Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 20
  • Execute Orders [Passive]
    • Updated to only target Heroes, prioritizing ones with the lowest Health.
    • Damage of Yamato Cannon reduced from 794 to 395 as it now targets only Heroes.
    • Will no longer target enemy Heroes not visible or greater than 20 range away.
    • Will now target enemy Heroes who are Invulnerable.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that caused Arcane Explosion to destroy Raynor's Banshee's Basic Attack missiles.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that caused Sergeant Pepper to not properly apply if selected while at 0 stacks of Give Em' Some Pepper.

Bug Fixes

• Execute Orders now displays in the Death Recap for its Hyperion cast.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Give 'Em Some Pepper [Trait]
  • Give 'em Some Pepper will now reveal the area for 0.75 seconds.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that caused Give em' Some Pepper damage to not display in the Death Recap.
• Fixed an issue that caused Give em' Some Pepper damage to not increase Raynor's relevant score entries.
• Fixed an issue that caused Give em' Some Pepper to only reveal Raynor's non-updating position if unseen when dealing damage to an enemy.
• Fixed an issue that caused Give em' Some Pepper to not be correctly modified by damage modification from other Heroes.
• Fixed an issue that caused damage dealt by Hyperion created by Execute Orders to display incorrectly in the Death Recap.

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 1
  • Ace In The Hole [Passive]
    • Damage bonus increased from 10% to 12%.
• Level 7
  • Heavy Slugs [Q]
    • Duration bonus increased from 1.5 to 2 seconds.
• Level 20
  • Cavalry's Arrived [R1]
    • Mark duration increased from 2.5 to 6 seconds.
  • Dusk Wing [R2]
    • Armor reduction increased from 2.5 to 3.
    • Maximum Armor reduction increased from 25 to 30.

Developer Comment: Jimmy was never one to quit a fight.

Hero Updates

Stats

• Basic Attack
  • Damage increased from 92 to 98.

Abilities

• Penetrating Round [Q]
  • Damage increased from 190 to 205.

Talents

• Level 1
  • Ace in the Hole [Trait]
    • Talent changed from [Q] to [Trait].
    • Changed functionality: Damage bonus now affects all Raynor's damage.
    • Damage bonus reduced from 25% to 10%.
• Level 20
  • Execute Orders [Passive]
    • Execute Orders is no longer able to be picked in ARAM games.

Developer Comment: Jimmy ain't fought his last battle yet. We're returning Ace in the Hole to its original functionality, mostly in response to player sentiment, but also to open up a Basic Attack build that isn't Gambit dependent. As always, thanks for your feedback! We have decided to remove Execute Orders from ARAMs, as we think even a less powerful version is still not healthy for the game mode.

Hero Updates

Stats

• Basic Attack
  • Damage decreased from 101 to 92.

Abilities

• Penetrating Round [Q]
  • Cooldown reduced from 10 to 9 seconds.
  • Mana cost reduced from 65 to 60.
  • Damage reduced from 220 to 190.

