Heroes of the Storm Live Patch Notes – September 25, 2018

Our newest patch is now live! Read on for details on what's been added or changed.

General

New Event: Fall of King's Crest

The Fall of Kings Questline is now available for players. The hunt is on for the generals of the Raven Lord!
Loot Chests have been replaced with Seasonal Loot chests for the duration of this event.

Ranked Play

2018 Ranked Season 4 Has Begun!
- Ranked rewards have been granted to players based on their performance during 2018 Ranked Season 3.
- Learn more about the rewards that are up for grabs during the new season by checking out our 2018 Ranked Season 4 Dates and Rewards blog.
Team League
- Team League now supports all party sizes, including solo players.
  - All solo players will need to choose which League to play for the first time after the patch.

Developer Comment: Heroes of the Storm is primarily a team-based experience and, with this change, we're hoping to make it easier to have that experience without putting restrictions on party size. In our current system, competitive solo players do not have many opportunities to find groups of players to play with in a ranked queue. To give these players more options for their competitive experience, we have removed all party size queue restrictions from Team League. Our hope is that this leads to a more robust Team League experience and that solo players find more regular groups to play with.

Battlegrounds

Unranked Battleground Rotation

The Battleground Rotation for all Unranked modes has been adjusted to the following:
- Cursed Hollow
- Hanamura Temple
- Alterac Pass
- Towers of Doom
- Garden of Terror
- Dragon Shire

Garden of Terror

Garden of Terror has received significant gameplay and layout changes. Find out more in the Garden of Terror Spotlight video or on the updated Garden of Terror Battleground site.

Art

Heroes, Abilities, and Talents

Kerrigan and Brightwing have received some new and updated art to coincide with their gameplay updates.

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User Interface

Mercenary Camp and Banner floating text has received readability improvements.

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Heroes

Assassin	Support
Kerrigan	Brightwing

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Assassin

Kerrigan

Abilities

Ravage (Q)
- Charges increased from 1 to 2
- Range reduced from 8 to 6
- Mana cost reduced from 40 to 20
- Damage reduced from 210 to 130
- Added functionality:
  - Now also refunds 20 Mana when used on an enemy that dies within 1.5 seconds
Impaling Blades (W)
- Damage reduced from 261 to 180
Primal Grasp (E)
- Pull damage reduced from 114 to 25
- Added functionality:
  - 2.5 seconds after using Primal Grasp, Kerrigan damages all nearby enemies for 180 damage
Summon Ultralisk (R)
- Splash radius increased from 1.5 to 2
- The initial cast of Ultralisk is now directional skill shot that causes the Ultralisk to charge in the targeted direction until impacting an enemy Hero. It deals 250 damage and stuns for .5 seconds to the first Hero it hits.
Assimilation (Trait)
- Shield amount increased from 10 to 15% of damage dealt

Talents

Level 1
- Siphoning Impact (Q)
  - New functionality:
    - Using Ravage on an enemy Hero grants an additional 90 Assimilation Shield
- Assimilation Mastery (Trait)
  - Moved from level 7
  - No longer increases the duration of Assimilation Shield
  - In addition to increasing Kerrigan's Health and Mana Regeneration by 100% while Assimilation is active, now also causes Regeneration Globes to grant 40 Assimilation Shield per second while active
- Fury of the Swarm (Passive)
  - Moved from level 4
  - New functionality:
    - Kerrigan gains 10% more Assimilation Shields from Basic Attacks. Casting Ravage causes Kerrigan's next 2 Basic Attacks within 3 seconds to splash for 100% damage around the target
- Sharpened Blades (W)
  - Removed
- Block (Passive)
  - Removed
Level 4
- New Talent - Sharpened Blades (Q)
  - !Quest: Every time an enemy Minion or Hero dies within 1.5 seconds of being damaged by Ravage, increase Ravage's damage by .5 (5 for Heroes), up to 50
  - !Reward: After reaching 50 damage, gain an additional 50 damage
- New Talent - Kinetic Fulmination (W)
  - Damaging an enemy increases the damage of Kerrigan's next Impaling Blades by 15%. Stacks up to 150%. Lasts 10 seconds.
- Psionic Pulse (E)
  - New functionality:
    - Primal Grasp deals damage a second time 2.5 seconds after the initial burst
- Clean Kill (Q)
  - Removed
- Envenom (Active)
  - Removed
Level 7
- New Talent - Queen of Blades (Q)
  - Every time Primal Grasp's pull or explosion hits an enemy Hero, reduce the cooldown of Ravage by 4 seconds
- New Talent - Boundless Fury (Q)
  - Casting Ravage on an enemy Hero grants a charge of Ravage. Can only occur on each Hero once every 10 seconds
- Bladed Momentum (Passive)
  - Now only triggers when attacking enemy Heroes
  - Now works with splash damage from Fury of the Swarm
- Blade Torrent (W)
  - Removed
Level 13
- New Talent - Psionic Barrier (E)
  - Kerrigan gains 15 Spell Armor for 4 seconds for every enemy Hero she hits with Primal Grasp's pull or explosion
- New Talent - Volatile Power (Trait)
  - Increase the base Shield amount gained from Assimilation by 15%, but reduce the duration of Assimilation Shields from 6 to 3 seconds
- New Talent - Chrysalis (Active)
  - Activate to place Kerrigan in a chrysalis with 550 Health for 5 seconds. Kerrigan regenerates 5% Health per second while inside the chrysalis. 90 second cooldown.
- Eviscerate (Q)
  - Removed
- Double Strike (Q)
  - Removed
- Queen's Rush (Active)
  - Removed
Level 16
- New Talent - Mounting Potency (Q)
  - Casting Ravage on an enemy increases Kerrigan's Spell Power by 5% for 4 seconds, stacking up to 40%
- New Talent - Painful Spikes (W)
  - After stunning an enemy with Impale, Kerrigan deals an additional 75 damage the next 6 times she damages them within the next 5 seconds
- New Talent - Unbridled Energy (R)
  - When Kerrigan damages a Hero with a Heroic Ability she gains 30% Spell Power for 4 seconds
- Aggressive Defense (Trait)
  - Removed
- Essence for Essence (Active)
  - Removed
- Overdrive (Active)
  - Removed
Level 20
- Omegastorm (R)
  - New Functionality:
    - Maelstrom's duration is increased by .125 seconds every time it damages an enemy Hero
- New Talent - Assimilation Blades (Trait)
  - Damaging an enemy increases Kerrigan's Basic Attack damage by 4%, up to 40%, for 5 seconds
- Psionic Shift (Active)
  - Shield amount is now doubled when damaging enemy Heroes
- Nexus Blades (Passive)
  - Removed

