Bug Fixes

• Nydus Network now displays the correct icon in the Death Recap.

Bug Fixes

• Medusa Blades will no longer attack inactive Mercenaries unless the triggering attack is against an inactive Mercenary.
• Mutalisk first bounce can now bounce to inactive Mercenaries if the attack is against an inactive Mercenary.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue causing Baneling Barrage to display incorrectly in the Death Recap. Undocumented

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 16
  • Mutalisk [W]
    • Mutalisk Basic Attacks will no longer bounce to Mercenaries that are not currently active.
    • Mutalisk Basic Attacks will now bounce targets immune to area damage.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that caused Banelings to not be affected by Defense Matrix.

Bug Fixes

• Corrected Medusa Blades' damage to Monsters.

• Devouring Maw now more consistently displays captured Heroes.

Hero Updates

Stats

• Vitals
  • Health increased from 1500 to 1550.
  • Health regeneration increased from 3.12 to 3.23.

Talents

• Level 20
  • Broodmother [Q]
    • Additional functionality: Gain 20% bonus Attack Speed.

Developer Comment: The previous Health changes hurt Zagara more than we had intended and are backing off of them a bit. On top of that, Broodmother was being heavily outshone by her other level 20s so we decided to add a bit of extra spice to it.

Hero Updates

Stats

• Health reduced from 1575 to 1500.
• Health regeneration reduced from 3.82 to 3.12.
• Basic Attack damage reduced from 85 to 83.

Abilities

• Baneling Barrage [Q]
  • Mana cost increased from 10 to 15.
  • Cooldown increased from 3 to 4.
  • Damage reduced from 86 to 80.

Talents

• Level 1
  • Volatile Acid [Q]
    • Removed functionality: No longer increases Baneling Barrage's damage.
• Level 7
  • Baneling Massacre [Q]
    • Changed functionality: Gain two additional charges of Baneling Barrage, but increase its cooldown by 2 seconds.
• Level 20
  • Pack Instinct [W]
    • Damage bonus reduced from 25% to 20%.
    • Duration reduced from 3 to 2 seconds.

Developer Comment: In contrast to our usual ethos, Zagara is seeing her talents pay the price for an increase in power in her base ability. While the immediate effect is Zagara has less impactful Baneling talents, we feel that Baneling Barrage is a more interesting ability than from where we started, and we have more room for future changes.

Hero Updates

Stats

• Basic Attack
  • Attack range increased from 5.5 to 6.6.

Abilities

• Creep Tumor [D]
  • Removed functionality: No longer increases Zagara's attack range.
  • Move Speed bonus for Zagara's summons increased from 20% to 30%.
• Baneling Barrage [Q]
  • Charges reduced from 4 to 2.
  • Cast time increased from .0625 to .125 seconds.
  • Additionality functionality: Launches two Banelings per cast.
• Infested Drop [E]
  • Roachling Basic Attack damage increased from 27 to 30.

Talents

• Level 16
  • Jagged Barbs [D]
    • Attack damage bonus increased from 40% to 50%.
• Level 20
  • Fury of the Storm [Passive]
    • Removed.
  • (New) Broodmother [Q]
    • Every 3rd Basic Attack also launches a Baneling towards the target.
  • (New) Pack Instincts [W]
    • Zagara and her summons deal 25% more damage to enemies attacked by a Hunter Killer in the last 3 seconds.

Developer Comment: Zagara's abilities have always had higher than normal variance in their effectiveness. We think the increased Movement Speed, and larger barrage, will leave her in a more reliable spot. We're also adding some level 20s that play into her Zerg style.

Bug Fixes

• No Control is now removed by Devouring Maw Undocumented

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 16
  • Jagged Barbs [Trait]
    • Attack range bonus increased from 10% to 20%.

Developer Comment: Jagged Barbs is still underperforming compared to other talents on the tier. We think it could be more powerful, so we're enabling Zagara to be a fairly safe ranged auto-attacker as long as she is able to fight on her Creep.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue with Zagara A.I. becoming stuck in the Nydus Worm if the player disconnects.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where Devouring Maw could not remove itself from targets immune to it Undocumented

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 16
  • Jagged Barbs [Trait]
    • Attack damage bonus increased from 30% to 40%.

Developer Comment: Yay buffs.

