
  • The implementation for this Ability has been reworked.
    • No longer automatically Stuns the target at the end of the knockback phase, and instead applies a Daze for the duration of the knockback.
      • Targets that collide with terrain will still be stunned for 1 second.
    • Diablo will now continue travelling toward the enemy target for the duration of the knockback phase.

Developer Comment: Shadow Charge seems like a really simple Ability, but on the backend there were a lot of technical manipulations to make everything work the way they were intended. These were starting to create odd gameplay and bugs, so we've simplified the design of the Ability so that Diablo travels right alongside his victim as they are knocked back, instead of walking really fast toward them.

Bug Fixes

• Reset Talents in Try Mode will no longer cause Archangel Diablo's Fire Stomp flames to change color from blue to red.

Bug Fixes

• Adjusted the positioning of a spike at the base of Master E.T.C.'s guitar.

Updates

• Battle Momentum (Talent) removed.
• First Aid (Talent) removed.
• Overdrive (Talent) removed.
• Vigorous Assault (Talent) renamed to Hammer Gains
  • This is now a Falstad-specific version of Vigorous Assault.
  • Health restored per Basic Attack increased from 15% to 20% of damage dealt to the primary target.
• Tailwind (Trait)
  • Flow Rider (Talent) moved from Level 4 to Level 13.
• Hammerang (Q)
  • Power Throw (Talent) removed.
  • Hammer Time (Talent) removed.
  • Crippling Hammer (Talent) moved from Level 13 to Level 16.
  • Secret Weapon (Talent)
    • Now also increases Hammerang range by 30%.
    • Basic Attack damage bonus reduced from 80% to 60%
• Lightning Rod (W)
  • Charged Up (Talent) moved from Level 4 to Level 7.
    • Now also increases Lightning Rod's range by 15%.
    • Number of bonus strikes reduced from 3 to 2.
  • Static Shield (Talent) moved from Level 13 to Level 4.
    • Shield amount per strike reduced from 5% to 4% of maximum Health.
• Barrel Roll (E)
  • Shield duration increased from 2 to 3 seconds.
  • Free Roll (Talent) removed.
  • Updraft (Talent) moved from Level 1 to Level 4.
    • Now also increases Barrel Roll's Shield amount by 40%.

Developer Comment: We have been trying our best to support and balance the 'mage' versus 'auto-attack' builds that Falstad has access to, but continue to teeter-totter as small changes to popular Talents tend to dictate full build-paths. The changes Falstad is receiving may seem massive (and to an extent they are), but we tried our best to keep his current builds intact while opening some new and exciting combinations. Overall, we are not hoping for a huge swing in power in one direction or the other, but to open up more compelling choices at each Talent tier.

Bug Fixes

• Gall's Giant Scorcher and Shadowflame Talents now properly use different color variations for their button art.
• Gall can now properly cast Hurry Up, Oaf! while channeling Shadowbolt Volley.
• Gall's Shadowbolt Volley will no longer be interrupted by Silence and Polymorph effects.
• Gall's Shove can no longer be used while Cho'Gall is Rooted.
• 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.

Bug Fixes

• Enemy Heroes hit by the outer edge of an Xplodium Charge will now properly refill Gazlowe's Rock It! Turret charges after learning the X-Tra Large Bombs and ARK Reaktor Talents.

Updates

• Iron Skin (Trait) (D)
  • Shield amount increased from 613 (+4% per level) to 674 (+4% per level).

Developer Comment: We originally tuned Iron Skin to hold a large portion of the power in Johanna's base-kit. The scaling changes we did in November hurt the strength of the Ability, so we are tuning it up in order to help bring back that original feeling.

Bug Fixes

• Johanna's Falling Sword will now properly cancel enemy Heroic Abilities when its Stun is applied during those Abilities' casting times.

Updates

• Summon Ultralisk (R)
  • Cooldown reduced from 80 to 70 seconds.
• Maelstrom (R)
  • Cooldown reduced from 100 to 90 seconds.

Developer Comment: We are hearing your feedback about Kerrigan. Although the changes this patch are very minor, we are full aware of the community's support and enthusiasm for revitalizing the Queen of Blades. Although we don't currently have any extensive changes planned for her, she is definitely on our radar and you can expect to see some more tweaks coming soon™.

