Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that caused All Shall Burn talents to not apply their on-kill effects unless Azmodan has taken Master of Destruction.

• Fixed an issue that caused Demonic Invasion Grunts on-death damage to not be modified by damage modification.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that caused Azmodan's abilities to not interact with map and physics objects.
• Fixed an issue that caused Demon Warriors to leave permanent burning visuals if killed at the moment they spawn.
• Fixed an issue that caused Wrath to increase damage of Wrath's marker.
• Fixed an issue that caused Bombardment to increase damage of Wrath's marker.

Bug Fixes

• Bombardment will no longer attack inactive Mercenaries unless the attack is against an inactive Mercenary.
• Fixed an issue that caused Azmodan's Demon Warriors to leave permanent burning visuals if killed at the same moment they spawn.
• Fixed an issue that caused Tide of Sin to leave visual markers at place of death.
• Fixed Globe of Annihilation no longer stacking off of Possessed minions.
• No longer possible to cast Tide of Sin when it is already active.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Globe of Annhiliation [Q]
  • Globe of Annihilation will now reveal targets hit for 2 seconds.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that caused All Shall Burn to detonate twice if Cydaea's Kiss is selected while active.
• Fixed an issue that caused Globe of Annihilation's warning indicator to be removed if another Azmodan's Globe of Annihilation lands nearby.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Globe of Annihilation [Q]
  • Damage reduced from 184 to 176.

Talents

• Level 1
  • Wrath [Q]
    • Damage bonus increased from 75% to 85%.
• Level 7
  • Bombardment [Q]
    • Additional targets increased from 2 to 3.
• Level 10
  • Demonic Invasion [R2]
    • Impact damage increased from 65 to 85.
    • Grunt explosion damage reduced from 88 to 40.
    • Grunt Movement Speed increased by 50%.
    • Additional Functionality: Grunt explosion damage is doubled against Heroes.

Developer Comment: Azmodan's win rate has consistently settled above our preference after the increase in Globe of Annihilation's damage scaling from 2.5% to 4% per level. So, we're knocking it down a peg. We're also trying to diversify how players use Demonic Invasion, so it doesn't feel like the right option is to always cast it on enemy Structures.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Demonic Invasion [R1]
  • Cooldown increased from 90 to 100 seconds.
  • Demon Grunt explosion damage reduced from 97.5 to 88.

Talents

• Level 4
  • Hellforged Armor [W]
    • Armor bonus reduced from 25 to 20.

Developer Comment: bonking motions with the nerf bat

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Globe of Annihilation [Q]
  • Level scaling increased from 2.5 to 4%.

Talents

• Level 1
  • Greed [Q]
    • Non-Heroic damage bonus reduced from 20 to 15%.
  • Gluttony [Q]
    • Annihilation earned from Hero hits increased from 3 to 4.
• Level 7
  • Master of Destruction [E]
    • Annihilation earned from Hero hits reduced from 4 to 2.
• Level 10
  • Demonic Invasion [R1]
    • Range decreased from 20 to 13.5.
    • Demonic Grunt attack damage reduced from 42 to 39.
• Level 16
  • Hell Rift [E]
    • Demon Warrior damage bonus reduced from 100 to 75%.
• Level 20
  • Siegebreaker [R1]
    • Damage bonus reduced from 50 to 40%.
  • Pride [Q]
    • Damage bonus increased from 100 to 125.

Developer Comment: Azmodan's PvE-centric talents are proving a little stronger than we'd like for how easy they are to execute on, so we're shaving off a little bit of power across the board and greatly reducing the cast range of Demonic Invasion. We're also normalizing Globe of Annihilation's level scaling since his Q builds are underperforming at most levels of play.

Hero Updates

Talents

• Talent bonuses related to All Shall Burn will now proc their effects if the target dies while All Shall Burn is channeling on an enemy.
• This includes effects for Master of Destruction, Cydaea's Kiss, Hell Rift, and Sin's Grasp.

Developer Comment: We saw some feedback that Azmodan's All Shall Burn felt awkward due to not getting various procs if the target dies while he is channeling on them. This was initially intended by us due to concerns of it being too powerful and resulting in some strange moments when playing against it, but we've since come around and agree the lack of usability is hurting these talents and Azmodan as a whole more than it's helping, so we're going to try allowing these procs to occur, even if the target dies.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where Globe of Annihilation would travel slower when using the Azmodunk skins Undocumented

Hero Updates

Abilities

• All Shall Burn [E]
  • Mana cost reduced from 30 to 25.