Talents

• Level 1
  • Ace In The Hole [Q]
    • New Functionality:
      • Give ‘Em Some Pepper Slows enemies hit by 10% for 2.5 seconds.
      • Penetrating Round deals 25% more damage to enemy Heroes that are Stunned or Slowed.
  • Exterminator [W]
    • New Functionality:
      • Increase Basic Attack damage against Minions, Monsters, and Mercenaries by 50%. This is increased to 125% while Inspire is active.
      • Passive: Inspire does not expire on friendly Minions and Mercenaries.
  • Veteran Marksman [Trait]
    • New Functionality:
      • Loan: Increase the damage of Give ‘Em Some Pepper by an additional 60%. Every death reduces this bonus by 15%.
      • Quest damage bonus for hitting enemy Heroes reduced from 1% to .75%
• Level 4
  • Behemoth Armor [Passive]
    • Bonus Health per Hero hit by Give ‘Em Some Pepper increased from 5 to 8.
• Level 7
  • Heavy Slugs [Q]
    • New Functionality: Penetrating Round's Slow amount and duration are increased by 75%.
  • Fuel The Rush [E]
    • Cooldown reduction bonus while Inspire is active from 200 to 300%.
    • Adrenaline Rush Mana cost reduction increased from 25 to 30.
  • Unstable Compound [Trait]
    • Penetrating Round cooldown reduction reduced from 1.5 to 1 second.
• Level 13
  • Debilitating Round [Q]
    • Removed.
  • (New) Line ‘Em Up [Q]
    • Reduce the cooldown of Penetrating Round by 3 seconds. If two or more enemy Heroes are hit, reduce its cooldown by an additional 3 seconds.
  • Giddy Up [W]
    • Base Movement Speed bonus increased from 8% to 10%.
  • Give Me More [E/W]
    • Moved from level 13.
• Level 16
  • Rallying Cry [W]
    • Moved from level 13.
    • New Functionality:
      • Increases Inspire's attack speed bonus by 20%.
      • Passive: Cast Inspire for free after every 12 Basic Attacks.
• Level 20
  • Weak Spot Acquired [Passive]
    • Removed.
  • Execute [Passive]
    • Removed.
  • Indomitable Resolve [R1]
    • Removed.
  • (New) Cavalry's Arrived [R1]
    • Give ‘Em Some Pepper lowers the cooldown of Hyperion by 5 seconds if the primary target is a Hero.
    • These Heroes are targeted by Hyperion for 100% increased damage.
  • Dusk Wing [R2]
    • Additional Functionality: Banshee Basic Attacks lower enemy Hero's Armor by 2 for 1 second, stacking up to 25.
  • (New) Raiders Roll [E]
    • Adrenaline Rush grants Unstoppable and continues healing for 2 additional seconds.
    • This additional duration ends immediately upon reaching 70% Health.
  • (New) Sergeant Pepper [D]
    • Give Em Some Pepper activates every 3rd Basic Attack.
  • (New) Execute Orders [Passive]
    • Reduce your Death Timer by 35 seconds. Upon death, cast Hyperion towards the nearest enemy Hero.

Developer Comment: While Jimmy had a pretty large overhaul a while back, we definitely had some more room to make things more interesting and fun. We wanted to make sure that he was still pretty straight forward to play, but we wanted to inject more fun into his Talent Tree, especially his Level 20's.

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 1
  • Exterminator [Passive]
    • Bonus damage to Minions, Mercenaries, and Monsters reduced from 75% to 50%.

Developer Comment: Since our last buff to Exterminator, it's become too universally good in nearly all situations. We want the talent to be powerful, but we want the maps that Raynor is playing on to be more of a consideration when taking the talent.

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 1
  • Ace in the Hole [Passive]
    • Damage bonus reduced from 15% to 10%.

Developer Comment: Our thinking with our Raynor changes in our previous patch was to solve a design problem with Ace in the Hole's mandatory synergy with Unstable Compound, while simultaneously giving him a bit of a buff overall by making his other two talents measure up to its new power. While this was largely successful, we underestimated how much more powerful Ace in the Hole would become compared to the new, buffed alternatives. We're lowering its damage a bit to compensate for the Slow that it gained, which should make the tier more even overall.

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 1
  • Veteran Marksman [Trait]
    • Bonus damage increased from .75% to 1%.
  • Ace in the Hole [Passive]
    • Additional functionality: Enemies hit by Give'Em Some Pepper are Slowed by 10% for 2.5 seconds.
  • Exterminator [Passive]
    • Damage bonus increased from 50% to 75%, and from 100% to 125% while Inspire is active.
• Level 7
  • Unstable Compound [Trait]
    • No longer adds a Slow to Give ‘Em Some Pepper.
    • Additional functionality: Enemy Heroes hit by Give ‘Em Some Pepper grant Raynor 10 Mana and reduce the cooldown of Penetrating Round and Inspire by 1 second.

Developer Comment: Similar to Orphea last patch, we're removing a use case where it often felt like a requirement to take two talents together for their full effect. Ace in the Hole will now give Raynor the Slow that he desperately wants for its proc, and to make sure that his other Level 1 talents are competitive, we're giving them a boost as well.

