Level Talent Name Description Cooldown
1 Way of Illusion Quest: Every time a Mirror Image Critically Strikes a Hero, Samuro gains 0.25 Attack Damage, up to 10. Reward: After hitting 40 Heroes, Samuro gains an additional 30 Attack Damage.
1 Way of the Blade Critical Strike now happens for Samuro and his Mirror Images every 3rd Basic Attack. Samuro and his Mirror Images' Critical Strikes against enemy Heroes reduce their Physical Armor by 5 for 2.25 seconds, stacking up to 3 times.
1 Way of the Wind Gain 40% Movement Speed for 3 seconds after entering or exiting Wind Walk. Casting Wind Walk heals Samuro for 4% of his maximum Health.
4 Mirage Mirror Image grants Samuro and his Images 40 Spell Armor against the next 2 sources of Spell Damage, reducing their damage by 40%.
4 One With The Wind While Samuro has Wind Walk active and for 3 seconds after breaking it, both he and his Mirror Images gain 30 Armor, taking 30% reduced damage from all sources.
4 Deflection Advancing Strikes grants Samuro and his Mirror Images 35 Physical Armor.
7 Burning Blade Critical Strikes from Samuro and Mirror Images deal an additional 50% of their Basic Attack damage as Spell Damage to the target and nearby enemies.
7 Phantom Pain Samuro's Critical Strikes against enemy Heroes deal an additional 35% of his Basic Attack damage for each Mirror Image that is active and reduce the cooldown of Image Transmission by 1 second.
7 Crushing Blows Samuro's Basic Attacks against Heroes reduce the cooldown of Critical Strike by 2 seconds. Critical Strikes against enemy Heroes increase Samuro's Basic Attack damage by 10% for 4 seconds, stacking up to 3 times.
10 Bladestorm Cause a Bladestorm of destructive force around Samuro for 3 seconds, granting him 25 Armor and dealing 180 (+4% per level) damage per second to nearby enemies. 25
10 Illusion Master Mirror Images can be controlled individually or as a group and their damage is increased by 100%. Passive: Image Transmission's cooldown is reduced to 8 seconds. 8
13 Mirrored Steel Samuro's Basic Attacks against Heroes reduce the cooldown of Mirror Image by 0.75 seconds.
13 Kawarimi Wind Walk creates a Mirror Image at Samuro's location that will continue whatever he was doing.
13 Shukuchi Wind Walk teleports Samuro a short distance in the direction he's currently facing.
16 Merciless Strikes Samuro's Basic Attacks against Stunned, Rooted, or Slowed enemies are always Critical Strikes.
16 Harsh Winds Attacking a Hero during Wind Walk causes them to take 30% increased damage from Samuro for 3 seconds.
16 Press the Attack While Advancing Strikes is active, Samuro and his Mirror Images gain 10% Attack Speed every time they Basic Attack, up to 40%.
20 Dance Of Death Mirror Images use Bladestorm when Samuro does, but for 45% damage. If Samuro hits at least 20 enemy Heroes with Bladestorm, then reset its cooldown.
20 Three Blade Style Samuro's Mirror Images only deal half of the damage they take to themselves, effectively increasing their Health by 25% and their duration is increased to 16 seconds.
20 Wind Strider Wind Walk's cooldown is reduced by 6 seconds.
20 Blademaster's Pursuit Advancing Strikes grants an additional 15% Movement Speed for Samuro and his Mirror Images, and its duration is increased by 2 seconds.
Shortcut Ability Name Description Cooldown Mana Cost
Q Mirror Image Teleport a short distance in the direction of the mouse cursor, creating 2 Mirror Images for 8 seconds with 100% of Samuro's current Health that Basic Attack enemies for 11 (+4% per level) damage. Images have their duration increased by 1 second each time they or Samuro use a Basic Attack against an enemy Hero. Whenever an Image takes damage, it deals that amount of damage to itself, effectively doubling the damage it takes. Maximum 2 Mirror Images can be active at at time. Using Mirror Image removes most negative effects from Samuro. 14
W Critical Strike Samuro's next Basic Attack within 8 seconds will be a Critical Strike, dealing 50% increased damage. This also applies to Images, and does not break Wind Walk. Passive: Samuro and his Images deal a Critical Strike on every 4th Basic Attack. 10
E Wind Walk Grant Samuro Stealth for up to 10 seconds or until he attacks, uses an Ability, or takes damage. While Stealthed, Samuro heals for 3% of his maximum Health every second, his Movement Speed is increased by 20% and he can pass through other units. Remaining stationary for at least 1.5 seconds while Stealthed grants Invisible. Samuro is Unrevealable for the first 1 second of Wind Walk. 15
R Bladestorm Cause a Bladestorm of destructive force around Samuro for 3 seconds, granting him 25 Armor and dealing 180 (+4% per level) damage per second to nearby enemies. 25
R Illusion Master Mirror Images can be controlled individually or as a group and their damage is increased by 100%. Passive: Image Transmission's cooldown is reduced to 8 seconds. 8
1 Select Samuro Select Samuro Issue orders to Samuro only.
2 Select All Select All Issue orders to Samuro and all Mirror Images.

