Bug Fixes

• Explosive Round damage modifier is now additive.

Bug Fixes

• Holo Decoys will now move towards uncollected Experience Globes if they are idle.

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 1
  • Advanced Cloaking [Trait]
    • Bonus mana regen increased from 3 to 6.
• Level 7
  • Anti-Armor Shells [Passive]
    • Duration increased from 3 seconds to 4 seconds.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that caused Holo Decoy's health bars to display incorrectly after losing Protected.

Hero Updates

• Difficulty updated from Medium to Hard.

Abilities

• Snipe [Q]
  • Snipe no longer reveals in an area around the target.
• Triple Tap [R1]
  • Triple Tap will now reveal targets hit for 2 seconds.
• Precision Strike [R2]
  • Precision Strike will now reveal targets hit for 2 seconds.

Talents

• Level 16
  • Explosive Round [Q]
    • Explosive Snipe will now reveal targets hit for 2 seconds.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that caused Holo Decoys to be revealed to the enemy when their border becomes visible.
• Fixed an issue that caused Holo Decoys to reveal the area around them when slain for 1 second.
• Fixed an issue that caused Anti Armor Shell's Physical Armor reduction to not be removed by Stasis or Invulnerability.
• Fixed an issue that caused Holo Decoy's damage readout in the Target Info Panel to display incorrectly with Anti-Armor Shells selected while their Basic Attack is on cooldown.
• Fixed an issue that caused Anti-Armor Shells to reduce the Physical Armor of the target before the damage is dealt.
• Fixed an issue causing Permanent Cloak to not be applied when available after selecting Apollo Suit. Undocumented

• Fixed an issue that caused Sharpened Blades to gain quest progress from Hallucination Heroes (Nova Holo Decoys, Samuro Mirror Images, Abathur Ultimate Evolutions).

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 1
  • Covert Ops [W]
    • Required Stealth duration reduced from 4 to 2 seconds.
    • Bonus Pinning Shot Slow increased from 15% to 20%.
  • Advanced Cloaking [Trait]
    • Required Stealth duration reduced from 2 to 1 second.
    • Mana per second increased from 2 to 3.
• Level 4
  • Rapid Projection [E]
    • Cost and cooldown reduction increased from 50% to 60%.
  • Holo Stability [E]
    • Additional functionality: Reduce the cooldown of Ghost Protocol by 15 seconds.
• Level 7
  • Perfect Shot [Q]
    • Changed functionality: Hitting an enemy reduces Snipe's cooldown by 2 seconds and refunds half its Mana cost, doubled against Heroes.
  • One in the Chamber [Passive]
    • Bonus damage increased from 60% to 65%.
• Level 10
  • Precision Strike [R2]
    • Cooldown reduced from 60 to 50 seconds.
• Level 20
  • Precision Barrage [R2]
    • Cooldown reduction reduced from 30 to 25 seconds.

Developer Comment: Similar to Greymane, Nova has generally been in a good spot with her talents, with a few exceptions. We're looking to stabilize some of her talents with changes to Perfect Shot and Advanced Cloaking, so they're dependable in a wider range of situations.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where Control Points could be contested by Hallucinations while in Stasis or Stopped Undocumented

Bug Fixes

• Nova Holo Decoys no longer incorrectly take triple damage. They now correctly take double damage.

Bug Fixes

• Nova Holo Decoy Snipe no longer deals full damage if the Decoy dies while Snipe is in flight.

Bug Fixes

• Nova: Fixed an issue causing Holo Decoy's Snipe projectile to be destroyed mid-flight if the Decoy died.

• Nova: Triple Tap will now immediately cancel if the target becomes invalid immediately after starting the Triple Tap cast.

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 1
  • Covert Ops (W)
    • Stealth requirement reduced from 5 to 4 seconds
• Level 4
  • Rapid Projection (E)
    • Cooldown and Mana cost reduction increased from 40% to 50%
  • Holo Stability (E)
    • Duration bonus increased from 100% to 120%
• Level 16
  • Explosive Round (Q)
    • Damage bonus Increased from 80 to 90%

Design & Gameplay

Armor

• Now, just like Movement Speed modifiers, the game will apply only the highest (or lowest) amount of Armor to a Hero at any given time. We've adjusted ability/talent Armor values on a per Hero basis to account for this change:
  • Nova
    • Anti-Armor Shells (Passive)
      • Physical Armor shred increased from 10 to 15

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 7
  • Perfect Shot (Q)
    • No longer grants an additional stack of Snipe for hitting enemy Heroes
    • New functionality:
      • Hitting enemy Heroes now refunds the Mana cost of Snipe
• Level 13
  • Psionic Efficiency (Q)
    • Hitting enemy Heroes no longer refunds the Mana cost of Snipe
    • New functionality:
      • Now grants an additional stack of Snipe for hitting enemy Heroes

Developer Comment: We are switching some of the bonuses from Perfect Shot and Psionic Efficiency to better align their rewards and to make the Snipe build friendlier to players earlier on in the game. Most notably, players who pick Perfect Shot will no longer have to worry about running out of Mana quickly due to landing multiple Snipes in a teamfight.