Developer Comment: Kerrigan is receiving an update to increase the tactical depth of using her abilities and increase the impact that her Talents have on her playstyle. We've reduced the range on Ravage but added a second charge so that smart Kerrigan players can use it to maneuver on the battlefield, as well as utilize a lot of her Talents to get the most out of the ability. We've added a secondary explosion to Primal Grasp so that Kerrigan will want to continue to worry about her positioning after her initial engagement occurs, as well as provide the opportunity for new Talent interactions. We've also added a skillshot component to Ultralisk so that the Heroic can feel like it has a big moment when it is first unleashed. Overall, Kerrigan should play mostly the same, but have increased room for mastery and playstyle specific builds.

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Support

Brightwing

Abilities

Arcane Flare (Q)
- Outer damage from 87 to 75
- Inner damage from 260 to 180
- Missile speed increased ~30%
- Added functionality:
  - If an enemy Hero is hit by the center of Arcane Flare, instantly pulse a free Soothing Mist
Polymorph (W)
- Duration from 1.25 to 1.5 seconds
- Cooldown from 10 to 12 seconds
Pixie Dust (E)
- Range from 8 to 7
Phase Shift (Z)
- Cooldown from 55 to 60 seconds
- Added functionality:
  - Heals the target for 20% of their maximum health
Soothing Mist (D)
- Heal amount reduced from 115 to 105
- Added functionality:
  - Activate to instantly pulse a calming wave, clearing all Stun, Root, Slow, and Silence effects from nearby allies
  - 120 second cooldown
Emerald Wind (R)
- No longer grants passive healing to Soothing Mist
- Damage reduced from 303 to 225
- Cooldown reduced from 60 to 50 seconds

Talents

Level 1
- Greater Polymorph (W)
  - Moved from Level 16
  - New functionality:
    - Increase the cast range of Polymorph by 30%. Anytime a nearby enemy Hero is killed, reset the Cooldown of Polymorph
- Hyper Shift (Z)
  - New functionality:
    - Increase the heal amount of Phase Shift to 30% of targets max Health
    - Every Minion killed near you lowers the cooldown of Phase Shift by 2 seconds
- Pixie Charm (1)
  - New functionality:
    - Every Minion killed near you grants you a Bribe Stack. Hitting an enemy with the center portion of Arcane Flare grants you 5 Bribe Stacks
Level 4
- Manic Pixie (E)
  - Removed
- Unstable Anomaly (W)
  - New functionality:
    - Increase the slow amount of Polymorph to 40%. When it expires, it explodes dealing 2% of all nearby enemy Heroes max Health in damage
- Dream Shot (Q)
  - Moved from Level 1
  - New functionality:
    - Increase the range of Arcane Flare by 50%. If it hits an enemy Hero, lower the cooldown to 2 seconds.
- New Talent – Magic Spit (D)
  - Increase your Basic Attack range by 20%. Attacks against Heroes reduce the cooldown of Soothing Mist's active by 5 seconds
Level 7
- Mistified (D)
  - Removed
- Cleanse (Active)
  - Removed
- Phase Shield (Z)
  - Removed
- Sticky Flare (Q)
  - Moved from Level 13
  - New functionality:
    - Arcane Flare slows Heroes by 20% for 3 seconds, or 40% if hit by the center of Arcane Flare
- Peekaboo! (Z)
  - Moved from Level 4
  - Added functionality:
    - Also grants the you and your target a temporary health Shield
- New Talent – Critical Mist (D)
  - If Calming Mist removes a status effect from an ally, instantly heal them for 200
Level 13
- Ice Block (Active)
  - Removed
- Shield Dust (E)
  - Removed
- Pixie Boost (E)
  - Movement Speed decay duration increased from 1.5 to 3 seconds
  - Movement Speed bonus reduced to 40%
- New Talent – Safety Dust (E)
  - Increase the duration of Pixie Dust by 1 second. Healing dealt by Brightwing is increased by 25% on targets with Pixie Dust
- New Talent – Pixie Power (E)
  - Lower the cooldown of Pixie Dust by 3 seconds and increase the Spell Armor it grants to 50
Level 16
- Bouncy Dust (E)
  - Removed
- Hardened Focus (Passive)
  - Removed
- New Talent – Phase Out (Active)
  - Activate to phase out and become invulnerable for .5 seconds
    - 20 second cooldown
- New Talent – Hush (Q)
  - Enemy Heroes hit with the center of Arcane Flare are Silenced for 1 second and deal 25% less damage for 3 seconds.
Level 20
- Double Wyrmhole (R)
  - Removed
- Continuous Winds (R)
  - Removed
- Revitalizing Mist (D)
  - Removed
- Storm Shield (Active)
  - Removed
- New Talent – Invisible Friends (R)
  - Blink Heal grants you and the target stealth. They are unrevealable for .5 seconds. While under this effect, they regenerate 20 Health Per Second
- New Talent – Intensive Winds (R)
  - Lower the cooldown of Emerald Wind to 3 seconds. It now costs 200 Mana
- New Talent – Faerie Protector (Active)
  - Activate to instantly cast Pixie Dust on all nearby allied Heroes
  - 60 second cooldown
- New Talent – Speedy Dragon (Passive)
  - Gain 20% permanent movement speed