Talents

• Level 16
  • Trample [Active]
    • Moved from Level 20.
    • Damage increased from 240 to 275.
    • Slow duration increased from 1 to 1.25 seconds.
• Level 20
  • Sins Grasp [E]
    • Moved from Level 16.
    • Now only grants benefits when hitting enemy Heroes.
    • Final Slow amount increased from 45% to 50%.
    • Slow duration increased from 2 to 2.5 seconds.

Developer Comment: Azmodan's Level 16 All Shall Burn talents have been in a bit of an awkward spot due to competing with one another. We're putting the talents on separate tiers and moving Trample down to Level 16, which should prove to be a powerful option for players who want a its utility at that level.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Summon Demon Warrior [W]
  • Basic Attack damage increased from 30 to 35.
  • Damage per second to nearby enemies increased from 16 to 18.
• All Shall Burn [E]
  • Periodic damage per second increased from 120 to 128.
  • Final explosion damage increased from 320 to 340.

Talents

• Level 4
  • Battleborn [Passive]
    • Additional functionality: Reduce the Mana cost of Summon Demon Warrior from 25 to 20.
• Level 7
  • Bombardment [Q]
    • Empowered Basic Attacks duration increased from 3 to 4 seconds.
  • Master of Destruction [E]
    • Bonus Annihilation per Hero hit increased from 3 to 4.

Developer Comment: Azmodan's been in a decent spot in regards to his talent diversity for some time, but he has been slightly underperforming compared to other heroes as a whole. We're giving him some buffs to his base kit and to a couple underperforming talents, which should help players feel better about having the Lord of Sin on their team.

Bug Fixes

• Azmodan: All Shall Burn no longer continues to cast on targets in Post-Death states.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Globe of Annihilation (Q)
  • Mana cost increased from 60 to 70
• Summon Demon Warrior (W)
  • Mana cost reduced from 30 to 25
• All Shall Burn (E)
  • Mana cost reduced from 40 to 30

Talents

• Level 7
  • Art of Chaos (Q)
    • Mana refund increased from 30 to 40

Developer Comment: To promote some build diversity away from Globe of Annihilation, we're moving around some of Azmodan's Mana costs. We are increasing the Mana cost of Globe of Annihilation, but reducing it from Summon Demon Warrior and All Shall Burn. This should make Azmodan think a little more in the early game about casting optimal Globes to stack properly, while leaving him freer to use his other abilities when necessary. In the later parts of the game, this should also be a buff to other non-Q centric talents like Hell Rift and Sin's Grasp.

Developer Comment: As we promised in the past, we took a look at the overall Mana tension of all the Heroes in the game. We also have some philosophies about Mana that we want to keep going forward. They are:

1. Mana should be a meaningful part of the game, particularly in the early stages when wave clear is at a higher premium. We believe that as the game progresses, Mana tension should become less important as Heroes gain more base Mana and the game's focus shifts to team fighting.
2. Mana tension doesn't have to be the same for every Hero, but every Hero should feel it to some degree, otherwise it serves no purpose.
3. We like that some talents heavily mitigate Mana tension.

When we took a look at Mana tension in the game, we saw that, overall, things are in a fairly healthy spot, but could be fine-tuned and improved upon. We like the tension that the heroes who are closer to the middle of the spectrum have, with some examples being Malfurion, Tychus, and E.T.C. Our goal with these changes is to bring the outliers closer to the center. We are open to your feedback going forward if you think that the game needs to be stricter or more lenient in this area, or if you believe there are any outliers that we missed.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Globe of Annihilation (Q)
  • Damage scaling reduced from 3% to 2.5%

Talents

• Level 1
  • Greed (Q)
    • New functionality:
      • Globe of Annihilation deals 20% bonus damage to non-Heroic targets. Quest: After gaining 200 Annihilation, increase the range of All Shall Burn by 25%, and Demon Warriors gain 20% Movement Speed and Attack Speed
• Level 16
  • Sin's Grasp (E)
    • New functionality:
      • All Shall Burn Slows enemies by 15% during its channel. If the channel finishes, increase this slow to 45% for 2 seconds, and reduce the cooldown of All Shall Burn by 50%
• Level 20
  • Trample (Active)
    • Cooldown reduced from 60 to 20 seconds

Developer Comment: Azmodan is raining a bit too much destruction on the Nexus, so we're bringing his late-game power down a notch by reducing Globe of Annihilation's scaling damage. In addition, we saw an opportunity to help his talent pick rates by adjusting a couple existing talents, which will hopefully motivate more players to pursue builds that don't involve powering up Globe of Annihilation.

