Hero Updates

Base

• Quickcast Settings
  • Removed Cancel Stay Awhile and Listen.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that allowed Deckard to dance without incurring movement restriction.
• Fixed an issue that caused Ancient Blessings to not heal the attacker when dealing damage to enemy Heroes that are immune to friendly abilities.
• Fixed an issue that caused the cooldown reduction of Morenados! to be prevented when Lorenado hits a non-Hero.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that caused Ancient Blessings damage to not scale on targets if they level up while it is active.
• Included Potion to search text for Deckard.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Horadric Cube [W]
  • Horadric Cube now reveals targets hit. Undocumented

Talents

• Level 13
  • Ancient Blessings [Trait]
    • Ancient Blessings will now reveal the area for 0.75 seconds.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that caused Potion of Shielding to increase Deckard's Self Healing when damage is prevented to allied Heroes.
• Fixed an issue that caused Horadric Staff to not be placed on cooldown while Blinded.
• Fixed an issue that caused Scroll of Identify to detect targets before the first quest milestone.

• Fixed an issue that caused Rejuvenation Potion to heal Leoric while Undying is active.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Healing Potion [Q]
  • Medium range flight time reduced from .4375 to .375 seconds.
  • Far range flight time reduced from .6125 to .5 seconds.
  • Heal amount increased from 270 to 285.
• Horadric Cube [W]
  • Slow duration increased from 1.75 to 2 seconds.

Talents

• Level 1
  • Scroll of Identify [E]
    • New functionality:
      • Quest: Hitting a Hero with Scroll of Sealing permanently increases its damage by 2.
      • Reward: Hitting 15 Heroes causes Scroll of Sealing to reveal and reduce the Armor of Heroes by 10 for 4 seconds.
      • Reward: Hitting 30 Heroes increases the amount of Armor reduction against Heroes to 15 and its duration to 6 seconds.
• Level 4
  • Potion of Shielding [Q]
    • Shield increased from 122 to 140.
  • Rejuvenation Potion [Q]
    • Healing increased from 108 over 4 seconds to 114 over 3 seconds.
    • Mana restoration increased from 10 to 15.
• Level 10
  • Lorenado [R2]
    • Additional functionality: Deals 20 damage to Heroes hit.
• Level 13
  • Super Healing Potion [Q]
    • Healing bonus reduced from 120 to 100%.
    • Additional functionality:
      • Passive: Potions heal for 25% more against Heroes under 50% health.
  • Potion of Revival [Q]
    • Area healing increased from 50 to 75%.
  • Ancient Blessings [Trait]
    • Cooldown reduced from 60 to 45 seconds.

Developer Comment: Deckard's healing related talents have been underperforming lately, so we're hitting their numbers as well as cutting down some of the travel time on his potions. Scroll of Identify is also getting a blast of ~spice~, because why not.

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 20
  • Morenados! [R2]
    • Additional functionality: Adds another charge.

Developer Comment: Gimme more.

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 4
  • Ruby [Active]
    • Cooldown increased from 10 to 20 seconds.

Developer Comment: After a slew of buffs over the years we finally crossed the threshold of making Ruby not only competitive, but too powerful of a pick. We're reverting our last buff to the talent that pushed it over the edge so that the tier is overall in a healthier place.

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 16
  • Safety in Numbers [Trait]
    • Required number of allied Heroes nearby to gain bonuses reduced from 3 to 2.
    • Armor bonus reduced from 15 to 10.

Developer Comment: We want Safety in Numbers to be a more consistent talent to get value out of, so we're lowering the requirement for Deckard to be near only 2 friendly Heroes instead of 3, and slightly lowering its bonus to compensate.

Hero Updates

Stats

• Health increased from 1700 to 1780.
• Health Regeneration increased from 3.54 to 3.71.

Talents

• Level 1
  • Scroll of Identify [E]
    • Quest requirement reduced from 16 to 14 enemy Heroes hit.
• Level 4
  • Ruby [Active]
    • Cooldown reduced from 20 to 10 seconds.
• Level 10
  • Lorenado [R2]
    • Cooldown reduced from 40 to 30 seconds.
    • Mana cost reduced from 40 to 35.

Developer Comment: Deckard is still a little less powerful compared to other Healers, so we're giving him some more Health and buffing up some of his talents.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Healing Potion [Q]
  • Now displays its impending AoE to allies while the missile is in flight.
• Fortitude of the Faithful [Trait]
  • Radius increased from 5.5 to 6.5.

