Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that caused Brightwing and Falstad to be at the incorrect height after Celestial Charge Stuns them and a least one other Hero.

• Fixed an issue that caused Falstad's Flight warning indicator to no longer display after selecting Epic Mount.
• Fixed an issue that caused Sustained Winds to damage invulnerable targets.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Hammerang [Q]
  • Hammerang Reactivation will now reveal targets hit for 2 seconds.
  • Hammerang's Returning projectile will now reveal targets hit for 2 seconds.
  • Hammerang Reactivation now reveals the area extended by 1 for 0.75 seconds. Undocumented
  • Hammerang Return area reveal updated from 2.625 for 0.33 seconds to area (0.65) extended by 1 for 0.75 seconds. Undocumented
  • Hammerang outward area reveal updated from 2.625 for 0.33 seconds to area (1.25 x 2.1) extended by 1 for 0.75 seconds. Undocumented

Talents

• Level 7
  • BOOMerang [Q]
    • Selecting BOOMerang will no longer cause Hammerang's Reactivation to permanently display as a critical.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that caused BOOMerang's Spell Armor reduction to not be removed by Stasis or Invulnerability.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue with Dishonorable Discharge's cooldown reset mechanic.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Tailwind [Trait]
  • Cooldown reduced from 6 to 5 seconds.

Talents

• Level 1
  • Dishonorable Discharge [W]
    • Lightning Rod damage bonus per stack increased from .75% to 1%, maximum bonus remains 75%.

Developer Comment: Falstad has landed quite well after his recent tuning, and we think a mild buff to Dishonorable Discharge causes all his talent builds to pass with flying colors.

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 1
  • Gathering Storm [Q]
    • Damage bonus per stack increased from 0.4% to 0.5%.
    • Additional functionality: After hitting 30 Heroes with Hammerang, increase its damage by 15%.
  • Dishonorable Discharge [W]
    • Additional functionality: At 30% damage bonus, reduce Lightning Rod's cooldown by an additional 2 seconds.
  • Frequent Flyer [Active]
    • Duration reduced from 5 to 4 seconds.
• Level 7
  • Secret Weapon [Q]
    • Damage bonus reduced from 90% to 75%.
  • BOOMerang [Q]
    • Damage bonus increased from 75% to 100%.

Developer Comment: Falstad's Basic Attack talents have become a dominant playstyle, so we're rebalancing his early talents. While we're not bringing Dishonorable Discharge's cooldown reset earlier, we feel this compromise still helps the old bird without overly frustrating his foes.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Lightning Rod [W]
  • Lightning Rod verifies its targets is in range more frequently, from every second to every .25 seconds.
  • Lightning Rod now uses a custom range indicator.

Talents

• Level 1
  • Gathering Storm [Q]
    • Hammerang damage bonus per stack increased from 0.2% to 0.4%.
  • Dishonorable Discharge [W]
    • Lightning Rod cooldown reduction reduced from 3 to 2 seconds.
    • Lightning Rod damage bonus per stack decreased from 1% to .75%, maximum bonus remains 75%.
    • Changed Functionality: Takedowns resetting Lightning Rod's cooldown now gained on quest completion.
• Level 13
  • Thunderstrikes [W]
    • Damage bonus per stack increased from 20% to 25%.
    • Changed Functionality: Thunderstrikes' damage bonus no longer affects other Lightning Rod bonuses.

Developer Comment: Falstad's last changes have certainly shocked the Nexus, unfortunately in part due to some regrettable bugs. With some tuning to keep him grounded, and a new coat of paint, Falstad is ready for his next flight.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where Dishonorable Discharge would gain quest progress from subsequent Lightning Rod strikes after the third against non-Heroes Undocumented

• Fixed an issue where Dishonorable Discharge's damage bonus would be multiplicative with Lightning Rod's Minions & Mercenaries bonus damage Undocumented

• Fixed an issue where Frequent Flyer would not display the cooldown in its tooltip Undocumented

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Hammerang [Q]
  • Hammerang damage reduced from 121 to 80.
  • Additional functionality: Hammerang can be reactivated mid-flight to explode, dealing 95 damage around the Hammer.
• Lightning Rod [W]
  • Additional functionality: Lightning Rod deals 100% additional damage to Minions and Mercenaries.

