Hero Updates

Base

• Quickcast Settings
  • Removed duplicate Cancel Berserker.
  • Removed duplicate Regeneration.

Talents

• Level 1
  • Recklessness [Passive]
    • Added health threshold indicators.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that caused duplicate entries in the Death Recap.
• Adjusted position of Recklessness in the Buff Bar.

Bug Fixes

• A Surprise For Ya! can now bounce to inactive Mercenaries if the attack is against an inactive Mercenary.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Grievous Throw [Q]
  • Grievous Throw will now reveal targets hit for 2 seconds.
• Twin Cleave [W]
  • Twin Cleave will now reveal targets hit for 2 seconds.
• Guillotine [R2]
  • Guillotine will now reveal targets hit for 2 seconds.

Talents

• Level 20
  • A Surprise For Ya [Passive]
    • A Surprise For Ya no longer reveal targets.
    • A Surprise For Ya will now only bounce to visible targets.
    • A Surprise For Ya will now bounce to targets immune to area damage.
    • A Surprise For Ya will no longer bounce to Mercenaries that are not currently active.
  • Buzzsaw [R2]
    • Buzzsaw will now reveal targets hit for 2 seconds.

Bug Fixes

• Amani Rage can now have its cooldown announced to your team.

• Ensnare can now have its cooldown announced to your team.

• Resolved issues when the attacker is Blinded or the enemy is Evading with:
  • Uther's Hammer of the Lightbringer
  • Valeera's Slice and Dice and Rupture
  • Varian's Heroic Strike
  • Whitemane's Saintly Greatstaff and Scarlet Wrath
  • Zeratul's Master Warp-Blade, Psionic Strength, Shadow Hunter, and Unwavering Pressure
  • Zul'jin's Grievous Throw , Eye of Zul'jin, and Let the Killing Begin

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where No Mercy's percent damage bonus was available without taking the talent Undocumented

• Fixed an issue where No Mercy's percent damage would affect non-heroic targets Undocumented

• Fixed an issue where No Mercy's percent damage would not apply on the attack that removed the Grevious Throw marker Undocumented

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 1
  • Recklessness [D]
    • Basic Attack damage bonus reduced from 20% to 15%.
    • Additional functionality: While below 50% Health, Basic Attacks against Heroes grant an additional stack of You Want Axe?.
• Level 7
  • Vicious Assault [Q]
    • Damage bonus increased from 35% to 45%.
• Level 13
  • Lacerate [W]
    • Additional functionality: Slow duration is increased by .5 seconds.
  • ​Ensnare [Active]
    • Cooldown reduced from 45 to 40 seconds.
    • Additional functionality: If no Heroes are hit, reduce the cooldown to 10 seconds.
• Level 16
  • No Mercy! [Q]
    • Additional functionality: Basic Attacks against enemy Heroes marked with Grievous Throw deal an additional 2% of their maximum Health as damage.

Developer Comment: Light tuning to level out Zul'jin talent tiers gave us an opportunity for some extra love. It's hard to feel Recklessness' benefits as Zul'jin's health lowers so extra quest credit might help it get noticed. The consistency of Eye of Zul'jin was hard to beat at Level 13, so we've targeted these changes to help Lacerate and Ensnare be more reliable. We're comfortable with No Mercy! being a more niche option in response to enemy Hero compositions, but it wasn't as strong as it should be even in those situations.

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 20
  • New Talent: A Surprise For Ya [Passive]
    • Basic Attacks bounce to a nearby enemy for 50% damage, prioritizing enemy Heroes.

Developer Comment: As the talent states, We've got a surprise for ya! We've added Level 20 Basic Attack talent for Zul'jin that we think will be a fun, compelling option for aggressive players.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Grievous Throw (Q)
  • Mana cost reduced from 50 to 40

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

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

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

Bug Fixes

• Zul'jin: Fixed an issue that could cause the No Mercy! Talent to reduce damage dealt by Grievous Throw.

Design & Gameplay

Armor

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

Bug Fixes

• Zul'jin: Added a quick-cast option for Amani Rage.

Design & Gameplay

Spell Power Modifiers

• The following abilities and talents have been updated to have any percentage-based spell power modifiers stack additively when calculating damage: (This is the default behavior for all other abilities and talents unless otherwise stated in the tooltip)
  • Zul'jin's Buzzsaw (R) talent

Bug Fixes

• Zul'jin – Fixed a number of issues with the Amani Rage tooltip.