Samuro

2024-08-12 Patch Notes

Hero Updates

Abilities

  • Mirror Image [Q]
    • Added an arrow indicator below Samuro facing the direction of any active Mirror Images.
  • Wind Walk [E]
    • Periodic heal reduced from 3% per second to 2% per second.

Talents

  • Level 1
    • Way of the Wind [E]
      • Reduced Healing for casting Wind Walk from 4% to 3% of maximum Health.
  • Level 4
    • One with the Wind [E]
      • Armor reduction decreased from 30% to 25%.
  • Level 10
    • Bladestorm [R1]
      • Cooldown increased from 25 seconds to 30 seconds.

2024-05-21 Patch Notes

Hero Updates

Base

  • Added a sound indicator to Dance of Death.
  • Quickcast Settings
    • Removed Cancel Bladestorm.
    • Removed duplicate Critical Strike.

Abilities

  • Image Transmission [Trait]
    • Disabled while there are no Mirror Images active.
    • Now removes targeting when there is only one active Mirror Image.
  • Mirror Image [Q]
    • Added guide indicators to their targeting.
  • Wind Walk [E]
    • Added Healing over Time preview.

Talents

  • Level 4
    • Deflection [D]
      • Updated to display its remaining duration while active.
  • Level 16
    • Press the Attack [D]
      • Added to the Buff Bar.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue that caused One With The Wind to display a duration while Wind Walk is active.
  • Fixed an issue that caused Crushing Blows to be located in the wrong location in the Buff Bar.

2024-02-06 Patch Notes

Bug Fixes

  • Mirage now functions like other Spell Armor Blocks.

2023-11-16 Patch Notes

Hero Updates

  • Difficulty increased from Hard to Very Hard.

Abilities

  • Mirror Image [Q]
    • Mirror Image reveal of nearby units on death now matches other Heroic units.
  • Wind Walk [E]
    • Wind Walk healing increased from 1% to 3%.

Talents

  • Level 1
    • Way of the Wind [E]
      • Way of the Wind healing reduced from 5% to 4%.
  • Level 7
    • Burning Blade [W]

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue that caused Sharpened Blades to gain quest progress from Hallucination Heroes (Nova Holo Decoys, Samuro Mirror Images, Abathur Ultimate Evolutions).
  • Fixed an issue that caused Way of the Wind to increase Samuro's Healing score instead of his Self Healing score.
  • Mirror Image & Image Transmission will no longer cause Samuro and his Mirror Images to have Experience Globes magnetize towards them while inside a Shrub for 2 seconds. Undocumented

2023-09-20 Hotfix Patch

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue that allowed Samuro to activate Image Transmission on a Mirror Image directly after his Hearthstone activates.
  • Fixed an issue that caused Samuro to lose the benefits of the Deflection talent if Three-Blade Style is selected while any Mirror Images are active.