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 1
  • Advanced Cloaking (Trait)
    • Movement speed bonus increased from 5 to 10%
• Level 7
  • Perfect Shot (Q)
    • Cooldown reduction on Hero hit increased from 3 to 4 seconds
• Level 16
  • Explosive Round (Q)
    • Area of effect damage increased from 70 to 80%

Bug Fixes

• Nova: After learning Anti-Armor Shells, the Target Info Panel now displays the correct amount of Basic Attack damage dealt.

Bug Fixes

• Nova: Armor reductions granted by Anti-Armor Shells and Crippling Shot now stack correctly when applied to the same target.

• Nova: Fixed an issue in which Holo Decoys would not Basic Attack enemy Heroes if Nova did not have enough Mana to cast any of her Abilities.

• Nova: Fixed an issue that could cause Holo Decoys to stop attacking nearby targets.

• Zul'jin: Using Guillotine with the Buzzsaw Talent to kill Nova's Holo Decoys or Samuro's Mirror Images no longer grants Healing.

Bug Fixes

• Nova: Fixed an issue in which Perfect Shot’s cooldown reduction could be applied to Snipe multiple times per cast after learning Explosive Round.

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 7
  • Perfect Shot (Q)
    • Added functionality:
      • Each Hero hit also grants an additional Precision Sniper stack.
• Level 13
  • Ionic Force Field (Trait)
    • Armor duration increased from 2 to 3 seconds.
  • Double Tap (W)
    • Added functionality:
      • Also increases Pinning Shot’s cooldown by 2 seconds.
• Level 16
  • Lethal Decoy (E)
    • Holo Decoy damage bonus reduced from 35% to 30%.
  • Crippling Shot (W)
    • Armor negation reduced from 25 to 20.
  • Explosive Round (Q)
    • Area of effect damage increased from 50% to 70%.

Bug Fixes

• Nova: Fixed an issue causing Holo Decoys to deal slightly more damage than intended after learning Lethal Decoy.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Snipe (Q)
  • Damage reduced from 245 to 230
• Pinning Shot (W)
  • Damage reduced from 105 to 100
• Precision Strike (R)
  • Damage reduced from 456 to 435
• Precision Sniper (Trait) Undocumented
  • Damage per stack increased from 5 to 6%
  • Maximum stacks increased from 25 to 30%

Talents

• Level 7
  • Perfect Shot (Q)
    • Cooldown refund for hitting Heroes increased from 2 to 3 seconds
  • One in the Chamber (Passive)
    • Damage bonus reduced from 70 to 60%
• Level 16
  • Lethal Decoy (E)
    • Clone damage reduced from 40 to 35%

Developer Comment: It’s nice to see that the recent changes to Nova have been so widely embraced by players. However, with the addition of some new escape tools and her ability to have multiple clones out at once, we feel like her damage potential against single targets is still a bit too high. Our data is showing that her talent tree is in a very good spot balance wise (besides a couple outliers, which you see here) so we are also lowering her base output and compensating by increasing Precision Sniper’s damage.

Hero Updates

Stats

• Health reduced from 1350 to 1300
• Health Regeneration reduced from 2.81 to 2.71

Abilities

• Snipe (Q)
  • Damage reduced from 255 to 245

Talents

• Level 16
  • Lethal Decoy (E)
    • Holo Decoy damage bonus reduced from 50% to 40% of Nova’s damage

Design & Gameplay

Stealth

• Stealth players will now become “Invisible” after remaining still for 1.5 seconds.
  • Invisible Heroes will not display the Stealth visual effect and can still be removed from Stealth by taking damage. This includes Heroes under the effects of temporary Stealth effects such as Samuro’s Windwalk or Tyrande’s Shadowstalk.
  • Additionally, Heroes cannot become Invisible while occupying a capture point, such as Braxis Holdout or Mercenary Camp Beacons. Instead, they will retain normal Stealth visual effects.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Snipe (Q)
  • Damage reduced from 310 to 255.
  • Baseline quest added:
    • Hitting an enemy Hero increases the damage of Snipe by 5% stacking 5 times. When at max stacks (5) it gains an additional 25% damage. If Snipe fails to hit a target, all stacks are lost.
• Pinning Shot (W)
  • Damage reduced from 110 to 105
• Holo Decoy (E)
  • Added functionality:
    • Decoys now deal 10% of Nova’s damage
  • Improved A.I. functionality
• Permanent Cloak (Trait)
  • Added functionality:
    • Gain 15% movement speed while Stealthed
• Triple Tap (R)
  • Damage per shot increased from 338 to 372
• (New) Ghost Protocol (1)
  • Activate to instantly cloak, leave a Holo Decoy at your feet, and become unrevealable for .5 seconds.