Talents

• Level 1
  • Wingman [Active]
    • Removed.
  • Seasoned Marksman [Passive]
    • Removed.
  • Gathering Storm [Q]
    • Damage bonus per quest stack changed from 2 to 0.2%.
    • Mana refund reduced from 10 to 6.
    • Additional functionality: Quest progress is gained from Hammerang's explosion.
  • New Talent: Dishonorable Discharge [W]
    • Reduce Lightning Rod's cooldown by 3 seconds, and Takedowns reset its cooldown.
    • Quest: After 3 Lightning Rod strikes, subsequent strikes on enemy Heroes increases its damage by 1%, up to 75%.
  • New Talent: Frequent Flyer [Active]
    • Activate Frequent Flyer to gain 40% Attack Speed and Tailwind for 5 seconds.
    • Quest: Minion kills grant 0.2 Basic Attack Damage, and Hero Takedowns grant 0.5 Basic Attack Damage.
• Level 7
  • BOOMerang [Q]
    • New functionality: Hammerang's explosion deals 75% additional damage, and reduces Spell Armor of enemy Heroes hit by 15 for 3 seconds.
• Level 13
  • Giant Killer [Passive]
    • Removed.
  • New Talent: Sustained Winds [D]
    • Basic Attacks against enemy Heroes deal bonus damage equal to 1.5% of the Hero's maximum Health, increased to 2% while Tailwind is active.
• Level 16
  • Crippling Hammer [Q]
    • Bonus Hammerang Slow reduced from 35% to 25%.
    • Additional functionality: Hammerang's explosion also Slows.

Developer Comment: For as long as Falstad has had the BOOMerang talent, there have been players that have wanted it to be a part of Falstad's base kit. So, we're giving it a try and seeing what happens! We've also altered early talents to be less reliant on slaying Minions to unlock their strength. While Falstad is no longer able to Bribe Mercenaries with Wingman, we hope the Lightning Rod bonus damage makes up for it.

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 1
  • Gathering Storm [Q]
    • Damage bonus increased from 1.5 to 2.
• Level 4
  • ​​Updraft [E]
    • Shield bonus increased from 60% to 70%.
• Level 7
  • ​Secret Weapon [Q]
    • Damage bonus increased from 80% to 90%.
• Level 10
  • ​Hinterland Blast [R1]
    • Mana cost reduced from 100 to 80.
    • Cooldown reduction when hitting enemy Heroes increased from 25 to 30 seconds.
• Level 20
  • ​Epic Mount [Z]
    • Cooldown reduction increased from 40 to 50 seconds.

Developer Comment: It's been a long time since we updated Falstad, so we took a look at him and saw a few talents that could be improved. In general many of his talent tiers have two choices that players seem to heavily prefer over the third option, so we're trying to create a larger incentive for players to think about choosing those talents that they currently aren't picking.

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.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed various Movement Speed bugs that had occurred with the increased Movement Speed patch.

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 4
  • Updraft [E]
    • Shield bonus increased from 40% to 60%
• Level 7
  • Secret Weapon [Q]
    • Bonus damage increased from 60% to 80%
• Level 16
  • ​Crippling Hammer [Q]
    • Slow amount increased from 50% to 60%

Developer Comment: It's been awhile since we last touched Falstad, so we took a look at his talents and found some spots that could use some buffs.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Flight (Z)
  • Cooldown increased from 60 to 75 seconds

Talents

• Level 20
  • Epic Mount (Z)
    • Cooldown reduction increased from 30 to 40 seconds

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Hammerang (Q)
  • Mana cost reduced from 70 to 60
• Lightning Rod (W)
  • Cooldown reduced from 15 to 13 seconds
  • Mana cost reduced from 70 to 60
• Barrel Roll (E)
  • Cooldown reduced from 14 to 13 seconds
  • Mana cost reduced from 75 to 70
• Flight (Z)
  • Cooldown increased from 55 to 60 seconds

Bug Fixes

• Falstad: Lightning Rod cooldown reduction applied by the Wingman Talent now correctly appends to both Lightning Rod's Ability tooltip and Wingman's Active Bar tooltip.

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 1
  • Gathering Storm (Q)
    • Added functionality:
      • Every Hero Hammerang hits also returns 10 Mana.
  • Wingman (Active)
    • Added functionality:
      • Reduces Lightning Rod’s cooldown by 3 seconds
• Level 4
  • Updraft (E)
    • Added functionality:
      • Removes the duration of Shields granted by Barrel Roll.

Bug Fixes

• Falstad: Lightning Rod is no longer audible to enemies through the Fog of War.

Bug Fixes

• Falstad: Tailwind’s Movement Speed buff will now correctly be placed on cooldown after taking damage.