Bug Fixes

• Blinding Wind, Shadow Dagger, Seeker Swarm, Frost Blast, Unstable Compound, and Weak Spot Acquired will no longer apply their effects to Heroes in Time Stop.

Bug Fixes

• Raynor: Raynor's Hyperion Splat now properly matches both its warning splat and its targeting guide.

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 7​
  • Fuel the Rush [Passive]
    • Additional functionality: Reduce the Mana cost of Adrenaline Rush from 75 to 50
• Level 13
  • Debilitating Roungs [Passive]
    • Additional functionality: Also reduces the Mana cost of Pentetrating Round from 65 to 45

Developer Comment: Now that Raynor has fairly meaningful Mana costs on his abilities, we are adding some reductions in his talents so that he isn't punished in regards to his Mana consumption when taking them.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Penetrating Round (Q)
  • Mana cost increased from 50 to 65
• Inspire (W)
  • Mana cost increased from 40 to 50

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

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

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

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Raynor's Raider (R)
  • Leash range increased from 12.5 to 14

Developer Comment: There are many cases where due to the leash range of Raynor's Raider, it doesn't quite do what Raynor wants it to. To make it more consistently do what the player wants and expects, we're slightly increasing its leash range.

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:
  • Raynor
    • Bounty Hunter (Trait)
      • Armor increased from 5 to 10

Bug Fixes

• Raynor: Raynor's Raider will now clear attack or move order when entering or exiting the mines on Haunted Mines.

Hero Updates

Stats

• Basic Attack Damage reduced from 103 to 101

Hero Updates

Stats

• Basic Attack Damage increased from 92 to 103
• Basic Attack Damage scaling reduced from 5 to 4%

Talents

• Level 1
  • Ace in The Hole (Passive)
    • Damage bonus reduced from 20 to 15%
• Level 13
  • Giddy Up (W)
    • Bonus baseline Movement Speed reduced from 10 to 8%
• Level 16
  • Paint Them Red (Q)
    • Healing done from Penetrating Round decreased from 100 to 90%

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Raynor's Raider (R)
  • Weapon damage reduced from 24 to 21

Talents

• Level 1
  • Ace in the Hole (Passive)
    • Damage reduced from 30 to 20%
• Level 4
  • Behemoth Armor (Trait)
    • Base Health gain reduced from 250 to 200
  • Fight or Flight (E)
    • Armor duration reduced from 4 to 3 seconds
• Level 7
  • Unstable Compound (Trait)
    • Slow duration reduced from 3 to 2.5 seconds

Developer Comment: Raynor's pepper is bringing a bit too much salt

Bug Fixes

• Raynor – Fixed an issue that could cause Raynor's Raider to become stuck outside of the map when navigating in and out of the mines on Haunted Mines.

• Raynor – Raynor's Raider will now hearth back to base with Raynor.

Hero Updates

Stats

• Health increased from 1,302 to 1,450.
• Health Regeneration increased from 2.71 to 3.02.
• Basic Attack damage reduced from 122 to 92.
• Basic Attack range is now set to 6.5 and is no longer based on Raynor's Trait.
• Scaling increased from 4% to 5% per level.

Abilities

• New Trait: Give ‘Em Some Pepper
  • Every 4th Basic Attack splashes in a small area and deals 125% more damage to the primary target.
• Penetrating Round (Q)
  • Damage reduced from 240 to 220.
  • Mana cost reduced from 60 to 50.
  • Additional functionality:
    • Slows enemy Movement Speed by 20% for 2 seconds.
    • Knockback distance is based on the target's proximity to Raynor.
• Inspire (W)
  • Cooldown increased from 10 to 12 seconds.
  • New functionality:
    • Raynor and all nearby allied Minions and Mercenaries gain 30% Attack Speed and 10% Movement Speed for 4 seconds.
    • Casting Inspire resets Raynor's Basic Attack cooldown.
• Adrenaline Rush (E)
  • Cooldown increased from 30 to 45 seconds.
  • Mana cost increased from 0 to 75.
  • New functionality:
    • Heal Raynor for 25% of his maximum Health over 1 second. Raynor's Basic Attacks reduce Adrenaline Rush's cooldown by 0.5 seconds, doubled against Heroes.
• Raynor's Raider (R)
  • Health increased from 766 to 1,000.
  • Damage per missile reduced from 31 to 24.
  • Attacks per second increased from 0.8 to 2.
  • New functionality:
    • Summon a Banshee that assists Raynor. The Banshee deals 96 damage per second and regenerates 75 Health per second if it hasn't taken damage in the last 4 seconds. Can reactivate to retarget or move the Banshee.
    • The Banshee respawns automatically after 45 seconds.

