Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 4
  • Shield Surge [D]
    • Added to the Buff Bar.
    • Trait is now highlighted when below 25%.
• Level 7
  • Final Cut [Passive]
    • Conditional part of the ability has been added to the Buff Bar.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that caused Phase Prism to not properly detect structures after the target becomes Time Stopped.

• Fixed an issue that caused some of Artanis' abilities to not interact with map objects.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that caused Target Purified to deal double damage.
• Fixed an issue that caused Titan Killer being capable of damaging Invulnerable targets when activated from Twin Blades.
• Updated visuals of Spell Armor.

Hero Updates

• Difficulty updated from Medium to Hard.

Abilities

• Blade Dash [Q]
  • Blade Dash will now reveal targets hit for 2 seconds. Undocumented
• Suppression Pulse [R2]
  • Suppression Pulse will now reveal targets hit for 2 seconds. Undocumented

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that caused Shield Overload to be reduced in cooldown from Basic Attacks while Blinded or if the target is Evading.
• Fixed an issue that caused Blade of a Templar to slow targets while Blinded or if the target is Evading.
• Fixed an issue that caused Reactive Parry to grant stacks of Block from Twin Blades while Blinded or if the target is Evading.
• Fixed an issue that caused Reactive Parry to not grant a stack of Block from the third strike of Twin Blades.
• Fixed an issue that caused Plasma Burn's damage aura to display as a critical when damage was not increased.

Hero Updates

Stats

• Health reduced from 2525 to 2490.
• Health regeneration reduced from 5.26 to 5.19.

Abilities

• Shield Overload [Trait]
  • Shield reduced from 385 to 365.

Talents

• Level 4
  • Shield Surge [Trait]
    • Shield bonus increased from 75% to 80%.

Developer Comment: Artanis has slowly gained the crowns of both our most popular and most winning Bruiser, so he gets a nerf.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Twin Blades [W]
  • Charge range increased from 3 to 3.5.
• Phase Prism [E]
  • Cast time increased from .0625 seconds to .25 seconds.
  • New functionality:
    • Artanis no longer has to channel while the Phase Prism missile is active.
    • Artanis gains Unstoppable for 1.5 seconds after swapping with an enemy Hero.
• Purifier Beam [R2]
  • Cooldown reduced from 80 to 70 seconds.
  • Mana cost reduced from 80 to 65.

Talents

• Level 1
  • Reactive Parry [W]
    • New functionality: Hitting enemy Heroes with Twin Blades or Blade Dash grants a charge of Block for 50 Physical Armor. Stacks up to 2 times.
• Level 4
  • Shield Battery [Trait]
    • New functionality:
      • Shield Overload's cooldown recharges 125% faster while active.
      • Passive: Reduce Shield Overload's cooldown by 4 seconds.
• Level 7
  • Follow Through [Passive]
    • Removed.
  • (New) Final Cut [Passive]
    • After using an Ability, your next Basic Attack within 6 seconds deals 40% more damage. When under 25% health, this bonus is increased to 60%.
• Level 16
  • Blades of a Templar [Passive]
    • Attack speed bonus reduced from 30% to 20%.
• Level 20
  • Zealot Charge [W]
    • Distance bonus amount reduced from 100% to 75%.

Developer Comment: Artanis has long struggled to get value out of his swaps when facing heavy CC teams and this has a large impact on his viability, especially in higher levels of play. We're giving him a brief window of unstoppability after swapping with Phase Prism, as well as improving the general usability of the ability. We're also giving him a teensy bit more range on his Twin Blades charge. All of these changes combined should help Artanis feel a bit more impactful and safe in team fights.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Blade Dash [Q]
  • Initial damage increased from 57 to 63.

Talents

• Level 4
  • Psionic Synergy [E]
    • Duration increased from 3 to 5 seconds.
• Level 7
  • Solarite Reaper [Q]
    • Damage bonus increased from 150% to 175%.
• Level 13
  • Graviton Vortex [E]
    • Phase Prism cooldown reduction increased from 1.75 to 2 seconds.

Developer Comment: Artanis has been finding more and more of his success by focusing on taking Basic Attack talents, so we're trying to even out his choices.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where Phase Prism had an incorrect Mana cost when cast during Blade Dash.

Hero Updates

Stats

• Health increased from 2470 to 2525.
• Health Regeneration increased from 5.14 to 5.26.

Abilities

• Shield Overload [Trait]
  • Shield amount increased from 375 to 385.