Talents

• Level 1
  • Advanced Cloaking (Trait)
    • New functionality:
      • Increase your Stealth movement speed by 5% after remaining stealthed for 2 seconds. While Stealthed, gain 2 additional mana regeneration per second.
• Level 7
  • Snipe Master (Q)
    • Removed
  • One in the Chamber (Passive)
    • Bonus damage reduced from 80 to 70%
  • Perfect Shot (Q)
    • Moved from Level 16
    • Cooldown reduction on Hero hit reduced from 3 to 2 seconds
• Level 13
  • Psionic Efficiency (Q)
    • Bonus range increased from 10 to 15%
    • Adjusted functionality:
      • Now refunds the cost of Snipe on a successful Hero hit.
  • (New Talent) Ionic Force Field (Trait)
    • Gain 25 Armor for 2 seconds after losing stealth
• Level 16
  • Lethal Decoy (E)
    • Damage bonus from clones increased from 40 to 50%
  • Explosive Round (Q)
    • Moved from Level 13
• Level 20
  • (New Talent) Apollo Suit (Trait)
    • Reduce the cooldown of Permanent Cloak from 3 to 1 second
  • Precision Barrage (R)
    • ​Added functionality:
      • ​Now also reduces the cooldown of Precision Strike by 30 seconds.

Design & Gameplay

Stealth

• Bouncing or chaining abilities (Chain Lightning, Shadow Dagger, etc.) will now bounce to targets that are outside allied vision.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Holo Decoy (E)
  • Sight range increased from 6 to 12 (now matches Heroes)

Talents

• Level 4
  • Remote Delivery (E)
    • Removed
  • Holo Stability (E)
    • New functionality:
      • Increases the cast range and duration of Holo Decoy by 100%
• Level 7
  • Anti-Armor Shells (Passive)
    • Added functionality:
      • Basic Attacks also decrease the physical Armor of your target by 10 for 3 seconds
• Level 13
  • Psionic Efficiency (Q)
    • Range increase from 10 to 15%

Developer Comment: We made a few changes to our resident Ghost - mostly targeted at fixing some under-performing talents. Alongside that, we figured that we may as well point Anti-Armor Shells, you know, into a direction more befitting its name.

Bug Fixes

• Alarak – Fixed an issue that prevented Rite of Rak’Shir from going on a reduced cooldown if used on a Nova Holo Decoy that expired.

• Nova, Samuro – Fixed an issue preventing debuff timers from showing below clone’s health bars.

• Nova – Fixed an issue preventing Holo Decoy from being cast in several locations on Garden of Terror and Infernal Shrines.

Bug Fixes

• Abathur: Can now correctly cast Symbiote on an allied Nova’s Holo Decoys.

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

Talents

• Level 7
  • Anti-Armor Shells (Passive)
    • Custom UI has been added to show the cooldown before your next attack

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 7
  • Snipe Master (Q)
    • Stacks are no longer lost when hitting non-Heroic targets

Design & Gameplay

Cloaked Attack Move Commands

• Nova and Zeratul will no longer attempt to automatically acquire attack targets after issuing and canceling an attack order while cloaked.

Bug Fixes

• Kael'thas: Fixed an issue that could cause Pyroblast’s targeting indicator to persist indefinitely when targeting a Hero as they become Unrevealable.

Bug Fixes

• Mounts: When ridden by a Hero in Stealth, mechanical Mounts will no longer play sound effects that are audible to nearby enemy Heroes.

• Nova: The Holo Decoy’s Pinning Shot will no longer reset Nova’s Covert Ops Talent stacks.

• Structures: Fixed an issue in which the Core could continue to reveal enemy Stealth Heroes in a small radius outside its intended reveal range.

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 1
  • Tactical Espionage (Passive)
    • Removed
  • Advanced Cloaking (Passive)
    • Now also restores 2 Mana per second while Stealthed
  • Covert Ops (Passive)
    • Functionality changed:
      • After being Stealthed for 5 seconds, Pinning Shot’s slow is increased to 55% and costs no Mana. Bonus is lost after losing Stealth for 1 second.