2020-10-07 Balance Update

Hero Updates

Abilities

  • Wind Walk [E]
    • Bonus Movement Speed reduced from 25% to 20%.

Talents

  • Level 7
    • Crushing Blows [W]
      • Bonus damage reduced from 15% to 10% per stack.
  • Level 20
    • Dance of Death [R1]
      • Mirror Image Bladestorm damage increased from 30% to 45%.
    • Three Blade Style [R2]
      • Bonus Mirror Image Health reduced from 50% to 25%.

Developer Comment: Samuro is a difficult Hero to use that has gotten a lot of mileage for those who take the time to learn how to play him. Despite his niche status, he has slightly gone over the edge of what we believe to be a little too powerful and frustrating to play against, so we're reducing the power of a couple overperforming talents as well as how slippery he is to catch and kill once caught out.

2020-07-15 Balance Update

Bug Fixes

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

2020-06-23 Patch Notes

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue where Samuro would apply Harsh Winds from any source of cloak Undocumented
  • Fixed an issue where Samuro would gain Windwalk's Movespeed and ignored collision from any source of cloak Undocumented

2020-04-14 Patch Notes

Bug Fixes

  • Deflection now also grants Physical Armor against Mercenaries, Monsters, Summons, Structures and Minions Undocumented
  • Fixed an issue where Way of Illusion's quest reward would not properly grant bonus damage Undocumented

2020-03-17 Hotfix Patch

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue where Phantom Pain talent could grant permanent bonus damage to Critical Strike Undocumented

2020-03-11 Balance Update

Hero Updates

Talents

  • Level 20
    • Dance of Death [R1]
      • Required Heroes hit to reset cooldown reduced from 25 to 20.

Developer Comment: Dance of Death was a little too hard to proc, so we're lowering its requirement so that players can get resets more often from the Heroic upgrade.

2020-01-22 Balance Update

Hero Updates

Talents

  • Level 1
    • Way of Illusion [Q]
      • Quest reward bonus damage increased from 20 to 30.
  • Level 4
    • Deflection [Passive]
      • Armor bonus increased from 30 to 35.

Developer Comment: Samuro's rework, statistically, has gone very well. His pick and win rates across his talents are in a better spot, and we believe his frustration levels have decreased since the changes. We're being tame with our initial changes due to some bug fixes that can change how some talents pan out over the long haul. While we wait, we wanted to buff a couple underperforming talents that shouldn't be affected by these fixes.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue where Casting Image Transmission while selecting an Illusion, could place the ability on the wrong cooldown with Illusion Master.
  • Phantom Pain's bonus damage no longer affects non-Heroic targets.

2019-12-16 Balance Update

Hero Updates

Stats

  • Basic Attack damage reduced from 110 to 102.

Abilities

  • Mirror Image [Q]
    • Cooldown reduced from 18 to 14 seconds.
    • Duration reduced from 18 to 8 seconds.
    • Images now have their duration increased by 1 second each time they or Samuro use a Basic Attack against an enemy Hero.
    • Mirror Image Basic Attack damage increased from 9 to 11.
  • Wind Walk [E]
    • Additional functionality: Samuro is healed for 1% of his maximum Health every second that he has Wind Walk active.
  • Image Transmission [Trait]
    • Cooldown reduced from 25 to 14 seconds.