Talents

• Level 1
  • Seasoned Marksman [Passive]
    • Removed.
  • Reactive Parry [W]
    • New functionality: Damaging enemies with the first slash of Twin Blades grants Artanis 75 Physical Armor against the next enemy Hero Basic Attack. If the target is an enemy Hero, then the second slash grants Artanis an additional stack. Stores up to 2 charges.
  • New Talent: Protector of Aiur [Passive]
    • Quest: Basic Attacks against enemy Heroes increase Artanis's Attack Damage by .1%. Takedowns grant 1% bonus damage.
• Level 7
  • Warp Sickness [E]
    • Removed.
  • Chrono Surge [E]
    • Attack Speed bonus reduced from 75% to 40%.
    • Additional functionality: Phase Prism Slows the enemy's Movement Speed by 30% for 4 seconds.

Developer Comment: We're giving Artanis some small baseline buffs and changing some of his lesser-picked talents to have more practical use cases. We're also combining the effects of Warp Sickness and Chrono Surge into one talent, which should make that choice at Level 7 more powerful overall while also giving a clearer choice for Artanis players who want to build around hitting enemy Heroes with Phase Prism.

Bug Fixes

• The following damage effects no longer activate tower aggro: Undocumented
  • Artanis Plasma Burn

Design & Gameplay

Seasoned Marksman

• Cooldown reduced from 60 to 30 seconds.
• Attack Speed bonus duration increased from 3 to 4 seconds.

Developer Comment: Since its removal on many Heroes, Seasoned Marksman has fallen off a bit due to needing to be tuned around so many different kits. Now that it has a home in fewer places, we're giving it a fairly substantial buff to make it more relevant.

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 10
  • Purifier Beam [R2]
    • Movement Speed increased from 3 to 3.2.

Developer Comment: The Movement Speed changes hurt the ability for Purifier Beam to stick to a target a little more than most abilities. When increasing Movement Speed of Heroes, we knew that Abilities would be more difficult to land which would require players to adjust, but Purifier Beam doesn't allow you to aim differently. That being said, Purifier Beam is still very comparable to Suppression Pulse in terms of pick rate and win rate, so we think a very small adjustment is in order.

Bug Fixes

• Artanis: Interrupting Blade Dash before a second missile is launched no longer places Artanis in unpathable terrain.

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 4
  • Psionic Synergy [E]
    • Armor bonus increased from 20 to 30
  • Shield Battery [Trait]
    • Cooldown reduction increased from 100% to 125%
• Level 13
  • Templar's Zeal [Q]
    • Cooldown reduction increased from 5 to 6 seconds
  • Graviton Vortex [E]
    • Cooldown reduction increased from 1.25 to 1.75 seconds

Developer Comment: MY BUFFS FOR AIUR!

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Phase Prism (E)
  • Cooldown reduced from 14 to 12 seconds
  • Mana cost reduced from 60 to 50

Talents

• Level 1
  • Reactive Parry (W)
    • Armor amount increased from 50 to 75
• Level 13
  • Graviton Vortex (E)
    • Mana cost reduction decreased from 30 to 25

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Phase Prism (E)
  • Cooldown reduced from 16 to 14 seconds
  • Mana cost reduced from 70 to 60

Talents

• Level 13
  • Graviton Vortex (E)
    • Mana cost reduction decreased from 35 to 30

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 4
  • Psionic Synergy (E)
    • Armor amount increased from 15 to 20
• Level 20
  • Plasma Burn (Trait)
    • Damage increased from 60 to 70

Bug Fixes

• Artanis: Fixed an issue that could cause Shield Overload to trigger twice in some rare instances.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Blade Dash (Q)
  • Mana cost decreased from 55 to 50

