Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where the AI was not using Locust Swarm.
• Fixed an issue that caused Anub'arak's abilities to not interact with map objects.
• Impoved the visibility of the erupt location indicator of Burrow Charge.
• Fixed an issue that caused Cocoon to not properly hide things attached to the target.

Bug Fixes

• Anub'arak's Burning Beetle damage is now affected by all forms of damage modification.
• No longer able to use Locust Swarm while riding on the Toy Train.
• Updating cancel animations of Hardened Shields to be like similar visuals.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue causing Cocoon's duration to not be displayed correctly. Undocumented

Hero Updates

• Difficulty updated from Medium to Hard.

Abilities

• Burrow Charge [E]
  • Burrow Charge will now reveal the effect area, extended by 1 for 0.75 seconds. Undocumented

Talents

• Level 13
  • Urticating Spines [W]
    • Urticating Spines area reveal updated from area for 1 second to area extended by 1 for 0.75 seconds. Undocumented
  • Burning Beetles [Trait]
    • Burning Beetles is now flagged as a Trait Talent. Undocumented

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that allowed select abilities to be activated while disabled if selected during the effects of Cocoon.

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 1
  • Nerubian Armor [W]
    • Spell Armor increased from 20 to 25.
• Level 7
  • Subterranean Shield [E]
    • Shield increased from 345 to 400.
• Level 13
  • Urticating Spines [W]
    • Damage increased from 80 to 90.
  • Acid Drenched Mandibles [Passive]
    • Damage bonus increased from 70% to 80%.
    • Duration increased from 3 to 4 seconds.
• Level 20
  • Cryptweave [R2]
    • Damage over time increased from 50 to 60.

Developer Comment: These talents weren't quite matching up against the potential of a horde of beetles.

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 20
  • Hive Master [R1]
    • Damage increased from 153 to 165.
    • Healing increased from 50 to 80.
  • Cryptweave [R2]
    • Additional functionality: Upon exiting the Cocoon, enemies take 50 damage over 4 seconds. This damage is increased by 100% for each second that they were inside.
  • Hardened Shield [Active]
    • Removed.
  • New Talent: The Traitor King [Active]
    • Gain 10% bonus maximum Health and 20 Spell Armor. Activate to gain 75 Armor for 4 seconds. 60-second CD.

Developer Comment: We're making some changes to Anub'arak's Level 20 talents to make them feel more heroic to take. Currently Rewind is dominating this tier due to being both very powerful on its own and fitting Anub'arak's kit in a great way. We like this and don't want to take away from it, so we're looking to make his other choices also feel great when picked.

Hero Updates

Stats

• Health increased from 2100 to 2150.
• Health Regeneration increased from 4.38 to 4.48.

Talents

• Level 13
  • Level 13 talents have been changed to follow our normal talent ordering conventions.
  • Burning Beetles [Passive]
    • Damage dealt by Beetles reduced from 7 to 6.
• Level 16
  • Debilitation [E]
    • Adjusted functionality: Enemy Heroes hit by Burrow Charge or Impale have their Spell Power reduced by 50% for 4 seconds.
  • Beetle, Juiced [Trait]
    • Adjusted functionality: Beetles gain 30% increased Health. Every 4th Basic Attack spawns a Beetle.

Developer Comment: Historically Anub'arak has always been on a razor's edge of being wildly popular and powerful or not part of the meta with small changes having a large effect on his perception. We're giving him a small Health buff and some adjustments to his late-game talents, which we believe will bring him more to the forefront again as a powerful initiator for his team.

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 13
  • Burning Rage [Passive]
    • Removed.
  • New Talent: Burning Beetles [Passive]
    • Deal 21 damage every second to nearby enemies. Beetles deal 7 damage to nearby enemies.

Developer Comment: We saw some feedback that Anub'arak's Burning Rage could be better themed for the hero, and we agreed. We present to you, Burning Beetles!

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Harden Carapace [W]
  • Shield amount increased from 315 to 340.

Talents

• Level 7
  • Leeching Scarabs [Trait]
    • Bonus attack damage increased from 20% to 30%.

Developer Comment: Anub'arak is slightly underperforming compared to other Warriors. We believe his survivability could use a little boost, so we're increasing the Shield amount of Harden Carapace, which should make him even better at surviving burst damage, particularly from Abilities.

