Level Talent Name Description Cooldown
1 Echo of the Elements Quest: Kill Minions or Heroes within 1.5 seconds of hitting them with Chain Lightning. Reward: After killing 10 enemies, reduce the Mana cost of Chain Lightning from 40 to 20. Reward: After killing 20 enemies, gain a second charge of Chain Lightning.
1 Crash Lightning Repeatable Quest: Hitting at least 2 Heroes with a single use of Chain Lightning increases the damage of its bounces by 12, up to 360. Reward: After hitting multiple Heroes 30 times, Chain Lightning prioritizes bouncing to Heroes.
1 Rolling Thunder For 8 seconds after hitting an enemy with Chain Lightning, Thrall's next Basic Attack against them grants a stack of Frostwolf Resilience. If the target is an enemy Hero, then he also deals damage to them equal to 3% of their maximum Health and healing for the same amount. Passive: Increase the number of Chain Lightning bounces by 1.
4 Feral Resilience Heroes damaged by Feral Spirit grant 4 stacks of Frostwolf Resilience and 2 stacks of Feral Resilience, granting 75 Physical Armor against the next incoming Hero Basic Attack. Stacks are consumed on the next cast of Feral Spirit.
4 Frostwolf Pack Quest: Hit 6 Heroes with Feral Spirit. Progress is lost on death and when Thrall fails to hit a Hero. Reward: Reduce the cooldown and Mana cost of Feral Spirit by 50%.
4 Mana Tide Frostwolf Resilience restores 15 Mana and reduces Basic Ability cooldowns by 0.5 seconds.
7 Maelstrom Weapon Repeatable Quest: Basic Attacks against Heroes while Windfury's Movement Speed bonus is active increase Attack Damage by 1. Reward: After gaining 20 Attack Damage, increase the Movement Speed bonus of Windfury to 40%. Reward: After gaining 40 Attack Damage, Thrall permanently gains 15% increased Movement Speed.
7 Ancestral Wrath Activate to consume 8 stacks of Ancestral Wrath, damaging a target enemy Hero for 15% of their maximum Health over 3 seconds, and healing Thrall for 150% of the damage dealt. Gain 1 stack of Ancestral Wrath every time Frostwolf Resilience activates.
7 Follow Through After using an Ability, your next Basic Attack within 6 seconds deals 40% additional damage.
10 Sundering After 0.5 seconds, sunder the earth in a long line, dealing 290 (+4% per level) damage and shoving enemies to the side, Stunning them for 1 second. 70
10 Earthquake After 0.5 seconds, summon a massive Earthquake that pulses every 4 seconds. Each pulse lasts 2 seconds, Slowing all enemies in the area by 50%, and deals 50 (+4% per level) damage to enemy Heroes. Does 3 pulses. 100
13 Grace Of Air Windfury attacks grant twice as many stacks of Frostwolf Resilience.
13 Frostwolf's Grace Frostwolf Resilience can be activated to instantly heal. This healing is increased by up to 100% based on Thrall's missing health. 15
13 Spirit Shield Every 45 seconds, gain 50 Spell Armor against the next enemy Ability and subsequent Abilities for 4 seconds. Frostwolf Resilience reduces this cooldown by 10 seconds. Can be toggled to allow or prevent this talent from triggering automatically. 45
16 Tempest Fury The final strike of Windfury hits 3 times for 75% normal damage.
16 Thunderstorm Chain Lightning Slows targets by 8% for 2 seconds. Quest: Targeting a Hero directly with Chain Lightning increases this Slow by 8%, up to an additional 40%. Reward: While at a 40% bonus, Chain Lightning's damage is increased by 25%. Bonuses are reset if Chain Lightning is used on the same Hero it was last used on, or if Thrall dies.
16 Alpha Wolf For 3 seconds after a Hero is hit by Feral Spirit, Thrall's Basic Attacks against them deal an additional 3% of the target's maximum Health as damage. Passive: Increase the duration of Feral Spirit's Root to 1.5 seconds.
20 Worldbreaker Lower the cooldown of Sundering by 40 seconds. After Sundering impacts, it leaves behind an impassable rift, blocking unit movement for 3 seconds.
20 Earthen Shields Allies within the Earthquake area gain a Shield equal to 15% of their maximum Health each pulse. This shield lasts 4 seconds.
20 Elemental Momentum Basic Attacks reduce Thrall's Basic and Heroic Ability cooldowns by 0.25 seconds, tripled against Heroes.
20 Nexus Blades Basic Attacks deal 20% more damage and Slow enemy Movement Speed by 20% for 1 second.
20 Wind Rush Activate to immediately teleport to a target location and gain Windfury. 80
Shortcut Ability Name Description Cooldown Mana Cost
Q Chain Lightning Shock an enemy with lightning, dealing 162 (+4% per level) damage. The lightning then bounces 3 times to nearby enemies, dealing 81 (+4% per level) damage to each enemy hit. 7 40
W Feral Spirit Unleash a Feral Spirit that deals 153 (+4% per level) damage to enemies in its path and Roots Heroes hit for 1 second. Each Hero hit increases the distance traveled by 25%. 12 40
E Windfury Increase Thrall's Movement Speed by 30% for 4 seconds. His next 3 Basic Attacks occur 100% faster and generate stacks of Frostwolf Resilience. 12 60
R Sundering After 0.5 seconds, sunder the earth in a long line, dealing 290 (+4% per level) damage and shoving enemies to the side, Stunning them for 1 second. 70 75
R Earthquake After 0.5 seconds, summon a massive Earthquake that pulses every 4 seconds. Each pulse lasts 2 seconds, Slowing all enemies in the area by 50%, and deals 50 (+4% per level) damage to enemy Heroes. Does 3 pulses. 100 90
Frostwolf Resilience Dealing damage with Abilities grants 1 stack of Frostwolf Resilience. At 5 stacks, Thrall is instantly healed for 223 (+4% per level) Health.