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 7
  • Bombardment (Q)
    • Range bonus decreased from 2 to 1.5
• Level 20
  • Pride (Q)
    • Damage bonus reduced from 125 to 100

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Globe of Annihilation (Q)
  • Damage decreased from 192 to 184

Talents

• Level 7
  • Master of Destruction (E)
    • Annihilation granted for hitting a Hero increased from 2 to 3

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 1
  • Greed (Q)
    • Quest completion 20% damage bonus now applies to all non-heroic targets, not just Minions and Mercs.
  • Wrath (Q)
    • Quest completion bonus damage reduced from 100 to 75% of Annihilation value.
• Level 4
  • Hellforged Armor (W/D)
    • Armor bonus reduced from 30 to 25
• Level 16
  • Total Annihilation (Q)
    • Damage reduced from 5 to 4% of target's maximum Health
  • Hell Rift (E)
    • Demon Warrior buff duration reduced from 6 to 5 seconds

Design & Gameplay

Summon Abilities

• Summoned creatures (Zagara Roaches, Azmodan Demons, etc.) now deal ability damage which can be enhanced by the Hero's Ability Power.
• Summoned creatures now obey Blind and Evade rules.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Globe of Annihilation (Q)
  • Damage increased from 164 to 192
  • Damage scaling reduced from 4 to 3%
• Summon Demon Warrior (W)
  • Attack damage increased from 28 to 30
  • Periodic damage increased from 6 to 8
  • Health increased from 390 to 435
• All Shall Burn (E)
  • Cooldown reduced from 8 to 6 seconds
  • Mana cost increased from 30 to 40
  • Periodic damage reduced from 34 to 30
  • Final damage increased from 272 to 320
• Demon Lieutenant (D)
  • Attack damage increased from 27 to 41
  • Health increased from 548 to 593
• Demonic Invasion (R)
  • Duration increased from 8 to 10 seconds
  • Final explosion damage increased from 65 to 97.5
  • Demon Grunt weapon range increased from .75 to 1

Talents

• Level 1
  • Wrath (Q)
    • Bonus damage window reduced from 4 to 3 seconds
• Level 4
  • Hellforged Armor (W/D)
    • Armor bonus reduced from 35 to 30
  • Battleborn (W/D)
    • Demon Warrior cooldown reduction increased from .5 to .75 seconds
    • Demon Lieutenant cooldown reduction increased from 1 to 1.5 seconds
• Level 7
  • Art of Chaos (Q)
    • New Functionality:
      • Hitting 2 or more Heroes with Globe of Annihilation restores 30 mana and generates 4 Annihilation
• Level 13
  • Brutish Vanguard (W/D)
    • Added functionality:
      • Health bonus now applies to Demon Lieutenants in addition to Demon Warriors
  • Chain of Command (D)
    • Added functionality:
      • Also decreases the cooldown of Demon Lieutenants' Demonic Smite by 2 seconds
• Level 16
  • Hell Rift (E)
    • Demon Warrior damage bonus duration increased from 4 to 6 seconds
• Level 20
  • Pride (Q)
    • Damage bonus increased from 100 to 125

Developer Comment: Azmodan's win rate has slowly crept up as players get the hang of his rework, but we feel his PvE inclined elements are less impactful then we'd like. We're making a number of small adjustments to Azmodan's various Demons and All Shall Burn to help ensure their talents are competitive choices. We're also giving Globe a bit more baseline damage at the cost of its scaling to make it slightly easier to stack early in the game.

Hero Updates

Stats

• Health reduced from 2,738 to 2,464.
• Health Regeneration reduced from 5.7031 to 5.1328.