Talents

• Level 1
  • Seasoned Marksman (Passive)
    • Removed.
  • Scouting Drone (Active)
    • Removed.
  • New Talent: Veteran Marksman (Trait)
    • Quest: Every time the primary target of Give ‘Em Some Pepper is a Hero, permanently increase its damage bonus by 0.75%.
  • New Talent: Ace in the Hole (Passive)
    • Deal 30% more damage to Stunned or Slowed enemy Heroes.
  • New Talent: Exterminator (Passive)
    • Basic Attacks deal 50% more damage to Minions, Mercenaries, and Monsters. This is increased to 100% while Inspire is active.
• Level 4
  • Focused Attack (Passive)
    • Removed.
  • Vigorous Assault (Passive)
    • Removed.
  • Confident Aim (Q)
    • Removed.
  • Relentless Leader (Passive)
    • Removed.
  • Fight or Flight (E)
    • Moved from Level 7.
    • New functionality:
      • Reduce Adrenaline Rush's cooldown by 10 seconds. Casting Adrenaline Rush grants 25 Armor for 4 seconds.
  • New Talent: Sustaining Rounds (Trait)
    • Give ‘Em Some Pepper heals Raynor for 3% of his maximum Health, increased to 6% if the primary target is a Hero.
  • New Talent: Behemoth Armor (Passive)
    • Gain 250 bonus maximum Health.
    • Quest: Every time Give ‘Em Some Pepper's primary target is a Hero, gain an additional 5 maximum Health.
• Level 7
  • Hamstring Shot (Q)
    • Removed.
  • Revolution Overdrive (W)
    • Removed.
  • Puttin' On A Clinic (Passive)
    • Removed.
  • New Talent: Fuel the Rush (Passive)
    • While Inspire is active, increase Adrenaline Rush's cooldown reduction from Basic Attacks by 200%.
  • New Talent: Unstable Compound (Trait)
    • Increase the area of Give ‘Em Some Pepper by 15%, and enemies hit by it are Slowed by 10% for 3 seconds.
  • New Talent: Heavy Slugs (Active)
    • Activate to increase the distance of the next Penetrating Round by 30% and increase its Slow duration to 6 seconds. 30 second cooldown.
• Level 13
  • Giant Killer (Passive)
    • Removed.
  • Double-Barreled (Q)
    • Removed.
  • Steel Resolve (W)
    • Removed.
  • New Talent: Debilitating Rounds (Passive)
    • Decrease the cooldown of Penetrating Round by 3 seconds. While Inspire is active, Penetrating Round's Slow is increased by 20%.
  • New Talent: Rallying Cry (W)
    • Increase the duration of Inspire by 1 second. Casting Inspire grants nearby allied Heroes 10% Movement and Attack Speed for its duration.
  • New Talent: Giddy-Up (W)
    • Gain 10% Movement Speed while mounted and unmounted. Inspire grants 10% more Movement Speed.
• Level 16
  • Executioner (Passive)
    • Removed.
  • Cluster Round (Q)
    • Removed.
  • Bullseye (Q)
    • Removed.
  • Give Me More (E)
    • Moved from Level 1.
    • New functionality:
      • Increase Adrenaline Rush healing by 50%. While Inspire is active, gain 1 Basic Attack range.
  • New Talent: Paint Them Red (Q)
    • Increase the damage of Penetrating Round by 50% and heal for 100% of the damage it deals to Heroes.
  • New Talent: Bounty Hunter (Trait) (D)
    • If Give ‘Em Some Pepper's target is a Hero, it deals an additional 3% of their maximum Health as damage and grants Raynor 5 Armor for 3 seconds.
    • Activate Give ‘Em Some Pepper to apply it to Raynor's next Basic Attack. 40 second cooldown.
• Level 20
  • Scorched Earth (R)
    • Removed.
  • A Card to Play (Passive)
    • Removed.
  • Nexus Frenzy (Passive)
    • Removed.
  • Dusk Wing (R)
    • Increase the damage, Health, and leash range of Raynor's Raider by 100%. When it dies, both Inspire and Adrenaline Rush are activated for free.
  • New Talent: Indomitable Resolve (R)
    • Give ‘Em Some Pepper lowers the cooldown of Hyperion by 5 seconds if the primary target is a Hero. Inspire grants Raynor Unstoppable for 2 seconds.
  • New Talent: Weak Spot Acquired (Trait)
    • An enemy Hero who is the primary target of Give ‘Em Some Pepper has their Armor reduced by 25 for 2 seconds.
  • New Talent: Execute (Passive)
    • Increase Attack Speed by 20%. Your Basic Attack damage is increased by 25% against targets below 50% Health.