Thrall

2022-03-29 Balance Update

Hero Updates

Stats

  • Health increased from 1876 to 1896.
  • Health regeneration increased from 3.91 to 3.95.

Talents

  • Level 20
    • Elemental Momentum [Passive]
      • Cooldown reduction against Heroes increased from doubled to tripled.

Developer Comment: Thrall is very close to being a competitive choice, but all his builds are just barely lagging behind.


2021-09-27 Balance Update

Hero Updates

Abilities

  • Feral Spirit [W]
    • Mana cost reduced from 60 to 40.

Talents

  • Level 1
    • Echo of the Elements [Q]
      • Mana cost reduction increased from 15 to 20.
  • Level 4
    • Feral Resilience [W]
      • Frostwolf Resilience stacks increased from 3 to 4.
  • Level 13
    • Frostwolf's Grace [D]
      • Changed functionality: Frostwolf Resilience can be activated to instantly heal. This healing is increased by up to 100% based on Thrall's missing health.
    • Spirit Shield [Active]
      • Spell Armor duration increased from 2.5 to 4 seconds.
  • Level 20
    • (New) Elemental Momentum [Passive]
      • Basic Attacks reduce Basic and Heroic Ability cooldowns by 0.25 seconds, doubled against Heroes.

Developer Comment: Thrall has begun to struggle in solo lane matchups, often unable to sustain himself after trading blows. We feel his Mana costs are too high due his reliance on frequently casting abilities to charge Frostwolf Resilience, even if choosing to learn Mana Tide. There seems to be a demand for a strong auto attack talent at 20, with many Thralls choosing Nexus Blades, so we're adding Elemental Momentum to keep the tier exciting.


2021-01-19 Balance Update

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue where the Shields provided by Earthen Shields would grant 15% of Thrall's Maximum Health as Shields, rather than 15% of the target's Maximum Health as Shields Undocumented

2020-12-01 Patch Notes

Hero Updates

Talents

  • Level 4
    • Feral Resilience [W]
      • Physical Armor increased from 50 to 75.
  • Level 13
    • Spirit Shield [Active]
      • Spell Armor duration increased from 1.5 to 2.5 seconds.
  • Level 20
    • Worldbreaker [R1]
      • Cooldown reduction increased from 20 to 40 seconds.

Developer Comment: It's been quite some time since we've had any updates to Thrall. Truth be told, his talents have been in a fairly healthy place, so we didn't see the need to make adjustments. Even so, we believe these changes will make his talent tiers more healthy, and should incentivize some alternative ways to play him.


2020-01-22 Balance Update

Hero Updates

Talents

  • Level 1
    • Rolling Thunder [Q]
      • Bonus damage and healing on Heroic targets increased from 2% to 3%.