Hero Updates

Stats

• Basic Attack damage increased from 76 to 85.

Talents

• Level 1
  • Volatile Acid [Q]
    • No longer increases Baneling damage against non-Heroic targets.
    • Additional functionality: Increase the damage of Banelings by 20%.
  • Corpse Feeders [E]
    • No longer reduces Roachling damage taken from non-Heroic sources.
    • Additional functionality: Increase the Health of Roachlings by 30%.
  • Infest [Active]
    • Initial Damage bonus for Ranged Minions increased from 100% to 125%.
• Level 4
  • Serrated Spines [Passive]
    • Bonus attack damage changed from .3 flat damage to .2% per stack.
• Level 7
  • Baneling Massacre [Q]
    • No longer increases the damage of Banelings.
    • Additional functionality: Reduce the Charge cooldown of Banelings by .5 seconds.
• Level 10
  • Devouring Maw [R1]
    • Mana cost reduced from 100 to 70.
    • Damage increased from 88 to 94.
• Level 16
  • Brood Expansion [W]
    • Removed.
  • Corrosive Saliva [W]
    • Damage reduced from 2.5% to 1.75% maximum Health.
    • Additional functionality: Now also causes Roachlings to deal additional damage equal to 1.75% maximum Health to enemy Heroes.
  • Mutalisk [W]
    • Additional functionality: Reduce the cooldown of Hunter Killer by 4 seconds.
  • New Talent: Jagged Barbs [Trait]
    • When on Creep, Zagara's attack range is increased by an additional 10% and her Basic Attack damage is increased by 30%.

Developer Comment: We're changing around quite a bit about Zagara, with a few goals in mind. Firstly, we believe we went a little far in reducing her power in the solo-lane, so we're increasing her Basic Attack damage, which will help her throughout the game in a way that enemies should always be able to react to and punish her accordingly if she misplays. We're also changing around her Level 1 talents to be more universally usable outside of PvE scenarios. For Zagara players who want to specialize in Sieging enemy bases, Infest will be the go-to talent on the tier, whereas the other talents will be more generally useful. Lastly, we're significantly buffing her late-game power, but making her Level 16 talents fairly impactful, which should help her scale into the late game as a competent damage dealer during team fights.

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 7
  • Baneling Massacre (Q)
    • Additional Functionality:
      • Increase the damage of Banelings by 20%
  • Viscous Acid (Q)
    • Slow duration increased from 1.5 to 2.5 seconds
    • Slow amount increased from 20% to 25%
  • Bile Drop (E)
    • Quest completion requirement reduced from 15 to 12

Developer Comment: Zagara's Level 7 talents have traditionally been very weak, and these changes are meant to make the tier feel more fun overall. If they blow her win-rate out of the water, we'll look at base kit nerfs to compensate.

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 7
  • Bile Drop (E)
    • New Functionality:
      • Increase the impact radius of Infested Drop by 20%. Quest: After hitting 15 enemy Heroes with Infested Drop, an additional Roach is spawned.

Hero Updates

Stats

• Basic Attack Damage reduced from 80 to 76

Abilities

• Hunter Killer (W)
  • Cooldown increased from 14 to 16 seconds
  • Damage increased from 65 to 71
  • Health increased from 420 to 450
  • Mana cost increased from 60 to 75
• Nydus Network (R)
  • Cooldown reduction per Basic Attack reduced from .5 to .4 seconds

Talents

• Level 13
  • Hydralisk Transfusion (W)
    • Life Leech reduced from 75 to 60% of damage dealt

Design & Gameplay

Channeled Healing Abilities

• Alextrasza's Life-Binder (R) and Rehgar's Ancestral Healing (R) abilities are no longer cancelled under any conditions other than enemy abilities that remove the target from play (Devouring Maw, Gorge, Cocoon.)

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Nydus Network (R)
  • Maximum number of active Nydus Worms reduced from 10 to 4

Bug Fixes

• Kharazim: Can now Radiant Dash to all allied units, including Mercenaries, Creep Tumors, and Toxic Nests.

Design & Gameplay

Summon Abilities

• Summoned creatures (Zagara Roaches, Azmodan Demons, etc.) now deal ability damage which can be enhanced by the Hero's Ability Power.
• Summoned creatures now obey Blind and Evade rules.