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

Developer Comment: We're extremely excited to bring Raynor's long- awaited rework to the Nexus! We've been reading and absorbing all the amazing feedback that you have sent us over the past year and think the new design will do him justice. We've massively increased his wave-clear potential with a new Trait and completely overhauled his Talent tree (one of the oldest in the game). Raynor mains should have a whole new set of tools to play around with while new users should still be able to pick him up and right-click their way to victory. We have been having a ton of fun with the changes and hope you do as well. As always, please send us any feedback you have and get ready to fill your enemies full of daylight!

Bug Fixes

• Fenix: Purification Salvo Channeling can no longer be interrupted by displacement effects, like Raynor's Penetrating Round.

Bug Fixes

• Raynor: Cooldown reduction granted by A Card to Play will no longer trigger twice after killing Leoric or Uther.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Adrenaline Rush (E)
  • Cooldown reduced from 40 to 30 seconds

Talents

• Level 4
  • Relentless Leader (Passive)
    • Cooldown reduction of Adrenaline Rush decreased from 15 to 10 seconds

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 20
  • Bolt of the Storm (Active)
    • Removed

Bug Fixes

• D.Va: Players will now correctly earn takedown credit toward certain Hero Talents and Abilities, like Seasoned Marksman or Li-Ming’s Critical Mass, after destroying D.Va’s Mech.

Bug Fixes

• Raynor - Fixed an issue with the Relentless Leader talent causing it to fail to grant the passive cooldown reduction.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Raynor's Raiders (R)
  • Health increased from 639 to 766
  • Damage increased from 27 to 31

Bug Fixes

• Tomb of the Spider Queen: Webweavers will no longer stop advancing down lane after encountering an opposing Scouting Drone when no other enemies are nearby.

Bug Fixes

• Raynor: Killing Samuro’s Mirror Images after learning A Card To Play will no longer reduce Raynor’s Heroic Ability cooldowns.

• Scouting Drone: Will now properly reveal Creep Tumors and Toxic Nests.

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 4
  • Relentless Leader (E)
    • Now places an inactive button on the item bar to display the cooldown of this talent’s AoE Knockback effect

Bug Fixes

• Raynor: Fixed an issue causing Hyperion to gain benefits from several of Raynor’s Basic Attack Talents.

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.

Talents

Scouting Drone

• Now also reveals Stealthed/Cloaked Heroes

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

• Adrenaline Rush (E)
  • Now displays a visual effect under Raynor's feet to indicate that Adrenaline Rush is off cooldown

Bug Fixes

• Damage Reduction: When two damage reduction effects, such as Resistant (25%) and Hardened Shield (75%), are simultaneously applied to a Hero, the larger effect will no longer be overridden by the lesser effect.