Developer Comment: Rolling Thunder's tuning was a bit low initially. This should make it much more appropriately attractive compared to the other powerful options Thrall has on the tier.


2019-12-16 Balance Update

Hero Updates

Talents

  • Level 1
    • Rolling Thunder [Q]
      • New functionality: [Passive] Increase the number of Chain Lightning bounces by 1. For 8 seconds after hitting an enemy with Chain Lightning, Thrall's next Basic Attack against them grants him a stack of Frostwolf Resilience. If the target is an enemy Hero, then he also deals damage to them equal to 2% of their maximum Health and healing for the same amount.

Developer Comment: Echo of the Elements and Crash Lightning are both fairly solid talents that have different use cases for when to pick them. Rolling Thunder has been less successful, so we're trying something new with the talent. We're still keeping its theme of marking targets with Chain Lightning and then hitting them for a bonus, but now this bonus will allow Thrall to deal bonus damage to enemy Heroes while also interacting with Frostwolf Resilience.


2018-06-27 Balance Update

Bug Fixes

  • Thrall: The Feral Resilience Talent's buff bar tooltip now correctly states that stacks grant 50 Physical Armor.

2018-06-12 Patch Notes

Bug Fixes

  • Thrall: The Feral Resilience Talent now correctly states that it grants 50 Physical Armor, rather than 75.

2018-05-22 Patch Notes

Bug Fixes

  • Thrall: Invulnerable Heroes who are within bounce range after casting Chain Lightning on a nearby target will no longer grant Crash Lightning quest progress.

2018-05-09 Balance Update

Hero Updates

Abilities

  • Chain Lightning (Q)
    • Damage reduced from 178 to 162.
    • Bounce damage reduced from 89 to 81.

Talents

  • Level 1
    • Rolling Thunder (Q)
      • No longer increases Chain Lightning's range.
      • New functionality:
        • Hitting a marked enemy restores 2.5% of Thrall's maximum Health.
  • Level 4
    • Frostwolf Pack (W)
      • Quest requirement reduced from 7 to 6 Hero hits.

2018-05-01 Hotfix Patch

Bug Fixes

  • Thrall: Learning Crash Lightning no longer causes Chain Lightning to prioritize Heroes prior to earning 30 Crash Lightning stacks.

2018-04-24 Patch Notes

Bug Fixes

  • Thrall: Killing Minions who were hit by Chain Lightning now correctly causes Echo of the Elements quest progress visual effects to appear near Thrall, rather than allies.

2018-03-21 Balance Update

Hero Updates

Talents

  • Level 1
    • Crash Lightning (Q)
      • Maximum damage bonus reduced from 480 to 360
      • Quest completion reward requirement increased from 20 to 30 stacks

Developer Comment: With the increased bounce range of Chain lightning, the Crash Lightning talent has become overly dominant. While we enjoy the build, as it allows Thrall to play outside of the solo-lane, in its current state it is simply too powerful. By lowering the maximum stacks, we’re reducing the upper damage limit to lessen the impact of the extreme situations where Thrall is completely stacked. Additionally, with the Quest Completion moving back to 30 stacks, it’s going to be harder for Thrall to finish the talent, pushing this power-spike to later in the match.


2018-02-21 Balance Update

Hero Updates

Abilities

  • Chain Lightning (Q)
    • Bounce range increased by 20%

2017-12-20 Balance Update

Hero Updates

Stats

  • Basic Attack damage increased from 165 to 173

Talents

  • Level 13
    • Spirit Shield (Active)
      • Cooldown reduction granted by Frostwolf Resilience increased from 8 to 10 seconds

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.

2017-09-20 Balance Update

Hero Updates

Stats

  • Base Maximum Health increased from 1787 to 1876
  • Base Health Regeneration increased from 3.7 to 3.9

Developer Comment: FOR THE HORDE!


2017-08-23 Balance Update

Hero Updates

Abilities

  • Chain Lightning (Q)
    • Mana cost reduced from 45 to 40

Talents

  • Level 1
    • Crash Lightning (Q)
      • Damage per stack increased from 10 to 12
    • Rolling Thunder (Q)
      • Mana return per attack increased from 12 to 15
  • Level 4
    • Mana Tide (Trait)
      • Mana return reduced from 20 to 15
  • Level 16
    • Thunderstorm (Q)
      • Added functionality:
        • Damage from final quest reward now also applies to Chain Lightning bounces

2017-08-08 Patch Notes

Bug Fixes

  • Thrall: Fixed an issue allowing Sundering to be seen and heard through fog of war.