Bug Fixes

• Zagara – Zagara will now exit Nydus Worms in the direction of the player's cursor.

Hero Updates

Stats

• Basic Attack damage reduced from 82 to 80.

Abilities

• Hunter Killer (W)
  • Damage reduced from 68 to 65.
• Infested Drop (E)
  • Roach damage reduced from 29 to 27.
• Nydus Network (R)
  • Cooldown increased from 100 to 120 seconds.
  • Cooldown reduction per Basic Attack while on Creep decreased from 0.75 to 0.5 seconds.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Creep Tumor (Trait)
  • Health reduced from 150 to 125.
  • Health scaling increased from 3% to 4% per level.
• Hunter Killer (W)
  • Health decreased from 471 to 420.
  • Health scaling increased from 3.5% to 4.5% per level.
  • Damage scaling increased from 4% to 5% per level.
  • Movement Speed increased by 4%.
• Infested Drop (E)
  • Impact damage scaling increased from 3% to 4% per level.
  • Roachling Health reduced from 346 to 328.
  • Roachling Health scaling increased from 3% to 4% per level.
  • Roachling Damage scaling increased from 3% to 4% per level.
• Devouring Maw (R)
  • Damage increased from 80 to 88.
• Nydus Network (R)
  • Health reduced from 664 to 550.
  • Health scaling increased from 3% to 4% per level.

Developer Comment: The Nexus has changed a lot since Zagara first arrived. Originally, she was the ultimate lane bully, known for pushing enemies out of lane with Hunter Killer and draining tower ammo with her summons. The arrival of new solo-laners who can challenge her power, combined with the removal of tower ammo, has made this part of her identity less special. The goals of these changes are twofold: first, to slightly reduce her early-game laning presence, largely by reducing the early-game Health of Hunter Killer. Our second goal is to buff her late-game teamfight capability, which we're doing by improving the scaling on her abilities. Our general thinking is that she is mostly frustrating to lane against during the early game, and then she falls off in power and has less impact in teamfights, which results in allies relying on her to split-push instead of playing with her team. We're hoping that with these changes she will be a more standard Hero in team compositions, and can be played as a solid backline damage dealer.

Talents

• Level 1
  • Corpse Feeders (E)
    • Damage reduction from non-Heroic sources increased from 40% to 50%.
• Level 16
  • Brood Expansion (W)
    • Cooldown reduction increased from 6 to 7 seconds.
    • Now also reduces Hunter Killer's Mana cost by 30.
  • Corrosive Saliva (W)
    • Damage increased from 2% to 2.5% of the target Hero's maximum Health.

Bug Fixes

• Johanna: Can no longer escape Zagara's Devouring Maw early if Iron Skin expires while inside the Maw.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Nydus Network (R)
  • The player can now exit Nydus Worms in a direction of their choosing by right-clicking.

Bug Fixes

• Zagara: The Infest Talent now correctly boosts nearby Ranged Minion damage by 100%.

Bug Fixes

• Auriel: Bestow Hope’s buff and visual effects will no longer be removed if the target enters a Stasis effect, like Zagara’s Devouring Maw.

Bug Fixes

• Brightwing: Soothing Mist will no longer Heal allies who are standing nearby while Brightwing is inside Anub'arak’s Cocoon, Lt. Morales’ Medivac, Stitches’ Gorge, or Zagara’s Devouring Maw.

• Zagara: Fixed an issue that could cause Heroes who were caught in the center of Devouring Maw to display their exit locations before Devouring Maw expired.

Bug Fixes

• Malfurion & Zagara: Nature’s Cure can no longer cleanse Heroes of the Devouring Maw effect.

Bug Fixes

• Zagara: Nydus Network can no longer prevent Heroes from walking out of their Hall of Storms.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Nydus Network (R)
  • Charge cooldown increased from 60 to 100 seconds

Hero Updates

Stats

• Base Maximum Health reduced from 1643 to 1575
• Health regen reduced from 3.4 to 3.3

Abilities

• Devouring Maw (R)
  • Cooldown reduced from 100 to 80 seconds

Bug Fixes

• Zagara: Creep Tumors no longer exhibit a short delay before granting vision of the area affected by Creep.

Bug Fixes

• Leoric: Fixed an issue that could cause Leoric to become invisible after exiting Zagara’s Devouring Maw.