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 1
  • Raynor’s Recruitment (Active)
    • Removed
• Level 13
  • Relentless Leader (Passive)
    • Moved to Level 4
    • No longer reduces the duration of Stuns, Slows or Roots
    • New Functionality:
      • If you are Stunned or Rooted, all nearby enemies are knocked back and the cooldown of Adrenaline Rush is reduced by 15 seconds. Can only occur every 8 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.

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

Bug Fixes

• Raynor: Heroic Ability cooldowns will now be properly reduced when a Hero is killed after learning the A Card to Play Talent.

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.

Executioner

• The Executioner Talent effect will now only trigger after attacking disabled Heroes. The bonus damage gained through this talent will still apply to anything attacked after the effect is triggered.

Relentless

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

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

Talents

Executioner

• This Talent has been reworked.
  • Increases Basic Attack damage by 30% for 3 seconds after hitting a Stunned, Slowed, or Rooted target with a Basic Attack. Using Basic Attacks against a Slowed, Rooted, or Stunned target during this time will refresh the buff duration.

Developer Comments: We like the punishing nature of Executioner, but have found over time that its benefit to the player is too narrowly scoped. We’re changing the Talent to be more consistently useful by giving the player a temporary Attack Damage buff that procs when they first hit a crowd controlled target.

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.

Talents

Vampiric Assault

• Has been renamed to Vigorous Assault

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.)

Talents

Focused Attack

• Basic Attack damage bonus reduced from 75% to 60%

Developer Comments: The talent is doing a bit too much damage over the course of the game. We like that it is a highly contested pick on Basic Attack Heroes, but want to bring its overall power down a bit.

Hero Updates

• Health decreased from 1371 to 1302
• Health Regeneration decreased from 2.8554 to 2.7125 Health per second
• Penetrating Round (Q)
  • Bullseye (Talent)
    • Stun duration decreased from 1.5 to 1.0 second

Developer Comments: Raynor’s damage is a little bit too high for how safe he can be while dealing it. He also has the option to talent into two ranged stuns which, at 1.5 second durations, felt too punishing to play against. These changes should help to slightly increase his overall talent diversity while making him a bit easier to take down when caught out of position.

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

• The Focused Attack Talent now properly uses a 10 second cooldown between bonuses to Basic Attack damage.

• The targeting icon for Raynor's Raiders will no longer persist on Raynor’s Ability hotbar after the Banshees have been destroyed.

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

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

Focused Attacks

Developer Comments: This could be viewed as a buff or nerf depending on how players perceive it. You can still reduce the cooldown by attacking Minions, but won’t accidently waste a burst of damage on an unintended target. This talent will no longer be as effective at sieging, but it should be significantly better at harassing in lane. We will continue to monitor the talent, and tune as necessary.

• The increased damage effect will now only trigger when hitting Heroes

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: Overall Raynor’s win rate is low and using Inspire can feel clunky as it resets your Basic Attack period. These changes should help Raynor feel more responsive to play, while also making him a bit more powerful. We also did a pass at shuffling around and tuning up some of his least picked talents.

• Basic Attack damage increased from 35 to 40
• Mercenary Lord (Talent) removed
• Puttin’ on a Clinic (Talent) moved from Level 13 to Level 7
• Relentless Leader (Talent) moved from Level 16 to Level 13
• A Card to Play (Talent)
  • Cooldown reduction per Hero killed increased from 10 to 15 seconds
• Penetrating Round (Q)
  • Cluster Round (Talent)
    • Damage bonus per target hit increased from 10% to 20%, up to a maximum of 100%
  • Bullseye (Talent)
    • Bonus damage removed
    • Stun duration increased from 1 to 1.5 seconds
• Inspire (W)
  • No longer places Raynor’s Basic Attack on cooldown
• Adrenaline Rush (E)
  • Cooldown reduced from 45 to 40 seconds
  • Activated Rush (Talent) removed
  • Fight or Flight (Talent)
    • Now also allows manual activation of Adrenaline Rush
    • No longer removes movement impairing effects, and instead reduces damage taken by 25% for 4 seconds after activating Adrenaline Rush

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

• 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

Hero Updates

• Raynor’s Raiders (R)
  • Can now be re-targeted after Raynor is killed

Bug Fixes

• Using Diablo’s Shadow Charge on Raynor’s Banshees near the edge of a Battleground will no longer cause Diablo to leave the playable area.