Talents

  • Level 1
    • Way of the Blade [W]
      • Physical Armor reduction reduced from 10 to 5, stacking up to 3 times.
      • Physical Armor debuff duration increased from 2 to 2.25 seconds.
      • Additional functionality: Mirror Images now also apply the Physical Armor reduction.
    • Way of the Wind [E]
      • No longer grants cooldown reduction to Wind Walk when attacking enemy Heroes.
      • Additional functionality: Casting Windwalk heals Samuro for 5% of his maximum Health.
  • Level 7
    • Burning Blade [W]
      • Fixed an issue where Illusions did not deal bonus splash damage with Burning Blade when Illusion Master was picked.
    • Phantom Pain [W]
      • Bonus damage reduced from 45% to 35%.
      • Additional functionality: Now also reduces the cooldown of Image Transmission by 10% when Samuro Critical Strikes an enemy Hero.
    • Crushing Blows [W]
      • No longer gives Critical Strike 2 charges.
      • Cooldown reduction increased from 1.75 to 2 seconds.
      • Additional functionality: Critical Strikes against enemy Heroes increase Samuro's Basic Attack damage by 15% for 4 seconds, stacking up to 3 times.
  • Level 10
    • Bladestorm [R1]
      • Cooldown reduced from 110 to 25 seconds.
      • Damage reduced from 47 to 36.
      • Duration reduced from 4 to 3 seconds.
      • Removed functionality: Bladestorm no longer grants Unstoppable.
      • Additional functionality: Bladestorm now also grants Samuro 25 Armor for its duration.
    • Illusion Master [R2]
      • Cooldown reduced from 10 to 8 seconds.
  • Level 13
    • Mirrored Steel [Q]
      • Cooldown reduction reduced from 1 to .75 seconds.
  • Level 20
    • Dance of Death [R1]
      • Damage increased from 25% to 30%.
      • Additional functionality: If Samuro hits enemy Heroes at least 25 times with Bladestorm, then reset its cooldown.
    • Three Blade Style [R2]
      • Mirror Image duration reduced from 36 to 16 seconds.

Developer Comment: These changes are intended to limit Samuro's split- pushing capabilities, particularly with Illusion Master, as well as increase his presence in teamfights. A good Samuro player can be a bit of a pain to deal with, particularly when he's spending most of his time macroing and not engaging with the enemy team except to swap to a far away clone. These changes should make this scenario happen less often, while also giving Samuro more rewarding tools for engaging and fighting the enemy team.

Bug Fixes

  • Critical Strikes' bonus is now properly applied for 50% increased damage when cast with Merciless Strikes.

2019-12-03 Patch Notes

Bug Fixes

  • Samuro's Press The Attack Talent will now correctly grant Attack Speed on his first Basic Attack.

2019-08-06 Patch Notes

Bug Fixes

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

2019-02-27 Balance Update

Hero Updates

Talents

  • Level 1
    • Way of the Blade (W)
      • Additional Functionality:
        • Now also reduces the Physical Armor of enemy Heroes hit by Critical Strike by 10 for 2 seconds
    • Way of the Wind (E)
      • Additional functionality:
        • Samuro's Critical Strikes reduce the cooldown of Windwalk by 1.5 seconds

Developer Comment: It's not too surprising that Way of Illusion has dominated Samuro's Level 1 tier since it adds the most direct teamfight power due to buffing his Basic Attack damage. Rather than nerf it further, we're looking to instead buff up its competing options, which should also add some synergies to his later talent tiers, and hopefully create more diversity on other tiers.

2018-12-19 Balance Update

Hero Updates

Abilities

  • Illusion Master (R)
    • Cooldown increased from 8 to 10 seconds
    • No longer grants Samuro bonus Basic Attack damage

Talents

  • Level 1
    • Way of Illusion (Q)
      • Bonus Attack Damage per quest stack reduced from .5 to .25

Developer Comment: Samuro has become a bit of a nuisance for many players to deal with, particularly when playing against people who are competent in using Illusion Master. We're reducing the power of Way of Illusion and Illusion Master, which should generally reduce the overall damage that Samuro can deal throughout the game.

2018-05-22 Patch Notes

Bug Fixes

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

2018-03-27 Patch Notes

Bug Fixes

  • Alarak: Rite of Rak’shir can no longer be removed when Samuro casts Mirror Image or Chen casts Storm, Earth, Fire.
  • Samuro: Casting Mirror Image now correctly clears any Move commands that had been queued for the real Samuro.

2018-03-21 Balance Update

Bug Fixes

  • Samuro: Fixed an issue causing the Quest Complete fanfare to play every time Mirror Images was cast after choosing the Way of Illusion talent.
  • Samuro: Fixed an issue with the Three Blade Style talent that prevented Mirror Images from gaining bonus health.