Developer Comments: The functionality of Covert Ops was overly complex for such a simple concept: Buff your Pinning Shot if you’ve been cloaked for a while. The talent was performing well, so this isn’t an attempt to make it worse or better, but rather make it more clear when you have the bonus and when you don’t. Tactical Espionage, however, was underperforming quite a bit, so we decided to roll some of its components into Advanced Cloaking, since the fantasy and flavor of both talents were so aligned anyways.

Design & Gameplay

Unrevealable Heroes

• Heroes who are considered unrevealable will no longer shimmer like other stealthed heroes.
• After the unrevealable period ends, they will shimmer again.

Design & Gameplay

Stealth

• Abilities that reveal Stealthed/Cloaked Heroes will no longer remove the Stealth/Cloak effect, but will instead temporarily reveal the cloaked Hero.
• The following talents now function while under the effects of Stealth granted by another player (ex: Tyrande’s Shadowstalk):
  • Nova
    • Tactical Espionage
    • Advanced Cloaking
    • Covert Ops
  • Samuro
    • Way of the Wind
    • Harsh Winds

Developer Comments: Some revealers, like Oracle from Tassadar and now Scouting Drone, are very binary in their ability to reveal Heroes, by design. But their purpose is to provide scouting and position of the enemy, and not to negate the effects of Talents or Abilities that rely on Stealth to provide their benefit. While examining these conditional Talents, we decided that it would be more interesting to allow synergies between external sources of Stealth these Talents. We like that choices like Tyrande’s Shadowstalk or Medivh’s Invisibility become more interesting if you have allies that gain additional benefits from Stealth on your team.

Bug Fixes

• Nova/Zeratul: Danger Pings will no longer remain visible over a Hero who enters Stealth.

• Nova: After learning Covert Ops, Pinning Shot will now correctly Slow the target’s Movement Speed by 60%.

Bug Fixes

• Nova: Fixed an issue causing Nova to retain Pinning Shot's fully stacked slow amount for the remainder of the match after choosing the Covert Ops talent.

Bug Fixes

• Nova: It is no longer possible for Nova to target Invulnerable Heroes with Triple Tap.

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 1
  • Advanced Cloaking (Talent)
    • Movement Speed while Cloaked reduced from 30 to 25%
• Level 4
  • New Talent: Covert Mission (Active)
    • Enemy Minions killed near you grant a stack of Bribe. Hero Takedowns grant 10 stacks of Bribe. Use 25 stacks to Bribe a Mercenary, instantly defeating them. Does not work on Bosses. Maximum of 100 stacks. If a camp is defeated entirely with Bribe, the camp respawns 50% faster.

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.

Design & Gameplay

AFK Detection

• The in-game AFK detection system has received adjustments that will help prevent cases in which Medivh in Raven Form, as well as Nova and Zeratul in Stealth, could receive AFK notifications despite actively participating in the game.

Bug Fixes

• Nova: Holo Decoys can now use Basic Attacks against enemy Monsters and Mercenaries. After taking the Lethal Decoy Talent, Holo Decoys will also be able to use Basic Attacks against enemy Minions.

• Nova: The buff icon for the Snipe Master Talent will now properly display in the buff bar.

• Nova: Triple Tap’s visual effects will no longer persist during an enemy Hero’s post-death effect, such as Tyrael’s Archangel’s Wrath.

• Nova: Will no longer receive an Invulnerability overlay on-screen if a Holo Decoy is affected by Tyrael’s Sanctification, but Nova herself is outside its area of effect.

Bug Fixes

• The visual effects for Nova’s Triple Tap will no longer persist until death if Triple Tap is interrupted by a Daze effect during casting.

Bug Fixes

• Attempting to cast Nova’s Pinning Shot or Tyrande’s Hunter’s Mark on an enemy just as the target enters a Bush or Vent will no longer cause the Ability’s sound effects and animations to play as though it were successfully cast.

• Casting Dehaka’s Isolation on a summoned unit or Heroic pet, such as Misha, Gargantuan, or a Holo Decoy, will no longer also cause the Hero who owns that unit to lose allied vision.
  • Additionally, if one of The Lost Vikings or Chen’s Storm, Earth, Fire Spirits are hit by Isolation, only the affected unit will have reduced personal vision, but the player should retain allied vision.
  • Alternatively, if the only living Viking or Spirit is hit by Isolation, the player will have reduced personal vision and lose allied vision for Isolation’s full duration.

• Enemies will now be able to more easily distinguish Nova's Holo Decoys from the real Nova when the Decoys are revealed.