Talents

Focused Attack

• Bonus to Basic Attack damage increased from 50% to 75%

Hero Updates

• Penetrating Round (Q)
  • Knockback distance increased by about 23%
• Inspire (W)
  • Attack Speed bonus increased from 25% to 30%
    • Allied Attack Speed bonus increased from 12.5% to 15%
  • Mana cost reduced from 50 to 40
  • Cooldown decreased from 15 to 10 seconds
  • Duration decreased from 8 to 6 seconds
• Raynor’s Raiders (R)
  • New indicator art has been added that will highlight the Banshees’ current target.

Bug Fixes

• Raynor’s Bullseye Talent now appropriately stuns and increases the damage taken by the first enemy struck by Penetrating Round.

• Raynor’s Confident Aim Talent now appropriately reduces Penetrating Round’s cooldown upon striking an enemy Hero.

Talents

Scouting Drone

• Now has 2 charges
• Duration reduced from 60 to 45 seconds
• Cooldown reduced from 60 to 45 seconds
• Placement range increased from 3 to 4
• The number of hits required to destroy a Scouting Drone have been increased from 1 to 2.

Hero Updates

• Basic Attack
  • Damage increased from 35 (+11 per level) to 35 (+12 per level)

Bug Fixes

• Raynor’s feet will no longer appear to slide while using Basic Attacks after dismounting.

Bug Fixes

• Raynor’s Adrenaline Rush Ability will no longer cleanse movement impairing effects prior to learning the Fight or Flight Talent.

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

• Raynor has received a significant Talent update.
• Searing Attacks (Talent) removed
• Mercenary Lord (Talent) added at Level 7
• New Talent (Level 1): Raynor's Recruitment
  • This is an improved version of the Bribe Talent that requires only 15 stacks to bribe a Mercenary instead of 20.
• New Talent (Level 16): Relentless Leader
  • Raynor gains 50% Crowd Control reduction.
  • Additionally, once every 5 seconds, Raynor will knock back nearby enemies if he becomes stunned.
• New Talent (Level 20): A Card to Play
  • Raynor’s Heroic Ability cooldown is reduced by 10 seconds whenever any Hero (ally or enemy) is killed.
• Lead From the Front (Trait) removed
• Advanced Optics (Talent) has been converted into Raynor's new Trait.
  • Now also increases Raynor’s vision by 10%
  • New Talent (Level 13): Puttin' On a Clinic
    • Reduces Ability cooldowns by 1.5 seconds whenever an enemy that was recently damaged by Raynor is destroyed
• Basic Attack
  • Damage reduced from 40 (+12 per level) to 35 (+11 per level)
• Penetrating Round (Q)
  • New Talent (Level 4): Confident Aim
    • Penetrating Round’s cooldown is reduced by 4 seconds upon striking an enemy Hero.
  • New Talent (Level 7): Hamstring Shot
    • Upon impact, Penetrating Round slows enemies by 20% for 3 seconds.
  • New Talent (Level 13): Double Barreled
    • Penetrating Round becomes charge-based, with a maximum of 2 charges.
• Inspire (W)
  • Attack damage bonus removed
  • Attack Speed bonus increased from 15% to 25%
    • Nearby allies still benefit from 50% of this bonus.
  • No longer visually scales up Minions and Mercenaries
  • New Talent (Level 13): Steel Resolve
    • Increases Inspire’s duration by 50% and causes Adrenaline Rush to automatically apply Inspire
• Adrenaline Rush (E)
  • Activated Rush (Talent) moved from Level 13 to Level 4
    • Now dismounts Raynor upon Activation
  • No longer requires activation in order to reduce the cooldown for Adrenaline Rush
  • Cooldown reduction lowered from 15 to 10 seconds
• Hyperion (R)
  • Battle Hyperion (Talent) removed
  • Now starts with the Yamato Cannon effect that was previously granted by the Battle Hyperion Talent
  • New Talent (Level 20): Scorched Earth
    • An additional set of lasers continually blast the ground, dealing area-of-effect damage.
• Raynor's Raiders (R)
  • This Heroic Ability now requires a target before it can be cast.
  • Raynor’s Banshees can now be re-targeted by pressing R and clicking an enemy, or issued Move commands by pressing R and clicking the terrain.
  • If their target dies, the Banshees will attempt to acquire a new target nearby, preferring heroes.
  • If Raynor dies, the Banshees will travel to the nearest lane to help push.
  • New Talent (Level 20): Dusk Wings
    • Banshees remain cloaked while firing, and fire 50% more frequently.