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 4
  • Amani Rage (Active)
    • Amani Rage is now part of Zul'jin's baseline kit.
    • Cooldown increased from 20 to 30 seconds.
    • No longer grants Armor.
  • New talent: Amani Hide (Passive)
    • Reduce Amani Rage's cooldown by 10 seconds and gain 10 Armor while regenerating Health.

Developer Comment: Amani Rage has become a staple in almost every build for Zul'jin. We love that it creates meaningful moments and synergizes with his kit, so we made it a baseline ability but had to take a little power out of it to compensate. We've created Amani Hide as an upgrade for it that brings back the armor functionality players are accustomed to.

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.

Hero Updates

Stats

• Basic Attack damage increased from 90 to 94

Talents

• Level 13
  • Ensnare (Active)
    • Cooldown reduced from 60 to 45 seconds

Bug Fixes

• Zul'jin: Lacerate’s Talent icon is now correctly colored blue, rather than purple.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Guillotine (R)
  • Damage reduced from 350 to 330

Talents

• Level 1
  • Recklessness (Trait)
    • Adjusted functionality:
      • When below 75% Health, gain 10% Spell Power
      • When below 50% Health, gain 20% Attack Damage
• Level 4
  • Amani Rage (Active)
    • Duration of heal increased from 6 to 10 seconds
    • Armor value reduced from 10 to 5
• Level 7
  • Arcanite Axes (W)
    • No longer lowers the cooldown of Twin Cleave
  • Vicious Assault (Q)
    • Added functionality:
      • Also increases the duration of Zul’jin’s Grievious Throw effect by 3 seconds
• Level 13
  • Lacerate (W)
    • Slow amount reduced from 15 to 10%
• Level 16
  • Wrong Place Wrong Time (W)
    • Apex damage from 150 to 100

Bug Fixes

• Zul'jin: Buff icons in Zul’jin’s Buff Bar will now match the order in which their associated Talents were selected.

• Zul'jin: Completing the You Want Axe? Quest using the Wrong Place Wrong Time Talent will no longer cause Twin Cleave’s visual effects to disappear during its second revolution.

• Zul'jin: Eye of Zul’jin’s Talent description will no longer incorrectly append to the Grievous Throw tooltip.

• Zul'jin: Fixed an issue causing the Movement Speed bonus granted by Eye of Zul’jin to be lost on death.

• Zul'jin: No Mercy’s Talent description will now correctly append to the Grievous Throw tooltip.

• Zul'jin: Recklessness is no longer incorrectly categorized as a passive Talent in the Talent Pane.

• Zul'jin: Voodoo Shuffle’s Talent description will now correctly append to the Regeneration tooltip.

• Zul'jin: Voodoo Shuffle’s tooltip now correctly lists a 40% reduction in Regeneration’s Mana cost and cooldown, rather than 33%.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Guillotine (R)
  • Cooldown increased from 30 to 40 seconds

Talents

• Level 1
  • Boneslicer (Q)
    • Mana refund increased from 10 to 15
• Level 4
  • Voodoo Shuffle (Active)
    • Cooldown and Mana cost reduction increased from 33 to 40%
• Level 7
  • Ferocity (Passive)
    • Attack speed bonus increased from 35 to 40%
  • Vicious Assault (Q)
    • Damage bonus increased from 30 to 35%
• Level 13
  • Eye of Zul'jin (Passive)
    • Movement speed per stack increased from 3 to 6%
      • Cap remains at 30%

Bug Fixes

• Zul'jin: The Troll’s Blood Talent will now correctly restore 10% of Zul’jin’s maximum Mana when Regeneration channeling completes.

Hero Updates

Stats

• Basic Attack Damage reduced from 106 to 90

Abilities

• “You Want Axe?” Baseline Quest added
  • !Quest: Every 5 Basic Attacks against Heroes increases your Basic Attack damage by 1
  • !Reward: After landing 75 Basic Attacks on enemy Heroes, increase your Basic Attack range by 1.1
  • !Reward: After landing 150 Basic Attacks on enemy Heroes, your Twin Cleave will revolve twice
• Grievous Throw (Q)
  • Duration decreased from 8 to 6 seconds
• Twin Cleave (W)
  • Cooldown increased from 8 to 10 seconds
  • Mana cost increased from 50 to 60
• Regeneration (E)
  • Health restoration increased from 25 to 30% of maximum Health