Bug Fixes

• The following damage effects no longer activate tower aggro: Undocumented
  • Anub'arak Locust Swarm and Burning Rage

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 16
  • Beetle, Juiced [Trait]
    • Bonus Health increased from 20% to 40%.
• Level 20
  • Hive Master [R1]
    • Healing increased from 37 to 50.
  • Cryptweave [R2]
    • Bonus Cocoon duration increased from 4 to 6 seconds.

Developer Comment: We're giving Anub'arak some additional small buffs to underused talents, which should help increase his diversity in the latter portions of the game.

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 10
  • Locust Swarm [R1]
    • Damage increased from 62 to 68.
    • Healing increased from 21 to 24.
• Level 16
  • Debilitation [E]
    • Spellpower reduction duration increased from 4 to 5 seconds.
  • Beetle, Juiced [Trait]
    • Additional functionality: Increase the Health of Beetles by 20%.

Developer Comment: These buffs are to some of Anub'arak's talents that have been lagging behind their competitors for some time. Beetle, Juiced in particular should now be more consistent in its benefit to round out a Beetle- oriented build, even if Anub'arak isn't able to get a lot of Basic Attacks off on enemy Heroes.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Harden Carapace [W]
  • Cooldown increased from 6 to 7 seconds

Talents

• Level 16
  • Epicenter [E]
    • Cooldown reduction reduced from 1.25 seconds to 1 second

Developer Comment: Anub'arak is still slightly too powerful and popular compared to other Warriors, so we're making some more adjustments to his overall power level to bring him in line. In the past, we reduced Harden Carapace's cooldown soon after changing the Ability to provide significant Spell Armor, which greatly increased Anuba'rak's overall survivability. We're pulling back on that change now which should help other Warriors better compete with him.

Bug Fixes

• Anub'arak: Cocoon is no longer disjointed by teleports. Cocoon will now redirect, similarly to Pyroblast, and fall off if the teleport is far enough away.

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 1
  • Legion of Beetles [Trait]
    • Cooldown to spawn a Beetle increased from 8 seconds to 12 seconds
• Level 10
  • Cocoon [R2]
    • Health reduced from 32 to 28
    • This reduces the time that the Cocoon naturally decays from 8 to 7 seconds

Developer Comment: Anub'arak is still overperforming compared to other Warriors, so this time we are reducing the power of Legion of Beetles and Cocoon, which are still stand out talents for him. We are hesitant to over- nerf him, so our strategy going forward is to combine these smaller nerfs with buffs to other Warriors to create a healthier meta for the role.

Hero Updates

Stats

• Basic Attack damage reduced from 85 to 81

Abilities

• Impale (Q)
  • Damage reduced from 95 to 90
• Burrow Charge (E)
  • Damage reduced from 96 to 91

Talents

• Level 1
  • Legion of Beetles (Trait)
    • Spell Armor reduced from 40 to 30
• Level 10
  • Cocoon (R2)
    • Cooldown increased from 60 to 70 seconds

Developer Comment: Since his last round of changes, Anub'arak has been performing a little too well. We're knocking him down a peg with small nerfs to his overall damage, Legion of Beetles, and Cocoon.

Hero Updates

Stats

• Basic Attack damage reduced from 91 to 85

Abilities

• Impale (Q)
  • Damage reduced from 100 to 95

Talents

• Level 1
  • Legion of Beetles (Trait)
    • Moved from Level 4
    • Additional Functionality:
      • Now also increases the Spell Armor of Beetles by 40
  • Resilient Scarabs (Trait)
    • Removed

Developer Comment: Anub'arak's Beetle Build has been a difficult sell, particularly at level 1, due to the power discrepancy of Resilient Scarabs compared to other talents on the tier. In order to help the build, we're reducing the opportunity cost of picking its talents by removing Resilient Scarabs and baking its functionality into Legion of Beetles. This should make for a much more attractive talent at level 1 against his other options, and should open up other build paths for players who like to slay their enemies with many tiny little friends. Anub'arak is a bit too strong overall right now, so we're reducing his damage so that he's not quite so dominant compared to the other tanks in our game.

Design & Gameplay

Armor

• Now, just like Movement Speed modifiers, the game will apply only the highest (or lowest) amount of Armor to a Hero at any given time. We've adjusted ability/talent Armor values on a per Hero basis to account for this change:
  • Anub'arak
    • Nerubian Armor (W)
      • New functionality:
        • Increase the Spell Armor granted from Harden Carapace by 20 (to 60)

Design & Gameplay

Channeled Healing Abilities

• Alextrasza's Life-Binder (R) and Rehgar's Ancestral Healing (R) abilities are no longer cancelled under any conditions other than enemy abilities that remove the target from play (Devouring Maw, Gorge, Cocoon.)

