Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that caused Light Speed's benefits to not be granted to Leoric.

Hero Updates

Base

• Quickcast Settings
  • Removed self-cast Resurrect.

Bug Fixes

• Detainment Strike terrain impact will now always display as a crit.
• Fixed an issue that caused Empathic Link to grant Hope when an ally deals damage to themselves.
• Fixed an issue that caused Piercing Lash to not hit multiple Heroes with Detainment Strike.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that caused Searing Light to not grant energy when hitting a Protected enemy.

Hero Updates

• Difficulty updated from Medium to Hard.

Abilities

• Sacred Sweep [Q]
  • Sacred Sweep will now reveal targets hit for 2 seconds.
• Detainment Strike [E]
  • Detainment Strike will now reveal targets knocked back for 2 seconds.
• Crystal Aegis [R2]
  • Crystal Aegis will now reveal targets hit for 2 seconds.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that caused Reservoir of Hope to not display on the talents tab of the scoreboard as a quest talent.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Sacred Sweep [Q]
  • Cast speed increased by 50%.
  • Cast finish time increased from 0 to .0625 seconds.

Talents

• Level 1
  • Swift Sweep [Q]
    • Removed.
• Level 4
  • Heavy Burden [E]
    • Additional Functionality: Increase Detainment Strike's Stun duration by .25 seconds.
• Level 16
  • Will of Heaven [D]
    • Additional Functionality: Increase Auriel's Basic Attack damage by 10%.
  • Wrath of Heaven [D]
    • Additional Functionality: Enemy Heroes hit by the center area of Sacred Sweep or the terrain collision of Detainment Strike have their Spell Armor reduced by 10 for 3 seconds.

Developer Comment: Auriel's Q talents have fallen off in both popularity and win rates, so we're baking in the Swift Sweep talent functionality to help the abilities' overall efficacy. We're also bumping up some other talents that aren't performing well. Similar to Zarya, Auriel's power dynamics can change dramatically with even small number tweaks, so we're keeping these changes relatively light this time around.

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 4
  • Heavy Burden [E]
    • Adjusted functionality: Detainment Strike Slows enemy Heroes for 20% for 2.5 seconds. Slow and duration doubled on enemies it Stuns.

Developer Comment: Heavy Burden wasn't keeping Auriel as safe as it should, especially when compared to Repeated Offense, and we want it to be a dependable option.

Hero Updates

Stats

• Basic Attack damage reduced from 68 to 64.

Abilities

• Sacred Sweep [Q]
  • Outer damage reduced from 45 to 40.
  • Inner damage reduced from 180 to 160.

Talents

• Level 10
  • Resurrect [R1]
    • Cooldown increased from 80 to 100 seconds.
    • Delay before the target is resurrected increased from 3 to 5 seconds.

Developer Comment: While our recent changes to Resurrect have put Auriel in the spotlight, she has been performing a bit too well compared to other Healers for some time now. We're reducing some of her power to keep her more in line with her peers.

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 10
  • Resurrect [R1]
    • Cast range reduced from 7 to 5.
    • Cast time increased from .5 seconds to 1 second.

Developer Comment: We knew Auriel's Resurrect changes were going to be a big deal, and for the most part they have been going fairly well. It's now picked much more often, and, to our pleasant surprise, isn't winning by a large margin over Crystal Aegis. While we like the epic moment of power that the current iteration offers, there is understandably a bit of frustration with Heroic now. To add some more counter-play, we're reducing its cast range and adding more to its cast time to give opponents a better chance to interrupt her. Auriel players will now have to choose their moments much more wisely if they hope to get a Resurrect off on a key ally who recently died.

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 10
  • Resurrect [R1]
    • Resurrected Hero's Health increased from 50% to 100%.
    • Delay before resurrection reduced from 5 to 3 seconds.
    • Additional functionality: Auriel can now see her own ghost. If she presses R while dead, she will cast Resurrect on herself.

Developer Comment: We're trying some fairly significant buffs to Resurrect in order to help it better compete with Crystal Aegis. Auriel can now Resurrect herself, which should help if she is the focus of the enemy team, and her targets will now come back faster and with all of their Health.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Bestow Hope [Trait]
  • Hope generation from damage that Auriel deals to enemy Heroes increased from 40% to 60%.
  • Hope generation from damage that Auriel deals to non-Heroes increased from 10% to 20%.
  • Hope generation from damage that allied Heroes deals to enemy Heroes decreased from 40% to 30%.

