Heroes of the Storm PTR Patch Notes - January 29, 2018

Our next Heroes of the Storm patch has just hit the Public Test Realm and will be available for playtesting until February 5. During this time, we kindly request your assistance in trying out the new content before we officially release the patch. As always, if you encounter any bugs or other issues during your PTR play sessions, please stop by the PTR Bug Report forum to let us know about your experiences.

Lunar Festival 2018

Join us in celebrating Lunar Festival this year by completing matches in Versus A.I., Quick Match, Unranked, or Ranked modes, and you’ll pick up some sweet new loot! The event kicks off during the week of Tuesday, February 6, and concludes on Monday, March 5, so be sure to complete the quests below before Lunar Festival comes to an end.

Quests and Rewards

Part 1: Play 2 Games
- Reward: Cute Lunar Skyrocket Spray
Part 2: Play 5 Games
- Reward: Lunar Warcrest Banner
Part 3: Play 8 Games
- Reward: Cute Lunar Guardian Portrait
Part 4: Win 5 Games
- Reward: Lunar Skyrocket Mount

You can also stop by the Lunar Festival 2018 mini- site to learn more about the event and find out how you can earn ornate Lunar Festival 2018 Loot Chests just by playing Heroes of the Storm!

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New Hero: Maiev

Maiev Shadowsong stood watch over the imprisoned Betrayer for ten thousand years, and hunted him relentlessly after he was released. Some say she’s determined; others say she’s obsessed. Either way, she will stop at nothing to ensure the security of her world.

Trait

Vault of the Wardens (D)
- Leap into the air, becoming immune to all hostile effects for 0.75 seconds.
- Passive: Maiev has 15 Armor.

Basic Abilities

Fan of Knives (Q)
- Deal 180 damage to enemies in a crescent area.
- Hitting at least 2 enemy Heroes with Fan of Knives reduces its cooldown to 0.5 seconds, and refunds the Mana cost.
Umbral Bind (W)
- Maiev’s next Basic Attack cleaves and applies a tether to enemy Heroes hit for 2.5 seconds. If a tethered Hero moves too far from Maiev, they are pulled toward her, dealing 110 damage and breaking the tether.
Spirit of Vengeance (E)
- Send a shadow of Maiev outward that will return to its cast location, dealing 100 damage to enemies along both paths. Deals 100% more damage to enemy Heroes.
- Reactivate to Blink to the shadow’s location.

Heroic Abilities

Containment Disc (R)
- Throw a glaive in the target direction. If an enemy Hero is hit, Containment Disk can be reactivated to remove their vision and Time Stop them for 4 seconds.
- Containment Disc automatically activates 6 seconds after hitting a Hero.
Warden's Cage (R)
- Summon 8 Warden Avatars as a cage around Maiev. After 1.5 seconds, enemy Heroes that come in contact with an Avatar re knocked to the center of the cage, and that Avatar is consumed. Warden Avatars last 7 seconds.

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User Interface

Voice Chat

NOTE: While available in the PTR, Voice Chat will not be enabled on the live servers until a later date.
Voice chat for Parties and Teams has been introduced to Heroes of the Storm.
- By default, players will automatically join Party voice chat.
- Team voice chat is opt-in, but can be toggled to auto-join in the Voice Chat settings. There is a team voice reminder dialog at the beginning of matches that is enabled by default, but can be disabled.
- If Team voice auto-join is enabled and you are already in party voice, a confirmation dialog will appear that defaults to Join.
Voice settings can be adjusted in the Voice Chat tab of the Options menu.
- A voice chat widget is also available in the top left of most screens. This widget lets you quickly change channels or join/leave voice channels.
  - This can be found in the Tab screen while in a match.
- Microphone and speaker icons can be clicked on to mute/unmute.

Target Info Panel

Target Info Panels have been introduced to allow players to investigate a unit's gameplay stats in real time.
- The Target Info Panel will display in the top left of the screen after selecting a friendly or enemy target with left-click.
  - The Target Info Panel can be repositioned by clicking and dragging to your desired location.
    - Double-clicking the info panel will reset it to the default position.
- The Target Info Panel will display the following information:
  - Health & Health Regen
  - Mana & Mana Regen
  - Basic Attack Damage
  - Attacks per Second
  - Attack Range
  - Spell Power Modifier
  - Movement Speed
  - Physical & Spell Armor

Battleground Objective Counters

All Battlegrounds with turn-in mechanics (Blackheart’s Bay, Tomb of the Spider Queen, Booty Coffers Heroes Brawl) will now show a visual indicator when a team’s gathered objective count is high enough to complete a turn-in.

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Art

General

Pings: Ping icons that appear overhead have received updated visual effects.