• Fixed an issue that caused Nova’s Holo Decoys to deal more damage than intended after learning the Anti-Armor Shells Talent.

• Fixed an issue that could cancel Nova’s Triple Tap when attempting to cast it on an enemy Nova who is already channeling Triple Tap on a different target.

Bug Fixes

• The graphic effects for Dehaka’s Isolation will no longer visually persist on the Battleground if it deals the killing blow to one of Nova’s Holo Decoys.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that prevented Nova from entering Stealth when activating the Ghost Protocol Talent while affected by damage over time effects.

Hero Updates

• Health increased from 1,273 (+4% per level) to 1,350 (+4% per level)
• Health Regeneration increased from 2.65 per second (+4% per level) to 2.81 per second (+4% per level)
• Snipe (Q)
  • Cooldown decreased from 8 to 6 seconds
  • Mana cost decreased from 60 to 50
  • Perfect Shot (Talent)
    • Cooldown reduction decreased from 4 to 3 seconds
• Pinning Shot (W)
  • Slow amount increased from 30% to 40%
  • Covert Ops (Talent)
    • Maximum slow amount increased from 50% to 60%

Developer Comments: We have been giving Nova slow and steady buffs in order to increase her viability without pushing her burst damage to uncomfortable levels. Each round of changes has shown us positive results—albeit not large ones. A lower cooldown on Snipe and a stronger slow on Pinning Shot should help Nova players secure kills more frequently while also helping her to contribute more during engagements and skirmishes.

Hero Updates

• Snipe (Q)
  • Damage increased from 295 (+4% per level) to 310 (+4% per level)
  • Snipe Master (Talent)
    • Damage bonus per stack increased from 12% to 15%. This effect can still stack up to 5 times

Developer Comments: We are continuing to tune Snipe Master to make it a more attractive choice, assuming you are consistently landing your Snipes.

Bug Fixes

• The effects of Nova’s Explosive Round Talent will now be properly applied to Snipe after casting Rewind and Snipe in rapid succession.

Hero Updates

• Snipe (Q)
  • Damage increased from 268 (+4% per level) to 295 (+4% per level)
  • Snipe Master (Talent)
    • Damage bonus increased from 5% to 12% per stack
    • Maximum stack bonus increased from 50% to 60%
    • Maximum stacks decreased from 10 to 5

Developer Comments: While we are happy with the variety of Talent options Nova has after the rework, her overall damage is too low. We like Snipe Master, and it encourages a different playstyle, but a single miss resets a ton of progress toward the Talent’s reward. With these changes, players will get more out of Snipe Master without having to rebuild so many stacks after a miss. We’ve heard a lot of community feedback and suggestions about not removing stacks as long as your Snipe hits something. We’ve discussed this, but feel that even if Snipe misses the intended target, it still hits something the majority of the time. By making this Talent sharp, with an obvious downside, it allows us to crank up the tuning and really celebrate flawless Nova play.

Hero Updates

• Conjurer's Pursuit (Talent) removed
• Gathering Power (Talent) removed
• Envenom (Talent) removed
• Headshot (Talent) removed
• Spell Shield (Talent) removed
• Overdrive (Talent) removed
• Bolt of the Storm (Talent) removed
• Permanent Cloak, Sniper (Trait)
  • Advanced Cloaking (Talent) redesigned and moved from Level 13 to Level 1
    • Now increases Nova's Movement Speed by 30% while Cloaked
  • New Talent (Level 1): Tactical Espionage
    • Regenerate 4 Mana per second while Stealthed
  • New Talent (Level 20): Ghost Protocol
    • Activate to gain Stealth for 2 seconds. Taking damage, attacking, or using Abilities will not break Stealth during this time
• Snipe (Q)
  • Damage reduced from 335 (+4% per level) to 268(+4% per level)
  • Cost reduced from 65 to 60 Mana
  • Cooldown reduced from 10 to 8 seconds
  • Psi-Op Rangefinder (Talent) removed
  • Ambush Snipe (Talent) removed
  • Railgun (Talent) removed
  • Explosive Round (Talent) moved from Level 7 to Level 13
    • Area of effect radius increased by 75%
  • Perfect Shot (Talent) redesigned and moved from Level 4 to Level 16
    • Hitting an enemy Hero with Snipe reduces its cooldown by 4 seconds
  • New Talent (Level 7): Snipe Master
    • Hitting an enemy Hero with Snipe increases subsequent Snipe damage by 5%. Stacks up to 10 times. All stacks are lost if Snipe misses an enemy Hero
  • New Talent (Level 13): Psionic Efficiency
    • Increases Snipe range by 10% and removes its Mana cost
• Pinning Shot (W)
  • Range increased by approximately 18% in order to match Nova’s Basic Attack range
  • Tazer Rounds (Talent) removed
  • Covert Ops (Talent) moved from Level 7 to Level 1
    • Bonus to Pinning Shot’s Movement Speed slow increased from 1% to 2% per second
  • New Talent (Level 1): Longshot
    • Pinning Shot range increased by 30%
    • Pinning Shot also increases the range of the next Basic Attack by 30%
  • New Talent (Level 13): Double Tap
    • Pinning Shot now stores up to two charges
• Holo Decoy (E)
  • Double Fake (Talent) removed
  • Remote Delivery (Talent) has been changed
    • No longer reduces Holo Decoy's cooldown
    • In addition to providing 100% increased cast range, now also grants a 50% vision range bonus to Holo Decoys
  • Lethal Decoy (Talent) moved from Level 13 to Level 16
    • Holo Decoy damage increased from 25% to 40%
  • New Talent (Level 4): Rapid Projection
    • Reduces Holo Decoy's cooldown and Mana cost by 40%
  • New Talent (Level 4): Holo Stability
    • Increases the duration of Holo Decoys from 5 to 12 seconds