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Harden Carapace (W)
  • Cooldown reduced from 7 to 6 seconds

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 20
  • Nullification Shield (Active)
    • Removed
  • New Talent: Hardened Shield (Active)
    • Activate to gain 75 Armor for 4 seconds, taking 75% less damage.

Developer Comment: Now that we've removed Anub'arak's baseline Spell Armor, we've also decided to normalize his Nullification Shield Talent. Since Harden Carapace provides him with a healthy amount of Spell Armor, it now shares a lot of the same design space with Nullification Shield. We want to make the use case for his Level 20 Talent clearer, which is to simply press the button when in a lot of trouble to survive burst damage.

Design & Gameplay

Armor

• Baseline Armor has been removed from a number of Heroes. Please see the specific changes to individual Heroes below.

Developer Comment: We have experimented with baseline Armor on some of our Heroes for some time, but we've decided to remove this functionality for now. The problem with it that we've found over time is that baseline Armor was difficult to communicate visually. It therefore ended up being a largely hidden power that didn't have any major changes on gameplay. Going forward, we'll prefer to make Armor—and other mechanics that are effective against Heroes and damage types—more interesting when they are tied to game mechanics. To clarify, while we are removing baseline Armor from Heroes, we still like Armor that is tied to a window of time or has an obvious display on the Hero when it is active. Some examples include Greymane in Worgen form and Cho'gall's Ogre hide.

Hero Updates

Stats

• Base Spell Armor removed.
• Health increased from 1,925 to 2,100.
• Health Regeneration increased from 4.012 to 4.375.

Abilities

• Harden Carapace (W)
  • Mana cost reduced from 30 to 25.
  • Additional functionality:
    • Now also grants 40 Spell Armor while active.

Bug Fixes

• Anub'arak: Cocoon will no longer trap Pilot-form D.Va if she has already successfully cast Call Mech.

Bug Fixes

• Brightwing: Soothing Mist will no longer Heal allies who are standing nearby while Brightwing is inside Anub'arak’s Cocoon, Lt. Morales’ Medivac, Stitches’ Gorge, or Zagara’s Devouring Maw.

Hero Updates

Stats

• Basic Attack damage reduced from 95 to 91
• Base Maximum Health reduced from 2003 to 1925
• Base Health regeneration reduced from 4.17 to 4.01 Undocumented

Abilities

• Locust Swarm (R)
  • Damage increased from 50 to 62
  • Heal increased from 17 to 21
  • Duration reduced from 8 to 6 seconds
• Cocoon (R)
  • Range reduced from 9 to 6
  • Missile Speed reduced by 33%

Talents

• Level 16
  • Epicenter (E)
    • Bonus area reduced from 85 to 60%

Bug Fixes

• Chen – Fixed an issue preventing the stun duration of Anub'arak’s Burrow Charge from being reduced by Purifying Brew.

Bug Fixes

• Anub'arak: An active Cocoon will no longer be destroyed if it is moved by Abilities that block pathing, such as Tyrael’s Holy Ground or Tassadar’s Force Wall.

• Dragon Shire: The Dragon Knight’s Savage Charge Ability will no longer cancel Anub'arak’s Burrow Charge.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Burrow Charge (E)
  • Cooldown increased from 12 to 14 seconds

Talents

• Level 4
  • Bed of Barbs (Q)
    • Movement Speed slow reduced from 30 to 25%
• Level 16
  • Epicenter (E)
    • Cooldown reduction decreased from 1.5 to 1.25 seconds

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Locust Swarm (R)
  • Damage reduced from 55 to 50

Talents

• Level 1
  • Nerubian Armor (Passive)
    • Cooldown increased from 8 to 12 seconds
• Level 4
  • Bed of Barbs (Q)
    • Damage decreased from 23 to 21
• Level 7
  • Chitinous Plating (W)
    • Cooldown reduction increased from .75 to 1 second

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Burrow Charge (E)
  • Hovering over this ability will now show the range indicator for distance traveled, as well as the area affected when he emerges from burrow
• Locust Swarm (R)
  • A range indicator will now appear to Anub’arak while Locust Swarm is active