Hero Updates

Miscellaneous

• Flight (Z) will now go on a 10 second cooldown when interrupted by enemy or allied abilities, including self-cancelling.
• Flight (Z) now has an allied chat announcement upon activation.

Bug Fixes

• Blackheart’s Bay: Fixed an issue that could allow Medivh and Falstad to enter and stand in certain areas inside the enemy Hall of Storms.

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

Abilities

• Hinterland Blast (R)
  • Added functionality:
    • Cooldown is reduced by 25 seconds for every enemy Hero hit

Bug Fixes

• Diablo: The Hellgate Talent is no longer removed after being struck by Falstad’s Hinterland Blast Heroic.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Flight (Z)
  • Cooldown increased from 45 to 55 seconds

Talents

• Level 20
  • Epic Mount (Z)
    • Now reduces Flight cooldown to 30 seconds

Developer Comments: We are looking at bringing down the power of global talents. We like what they bring to the game and their draft implications per map but feel that they are currently available a bit too often.

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%

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Tailwind (Trait)
  • Movement Speed reduced from 20 to 15%
• ​​Hammerang (Q)
  • Damage reduced from 132 to 121

Talents

• Level 1
  • New Talent: Wingman (Active)
    • Enemy Minions killed near you grant a stack of Bribe. Use 20 stacks to Bribe a Mercenary, instantly defeating them and permanently increasing the damage of Lightning Rod by 5%. Does not work on Bosses. Maximum of 80 stacks.
  • Bribe (Active)
    • Replaced by Wingman
• Level 4
  • Updraft (E)
    • Now also increases Shield duration by 40% (1.2 seconds)
• Level 7
  • BOOMerang (Q)
    • Detonation damage reduced from 175 to 165
  • Charged Up (W)
    • Range bonus increased from 15 to 25%
• Level 16
  • Aerie Gusts (Passive)
    • Movement speed bonus reduced from 30 to 25%
    • Cooldown reduction for Tailwind activation decreased from 4 to 3 seconds

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.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Mighty Gust (R)
  • Movement speed initial slow reduced from 60 to 40%
  • Movement speed decay time reduced from 5 to 4 seconds

Talents

• Level 1
  • Gathering Storm (Q)
    • Damage per Hero hit reduced from 2 to 1.5

Developer Comments: Falstad is performing really well and brings a lot to any team. He’s not too far out of bounds, however, so we decided to do a couple minor tweaks. We are closely watching him and will make additional changes if needed.

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.

Bug Fixes

• Falstad: Will no longer be struck by ground-level objects, such as Abathur’s Toxic Nests, while using Flight.

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

• Battle Momentum (Talent) removed.
• First Aid (Talent) removed.
• Overdrive (Talent) removed.
• Vigorous Assault (Talent) renamed to Hammer Gains
  • This is now a Falstad-specific version of Vigorous Assault.
  • Health restored per Basic Attack increased from 15% to 20% of damage dealt to the primary target.
• Tailwind (Trait)
  • Flow Rider (Talent) moved from Level 4 to Level 13.
• Hammerang (Q)
  • Power Throw (Talent) removed.
  • Hammer Time (Talent) removed.
  • Crippling Hammer (Talent) moved from Level 13 to Level 16.
  • Secret Weapon (Talent)
    • Now also increases Hammerang range by 30%.
    • Basic Attack damage bonus reduced from 80% to 60%
• Lightning Rod (W)
  • Charged Up (Talent) moved from Level 4 to Level 7.
    • Now also increases Lightning Rod’s range by 15%.
    • Number of bonus strikes reduced from 3 to 2.
  • Static Shield (Talent) moved from Level 13 to Level 4.
    • Shield amount per strike reduced from 5% to 4% of maximum Health.
• Barrel Roll (E)
  • Shield duration increased from 2 to 3 seconds.
  • Free Roll (Talent) removed.
  • Updraft (Talent) moved from Level 1 to Level 4.
    • Now also increases Barrel Roll’s Shield amount by 40%.

Developer Comments: We have been trying our best to support and balance the ‘mage’ versus ‘auto-attack’ builds that Falstad has access to, but continue to teeter-totter as small changes to popular Talents tend to dictate full build-paths. The changes Falstad is receiving may seem massive (and to an extent they are), but we tried our best to keep his current builds intact while opening some new and exciting combinations. Overall, we are not hoping for a huge swing in power in one direction or the other, but to open up more compelling choices at each Talent tier.

Hero Updates

• Mighty Gust (R)
  • Cooldown increased from 40 to 60 seconds.