Talents

• Level 1
  • Boneslicer (Q)
    • New functionality:
      • Grievous Throw pierces all enemies and refunds 10 Mana per Hero hit. The effect is no longer is removed after 3 Basic Attacks.
  • You Want Axe? (Passive)
    • Removed
  • Headhunter (Active)
    • Moved from Level 4
    • New functionality:
      • !Quest: Kill all unique enemy Heroes. Each one increases your damage by 2%.
      • !Reward: Increase your Basic Attack range by 1.1.
  • Recklessness (Passive)
    • Moved from Level 7
    • Adjusted functionality:
      • Gain 10% bonus attack damage while below 75% life.
      • Gain 20% Spell Power while below 50% life.
• Level 4
  • Troll’s Blood (E)
    • New functionality:
      • Increases Regeneration healing by 25%. If the effect fully finishes, also gain 10% of your maximum Mana.
  • (New Talent) Amani Rage (Active)
    • Activate to instantly lose 50% of your current Health and regain it over 6 seconds. Gain 10 Armor while this heal is active.
  • Voodoo Shuffle (Active)
    • Moved from Level 13
      • New functionality:
        • Passively lower the cooldown and mana cost of Regeneration by 33%. Activate to remove to all slow and root effects.
• Level 7
  • Vicious Assault (Q)
    • New functionality:
      • Grievous Throw’s bonus damage is increased by 30%.
  • Arcanite Axes (W)
    • Moved from Level 1
    • New functionality:
      • Passively reduce the cooldown of Twin Cleave by 2 seconds.
      • !Quest: Hit enemy Heroes with Twin Cleave.
      • !Reward: Every enemy Hero hit increases the damage of Twin Cleave by .75. This talent has no cap.
  • Ferocity (Passive)
    • Moved from Level 16
• Level 13
  • Eye of Zul’jin (Q)
    • New functionality:
      • Basic Attacks against enemies Heroes increase Zul’jin’s movement speed by 3% for 2 seconds, stacking up to 30%
  • Lacerate (W)
    • Moved from Level 16
  • Ensnare (Active)
    • Moved from Level 20
    • Now only hits enemy Heroes
    • Duration reduced from 3 to 1.5 seconds
    • Cooldown increased from 45 to 60 seconds
• Level 16
  • Swirling Death (W)
    • Removed
  • Let the Killing Begin (Passive) Undocumented
    • Moved from Level 4
    • Bonus per enemy killed decreased from 6% to 5%
    • Maximum bonus increased from 30% to 40%
  • Wrong Place Wrong Time (W)
    • Moved from Level 7
    • Adjusted functionality:
      • Heroes hit at the apex of your Twin Blades suffer an additional 150 damage and grant 5 stacks of You Want Axe.
  • (New talent) No Mercy (Q)
    • Basic Attacks against Heroes marked with Grievous Throw ignore Armor.
• Level 20
  • Amani Resilience (R)
    • Added functionality:
      • Also increases the duration of Taz’Dingo by 1 second in addition to the current effects.
  • Buzzsaw (R) Undocumented
    • Damage from Guillotine's forward roll increased from 50% to 75%
    • Added functionality:
      • If Guillotine kills a Hero, instantly heal to full Health.
  • Forest Medicine (E)
    • Moved from Level 13
    • New functionality:
      • Regeneration no longer requires a channel and the heal cannot be interrupted.

Developer Comment: There are very few moments in the Nexus more intoxicating than beheading four enemy Heroes at once with Guillotine. Unfortunately, it was always a difficult choice to make when the time to pick Heroics came about. Taz'Dingo's synergy with his heavy attack-damage nature was very difficult to pass up. While we did not want to mess with a winning combination, we did want to augment his standard build and give the old troll some shiny new tools in which to help quickly dispatch his foes. His baseline quest is focused directly at what he does best and should help him feel progressively more potent as the match unravels. As with all of our reworks, we are extremely excited to hear what you think and greatly appreciate any feedback you have!

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

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 1
  • Boneslicer (Q)
    • Bonus damage increased from 20 to 30%

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Guillotine (R)
  • Base damage increased from 210 to 350
  • Damage multiplier at extremely low health decreased from 500% to 300%

Talents

• Level 20
  • Ensnare (Active)
    • Range increased from 7.8 to 10
    • Cooldown reduced from 60 to 45 seconds
    • Duration increased from 2 to 3 seconds

Bug Fixes

• In-game: Zul'jin’s You Want Axe? Quest Talent will not appear complete on the in-game Score Screen’s Talents tab prior to reaching 120 stacks.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Guillotine (R)
  • Can no longer be interrupted. Once cast, the axe is falling.