2017-06-28 Balance Update

Hero Updates

Abilities

  • Frostwolf Resilience (Trait)
    • Heal amount increased from 210 to 223

Talents

  • Level 1
    • Rolling Thunder (Q)
      • Mana return increased from 10 to 12
  • Level 4
    • Feral Resilience (W)
      • Added functionality:
        • Heroes hit by Feral Spirit grant Thrall 3 charges of Frostwolf Resilience
  • Level 13
    • Spirit Shield (Passive)
      • Cooldown reduction per Frostwolf Resilience stack increased from 5 to 8 seconds
  • Level 20
    • Wind Rush (Active)
      • Cooldown increased from 70 to 80 seconds

Bug Fixes

  • Thrall: Percent Health damage dealt by Basic Attacks after casting Feral Spirit with the Alpha Wolf Talent now correctly count as Ability Damage.
  • Thrall: The bonus Heal amount granted by Frostwolf's Grace will no longer apply to all Frostwolf Resilience procs.

2017-06-13 Patch Notes

Hero Updates

Abilities

  • Chain Lightning (Q)
    • Cooldown increased from 6 to 7 seconds
    • Number of bounces increased from 2 to 3
    • Range of bounces decreased from 7 to 5
    • Mana cost increased from 40 to 45
  • Feral Spirit (W)
    • No longer stops upon the first enemy hero hit
    • Feral Spirit travels 25% further with each enemy hero hit
  • Frostwolf Resilience (Trait)
    • Heal amount decreased from 314 to 210

Talents

  • Level 1
    • Block (Passive)
      • Removed
    • Rabid Wolves (W)
      • Removed
    • Seasoned Marksman (Active)
      • Removed
    • New Talent: Echo of the Elements (Q)
      • !Quest: Kill 10 minions or heroes within 1.5 seconds of them being hit by Chain Lightning
        • Reward: Decreases the mana cost of Chain Lightning by 20
      • !Quest: Kill 20 minions or heroes within 1.5 seconds of them being hit by Chain Lightning
        • Reward: Gain an additional charge of Chain Lightning
    • New Talent: Crash Lightning (Q)
      • !Quest: Hit at least 2 enemy heroes with a single cast of Chain Lightning
        • Reward: Increases bounce damage by 10 up to a maximum of 400
      • !Quest: Hit at least 2 enemy heroes, 20 times, with a single cast of Chain Lightning
        • Reward: Bounces of Chain Lightning now prioritize enemy heroes
    • Rolling Thunder (Q)
      • Added functionality:
        • Increases Chain Lightning’s maximum bounces by 1
  • Level 4
    • Ride the Lightning (Q)
      • Removed
    • Spirit Journey (W)
      • Removed
    • Envenom (Active)
      • Removed
    • New Talent: Feral Resilience (W)
      • Each enemy hero hit by Feral Spirit grants 2 charges of Block, granting 50 physical armor. Lasts until consumed or Feral Spirit is cast again.
    • New Talent: Frostwolf Pack (W)
      • !Quest: Hit 7 heroes with Feral Spirit. Progress is reset upon dying or if Feral Spirit doesn’t hit at least one enemy hero.
        • Reward: Decreases the cooldown from 12 to 6 seconds, and decreases the mana cost from 60 to 30
    • Mana Tide (Trait)
      • Mana gained increased from 15 to 20
      • Added functionality:
        • When Mana Tide procs, now also reduces basic ability cooldowns by 0.5 seconds.
  • Level 7
    • Wind Shear (E)
      • Removed
    • Stone Wolves (W)
      • Removed
    • New Talent: Maelstrom Weapon (E)
      • !Quest: Attack enemy heroes while Windfury’s movement speed bonus is active.
        • Reward: Increases attack damage by 1
      • !Quest: Attack 20 enemy heroes while Windfury’s movement speed bonus is active.
        • Reward: Increases the movement speed bonus of Windfury from 30% to 40%
      • !Quest: Attack 40 enemy heroes while Windfury’s movement speed bonus is active.
        • Reward: Permanently gain 15% increased movement speed.
    • New Talent: Ancestral Wrath (Active)
      • Each time Frostwolf Resilience activates, Thrall gains a stack of Ancestral Wrath, up to a maximum of 8.
      • Activate to consume 8 stacks of Ancestral Wrath, stealing 15% of target hero’s maximum health over 3 seconds. Thrall heals for 150% of this amount over 3 seconds.
  • Level 13
    • Restless Wolves (W)
      • Removed
    • Giant Killer (Passive)
      • Removed
    • Spell Shield (Passive)
      • Removed
    • Frostwolf’s Grace (Trait)
      • Moved from Level 7
      • Healing amount increased from 100 to 150% of Feral Resilience
      • Cooldown decreased from 30 to 15 seconds
    • New Talent: Spirit Shield (Passive)
      • Every 45 seconds, gain 50 Spell Armor against the next enemy ability and subsequent abilities for 1.5 seconds. Triggering Frostwolf Resilience reduces this Cooldown by 5 seconds.
  • Level 16
    • Forked Lightning (Q)
      • Removed
    • Ride the Wind (E)
      • Removed
    • Blood for Blood (Active)
      • Removed
    • New Talent: Thunderstorm (Q)
      • !Quest: Cast Chain Lightning on a hero. Dying or casting it on the same hero twice in a row resets progress.
        • Reward: Chain Lightning slows targets by 8%, stacking up to 40%.
      • !Quest: Reach a 40% bonus slow.
        • Reward: Chain Lightning deals 25% more damage to the primary target.
      • This quest never completes and will reset even at maximum stacks.
    • New Talent: Alpha Wolf (W)
      • Increases root duration from 1 to 1.5 seconds.
      • For 3 seconds after being hit by a Feral spirit, Thrall’s basic attacks deal 3% of the targets maximum health.
  • Level 20
    • Bolt of the Storm (Active)
      • Removed
    • Worldbreaker (R)
      • Decreases Cooldown from 70 to 50 seconds
      • New Functionality:
        • No Longer travels indefinitely
        • Creates a pathing blocker for 3 seconds
    • New Talent: Wind Rush (Active)
      • Activate to teleport to a target location and gain Windfury
      • 70 second CD

