Heroes Technical Alpha Patch Notes -- May 22, 2014

Official Patch Notes v 5.0

We've brought the Heroes of the Storm service down for a period of extended maintenance today in order to release a brand new patch for the Technical Alpha. Maintenance is ongoing, but don't worry; we'll let you know as soon as the Nexus is back online! In the meantime, you can check out complete patch notes below.

Please note:

All returning Heroes of the Storm players will be required to re-install the game in order to receive today's patch. Please see the notes below for install instructions:

Returning players:

  • Once today’s maintenance concludes, completely exit and restart your Battle.net desktop app.
  • Upon restarting, your existing Heroes of the Storm icon in the Battle.net app’s Games list will read “Uninstall Me.” Click this icon, and then hit the big blue “Uninstall” button to uninstall Heroes.
  • A new Heroes of the Storm icon will appear in the Battle.net app Games list. Select this icon, and then click “Install” to receive the new client and today’s patch.
  • Hit “Play” to launch Heroes once installation completes.

New players:

If you’ve never installed Heroes before, but have received a Tech Alpha invitation, all you’ll need to do is select the Heroes of the Storm icon in the Battle.net app’s Games list, click “Install”, and then hit “Play” to get started!

Finally, installation will be disabled in the Battle.net app during maintenance. You will be able to install the client once the Heroes service is back online.

General

  • Terrain Textures on Low graphic settings have received several improvements.

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User Interface

Rejoin Game

A very early version of rejoin functionality has been implemented. Please know that development for the Rejoin system is ongoing, and this feature will likely see changes and improvements as alpha testing continues.

  • Players are now able to rejoin a game after disconnecting or closing the client.
  • Players who disconnect or otherwise leave a game will be prompted to rejoin upon logging back in so long as that game is still in progress.

As mentioned above, this is a very early look at the Rejoin system, and you may encounter bugs during playtesting. If you do encounter any issues with the Rejoin system, please let us know by writing up a bug report in the Tech Alpha Bug Report Forum.

Inactive Player Removal

  • Very early implementation for removing inactive players from a game has been added with today’s Tech Alpha patch. Please note that much like Rejoin above, this system is a work in progress, and will likely receive changes in the future. Here’s how it works right now:
    • If a player does not issue a game command for 150 seconds during a match, that player will receive an inactivity warning via chat.
    • If a player does not issue a game command within 30 seconds after receiving a warning, that player will be dropped from the game and returned to the Heroes login screen.
    • Inactive players who are dropped in this way will be prompted to rejoin from the out-of-game menus after logging back in.
    • As with leaving or disconnecting from a game before it is finished, the A.I. will take over the dropped player’s hero until that player rejoins the game. Additionally, that player will earn no experience points, quest credit, or rewards if they do not rejoin the game before it concludes

Matchmaking

  • Rules have been added to help encourage the matchmaker to create well-rounded team compositions. These rules are as follows:
    • No more than 3 Warriors.
    • No more than 4 Assassins.
    • No more than 2 Support.
    • No more than 2 Specialists.
    • No more than 3 Melee heroes.
  • Please note that this does not prevent full parties from using any composition they prefer.
  • Team compositions which fall outside of the rules above can still be formed with partial parties.
    • For example: A three person party that enters the queue as 3 Support heroes is allowed, but will not be grouped with any more Supports.
  • If a party has spent longer than 6 minutes in the matchmaking queue, the team composition rules may be broken in order to find a match.

Quick Cast

  • A Quick Cast option has been added and can be accessed in the Gameplay Options menu.
  • Select one of three Quick Cast settings from the dropdown list. Each setting works as follows:
    • Off (default): Press an ability hotkey to enter targeting mode and then left click to cast the ability.
    • On: Press an ability hotkey to instantly cast that ability in the direction, or at the location, of the mouse cursor.
    • On Release: Press an ability hotkey to enter targeting mode. Release the hotkey to cast that ability in the direction, or at the location, of the mouse cursor.

In-Game UI

The in-game UI has received an extensive overhaul and many elements have been changed or moved.