Developer Comments: Mighty Gust is an incredibly powerful ability that we had been giving buffs to for a long time in an attempt to get more players to pick it (and win!). It seems that after a long period of time, players have learned how to properly play with and against the Heroic, and now it’s time to undo some of those former buffs. Increasing the cooldown should reduce cases where Mighty Gust is used frivolously, but it should still be a powerful disengage and playmaking Heroic.

Talents

Vampiric Assault

• Has been renamed to Vigorous Assault

Hero Updates

• Hammerang (Q)
  • Gathering Storm (Talent)
    • Damage gained per Hero hit increased from 1 to 2
  • BOOMerang (Talent)
    • Reactivation damage increased from 150 (+4% per level) to 175 (+4% per level)
    • Damage radius increased by 25%, which now more appropriately matches the explosion’s visual effects
• Lightning Rod (W)
  • Charged Up (Talent)
    • Additional strikes increased from 2 to 3
  • Thunderstrikes (Talent)
    • Damage bonus per subsequent strike increased from 15% to 20%
• Barrel Roll (E)
  • Updraft (Talent)
    • Range bonus increased from 30% to 40%

Developer Comments: We’re very happy with Falstad’s current place in the game, especially in the professional scene. We have been keeping an eye on some of his weaker Talents, however, and felt we could make some of his Talent tiers more competitive by tuning them up.

We love the feedback we have been receiving on the quest-style talents that some Heroes have, like Gathering Storm, and want to offer more opportunities for players to show off their skill!

Hero Updates

• Hammerang (Q)
  • BOOMerang (Talent)
    • Damage increased from 121 (+4% per level) to 150 (+4% per level)
• Hinterland Blast (R)
  • Base damage increased from 411 (+4.75% per level) to 475 (+4.75% per level)

Developer Comments: We’re primarily seeing players run Basic Attack builds as Falstad, and would like to make ‘mage’ Falstad a bit more powerful. We also felt that Hinterland Blast isn’t doing enough damage with its higher cooldown, so we’re further increasing that damage.

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

• Hinterland Blast (R)
  • Damage increased from 411 (+4% per level) to 411 (+4.75% per level)
  • Cooldown increased from 90 to 120 seconds

Developer Comments: We are looking for opportunities to increase the impact that some Heroic Abilities have at the moment they are cast. When it makes sense, we are also looking to increase the cooldown in order to keep the big moments more impactful. This is our first pass at doing this and you can expect to see more changes like these as we move forward with this initiative.

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.

Hero Updates

• Hammerang (Q)
  • Conjurer's Pursuit (Talent) removed
  • Gathering Power (Talent) removed
  • Power Throw (Talent) moved from Level 1 to Level 4
  • New Talent (Level 1): Gathering Storm
    • Permanently increases Hammerang's damage by 1 every time it damages an enemy Hero
• Flow Rider (Talent)
  • No longer decreases Barrel Roll’s cooldown
  • Now causes Basic Abilities to recharge 100% faster while the Tailwind trait is active

Developer Comments: Our Falstad changes were geared towards supporting Talent diversity. We wanted to make small changes while still providing a meaningful impact. The new and changed talents will add some higher skill options to confident Falstad players.

Design & Gameplay

Vehicles and Regeneration Globe Interaction

• Regeneration Globes will no longer heal Dragon Knights and Garden Terrors.
  • Instead, Regeneration Globe effects will now be applied directly to the Hero inside the Dragon Knight or Garden Terror.
• Players within a Dragon Knight or Garden Terror can now also accumulate stacks for Talents such as Seasoned Marksman, Gathering Power, Regeneration Master, etc.

Bug Fixes

• Falstad’s Hinterland Blast will no longer be placed on reduced cooldown when it is successfully cast at the same moment that Falstad is stunned by The Butcher’s Ruthless Onslaught.

Design & Gameplay

Bonus Effects from Kills

Developer Comments: This change will not have a major impact on today’s gameplay and was mostly done for consistency on how these type of talents worked. In the future, it may allow us to develop Battlegrounds with many small minions (think Haunted Mines) and not have to worry about special casing Seasoned Marksman so it doesn’t get out of control.

• Talents and Abilities that gain bonus effects from kills will now only trigger from Minions and Mercenaries, and will no longer gain benefit from killing neutral Mercenaries, map event creatures, summoned units, etc.