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 16
  • Mutalisk (W)
    • Duration reduced from 45 to 30 seconds

Bug Fixes

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

• Zagara: Damage dealt by Hunter Killer and Roach summons will no longer be reduced by Armor.

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

Bug Fixes

• Zagara: Mutalisks will now correctly fly around or over unpathable terrain.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Creep Tumor (Trait)
  • Movement Speed bonus from 15 to 20%
  • Cooldown from 20 to 18 seconds
• Hunter Killer (W)
  • Base damage from 62 to 65
  • Damage scaling from 3.5 to 4%

Talents

• Level 20
  • Endless Creep (Trait)
    • Movement Speed bonus from 15 to 10%

Bug Fixes

• Battlefield of Eternity: Tyrael’s Holy Ground and Zagara’s Devouring Maw can no longer be used to displace the opposing Immortal while the Immortals are fighting.

Bug Fixes

• Kharazim: Air Ally will now properly reveal Creep Tumors and Toxic Nests.

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

• Zagara: Fixed an issue causing the Creep Tumor tooltip to display an incorrect value.

Bug Fixes

• Zagara: Infest will now properly grant bonus Attack Damage to Minions for Siege Damage dealt.

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.

Bug Fixes

• Braxis Holdout: Fixed an issue in which Zagara’s Mutalisk could cause a captured Archangel to exhibit pathing issues.

• 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.

• Zagara: The Stasis overlay will no longer appear on the screen when Zagara’s Mutalisk enters Zeratul's Void Prison.

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

Hero Updates

Stats

• Attack Damage reduced from 86 to 82

Abilities

• Creep Tumor (Trait)
  • Movement Speed on Creep bonus reduced from 20 to 15%
• ​Baneling Barrage (Q)
  • Damage reduced from 91 to 86
• Hunter Killer (W)
  • Damage reduced from 68 to 62
• Infested Drop (E)
  • Damage reduced from 155 to 147

Talents

• Level 16
  • Mutalisk (W)
    • Duration reduced from 60 to 45 seconds
• Level 20
  • Endless Creep (Passive)
    • Movement Speed reduced from 40 to 30%

Bug Fixes

• Zagara: After learning Medusa Blades, Zagara will now deal the correct amount of damage to her secondary Basic Attack targets.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Nydus Network (R)
  • Cooldown Reduction from Basic Attacks reduced from 1 to .75 seconds

Talents

• Level 1
  • Infest (Active)
    • ​Ranged Minion damage bonus reduced from 150 to 100%
• Level 7
  • Bile Drop (E)
    • Decreased the amount of bonus damage gained from hitting Heroes from 10 to 5%
• ​Level 16
  • Mutalisk (W)
    • ​Movement speed decreased by roughly 11%

Developer Comments: As the data continues to pile up, it is pretty apparent that Zagara has some over-performing talents. For a Hero with few natural counters, her win rate is sitting a bit too high so we're making some changes in order to address that. Overall, her talent pick-rates are looking great; in fact, Nydus Network and Devouring Maw are within a 3% pick-rate of each other (51.5% to 48.5% respectively) which is a great to see, and renews our passion to keep working on lesser-picked Heroics. While the pick-rates are looking great, the win-rate of Nydus Network is outperforming Maw and the output that the cooldown reduction grants is higher than we intended.

Bug Fixes

• Nazeebo: The player will no longer receive a Stasis overlay when Nazeebo’s Gargantuan is affected by Zagara’s Devouring Maw.

• Zagara: Casting Cleanse on an allied Hero as they are being pulled into Devouring Maw will no longer allow them to escape.

• Zagara: Roaches, Hydralisks, and Mutalisks will no longer receive Healing while they are on Creep.

• Zagara: The charge cooldown for Baneling Barrage will no longer be paused while inside of a Nydus Worm.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Infested Drop (E)
  • Impact damage reduced from 166 to 155
• Nydus Network (R)
  • Creep radius reduced from 25 to 15%

Talents

• Level 1
  • Infest (Active)
    • Initial damage buff to Ranged minions reduced from 200 to 150%

Developer Comments: It has been a great couple of weeks for Zagara. We have been monitoring her new kit and overall, we're extremely happy with the changes. The new questing talent for Infested Drop was doing more damage than we like, but we believe our nerfs to it and a couple of her high win-rate talents should bring her win rate a bit closer to our goal of 50%.