Talents

• Level 13
  • Urticating Spines (W)
    • Hovering over the ability button after selecting this talent will now show a range indicator

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Burrow Charge (E)
  • Hovering over this ability will now show the range indicator for distance traveled, as well as the area affected when he emerges from burrow
• Locust Swarm (R)
  • Damage per second reduced from 60 to 55
  • A range indicator will now appear to Anub’arak while Locust Swarm is active

Talents

• Level 7
  • Subterranean Shield (E)
    • Shield amount reduced from 365 to 345
• Level 13
  • Urticating Spines (W)
    • Hovering over the ability button after selecting this talent will now show a range indicator
• Level 16
  • Epicenter (E)
    • Cooldown reduction decreased from 2 to 1.5 seconds per Hero hit

Hero Updates

Stats

• Spell Armor reduced from 25 to 20
• Basic Attack damage reduced from 99 to 95

Abilities

• Harden Carapace (W)
  • Shield amount increased from 300 to 315
• Burrow Charge (E)
  • Cooldown reduced from 16 to 12 seconds.
  • Added functionality:
    • Targets hit by Burrow Charge have their Movement Speed slowed by 25% for 2.5 seconds.
  • Damage reduced from 107 to 96
• Locust Swarm (R)
  • Damage reduced from 66 to 60
  • Healing reduced from 18 to 17

Talents

• Level 1
  • Extended Spikes (Q)
    • Removed
  • Dampen Magic (Passive)
    • Removed
  • Assault Scarab (Passive)
    • Removed
  • New Talent: Resilient Scarabs (Trait)
    • Your Beetles have 50 Spell Armor
  • New Talent: Nerubian Armor (Passive)
    • Every 8 seconds, gain 30 Spell Armor against the next Ability and subsequent Abilities cast against you for 1.5 seconds.
• Level 4
  • Locust Needles (Passive)
    • Removed
• Level 7
  • Shed Exoskeleton (W)
    • Moved to Level 4
  • New Talent: Subterranean Shield (E)
    • When you cast Burrow Charge, gain a shield for 5 seconds.
  • Leeching Scarabs (Passive)
    • Added functionality:
      • Also increases the damage of your Beetles by 20%
• Level 13
  • Bed of Barbs (Q)
    • Moved to Level 4
    • Damage decreased from 46 to 23
  • New Talent: Acid Drenched Mandibles (Passive)
    • Attacking a Hero that is slowed, rooted, or stunned increases your Basic Attack damage by 70% for 3 seconds.
• Level 16
  • Blood for Blood (Active)
    • Removed
  • Epicenter (E)
    • Decrease cooldown reduction from 4 to 2 seconds
  • New Talent: Debilitation (E)
    • Enemy Heroes hit by Burrow Charge have their Spell Power reduced by 50% for 4 seconds.
• Level 20
  • Hardened Shield (Active)
    • Removed
  • New Talent: Nullification Shield (Active)
    • Activate to gain 60 Spell Armor for 5 seconds.

Developer Comment: Anub'arak has received some baseline changes and talent tweaks to embrace his role as an anti-caster Warrior. New additions to his kit include: a lower cooldown and slowing Burrow Charge, a buff to his Harden Carapace shield amount, and some buffs to his Beetle build. Understandably, some players may be wondering why we lowered his Spell Armor when we want him to be an anti-caster. We felt that 25 base Spell Armor was a little too powerful in terms of countering casters because they have no real options to deal with it when it is a baseline hero stat. By giving him these changes, we're hoping to make him a more well-rounded Warrior who still fills a niche that didn't exist in our game before his addition.

Developer Comment: We're currently doing a pass on our Warriors, and want to better separate those intended to be able to solo tank for their team from those who are better identified as “bruisers.” With Armor coming into the game, we also saw an opportunity to make our Warriors have unique roles for their team so that the strongest or most survivable few weren't identified and always favored regardless of the enemy team composition. In this patch, we've taken a pass at both Arthas and Anub'arak to better embrace their roles as solo Warriors for their team. They have both received significant changes, largely with the theme of adding control and/or survivability to their kits at the expense of damage. While we know that players enjoy putting out that DPS, we think that moving them away from damage-heavy roles is a healthier direction for the game, and should make the decision of which Warrior to bring to a team more meaningful. We're also hoping that this direction helps push against the trend of it being the “correct” choice to bring multiple Warriors to a team because some can bring both CC and survivability while also doing almost as much damage as our Assassins.