Updates

• Reanimation (Talent) has been changed to match Regeneration Master's new functionality.
  • Upon gathering 30 Health Regeneration Globes, Leoric will respawn 10 seconds faster.

Updates

• Cleanse (Talent) added at Level 7
• Shake It Off (Talent) moved from Level 7 to Level 16.
  • Cooldown reduced from 15 to 10 seconds.
• Fast Feet (Trait)
  • Safety Sprint (Talent)
    • Now provides the Movement Speed bonus regardless of Li Li's remaining Health.
• Healing Brew (Q)
  • Herbal Cleanse (Talent) removed.

Developer Comment: While one of the core components of Li Li's design has been that she does not target her Abilities, we were not happy with Herbal Cleanse and its odd usability. In addition to some other minor Talent adjustments, we've decided to give Cleanse to Li Li to help her compete with other Supports in this area.

Bug Fixes

• Self-casting Cloud Serpent as Li Li after learning the Mending Serpent Talent will no longer cause duplicate Healing combat text to appear.

Updates

• Cannoneer (Talent)
  • Cannoneer stacks will now be displayed in the Buff bar next to the Hero Portrait.
• Tal Rasha's Elements (Talent) has been reworked, and now reads as follows:
  • Using Abilities grants 5% Ability Power to a maximum of 20%. This bonus is reset when the same Ability is used within a chain.
• Disintegrate (R)
  • Temporal Flux (Talent)
    • Now gradually Slows enemies caught in its beam, up to maximum of 60%.

Developer Comment: After our last round of changes, Li-Ming's win rate and overall balance has leveled into a great spot. However, we felt that there were a couple of changes to her level 20 Talents that would help them better fit her intended design goals. Both Tal Rasha's Elements and Disintegrate will now take a bit more planning and finesse to execute to their max potential.

Bug Fixes

• Casting Teleport just as Tyrael's Judgment is about to hit Li-Ming will no longer cause her to slide a long distance.

Updates

• Advanced Block (Talent) renamed to Automated Block.

Bug Fixes

• Lt. Morales's Safeguard will now use the new floating combat text style, rather than the old one.

Updates

• Tranquility (R)
  • Will no longer Heal non-Heroic units.

Bug Fixes

• The Hardened Focus Talent will no longer affect Malfurion's Innervate cooldown.

Updates

• Give 'em the Axe! (Talent)
  • After hitting a slowed, rooted, or stunned target with a Basic Attack, increase your Basic Attack damage by 60% for 3 seconds
• Second Wind (Trait)
  • Third Wind (Talent)
    • Bonus Health Regeneration threshold increased from 50% to 60% of maximum Health.
  • Stoneform (Talent)
    • Heal amount decreased from 50% to 40% of maximum Health.
    • Heal duration increased from 8 to 10 seconds.
• Storm Bolt (Q)
  • Infused Hammer (Talent) removed.
  • Perfect Storm (Talent)
    • Now also reduces Storm Bolt's Mana cost by 25%.
• Thunder Clap (W)
  • Healing Static (Talent)
    • Now only Heals Muradin when Thunder Clap strikes enemy Heroes.
    • Heal amount per Hero hit increased from 1.5% to 5% of maximum Health.
• Dwarf Toss (E)
  • Landing Momentum (Talent)
    • Movement Speed bonus increased from 20% to 25%.
    • Movement Speed bonus duration increased from 4 to 5 seconds.

Developer Comment: The changes to Muradin were done to help balance out his Talent tree. A few Talents were a bit over or under-tuned, and he kindly offered us his hammer in order to forge some better options.

Bug Fixes

• When Murky's Pufferfish is cast in a Bush or Vent, its explosion radius will now briefly appear to enemies with its area of effect before the Pufferfish explodes.
• Murky's Egg will no longer be destroyed if Murky is Stuck by Tracer's Pulse Bomb, but killed before the Pulse Bomb explodes.