Abilities

• General of Hell (Trait) (D)
  • Renamed to Demon Lieutenant.
  • New Functionality:
    • Summon a Demon Lieutenant at any allied Mercenary, Minion, or Azmodan Demon. The Lieutenant will cast Demonic Smite every 7 seconds, instantly killing an enemy Minion. Lasts 20 seconds. 60 Second cooldown.
    • Can now be cast on the Minimap.
    • Can be used while channeling All Shall Burn.
• Globe of Annihilation (Q)
  • New Quest:
    • Hitting a Hero or killing a Minion within 1.5 seconds of being hit by Globe of Annihilation grants 2 Annihilation.
  • Reward:
    • Each stack of Annihilation increases Globe of Annihilation's damage by 1, up to 400.
  • Greatly reduced the delay before impact warning effects appear.
  • Range reduced from 35 to 30.
  • Casting time reduced from 0.75 to 0.5625 seconds.
  • Globe speed increased from 15 to 18.
• Demon Warrior (W) Undocumented
  • Can now be cast while channeling All Shall Burn.
  • No longer has charges.
  • Demon Warriors now deal a small amount of damage to nearby enemies every second.
  • Health increased from 365 to 390.
  • Attack damage reduced from 37 to 28.
  • Attack range reduced from 1.5 to 1.
  • Movement Speed reduced from 4 to 3.6.
  • Mana cost reduced from 40 to 30.
• All Shall Burn (E)
  • New functionality:
    • Channel a beam of death on an enemy, dealing 136 damage per second for 2.5 seconds. If the Channel lasts its full duration, deal an extra 272 damage to the target.
    • Azmodan's Movement Speed is reduced by 30% while Channeling.
  • Cooldown increased from 6 to 8 seconds.
  • Mana cost changed from 12 per second to a flat 30 Mana.
  • Range reduced from 7 to 6.
• Demonic Invasion (R)
  • New Functionality:
    • Rain a small army of Demonic Grunts down on enemies, dealing 65 damage per impact. Grunts deal 42 damage, have 750 Health and last up to 8 seconds. When Grunts die they explode, dealing 65 damage to nearby enemies.
  • Grunt Health increased from 365 to 750.
  • Grunt Health now decays over 8 seconds.
  • Grunt attack damage reduced from 51 to 42.
  • Cooldown reduced from 100 to 90 seconds.
  • Mana cost reduced from 100 to 60.
• New Heroic Ability: Tide of Sin (R)
  • Activate to make the next Globe of Annihilation cost no Mana and deal 50% more damage. 20 second cooldown.

Talents

• Level 1
  • Taste for Blood (Q)
    • Removed.
  • Sieging Wrath (Q)
    • Removed.
  • Gluttony (Q)
    • Moved from Level 4.
    • New functionality:
      • Increase the number of stacks of Annihilation gained by hitting Heroes with Globe of Annihilation from 2 to 3.
      • Quest: After gaining 200 Annihilation, each enemy hit by Globe of Annihilation reduces its cooldown by 0.25 seconds, doubled against Heroes.
  • New Talent: Greed (Q)
    • Increase the timeframe in which Minion kills grant Annihilation from 1.5 to 3 seconds.
    • Quest: After gaining 200 Annihilation, Globe of Annihilation's range is increased by 33% and the damage it deals against Minions and Mercenaries is increased by 20%.
  • New Talent: Wrath (Q)
    • Basic Attacks against Heroes under 75% Health grant 1 Annihilation.
    • Quest: After gaining 200 Annihilation, hitting a Hero with Globe of Annihilation increases the damage of Azmodan's next Basic Attack against them within 4 seconds by the amount of Annihilation he has.
• Level 4
  • Hellish Hirelings (Trait)
    • Removed.
  • Army of Hell (W)
    • New Functionality:
      • Summon Demon Warrior spawns an additional Demon, but its cooldown is increased by 10 seconds.
  • Hellforged Armor (W)
    • Moved from Level 13
    • New Functionality:
      • Demon Warriors and Lieutenants gain 35 armor and last 4 seconds longer.
  • Battleborn (Passive)
    • Moved from Level 16
    • New Functionality:
      • Azmodan's Basic Attacks reduce the cooldown of Summon Demon Warrior by 0.5 seconds and Demon Lieutenant by 1 second.
• Level 7
  • Infernal Globe (Q)
    • Removed.
  • Bound Minion (Trait)
    • Removed.
  • Gluttonous Ward (Active)
    • Removed.
  • Master of Destruction (E)
    • Moved from Level 1.
    • New Functionality:
      • All Shall Burn's final damage applies to all enemies in an area around the target and grants 2 Annihilation per Hero hit.
  • New Talent: Bombardment (Q)
    • After casting Globe of Annihilation, Azmodan's Basic Attacks within the next 3 seconds have an additional 2 range and can hit 2 additional targets. Hitting Heroes with Basic Attacks empowered by Bombardment grant 1 Annihilation.
  • New Talent: Art of Chaos (Q)
    • If Globe of Annihilation hits 2 or more Heroes, restore 30 Mana. If it hits 3 or more Heroes, gain an extra 5 Annihilation.
• Level 13
  • Hedonism (Q)
    • Removed.
  • Infused Power (E)
    • Removed.
  • New Talent: Brutish Vanguard (W)
    • Demon Warriors gain 25% increased Health and Slow nearby enemies by 20%.
  • New Talent: Cydaea's Kiss (Q)
    • Reduces the Channel time of All Shall Burn by 0.5 seconds. If All Shall Burn's Channel lasts its full duration against a Hero, Azmodan is healed for 8% of his maximum Health.
  • New Talent: Chain of Command (Trait) (D)
    • Demon Lieutenants also grant 25% increased damage to nearby friendly Minions, Mercenaries, and Azmodan's summoned Demons.
• Level 16
  • Demonic Smite (Trait)
    • Removed.
  • Sin for Sin (Active)
    • Removed.
  • Forced Recruiment (D)
    • Removed.
  • Sin's Grasp (E)
    • Moved from Level 4.
    • New Functionality:
      • Increases the range of All Shall Burn by 20%.
      • If All Shall Burn channels for its full duration on a Hero, its cooldown is reduced by 4 seconds.
  • New Talent: Hell Rift (E)
    • If the channel lasts its full duration, a Demon Warrior is summoned at your target and your Demon Warriors deal 100% increased damage for 4 seconds.
  • New Talent: Total Annihilation (Q)
    • Globe of Annihilation damages Heroes for an additional 5% of their maximum Health.
• Level 20
  • New Talent: Siegebreaker (R)
    • Azmodan's Demons deal 50% increased damage to Structures.
  • New Talent: Black Pool (R)
    • Globes of Annihilation empowered by Tide of Sin also leave a Black Pool at their impact location for 5 seconds. Enemies within the pool lose 8 Armor per second, and take 56 damage per second.
  • New Talent: Pride (Q)
    • After gaining 400 Annihilation, Globe of Annihilation's area is increased by 15% and its damage is increased by 100.
  • New Talent: Trample (Active)
    • Activate to charge a short distance, dealing 240 damage and Slowing enemies caught in the path by 60% for 1 second. 60 second cooldown.