Heroes, Abilities, and Talents

Abathur: A crown icon will now appear above Heroes’ Minimap portraits when they are affected by Abathur’s Symbiote.
Ana: An overlay will now display for Heroes affected by Nano Boost.
Archangel Diablo: Apocalypse visual effects that appear on the terrain have been updated to make them more obvious to players on both teams.
Falstad: Hinterland Blast visual effects now more closely match the edges of its area of effect.
Junkrat: Frag Launcher’s targeting reticle has received updated art.
Leoric: Entomb’s targeting reticle has received updated art to better reflect the Ability’s shape.
Li-Ming: Magic Missiles have received updated visual effects to make them more apparent.
Lt. Morales: An overlay will now display for Heroes affected by Stim Drone.
Tychus: Minigun visual effects have been updated to make the Ability more apparent while it is active.
Tychus: Overkill’s retargeting icon has received updated art.
The following heroes have received updated visual effects to coincide with Talent changes:
- Greymane
- Malthael

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Battlegrounds

Ranked Battleground Rotation

The Battleground rotation for Ranked Play is unchanged, and remains as follows:
- Battlefield of Eternity
- Braxis Holdout
- Cursed Hollow
- Dragon Shire
- Infernal Shrines
- Sky Temple
- Tomb of the Spider Queen
- Towers of Doom
- Volskaya Foundry

Volskaya Foundry

Triglav Protector
- The Protector will gain 10 Armor and 25% increased damage if both the Pilot and Gunner seats are occupied
- Base Health has been increased from 9500 to 10450
- Health Scaling has been increased by 10%
- Pilot: Rocket Fist (W)
  - Duration of structure debuff effect has been increased from 2 to 4 seconds
- Gunner: Gatling Cannon (W)
  - Gatling Cannon will now fire immediately, instead of after a short delay
  - Gatling Cannon rounds will now travel 50% faster

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Heroes

Assassin	Warrior
Greymane	Tyrael
Malthael

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Assassin

Greymane

Abilities

Gilnean Cocktail (Q)
- Mana cost reduced from 70 to 55
- Explosion area increased by ~15%

Talents

Level 1
- Perfect Aim (Q)
  - Mana refund for hitting a Hero reduced from 50 to 35
Level 4
- Draught Overflow (Q)
  - Removed
Level 7
- Wizened Duelist (Passive)
  - New functionality:
    - Every 6 Attacks against an enemy Hero increases Greymane’s Basic Attack damage by 1%, up to 30%. Gain triple benefit from attacking in Worgen form. Half of these bonuses are lost on death.

Developer Comment: We made these changes in an effort to increase Greymane’s build diversity. Gilnean Cocktail felt a little lackluster without its associated Talents, so made parts of them baseline. While you can still enhance Gilnean Cocktail through talents, we wanted it to feel like a valuable part of your kit if you choose a more Basic Attack-oriented build. We've also redesigned Wizened Duelist to be less of a feast or famine Quest by shifting its requirements to something that a Greymane in a losing game can still accomplish. This also has the added benefit of being a reward that can be accomplished regardless of the lethality of a game (since the average number of deaths can vary greatly between different levels of play).

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Malthael

Stats

Basic Attacks now cleave in a radius of 3.25 in an arc in front of Malthael
Damage reduced from 117 to 82

Abilities

Soul Rip (Q)
- Healing reduced from 44 to 36 per enemy hit
Death’s Shroud (E)
- Width increased from 2.25 to 3
Reaper's Mark (Trait)
- Damage reduced from 2% to 1.75% of an enemy's maximum Health
Tormented Souls (R)
- No longer applies Armor to Malthael
Last Rites (R)
- Cooldown reduced from 75 to 65 seconds
- Malthael can now also gain Quest credit if the enemy Hero dies within 1.5 seconds of Last Rites damage
- Range increased from 4 to 5

Talents

Level 4
- Die Alone (Q)
  - This now once again applies bonus damage if only 1 Hero is marked, even if multiple other non-Heroes are also marked
- Throwing Shade (E)
  - Reduced the hits needed to complete the quest from 20 to 15
- Black Harvest (Trait)
  - Quest completion requirement increased from 150 to 180 seconds
Level 7
- Massacre (W)
  - Moved from Level 16 to Level 7
- Touch of Death (Active)
  - Cooldown reduced from 30 to 25 seconds
Level 13
- Soul Siphon (Q)
  - Reduced the healing from 4% to 3.75% versus Heroes
- Ethereal Existence (Trait)
  - Maximum Physical Armor reduced from 40 to 30
Level 16
- Mortality (W)
  - Moved from Level 7 to Level 16
  - Damage increased from 4 to 6% of an enemy Hero's maximum Health

Developer Comment: Malthael, while powerful, has relied heavily on Tormented Souls to apply his Reaper's Mark during team fights. By making his Basic Attacks cleave and increasing the usability of Death's Shroud, we're providing more ways to him to apply his Mark to multiple enemies. Not only does this increase his survivability and damage without relying solely on Tormented Souls, it also gives him more options to use Wraith Strike. We've also sought to increase the usability of Last Rites to make it a more enticing Heroic option. Lastly, the ability to apply Reaper's Mark reliably makes it much more powerful, so we've adjusted the tuning of its damage and associated Talents.