Talents

• Level 4
  • Heavy Burden [E]
    • Slow amount increased from 40% to 50%.
• Level 7
  • Energized Cord [Passive] Undocumented
    • Hope generation from damage that Auriel deals to enemy Heroes increased from 100% to 120%.
    • Hope generation from damage that Auriel deals to non-Heroes increased from 45% to 55%.

Developer Comment: We're experimenting with changing Auriel to be a little less dependent on her Hope target in order to be effective. While we still want the connection between her and her chosen teammate to be a central part of the Hero, this should allow her to shine in more compositions, and reward good Auriel players with an increased effectiveness in their games.

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 1
  • Increasing Clarity (Q)
    • Damage bonus upon quest completion increased from 150 to 180

Bug Fixes

• Stasis/Time Stop: Fixed an issue where player created terrain could move Heroes affected by Stasis or Time Stop.

Hero Updates

Stats

• Health reduced from 1,758 to 1,700.
• Health regeneration reduced from 3.66 to 3.54.

Abilities

• Sacred Sweep (Q)
  • Outer area damage reduced from 57 to 45.
  • Inner area damage increased from 171 to 180.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Bestow Hope (Trait)
  • Energy stored when Auriel hits non-Heroes increased from 5% to 10% of the damage dealt.

Talents

• Level 4
  • Repeated Offense (E)
    • Additional functionality:
      • Increases Detainment Strike's knockback distance by 25%.
• Level 7
  • Energized Cord (Passive) Undocumented
    • Energy stored from Basic Attacks against non-Heroic targets increased from 40 to 45%
• Level 13
  • Repelling Strike (E)
    • Removed.
• Level 20
  • Diamond Resolve (R)
    • Armor granted upon Crystal Aegis expiration increased from 60 to 75.

Bug Fixes

• Auriel: Bestow Hope’s buff and visual effects will no longer be removed if the target enters a Stasis effect, like Zagara’s Devouring Maw.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Sacred Sweep (Q) Undocumented
  • Center damage to non-Heroes reduced from 180 to 171

Hero Updates

Stats

• Basic Attack damage increased from 57 to 68

Abilities

• Detainment Strike (E)
  • Cooldown reduced from 14 to 12 seconds
• Resurrect (R)
  • Range increased from 5 to 7
  • Cooldown reduced from 100 to 80 seconds

Talents

• Level 7
  • Energized Cord (Passive)
    • Energy stored from Basic Attacks against non-Heroic targets reduced from 50 to 40%
• Level 13
  • Blinding Flash (Q)
    • Blind duration reduced from 2.25 to 2 seconds
• Level 20
  • Diamond Resolve (R)
    • Armor increased from 50 to 60
  • Angelic Flight (Active)
    • Cooldown reduced from 45 to 30 seconds

Developer Comment: Auriel has been overlooked in favor of other supports recently, so to increase her self-Hope generation and play-making potential, we’re increasing her Basic Attack damage and reducing the cooldown of Detainment Strike. We’ve also made some Talent adjustments so players feel like they have a greater variety of choices at the various tiers.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Bestow Hope (D) Undocumented
  • Hope generation from damage dealt to Heroes reduced from 50 to 40%
• Sacred Sweep (Q) Undocumented
  • Center damage to non-Heroes increased from 171 to 180

Bug Fixes

• Auriel: Basic Attack damage dealt by Auriel’s Bestow Hope target will no longer generate less than the intended amount of Energy.