2018-03-06 Patch Notes

Bug Fixes

  • Samuro: Can no longer swap places with a Mirror Image that is in the allied Hall of Storms.
    • After some consideration, we believe this tactic can make for clever plays and have decided to revert this change.
  • Samuro: Mirror Images now correctly play Level Up and Quest Completion visual effects when Samuro levels up or completes a quest.

2018-01-09 Patch Notes

Hero Updates

Stats

  • Base Maximum Health increased from 1650 to 1725
  • Health Regen increased from 3.4 to 3.6

Abilities

  • Mirror Image (Q)
    • Image Health increased from 825 to 862.5
    • Image Health Regen increased from 1.7 to 1.8

Talents

  • Level 4
    • Deflection (Trait)
      • Armor increased from 25 to 30
  • Level 7
    • Burning Blade (W)
      • Damage bonus decreased from 65 to 50%
    • Phantom Pain (W)
      • Damage bonus increased from 40 to 45%
    • Crushing Blows (W)
      • Cooldown reduction increased from 1.5 to 1.75 seconds

Developer Comment: Samuro’s rework has put him in a good position regarding his talent pick and win rates, as well as his overall performance. In addition to some talent tuning changes, we decided to slightly increase his Health to compensate for the fact that he now has to put himself into dangerous positions much more often to deal damage.

Bug Fixes

  • Samuro: Illusion Master can no longer be cast while Samuro is airborne after being hit by an effects like Junkrat’s Concussion Mine detonation.
  • Samuro: Issuing a Hold Position command to Samuro’s Mirror Images and then selecting one of them will no longer cause the others to cancel the Hold Position command.

2017-12-13 Hotfix Patch

Bug Fixes

  • Samuro: Fixed an issue which allowed Mirror Image to be cast during Bladestorm.

2017-12-12 Patch Notes

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

Stats

  • Basic Attack damage increased from 88 to 110

Abilities

  • Mirror Image (Q)
    • Samuro will now appear in the direction of the player’s Mouse Cursor when Mirror Image is cast.
    • Mirror Image damage is no longer a fraction of Samuro’s Attack Damage. Mirror Image base damage has been greatly reduced to 9.
    • Mirror Images are no longer instantly destroyed by Structures
  • Critical Strike (W)
    • Cooldown increased from 8 to 10 seconds
  • Illusion Master (R)
    • New functionality:
      • Reduce the cooldown of Advancing Strikes to 8 seconds
    • Now increases the attack damage of Mirror Images by 100%
    • Now also increases Samuro’s Basic Attack damage by 10%
  • Image Transmission (Trait)
    • Additional functionality:
      • Activate to switch places with the target Mirror Image, removing most negative effects from Samuro and the target Mirror Image. 25-second cooldown.

Talents

  • Tooltips for various talents have been updated to reflect whether Samuro or his Mirror Images benefit from their effects
  • Level 1
    • Way of the Wind (E)
      • New Functionality: Gain 40% Movement Speed for 3 seconds upon entering or exiting Stealth by using Wind Walk
    • Way of the Blade (W)
      • No longer grants bonus Critical Strike damage
    • Way of Illusion (Q)
      • Mirror Images no longer benefit from this talent
  • Level 4
    • One with the Wind (E)
      • Armor gain now also lasts for 3 seconds after being revealed
      • Mirror Images now also gain Armor
      • Armor amount reduced from 60 to 30
  • Level 7
    • Phantom Pain (W)
      • Mirror Images no longer benefit from this talent
    • Crushing Blows (W)
      • Mirror Images no longer benefit from this talent
      • Bonus Critical Strike damage has been removed
      • Additional functionality:
        • Samuro’s Basic Attacks against enemy Heroes reduce the cooldown of Critical Strike by 1.5 seconds
  • Level 13
    • Kawarimi (E)
      • Reduced the time between Samuro issuing a new order after using Wind Walk and the image following it. It should now be harder for the new Image to follow Samuro’s new movements after using Wind Walk.
  • Level 16
    • Press the Attack (Trait)
      • Attack Speed bonus reduced from 15% to 10% per stack. Maximum bonus decreased from 60% to 40%
    • Harsh Winds (E)
      • Mirror Images no longer benefit from this talent
    • Merciless Strikes (W)
      • Mirror Images no longer benefit from this talent

2017-11-01 Balance Update

Design & Gameplay

Stealth

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

2017-09-05 Patch Notes

Bug Fixes

  • Samuro: Clicking a control group to select a Mirror Image after learning Illusion Master will no longer cancel active Move Commands being carried out by that Image.
  • Samuro: Switching places with a Mirror Image will no longer cancel queued commands.