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

Developer Comment: In Azmodan's update, we've embraced and expanded his role as a late-game siege monster. He now has a baseline stacking quest for Globe of Annihilation that's a hybrid of the old Taste for Blood and Sieging Wrath Talents. Whether you're focusing on PvE or PvP objectives you should see Globe of Annihilation become more powerful as a game goes on. To compensate for this increase in baseline power, we've made Globe's impact area more quickly visible to enemies, which will give them a chance to dodge their impending doom. We've also made major mechanical changes to Black Pool (now called Tide of Sin) and focused it solely on Globe's damage without the need for targeting or alt-casting. Demon Warriors are now individually stronger and deal constant AoE damage, but are slower and no longer have multiple charges. The new All Shall Burn should be much more consistently useful and certain Talent combinations can be used boost Azmodan's short to mid-range potential. Demon Lieutenant (formerly General Of Hell) is still a global pushing ability, but is less reliant on needing a large Minion wave to get value. Demonic Invasion's changes are geared towards expanding its use in PvP scenarios without affecting its old structure-bustin' potential. Dropping an Invasion on the enemy team will force them to run away or take a large amount of delayed damage.

Bug Fixes

• Azmodan: All Shall Burn’s tooltip has been updated to clarify that its bonus Structure damage is a flat amount, rather than percentage-based.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• General of Hell (D)
  • No longer grants additional Minion & Mercenary Health
  • Minion & Mercenary damage increased from 15 to 25%

Talents

• Level 1
  • Sieging Wrath (Q) Undocumented
    • Damage per player hit reduced from 4 to 3
    • Damage needed to unlock quest reduced from 100 to 90
    • Quest completion requirement increased from 25 to 30 Heroes hit by Globe of Annihilation

Bug Fixes

• Azmodan: Manually clicking the All Shall Burn Ability will no longer cause a framerate drop.

• Stitches: Hook will now cancel abilities that can be channeled while moving, such as Azmodan’s All Shall Burn.

Design & Gameplay

Talents

• Bolt of the Storm
  • Range reduced by 20%
  • New Bolt of the Storm alternatives have been added to several Heroes

Developer Comment: While we love Bolt of the Storm and the playmaking potential that it provides, we believe that the talent is too often used as an extra escape. We have also received feedback that Bolt of the Storm could have more awesome moments if its playmaking potential were more tied to offensive use cases. Our goals with these changes are twofold: to consolidate Bolt of the Storm to heroes where we think it makes for awesome gameplay moments, and second to create use cases where it is more optimal to use Bolt of the Storm to make offensive plays. We hope that these changes create more interesting moments in the late-game where heroes can shine by making risky plays to ensure victory for their team.

Bug Fixes

• Azmodan: All Shall Burn will now properly cancel any active Movement commands issued to Azmodan prior to casting.

• Azmodan: General of Hell will now assist Azmodan while he is attacking a Mercenary Camp rather than immediately traveling to a lane.

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.

Bug Fixes

• Azmodan: Issuing a Move Command during All Shall Burn’s wind-up time will no longer cancel the Ability cast.

• Azmodan: When Demonic Invasion is cast on an area of terrain that is not pathable, the Demonic Grunts will now be placed as close as possible to the casting location, rather than failing to spawn.