Bug Fixes

• Zagara: Enemies caught within Devouring Maw’s area of effect will now be properly pulled inside of the Maw.

• Zagara: Nydus Network’s detailed tooltip now properly lists the maximum number of Nydus Worms that can be active at any given time.

• Heroes who have unique Mounts, such as Zagara and Anub'arak, will no longer occasionally receive Horse Mounts in-game.

Hero Updates

Zagara has undergone significant changes.

Stats

• Attack Damage Decreased from 95 to 86

Abilities

• Creep Tumor (Trait)
  • New functionality
    • Now grants Zagara 20% bonus attack range while on Creep
  • Health increased from 111 to 150
  • No longer costs Mana
  • Increased cast range from 0 to 2.5
  • No longer grants additional Health regeneration while on Creep
  • Charge cooldown increased from 15 to 20 seconds
  • Base Creep spread distance increased by 33%
• Baneling Barrage (Q)
  • Now fires a single Baneling at a time (4 charges) at a cost of 10 Mana per Baneling. Banelings have a 3 second charge cooldown
  • Damage per Baneling increased from 75 to 91
  • Banelings no longer have Health, and can no longer be targeted
• Hunter Killer (W)
  • Damage decreased from 89 to 68
• Devouring Maw (R)
  • No longer deals damage on impact
  • Damage per second increased from 43 to 80
  • Cooldown reduced from 120 to 100 seconds
• Nydus Network (R)
  • New functionality:
    • Passively increases your Creep spread by 25%
    • Passively causes all Basic Attacks to lower cooldowns by 1 second while on Creep
  • Nydus Canals can now only be placed on Creep
  • Entering Nydus Canals is now cancelled by taking damage
  • The channel time to enter Nydus Canal decreased from 2 to 1.5 seconds
  • Health regeneration while in the Network increased from 8 to 10%
  • Mana regeneration while in the Network increased from 8 to 10%
  • Max amount of Nydus Canal’s on the map increased from 4 to 10

Talents

• Level 1
  • Centrifugal Hooks (Q)
    • Removed
  • Corpse Feeders (E)
    • Damage reduction from non-Heroes increased from 30% to 40%
    • Now reduces the cooldown of Infested Drop by 3 seconds in addition to its current functionality
  • Reconstitution (Trait)
    • Removed
  • Demolitionist (Passive)
    • Removed
• Level 4
  • Envenomed Spines (Active)
    • No longer adds Basic Attack range
    • Activate to have your next Basic Attack deal 230 damage over 5 seconds. 30 second cooldown
  • Medusa Blades (Passive)
    • Damage increased from 25 to 33%
  • Tumor Clutch (Trait)
    • Removed
  • Envenom (Active)
    • Removed
  • Infest (Passive)
    • Moved to Level 1
    • New functionality added:
      • Nearby ranged minions passively deal 200% more damage.
      • Quest: For every 1000 siege damage dealt, increase the damage bonus by 1%
  • New Talent – Serrated Spines (Passive)
    • Quest: Every Basic Attack against enemy Heroes increases Basic Attack damage by 0.3
• Level 7
  • Swarm Momentum (Passive)
    • Removed
  • Volatile Acid (Q)
    • Moved to Level 1
    • New functionality added:
      • Also increases the range of Banelings by 50%
  • Ventral Sacs (Q)
    • Removed
  • Endless Creep (Trait)
    • Removed
  • Rapid Incubation (Active)
    • Removed
  • New Talent – Viscous Acid (Q)
    • Banelings also slow targets by 25% for 1.5 seconds
• Level 13
  • Mutalisk (W)
    • Moved to level 16
    • Timed life has been extended to 60 seconds
  • Grooved Spines (W)
    • Removed
  • Bile Drop (E)
    • Moved to Level 7
    • Bonus damage decreased from 100% to 50%
    • Quest: Every Hero hit by Infested Drop increases this bonus by 10%
    • Reward: Upon reaching 150% bonus damage, increase the impact radius of Infested Drop by 20%
  • Giant Killer (Passive)
    • Removed
  • New Talent – Hydralisk Transfusion (W)
    • Zagara is Healed for 75% of the primary damage dealt by Hunter Killers
  • New Talent – Protective Coating (Passive)
    • While on Creep, Zagara takes 20% reduced damage from all sources
• Level 16
  • Baneling Massacre (Q)
    • Moved to Level 7
    • New functionality
    • Zagara gains 2 more charges of Banelings
  • Brood Expansion (W)
    • New functionality
    • Now reduces the cooldown of Hunter Killer by 6 seconds
  • Metabolic Boost (Trait)
    • Removed
  • Stoneskin (Active)
    • Removed
  • New Talent – Corrosive Saliva (W)
    • Attacks from Hunter Killers deal an additional 2% of the targets max Health
• Level 20
  • Broodling Nest (R)
    • Removed
  • Bolt of the Storm (Active)
    • Removed
  • New Talent– Endless Creep (Trait)
    • Increases Creep Tumor cast range by 2000%
    • Creep Tumor duration increased from 240 to 600 seconds
    • While on Creep Zagara gains an additional 20% move speed

