Heroes of the Storm Patch Notes – December 11, 2018

The newest Heroes of the Storm patch is now live featuring the Toys event, Sylvanas & Stitches gameplay updates, and more! Read on for more details.

NOTE: Text in ORANGE indicates a change between the PTR and Live notes.

General

Toys Event Quest
- Roll dice, complete quests, and join “The Kid” on a board game adventure in the Nexus for awesome rewards!
Authentication Screen
- The authentication/login screen has been updated with more login options and will enable future security improvements

Art

Stitches has received several updated effects and animations to match his gameplay updates.
Sylvanas has received several updated effects and animations to match her gameplay updates.

Battlegrounds

Volskaya Foundry

Channelling to enter the Triglav Protector is no longer interrupted by damage.
- NOTE: This change has been live as of the week of November 19

Developer Comment: While not a bug, the interaction between Orphea's Eternal Feast and the Triglav Protector was too strong and could negate an entire objective without any opportunities for counter-play attached to it. This also highlighted an inconsistency with the battleground where a team could spend all their resources winning the objective but find themselves unable to actually use it under certain circumstances so with this change, we've addressed both issues.

Design

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:
- Anub'arak
  - Nerubian Armor (W)
    - New functionality:
      - Increase the Spell Armor granted from Harden Carapace by 20 (to 60)
- The Butcher
  - Enraged (Passive)
    - Armor increased from 15 to 25
- Chen
  - Purifying Brew (Trait)
    - Spell Armor increased from 30 to 40
  - Untapped Potential (R)
    - Armor increased from 50 to 60
- Diablo
  - Sacrificial Soul (Q)
    - Armor increased from 20 to 25
    - Armor at max Souls increased from 40 to 50
- E.T.C.
  - Rockstar (Trait)
    - Armor increased from 20 to 25
  - Show Stopper (Q)
    - Armor increased from 15 to 35
- Gazlowe
  - Robo-Goblin (R)
    - Armor increased from 30 to 40
- Lt. Morales
  - Safeguard (W)
    - Armor increased from 25 to 30
  - Trauma Trigger (Passive)
    - Armor increased from 30 to 40
- Nova
  - Anti-Armor Shells (Passive)
    - Physical Armor shred increased from 10 to 15
- Raynor
  - Bounty Hunter (Trait)
    - Armor increased from 5 to 10
- Rexxar
  - Hunter-Gatherer (Passive)
    - Armor increased from 10 to 15
- Tassadar
  - Khala's Light (Q)
    - Armor increased from 15 to 20
- Tyrael
  - Defense of the Angels (Active)
    - Armor increased from 40 to 50
- Uther
  - Devotion (Trait)
    - Armor increased from 15 to 25
- Valeera
  - Smoke Bomb (R)
    - Armor increased from 25 to 30
- Zul'jin
  - Amani Hide (Active)
    - Armor increased from 10 to 15

Catapults

When a team destroys a Fort, they'll now gain a Catapult in every 3rd Minion wave.
- NOTE: In order to keep early-game Catapults from being too devastating to defending teams, Catapult attack splash size, attack range, and damage/health will gradually increase as the game progresses.

Experience Changes

Removed all Experience earned from destroying a Fort or Keep
Destroying a Fort or Keep will now provide your team with a stacking 20% increase in Passively-earned Experience
- NOTE: Towers of Doom is exempt from all Experience and Catapult changes.
Decreased Experience earned from destroying Towers by 50%
Passive Experience gain increased by 15%
Increased Experience gained by defeating defending Mercenaries by 100%
- Hanamura Temple and Volsksaya Foundry Item Camps are excluded from this change.
Laning Mercenary Experience
- ~~Defeating Laning Mercenaries will now grant 100% of Defending Mercenaries Experience.~~

Developer Comment: Thank you so much for all of the feedback regarding the 2019 Gameplay Updates. While there is still a lot of community speculation about the outcome of these changes, there has been a resounding amount of concern about the loss of Fort and Keep XP. We agree that the complete loss of XP from Forts and Keeps may reduce the incentive to kill them to unhealthy levels, especially at higher levels of play. In response, we have reintroduced XP to the structures in a way that will reward players for taking them early while granting a gradual increase in power instead of large bursts. This should reinforce our goal of making matches closer while also rewarding teams for destroying enemy structures as quick as possible.