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

Bug Fixes

• Anub'arak: Chitinous Plating will now correctly reduce the cooldown for Harden Carapace.

Bug Fixes

• Anub'arak: Burrow Charge will now correctly allow Anub'arak to escape Zarya's Graviton Surge.

Design & Gameplay

Armor & Vulnerability

Developer Comments: With today’s patch you will notice that a lot of our tooltips that used to reference the Resistant/Vulnerable system have been changed. Matthew Cooper detailed the changes on our forums last month explaining a bit about the new system. While the tooltips may have changed, the actual functionality for the system has been in since the Varian patch hit during the week of November 14, so the game itself should not feel any different than what you are currently used to. You will also notice that we have added baseline Armor to three Heroes – Arthas, Anub'arak, and Greymane’s Worgen Form. These are the first of a handful that we are planning to release and would love to hear any feedback you have. We are hoping that the Armor System will open up future design flexibility, increase the depth of strategy (both in game, and in draft), and grant us another knob to help balance the game.

Hero Updates

Stats

• Now has 25 Spell Armor
• Health decreased from 2226 to 2003
• Health Regeneration decreased from 4.64 to 4.17

Hero Updates

Stats

• Base Health increased from 2120 to 2226
• Health Regeneration increased from 4.4 to 4.6 per second

Developer Comments: Anub’arak has taken a bit of a hit since we removed his Invulnerability from Burrow Charge. This additional Health buff is to help compensate him so that he can be a better front-line Warrior.

Bug Fixes

• Anub'arak: The Cocoon overlay will now display correctly for enemies affected by Cocoon.

• Damage Reduction: When two damage reduction effects, such as Resistant (25%) and Hardened Shield (75%), are simultaneously applied to a Hero, the larger effect will no longer be overridden by the lesser effect.

Hero Updates

Stats

• Base maximum Health increased from 1926 to 2120
• Health regen increased from 4.0 to 4.4

Bug Fixes

• Anub'arak: It is no longer possible to cast Cocoon on Heroic Vehicles, such as the Garden Terror or Dragon Knight.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Burrow Charge (E)
  • Anub'arak is no longer Invulnerable when Burrow Charging, and is now only Unstoppable

Developer Comments: When looking at Burrow Charge, we liked that this Ability provided an immense amount of mobility and allowed Anub’arak to dive the back line, but we didn’t like that he had an Invulnerability on a 16 second CD. Essentially, Anub’arak could hold this to completely nullify a Pyroblast or any huge damage source, which is not intended. By changing this to Unstoppable, we still allow Anub’arak to be very slippery and get out of bad situations quickly.

Bug Fixes

• Anub'arak: Beetle damage listed in the Scarab Host Trait tooltip will now update correctly when Anub'arak levels up.

• Diablo: Apocalypse will now correctly target enemies trapped by Anub'arak’s Cocoon.

Bug Fixes

• Heroes who have unique Mounts, such as Zagara and Anub'arak, will no longer occasionally receive Horse Mounts in-game.

Bug Fixes

• Anub'arak: Bed of Barbs will now properly apply damage over time effects to enemy Immortals on Battlefield of Eternity.

Hero Updates

Stats

• Base Health decreased from 2026 to 1926
• Health Regen decreased from 4.22 to 4.01 per second

Talents

Regeneration Master

• A reward has been added to this Questing Talent.
  • Quest: Regeneration Globes now grant 1.0 Health per second, stacking up to 30
  • Reward: Upon gathering 30 Globes, also increases Health by 500

Developer Comments: We’ve added a completion point to this Talent. Upon completing its quest, players will be provided with some additional power. This allows us to offer spikes of power in-between Talent levels, or even for a single player on a team. Now, simply picking the Talent and only partially completing it is worse, but finishing the quest will return a larger reward. Choosing the right Talents on the right Battleground or with the right team composition has always been an important goal for us, and this change pushes this Talent to closer align with that goal.

Hero 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 Comments: 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.

Bug Fixes

• Regeneration Globes will now properly grant healing and Regeneration Master stacks when collected as a Shield expires.

Hero Updates

• Harden Carapace (W)
  • Shield amount increased from 242 (+4% per level) to 260 (+4% per level)

Developer Comments: Anub’arak’s survivability is a little low right now, though not by much. We think that increasing it by buffing his low cooldown Shield helps him feel unique, and will give him a slight nudge toward becoming another enticing Warrior option at all levels of play.