Talents

• Level 4
  • Psionic Synergy (E)
    • New functionality:
      • Hitting an enemy Hero with Phase Prism grants Artanis 15 Armor for 3 seconds
  • Shield Battery (Trait)
    • Cooldown reduction increased from 50 to 100%
• Level 13
  • Templar's Zeal (Q)
    • New functionality:
      • Reduce the Mana cost of Blade Dash by 50%. Each time that Shield Overload activates, reduce the cooldown of Blade Dash by 5 seconds
  • Graviton Vortex (E)
    • New functionality:
      • Reduce the Mana cost of Phase Prism by 50%. Hitting an enemy Hero with Basic Attacks or Blade Dash lowers the cooldown of Phase Prism by 1.25 seconds
  • Phase Bulwark (Trait)
    • Adjusted functionality:
      • While Artanis has shields from Shield Overload, gain 50 Spell Armor. This Armor lasts for 2 seconds after Shield Overload expires
• Level 16
  • New Talent: Blades of a Templar (Passive)
    • Increase Basic Attack speed by 30%. Basic Attacks slow enemy Movement Speed by 20% for 1.25 seconds
  • Psionic Wound (W)
    • Removed
  • Force of Will (Trait)
    • Moved from Level 20
    • New functionality:
      • Casting Basic Abilities reduces the cooldown of Shield Overload by 5 seconds
  • Titan Killer (W)
    • Adjusted functionality:
      • Basic Attacks against Heroes deal an additional .5% of their maximum Health in damage. Twin Blades attacks against Heroes deal an additional 1.5% of their maximum Health as damage
• Level 20
  • Nexus Blades (Passive)
    • Removed
  • Target Purified (R)
    • Additional Functionality:
      • Now also increases the speed of Purifier Beam by 15%
  • Zealot Charge (W)
    • Moved from Level 16
  • Plasma Burn (Trait)
    • Moved from Level 16
    • Damage increased from 55 to 60

Developer Comment: We saw an opportunity to give Artanis some more competitive talents, particularly on his later tiers. Our goal with these changes was to create some different playstyles and synergies between his talents, and to give him a little more punch as the game goes on and the enemy team becomes more capable of locking him down.

Bug Fixes

• Artanis: The Templar's Zeal Talent now displays the base Blade Dash icon art in the Talent selection pane. Undocumented

• Artanis: Damage dealt by the Plasma Burn Talent now displays correctly in Death Recaps.

• Artanis: Purifier Beam is now correctly interrupted if its target is a Hero with a post death effect, like Leoric or Uther, who is killed while the Ability is being cast.

Bug Fixes

• Artanis: The Target Purified Talent no longer causes Purifier Beam to acquire Invulnerable targets after its initial target dies.

Bug Fixes

• Hanzo: Natural Agility now activates correctly after being hit by Phase Prism near a tower.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Blade Dash (Q)
  • Mana cost reduced from 65 to 55
• Twin Blades (W)
  • Mana cost reduced from 25 to 20

Talents

• Level 13
  • Templar’s Zeal (Q)
    • Faster cooldown rate increased from 200 to 300%

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 7
  • Chrono Surge (E)
    • Attack Speed bonus increased from 50% to 75%
• Level 13
  • Templar’s Zeal (Q)
    • Cooldown reduction increased from 150% to 200%
  • Phase Bulwark (Trait)
    • Spell Armor increased from 40 to 50

Bug Fixes

• Structures: Auriel's Blinding Flash and Artanis' Suppression Pulse can no longer Blind Structures.

Bug Fixes

• Chromie: Fixed an issue in which certain Abilities, like Artanis’ Blade Dash, could prevent Temporal Loop from returning the target to its original location.

Bug Fixes

• Alarak & Artanis: Fixed an issue causing Deadly Charge to go on a full cooldown if Alarak is hit by Phase Prism while channeling.

Bug Fixes

• D.Va: Players will now correctly earn takedown credit toward certain Hero Talents and Abilities, like Seasoned Marksman or Li-Ming’s Critical Mass, after destroying D.Va’s Mech.

Hero Updates

Stats

• Basic Attack
  • Reduced the period during which Artanis is locked in place during his Basic Attacks to be consistent with other Heroes with similar attack timings

Bug Fixes

• Seasoned Marksman: Fixed an issue causing Seasoned Marksman to increase the damage dealt by Titan Killer.

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 4
  • Shield Surge (Trait)
    • Bonus shield amount reduced from 80 to 75%
• ​​Level 7
  • Chrono Surge (Q)
    • Duration of Attack Speed increased from 4 to 5 seconds
• ​​Level 13
  • Templar's Zeal (Q)
    • Cooldown recharge rate increased from 100 to 150%
  • Graviton Vortex (E)
    • Cooldown reduction decreased from 6 to 5 seconds
• Level 16
  • Titan Killer (W)
    • Damage reduced from 2.5 to 2% of enemy Hero's maximum Health
  • Plasma Burn (Trait)
    • Damage increased from 50 to 55

Developer Comments: We're glad to see the Hierarch as a powerful entity in the Nexus! As players are growing more proficient with his new kit, he's becoming increasingly more powerful than his competition. We're using this time to adjust a few of the over performing Talents as a means of toning him down slightly, as well as creating more compelling choices.