Developer Comment: After listening to feedback, we have decided to pull back the laning Mercenary change outlined in our 2019 gameplay updates in order to give winning teams more opportunities to pull ahead.

Mercenaries

Boss Camps, Sentinel Camps (Hanamura Temple), and Support Camps (Volskaya Foundry) will now be flagged as Elite.
- Elite Mercenary Camps are Unstoppable & Unbribable

Unit Radii

The unit radius values for most Heroes has been reduced by 5-15%

Developer Comment: In an effort to improve visual clarity when many heroes are on-screen, we've updated the art for the Hero Ring displayed underneath heroes. To reinforce this effort, we've also done a pass on the Unit Radii for all heroes. We understand that these radius adjustments will have a minor but intended impact on landing and dodging abilities, and as a result, felt that the 2019 Gameplay Updates were the best time to make these changes.

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User Interface

Armor, increased Healing, and decreased Healing healthbar indicators have received a visual update.

Heroes

Assassin	Specialist	Warrior
Fenix	Sylvanas	Cho
		Stitches

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Assassin

Fenix

Abilities

Purification Salvo (R)
- Damage reduced from 86 to 79

Talents

Level 4
- Inhibiting Energy (W)
  - Now applies to all Slows (except itself), and not just Plasma Cutter's Slows
  - Slow duration reduced from 4 to 3 seconds
  - Slow amount reduced from 35 to 30%
- Warp Conduit (E)
  - Removed
Level 7
- Warp Warfare (E)
  - Added functionality:
    - Now also resets the cooldown of Warp when Fenix gets a Hero Takedown
- Divert Power: Weapons (Active)
  - New functionality:
    - Activate to gain 40% Basic Attack damage for 5 seconds. Basic Attacks against Heroes refresh this duration. When this damage bonus falls off, remove all of Fenix's Shields. 40 second cooldown.
Level 13
- Dampening Field (Trait)
  - Spell Armor increased from 20 to 25
- Auxiliary Shields (Trait)
  - Shield amount increased from 20 to 40%
  - Health loss increased from 10 to 30%

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Specialist

Sylvanas

Stats

Health increased from 1425 to 1550
Health Regen increased from 2.969 to 3.23
Basic Attack damage reduced from 90 to 81

Abilities

Withering Fire (Q)
- Adjusted functionality:
  - Pressing Q once fires 5 Withering Fire arrows at the closest enemy
- Mana cost increased from 0 to 25
- Damage reduced from 48 to 39
- Range increased from 6.25 to 8
- Cooldown increased from 2 to 8 seconds
- Cooldown now restores all charges
- No longer gains charges on Minion kills
- Nearby Heroes takedowns now refresh the cooldown of this ability
- Fire rate reduced from .188 to .375 (50% slower)
- Withering Fire cannot be cast while a previous cast of Withering Fire is still firing
Shadow Dagger (W)
- Adjusted functionality:
  - Shadow Dagger no longer spreads to nearby targets each time it does damage.
  - Damage dealt by Sylvanas to the primary target of Shadow Dagger spreads its effect to all nearby enemies.
- Mana cost decreased from 75 to 50
- Duration increased from 2 to 2.5 seconds
- Damage reduced from 37 to 29
Haunting Wave (E)
- Banshee travel speed increased by ~6%
Mind Control (R)
- Cooldown reduced from 60 to 50 seconds
- New functionality:
  - After a .25 second cast, launch a missile that impacts the first enemy Hero in its path. Impacted Heroes are Silenced, Slowed by 30%, and forced to walk towards Sylvanas for 1.75 seconds.
Black Arrows (Trait)
- New functionality:
  - Activate to cause all Basic Attacks and Abilities to Stun Minions, Mercenaries, and Structures for 3 seconds over the next 10 seconds. 40 second cooldown
- New Passive functionality – Banshee's Curse:
  - Basic Attacks infect enemies with Banshee's Curse for 3 seconds. Sylvanas deals 25% bonus damage to enemies with 3 stacks of Banshee's Curse.