2017-08-08 Patch Notes

Bug Fixes

  • Samuro: Selecting Mirror Images via control groups will no longer cancel their active movement commands.

2017-07-11 Patch Notes

Bug Fixes

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

2017-06-28 Balance Update

Bug Fixes

  • Samuro: Fixed an issue causing Windwalk to last 9 seconds rather than 10.

2017-05-31 Balance Update

Hero Updates

Abilities

  • Wind Walk (E)
    • Cooldown increased from 13 to 15 seconds
    • Duration increased from 8 to 10 seconds

2017-04-25 2.0 Launch Notes

Bug Fixes

  • Samuro: Way of Illusion will no longer continue to generate quest progress icons after its quest is complete.

2017-03-14 Patch Notes

Bug Fixes

  • Samuro: After learning Illusion Master, selecting a Mirror Image just as it dies will now correctly reselect the real Samuro.
  • Samuro: Critical Strike's cooldown will no longer be paused while Samuro is dead.

2017-02-14 Patch Notes

Bug Fixes

  • Samuro: Bladestorm will no longer occasionally fail to activate after casting Mirror Images and Bladestorm in rapid succession.
  • Samuro: Burning Blade area of effect damage will now properly benefit from bonus damage granted by Way of Illusion.
  • Samuro: Fixed an issue in which the Score Screen could display an incorrect number of Gems for Samuro if he collected them while Mirror Images were active on Tomb of the Spider Queen.
  • Samuro: Fixed an issue that could refresh the duration of Advancing Strikes after landing a critical strike.
  • Samuro: Shift-queueing Hearthstone will no longer break Stealth until Hearthstone begins casting.

2017-02-08 Hotfix Patch

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.

2017-01-27 Balance Update

Bug Fixes

  • Samuro: Monkey King Samuro’s Mirror Images will no longer use a different skin variation than the real Samuro.

2017-01-24 Patch Notes

Bug Fixes

  • Raynor: Killing Samuro’s Mirror Images after learning A Card To Play will no longer reduce Raynor’s Heroic Ability cooldowns.
  • Structures: Fixed an issue in which the Core could continue to reveal enemy Stealth Heroes in a small radius outside its intended reveal range.

2017-01-04 Patch Notes

Bug Fixes

  • Samuro: Casting Mirror Image after learning Way of Illusion will no longer cause a Talent Quest progress sound to play.
  • Samuro: Fixed an issue that could cause certain Hero Abilities and Summons to continue tracking the primary Samuro after casting Mirror Image.
  • Samuro: The cooldown for Critical Strike will no longer stop counting down when he is killed.

2016-12-20 Balance Update

Bug Fixes

  • Cursed Hollow: Attempting to gather a Tribute using a cloned Hero, such as Mirror Image or Ultimate Evolution, will no longer prevent players from gathering that Tribute.

2016-12-14 Patch Notes

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.

Bug Fixes

  • Samuro: The tooltip for Mirror Image now properly mentions that activating the Ability will remove certain negative status effects.

2016-12-06 Balance Update

Hero Updates

Abilities

  • Wind Walk (E)
    • Cooldown increased from 12 to 13 seconds
  • Bladestorm (R)
    • Damage per second reduced from 250 to 235

Talents

  • Level 1
    • Way of the Blade (W)
      • Critical Strike bonus damage reduced from 25 to 20%
  • Level 4
    • Mirage (Q)
      • Spell Block mitigation amount reduced from 50 to 40% per charge

Developer Comments: Samuro has fallen into a much better spot since our last changes but still has a handful of over-performing talents. We feel that these changes are much lighter than the last round of nerfs and should bring Samuro even closer to the coveted 50% win-rate.