Bug Fixes

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

Hero Updates

Stats

• Base Maximum Health reduced from 1850 to 1758
• Health Regen reduced from 3.85 to 3.66
• Basic Attack Damage reduced from 60 to 57

Abilities

• Sacred Sweep (Q)
  • Outer damage reduced from 60 to 57
  • Inner damage reduced from 180 to 171
• Detainment Strike (E)
  • Normal damage reduced from 58 to 55
  • Wall-strike damage reduced from 174 to 165
• Bestow Hope (D)
  • Maximum Energy reduced from 505 to 475
• Crystal Aegis (R)
  • Damage reduced from 270 to 255

Bug Fixes

• Auriel: Fixed an issue causing the Energized Cord talent to grant slightly too much Hope with Auriel's Basic Attacks.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Bestow Hope (D)
  • Hope generation ratio from hitting Heroes increased from 40 to 50%
• Sacred Sweep (Q)
  • Outer damage reduced from 80 to 60
  • Center damage increased from 160 to 180
• Detainment Strike (E)
  • Initial damage reduced from 115 to 58
  • Stun damage increased from 115 to 174
• Resurrect (R)
  • Cooldown reduced from 120 to 100 seconds

Talents

• Level 7
  • Bursting Light (W)
    • Removed

Developer Comment: These changes are designed to reduce the reliance that Auriel has upon a hyper-carry style character to be an effective healer. By increasing the amount of Hope that she can generate but removing Bursting Light and its ability to reduce the cooldown of Ray of Heaven, Auriel will have more consistent healing output regardless of who is currently Bestowing Hope. We’re also reducing the damage that Auriel does on average by gating it behind getting the most of her Basic Abilities. By reducing the synergy that Auriel has with a single massive source of damage and reducing her damage output, we hope to make her less common in double support team compositions.

Bug Fixes

• Auriel: Resurrecting Uther before Eternal Vanguard expires will no longer prevent him from respawning.

Hero Updates

• Auriel’s resource bar will now glow when at maximum Hope.

Bug Fixes

• Auriel – Fixed a visual issue with Auriel’s Bestow Hope crown when placed on a Tassadar in Archon form.

Bug Fixes

• Auriel: After learning Resurrect, Misha and Rexxar will no longer generate separate Spirits when Rexxar is killed.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Bestow Hope (D)
  • Hope generation from damage dealt to non-Heroes reduced from 8 to 5%

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Resurrect (R)
  • New Functionality
    • Increased cooldown from 70 to 120 seconds
    • Reduced channel time from 3 to 0.5 seconds
    • Added a 5 second delay between finishing the cast and the Hero coming back to life

Talents

• Level 20
  • Light Speed (R)
    • New Functionality
      • Removed the increased Health upon reviving
      • Now causes the cooldown of Resurrect to recharge 100% faster while previous target is alive

Bug Fixes

• Auriel: Detainment Strike will now correctly stun enemies who collide with corners of terrain.

• Auriel: Fixed an issue that could cause Resurrect’s revive message to appear on the MVP screen.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Sacred Sweep (Q)
  • Damage increased from 75 to 80
  • Center damage increased from 150 to 160
• Detainment Strike (E)
  • Damage increased from 100 to 115
  • Terrain collision damage increased from 100 to 115

Talents

• Level 1
  • Increasing Clarity (Q)
    • Damage bonus for completing the quest increased from 120 to 150
  • Righteous Assault (Q)
    • Cooldown reduction increased from 2 to 3 seconds per Hero hit
    • No longer has a cap
• Level 4
  • Repeated Offense (E)
    • Quest reward damage bonus increased from 200 to 250
• Level 7
  • Glimmer of Hope (Trait)
    • Energy cost reduction increased from 50% to 75%
  • Empathic Link (Trait)
    • Energy stored for damage taken by Bestow Hope’s target increased from 20% to 25%
• Level 13
  • Blinding Flash (Q)
    • Blind duration reduced from 3 to 2.25 seconds
  • Piercing Lash (E)
    • Now also reduces the cooldown by 2 seconds for each enemy Hero hit
• Level 20
  • Shield of Hope (Active)
    • Cooldown increased from 45 to 60 seconds

Bug Fixes

• Arthas: Army of the Dead will no longer fail to summon Ghouls if it is cast in the same moment that Arthas is targeted by Auriel’s Crystal Aegis.

• Auriel: A.I. Auriel can no longer cast Resurrect on Murky after he has already revived at his Egg.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Bestow Hope (Trait)
  • Crown visual effects can now be seen by Allies

Bug Fixes

• Auriel: Enemy Heroes will no longer occasionally be Stunned by Detainment Strike when knocked away from terrain.

• Auriel: Quest progress for the Repeated Offense Talent will now be correctly tracked in the Stats panel.