  • General
    • An in-game timer has been added to the top center of the screen.
    • Team levels have been moved to the top center of the screen.
    • Palace Health bars have been moved to the top center of the screen and both Health bars will now display simultaneously as soon as a Palace takes damage.
    • Health and Resource bars have been moved to the right of the Hero Portrait.
    • Battleground objective counters have been moved to the bottom right corner of the screen below the minimap.
    • Minimaps are now much larger and their borders have been removed.
    • Death timer portraits now stack and will expand on mouseover.
    • Target panels have been removed and will no longer display upon clicking a unit.
    • Battleground help screen pop-ups have been removed and no longer display when a game begins.
    • The Solo Kills category has been removed from the end-of-game Score Screen.
    • Hexagons.
  • Ability Buttons
    • The row of standard ability buttons has received several look and feel improvements.
    • Activated Talent buttons have been moved above the row of standard ability buttons.
  • Talent Selection
    • New Talent notification is now much more apparent.
    • The Hero portrait is now a button which can be clicked to bring up a detailed Talent selection window.
    • A Quick Talent selector has been added and can be accessed by pressing “Ctrl” key when a new Talent is available.
      • Talents can also be selected quickly via hotkeys by pressing “Ctrl” and the corresponding number key (1 – 5.)
  • Cursor
    • The mouse cursor now changes type and color based on the target: allied, enemy, and untargetable.
    • Different cursor types are also used to distinguish attack and ability commands.

Social Features

  • Character Portraits
    • Character portrait selection has been added to the profile screen.
    • Access the profile screen by clicking the character portrait in the top right corner of the home screen, and then click the “Change Portrait” button to select a new portrait.
  • Parties
    • The party panel has been moved to the top right corner of the screen and character portraits are displayed for current party members.
      • The menu button has been moved to the bottom right corner of the screen next to the Friends List button.
    • The party panel no longer appears during Hero Select, but party controls can still be accessed by right clicking a player’s selected hero.
    • The “Play with a Friend” bonus is now detailed in profile tooltips.
    • Players can now request a party invitation.
  • Looking for Party Panel
    • A new Looking for Party panel has been added to the home screen and the Friends List.
      • The Looking for Party panel will display players who are looking to join a party, as well as existing parties in search of more members.
      • Players can indicate that they would like to join a party by clicking the checkbox in the Looking for Party panel on the home screen or in the friends list.
      • Players of similar skill will have a star displayed next to their names in the panel.
  • Friends list
    • Messages can now be broadcast to all friends using the new text box found at the top of the Friends List.
    • The Friends List now displays what each friend is currently doing in the Heroes of the Storm client.
    • Hover the mouse cursor over a player’s name in the Friends List to display whether or not that player is currently in a party.
  • Chat
    • Chat windows now disappear instantly rather than fading out and individual lines of chat now fade over time.
    • Objects behind the chat window can be clicked so long as no text is present.

New User Help Tips

  • Several new pop-up tips have been added in which Uther helps to further guide new players through user interface features.
  • Uther’s help tips can now be closed by clicking the “X” in the top right corner of the pop-up.

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Sound

Voiceover

  • All Heroes now have complete voiceover kits.
  • All Battleground characters (Blackheart, the Raven Lord, etc.) have received new voiceover and have replaced the previous default game announcer.

Music

  • More than 35 minutes of live recorded music have been added across all current Battlegrounds.

Sound Effects

  • New sound effects have been added for recently released Heroes.
  • Several UI sounds have received updated sound effects.

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Shop

Heroes

  • Murky has been added to the Shop.

Skins

  • Grunty Murky and Storm Lord Falstad have been added to the Shop.

Bundles

  • All previously released Bundles have been removed from the Shop.
  • New Bundles have been added to the Shop:

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Design and Gameplay

Snowballing

  • Additional efforts have been made to prevent snowballing for teams that are down by 3 or more levels during a game.
  • Cursed Hollow
    • The Curse mechanic on this map was a major contributor to snowballing
    • To reduce the snowballing on this Battleground the Curse no longer reduces building health by 50% when the Curse is active

General

  • The team level cap has been increased from 25 to 30
  • Mount speed has been increased from 20% to 40% and mounts no longer gain speed per level.
  • Attack orders are no longer cleared after using most abilities
  • Activated Talents can now be self-cast by pressing “Alt” and the associated number key
  • Hero rings have been added underfoot to improve hero clarity
  • Mana bars now display a preview for the amount of mana being restored over time while a hero is under the effects of an ability that returns mana (Malfurion’s Innervate)