Bug Fixes

• Azmodan: When Demonic Invasion is cast on an area of terrain that is not pathable, the Demonic Grunts will now be placed as close as possible to the casting location, rather than failing to Returnspawn.

• Azmodan: Issuing a Move Command during All Shall Burn’s wind-up time will no longer cancel the Ability cast.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Demonic Invasion (R)
  • Casting Demonic Invasion will now remove/clear minions lingering from the previous cast

Talents

• Level 1
  • Taste for Blood (Q)
    • Killing a Hero with Globe of Annihilation will now increase its damage by 10

Bug Fixes

• Azmodan: Damage dealt by the Sin's Grasp Talent will now correctly benefit from Ability Power gains.

Bug Fixes

• Azmodan: Can no longer mount while channeling All Shall Burn.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• All Shall Burn (E)
  • Can now move at 40% base Movement Speed while channeling
  • Initial cast range of the ability has been decreased by 7%
  • Tether range required to cancel the effect has been increased by 6%
• Demonic Invasion (R)
  • Impact damage reduced from 110 to 104
  • Demon Attack damage reduced from 54 to 51

Talents

• Level 4
  • ​Mercenary Lord (Passive)
    • Removed
  • New Talent: Hellish Hirelings (Trait)
    • Doubles the effects of General of Hell on Mercenaries (15 to 30%).
  • Sin’s Grasp (Active)
    • Cooldown increased from 100 to 120 seconds
    • Cooldown reduction from killing Minions increased from 5 to 10 seconds
  • Gluttony (E)
    • Healing increased from 20 to 25% of All Shall Burn damage
• Level 7
  • March of Sin (E)
    • Now increases Movement Speed while channeling All Shall Burn from 40 to 80%
  • Gluttonous Ward (Active)
    • Cooldown reduced from 60 to 45 seconds
• Level 16
  • Sin for Sin (Active)
    • Reduced cooldown from 60 to 45 seconds
  • Imposing Presence (Active)
    • Removed

Developer Comments: For a while now, Azmodan’s All Shall Burn hasn’t been an attractive ability to build around. We’re making part of March of Sin baseline to make it feel a little more useful in the early game, and reducing the initial cast range but increasing the tether range require to cancel it so that it will more consistently get some value (instead of cancelling immediately if cast at maximum range). A few of his less powerful Talents are also being improved to better fit the gluttonous Lord of Sin’s tastes.

Bug Fixes

• Azmodan: Globe of Annihilation’s range indicator is now visually consistent with indicators used by other long-range Abilities.

Talents

Imposing Presence (Active)

• New functionality:
  • Heroes that attack you have their Attack Speed slowed by 20% for 2.5 seconds
  • Activate to Slow the Attack Speed of nearby Heroes and Summons by 50% and Slow their Movement Speed by 20% for 2.5 seconds

Developer Comments: We did not like the power of the Attack Speed slow for Imposing Presence given how little counter-play there is. We’ve decided to move some power out of the passive portion of the Talent and give it a new activated effect in order to create some bigger moments for players who choose to take it.

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 1
  • Taste for Blood (Q)
    • Duration in which enemy deaths will permanently add to Globe of Annihilation damage increased from 1 to 1.5 seconds.
  • Bribe (Active)
    • Removed
• Level 13
  • Relentless (Passive)
    • Removed

Developer Comments: In our ongoing pursuit to create meaningful and Hero-specific generic Talent choices, Bribe was a Talent that got caught in our crosshairs this patch. We have removed it from a few Heroes and have added new flavorful versions to a few others. We have always liked the design and gameplay behind the Talent, but also realize how much players had to give up in order to pick them. Wingman, Pixie Charm, and Covert Mission are being reintroduced to Falstad, Brightwing, and Nova, respectively, with design mechanics more suited to each Hero’s unique style of play.

Additionally, we’re removing the majority of our old Relentless- like Talents from the game, because we found that it wasn’t clear to the enemy team what was happening. Reducing the duration on very short disabling effects to begin with was hard to notice, and typically felt like a bug when it did happen. In some cases, we’re replacing these Talents with Hero specific ones that more clearly convey what’s happening, while fitting the gameplay of the Hero.

Bug Fixes

• Azmodan: Bonus Globe of Annihilation damage earned via Taste for Blood can now properly stack up to a maximum of 500 damage, rather than 250.

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

Talents

Bribe

• New Functionality:
  • Nearby Minion kills grant 1 stack of Bribe. Spend 20 charges to instantly defeat a non-Boss Mercenary. 100 Charges maximum.
    • Raynor’s Raiders' Recruitment Talent also increased to 100 maximum charges.
    • Viking Bribery Talent increased to 200 charges maximum, but each use costs 40 charges.
  • If a Mercenary Camp is completely captured using Bribe, the camp respawns 50% faster.

