Heroes of the StormNov 10, 2016 2:00 pm CT

Heroes balance changes bring more nerfs to Samuro

The Heroes of the Storm team has been busy lately, rolling out big reworks to Zeratul and Kharazim on the PTR (both will likely be live next week), previewing new holiday skins and mounts, and getting ready to launch Varian (also next week) and Ragnaros (in December). But today a new round of balance changes went live, tweaking Kael’thas, Valla, Samuro, Malfurion, Murky, ETC, Muradin, and Zarya. As usual, it’s a mix of nerfs and buffs, and unsurprisingly Nexus newbie Samuro has another round of nerfs as Blizzard tries to bring him in line with the rest of the cast.

As Murky says, “Aaaaaughibbrgubugbugrguburgle!”

This patch is live now — read on for the full patch notes.

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment (Official Post)

ASSASSIN

KAEL’THAS

Talents

Level 7

Sun King’s Fury (W)
- Increased damage bonus from 30 to 35%

VALLA

Talents

Level 4

Punishment (W)
- Bonus damage per Hatred stack decreased from 5 to 4%

Level 7

Arsenal (W)
- Cooldown reduction per Hero hit reduced from 3 to 2 seconds

Developer Comments: Valla is sitting in a really good spot right now, but we feel like the damage output compared to ease of use is too high on her Multishot talents. The changes to Punishment and Arsenal should incentivize players into taking the higher skill-vs-reward talents on those tiers.

SAMURO

Stats

Basic Attack Damage decreased from 93 to 88

Abilities

Mirror Images (Q)
- Damage dealt reduced from 30 to 25% of Samuro’s damage
Illusion Master (R)
- Damage increase reduced from 15 to 10%

Talents

Level 13

Shukuchi (E)
- Teleport range decreased by 20%

Developer Comments: While there are a lot of knobs for us to turn in order to help bring Samuro’s win rate more in line, we felt that his damage output (especially burst) was where we wanted to start first. We are happy with his survivability options and feel his fantasy should cater towards being elusive. We also realize that damage and confusion are really all he brings to a team, so we wanted to be careful with the changes. We feel that these small tweaks to his damage (and the fact that they compound on each other) will cause a reasonable drop in his win rate and will continue to closely monitor him.

SPECIALIST

MURKY

Abilities

Slime (Q)
- Damage increased from 82 to 86
Pufferfish (W)
- Damage increased from 390 to 410

Developer Comments: “Aaaaaughibbrgubugbugrguburgle!” Translated, that means he’s getting a 5% buff to most of his damage, but expect to see larger Talent changes in the early part of next year.

SUPPORT

MALFURION

Talents

Level 1

Shan’do’s Clarity (Trait)
- Cooldown reduction decreased from 10 to 8 seconds
Moonburn (W)
- Bonus damage against non-heroes reduced from 100 to 75%

Level 4

Elune’s Grace (Passive)
- Ability range decreased from 30 to 25%

Developer Comments: Similar to ETC, Malfurion is simply a little too powerful. We’re toning down some of his talents to keep him more in line with other supports.

WARRIOR

E.T.C.

Stats

Maximum Base Health decreased from 2556 to 2428
Base Health Regen from 5.32 to 5.06

Talents

Level 1

Prog Rock (E)
- Quest reward ally heal reduced from 53 to 50

Level 7

Echo Pedal (Passive)
- Bonus damage to Minions and Mercenaries reduced from 100 to 75%

Level 13

Face Smelt (W)
- Slow amount reduced from 60 to 50%

Developer Comments: ETC is a little too strong at all levels of play, so we’re looking to trim down his power. He also has a few over performing talents in Prog Rock, Echo Pedal, and Face Smelt, so we’re lowering their power to make the other talents on their tiers more competitive.

MURADIN

Stats

Base Maximum Health increased from 2556 to 2633
Health Regen increased from 5.32 to 5.48

Talents

Level 4

Crowd Control (W)
- Added functionality:
  - Now also refunds 5 Mana per enemy hit

Level 7

Skullcracker (Passive)
- Added functionality:
  - Now also passively increases Muradin’s attack speed by 25%
Iron-Forged Momentum (Passive)
- No longer decreases the cooldown of Dwarf Toss

Level 16

Heavy Impact (E)
- Stun duration reduced from .75 to .5

Developer Comments: Muradin’s pick rate in both Hero League and Pro Play continues to be extremely high. Oddly enough his win rate is actually below average in most levels of play. We realize that he brings a very versatile kit that allows him to be a great solo-Warrior for his team. Our main change to offset his Health is to remove the escape effectiveness of Iron-Forged Momentum. Next week we will also be reducing the amount of Health that Avatar provides. The rest of the changes are minimal and targeted towards talent win/pick rates.

ZARYA

Talents

Level 1

Demolitions Expert (Q)
- Quest reward of hitting 5 Heroes increased from .375 to .5
Together We Are Strong (E)
- Decreased Energy per damage dealt from 10 to 9
- Increased the maximum Energy gained from 25 to 30
Maximum Charge (Trait)
- Quest completion time increased from 120 to 150 seconds

Level 4

Defensive Shielding (Passive)
- Block charge duration reduced from 12 to 6 seconds

Level 7

Hit Me (Trait)
- Bonus Energy from Zarya’s Shields decreased from 20 to 15%

Level 13

Unstoppable Competitor (W)
- Unstoppable duration increased from 1.5 to 2 seconds
Endurance Training (Passive)
- Damage reduction decreased from 25 to 20%

Level 16

Plasma Shock (Q)
- Slow duration increased from 1 to 1.5 seconds
Cleansing Shield (E)
- Added functionality
  - Also decreases Cooldown of Shield Ally from 12 to 10 seconds

Level 20

Unyielding Defender (Active)
- Cooldown increased from 45 to 60 seconds

Developer Comments: Zarya’s power level is slightly higher than what we’d like, and in general her Energy Talents are stronger than all the other options on their tiers. These changes should increase Talent diversity and deliver a slight nerf to the Hero..