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Battlegrounds

General

  • The Grave Golem’s root ability now prioritizes MULEs
  • Knight Mercenary Camp respawn time has been increased from 240 to 270 seconds

Dragon Shire

  • The Dragon Knight now scales more aggressively as the game time increases

Haunted Mines

  • There have been significant layout changes to the jungle area of this map, including mercenary camp locations
  • Two Watch Towers have also been added to the jungle
  • Skeletons and the golem no long auto-acquire you; you have to engage them first now

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Heroes

Several abilities have received name changes. While some of these have been reflected below, please note that name changes for abilities that did not also receive balance updates have not been listed.

New Hero

  • Murky has been added and is now available for play!

Hero Changes

Assassin Specialist Support Warrior
Falstad Abathur Brightwing Arthas
Illidan Gazlowe Li Li Diablo
Nova Nazeebo Tassadar Muradin
Raynor Sgt. Hammer Tyrande Stitches
Tychus Uther Tyrael
Valla

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Abathur

  • Symbiote
    • Stab
      • Base damage reduced from 50 to 40
      • Damage gain per level increased from 10 to 13
    • Spike Burst
      • Base damage reduced from 32 to 28
      • Damage gain per level increased from 10 to 12
    • Carapace
      • Base shield amount reduced from 160 to 140
      • Shield amount gain per level increased from 14 to 16
  • Toxic Nest
    • Base damage reduced from 40 to 35
    • Damage gain per level increased from 12 to 15

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Arthas

  • Frostmourne Hungers (Trait) has been changed
    • Can be activated to cause Arthas’s next basic attack to deal 100% increased damage, and returns 30 mana when a target is hit.
    • Supporting Talents have been reworked
  • Frost Strike (Q) and its supporting Talents have been removed.
  • New Ability (Q): Death Coil
    • Targeted ability, medium range, deals damage if used against an enemy, or heals Arthas if cast on himself
    • New Talent (Level 1): Death Touch
      • Death Coil will instantly kill minions.
    • New Talent (Level 16): Embrace Death
      • Death Coil deals 20% more damage for each 10% of health Arthas is missing.
    • New Talent (Level 16): Immortal Coil
      • Death Coil will now always heal Arthas. If Death Coil is used to heal Arthas, the amount healed is increased by 50%.
  • Frozen Tempest
    • Now applies a stacking move speed slow of 6% per second, up to 5 stacks
      • Remorseless Winter Talent previously did this and has been removed
    • Mana cost per second increased from 8 to 10
    • Biting Cold (Talent) is now accessible at level 13 instead of 16
  • Army of the Dead
    • Cooldown increased from 80 to 90 seconds
  • Summon Sindragosa
    • Cooldown reduced from 100 to 90 seconds
    • Search width increased from 5 to 8
    • Damage gained per level increased from 10 to 15
  • Rune Tap (Talent)
    • Health restore reduced from 8% to 6%

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Brightwing

  • Arcane Flare
    • Base damage (inner/outer) reduced from 90/45 to 70/35
    • Damage (inner/outer) increase per level reduced from 24/12 to 18/9
  • Arcane Precision (Talent)
    • Damage bonus reduced from 50% to 33%

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Diablo

  • Fire Stomp
    • Now pierces enemies by default
    • The Pierce Talent has been removed
    • Base range increased by 30%

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Falstad

  • Flight
    • Now displays an indicator which makes Falstad’s landing spot visible to all players

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Gazlowe

  • Deth Lazor
    • New Talent (Level 16): Goblin Fusion
      • Deth Lazor stages increased from 3 to 4.
      • Stage 4 has the same range as stage 3, but deals an additional 50% damage.
  • Xplodium Charge
    • New Talent (Level 1): Extra TNT
      • Xplodium Charge deals 10% more damage for each enemy target hit by the explosion. This damage bonus caps at 100%.