Developer Comments: We are excited to bring you a fresh take on our Brood Queen. She had, by far, the unhealthiest Talent Tree in Heroes and we spent months going through multiple iterations of her Design. We knew exactly what we wanted to keep in her play-style: Lane Bully, Summoner, and Scout, and we aimed all of our decisions at those three characteristics. We also decided to upgrade her talent tree to better embrace our new design philosophies. Overall, we hope you enjoy her new tools while continuing to feel like you’re playing the old Zagara that we know and love.

Zagara Talents

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

Bug Fixes

• Zagara: Enemy Heroes who are not caught by Devouring Maw can no longer walk through the Maw while it is emerging from the terrain.

• Zagara: Fixed an issue that could allow Creep Tumors to be placed in unintended areas with Quick Cast or On Release settings enabled.

Talents

Battle Momentum

• Battle Momentum has been made Hero-specific, and now only applies to Basic Ability cooldowns.
• Diablo
  • Diabolical Momentum
    • Basic Attacks now reduce Basic Ability cooldowns by 0.75 seconds instead of 0.5.
    • No longer reduces Heroic Ability cooldowns.
• Johanna
  • Blessed Momentum
    • No longer reduces Heroic Ability cooldowns.
• Kerrigan
  • Bladed Momentum
    • Basic Attacks now reduce Basic Ability cooldowns by 0.75 seconds instead of 0.5.
    • No longer reduces Heroic Ability cooldowns.
• Tyrael
  • Angelic Momentum
    • Basic Attacks now reduce Basic Ability cooldowns by 0.75 seconds instead of 0.5.
    • No longer reduces Heroic Ability cooldowns.
• Tyrande
  • Lunar Momentum
    • Basic Attacks now reduce Basic Ability cooldowns by 0.6 seconds instead of 0.5.
    • No longer reduces Heroic Ability cooldowns.
• Zagara
  • Swarm Momentum
    • Basic Attacks now reduce Basic Ability cooldowns by 0.75 seconds instead of 0.5.
    • No longer reduces Heroic Ability or Trait cooldowns.

Developer Comments: Our intention for Battle Momentum was to create more active gameplay by using your Basic Abilities more often, but we found that a lot of this Talent’s power lied in its ability to reduce your Heroic cooldowns. We wanted to increase the cooldown reduction granted by the Talent, but didn’t want Heroic Ability cooldowns to drop to absurdly low levels. By making it only reduce the cooldowns of Basic Abilities (Q, W, E), it allowed us to increase this cooldown reduction without making it overpowered. We’ve also made Battle Momentum Hero-specific, so that we can tune each one without affecting all the rest, since Attack Speed, melee versus range, and the nature of your Basic Abilities can all drastically change what is balanced.

Bug Fixes

• Right-clicking an enemy Structure while channeling Zagara’s Baneling Barrage will no longer cause her to move to that Structure without attacking it.

• Tyrael’s Status bar will no longer persist on-screen during Archangel’s Wrath if he is killed by Zagara’s Devouring Maw.

Hero Updates

• Nydus Network (R)
  • While inside a Nydus Worm, Health and Mana are now restored at a rate equal to the Hall of Storms
  • Nydus Worm can now be cast while inside another Nydus Worm
  • Zagara now exits Nydus Worms instantly, and can also exit by right-clicking the minimap

Developer Comments: Nydus Network has been in a tough position for a long time. We realize it is pretty difficult to compete with Devouring Maw, which is an incredible team-fight Heroic. Zagara may also have bigger changes coming Soon ™. The current set of changes are intended as quality-of-life and usability improvements for Nydus Network. We will be keeping a close eye on these changes, but we are also excited to see if they can potentially open up some new play-styles for our wonderful Creep Queen.