Bug Fixes

• Artanis: Fixed an issue that could prevent Artanis from swapping positions with his target after using Blade Dash and Phase Prism.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Shield Overload (Trait)
  • Increased Shield Value from 360 to 375

Developer Comments: We feel we’ve slightly over-nerfed Artanis’ survivability for his added playmaking potential by being able to cast Phase Prism during Blade Dash. We don’t think he needs much, but this small change should make Artanis feel a little more like the bruiser that he is meant to be.

Bug Fixes

• Artanis: The Talent tooltip for Templar's Zeal now correctly states that the cooldown for Blade Dash recharges 100% faster, rather than 150% faster, while Artanis is below 50% Health.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Blade Dash (Q)
  • Added functionality:
    • Now reduces the cooldown of Shield Overload by 1 second per enemy hit, and 2 seconds per Hero hit.​
• Twin Blades (W)
  • Charge range is now checked against the edge of target units, instead of their center. This increases the effective range of Twin Blades and should generally create more consistent behavior.
• Phase Prism (E)
  • ​Added functionality:
    • You can now cast Phase Prism during Blade Dash
  • Cooldown increased from 14 to 16 seconds
• Shield Overload (Trait)​
  • Cooldown increased from 20 to 24 seconds
  • Activation threshold increased from 50 to 75% Health
  • Shield value reduced from 449 to 360

Talents

• Level 4​
  • Shield Surge (Trait)
    • Moved from Level 16
    • New functionality:
      • Shield Overload's shield amount is increased by 80% while you are below 25% Health
  • Lethal Alacrity (Q)
    • Removed
  • Shield Battery (Trait)
    • Redesigned:
      • Shield Overload's cooldown recharges 50% faster while its shield is active, and increases the duration of Shield Overload from 5 to 6 seconds
  • Psionic Synergy (Q)
    • Moved from Level 7
    • Now increases the cooldown reduction of hitting Heroes with Blade Dash from 2 to 4 seconds
• Level 7
  • Chrono Surge (E)
    • Moved from Level 4
    • Attack Speed bonus increased from 40 to 50%
• Level 13​
  • Templar's Zeal (Q)
    • Moved from Level 4
  • Phase Bulwark (Trait)
    • Ability damage mitigation reduced from 50 to 40%
• Level 16​
  • Burning Rage (Passive)
    • Moved from Level 13
    • Replaced with Plasma Burn (Trait):
      • While your Shield is active, you deal 50 damage a second to nearby enemies

Developer Comments: The goals with this Artanis update were twofold: Increase his playmaking (swapping enemies during Blade Dash), and increase his solo lane capabilities (Blade Dash reduces Shield Overload cooldown, Shield Overload triggers at higher Health). We think that with these changes, Artanis will be a strong choice on a lot more Battlegrounds and with more team compositions.

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

Talents

Seasoned Marksman

• Basic Attack damage can now be gained past the previous cap of 40 bonus damage
• Activated Attack Speed bonus increased from 30 to 40%

Bug Fixes

• 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.

Bug Fixes

• Artanis: Fixed an issue that caused Artanis' Shield Overload trait to fail to override existing shields when triggered.

Bug Fixes

• Artanis: Activating Twin Blades just as Hearthstone completes channeling will no longer cause Artanis to stand while Mounted.

Hero Updates

Stats

• Health increased from 2245 to 2470
• Health Regen increased from 4.68 to 5.15

Talents

• Level 7
  • Warp Sickness (E)
    • Slow amount increased from 30 to 35%

Developer Comments: Artanis asked us for some buffs and we thought he was a pretty chill guy so we gave them to him.

Bug Fixes

• Artanis: Fixed a rare issue in which an enemy who is killed in the same moment as they are struck by Phase Prism could cause Artanis to fly to the target’s death location.

• Rehgar: Ancestral Healing will now properly restore Health to Artanis and Johanna if the target takes lethal damage in the same moment that Shield Overload or Indestructible is triggered.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that could allow Artanis to strike three times, rather than twice, during his Twin Blades Ability.

Talents

Seasoned Marksman

• A reward has been added to this Questing Talent.
  • Quest: Increases Attack Damage by 0.2 for each enemy Minion killed nearby, and 0.5 for each Hero Takedown, up to a maximum of 40.
  • Reward: After gaining 40 bonus Attack Damage, Seasoned Marksman can be activated to increase Attack Speed by 30% for 3 seconds. 60 second cooldown.

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 reduced from 2335 (+4% per level) to 2245 (+4% per level).
• Health Regeneration reduced from approximately 4.86 (+4% per level) to 4.67 (+4% per level).
• Twin Blades (W)
  • Artanis’ next Basic Attack now also causes him to charge forward a short distance, equal to approximately half the distance provided by the previous iteration of the Zealot Charge Talent.
  • Zealot Charge (Talent)
    • Now increases charge distance by 100%.