Developer Comment: We started looking at Thrall for a talent update as many of his talents were older generic talents, and Thrall ended up having a clear build path. Our pillar for this update was creating more talent diversity and unique ways to play. The changes to Feral Spirit add new opportunities for Thrall to make big plays, while allowing him to continue his role as a lane bully, or play with the team, depending on your playstyle. Overall, Thrall is now flush with Quest talents, and this is something we wanted to explore and are excited for your feedback.


2017-05-31 Balance Update

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.

2017-04-25 2.0 Launch Notes

Bug Fixes

  • Spell Shield: Toggling Spell Shield will no longer cancel an active Hearthstone channel.

2017-04-04 Patch Notes

Design & Gameplay

Hero Radii

  • The radius of many heroes in the game have been adjusted to better match their actual model size.
    • Increased Radius - Abathur, ETC, Gul'dan, Baleog, Muradin, Misha, Sgt. Hammer, Thrall, Uther, Varian, Zagara
    • Decreased Radius - Li Li, Tracer, Valeera

2017-02-14 Patch Notes

Hero Updates

Abilities

  • Earthquake (R)
    • Earthquake will go off even if Thrall is interrupted during his cast animation
  • Sundering (R)
    • Sunder will go off even if Thrall is interrupted during his cast animation

Developer Comment: Thrall’s two Heroics are overly sensitive to being interrupted, something that has been on our radar to fix for quite some time.

Bug Fixes

  • Thrall: Fixed an issue in which Feral Spirit could fail to trigger Follow Through after earning Seasoned Marksman stacks.

2017-01-27 Balance Update

Hero Updates

Abilities

  • Earthquake (R)
    • Slow amount reduced from 70 to 50%
  • Sundering (R)
    • Cooldown reduced from 80 to 70 seconds

Developer Comments: These changes are a continued effort to bring Thrall's two Heroics closer in line with each other. We realize that these are not the only pick-rate issues he has and are excited to look at him in more depth soon.


