Heroes of the StormAug 22, 2016 6:57 pm CT

Auriel, Gul’dan see changes in latest Heroes of the Storm patch

Though we knew we would be getting a rework of Valla in a future patch, today’s patch notes include changes to eight heroes, none of which are Valla. (Since her changes aren’t here, we expect them to come with the Machines of War patch, due to hit the PTR on August 29.)

Among the heroes getting tweaks in this balance patch are Nexus newcomers Auriel and Gul’dan. It’s typical for the devs to decide some tweaks are in order after they’ve seen heroes on live (often right after their price has been dropped) — and in this case that means some nerfs for Auriel and more minor adjustments to improve Gul’dan’s talent diversity.

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment (Official Post)

ASSASSIN

GALL

Talents

Level 1
- Shove (Active)
  - Cooldown reduced from 30 to 20 seconds
Level 7
- Double Trouble (Q)
  - Cooldown reduction increased from 1 to 1.25 seconds
Level 16
- Giant Scorcher (Q)
  - Damage increased from 3 to 3.5% of target’s maximum Health

GREYMANE

Abilities

Razor Swipe (Q)
- Damage reduced from 159 to 135
Go for the Throat (R)
- Damage reduced from 420 to 355
Marked for the Kill (R)
- Damage increased from 68 to 190

Talents

Level 1
- Wolfheart (W)
  - Cooldown reduction per attack reduced from 1 to .8 seconds
Level 4
- Eyes in the Dark (E)
  - Stealth duration reduced from 4 to 3 seconds
Level 7
- Incendiary Elixir (Q)
  - Increased the damage bonus per quest stack from 10 to 15
  - Increased the maximum damage bonus from 150 to 225
Level 20
- Unleashed (R)
  - Damage bonus per kill increased from 25 to 35%, up to a maximum of 140%

Developer Comments: We’re pretty happy with the way Greymane is playing, but think that he’s doing more burst damage than we want from a Basic Attack focused Hero (at a very consistent rate). We’ve decided to address this by reducing the damage of Go for the Throat and Razor Swipe. We’re also increasing the damage of Marked for the Kill. While the focus of the Heroic is the long term Vulnerable, by increasing the damage we’re reducing the opportunity cost of giving up Marked for the Kill.

GUL’DAN

Talents

Level 1
- Echoed Corruption (E)
  - Number of hits required to complete quest reduced from 35 to 30
Level 7
- Curse of Exhaustion (E)
  - Slow duration increased from 2 to 2.5 seconds

Level 13
- Fel Armor (Q)
  - Ability damage reduction increased from 30 to 40%
Level 16
- Rampant Hellfire (Q)
  - Damage bonus increased from 6% per stack (30% max) to 8% per stack (40% max)
- Darkness Within (Trait)
  - Damage bonus increased from 20 to 25%

Developer Comments: While he has an acceptable win rate in the hands of experienced players, we felt that Gul’dan could use a few minor buffs and talent tweaks to help make his talent tiers more competitive. His Echo of Corruption quest ended up being completed earlier than we intended for such a strong effect, so we’re increasing the amount of Hero hits required. We are also are seeing a higher win rate for his Ruinous Affliction talent compared to others on his Level 16 tier. Rather than nerf this talent, we decided to buff the other options to make the tier more competitive and to make his late-game power spike more powerful.

SUPPORT

AURIEL

Stats

Basic Attack damage increased from 48 to 60

Abilities

Sacred Sweep (Q)
- Outer damage reduced from 80 to 75
- Inner damage reduced from 160 to 150
Resurrect (R)
- Cooldown reduced from 90 to 70 seconds
- Range increased from 4 to 5

Talents

Level 1

Increasing Clarity (Q)
- Lowered the quest bonus damage for each stack from 3 to 2
- Increased the number of hits required to complete the quest from 20 to 25
- Quest completion bonus increased from 60 to 70. The total damage bonus will remain at 120

Level 7

Empathic Link (D)
- Energy reduced from 25 to 20% of Bestow Hope target’s damage taken
Glimmer of Hope (W)
- Energy reduction from globes increased from 35 to 50%
Energized Cord (W)
- Increased Energy gain from Auriel’s Basic Attacks from 100%/30% to 100%/50%