Talents

Gathering Power

Developer Comments: Gathering Power was simply too good and was considered, by many, a mandatory pick on certain characters, which often lead to snowballing. We liked the ‘quest’ aspect of this talent, but it was far too easy to reach the cap and the quest didn’t feel meaningful to complete. Now, choosing this talent should no longer be mandatory, and the quest is much longer. Player’s will keep half of their stacks upon dying, which will help act as a ‘check point’.

• The 5% starting Ability Power has been removed
• Percentage gain from killing a Hero reduced from 2% to 1%
• Instead of losing all stacks on death, players will now only lose half their stacks (rounding up)

Seasoned Marksman

Developer Comments: Overall, we like the way Seasoned Marksman is playing but wanted to tune up its effectiveness to reward those able to secure a healthy number of takedowns, while simultaneously tuning the talent up due to prior changes. Ideally, this will become a great talent pick when facing The Lost Vikings or Murky players.

• Stacks earned by killing enemy Heroes increased from 2 to 3
• Only Minions, captured enemy Mercenaries, and Heroes will grant stacks upon death

Hero Updates

Developer Comments: Mighty Gust can be a great disengagement tool, but it is often outshined by the pure power of Hinterland Blast. We feel we can bring this Heroic into play more often with some simple tuning changes. Internally, it’s been much more powerful and can even be used as a counter to a hard engagement or aggressive dive teams.

• Mighty Gust (R)
  • Cooldown decreased from 50 to 40 seconds
  • Slow duration increased from 2 to 5 seconds

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue in which Ability effects, such as Giant Killer, Focused Attack, and Zagara’s Envenomed Spines, could be applied while Blinded.

Design & Gameplay

General

• Several Abilities were unintentionally providing brief moments of Unstoppable behavior during use. The following Abilities no longer provide Unstoppable:
  • Chen -- Flying Kick (Q)
  • Falstad -- Barrel Roll (E)
  • Illidan -- Dive (Q)
  • Illidan -- Sweeping Strikes (with the Unbound talent) (W)
  • Kerrigan -- Ravage (Q)

• A number of Hero Abilities were not intended to completely Stun enemy targets. In these cases, Stuns have been converted to Dazes, which act similarly, but will no longer interrupt Abilities that can be channeled while the Hero is moving.
  • For example: Dazing Valla will not stop her from channeling Strafe.
  • The following abilities will now Daze, rather than Stun, enemy Heroes:
    • Brightwing -- Emerald Wind (R)
    • Chen -- Wandering Keg (R)
    • E.T.C. -- Face Melt (W)
    • Falstad -- Mighty Gust (R)
    • Kerrigan -- Primal Grasp (E)
    • Raynor -- Penetrating Round (Q)
    • Sgt. Hammer -- Concussive Blast (W)
    • Tychus -- Frag Grenade (W)

Talents

New Talent: Vampiric Strike

• This is a new version of Vampiric Assault
  • Basic Attacks heal for 25% of the damage dealt to the primary target
  • Vampiric Assault has not been changed

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue affecting Falstad's Flight.

Hero Updates

• Basic Attack
  • Damage increased from 34 (+10 per level) to 38 (+10 per level)
• Barrel Roll (E)
  • Cooldown reduced from 16 to 14 seconds
  • Barrel Roll speed increased by approximately 50%
  • Flow Rider (Talent)
    • Cooldown reduction increased from 35% to 40%
• Mighty Gust (R)
  • Cost reduced from 100 to 70 Mana
  • Cooldown reduced from 60 to 50 seconds

Talents

Gathering Power

• Initial Ability Power amount reduced from 8% to 5%
• Maximum Ability Power bonus reduced from 20% to 15%

General

• All Heroes (including Murky and The Lost Vikings) now count as full credit toward Talents which require Hero kills (such as Gathering Power).

New Level 20 Talents

Nexus Frenzy

• Increases both Attack Speed and Basic Attack range by 20%
• Found on the following Heroes:
  • Falstad, Jaina, Raynor, Sgt. Hammer, Tychus, Valla

