Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 7
  • Surge of Light [Trait]
    • Improved the visibility of Surge of Light being available.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that caused cooldown resets to not make Surge of Light available.

• Fixed an issue with Blinds not preventing all Physical damage.

• Surge of Light updated to include damage taken by Cassia's Shields.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that caused Surge of Light to not destroy map objects.
• War Traveler's instant mount is now more responsive.

Bug Fixes

• Updating cancel animations of Hardened Shields to be like similar visuals.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Fend [E]
  • Fend will now reveal targets hit for 2 seconds.

Talents

• Level 7
  • Surge of Light [Trait]
    • Surge of Light will now reveal targets hit for 2 seconds.
    • Surge of Light will now reveal the effect area for 0.75 seconds.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that caused Basic Attacks to activate Martial Law while Blinded or if the target is Evading.
• Fixed an issue that caused Static Electricity Lightning Bolts to heal for less than intended from Ring of the Leech.
• Fixed an issue that caused Static Electricity Lightning Bolts to not play impact sounds.
• Fixed an issue that caused Static Electricty Lightning Bolts to not display as criticals against Blinded targets.
• Fixed an issue that caused Lightning Fury Lightning Bolts to be considered as Static Electricity Lightning Bolts.

Hero Updates

Stats

• Weapon damage increased from 120 to 122.

Talents

• Level 1
  • Charged Strikes [Passive]
    • Damage bonus increased from 15% to 20%.
• Level 4
  • Ring of the Leech [Passive]
    • Healing increased from 15% to 20%.
• Level 7
  • Seraph's Hymn [W]
    • Cooldown reduction increased from 1.5 to 2 seconds.
• Level 16
  • Martial Law [Passive]
    • Additional functionality: Requirement for damage bonus is also met if target is Blinded.

Developer Comment: Cassia's Basic Attack build requires a riskier playstyle, and players are not viewing the danger as worth it, so we're increasing the build's payoff across the board.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Blinding Light [W]
  • Blinded damage bonus reduced from 20% to 15%.

Talents

• Level 1
  • Thunderstroke [Q]
    • Initial damage bonus reduced from 25 to 15.
• Level 7
  • Seraph's Hymn [W]
    • Additional Blinded damage bonus increased from 10% to 15%.
  • Surge of Light [D]
    • Damage reduced from 240 to 220.

Developer Comment: We like the role Cassia is filling as an almost Bruiser style Ranged Assassin, but she's doing so with too much burst damage.

Hero Updates

Stats

• Basic Attack damage reduced from 125 to 120.

Abilities

• Lightning Fury [Q]
  • Damage reduced from 165 to 158.
• Fend [E]
  • Damage reduced from 34 to 32.

Developer Comment: Cassia is slightly overperforming at a 53% win rate and is seeing a high amount of participation. We're slightly reducing her baseline numbers to bring her more in line.

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 7
  • Surge of Light [Active]
    • Damage reduced from 250 to 240.
    • Damage taken amount required to activate increased from 500 to 650.

Developer Comment: Surge of Light continues to dominate Cassia's Level 7 talents, and has become a prime reason to take the hero. In addition to reducing its damage slightly further, we're also reducing its frequency by increasing how much damage she is required to take before she is able to use the ability.

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 7
  • Surge of Light [Trait]
    • Damage reduced from 285 to 250.
• Level 16
  • Power Strike [Q]
    • Additional functionality:Heroes hit by Lightning Fury reduce its cooldown by 1 second.

Developer Comment: While more in-line after the past couple of balance changes, there were still a couple talents we wanted to address. Surge of Light is still slightly over-performing, while Power Strike needed something to give it a bit more punch. Lowering the damage of Surge of Light and giving a small cooldown reduction functionality to Power Strike should shift both talents into a better spot overall.

Hero Updates

Stats

• Basic Attack damage reduced from 130 to 125
• Health reduced from 1700 to 1660
• Health Regeneration reduced from 3.54 to 3.46.

Talents

• Level 1
  • Charged Strikes [Passive]
    • Bonus Attack Speed reduced from 20% to 15%.
    • Bonus Basic Attack damage reduced from 20% to 15%.
• Level 4
  • Plate of the Whale [Trait]
    • Bonus Health Regeneration reduced from 7 to 6.
    • Bonus Health Regeneration when fully charged reduced from 14 to 12.
• Level 7
  • Surge of Light [Trait]
    • Damage reduced from 300 to 285.