Talents

Level 1
- Overflowing Quiver (Q)
  - Removed
- Dreadful Wake (E)
  - Removed
- Overwhelming Affliction (Trait)
  - Moved from Level 16
  - Adjusted functionality:
    - Enemy Heroes with 3 stacks of Banshee's Curse are slowed by 15%. Basic Attacks against Slowed enemy Heroes deal 1% of their maximum Health in damage
- New Talent: Unfurling Shadows (W)
  - Quest: Each time Shadow Dagger deals damage to enemy Heroes with 3 stacks of Banshee's Curse, increase its damage by .5%
- New Talent: Banshee's Curse (Q)
  - Hitting an enemy Hero with Withering Fire increases Sylvanas' Attack Speed and Ability Power by 5% for 6 seconds, stacking up to 5 times
Level 4
- With the Wind (Q)
  - Removed
- Mercenary Queen (Trait)
  - Moved from Level 1
  - Adjusted functionality:
    - Friendly non-Elite Mercenaries near Sylvanas deal 60% more damage. Sylvanas Stuns and deals 30% additional damage to Mercenaries with 3 stacks of Banshee's Curse.
- Possession (Active)
  - Moved from Level 7
  - Now requires 3 charges to be used on Catapults
- Unstable Poison (W)
  - Moved from Level 7
  - Damage increased from 116 to 130
  - Now triggers on enemy minions who are afflicted by Banshee's Curse, Black Arrows, or Shadow Dagger
  - Radius increased from 2 to 2.5
Level 7
- Barbed Shot (Q)
  - New functionality:
    - Hitting the same enemy with 5 shots of Withering Fire causes the last shot to deal 350% bonus damage
- Lost Soul (W)
  - Moved from Level 4
  - Adjusted functionality:
    - Reduce Shadow Dagger's cooldown by 1.75 seconds each time Sylvanas uses a Basic Attack on an enemy Hero with 3 stacks of Banshee's Curse.
- New Talent: Festering Wounds (E)
  - Haunting Wave deals 25% more damage and applies 3 stacks of Banshee's Curse.
Level 13
- Cold Embrace (W)
  - Moved from Level 16
  - Duration increased from 2 to 2.5 seconds
  - Now also reduces the Armor of targets that Shadow Dagger spreads to by 10
- Spell Shield (Active)
  - Removed
- Remorseless (Trait)
  - Moved from Level 16
  - New functionality:
    - Increase Sylvanas' Basic Attack range by 1. Basic Attacks against enemy Heroes with 3 stacks of Banshee's Curse fire an untalented shot of Withering Fire. This shot applies Banshee's Curse.
- Windrunner (E)
  - Adjusted functionality:
    - Teleporting with Haunting Wave resets the cooldown of Withering Fire. Haunting Wave can be cast a second time for free within 5 seconds after teleporting
Level 16
- Life Drain (W)
  - Moved from Level 13
  - New functionality:
    - Dealing damage to enemies with 3 stacks of Banshee's Curse heals Sylvanas for 15% of the damage dealt. Doubled against Heroes
- Evasive Fire (Q)
  - Adjusted Functionality:
    - Hitting enemies with Withering Fire grants Sylvanas 6% bonus Movement Speed for 2 seconds, stacking up to 30%. Basic Attacks refresh this duration.
- Will of the Forsaken (Active)
  - Moved from Level 13
Level 20
- Dark Lady's Call (R)
  - New functionality:
    - Reduce the cooldown of Mind Control by 30 seconds. Heroes hit by Mind Control have their vision greatly reduced for 5 seconds.
- Withering Barrage (Q)
  - Moved from Level 4
  - New functionality:
    - Hitting an enemy Hero with Withering Fire decreases its cooldown by .75 seconds

Developer Comment: Hail your Warchief! We hope you enjoy our changes to Sylvanas as much as we have. Sylvanas now boasts impressive skirmishing power while retaining her unique ability to shut down enemy fortifications. In exchange for this power, she now has a fair amount of counter-play with her abilities, which should make her interactions with other heroes more interesting. We're also experimenting with putting a uniquely large portion of her power into talents, which we would love to hear your feedback on once you get a chance to try her out!