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Illidan

  • Now has a flat attack speed of 0.6 and Illidan no longer gains attack speed per level
  • Illidan’s ability kit has received a massive overhaul.
    • Mark of Azzinoth (Trait), Betrayer’s Strike (Q), Crescent Sweep (W), Lunge (E), and their supporting Talents have been removed.
  • New Trait: Betrayer’s Thirst
    • Basic attacks lower ability cooldowns by 1 second and heal Illidan for 20% of damage dealt.
    • New Talent (Level 1): Spar for Blood
      • Basic attacks now heal for 30% of damage dealt
    • New Talent (Level 7): Ultimate Duelist
      • Betrayer’s Thirst can be activated to double the cooldown reduction from basic attacks for 5 seconds.
      • 25 second cooldown
  • New Ability (Q): Dive
    • Illidan dives toward target enemy, dealing damage on impact, and flipping over the target.
    • New Talent (Level 4): Marked for Death
      • Illidan’s next basic attack on the Dive target deals 100% additional damage.
    • New Talent (Level 7): Rapid Chase
      • Illidan gains 20% movement speed for 2 seconds after casting Dive.
    • New Talent (Level 13): Betrayer’s Ally
      • Dive can now be cast on allies
    • New Talent (Level 13): Lunge
      • Increases Dive cast range by 30%
  • New Ability (W): Sweeping Strike
    • Illidan dashes to target location, damaging all enemies in his path. If he hits an enemy his basic attacks deal 25% increased damage for 4 seconds.
    • New Talent (Level 1): Battered Assault
      • Increases the Sweeping Strike’s basic attack damage bonus from 25% to 40%
    • New Talent (Level 4): Additional Reach
      • Increases the range of Sweeping Strike by 20%
    • New Talent (Level 4): Immolation
      • Sweeping Strike causes Illidan to burn nearby enemies for a few seconds.
    • New Talent (Level 13): Endless Bounds
      • Illidan ignores all collision while using Sweeping Strikes.
    • New Talent (Level 16): Second Sweep
      • Illidan can store up to 2 charges of Sweeping Strike.
  • New Ability (E): Evasion
    • Illidan evades all basic attacks against him for 2 seconds.
    • New Talent (Level 1): Demonic Life-Force
      • Evasion also grants a shield that lasts for 5 seconds
    • New Talent (Level 7): Lingering Evasion
      • Illidan gains 2 charges of Block (50% reduced basic attack damage) which last for 5 seconds after Evasion wears off.
    • New Talent (Level 13): Spell Evasion
      • Illidan takes 50% reduced damage from abilities while Evasion is active.
  • Metamorphosis
    • New Talent (Level 20): Demonic Form
      • Illidan remains in Demonic Form until killed
      • Allows Illidan to mount while in Demonic Form
      • Attack speed of Demonic Form is increased from 20% to 30%
  • The Hunt
    • Cooldown increased from 45 to 60 seconds
    • New Talent (Level 20): Nowhere is Safe
      • Cast range becomes global, and the acceleration of The Hunt is greatly increased

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Li Li

  • Healing Brew
    • Can now heal Li Li if she is the lowest health target (does not return mana)
  • Cloud Serpent
    • Cast time has been reduced from .5 to .25 seconds
    • Mana cost reduced from 65 to 40
    • Cooldown reduced from 16 to 8 seconds
    • Duration decreased from 12 to 10 seconds
    • Base damage reduced from 22 to 20
    • Timeless Creature (Talent)
      • Duration extension reduced from 100% to 50%
  • Blinding Wind
    • Cast time removed
  • Water Dragon
    • Now slows targets hit by 40% for 3 seconds
    • Search radius increased from 9 to 12
    • Base damage reduced from 310 to 260
    • Damage gain per level reduced from 60 to 25

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Muradin

  • Muradin has received significant Talent changes
    • Amplified Healing (Talent) has been removed
    • Skullcracker (Talent) has moved from level 1 to 4
    • Third Wind (Talent) has moved from level 4 to 13
  • Storm Bolt
    • Mana cost reduced from 75 to 60
    • Infused Hammer (Talent)
      • Mana refund increased from 50% to 75%
  • Sledgehammer
    • Damage to structures and minions increased from 200% to 400%, and now also destroys 4 tower ammunition
    • This Talent no longer stuns structures
  • Thunder Clap
    • Mana cost reduced from 60 to 50
    • New Talent (Level 1): Reverberation
      • Thunderclap now slows enemy attack speeds by 33%
    • New Talent (Level 13): Healing Static
      • Thunderclap heals 1% of Muradin’s maximum Health for each target hit
    • New Talent (Level 13): Thunderstrike
      • Thunderclap deals 300% damage if only one target is hit
  • Dwarf Toss
    • Landing Momentum (Talent) has moved from level 4 to 7
  • Haymaker
    • The distance secondary targets are knocked aside by Haymaker has been significantly increased.