Developer Comment: Cassia shot up in effectiveness a little too much after our last round of buffs to her. These changes are intended to slightly tone both her and some of her more powerful talents down to more appropriate levels.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where Cassia's Imprisoning Light could apply to the target affected by the initial Valkyrie pull Undocumented

• Fixed an issue where Cassia's Martial Law would be reduced by Armor or Defense Matrix Undocumented

Hero Updates

Stats

• Vitals
  • Health increased from 1510 to 1700.
  • Health regeneration increased from 3.15 to 3.54 per second.
• Weapon
  • Damage from 122 to 130.
  • Attacks per second from 1 to 1.11.

Abilities

• Lightning Fury [Q]
  • Damage from 150 to 165.
  • Mana cost from 25 to 20.
• Avoidance [Trait]
  • Now works while Mounted.
  • Adjusted functionality: After remaining stationary for .75 seconds the Armor is rapidly lost over .5 seconds.

Talents

• Level 1
  • Thunderstroke [Q]
    • No longer grants Avoidance Armor.
    • Quest damage per Hero hit from 1 to 1.5.
• Level 7
  • Debilitating Thrusts [E]
    • Name changed to Grounding Rod.
    • New functionality: Enemies hit by Lightning Fury or Fend are Slowed by 20% for 2 seconds.
• Level 16
  • Martial Law [Passive]
    • Adjusted functionality: Basic Attacks against enemy Heroes deal 1% maximum Health as damage. This is increased to 3% maximum Health against Heroes who are Stunned, Rooted, or Slowed.

Developer Comment: Cassia came out lower than we anticipated, largely due to us going too far with her base kit nerfs that were intended to compensate for the power she gained in talents. We're making some changes to increase her power level and to make her more accessible, which should make her a lot more formidable.

Hero Updates

Stats

• Health reduced from 1840 to 1510.
• Health Regeneration reduced from 3.83 to 3.15.
• Basic Attack
  • Attack range increased from 4 to 4.5.
  • Weapon period increased from .75 to 1.
  • Attacks per second reduced from 1.33 to 1.
  • Damage reduced from 130 to 122.

Abilities

• Lightning Fury [Q]
  • Damage reduced from 175 to 150.
  • Cooldown increased from 4 to 5 seconds.
  • Mana cost reduced from 30 to 25.
  • Additional functionality: Holds 2 charges.
• Blinding Light [W]
  • Mana cost reduced from 70 to 50.
• Fend [E]
  • Damage reduced from 39 to 34.
  • Cast range increased from 5 to 6.
  • Cooldown increased from 8 to 10 seconds.
  • Mana cost increased from 40 to 50.
  • Additional functionality: Avoidance remains active while Fend is channeling.
• Avoidance [Trait]
  • Duration increased from .5 to .625.
  • New functionality: While moving unmounted, gradually gain 30 Armor over the course of 3 seconds.