Talents

• Level 1/4/7
  • Gems [Active/W]
    • Added functionality: Increases the damage of the unleashing Horadric Cube by 100%.
• Level 4
  • Ruby [Active/W]
    • Cooldown reduced from 30 to 20 seconds.
    • Trigger radius of Lesser Healing Potions increased from .5 to 1 (matching base potions).
• Level 20
  • Perfect Gems [Active/W]
    • Now reduces the cooldown of all Gem talents to 5 seconds, instead of a flat 25 second reduction.

Developer Comment: Our favorite old man is still lagging behind his healer friends, despite the suite of buffs he's seen in the past few patches. Rather than pushing his numbers even higher, we're giving him a boost to general usability by making his potions display their impact location before they land and increasing the area in which his trait will function. Additionally, we're giving the various gem talents a bit of damage to make them more attractive options overall.

Hero Updates

Stats

• Health increased from 1598 to 1700.
• Health Regeneration increased from 3.328 to 3.542.

Talents

• Level 7
  • Cube Mastery [W]
    • Mana cost reduction of Scroll of Sealing changed from 30 to 25.
    • Scroll of Sealing cooldown reduction increased from 3 to 4.
• Level 16
  • Safety in Numbers [Passive]
    • Additional functionality: When 3 allied Heroes are nearby, Deckard's Mana Regeneration is also increased by 50%.

Developer Comment: OK, Deckard. We have to have a talk. We've been buffing you since December and you still don't want to become meta. At this point it's not me, it's you. Seriously we love Deckard. Hope you all enjoy these buffs!

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 20
  • Perfect Gems [W]
    • Horadric Cube cooldown reduction increased from 5 to 6 seconds
  • Respect the Elderly [R1]
    • Silence and Blind duration increased from 2 to 3 seconds
  • Morenados! [R2]
    • Cooldown reduction increased from 6 to 10 seconds

Developer Comment: Deckard has been performing well since his last round of buffs. These changes are to increase the competitiveness of his Level 20 talents, which are all currently being outshone by Bottomless Flask.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Healing Potion (Q)
  • Healing amount increased from 255 to 270
• Horadric Cube (W)
  • Cooldown reduced from 14 seconds to 12 seconds
  • Mana cost reduced from 40 to 35

Talents

• Level 4
  • Ruby (Active)
    • Lesser Healing Potion amount increased from 220 to 250
• Level 7
  • Cube Mastery (W)
    • Additonal Functionality: Reduce the Mana cost of Scroll of Sealing from 40 to 30

Developer Comment: Despite our recent buffs, Deckard is still underperforming compared to other Heroes. While before we generally targeted his later talents, this time we are targeting his base kit and earlier talents, which should have a greater impact on his performance over the entire game.

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.

Bug Fixes

• Deckard: Fixed an issue with how Portion of Revival benefits from spell power. (should now heal for more)

• Deckard: Fortitude of the Faithful's range indicator now matches the actual range of the ability.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Healing Potion (Q)
  • Healing increased from 240 to 255

Talents

• Level 1
  • Scroll of Identify (E)
    • Quest requirement reduced from 20 to 16
  • Field Study (E)
    • Duration increased from 14 to 16 seconds
• Level 13
  • Super Healing Potion (Q)
    • Healing increased from 100 to 120%
  • Potion of Revival (Q)
    • Healing increased from 45 to 50%

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 1
  • Field Study (E)
    • Spell Power bonus increased from 15 to 20% per stack
• Level 4
  • Ruby (Active)
    • Healing increased from 205 to 220
• Level 13
  • Potion of Revival (Q)
    • Healing increased from 35 to 45%
  • Super Healing Potion (Q)
    • Healing increased from 80 to 100%
• Level 16
  • Safety in Numbers (Trait)
    • Armor bonus increased from 10 to 15

Developer Comment: After the last round of changes, Deckard's win rate has fallen more than we would like. Rather than put more power back into his base kit, we are buffing some of his talents on various tiers to make his talent choices more impactful and to increase his power growth throughout the game.

Bug Fixes

• Deckard: Fixed an issue causing Deckard's portal to be visible in Fog of War when using Hearthstone.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Healing Potion (Q)
  • Cooldown increased from 3 to 4 seconds
  • Mana cost increased from 20 to 25
  • Healing increased from 219 to 240

Developer Comment: We agree with the feedback that games play out better when there are windows of time to take advantage of enemy cooldowns, particularly when it relates to Supports. This change is intended to reduce Deckard's ability to keep himself or his allies alive when multiple enemies dive onto them. Going forward, we will be looking at ways to increase counter- play by adding these windows of time for players to take advantage of each other's cooldowns.