Hero Updates

• Hunter Killer (W)
  • Health changed from 554 (+3% per level) to 471 (+3.5% per level)
• Devouring Maw (R)
  • Cooldown increased from 100 to 120 seconds
  • Tyrant Maw (Talent)
    • Cooldown reduction increased from 25 to 30 seconds per takedown

Developer Comments: Hunter Killers can be overwhelming during the early laning phases, so we’re hoping to give some other Heroes more counter- play options than just retreating back behind their gate. Time and time again, Devouring Maw has shown it has the power to completely change the outcome of a fight—and even a game. We feel it should join some of the other, similarly powerful Heroics at the two-minute cooldown mark.

Design & Gameplay

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.)

Bug Fixes

• Tooltips for Zagara’s Hunter Killer now list the proper cooldown duration.

Bug Fixes

• The Lost Vikings are no longer teleported back to their Hall of Storms if they would have been killed by Zagara’s Devouring Maw while in Longboat Raid! form.

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

Bug Fixes

• Anub'arak’s Web Wrap and Stitches' Gorge will now work properly when used against Unstoppable targets, which is consistent with Zagara's Devouring Maw.

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

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

• Tyrael's Judgment will no longer affect Heroes inside Zagara's Devouring Maw.

Talents

Envenom

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

Spell Shield

• Duration increased from 2 to 3 seconds

Hero Updates

• Infest (Talent)
  • The 400% damage bonus now only applies to the targeted Minion’s attacks against non-Heroic targets
• Hunter Killer (W)
  • If a Hydralisk’s primary target moves out of sight or range, it will chase until reaching the target’s last known location.
    • If the target cannot be found, the Hydralisk will now travel to the nearest lane and push for its remaining duration
  • If a Hydralisk’s primary target dies, the Hydralisk will now travel to the nearest lane and push for its remaining duration
  • Mutalisks spawned by Zagara’s Mutalisk Talent will also function this way

Bug Fixes

• Diablo’s Fire Stomp can now properly damage and reveal Zagara’s Creep Tumors.

• Tornadoes cast by the Boss on Sky Temple can no longer push trapped Heroes out of Zagara’s Devouring Maw.

• Uther’s Holy Radiance will now properly damage Abathur’s Toxic Nests and Zagara’s Creep Tumors.

Hero Updates

• Infest (Talent)
  • Duration increased from 15 to 30 seconds

Bug Fixes

• Stitches’ Hook can no longer pull a Hero that is about to be consumed by Zagara’s Devouring Maw outside of the Ability’s area of effect.

• Tassadar’s Oracle properly reveals Zagara’s Creep Tumors once again.

Bug Fixes

• Casting E.T.C.’s Stage Dive on top of Zagara's Devouring Maw will no longer cause him to return to his original casting location.

• Stitches will no longer occasionally become briefly unresponsive after casting Hook on one of Zagara's Banelings.

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

• Zagara's Devouring Maw will no longer push Heroes through the wall created by Sonya's Arreat Crater Talent.

Talents

Swift Storm has been removed

New Level 20 Talents

Fury of the Storm

• Every 5 seconds, the next Basic Attack will deal an additional 200 damage to the primary target, and 500 damage to each nearby Minion or Mercenary.
• Found on the following Heroes:
  • E.T.C., Gazlowe, Nazeebo, Sgt. Hammer, The Lost Vikings, Zagara

Hero Updates

• Creep Tumor (Trait)
  • Zagara can now see the duration remaining on her Creep Tumors.
  • Endless Creep (Talent)
    • Creep spread speed increase removed
    • Creep spread area increased from 25% to 50%
    • Now also doubles Creep Tumor Health
• Infested Drop (E)
  • Bile Drop (Talent)
    • Now deals the 100% bonus damage on impact, rather than damaging over time.
  • Corpse Feeders (Talent)
    • No longer increases Roachling duration
    • Now decreases the damage that non-Heroic units deal to Roachlings by 30%
• Devouring Maw (R)
  • Tyrant Maw (Talent)
    • Cooldown reduction from this talent is no longer dependent on Zagara killing a Hero inside of Devouring Maw. This is now a passive bonus. Anytime Zagara is credited with a Hero takedown, Devouring Maw’s cooldown is reduced by 25 seconds.