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Warrior

Cho

Talents

Level 16
- Twilight Veil (Active) Undocumented
  - Activatable armor bonus decreased from 200% to 100%

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Stitches

Abilities

Hook (Q)
- Range reduced from 12.5 to 11
Slam (W)
- Cast time increased from .25 to .313
- Cooldown increased from 6 to 7 seconds
- Range increased from 8 to 9.5
- Mana cost increased from 30 to 35
- Added functionality:
  - Now has an Inner area that deals 40% Bonus Damage and applies a 40% slow for 1.5 seconds
Devour (E)
- Ability Effects now occur at the start of the ability's cast, rather than at the end
Gorge (R)
- Cooldown increased from 60 to 70 seconds
Putrid Bile (R)
- Cooldown increased from 60 to 75 seconds
Vile Cleaver (Passive)
- New Functionality:
  - Basic Attacks apply Vile Gas to nearby enemies, poisoning for 45 damage over 3 seconds. Re-applying Vile Gas increases its duration rather than resetting it, up to 10 seconds.

Talents

Level 1
- Chew Your Food (E)
  - Removed
- Dampen Magic (Passive)
  - Removed
- Heavy Slam (W)
  - Removed
- Hungry for More (Passive)
  - New functionality:
    - Quest: Regen Globes grant 30 permanent Health
    - Every 15 Regen globes, Stitches gains 5% permanent Movement speed up to a maximum of 20%
- Savor the Flavor (E)
  - Additional heal over time effect duration reduced from 5 to 4 seconds.
  - Moved from level 7
    - New Functionality:
      - Casting Devour on a Hero restores an additional 10% of maximum Health and Mana over 5 seconds and permanently increases Stitches' health regeneration by 1.
- New Talent: Patchwork Creation (Passive)
  - Increase all healing received by 15%.
  - Nearby Minion and Hero kills Heal Stiches (Minions for 30, Heroes for 300)
    - Hero takedown heal amount reduced from 300 to 240
Level 4
- Amplified Healing (Passive)
  - Removed
- Restorative Fumes (Trait)
  - Removed
- Putrid Ground (W)
  - Removed
- New Talent – Playtime! (W)
  - Heroes hit by Slam reduce the cooldowns of Stitches's other Basic Abilities by .5 seconds. This cooldown reduction is increased to 2 seconds for Heroes that are hit by Slam's inner impact area.
- New Talent – Chop Chop (W)
  - Hitting a Hero with the inner area of Slam increases Stitches' Basic Attack Speed by 50% for 4 seconds.
- New Talent: Serrated Edge (Q)
  - Hooking an enemy Hero deals 5% of their max life as damage and decreases Hook's cooldown by 4 seconds.
    - Cooldown reduction decreased from 4 to 3 seconds.
Level 7
- Last bite (E)
  - Removed
- New Talent - Blight (Trait)
  - Vile Gas heals for 33% of the damage it deals. Activate to apply Vile Gas to all nearby enemies and reduce their healing taken by 20% for 5 seconds. 40 second CD
- Cannibalize (Passive)
  - Moved from level 20
  - New functionality:
    - Heroes hit by Basic Attacks and Slam's inner area heal Stitches for 2% of his maximum health.
      - Healing reduced from 2 to 1.75% of maximum health
- Tenderizer (Passive)
  - New functionality:
    - Basic Attacks slow the target by 25% for 2.5 seconds. If the target is afflicted with Slam's Slow, refresh its duration.
Level 13
- Flea Bag (Passive)
  - Removed
- Mega Smash (W)
  - Removed
- Indigestion (E)
  - Removed
- New Talent – Lacerate (W)
  - Slam afflicts enemies with Vile Gas and reduces armor by 10 for 4 seconds.
- New Talent – Digestive Juices (E)
  - Devouring an enemy Hero reduces their damage dealt by 40% for 4 seconds.
- New Talent – Gas Flare (Passive)
  - Stitches deals 16 damage per second to enemies around you. This damage is increased by 150% for 4 seconds after successfully Hooking an enemy Hero
    - Damage per second reduced from 16 to 15
Level 16
- Pulverize (W)
  - New functionality:
    - Slam slows all enemies by 75% for 1 second.
      - Slow duration reduced from 1 to .75 seconds.
- Shish Kabob (Q)
  - Removed
- Toxic Gas (Passive)
  - Removed
- Stoneskin (Active) Undocumented
  - Removed
- Fishing Hook (Q)
  - Range bonus increased from 40 to 50%
- New Talent - Meat Hook (Q)
  - Hooking an enemy Hero restores 16% of maximum health over 4 seconds. For 4 seconds, Basic Attacks against the Hooked Hero will refresh the duration of this healing effect.
Level 20
- Hardened Shield (Active) Undocumented
  - Removed
- New Talent – Second Helping (E)
  - Gain an additional charge of Devour. Devouring an enemy Hero reduces the cooldown of your Heroic ability by 5 seconds.
- New Talent – Shambling Horror (Active)
  - Passive: Stitches is no longer affected by Slowing effects
  - Activate to gain 50 Armor for 4 seconds. 60 second CD.