2017-01-24 Patch Notes

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue in which certain debuffs could still be applied to Invulnerable Heroes, including:
    • Greymane: Marked for the Kill
    • Li-Ming: Charged Blast
    • Thrall: Rolling Thunder
    • Zul'jin: Grievous Throw

2017-01-06 Balance Update

Hero Updates

Abilities

  • Earthquake (R)
    • Cooldown increased from 60 to 100 seconds
  • Sundering (R)
    • Damage increased from 274 to 290

2017-01-04 Patch Notes

Bug Fixes

  • Thrall: The Earthquake tooltip has been updated to reflect that it pulses once every 4 seconds.

2016-12-14 Patch Notes

Bug Fixes

  • Thrall: Earthquake now correctly slows enemy Minions and Mercenaries in addition to Heroes.

2016-11-15 Patch Notes

Talents

Seasoned Marksman

  • Basic Attack damage can now be gained past the previous cap of 40 bonus damage
  • Activated Attack Speed bonus increased from 30 to 40%

Hero Updates

Abilities

  • Earthquake (R)
    • Added functionality:
      • Now deals 50 damage to Heroes with each pulse (will now trigger Frostwolf Resilience)
  • Sundering (R)
    • Stun duration reduced from 1.25 to 1 seconds

Developer Comments: We have mentioned before that sometimes we will stubbornly hold on making balance changes to some Heroic abilities because we believe they are actually very powerful in their current form, even if they are not currently seeing much play. This has been the case with Earthquake, but Sunder has consistently been the go-to pick since Thrall’s inception. We hope this change will help shake up the pick rates of Thrall’s Heroic abilities.

Bug Fixes

  • Spell Shield: A cooldown timer will now properly appear when Spell Shield’s effects are triggered in the same moment that the Talent was activated.

2016-10-18 Patch Notes

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.

2016-09-13 Patch Notes

Talents

Spell Shield (Passive)

  • Added functionality:
    • Spell Shield can now be toggled on or off to allow for better control of which Abilities you want to mitigate

2016-05-17 Patch Notes

Talents

Seasoned Marksman

  • A reward has been added to this Questing Talent.
    • Quest: Increases Attack Damage by 0.2 for each enemy Minion killed nearby, and 0.5 for each Hero Takedown, up to a maximum of 40.
    • Reward: After gaining 40 bonus Attack Damage, Seasoned Marksman can be activated to increase Attack Speed by 30% for 3 seconds. 60 second cooldown.

Developer Comments: We’ve added a completion point to this Talent. Upon completing its quest, players will be provided with some additional power. This allows us to offer spikes of power in-between Talent levels, or even for a single player on a team. Now, simply picking the Talent and only partially completing it is worse, but finishing the quest will return a larger reward. Choosing the right Talents on the right Battleground or with the right team composition has always been an important goal for us, and this change pushes this Talent to closer align with that goal.


2016-04-12 Balance Update

Hero Updates

  • Sundering (R)
    • Stun duration reduced from 1.5 to 1.25 seconds.

Developer Comments: We want to make some basic improvements to a lot of the lesser-picked/lower win-rate Heroic Abilities. Most of these are pretty simple changes to make them more enticing, like adding more damage, reducing cooldowns, or lowering Mana costs. We realize that the primary use case for Abilities like Li Li’s Water Dragon or E.T.C.’s Stage Dive is not damage, but having more of it might help them feel more effective. We’re trying to do something a little bit different with Brightwing’s Emerald Wind and Malfurion’s Twilight Dream by compensating for some of the Support capability you miss out on by picking these Heroics. We’re excited to see how these go! In Thrall’s case, Sundering was a little too strong, so we’re reducing its stun duration.


2016-03-29 Patch Notes

Talents

Block

  • Damage reduction increased from 50% to 75%

Developer Comments: We want to improve counter-pick talents like Block that are meant to be strong against certain hero types. We’re hoping that these kinds of Talents will have a more meaningful impact in games in which they are picked, and that there are more situations where the enemy team’s composition drives intelligent Talent choices.

Other effects similar to Block have been evaluated on a case-by-case basis for all Heroes, with some gaining increased Block damage reduction, while others stayed at 50%.


2016-02-10 Balance Update

Hero Updates

  • Basic Attack damage reduced from 173 (+4% per level) to 165 (+4% per level)
  • Sundering (R)
    • Cooldown increased from 70 to 80 seconds

Developer Comments: Thrall sits near the top of our win charts, so we feel that small nerfs to his damage and most-picked Heroic Ability are necessary. We expect this to only slightly nudge Thrall down, as we’re otherwise happy with how he is currently being played.