Developer Comments: Nova is a crowd favorite, and always at the top of our most played list. When we sat down to talk about what we wanted to do for her, we quickly realized that a slight Talent shuffle was not going to be possible. We wanted to keep her playstyle as similar to live as possible while also addressing some of our core concerns with her, which were:

• She can be very frustrating to play against for newer players.

• She isn’t viable in competitive play.

• Her Talent pick rates were not great.

This new direction for Nova addresses the first two issues by lowering her overall burst potential, while increasing her damage output overall. The most noticeable way we did this was through lowering both her Snipe cooldown and damage. For the third concern, we decided to do an overarching sweep of her Talents, removing the ones that weren’t working, and created some new ones that should offer interesting choices that promote Nova’s roaming and ganking nature. We realize that this is a slight departure from her long history of burst damage, but feel it is a better direction for her in the long run. We are watching her very carefully in order to react quickly and tune accordingly.

Bug Fixes

• Murky’s Egg will no longer briefly display on the minimap if he is killed by Nova’s Pinning Shot.

• Nova’s Crippling Shot Talent will no longer allow Holo Decoys’ Pinning Shots to make the target Vulnerable without the Lethal Decoy Talent.

Talents

Gathering Power

• Hero takedowns now increase Ability Power by 2% per kill, up to a maximum of 30%. All stacks are now also lost upon death.

Developer Comments: We wanted to make Gathering Power a more high risk, high reward talent that encouraged specific gameplay. Now, with a much higher cap, the reward for this talent is much higher. The counterplay becomes the burden of the opposing team, as they’ll need to focus the Hero who has Gathering Power to reset their stacks.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug that could cause Stealthed Heroes to fire a Basic Attack at a nearby enemy immediately after Mounting.

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

• Holo Decoy status bar frames are now more visually consistent with Nova’s.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that could prevent Nova from using Abilities if her target enters Stasis after Triple Tap is cast.

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

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)

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue in which the following Abilities and Talents were not damaging or destroying Zagara's Creep Tumors:
  • Brightwing's Peekaboo, Diablo's Firestorm (returning fireballs), Johanna's Blessed Hammer, Leoric's Buried Alive, Nova's Railgun, Sgt. Hammer's Napalm Strike (impact damage) and Tychus' Big Red Button (the nuke portion)

Talents

Envenom

• Duration increased from 5 to 10 seconds, but damage has not been changed

Spell Shield

• Duration increased from 2 to 3 seconds

Hero Updates

• Holo Decoy (E)
  • Nova’s allies will now see Minion-sized Health bars for her Holo Decoys

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug in which certain ranged attacks were not dealing damage to Heroes that entered Stealth after the projectile was already in flight. In these cases, damage will now be properly dealt, and the Hero will be revealed, thus resetting the time needed to re-enter Stealth.

Hero Updates

• One in the Chamber (Talent)
  • Bonus to Basic Attack damage increased from 50% to 80%

Bug Fixes

• The cooldown for Nova's Triple Tap after learning the Fast Reload Talent will now be appropriately reset upon killing any of The Lost Vikings.

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).

Rewind

• Has been moved from Level 13 to Level 20
• Has been removed from many Heroes
• Found on the following Heroes:
  • Anub'arak, Arthas, Brightwing, Nova, Malfurion, Muradin, Murky, Tassadar, Tyrande, Rehgar, Zeratul

Bug Fixes

• Nova’s Holo Decoy will no longer pick up Doubloons if Nova is killed before the Decoy expires.