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Collection

Many seasonal items have made their way back into the collection and will be available for crafting and in Loot Chests for a limited time!

New Bundles

The following new bundles are only available for a limited time!
- Toy Heroes Bundle
- Cuddle Bear Stitches Skin Pack
- Cosmic Force Valeera Skin Pack
- Dehakasaurus Rex Skin Pack

New Skins (Limited Time Only!)

Stitches
- Cuddle Bear Stitches
- Snuggle Bear Stitches
- Honey Bear Stitches
Dehaka
- Dehakasaurus Rex
- Dino-Metal Dehakasaurus Rex
- Playtime Dehakasaurus Rex
Valeera
- Cosmic Force Valeera
- Psionic Cosmic Force Valeera
- Nega Force Valeera
Sylvanas
- Mint Sugar Plum Sylvanas

New Mounts (Limited Time Only!)

Cosmic Lion
- Psionic Lion
- Nega Lion
Plush Unicorn
- Plush Zombicorn
- Pretty Plush Unicorn
- Fuzzy Plush Unicorn
- Honey Plush Unicorn

New Portraits, Sprays, and Emojis

Several new emoji packs and portraits have also been added to the game.

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Bug Fixes

General

Fixed an issue causing camera jumps and cursor resets when using drag scroll.
Made a number of improvements to AI behavior.

Heroes, Abilities, and Talents

Brightwing: Fixed an issue preventing Brightwing from applying the Sticky Flare talent effect if it hit more than one target.
Brightwing: Fixed an issue preventing Brightwing from applying the Hush! talent effect if it hit more than one target.
Chromie: Dragon's Breath's warning splat will now display after the ability has been cast.
Deckard: Fixed an issue causing Deckard's portal to be visible in Fog of War when using Hearthstone.
Leoric: Fixed an issue that allowed Drain Hope's damage and healing to persist through time stop effects.
Lunara: Fixed an issue preventing Lunara from playing a voice line when she died.
Stitches: Slam will now reveal its impact area and targets.
Stitches: Serrated Edge no longer deals bonus damage to friendly targets when using Helping Hand.
Stukov: Fixed an issue causing Massive Shove to remove Weighted Pustule from its target.

User Interface

Fixed a number of tooltip issues and inaccuracies across the game.
Fixed an issue causing Hero models to prevent players from pressing the Ready button in the queue screen.
Fixed an issue causing grandmaster numbers of 3 digits to extend beyond portrait frames while in a party.
Kel'Thuzad: Added a quick-cast option for Glacial Spike.
Zul'jin: Added a quick-cast option for Amani Rage.

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