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Warrior

Tyrael

Talents

Level 1
- Salvation (W)
  - Healing on shield destruction increased from 125 to 140
- Ardent Restoration (Passive)
  - Healing increased from 12.5 to 13.75 per stack over 5 seconds
Level 4
- Stalwart Armor (Q)
  - Armor reduced from 25 to 20

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Collection

Head over to the latest In-Development blog to catch a preview of all the new cosmetic items coming to the Nexus with this patch.

New Bundles

Maiev Heroic Bundle – Available until February 19, 2018
Lunar Festival 2018 Bundle – Available until March 5, 2018
Lunar Festival Classic Bundle – Available until March 5, 2018

New Announcer

Maiev

New Skins

Maiev
- Darnassian Maiev
- Dusk Maiev
- Hellwarden Maiev
  - Bonewarden Maiev
  - Dreadwarden Maiev
  - Hordewarden Maiev
  - Plaguewarden Maiev
Kael’thas
- Lunar Kael’thas
- Jade Lunar Kael’thas
- Heavenly Lunar Kael’thas
Sylvanas
- Lunar Sylvanas
- Jade Lunar Sylvanas
- Soaring Lunar Sylvanas
Cassia
- Lunar Cassia
- Azure Lunar Cassia
- Honored Lunar Cassia
- Jade Lunar Cassia
- Midnight Lunar Cassia
Zul’jin
- Lunar Zul’jin
- Ancestral Lunar Zul’jin
- Cruel Lunar Zul’jin
- Jade Lunar Zul’jin
- Ornamented Lunar Zul’jin
Arthas
- Royal Mystic Kingdoms Arthas
Azmodan
- Lunar Azmodan
Genji
- Lunar Genji
Illidan
- Dragon Lunar Illidan
Jaina
- Jade Lunar Jaina
Li-Ming
- Blossom Lunar Li-Ming
- Heavenly Lunar Li-Ming
- Imperial Lunar Li-Ming

New Mounts

Lunar Skyrocket – Unlocked by completing the Lunar Festival 2018 event quest.
- Golden Lunar Skyrocket – Purchasable using Gold
Lunar Guardian
- Jade Lunar Guardian
- Marble Lunar Guardian

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Bug Fixes

General

Fixed a number of typo and tooltip errors across several aspects of the game.

Art

Jaina: Corrected some minor clipping affecting Arcanist Jaina’s clothing.
Samuro: Shadows will no longer appear to flicker behind Monkey King Samuro on the post-match score screen.

Battlegrounds

Battlefield of Eternity: Fixed a visual issue that could cause the outlines generated by Natural Agility to dip below the terrain in certain locations.
Braxis Holdout: Fixed an issue in which A.I. Heroes would pace near an enemy Gate rather than attack the Core.
Garden of Terror: Fixed an issue in which Structures affected by Overgrowth could stop attacking indefinitely under specific circumstances.
Blackheart’s Revenge Brawl: Damage will no longer interrupt channeling while Heroes are attempting to use teleportation portals.
Escape from Braxis Brawl: Bosses can no longer push unpathable terrain created by Tyrael’s Holy Ground Talent.
Try Mode: The effects of Ana’s Aim Down the Sights Talent are now correctly removed after using the Reset Talents Button.
Try Mode: Sgt. Hammer’s bonus attack range, granted by the Graduating Range Talent, is now correctly removed after using the Reset Talents Button.

Heroes, Abilities, and Talents

Ana: Shrike Doses after the first will now correctly deal bonus damage when Ana is affected by increased Spell Power.
Auriel: Basic Attack damage dealt by Auriel’s Bestow Hope target will no longer generate less than the intended amount of Energy.
D.Va: A.I. Heroes will now attempt to flee the area surrounding D.Va’s Mech during Self-Destruct.
Junkrat: Will no longer become separated from his rocket when issuing movement commands during Rocket Ride.
Li Li: Blinding Wind will now correctly deal damage to neutral Mercenaries.
Li-Ming: The Astral Presence icon is no longer missing its mouseover tooltip.
Lunara: Leaping Strike can no longer be cast while Rooted.
Rehgar: Fixed an issue preventing the Hunger of the Wolf Talent from applying bonus damage to Ghost Wolf attacks at level 16.
Tassadar: The Psionic Echo Talent’s timer bar will now correctly appear next to the Archon timer when both are active at once.
Valeera: The Cheap Shot tooltip appended to Blade Flurry after breaking Stealth now correctly states it will Blind the target.
Zeratul: Blink will now correctly break invisibility.

Sound

Valeera: Thistle Tea activation is no longer audible to nearby enemies while Valeera is in Stealth.
Settings: Hero voice reactions are no longer audible when the Voices setting is disabled.

User Interface

Hotkeys: Basic Hotkeys can now be assigned to mouse buttons.
Loading Screen: Removed an outdated loading screen tooltip relating to Tower Ammunition.

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