Developer Comment: Late last year we decided that we wanted to add a fun mini-game to Brightwing utilizing her Arcane Flare as the focal point. As it often happens, while making the initial changes we started diving in deeper and deeper. Nearly a year later, we are excited to showcase a fully updated talent tree alongside some fundamental game-play changes to our resident Faerie Dragon. With a baseline AoE cleanse-type effect and added healing potential to her Arcane Flare, Brightwing should bring some new major play- making abilities to her team.

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Collection

New Bundles

The following new bundles are available for a limited time:
- Fall of King's Crest Bundle
- Spectral Wyrm Alextrasza Skin Pack
- Spider Warden Maiev Skin Pack
- Cursed Witch Whitemane Skin Pack
- Phantom Knight Zarya Skin Pack

New Announcers

Queen Nightshade
Blackheart
Lady of Thorns

New Skins

Alexstrasza
- Spectral Wyrm Alexstrasza
- Infernal Wyrm Alexstrasza
- Phantom Wyrm Alexstrasza
Brightwing
- Spectral Bewitching Brightwing
Kerrigan
- Spectral Countess Kerrigan
Maiev
- Spider Warden Maiev
- Forgotten Spider Warden Maiev
- Night Spider Warden Maiev
Whitemane
- Cursed Witch Whitemane
- Forgotten Witch Whitemane
- Court Witch Whitemane
Zarya
- Phantom Knight Zarya
- Infernal Knight Zarya
- Geist Knight Zarya

New Mounts

Redeemed Tombstone
Corrupted Tombstone
Copper Money Pig
Pumpkin Eye Pad
Sunny Side Eye Pad

New Portraits, Sprays, and Emojis

Several new emoji packs and portraits have also been added to the Heroes of the Storm Collection tab.

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Bug Fixes

General

Fixed several confusing or incorrect tooltips across all parts of the game.
Drag Scroll: Fixed an issue that could occasionally cause the camera to jump in the direction of the cursor when using the drag scroll feature.
Reconnect: Fixed an issue that could cause players to lose control of their Hero if they reconnect while piloting a vehicle.
AI: A number of improvements have been made to AI Hero behavior.

Art

Chromie: Fixed an issue that caused Chromie's hourglass to go missing during her Hearthstone animation.

Heroes, Abilities, and Talents

Abathur: Fixed an issue preventing Monstrosity from gaining damage when nearby enemy minions die.
Alarak & Gazlowe: Fixed an issue that allowed Gazlowe and Alarak to cast charged abilities while time stopped.
Ana: Fixed an issue that allowed Ana to used Eye of Horus shots between mine levels on Haunted Mines.
Lúcio: Fixed an issue preventing Lúcio from issuing attack commands while silenced.
Mephisto: Fixed an issue preventing the Static Barrier talent from granting Mephisto shields if damage was dealt to Shields or Protected Heroes.
Raynor: Raynor's Raider will now clear attack or move order when entering or exiting the mines on Haunted Mines.
Stealth: Fixed an issue that prevented Ping markers from being visible on clones if the clones were created after the ping was initiated.

User Interface

Fixed an issue that caused Garrosh's Groundbreaker splat to appear under the wrong team color in observer mode.
Fixed an issue that could cause Heroes to fail to play stun animations and effects if stunned twice in quick succession.
Lúcio: Fixed an issue causing the UI displaying the number of allies in range of crossfade to stop working after Lúcio exits a vehicle.

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