Talents

• Level 1
  • Thunderstroke
    • New functionality: Increase the damage of Lightning Fury by 25 and casting it grants 5 stacks of Avoidance. Quest: Every Hero hit increases the damage of Lightning Fury by 1.
  • Impale
    • Moved from Level 7.
    • Additional functionality: Increases the cast range and AoE of Fend by 25%. It deals 50% more damage to enemies below 50% Health.
  • Charged Strikes
    • New functionality: Gain 20% Attack Speed. Every 3rd Basic attack deals 20% bonus damage to the target and bounces to nearby enemy Heroes.
• Level 4
  • Inner Light
    • New functionality: Activate to heal for 25% of your maximum Health over 5 seconds. Heroes hit with Lightning Fury lower this cooldown by 10 seconds (70 second cooldown).
  • Ring of the Leech
    • New functionality: Basic Attacks against heal Cassia for 15% of the damage they deal. If an enemy is Blinded this affects Lightning Fury and Fend.
  • Plate of the Whale
    • New functionality: Gain 7 HPS while Avoidance is active. Increase this to 21 HPS while Avoidance is fully charged. Avoidance is active while Mounted.
• Level 7
  • Seraph's Hymn
    • New functionality: Increase the passive damage bonus of Blinding Light to 30%. Basic Attacks that hit enemy Heroes lower the cooldown of Blinding Light by 1.5 seconds and grant 10 Mana.
  • Surge of Light
    • Activation Damage increased from 210 to 300.
  • Plate of the Whale
    • New functionality: Gain 7 HPS while Avoidance is active. Increase this to 21 HPS while Avoidance is fully charged. Avoidance is active while Mounted.
  • New Talent: Debilitating Thrusts
    • Enemies hit by Fend are slowed by 30% for 3 seconds.
• Level 13
  • Grounding Bolt
    • Removed.
  • Thundergod's Vigor
    • Removed.
  • Lunging Strike
    • Removed.
  • New Talent: Gloves of Alacrity
    • Basic Attack range is increased by 1. Increase this to 2 while Avoidance is fully charged.
  • War Traveler
    • Moved from Level 7.
    • New functionality: Gain 5% Movement Speed and if Avoidance is maxed gain an additional 10% Movement Speed and your Mount time becomes instant.
  • New Talent: War Matron
    • Cassia is Protected while channeling Fend and for an additional 1 second if the channel is completed.
• Level 16
  • Pierce
    • Removed.
  • Penetrate
    • Removed.
  • New Talent: Power Strike
    • Lightning Fury pierces. Hitting an enemy Hero with Lightning Fury marks them for 15 seconds. Once a player has 3 marks, cast a free Blinding Light at their feet.
  • New Talent: Static Electricity
    • Gain 2 more charges of Lightning Fury. Fend launches a Lightning Bolt at nearby Heroes upon arrival.
• Level 20
  • Infinite Lightning
    • Cooldown refund per bounce from 3 to 5 seconds.
  • Imprisoning Light
    • The main target is Blinded for 5 seconds. Enemies knocked back take damage and are Rooted and Silenced for 3 seconds.
  • Titan's Revenge
    • New functionality: Basic Attacks ignore Armor and while Avoidance is fully charged, deal 20% bonus Attack Damage.
  • New Talent: Rockstopper
    • Activate: Instantly fully charge Avoidance and increase the Armor bonus to 60 for 4 seconds (30 second cooldown).

Developer Comment: Since her release, Cassia has been a great counter- pick against teams bringing multiple Basic Attackers. When she was being created, the Hero Designer was working closely with the Live Design team to find a good niche for her to fill. Since that time, however, our design philosophies have changed, and you have been seeing us pull-back from any individual Hero being too sharp in their designs. The War Matron is no exception and her rework tries to keep her original playstyle intact while also opening up options for players to bring her into more team compositions. Our other goals with the rework were to enhance her Lightning Javazon fantasy and introduce new talent-interactions for aficionados to really sink their teeth into. It would seem that with Cassia lightning does in fact strike twice and we are excited to see what you can do with her!

Bug Fixes

• Critical Strike, Oil Spill, Lightning Fury, Ravage, Keg Smash, and Particle Grenade are now affected by cooldown reduction effects.

Bug Fixes

• Cassia: Fixed an issue causing Fend to immediately cancel if cast immediately after Lightning Fury.

• Cassia: Fixed an issue causing Lightning Fury to be invisible if it pierced a Hero at melee range.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Lightning Fury (Q)
  • Damage scaling reduced from 4.5% per level to 4% per level

Talents

• Level 7
  • Surge of Light (Trait)
    • Damage reduced from 225 to 210

Bug Fixes

• Cassia: Fixed an issue that could cause the stun effect from Valkyrie to end early if the target collided with terrain.

Bug Fixes

• Cassia: Fixed an issue that could cause Valkyrie to fail to pull its target if Cassia entered movement commands in the direction opposite the pull.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Blinding Light (W)
  • Now also deals 50 damage (+4% per level) to enemies in the target area.

Bug Fixes

• Cassia: Fixed an issue in which the Plate of the Whale Talent required more Basic Attacks to be absorbed per Health Regeneration stack than intended.

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 1
  • Seraph's Hymn (W)
    • New functionality:
      • Reduce Blinding Light's cooldown and Mana cost by 33%. Basic Attacks against Blinded enemies deal 100% bonus damage.
• Level 7
  • Impale (E)
    • Bonus damage threshold increased from 50% to 60% of the target's maximum Health.

Hero Updates

Stats

• Health increased from 1,660 to 1,840
• Health Regeneration decreased from 4.0 to 3.828.

Abilities

• Avoidance (Trait)
  • Physical Armor while moving unmounted decreased from 65 to 40.

Bug Fixes

• Cassia: Fixed an issue causing Cassia's Health Regeneration to be higher than intended.