• Nova's Holo Decoy now appropriately displays any Doubloons it collects on Blackheart’s Bay.

Hero Updates

• Basic Attack
  • Anti-Armor Shells (Talent)
    • Damage and Attack Speed slow reduced from 300% to 250%
  • New Talent: Headshot (Level 13)
    • Reduces Ability cooldowns by 4 seconds after killing an enemy Hero
• Cloak (Trait)
  • Advanced Cloaking (Talent)
    • Basic Ability cooldown regeneration removed
    • Nova now regenerates 2% Health per second while cloaked.
• Pinning Shot (W)
  • Covert Ops (Talent) functionality has changed
    • Mana reduction component removed
    • Now increases Pinning Shot’s slow amount by 1% for every second Nova is cloaked, to a maximum of 50%. This effect expires if Nova is decloaked for more than 1 second.
• Holo Decoy (E)
  • Holo Clones no longer have collision.
  • Holo Clones now have movement AI as part of their base functionality.
  • Cast range increased by 25%
  • Digital Shrapnel (Talent) removed
    • Digital Shrapnel’s 2 second cooldown reduction has been added to the Remote Delivery Talent.
  • Double Fake (Talent)
    • The AI movement component of this Talent has been removed.

Bug Fixes

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

• Nova’s Holo Decoy will now appropriately use Basic Attacks even if it does not have enough Mana to cast Abilities when it is spawned.

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

Hero Updates

• Booster Shot has been renamed to Perfect Shot
• Hot Shots (Talent)
  • Has been renamed to Anti-Armor Shells
  • Damage bonus reduced from 330% to 300%
• Rewind (Talent) has been removed from Nova
• Snipe (Q)
  • Damage reduced from 120 (+34 per level) to 115 (+31 per level)

Bug Fixes

• Heroes with a permanent Cloak will now properly Decloak when exiting the Dragon Knight or Garden Terror.

• Nova's Triple Tap will now be placed on reduced cooldown if the ability becomes cancelled before any shots are fired.

Design & Gameplay

General

• Most Abilities can no longer be cast on the minimap.
  • This is to prevent issues with unintended minimap clicks.
  • Abilities with a global range, such as Nova’s Precision Strike, and Tyrande’s Sentinel, among others, can still be cast on the minimap.

Hero Updates

• Nova has received a significant update in this patch
• The following talents have been removed:
  • Battle Momentum
  • Extended Projection
    • Replaced by Remote Delivery, and improved functionality
  • Focused Attacks
  • Follow Through
    • Replaced by One in the Chamber, and improved functionality
  • FN92 Sniper
  • Remote Access
  • Vampiric Assault
• Basic Attack
  • Basic Attacks per second decreased from 1.25 to 1.0
  • Damage increased from 35 to 40
  • New Talent (Level 7): One in the Chamber
    • Nova’s next Basic Attack deals an additional 50% damage after using an Ability.
  • New Talent (Level 7): Hot Shots
    • Nova now attacks three times slower, but deals 330% damage per Basic Attack.
• Cloak (Trait)
  • Advanced Cloaking (Talent)
    • Health Regeneration while Cloaked has been removed
    • Basic Abilities now also cooldown 25% faster in addition to the 25% Movement Speed bonus granted while Cloaked.
• Snipe (Q)
  • Cooldown reduced from 12 seconds to 10 seconds
  • Damage increased from 100 to 120
  • Scaling damage per level decreased from +35 to +34
  • Mana cost reduced from 75 to 65
  • Psi-Op Rangefinder (Talent)
    • Now also reduces the cooldown of Snipe by 2 seconds in addition to increasing Snipe range by 20%.
  • New Talent (Level 4): Booster Shot
    • Hitting an enemy Hero with Snipe now refunds 50% of the Mana cost. Killing an enemy Hero with Snipe will refund 100% of its Mana cost.
  • Rail Gun (Talent)
    • Now also reduces the cooldown of Snipe by 1 second for each enemy hit in addition to allowing Snipe to penetrate enemies.
• Pinning Shot (W)
  • Cooldown reduced from 15 seconds to 12 seconds
  • Damage reduced from 50 to 40
  • Mana cost reduced from 80 to 65
  • Scaling damage per level decreased from +18 to +10
  • New Talent (Level 4): Focused Fire
    • Reduces the cooldown of Pinning Shot by 1 second every time Nova deals any damage to the enemy slowed by Pinning Shot.
  • New Talent (Level 7): Covert Ops
    • Reduces the Mana cost of Pinning Shot by 5 for every second Nova is Cloaked (to a minimum of 0.)
  • Crippling Shot (Talent)
    • Now makes enemies Vulnerable, causing the enemy struck by Pinning Shot to take 25% increased damage for the duration of the slow.
• Holo Decoy (E)
  • Holo Decoy now attacks and casts Abilities on enemies by default
  • Holo Decoy now matches Nova’s Cloak state upon cast
  • Digital Shrapnel (Talent)
    • Explosion radius increased by 30%
    • Now also reduces the cooldown of Holo Decoy by 2 seconds in addition to allowing Holo Decoy to explode for damage.
  • Extended Projection (Talent) renamed to Remote Delivery
    • Now also increases the vision range of Holo Decoy by 100%
  • New Talent (Level 16): Double Fake
    • Casting Holo Decoy now creates an additional Decoy at Nova’s current location. Decoys now also gain movement AI.

