Heroes of the Storm Balance Patch Notes – April 1, 2018

Our most recent Heroes of the Storm patch is now live containing a number of balance changes and bug fixes.

Quick Navigation:

• Battlegrounds
• Heroes
• Bug Fixes

Battlegrounds

Blackheart's Bay

• Fixed an issue where Blackheart's Bay wasn't the chosen map for 50% of the time.

Developer Comment: Blackheart's Bay was supposed to be the main map that Heroes of the Storm should be played on. We have fixed this issue, so you should see yourself playing this map every other game.

Braxis Holdout

• Dr. Cook has been fired from his position due to inadequate handling of zerg specimens.
• He has been replaced with Dr. Deckard Cain, to give you more excitement and enthusiasm in the announcing voicelines.

Garden of Terror

• The Garden Terror's attack damage has been reduced by 75%.
• The Garden Terror's potted plant will now deal 20% of a structure's maximum health per second.
• The Garden Terror's speed boost is now always on.

Developer Comment: We have always loved the old gameplay of the Garden Terror, and we have decided to bring it back, in full nostalgia. We want to encourage more playmaking with the Garden Terror, so we have given it speed and much more mobility to prevent enemy teams from destroying it too quickly... or at all.

Hanamura

• Hanamura has been re-added to the game with no changes. Internal feedback suggests that players were simply just not "gitting good" enough.

Infernal Shrines

• When the Punisher leaps onto a hero, the sound effect "AND HIS NAME IS JOHN CENA" will play.

Towers of Doom

• The Kill-Zone circle has been extended to the middle of the map. The Kill-Zone boundaries are now shared and splits the map down the middle.

Developer Comment: We believe that making this change to Towers of Doom will stop the strategy of constantly pushing the bottom lane, and that this will make laning more vibrant and exciting.

Heroes

Assassin

Talandar

• Fenix has now been renamed to Talandar.

Genji

• Genji's Swift Strike has it's range changed to become global. However, this will mean that whenever he uses it, he will end up on the opposite side of the map.

Developer Comment: Genji's Swift Strike has been a core part of his identity but a sore spot for people trying to play against him. By making Swift Strike a global range, Genji players will now have to think creatively to not get stuck in the enemy base.

Greymane

• Greymane's Worgen form has been removed. His E will now build a wall. Any enemies near him will lose 10% maximum HP.

Developer Comment: We've been running into issues trying to balance Greymane around his versatility between Worgen form and Human form so we have decided to change Greymane to strictly human form. To compensate for this, he has now the ability to build walls, and make his enemies pay for it. Hopefully this change will allow Greymane to make Gilneas great again.

Nova

• Nova's talents have been reworked. All of her talents will now affect Decoy in some way.
• Swift Decoy, Slowing Decoy, Stunning Decoy, EMP Decoy, Healing Decoy, Taunting Decoy, Explosive Decoy, Revival Decoy, Global Decoy, Rocket Decoy, Dash Decoy, Sword Decoy, Nuke Decoy have now replaced her talents.

Developer Comment: We're happy with the stealth rework, and want to make a few minor tweaks to Nova by removing all her talents and replacing them with Decoy talents that will give her more flexibility.

Zul'jin

• Zul'jin's Guillotine Ultimate is now global ranged and now has a 2 second cooldown.

Developer Comment: We feel that Zul'jin's mage build has been nerfed too much, so we are now compensating by buffing Guillotine to have a 2 second cooldown, allowing Mage-Build Zul'jins to be much more active in teamfights.

Warriors

E.T.C.

• E.T.C's Mosh Pit now slows enemies by 20% instead of stunning enemies.

Developer Comment: Mosh pit has been dominant in usage for E.T.C and so we decided to tone down the power level of the ability slightly to give him a variety of options at level 10.

Garrosh

• Garrosh's Wrecking Ball's throw range has been increased by 400%, approximately the width of the screen.

Developer Comment: The loss of the pull on Groundbreaker has been devastating to Garrosh's winrates, and as a result, we have decided to compensate by increasing the throw range on Wrecking Ball.

Misha

• We have swapped Misha and Rexxar's roles. You will control Misha, and Rexxar will be a pet. When Rexxar dies, he will respawn in 10 seconds next to Misha.

Developer Comment: The gameplay around Misha was more compelling for Rexxar players, and as a result, we decided to swap which character the player controls directly. Misha will finally show Rexxar what it's like to hold a Braxis Holdout Beacon on his own.

Specialist

Gazlowe

• Gazlowe turrets now last forever.

The Lost Vikings

• We have decided to add 3 female vikings to control to balance out gender diversity, as vikings were known for their gender equality.
• Their names are Astrid, Freya, and Brynhild. They each are based off the original vikings, and deal 25% more damage.

Developer Comment: Yeah! Girl power!

Probius

• Probius has Disruption Pulse and Warp Rift removed, and replaced with "Build Gateway" and "Build Robotics Facility". Clicking these structures gives Probius the ability to construct new units, such as Zealots, Dragoons, Reavers, and Colossi.
• Probius must build a Forge before it can construct Photon Cannons. This ability has been added to the 1 key.

Developer Comment: We decided to change Probius' kit to make it align more with the fantasy of playing a Probe. By giving it a larger diversity of buildings to construct, we believe that Probius will be alot more fun to play, with the ability to max out an army and send it out in classic Protoss Death Ball style.

Support

Ana

Stats

• The width of Healing Dart has been increased by 2000%.
• Penetrating Darts has been removed.

Developer Comment: People have complained about how hard it is to hit targets with Ana sometimes, and as a result, we have decided to increase the width of Healing Dart, allowing Ana to hit the first thing her massive darts should encounter. Penetrating Darts should no longer be necessary as a result.

Lt. Morales

• Lt. Morales now gains a new ability on the D key called "Focus Morales". This taunts every nearby hero to attack only her.

Developer Comment: While this will change Morales' playstyle only slightly, we thought this would be a flavorful change to make to Lt. Morales.

Stukov

• Massive Shove can now push a hero off the map and into the game of anyone on your friends list.

Bug Fixes

• Heroes can now cast Area-of-Effect abilities globally before the gates open. This will add a little excitement to the gameplay before the match starts, and keep people on their toes.
• Raynor: Fixed an issue causing his model to look unique. He should now look like a normal lane minion.
• Blaze: Fixed an issue causing him to take damage from Hellbat mercenaries. He now heals HP from them.
• Cho: Fixed an issue where you couldn't pick Cho without a Gall on your team..
• Chen: Fixed an issue where Chen could be picked.
• Ragnaros: Fixed an issue causing Lava Wave to deal no damage to structures.
• Abathur: Fixed an issue causing Abathur to deal only 2% of the damage he would normally do with his melee auto-attacks.
• Anub'Arak: Removed a bug by deleting Anubarak.

Happy April Fools