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 7
  • Surge of Light (Active)
    • Now has a 0.25 second cooldown between uses.

Bug Fixes

• Cassia: After learning Martial Law, Basic Attacks now correctly apply bonus damage against Slowed Heroes.

Hero Updates

Stats

• Basic Attack damage increased from 125 to 130

Abilities

• Blinding Light (W)
  • Passive damage bonus to blinded targets increased from 15 to 20%

Talents

• Level 1
  • Thunderstroke (Q)
    • First quest reward damage bonus increased from 75 to 100
  • True Sight (W)
    • Removed
  • Seraph’s Hymn (W)
    • Moved from Level 13
    • Cooldown reduction per basic attack against Blinded Heroes reduced from 3 to 2 seconds

Bug Fixes

• Cassia: Casting Fend on a target who is near a wall will no longer cause her to path in unintended directions before the Ability fires.

Bug Fixes

• Cassia: Blinding Light will no longer reveal Stealthed enemy Heroes.

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 1
  • Charged Strikes (Active)
    • No longer causes attacks to bounce when attacking Structures.

Bug Fixes

• Cassia: Fixed an issue that could cause Valkyrie to pull its target farther than intended if Cassia was Stopped.

• Cassia: Inner Light’s tooltip now consistently states that range is increased by 25% before and after taking the Talent.

• Cassia: Martial Law will no longer apply bonus damage to slowed or stunned Minions and Mercenaries.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Ball Lightning (R)
  • Damage reduced from 200 to 180
• Valkyrie (R)
  • Damage increased from 190 to 225

Talents

• Level 1
  • Charged Strikes (Active)
    • Damage bonus reduced from 25 to 20%

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Fend (E)
  • Cooldown decreased from 10 to 8 seconds
  • Mana cost reduced from 50 to 40
• ​Ball Lightning (R)
  • Mana cost increased from 40 to 60
• Valkyrie (R)
  • Cooldown decreased from 90 to 60 seconds
  • Mana cost reduced from 70 to 60

Talents

• Level 1
  • True Sight (W)
    • Quest requirement reduced from 80 to 60 hits
    • Passive damage bonus against Blind targets increased from 10% to 15%
• Level 7
  • Impale (E)
    • Health required to trigger bonus damage increased from 40% to 50%
  • War Traveler (Trait)
    • Movement Speed bonus increased from 3% to 4% per stack
  • Surge of Light (Trait)
    • Damage dealt on activation reduced from 250 to 225
• Level 20
  • Infinite Lightning (R)
    • Cooldown reduction reduced from 4 to 3 seconds per bounce

Developer Comment: Cassia has hit the Nexus right in stride. Showing around a 48% win rate this early lets us know she is tuned pretty well. We expect her to go up a bit more over the next few weeks but wanted to make some lightning quick adjustments to some under/over performing talents. The base buff to Fend should help players get more value out of those talents as well..

Bug Fixes

• Cassia: Damage and attack period values listed in Fend’s tooltip are no longer swapped in the Russian client.

New Hero

After shattering the Worldstone, the young Amazon Cassia had changed. She had seen hatred, terror, and destruction firsthand. If the Askari were to survive the coming darkness, they needed an army. She would begin their training immediately.

Trait

• Avoidance
  • When moving unmounted, Cassia gains 65 Physical Armor against Heroic Basic Attacks, reducing the damage taken by 65%.

Basic Abilities

• Lightning Fury (Q)
  • Hurl a javelin that damages the first enemy hit, and splits into two lightning bolts that deal damage to enemies in their paths.
• Blinding Light (W)
  • After 0.5 seconds, Blind enemies in the target area for 2 seconds.
  • Passive: Cassia deals 15% increased damage to Blinded targets.
• Fend (E)
  • Charge at an enemy and on arrival channel for 1.5 seconds, damaging enemies in front of Cassia every 0.25 seconds.
  • Deals 50% reduced damage to non-Heroes.

Heroic Abilities

• Ball Lightning (R)
  • Throw a ball of lightning at an enemy Hero that bounces up to 6 times between nearby enemy Heroes and Cassia, damaging enemies hit.
• Valkyrie (R)
  • Summon a Valkyrie that rushes to Cassia after 0.75 seconds, pulling and damaging the first enemy Hero hit and stunning them for 0.5 seconds at the end of her rush.
  • The Valkyrie knocks back all other enemy Heroes in her way.