Bug Fixes

• A Stitches that Gorges a hero and then becomes affected by Zagara’s Devouring Maw will now continue to hold onto the Gorge target until Devouring Maw expires.

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

Hero Updates

• Infest (Talent)
  • Now heals the target to full Health
  • Now has a 15 second duration
• Creep Tumor (Trait)
  • Zagara now regenerates a flat 1.5 Health per second while on Creep.
    • Reconstitution (Talent) still increases Health regeneration on Creep by 300% (4.5 Health per second.)

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue in which Zagara’s Creep Tumors could cause a tower to ignore enemy Heroes for the duration of the Tumor’s life in some cases.

• Nazeebo's Corpse Spiders now properly damage Zagara's Creep Tumors on impact.

Bug Fixes

• Ghouls summoned by Arthas’ Army of the Dead will no longer instantly die when Arthas is caught by Zagara’s Devouring Maw.

• Murky no longer benefits from the Zagara’s Creep Tumor Movement Speed bonus.

Hero Updates

• Infest (Talent)
  • Cooldown reduced from 45 to 30 seconds
• Envenomed Spines (Talent)
  • Periodic damage reduced from 1.5 to 1 per level
• Creep Tumor (Trait)
  • Bonus Health Regeneration effect while on Creep increased from 100% to 200%
  • Tumor Clutch (Talent)
    • Now removes Creep Tumor’s Mana cost and reduces the charge cooldown from 15 to 10 seconds
  • Metabolic Boost (Talent)
    • Movement Speed boost on Creep increased from 20% to 40%
• Infested Drop (E)
  • Corpse Feeders (Talent)
    • Moved from Level 7 to Level 1
  • Ventral Sacs (Talent)
    • Moved from Level 1 to Level 7
• Nydus Network (R)
  • Nydus Worms can now be placed globally so long as the player has vision of the area.

Bug Fixes

• A Zagara clone created by Abathur’s Ultimate Evolution Heroic Ability that is also inside a Nydus Worm will now appropriately appear at the location where her last Nydus Worm is killed.

• Channeled Abilities are now appropriately cancelled when a Hero comes under the effects of Zagara’s Devouring Maw Heroic Ability.

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

• Roachlings spawned by Zagara’s Infested Drop when the Ability is cast on uneven terrain no longer become unable to attack or move into a nearby lane.

• Tassadar’s Psionic Storm Ability can no longer damage enemy Heroes while they are under the effects of Zagara’s Devouring Maw Heroic Ability.

Talents

Spell Shield

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

Hero Updates

• Baneling Barrage (Q)
  • Banelings have been given a little more leeway to navigate around corners.
• Hunter Killer (W)
  • Hydralisk Movement Speed increased by 10%.

Bug Fixes

• Abathur's Symbiote overhead graphic effect is no longer visible through Line of Sight blockers. Abathur’s Symbiote abilities can no longer continue to be cast when a Hero under the effects of Symbiote becomes trapped by Zagara’s Devouring Maw Heroic Ability.

• Zagara can now properly place Nydus Worms directly at or next to her current location.

New Hero

Zagara has been added to Heroes of the Storm and is now available for play!

• Abilities:
  • Baneling Barrage (Q)
    • Launch a stream of Banelings that explode on contact with enemies.
  • Hunter Killer (W)
    • Unleash a Hunter Killer Hydralisk to attack and chase an enemy.
  • Infested Drop (E)
    • Bombard an area with a Zerg Drop Pod that spawns Roachlings.
• Trait
  • Creep Tumor (D)
    • Spawn a Creep Tumor, which generates Creep and allows Zagara and her minions to move faster.
• Heroic Abilities
  • Nydus Network (R1)
    • Zagara can place Nydus Worms and use them to quickly traverse the Battleground.
  • Devouring Maw (R2)
    • Summon a giant Maw to engulf enemies in an area, disabling and damaging them.

Talents

Demolitionist

• Ammo destruction reduced from 2 to 1 per Basic Attack to compensate for Attack Speed changes.