Developer Comments: Artanis’ survivability directly scales with how much uptime he has, which made a Talent like Zealot Charge incredibly powerful. The effect brought his entire kit together so well, that we’ve decided to provide part of its former benefit into baseline Twin Blades. Whereas sometimes we feel the need to cut Talents to fill a hole in a Hero’s kit, in this case we think that this is a hole that Artanis’ should be able to partially circumvent from the start. Since this is a substantial increase in his power at the start of the game, we’ve decided to revert the Health increase that Artanis received recently.

Bug Fixes

• Stacks of Block granted by Artanis’ Reactive Parry and Cho’s Blazing Bulwark Talents now properly reduce incoming damage from enemy Basic Attacks by 50%.

Bug Fixes

• Floating combat text for Artanis’ Twin Blades is now properly colored orange after learning the Zealot Charge Talent.

Hero Updates

• Health increased from 2245 (+4% per level) to 2335 (+4% per level)
• Health Regeneration increased from approximately 4.67 per second (+4% per level) to approximately 4.86 per second (+4% per level)
• Shield Overload (Trait)
  • Shield Battery (Talent)
    • Cooldown reduction increased from 6 to 8 seconds
  • Phase Bulwark (Talent)
    • Duration of Ability damage reduction increased from 3 to 4 seconds
  • Shield Surge (Talent)
    • Bonus Shield amount increased from 50% to 100%
• Blade Dash (Q)
  • Templar’s Zeal (Talent)
    • Cooldown recharge rate increased from 75% to 100%
• Twin Blades (W)
  • Amateur Opponent (Talent)
    • Bonus damage against non-Heroic targets increased from 100% to 150%
  • Triple Strike (Talent)
    • Now also increases the cooldown of Twin Blades by 1 second
• Phase Prism (E)
  • Khaydarian Resonance (Talent) removed
  • Chrono Surge (Talent)
    • Attack Speed bonus increased from 25% to 40%
  • Warp Sickness (Talent)
    • Slow duration increased from 3 to 4 seconds
  • Graviton Vortex (Talent)
    • Now also reduces the cooldown of Phase Prism by 6 seconds

Developer Comments: Artanis had a lot of Talents that were underperforming when compared to others on the same tiers. These buffs should nudge him toward better build diversity. We’ll continue to monitor Artanis after this first round of buffs. If necessary, a few more changes may charge into the Nexus at a later date.

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.)

Hero Updates

• Basic Attack range increased by 25%
• Phase Prism (E)
  • Range and speed have each been increased by 15%

Developer Comments: Artanis was having a harder time sticking to opponents than we’d like. This was hurting his ability to disrupt the enemy team and his ability to survive. We feel that a slight increase to his base kit will help alleviate this issue, while maintaining a lot of the playstyle (and counterplay) that we currently enjoy. The increased range on Phase Prism and his Basic Attacks should help him feel better to play, and help him more successfully fulfill his aggressive Warrior role.

These changes are intentionally slight, as we feel Artanis is very close to being extremely powerful in today’s game.

Bug Fixes

• Artanis’ Purifier Beam will no longer track Murky back to his Egg if Murky was killed just as the Ability was cast.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that caused Artanis’ Twin Blades ability to deal more damage than intended after choosing the Zealot Charge talent.

New Hero

Artanis, our newest StarCraft warrior hero, is now available to players that pre-purchased StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void. Read on for a brief overview of this hero’s abilities.

• Artanis will be available for purchase from the in-game Shop for all players starting on Tuesday, October 27.

Trait

• Shield Overload
  • If you take damage while below 50% Health, gain a Shield for 5 seconds. Your Basic Attacks lower the cooldown of Shield Overload by 4 seconds.

Basic Abilities

• Blade Dash (Q)
  • Dash forward to deal damage to enemies, then return to deal significantly more damage.
• Twin Blades (W)
  • Your next Basic Attack immediately strikes the enemy twice.
• Phase Prism (E)
  • Fire a Phase Prism that deals damage to a Hero and swaps your position with theirs.

Heroic Abilities

• Purifier Beam (R)
  • Target an enemy with an orbital beam from the Spear of Adun, dealing damage every second for 8 seconds. The beam will chase the target as they move. Unlimited range.
• Suppression Pulse (R)
  • Fire a large area pulse from the Spear of Adun, dealing damage and Blinding enemies for 4 seconds. Unlimited range.