Bug Fixes

• The visual effects for Tassadar's Plasma Shield will now properly appear centered on Nazeebo.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that could cancel Nova's Triple Tap when attempting to cast it on an enemy Nova who is already channeling Triple Tap on a different target.
• Fixed an issue that caused Nova's Holo Decoys to deal more damage than intended after learning the Anti-Armor Shells Talent.
• Enemies will now be able to more easily distinguish Nova's Holo Decoys from the real Nova when the Decoys are revealed.
• Attempting to cast Nova's Pinning Shot or Tyrande's Hunter's Mark on an enemy just as the target enters a Bush or Vent will no longer cause the Ability's sound effects and animations to play as though it were successfully cast.

Updates

• Berserk (Talent) removed.

Updates

• Lightning Shield (W)
  • Stormcaller (Talent) has been reworked.
    • Now restores 3 Mana when Lightning Shield damages an enemy Hero, up to a maximum of 30.
• Earthbind Totem (E)
  • Earthgrasp Totem (Talent)
    • Empowered Slow duration reduced from 1.5 to 1 second.

Developer Comment: Stormcaller has been changed so that it offers a little different gameplay than Spiritwalker's Grace. While they both restore Mana, Stormcaller will offer a higher reward but not have the same guarantee as Spiritwalker's Grace. Each also has different synergies with other Talents. Earthgrasp Totem's slow duration was nerfed slightly because we found the duration of such a powerful slow on a short cooldown was pretty frustrating to play against.

Bug Fixes

• The Rewind Talent will no longer affect Rehgar's Ghost Wolf cooldown.

Updates

• Hunter-Gatherer (Talent) has been changed to match Regeneration Master's new functionality.
  • Both Rexxar and Misha gain Health Regeneration bonuses up to 30 Health per second, but only Rexxar will gain the 600 Health bonus on Quest completion.
• Misha, Follow! (Trait) (D)
  • Misha will now follow enemies to their last known location, even into bushes or vents, much like Zagara's Hunter Killer.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that could occasionally cause Sonya to stutter and fail to issue a Basic Attack.

Updates

• Hungry for More (Talent) has been reworked as a Questing Talent.
  • Quest: Collecting Regeneration Globes permanently increases maximum Health by 30, up to a maximum of 900.
  • Reward: Upon reaching 900 bonus Health, Stitches's Movement Speed is increased by 10%.

Bug Fixes

• The back of Ranger-General Sylvanas's leaf earring now appears more leaf-like.

Bug Fixes

• The visual effects for Tassadar's Plasma Shield will now properly appear centered on Nazeebo.

Bug Fixes

• Additionally, if one of The Lost Vikings or Chen's Storm, Earth, Fire Spirits are hit by Isolation, only the affected unit will have reduced personal vision, but the player should retain allied vision.

Bug Fixes

• Murky's Egg will no longer be destroyed if Murky is Stuck by Tracer's Pulse Bomb, but killed before the Pulse Bomb explodes.

Bug Fixes

• Tychus will no longer appear to stand while Mounted.
• The visual effects Infested Tychus Skin's Overkill will now properly appear centered on the primary target.

Bug Fixes

• Casting Teleport just as Tyrael's Judgment is about to hit Li-Ming will no longer cause her to slide a long distance.
• Angelic Flash will no longer allow Tyrael to teleport out of Root effects.
• Tyrael's Status bar will no longer persist on-screen during Archangel's Wrath if he is killed by Zagara's Devouring Maw.

Bug Fixes

• Attempting to cast Nova's Pinning Shot or Tyrande's Hunter's Mark on an enemy just as the target enters a Bush or Vent will no longer cause the Ability's sound effects and animations to play as though it were successfully cast.

Bug Fixes

• The armor under Judgement Uther's left armpit has been patched to offer better protection during his adventures in the Nexus.
• Fixed an issue that caused the Hardened Focus Talent to reduce cooldowns for Uther's Holy Light and Holy Shock more quickly than intended.
• Fixed an issue that prevented Uther's Holy Shock from revealing the target if it was cast just as they entered a Bush or Vent.

Bug Fixes

• Tyrael's Status bar will no longer persist on-screen during Archangel's Wrath if he is killed by Zagara's Devouring Maw.
• Right-clicking an enemy Structure while channeling Zagara's Baneling Barrage will no longer cause her to move to that Structure without attacking it.

Updates

• Berserk (Talent) removed.

Bug Fixes

• Zeratul's Wormhole Talent will no longer allow him to Blink out of Root effects.