Hero Updates

• Falstad has received a major overhaul.
• Thunderstorm (W), Aerial Blitzkrieg (R), and their supporting Talents have been removed.
• Bolt of the Storm (Talent) removed
• Rewind (Talent) removed
• Stoneskin (Talent) removed
• New Ability (W): Lightning Rod
  • Damages an enemy and deals additional damage over 4 seconds if Falstad remains within proximity of the target.
  • New Talent (Level 4): Charged Up
    • Lightning Rod strikes the target 2 additional times.
  • New Talent (Level 13): Thunderstrikes
    • Lightning Rod deals 15% more damage with each subsequent strike.
  • New Talent (Level 13): Static Shield
    • Gain a stacking Shield worth 5% of Falstad’s maximum Health after every Lightning Rod strike. Lasts for 4 seconds.
• New Ability (R): Mighty Gust
  • Pushes enemies away in a gust of wind, slowing them by 60%. This slow decays over 3 seconds.
  • New Talent (Level 20): Wind Tunnel
    • Mighty Gust creates a wind tunnel for 4 seconds. Enemies caught in the tunnel will be pushed back periodically over the duration.
• Shock and Awe (R) has been renamed to Hinterland Blast.
  • Blast of Awe (Talent) has been renamed to Call of the Wildhammer.
• Tailwind (Trait)
  • Gust of Wind (Talent) has been renamed to Aerie Gusts.
  • Aerie Gusts (Talent)
    • Reduces Tailwind’s activation time to 2 seconds and increases the Movement Speed bonus from 20% to 30%.
• Flight (Z)
  • Fly Away! (Talent) removed
  • New Talent (Level 20): Epic Mount
    • Reduces Flight’s cooldown by 20 seconds, reduces the casting time by 0.5 seconds, and increases flying speed by 50%.
• Hammerang (Q)
  • Stormhammer (Talent) removed
  • Wildhammer (Talent) removed
  • New Talent (Level 1): Power Throw
    • Increases Hammerang’s range by 40% and its slow duration by 25%.
  • New Talent (Level 7): Secret Weapon
    • Basic Attack damage increased by 80% while Hammerang is in flight
  • New Talent (Level 16): Hammer Time
    • Falstad’s first Basic Attack against a target slowed by Hammerang will now stun them for 0.75 seconds.
• Barrel Roll (E)
  • Dog Fight (Talent) removed
  • New Talent (Level 4): Flow Rider
    • Reduces Barrel Roll’s cooldown by 35%
  • New Talent (Level 7): Free Roll
    • Removes Barrel Roll’s Mana cost

Bug Fixes

• Activating the Rewind Talent will no longer refresh cooldowns for certain activated Traits.

Talents

Conjurer's Pursuit

• Now also increases Mana regeneration by 0.5 per second in addition to its other effects

Rewind

• Now refreshes all Basic Ability cooldowns rather than reducing them by 10 seconds
• Cooldown increased from 60 to 90 seconds

Bug Fixes

• Falstad can no longer use Fly to escape root effects.

Bug Fixes

• Dealing fatal damage to the Dragon Knight or Garden Terror with Falstad's Stormhammer Talent no longer causes the player that was inside to permanently lose control of their hero.

Talents

Seasoned Marksman

• No longer requires last hits to gain stacks
• Now only requires the player be in proximity when enemy Minions or Heroes are killed
• One stack is earned per Minion kill, and two stacks per enemy Hero kill
• Six stacks permanently add +1 to Basic Attack damage

Talents

New Talent (Level 1): Seasoned Marksman

• Grants +1 Basic Attack Damage permanently for every 5 Minions killed.
• This effect stacks.
• Only Minions damaged by Basic Attacks within moments of their death will count toward this bonus.

New Talent (Level 4): Gathering Power

• Passively grants +8% Ability Power
• Each Hero takedown grants an additional 2% Ability Power, up to a maximum of 12%. This bonus is lost on death.

Overdrive

• Has been moved from Level 13 to Level 16

Rewind

• Has been moved from Level 16 to Level 13

With the addition of Artifacts, the following generic Talents have been removed:

• Minion Killer
• Path of the Assassin
• Path of the Warrior
• Path of the Wizard

Bug Fixes

• Falstad's BOOMerang explosion no longer occasionally occurs in a location separate from the hammer when it is activated.

Talents

First Aid

• Healing amount increased from 20% over 4 seconds to 35% over 6 seconds.

Hero Updates

• Flight (Z)
  • Fly Away (Talent)
    • Flight cooldown reduction reduced from 20 to 15 seconds
• Thunderstorm
  • Active and passive damage gained per level reduced from 12 to 10
• Barrel Roll
  • Afterburner (Talent)
    • Movement Speed bonus reduced from 100% to 75%
• Aerial Blitzkrieg
  • Cooldown reduced from 110 to 100 seconds

Hero Updates

• Flight
  • Now displays an indicator which makes Falstad’s landing spot visible to all players

Hero Updates

• Aerial Blitzkrieg cooldown increased from 90 to 110 seconds.
• Flight cast time increased from 1.5 to 2 seconds.