Relentless

• Relentless and similar Hero-specific Talents will now only reduce the duration of Slows, Stuns and Roots. Silence effects will no longer be reduced by this talent.

Developer Comments: With an increasing number of CC effects entering the Nexus we found ourselves constantly asking ourselves “Should Relentless work against this?” which quickly turned into a rabbit hole of ‘what-ifs’ and ‘how comes’. We agreed that the talent was going to continue to become stronger as we moved forward and decided to limit the number of effects that it can reduce.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Demonic Invasion (R)
  • No longer deals half damage to Heroes

Talents

• Level 1
  • Sieging Wrath (Q)
    • New Functionality:
      • Quest: Gain 4 damage per enemy hero hit, up to a maximum of 100 damage
      • Reward: Gain an additional 100 damage and increases maximum range by 33%
  • Taste for Blood (Q)
    • Time window where Minion deaths grant additional damage reduced from 1.5 second to 1 second
  • Master of Destruction (E)
    • New Functionality:
      • No longer grants bonus damage to Structures
      • Now grants 10% range after each level of damage ramp up
• Level 4
  • Gluttony (E)
    • Healing increased from 15% to 20%
  • Sin’s Grasp (Active)
    • Damage increased from 224 to 248
    • Total duration increased from 6 to 8 seconds
• Level 7
  • Infernal Globe (Q)
    • No longer applies a damage over time effect to enemies hit
  • Infused Power (E)
    • Damage bonus increased from 25% to 40%
    • Moved to level 13
  • Gluttonous Ward (Active)
    • Restoration per tick increased from 2.457% to 3%
• Level 13
  • March of Sin (E)
    • Moved to level 7
• Level 16
  • Blood for Blood (Active)
    • Talent renamed to Sin for Sin
    • Sin for Sin works identically to Blood for Blood, but can be cast while channeling All Shall Burn

Developer Comments: Many of these changes focus on allowing Azmodan to use different Talent builds successfully. We have improved the All Shall Burn build quite a bit. The redesign of Sieging Wrath provides an alternate build for those situations where you want to focus on Globe of Annihilation but find yourself without an ideal team composition or battleground.

Hero Updates

• Globe of Annihilation (Q)
  • Taste for Blood (Talent)
    • Duration in which enemy deaths will permanently add to Globe of Annihilation damage increased from 1 to 1.5 seconds

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.)

Hero Updates

• General of Hell (Trait)
  • Will no longer dismount Azmodan on use

Bug Fixes

• Azmodan’s Globe of Annihilation will now deal the correct amount of damage while under the effects of Black Pool and the Taste for Blood Talent.
  • This fix will also resolve incorrect damage amounts for similar Talent interactions, such as Muradin’s Storm Bolt with the Sledgehammer and Perfect Storm Talents, as well as Falstad’s Gathering Storm and Overdrive Talents.

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

Bug Fixes

• Heroes with the Relentless Talent that become Polymorphed will now properly receive damage from Brightwing’s Unstable Anomaly Talent when Polymorph expires.

Bug Fixes

• Azmodan’s movement commands are now properly interrupted when casting All Shall Burn after learning the March of Sin Talent.

Talents

Bolt of the Storm

Developer Comments: We love this talent and think it can create a lot of really interesting moments, but the cooldown was just too short. At 70 seconds we think this talent is still a great level 20 pick, but now players will have to be more strategic with how they use it. Forcing someone to use their Bolt to avoid a gank can now be a meaningful moment with this increased cooldown. We hope this also entices players towards choosing their Heroic upgrades instead of Bolt when the situation calls for it.

• Cooldown increased from 40 to 70 seconds

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

Hero Updates

Developer Comments: Right now, Azmodan has one competitive build at high levels of play where he stacks Globe of Annihilation (Q) talents. We think this build is a ton of fun, so we didn’t want to negatively impact this build. Instead, we wanted to give Azmodan some other build options. Right now, it’s almost always a mistake to summon one of his Demons and waste your mana. With the new tuning, and the talent changes, the Demons become a legitimate option to use. The Demons start with much more damage than previously, but scale close to what they use to be at higher levels. For players who still plan to go the (Q) build, it’s mostly the same, but we’ve offered a few additional talent choices to make options that best fit your play style. Finally, we are removing some of the Support nature of Healing Ward and Storm Shield from Azmodan. It makes more sense for him to be a greedy character, not someone who can become a hybrid support in the right situation.