• Auriel: The Piercing Lash Talent tooltip now correctly states that Detainment Strike will only pierce Heroes, rather than all enemies.

• 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

• Auriel and Lunara: Fixed an issue causing Lunara’s camera to behave strangely after being resurrected by Auriel’s Resurrect.

Bug Fixes

• Auriel: Sacred Sweep’s increased range, gained by learning the Majestic Span Talent, will now correctly benefit from the Righteous Assault Talent.

Hero Updates

Stats

• Basic Attack damage increased from 48 to 60

Abilities

• Sacred Sweep (Q)
  • Outer damage reduced from 80 to 75
  • Inner damage reduced from 160 to 150
• Resurrect (R)
  • Cooldown reduced from 90 to 70 seconds
  • Range increased from 4 to 5

Talents

• Level 1
  • Increasing Clarity (Q)
    • Lowered the quest bonus damage for each stack from 3 to 2
    • Increased the number of hits required to complete the quest from 20 to 25
    • Quest completion bonus increased from 60 to 70. The total damage bonus will remain at 120
• Level 4
  • Majestic Span (Q)
    • Radius increase reduced from 20 to 15%.
  • Heavy Burden (E)
    • Increased the Slow amount from 35 to 40%
  • Repeated Offense (E)
    • Reduced the number of hits required to complete the quest from 10 to 6
    • Bonus for quest completion increased from 100 to 140. The total bonus damage will remain at 200
• Level 7
  • Empathic Link (D)
    • Energy reduced from 25 to 20% of Bestow Hope target’s damage taken
  • Glimmer of Hope (W)
    • Energy reduction from globes increased from 35 to 50%
  • Energized Cord (W)
    • Increased Energy gain from Auriel’s Basic Attacks from 100%/30% to 100%/50%
• Level 13
  • Blinding Flash (Q)
    • Blind duration reduced from 4 to 3 seconds
• Level 20
  • Diamond Resolve (R)
    • Damage resistance duration increased from 4 to 5 seconds

Developer Comments: Auriel has had a very strong release. We’re happy to see some fresh blood (or hope) in the support scene, but do think that as players continue to master the newest Hero in the Nexus that her winrate will continue to climb. As such, we’re reducing the power of her Sacred Sweep Talents, as well as reducing some of her Energy gain from Empathic Link. We’ve also transferred some of her damage (and consequently her Energy gain) from Sacred Sweep into her Basic Attacks, as we found them more lackluster than we’d like and not worth the risk necessary to use them.

Bug Fixes

• Auriel: Auriel can no longer become polymorphed indefinitely if she exits a self-cast Crystal Aegis in the same moment that she comes under the effects of the Garden Terror’s Queen’s Curse Ability.

• Auriel: The simple tooltip for Auriel’s Energized Cord Talent no longer incorrectly states that it doubles the energy stored by Basic Attacks.

New Hero

It is through the archangel Auriel that the power of hope flows into the fabric of creation. Her eternal light illuminates even the darkest souls. Seeking harmony in all things, she is a mediator, a counselor, and when the need arises, a fearless warrior.

Trait

• Bestow Hope (D)
  • Activate to bestow an allied Hero with Hope. Damage that Hero deals while they are nearby will cause you to store Energy. Bestow Hope can only be active on one Hero at a time.
  • Passive: 40% of the damage you deal to Heroes and 8% of your damage dealt to non-Heroes is stored as Energy.

Basic Abilities

• Sacred Sweep (Q)
  • Damages enemies in a wide arc and deals bonus damage to enemies caught in the center.
• Ray of Hope (W)
  • Consume all of your stored Energy to Heal allied Heroes in the target area. The amount of Healing done is based on the amount of Energy spent.
• Detainment Strike (E)
  • Deals damage to the first enemy Hero struck and knocks them back. If the target collides with terrain, they are also Stunned for 1.25 seconds and take additional damage.

Heroic Abilities

• Crystal Aegis (R)
  • Place an allied Hero into Stasis for 2 seconds. Upon expiration, Crystal Aegis explodes, damaging nearby enemies.
• Resurrect (R)
  • Allied Heroes leave behind a spirit on death. Channel on a spirit for 3 seconds to bring that ally back to life with 50% of their maximum Health at their death location.