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Nazeebo

  • Death Ritual (Trait)
    • Permanent Health/Mana gains increased from 2/1 to 4/2
  • Gargantuan
    • Now deals AOE damage around it when summoned
    • Gargantuan takes 50% reduced damage from structures
    • Humongoid (Talent)
      • Causes the Gargantuan to remain until it is killed
  • Ravenous Spirit
    • Movement speed increased by 10% (to compensate for hero movement speed increase in the last patch)

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Nova

  • Nova has received significant Talent changes
  • Snipe
    • Ambush Snipe (Talent)
      • The 20% increased damage to Snipe when it is cast while Cloaked now has a 1 second grace period. This allows for better combos with Wounding Shot.
    • New Talent (Level 16): Railgun
      • Snipe now pierces enemies, dealing 50% damage to all subsequent targets hit
  • Holo Decoy
    • New Talent (Level 4): Extended Projection
      • Increases the cast range of Holo Decoy by 100%
    • New Talent (Level 16): Remote Access
      • Nova can now control her Holo Decoy and increases the Decoy’s vision range from 6 to 12.

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Raynor

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

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Sgt. Hammer

  • Hotkey changes
    • Siege Mode and Spider Mines hotkeys have been swapped
  • Has received significant Talent changes
    • Bribe, Have a Mine, and Maelstrom Rounds have been removed
  • Artillery (Trait)
    • New Talent (Level 13): First Strike
      • Basic attacks deal an additional 25% damage if Sgt. Hammer hasn’t taken damage within the last 5 seconds.
  • Thrusters
    • New Talent (Level 7): Hyper-Cooling Engines
      • Thrusters (Z) now activates automatically while inside your Hall of Storms. This does not start the Thrusters cooldown timer.
      • Reduces the cooldown of Thrusters from 30 to 20 seconds
  • Spider Mines
    • Slowing Mines (Talent)
      • Slow duration increased from 1.5 to 2.5 seconds
      • Slow effect increased from 25% to 50%
    • New Talent (Level 13): Bullhead Mines
      • Spider Mines now knock the target back. This effect stacks if hit by multiple mines.
  • Siege Mode
    • New Talent (Level 1): Ambush
      • Entering Siege Mode now cloaks Sgt. Hammer
      • The first basic attack from Siege Mode now deals 50% increased damage and uncloaks Sgt. Hammer.
    • New Talent (Level 1): Resistant
      • Reduces crowd control effect duration while in Siege Mode by 50%
    • New Talent (Level 16): Graduating Range
      • Sgt. Hammer’s range while in Siege Mode increases by 1 every 3 seconds, up to a maximum increase of 5.

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Stitches

  • Stitches has received significant Talent changes
    • Bribe and Spell Shield have been removed
  • Vile Gas (Trait)
    • New Talent (Level 4): Vile Cleaver
      • Basic attacks create a cloud of Vile Gas on the target. This effect does not stack.
  • Hook
    • New Talent (Level 13): Helping Hand
      • Stitches can now Hook allied heroes.
    • New Talent (Level 16): Shish Kabob
      • Hook can pull up to 2 targets
  • Slam
    • Pulverize (Talent)
      • In addition to the 0.5 second stun, Slam’s damage is also increased by an additional 50%.
    • New Talent (Level 4): Putrid Ground
      • Slam now infects targets with Vile Gas. This effect does not stack.
  • Devour
    • New Talent (Level 7): Savor the Flavor
      • Using Devour on an enemy hero permanently increases Stitches’ health regeneration per second by 2. This effect stacks.
    • New Talent (Level 7): Last Bite
      • Cooldown is reduced by 15 seconds if Devour kills the target