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 4
  • Potion of Shielding (Q)
    • Shield amount reduced from 135 to 122
• Level 13
  • Ancient Blessings (Trait)
    • Cooldown increased from 30 to 60 seconds

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 13
  • Ancient Blessings (Trait)
    • Damage reduced from 68 to 62
    • Healing reduced from 100 to 90
  • Potion of Revival (Q)
    • Healing increased from 30 to 35%
  • Super Healing Potion (Q)
    • Healing bonus increased from 75 to 80%
• Level 20
  • Bottomless Flask (Q)
    • Recharge time increased from 6 to 8 seconds

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Healing Potion (Q)
  • Healing reduced from 230 to 219

Talents

• Level 13
  • Ancient Blessings (Trait)
    • Damage reduced from 72 to 68
    • Healing reduced from 106 to 100

Bug Fixes

• Deckard: Can now correctly use Healing Potions while affected by Zarya's Graviton Surge.

• Deckard: Canceling Stay Awhile and Listen no longer prevents the next source of damage from waking Sleeping enemies.

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 20
  • Morenadoes! (R)
    • Cooldown reduction increased from 5 to 6 seconds.

Bug Fixes

• Deckard: Casting Horadric Cube while on a conveyor belt no longer causes the Ability's area of effect to disjoint from its visual effects.

• Deckard: Casting Scroll of Sealing while on a conveyor belt no longer causes the Ability's area of effect to disjoint from its visual effects.

• Deckard: Fixed an issue that could prevent a Healing Potion from being picked up if it was placed between an injured ally and Deckard when Deckard is at full Health.

• Deckard: Stay Awhile and Listen's book model no longer visually persists if the Ability is interrupted by a Taunt effect.

Bug Fixes

• Deckard: Learning Bottomless Flask no longer causes Allied A.I. Heroes to remain near a Healing Potion's location indefinitely.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Lorenado (R)
  • Cooldown reduced from 45 to 40 seconds.

Talents

• Level 1
  • Sapphire (Active)
    • Bonus Slow amount increased from 25% to 30%.
• Level 4
  • Ruby (Active)
    • Lesser Healing Potion Heal amount increased from 190 to 205.
• Level 13
  • Ancient Blessings (Active)
    • Damage reduced from 76 to 72.
    • Healing reduced from 114 to 106.
• Level 20
  • Bottomless Flask (Q)
    • Healing Potion recharge rate increased from 5 to 6 seconds.

Developer Comment: Deckard's foray into the Nexus has been incredibly successful from a balance perspective. He's sitting at a healthy win rate of anywhere between 47% and 51% in high level play, depending on the experience of the Deckard player. Many of his Talents are also looking to be in good shape. We're making some tuning changes intended to adjust under and overperforming Talents without impacting his overall win rate too much.

Bug Fixes

• Deckard: Non-Hero allied units no longer receive area of effect Healing from the Potion of Revival Talent.

Bug Fixes

• Deckard: Heroes who are Unstoppable can now correctly consume Lesser Healing Potions.

• Deckard: Rejuvenation Potion no longer restores resources other than Mana, such as Zarya's Energy and Sonya's Fury.

New Hero

An avid scholar, Deckard Cain has dedicated his life to the pursuit of knowledge. He has been an advisor, storyteller, and friend to Sanctuary’s greatest heroes, guiding them through peril time and again. When Deckard speaks, it’s wise to stay awhile and listen.

Trait

• Fortitude of the Faithful
  • When at least 1 other allied Hero is nearby, Deckard gains 10 Armor and his Basic Abilities recharge 50% faster.

Basic Abilities

• Healing Potion (Q)
  • Toss a Healing Potion on the ground that heals the first allied Hero that comes in contact with it for 230.
  • Limit 5 active Potions.
• Horadric Cube (W)
  • Throw the Horadric Cube, dealing 80 damage to all enemies in the area and Slowing them by 40% for 1.75 seconds.
• Scroll of Sealing (E)
  • Unfurl an enchanted scroll, forming a triangle that deals 150 damage to enemies inside and Roots them for 1.5 seconds.

Heroic Abilities

• Stay Awhile and Listen (R)
  • After 1 second, Channel for 3 seconds, putting enemy Heroes in front of Deckard to Sleep while Channeling, and for 2 seconds after.
  • Enemies can only be put to Sleep once per cast, and Sleep’s effects end instantly if they take damage.
• Lorenado (R)
  • Vector Targeting.
  • Create a swirling lorenado that travels in the targeted direction, continually knocking away any enemies that come into contact with it.