Design & Gameplay

Battleground Monsters

• Battleground-specific creatures are now universally defined as Monsters (ex: Neutral Garden Terrors, Sky Temple Guardians, etc.)
• Several Talents and Abilities have been changed to reflect this new categorization, and the following no longer affect Monsters:
  • Mercenary Lord
  • Johanna's Knight Takes Pawn
  • Lunara's Cruel Bloom
  • Rexxar's Easy Prey and Bird of Prey
  • The Butcher's Chop Meat
• The following now affect Monsters:
  • Anub'arak's Beetle, Juiced
  • Azmodan's Demonic Smite
• Several Talents that could previously trigger against both captured Mercenaries and Minions will now only affect Minions (ex: Seasoned Marksman, Black Soulstone, etc.)

General

• Damage dealt by splash and cleave attacks will no longer trigger effects that would otherwise require a direct attack to trigger (ex: Block, Spell Shield, Imposing Presence, etc.)

Bug Fixes

• Fixed several situations in which summoned units could return directly to lane rather than continuing to attack nearby enemies while capturing a Mercenary Camp.

Design & Gameplay

Vehicles and Regeneration Globe Interaction

• Regeneration Globes will no longer heal Dragon Knights and Garden Terrors.
  • Instead, Regeneration Globe effects will now be applied directly to the Hero inside the Dragon Knight or Garden Terror.
• Players within a Dragon Knight or Garden Terror can now also accumulate stacks for Talents such as Seasoned Marksman, Gathering Power, Regeneration Master, etc.

Talents

Imposing Presence

Developer Comments: Statistically, it was almost never wrong to choose Imposing Presence. With this nerf, it’s still a great counter in the right situation, and as a result, we’re hoping we’ll see more play from our Basic Attack assassins.

• Attack Speed slow reduced from 50% to 40%
• The Attack Speed slow will now be removed when attacking a target that has not learned the Imposing Presence Talent

Mercenary Lord

Developer Comments: We’ve combined the talent Superiority into Mercenary Lord, and removed the damage reduction from structures to prevent degenerative backdoor strategies. The combination of the damage reduction vs. Mercenaries and the ability to empower these Mercenaries felt like a logical pairing. We hope incorporating the two talents into one will make this level 4 choice an enticing one, as the two talents separated had a low pick rate.

• The functionality of the Superiority Talent has been rolled into Mercenary Lord, which is now available to the following Heroes at Level 4:
  • Anub'arak, Arthas, Azmodan, Gazlowe, Nazeebo, Sonya, Stitches, and The Lost Vikings
• New combined functionality reads: Non-Boss Mercenaries near your Hero deal 50% more damage. Reduces damage taken from Minions and Mercenaries by 50%.

Superiority

• This Talent has been removed, and its functionality has been rolled into the revamped Mercenary Lord Talent

Bug Fixes

• Anub'arak’s Web Wrap and Stitches' Gorge will now work properly when used against Unstoppable targets, which is consistent with Zagara's Devouring Maw.

Talents

Blood for Blood

• No longer slows the target
• Damage decreased from 15% to 10% of the target’s maximum Health
• Heal amount increased from 100% to 200% of damage dealt

Regeneration Master

• Initial +4.0 Health Regeneration removed
• Each Health Globe now grants +1.5 Health Regeneration

Spell Shield

• Duration increased from 2 to 3 seconds

Hero Updates

• Scarab Host (Trait)
  • Beetle Movement Speed reduced by approximately 16%
  • Beetle damage reduced from 8 (+2 per level) to 7 (+1.8 per level)
• Locust Swarm (R)
  • Damage reduced from 20 (+8 per level) to 16 (+6.4 per level)

Bug Fixes

• Sgt. Hammer’s Blunt Force Gun will no longer be placed on reduced cooldown when coming under the effects of Anub'arak Web Blast during Blunt Force Gun’s casting time.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that could cause Rehgar players to permanently lose control of their Hero after coming under the effects Anub'arak's Web Blast.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug affecting Anub'arak's Web Blast.

Hero Updates

• Scarab Host (Trait)
  • Beetle A.I. has received several improvements.
    • If Anub’arak is attacking an enemy when a Beetle is spawned, the Beetle will also attempt to attack that target.
    • If Anub’arak is not attacking anything when a Beetle is spawned, the Beetle will attempt to find a nearby target to attack.
    • Beetles will now attack and pursue a target found this way until that enemy dies, or the Beetles lose track of the target (through teleporting away, for example). Only then will the Beetles return to a lane.
• Impale (Q)
  • Casting delay removed
• Burrow Charge (E)
  • Casting delay significantly reduced

Talents

Blood for Blood

• This Talent has received a visual update. It should now be much easier to identify both the target and caster of Blood for Blood.