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Tassadar

  • Base health reduced from 800 to 750
  • Health gained per level reduced from 145 to 125
  • Void Shift
    • Duration reduced from 2 to 1.5 seconds

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Tychus

  • Tychus no longer gains attack speed per level.
  • Attack damage gained per level increased from 4 to 6
  • Commandeer Odin
    • Timed life increased from 18 to 23 seconds
    • Damage gained per level increased from 15 to 22
    • Nuclear Strike
      • Range increased from 10 to 20

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Tyrael

  • Archangel’s Wrath (Trait)
    • Now also reduces Tyrael’s death timer by 20% for each enemy hero hit by the explosion
    • Supporting Talents have been reworked.
    • New Talent (Level 1): Protection in Death
      • When Archangel’s Wrath explodes, Tyrael also grants nearby allies a shield that absorbs up to 50% of their max health in damage.
    • New Talent (Level 4): Even in Death
      • Tyrael can now cast his non-heroic abilities while Archangel’s Wrath is active (they do not deal damage.)
  • El’Druin’s Might
    • New Talent (Level 16): Blade of Justice
      • Tyrael’s next 3 basic attacks after teleporting to his sword deal 100% more damage.
  • Righteousness
    • This ability has been reworked.
    • Now shields Tyrael and all nearby allies temporarily for a portion of the shield amount
    • New Talent (Level 4): Angelic Absorption
      • Tyrael gains temporary Health regeneration when attacked while the shield is active.
    • New Talent (Level 7): Reciprocate
      • The shield now also explodes on expiration, dealing damage to nearby enemies.
    • New Talent (Level 16): Salvation
      • The shield amount received by Tyrael is increased by 25% for each allied hero that also receives the shield.
    • New Talent (Level 7): Zealotry
      • Increases the shield’s duration by 100%
  • Hand of Sacrifice (E) and its supporting Talents has been removed.
    • Replaced by: Smite (E)
      • Deals damage in an arc, leaving behind an area which temporarily increases movement speed for allies who pass through it
      • New Talent (Level 1): Purge Evil
        • Smite damage dealt to Heroes is increased by 50%
      • New Talent (Level 4): Retribution
        • Cooldown reduced by 0.5 seconds for each target hit by Smite
      • New Talent (Level 13): Angelic Might
        • The damage of Tyrael’s next basic attack is increased by 25% for each target hit by Smite. Stacks up to 10 times.
      • New Talent (Level 13): Cast Aside
        • Enemies damaged by Smite are pushed outside the target area.

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Tyrande

  • Hunter’s Mark (Trait) has been reworked
    • Activate to mark a target enemy. That target is revealed and takes an additional 25% damage for 4 seconds. Structures cannot be marked.
    • 20 second cooldown

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Uther

  • Has received significant Talent changes
    • New Talent (Level 1): Blessed Champion
      • Basic Attacks heal nearby allies for 25% of Uther’s damage dealt.
  • Holy Light
    • Protect the Weak (Talent)
      • The bonus cooldown and mana reduction for healing mercenaries and minions has been increased from 50% to 75%.
  • Holy Radiance
    • Wave of Light (Talent)
      • Returns 10 mana and reduces the cooldown of Holy Radiance by 1 second for each target healed, up to a maximum of 50 mana and 5 seconds
  • Hammer of Justice
    • Base damage reduced from 50 to 40
    • Damage gained per level reduced from 10 to 8
    • New Talent (Level 7): Divine Hammer
      • Hammer of Justice now knocks the target back.
  • Divine Shield
    • Cooldown decreased from 120 to 90 seconds

Return

Valla

  • Now has a flat attack speed of 0.6 and no longer gains attack speed per level
  • Base attack damage reduced from 64 to 28 and damage gain per level is now +9 to compensate for new, faster attack speed.
  • Hatred (Trait)
    • Now yields 2% bonus attack damage per stack rather than attack speed
  • Strafe
    • Now applies 10 stacks of Hatred when activated