2016-02-02 Patch Notes

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.)

General

  • Damage dealt by splash and cleave attacks will no longer trigger effects that would otherwise require a direct attack to trigger (ex: Block, Spell Shield, Imposing Presence, etc.)

Talents

Block

  • Block charges are now tracked in the buff bar next to the Hero portrait, and a timer has been added to show the time remaining until a new charge is generated.

2015-12-21 Hotfix Patch

Bug Fixes

  • Selecting the Rabid Wolves or Grace of Air Talents will no longer prevent Thrall from gaining stacks of Frostwolf Resilience when enemies are struck by Feral Spirit or Windfury.

2015-10-06 Patch Notes

Design & Gameplay

Summoned Unit Attacks

  • Summoned unit Basic Attacks will now miss if that Summon is Blinded or the target is Evading.
  • Summoned unit Basic Attacks will no longer consume Block Talent stacks.

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.

2015-08-18 Patch Notes

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

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

  • Thrall’s Basic Attacks have received improvements in responsiveness, especially when stutter-stepping
  • Thrall’s first Basic Attack after Windfury ends will no longer have an abnormally long weapon period

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.

2015-06-30 Patch Notes

Talents

Blood for Blood

  • No longer slows the target
  • Damage decreased from 15% to 10% of the target’s maximum Health
  • Heal amount increased from 100% to 200% of damage dealt

Envenom

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

Spell Shield

  • Duration increased from 2 to 3 seconds

2015-05-12 Patch Notes

Talents

Follow Through

  • Bonus to Basic Attack damage increased from 25% to 40%

2015-03-24 Patch Notes

Talents

Blood for Blood

  • This Talent has received a visual update. It should now be much easier to identify both the target and caster of Blood for Blood.

Hero Updates

  • Frostwolf Resilience (Trait)
    • Scaling heal increased from +23 per level to +30 per level
    • Mana Tide (Talent)
      • Mana restoration reduced from 20 to 15
  • Chain Lightning (Q)
    • Mana cost increased from 35 to 40
    • Scaling damage increased from +15 per level to +17 per level
  • Windfury (E)
    • Cost increased from 50 to 65 Mana
    • Movement Speed bonus increased from 25% to 30%
    • Wind Shear (Talent) moved from Level 1 to Level 7
      • Now reduces Windfury’s cooldown by 4 seconds rather than 3

Bug Fixes

  • Thrall’s Earthquake will no longer instantly kill Zagara's Banelings.

2015-02-10 Patch Notes

New Level 20 Talents

Nexus Blades

  • Provides 20% increased Attack Damage, and Basic Attacks slow enemies by 20% for 1 second
  • Found on the following Heroes:
    • Illidan, Kerrigan, Sonya, Thrall, Tyrael, Zeratul

Hero Updates

  • Battle Momentum (Talent) removed
  • Frostwolf Resilience (Trait)
    • Heal amount changed from 49 (+36 per level) to 60 (+23 per level)
  • Chain Lightning (Q)
    • Primary target scaling damage reduced from 17 per level to 15 per level

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed a rare issue in which Earthquake could still be cast, and then receive a reduced cooldown, if Thrall was stunned while channeling the Ability.
  • Thrall's Chain Lightning will no longer bounce to, or reveal, Cloaked units.

2015-01-13 Patch Notes

New Hero

Thrall, Warchief of the Horde, has entered the Nexus and is now available for play! Read on for a brief overview of his abilities, and then check out Thrall’s Hero Week blog for much more information on our new melee assassin.

  • Abilities
    • Chain Lightning (Q)
      • Blast 3 enemies with lightning.
    • Feral Spirit (W)
      • Releases a fiery wolf spirit to burn enemies and root Heroes.
    • Windfury (E)
      • Increases attack and movement speed.
  • Trait
    • Frostwolf Resilience
      • Casting Abilities on enemies grant charges that Heal you.
  • Heroic Abilities
    • Earthquake (R)
      • Persistently slows enemies in a massive area.
    • Sundering (R)
      • Sunder the earth in a line, damaging and stunning enemies in its path.

Bug Fixes

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