Bug Fixes

• Bonuses provided by Nova’s Advanced Cloaking Talent are now appropriately lost upon breaking Cloak.

Hero Updates

• Pinning Shot (W)
  • Tazer Rounds (Talent)
    • Slow duration increased from 0.75 to 1.75 seconds
• Holo Decoy (E)
  • Cost reduced from 60 to 50 Mana
  • Digital Shrapnel (Talent)
    • Decoy explosion damage increased from 50 (+18 per level) to 60 (+20 per level)

Bug Fixes

• Cloaked Heroes no longer become visible when standing on or passing through a Gate.

• Heroes are no longer automatically dismounted when attempting to cast Envenom on a target that is out of range.

• Nova no longer becomes stuck for the duration of her Triple Tap Heroic Ability animation if the target is killed by the first shot.

• Nova’s Triple Tap damage can no longer be nullified by short and medium ranged teleport effects.

• Nova’s Triple Tap Heroic Ability can now properly be blocked by the Dragon Knight, the Garden Terror, and Hero clones created by Abathur’s Ultimate Evolution.

Talents

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

Spell Shield

• The functionality of this talent has changed.
• Upon taking Ability Damage, now gain a shield that reduces all Ability Damage taken by 50% for 2 seconds. This can only occur once every 30 seconds.

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

Hero Updates

• Onslaught of the Storm (Talent) has been removed.
• Fury of the Storm (Talent) added at Level 20.

Bug Fixes

• Cloaked Heroes now properly emerge decloaked when released from Stitches' Gorge ability.

• Fixed an issue that caused Nova to become stuck in her Triple Tap animation if the target was killed by its first or second shot.

• Kill Streak effects are now properly displayed on the nameplate for Nova’s Holo Decoy.

• Nova's Holo Drone now appropriately attacks Treasure Chests on Blackheart's Bay.

• The cooldown timer for Nova’s Precision Strike Heroic Ability is now appropriately reduced when issuing Basic Attacks with the Battle Momentum Talent selected.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that could cause Nova’s Triple Tap Heroic Ability to reset in certain unintended situations.

• Nova’s Follow Through Talent will no longer stop functioning upon reviving after death.

• Nova's Holo Decoys and Drones now correctly use a decloak animation when they are spawned.

Talents

Follow Through (Level 7)

• After using an ability, the next basic attack deals 25% more damage.
• Currently only available on Nova

Path of the Wizard

• Mana regeneration per level decreased from 0.2 to 0.1.

Hero Updates

• Nova has received significant Talent changes
• Snipe
  • Ambush Snipe (Talent)
    • The 20% increased damage to Snipe when it is cast while Cloaked now has a 1 second grace period. This allows for better combos with Wounding Shot.
  • New Talent (Level 16): Railgun
    • Snipe now pierces enemies, dealing 50% damage to all subsequent targets hit
• Holo Decoy
  • New Talent (Level 4): Extended Projection
    • Increases the cast range of Holo Decoy by 100%
  • New Talent (Level 16): Remote Access
    • Nova can now control her Holo Decoy and increases the Decoy’s vision range from 6 to 12.

Bug Fixes

• Graphic effects for Nova’s Triple Tap no longer persist on screen when Triple Tap is cast on a hero that dies before the ability completes.

• Nova’s Triple Tap missiles no longer stop chasing a target that has moved a long distance from Nova after the ability is cast.

Hero Updates

• Holo Decoy sight radius increased from 3 to 6.
• Wounding Shot damage amplification reduced from 30% to 25%.

Bug Fixes

• Nova’s Fast Reload Talent now correctly resets her Triple Tap cooldown when an enemy with a post-death state is killed shortly after being struck by Triple Tap.

• Nova’s Triple Tap can no longer be absorbed by Abathur’s Toxic Nests.