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Talents

  • Calldown: MULE
    • Changed from target structure to target point
    • The MULE now repairs the closest structure when cast. If the structure reaches full health, the MULE will seek out another structure to repair.
  • Cleanse
    • Cooldown decreased from 60 to 30 seconds
  • Demolitionist
    • Now also increases basic attack damage dealt to structures by 10%
  • Executioner
    • Damage bonus decreased from 50% to 40%
  • Focused Attack
    • Base cooldown has been increased from 5 to 10 seconds.
    • Each basic attack reduces this cooldown by 1 second.
  • Path of the Warrior
    • Health gained per level increased from 25 to 35.
  • Path of the Wizard
    • Mana regeneration per level decreased from 0.2 to 0.1.
  • Promote
    • Now stores up to 2 charges
  • Swift Storm
    • Hearthstone cast time reduction has been removed.
    • New effect: Taking damage no longer causes the hero to dismount

New Talents

  • Follow Through (Level 7)
    • After using an ability, the next basic attack deals 25% more damage.
    • Currently only available on Nova
  • Hardened Focus (Level 13)
    • Ability cooldowns recharge 50% faster while above 80% Health.
    • Currently only available on Uther

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Bug Fixes

General

  • Clicking “Reset Heroic” in Try Mode no longer causes the selected hero skin to revert to default.
  • Corrected a number of typos across multiple aspects of the game.
  • Fixed an issue which could cause performance spikes related to sound loading and playback.
  • Made improvements which should help with certain Out Of Memory errors.

Battlegrounds

  • Combat sounds and effects are no longer audible, nor visible, through the Fog of War.
  • Dragon Shire Mercenary Camp respawn timers are no longer drastically reduced when the Dragon Knight expires.
  • Fixed an issue on Dragon Shire that could cause Brightwing to clip into the terrain after being punted by the Dragon Knight’s Savage Charge ability.
  • Heroes should no longer attempt to path through enemy Gates when given a long-distance move command toward objectives on the opposite side of a Battleground.
  • Pings targeting the Dragon Knight no longer cause heroes to refer to the Dragon Knight as a Mercenary Camp.
  • The northwest Knight Mercenary Camp on Blackheart’s Bay now properly displays a banner which indicates difficulty and description text.

User Interface

  • Ability targeting reticules now cancel immediately upon a hero’s death.
  • Corrected an issue which could cause purchased items to become unusable in-game.
  • Fixed an issue that could cause players to enter a locked state while navigating through menus.
  • The Friends List no longer becomes stuck when using mouse wheel scroll.
  • The in-game Menu button’s mouseover tooltip no longer always displays a framerate of 0.
  • Witch Doctor’s Hero Select icon now has an appropriate tooltip description on mouseover.

Heroes and Talents

  • Abathur now properly earns Takedown credit while using Symbiote on an ally that is nearby enemy hero deaths.
  • Abathur can no longer hold an objective point on Dragon Shire from the location he was in prior to casting Ultimate Evolution.
  • A.I. heroes should now respond more appropriately to an enemy Uther in Eternal Devotion form.
  • An Illidan clone created by Abathur’s Ultimate Evolution now receives the appropriate Health bonus after casting Metamorphosis.
  • Banshees summoned by the Raynor’s Raiders Heroic Ability no longer sit idle if the ability is cast while Raynor is attacking a target.
  • Graphic effects for Nova’s Triple Tap no longer persist on screen when Triple Tap is cast on a hero that dies before the ability completes.
  • Lili’s Timeless Creature Talent now correctly increases the duration of Cloud Serpent when it is cast on allied heroes.
  • Nova’s Triple Tap missiles no longer stop chasing a target that has moved a long distance from Nova after the ability is cast.
  • Overkill no longer continues to target or damage enemy heroes that Tychus has lost sight of, such as Tassadar using Void Shift, or Abathur casting Ultimate Evolution.
  • Placing Abathur’s Toxic Nests within the enemy safe zone no longer causes intermittent game freezes.
  • Searing Attacks no longer drains mana for each target hit by attacks that cleave.
  • Tassadar’s Oracle ability now properly reveals cloaked enemy heroes.
  • Tyrande’s Lunar Flare ability no longer shares a cooldown with the Searing Arrows activated Talent.
  • The game camera no longer snaps to Abathur’s location after a cloned Witch Doctor’s Ravenous Spirit expires while Camera Lock is enabled.

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