• Healing Ward (Talent) removed
• Superiority (Talent) removed
• First Aid (Talent) removed
• Storm Shield (Talent) removed
• Mercenary Lord (Talent) moved from Level 7 to Level 4
• New Talent (Level 4): Sin’s Grasp
  • Activate to deal 115 (+19 per level) damage over 6 seconds to the target enemy Hero; can be cast while channeling All Shall Burn
  • Minion kills each reduce Sin’s Grasp’s 100 second cooldown by 5 seconds
• New Talent (Level 7): Gluttonous Ward
  • Activate to place a ward that restores 25% of Azmodan’s maximum Health and Mana over 10 seconds
• General of Hell (Trait) (D)
  • Bound Minion (Talent) moved from Level 4 to Level 7
  • New Talent (Level 20): Forced Recruitment
    • Reduces General of Hell’s cooldown from 30 to 20 seconds
    • Allows Azmodan to store up to two General of Hell charges
• Globe of Annihilation (Q)
  • New Talent (Level 13): Hedonism
    • Reduces Globe of Annihilation’s Mana cost from 60 to 30
• Summon Demon Warrior (W)
  • Demon Warrior damage changed from 20 (+3 per level) per second to 40 (+2 per level) per second
  • Enduring Warriors (Talent) removed
  • Blazing Demons (Talent) removed
  • Army of Hell (Talent)
    • No longer increases maximum Demon charges
    • Now increases Demon Warrior damage by 20%, and reduces Demon Warrior's Mana cost from 40 to 20
  • Hellforged Armor (Talent)
    • Now also causes Demon Warriors to deal 10 (+1 per level) damage per second to nearby enemies
• All Shall Burn (E)
  • Spare Nothing (Talent) removed
  • Master of Destruction (Talent) moved from Level 7 to Level 1
    • Now also increases damage against Structures by 25%
  • New Talent (Level 7): Infused Power
    • All Shall Burn gains an additional charge-up level, increasing its damage by 25%

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

Hero Updates

• General of Hell (Trait)
  • Bound Minion (Talent)
    • The targeted Minion no longer gains 300% increased Health and 100% increased damage
    • Instead, the Minion now takes 75% reduced damage from non-Heroic targets, and deals 100% bonus damage to non-Heroic targets

Talents

Healing Ward

• Can now be struck by Area of Effect Abilities
• Healing Wards now have 50 (+15 per level) Health

Hero Updates

• General of Hell (Trait)
  • Bound Minion (Talent)
    • Duration increased from 15 to 30 seconds

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.

Healing Ward

• Duration increased from 10 to 15 seconds
• Heal amount reduced from 3% to 2% of max Health per second

Hero Updates

• Globe of Annihilation (Q)
  • Taste for Blood (Talent)
    • Now has a maximum damage cap of 500

Talents

Swift Storm has been removed

Hero Updates

• Bolt of the Storm (Talent) added at Level 20

Bug Fixes

• Internal text will no longer display when Azmodan's Demons kill Murky's Egg.

• Visual explosion effects for Azmodan’s Globe of Annihilation with the Sieging Wrath Talent will now properly appear at long distances.

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.

Hero Updates

• Globe of Annihilation (Q)
  • Cooldown increased from 8 to 10 Seconds
  • Scaling damage increased from 13 to 15 damage.
  • Taste for Blood (Talent)
    • Damage bonus per kill increased from 1 to 2
• Demonic Invasion (R)
  • Demonic Grunts now have real Health, rather than Doubloon Chest-style Health.

Bug Fixes

• Bolt of the Storm and Zeratul’s Blink can no longer be cast while rooted.

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

Talents

Imposing Presence

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

Hero Updates

• Bound Minion (Talent)
  • Now heals the target to full Health
  • Now has a 15 second duration

Bug Fixes

• Dealing damage with Azmodan's All Shall Burn will now correctly Decloak him if he is Cloaked during the channel.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an exploit which could grant Azmodan a much higher Mounted movement speed than intended.

New Hero

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

• Abilities:
  • Globe of Annihilation (Q)
    • Launch a long-range orb of destruction that deals area damage.
  • Summon Demon Warrior (W)
    • Summon a Demon Warrior.
  • All Shall Burn (E)
    • Channel a death beam on an enemy.
• Trait:
  • General of Hell (D)
    • Azmodan summons a Demon Lieutenant to assist Minions, Mercenaries, and Summons.
• Heroic Abilities:
  • Demonic Invasion (R)
    • Summons a rain of Demonic Grunts dealing damage on impact.
  • Black Pool (R)
    • Creates a pool that empowers Azmodan and his army.