2016-11-22 Hotfix Patch

Bug Fixes

  • Samuro: Mirror Images can no longer launch Nukes on Warhead Junction after learning Illusion Master.

2016-11-15 Patch Notes

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

  • Samuro: Mirror Image Health bars will now reflect the number of Doubloons that Samuro is carrying on Blackheart’s Bay.
  • Samuro: Way of Illusion Talent stacks now properly grant bonus attack damage to Mirror Images.

2016-11-10 Balance Update

Hero Updates

Stats

  • Basic Attack Damage decreased from 93 to 88

Abilities

  • Mirror Images (Q)
    • Damage dealt reduced from 30 to 25% of Samuro’s damage
  • Illusion Master (R)
    • Damage increase reduced from 15 to 10%

Talents

  • Level 13
    • Shukuchi (E)
      • Teleport range decreased by 20%

Developer Comments: While there are a lot of knobs for us to turn in order to help bring Samuro’s win rate more in line, we felt that his damage output (especially burst) was where we wanted to start first. We are happy with his survivability options and feel his fantasy should cater towards being elusive. We also realize that damage and confusion are really all he brings to a team, so we wanted to be careful with the changes. We feel that these small tweaks to his damage (and the fact that they compound on each other) will cause a reasonable drop in his win rate and will continue to closely monitor him.

2016-10-25 Balance Update

Hero Updates

Stats

  • Base Maximum Health decreased from 1750 to 1650
  • Base Health Regen decreased from 3.64 to 3.44

Abilities

  • Mirror Images (Q)
    • Cooldown increased from 16 to 18 seconds
    • Mirror Image timed life increased from 16 to 18 seconds
  • Wind Walk (E)
    • Movement speed bonus reduced from 30 to 25%
  • Illusion Master (R)
    • Illusion damage bonus reduced from 20 to 15%

Talents

  • Level 20
    • Three Blade Style (R)
      • Mirror Image timed life increased from 32 to 36 seconds

Developer Comments: The Blademaster has been loosed, and is busy carving up a healthy win-rate. We are looking to bring him down a notch with these changes.

Bug Fixes

  • Samuro – Fixed an issue causing Mirror Images to deal an extra swing of Samuro’s full damage if their attacks landed just as the Mirror Images expired.
  • Samuro – Fixed an issue causing Samuro to deselect himself after entering Lt. Morales' Medivac Dropship.

2016-10-18 Patch Notes

New Hero

Samuro, the last remaining blademaster to wear the banner of the Burning Blade, is on a warrior’s pilgrimage in search of vengeance and redemption for this fallen clan. It will be a long journey, but he has sworn an oath to restore his clan’s honor.

Trait

  • Advancing Strike
    • Basic Attacks against enemy Heroes increase your Movement Speed by 25% for 2 seconds.

Basic Abilities

  • Mirror Image (Q)
    • Create 2 Mirror Images that deal 30% of your damage and have 50% of your current Health. Images last up to 16 seconds, and only 2 can be active at once.
  • Critical Strike (W)
    • Your next Basic Attack within 8 seconds will be a Critical Strike, dealing 50% increased damage. This also applies to Mirror Images and does not break Wind Walk.
    • Passive: You and your Mirror Images deal a Critical Strike every 4th Basic Attack.
  • Wind Walk (E)
    • Enter Stealth for up to 8 seconds or until you attack, use an Ability, or take damage. While Stealthed, your Movement Speed is increased by 30% and you can pass through other units.
    • Damage taken during the first 1 second will not break Wind Walk.

Heroic Abilities

  • Bladestorm (R)
    • Become an unstoppable whirlwind, dealing moderate damage to nearby enemies every second for 4 seconds.
  • Illusion Master (R)
    • Switch places with the target Mirror Image.
    • Passive: You can control Mirror Images separately or as a group, and they deal an additional 20% of your damage.

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.