Bug Fixes

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

Hero Updates

Stats

• Basic Attack damage reduced from 110 to 106

Talents

• Level 13
  • Voodoo Shuffle (Active)
    • Cooldown reduced from 30 to 10 seconds

Bug Fixes

• Zul'jin: Taz'dingo! Will now correctly prevent Zul’jin from dying when cast at the same moment that he would have taken fatal damage.

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 1
  • You Want Axe? (Q)
    • The buff tracker (located next to the portrait) now shows a specific number for Heroes hit, and how many hits are required to complete the Quest reward

Hero Updates

Talents

• Level 4
  • Headhunter (Active)
    • Will no longer dismount Zul'jin when it is activated while mounted

Bug Fixes

• Zul'jin: Fixed an issue causing Zul’jin to have a slightly higher Health Regeneration rate than intended.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Twin Cleave (W)
  • Mana cost reduced from 60 to 50
• Guillotine (R)
  • Cooldown reduced from 45 to 30 seconds

Talents

• Level 1
  • Boneslicer (Q)
    • Damage bonus increased from 15 to 20%
  • Arcanite Axes (W)
    • Cooldown reduction per Hero hit increased from .5 to .75 seconds
  • You Want Axe? (Passive)
    • Damage bonus per stack reduced from 1.5 to 1.25
• Level 4
  • Let the Killing Begin (Passive)
    • Buff duration reduced from 15 to 12 seconds
• Level 7
  • Wrong Place Wrong Time (W)
    • Damage from 140 to 150
• Level 13
  • Voodoo Shuffle (Active)
    • Cooldown reduced from 45 to 30 seconds
• Level 16
  • Ferocity (Trait)
    • Attack speed bonus reduced from 40 to 35%

Developer Comments: Our data shows a solid win-rate for Zul'jin's Basic Attack build (I guess enemies really don't want axe!) while his ability- supporting talents are slightly under-performing. These changes look to slightly help that while we continue to explore the flood of incoming data.

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

Bug Fixes

• Zul'jin: Kael'thas’ Living Bomb will no longer repeatedly explode after being cast on Zul’jin while Taz’dingo is active.

• Zul'jin: Rehgar’s Ancestral Healing will no longer fail to heal Zul’jin if it is cast in the same moment that Berserker would reduce his Health to 1.

• Zul'jin: Taz’dingo will now be placed on a reduced cooldown, rather than full cooldown, if it is cast at the exact same moment that he takes fatal damage.

Hero Updates

Abilities

• Taz'dingo! (R)
  • Cooldown increased from 60 to 90 seconds
  • Mana cost increased from 50 to 75

Developer Comments: We were testing Taz’dingo internally at 60 seconds but had planned on shipping it at 90. This change didn’t make it into the release for Zul’jin but we wanted to get it in place as quickly as possible.

New Hero

Before the elves and their Alliance, the forests of Lordaeron belonged to the trolls of the Amani empire. As their warlord, Zul’jin has united the tribes into an army that stands ready to take back what is theirs and to slay the elves who stole it from them.

Trait

• Berserker (D)
  • Activate to increase Zul’jin’s Basic Attack damage by 25%, but consume 2% maximum Health per attack.
  • Passive: Zul’jin attacks 1% faster for every 1% of maximum Health missing.

Basic Abilities

• Grievous Throw (Q)
  • Zul’jin throws an axe forward, dealing damage to the first 2 enemies hit and marking them for 8 seconds. Marked enemies take 50% bonus damage from Zul’jin’s next 3 Basic Attacks against them.
• Twin Cleave (W)
  • Throw 2 axes in a large circular arc, dealing damage and slowing affected enemies by 15% per axe for 2 seconds.
• Regeneration (E)
  • Zul’jin channels to regenerate 25% of his maximum Health over 4 seconds. Moving or taking damage while channeling will interrupt this effect.

Heroic Abilities

• Taz’dingo (R)
  • Zul’jin is Unkillable for the next 4 seconds, and cannot be reduced to less than 1 Health. Taz’dingo!
• Guillotine (R)
  • Zul’jin throws a massive guillotine blade into the sky that crashes down on enemies in the targeted area. The lower Zul’jin’s Health, the more damage it deals.