Talents

Regeneration Master

• Now grants 4 Health regeneration upon learning the Talent

Rewind

• Has been moved from Level 13 to Level 20
• Has been removed from many Heroes
• Found on the following Heroes:
  • Anub'arak, Arthas, Brightwing, Nova, Malfurion, Muradin, Murky, Tassadar, Tyrande, Rehgar, Zeratul

New Level 20 Talents

Hardened Shield

• Activate to reduce all incoming damage by 75% for 4 seconds; 60 second cooldown
• Found on the following Heroes:
  • Anub’arak, Arthas, Chen, Gazlowe, Muradin, Sonya, Stitches, Tyrael

Hero Updates

• Basic Attack
  • Locust Needles (Talent) damage increased from 35% to 50%
• Impale (Q)
  • Stun duration decreased from 1.25 to 1 second
• Harden Carapace (W)
  • Persistent Carapace (Talent)
    • Duration bonus increased from 2 to 3 seconds
  • Chitinous Plating (Talent)
    • Shield bonus reduced from 50% to 40%
• Burrow Charge (E)
  • Cooldown increased from 14 to 16 seconds
  • Epicenter (Talent)
    • Impact area and Damage bonuses reduced from 100% to 85%
• Web Blast (R)
  • Duration increased from 5 to 8 seconds
  • Cooldown increased from 45 to 60 seconds
  • Cryptweave (Talent)
    • Now channels for 4 seconds to increase the duration of Web Blast for 4 seconds. Usable once per Web Blast cast

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that could cause Anub'arak to become stuck after using Burrow Charge near a Wall.

• Heroes will no longer be teleported back to Stitches if they are Gorged when Stitches comes under the effects of Anub'arak’s Web Blast.

Talents

Mercenary Lord

• New functionality
  • Siege and Bruiser Mercenaries now deal 50% increased damage.
  • A player with the Mercenary Lord Talent must be within proximity of Siege and Bruiser Mercenaries in order for them to receive the damage bonus.

Resurgence of the Storm

• This Talent has been removed from the game.

Bug Fixes

• Arthas Ghouls no longer instantly die to Anub'arak’s Web Blast

• Fixed an issue which caused summoned units to deal half damage to Heroes with the Superiority Talent.

• The Burning Rage Talent no longer deals double damage to towers affected by the Raven Lord’s Curse on the Cursed Hollow Battleground.

Bug Fixes

• Activating the Rewind Talent will no longer refresh cooldowns for certain activated Traits.

Talents

Imposing Presence

• Attack speed slow amount increased from 30% to 50%

Resurgence of the Storm

• Cooldown increased from 120 to 180 seconds

Rewind

• Now refreshes all Basic Ability cooldowns rather than reducing them by 10 seconds
• Cooldown increased from 60 to 90 seconds

Hero Updates

• Imposing Presence (Talent) has been added to Anub’arak.
• Rewind (Talent) has been removed from Anub’arak.
• Harden Carapace (W)
  • Shield amount reduced from 120 (+30 per level) to 90 (+22 per level)
• Locust Swarm (R)
  • Heal per tick reduced from 10 (+2 per level) to 10 (+1.5 per level)

Bug Fixes

• Graphic effects for Ultimate Evolution Anub'arak’s Locust Swarm will no longer also display at Abathur's original location.

New Hero

Anub’arak has been added to Heroes of the Storm and is now available for play! Read on for a brief overview of his abilities.

• Abilities:
  • Impale (Q)
    • Shoot a line of spikes that damages and stuns enemies.
  • Harden Carapace (W)
    • Gain a Shield.
  • Burrow Charge (E)
    • Burrow underground and charge in a direction.
• Trait:
  • Scarab Host (D)
    • Spawn a Beetle whenever an Ability is cast.
• Heroic Abilities:
  • Locust Swarm (R)
    • Spawn a swarm of Locusts that damage enemies and heal you.
  • Web Blast (R)
    • Wraps an enemy in webbing. Enemies can attack the webbing to break their ally free.
• Check out Anub'arak’s Hero Week blog for much more information on this vengeful new Warrior Hero.