Talents

Mercenary Lord

• New functionality
  • Siege and Bruiser Mercenaries now deal 50% increased damage.
  • A player with the Mercenary Lord Talent must be within proximity of Siege and Bruiser Mercenaries in order for them to receive the damage bonus.

Bug Fixes

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

• Fixed several inconsistencies that could occur with Raynor’s Penetrating Round after learning Talents that modify its damage.

Talents

Searing Attacks

• While active, Basic Attacks will now display “Crit!” floating text on impact

Bug Fixes

• Casting Raynor’s Inspire while previous Inspire and Revolution Overdrive buffs are still active will now correctly refresh both buff durations.

Bug Fixes

• Raynor's Bullseye Talent no longer allows Penetrating Round to stun Structures or Grave Golems.

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

Bug Fixes

• Mercenary Camps that are captured simultaneously by one team with the Mercenary Lord Talent, and one without, no longer causes the Mercenaries from both Camps to gain the Mercenary Lord buff.

Talents

New Talent (Level 1): Scouting Drone

• Places a flying drone at the target location which reveals a large area and any Cloaked Heroes around it for 60 seconds.
• The drone can be seen and destroyed by enemies.

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.

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

• Tyrael’s Righteousness ability can no longer apply its graphic effects on Raynor's Hyperion.

Talents

Berserk

• Attack Speed bonus reduced from 50% to 40% to compensate for changes to Hero Attack Speeds.

Searing Attacks

• Mana cost reduced from 20 to 15 per Basic Attack.

Hero Updates

• Inspire
  • Attack Speed and Attack Damage bonuses have each been reduced from 20% to 15%

Talents

Executioner

• Damage bonus decreased from 50% to 40%

Focused Attack

• Base cooldown has been increased from 5 to 10 seconds.
• Each basic attack reduces this cooldown by 1 second.

Hero Updates

• Health gained per level decreased from 140 to 120
• Penetrating Round
  • Bullseye (Talent)
    • Now also deals an additional 50% damage to the first target hit
  • Cluster Round (Talent)
    • Now increases the search radius of Penetrating Round by 50%
  • Heavy Ammo (Talent)
    • Damage dealt to structures increased from 50% to 100%
• Hyperion
  • Hyperion now evenly distributes its four shots per volley between eligible targets and no longer prefers structures.
  • Cooldown reduced from 120 seconds to 100 seconds
  • Damage per shot, per level increased from 5 to 6

Bug Fixes

• Banshees summoned by the Raynor’s Raiders Heroic Ability no longer sit idle if the ability is cast while Raynor is attacking a target.

• Searing Attacks no longer drains mana for each target hit by attacks that cleave.

Hero Updates

• Base Attack damage decreased from 63 (+12 per level) to 63 (+11 per level).

Bug Fixes

• Raynor’s Lead from the Front Combat Trait now properly reduces his cooldowns when enemies with post-death states are killed.

Talents

• Focused Attack talent bonus to Basic Attack damage increased from +30% to +50%

Hero Updates

• Hyperion duration reduced from 15 to 12 seconds
• Hyperion volley damage gain per level decreased from 24 to 20