Level 13

Blinding Flash (Q)
- Blind duration reduced from 4 to 3 seconds

Level 20

Diamond Resolve (R)
- Damage resistance duration increased from 4 to 5 seconds

Developer Comments: Auriel has had a very strong release. We’re happy to see some fresh blood (or hope) in the support scene, but do think that as players continue to master the newest Hero in the Nexus that her winrate will continue to climb. As such, we’re reducing the power of her Sacred Sweep Talents, as well as reducing some of her Energy gain from Empathic Link. We’ve also transferred some of her damage (and consequently her Energy gain) from Sacred Sweep into her Basic Attacks, as we found them lackluster than we’d like and not worth the risk necessary to use them.

SPECIALIST

SGT. HAMMER

Abilities

Thrusters (Z)
- Thrusters are now always active while in the Altar of Storms
Artillery (Trait)
- Now also increases Sgt. Hammer’s Basic Attack range by 20%

Talents

Level 1

Lethal Blast (W)
- Removed

Level 4

Maelstrom Shells (Passive)
- Removed

Level 7

Hyper-Cooling Engines (Z)
- Cooldown reduction increased from 10 to 15 seconds
- No longer makes Thrusters always active while in the Altar of Storms

Developer Comments:We’re planning to do a deeper dive into our favorite Siege Tank down the road, but in the meantime we felt Sgt. Hammer could use a few changes to make her feel more competitive compared to other heroes. Sgt. Hammer was originally designed to be the master of ranged damage, but has since become outshined by other poke heroes like Li-Ming and Chromie. To help her assert her spot again as a scary ranged damage-dealer, we’re making Maelstrom Shells a part of her baseline Artillery Trait, which should also help that tier’s pick rates. We’re also giving her a bit of a quality of life improvement by making her Thrusters always active when she leaves the Altar of Storms, which should help her get back to the game faster from her base.

WARRIOR

CHO

Talents

Level 7

I AM Hurrying! (Z)
- Duration increased from 1.5 to 2 seconds

Level 13

Runic Feedback (E)
- Cooldown reduction increased from 1 to 1.25 seconds

STITCHES

Abilities

Gorge (R)
- Cooldown reduced from 80 to 60 seconds
- Mana cost reduced from 80 to 70

TYRAEL

Abilities

El’druin’s Might (Q)
- Cooldown increased from 11 to 12 seconds
Judgment (R)
- Cooldown reduced from 80 to 70 seconds
Sanctification (R)
- Cooldown increased from 70 to 80 seconds

Talents

Level 4

Horadric Reforging (Q)
- Cooldown reduction increased from 3 to 5 seconds

Level 7

Reciprocate (W)
- Damage reduced from 200 to 170
Angel’s Grace (Q)
- Movement Speed increased from 30 to 40%
Searing Attacks (Active)
- Removed
Follow Through (Passive)
- Added

Level 13

Imposing Will (W)
- Fixed bug that was causing the Movement Speed slow to inconsistently stack with all other Movement Speed slows
Angelic Absorption (W)
- Increased healing amount from 156 over 3 seconds to 208 over 4 seconds

Level 16

Salvation (W)
- Increased bonus Shields from 35 to 45% per affected ally

Developer Comments: Tyrael has been trending upward since he last received a Talent update, and has reached a point where we’re ready to do a few nerfs to our Archangel of Justice. The major target points are a few of the over performing Talents, as well as some slight adjustments to a few of his cooldowns. Coupled with these nerfs, we’re also buffing a few of the lesser picked Talents so that he has more compelling options at every tier.

BUG FIXES

Heroes, Abilities, and Talents

Auriel: Auriel can no longer become polymorphed indefinitely if she exits a self-cast Crystal Aegis in the same moment that she comes under the effects of the Garden Terror’s Queen’s Curse Ability.
Auriel: The simple tooltip for Auriel’s Energized Cord Talent no longer incorrectly states that it doubles the energy stored by Basic Attacks.

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