Heroes of the StormJan 27, 2017 4:45 pm CT

Easier rooster racing in latest Heroes of the Storm balance updates

Have you been struggling with the rooster race in the Heroes of the Storm Lunar Festival? Possibly because it’s pretty much impossible? Then we have good news for you, because the latest Heroes balance updates will make it easier. The new patch, which is live now, makes the race appear whenever any player in a match hasn’t completed it that day, increases the race’s duration, and gives you a movement speed boost. All in all, it should make these races at least a little less impossible.

But a balance patch doesn’t come without hero changes, including notable tweaks to Zul’jin, Artanis, and Diablo. See the full patch notes below for all the details.

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment (Official Post)

General

Rooster Race Adjustments

The Rooster Race event will now always appear whenever any player in the match has not yet completed their quest for the day.
Rooster Race duration increased by 3 seconds.
Players will now receive a Movement Speed bonus while carrying a Lunar Festival item.
The area in which Lunar Festival items will spawn has been reduced across all Battlegrounds.
The Rooster will no longer consume Lunar Festival items other than the type specified at the top of the screen.

Heroes

Ragnaros

Stats

Base Maximum Health reduced from 2100 to 2000
Base Health Regen reduced from 4.4 to 4.2 per second

Talents

Level 1
- Sulfuras Hungers (Q)
  - Quest completion damage bonus reduced from 120 to 100
Level 4
- Catching Fire (Active)
  - Health Regeneration bonus reduced from 2 to 1.5 per regen globe gathered
Level 13
- Cauterize Wounds (Q)
  - Healing reduced from 60 to 50% of damage dealt

Thrall

Abilities

Earthquake (R)
- Slow amount reduced from 70 to 50%
Sundering (R)
- Cooldown reduced from 80 to 70 seconds

Developer Comments: These changes are a continued effort to bring Thrall’s two Heroics closer in line with each other. We realize that these are not the only pick-rate issues he has and are excited to look at him in more depth soon.

Zul’jin

Abilities

Twin Cleave (W)
- Mana cost reduced from 60 to 50
Guillotine (R)
- Cooldown reduced from 45 to 30 seconds

Talents

Level 1
- Boneslicer (Q)
  - Damage bonus increased from 15 to 20%
- Arcanite Axes (W)
  - Cooldown reduction per Hero hit increased from .5 to .75 seconds
- You Want Axe? (Passive)
  - Damage bonus per stack reduced from 1.5 to 1.25
Level 4
- Let the Killing Begin (Passive)
  - Buff duration reduced from 15 to 12 seconds
Level 7
- Wrong Place Wrong Time (W)
  - Damage from 140 to 150
Level 13
- Voodoo Shuffle (Active)
  - Cooldown reduced from 45 to 30 seconds
Level 16
- Ferocity (Trait)
  - Attack speed bonus reduced from 40 to 35%

Developer Comments: Our data shows a solid win-rate for Zul’jin’s Basic Attack build (I guess enemies really don’t want axe!) while his ability-supporting talents are slightly under-performing. These changes look to slightly help that while we continue to explore the flood of incoming data.

Zagara

Abilities

Creep Tumor (Trait)
- Movement Speed bonus from 15 to 20%
- Cooldown from 20 to 18 seconds
Hunter Killer (W)
- Base damage from 62 to 65
- Damage scaling from 3.5 to 4%

Talents

Level 20
- Endless Creep (Trait)
  - Movement Speed bonus from 15 to 10%

Uther

Stats

Now has 10 Armor

Developer Comments: This is the first of a few changes we want to make to Uther. We’re attempting to ensure that he has a distinctive niche beyond bringing Divine Shield. This is the first step in the direction of making him a tankier healer.

Artanis

Talents

Level 4
- Shield Surge (Trait)
  - Bonus shield amount reduced from 80 to 75%
Level 7
- Chrono Surge (Q)
  - Duration of Attack Speed increased from 4 to 5 seconds
Level 13
- Templar’s Zeal (Q)
  - Cooldown recharge rate increased from 100 to 150%
- Graviton Vortex (E)
  - Cooldown reduction decreased from 6 to 5 seconds
Level 16
- Titan Killer (W)
  - Damage reduced from 2.5 to 2% of enemy Hero’s maximum Health
- Plasma Burn (Trait)
  - Damage increased from 50 to 55

Developer Comments: We’re glad to see the Hierarch as a powerful entity in the Nexus! As players are growing more proficient with his new kit, he’s becoming increasingly more powerful than his competition. We’re using this time to adjust a few of the over performing Talents as a means of toning him down slightly, as well as creating more compelling choices.

Diablo

Abilities

Lightning Breath (R)
- Increase turn rate by 25%
- Damage reduced from 100 to 50
- Damage effects per second increased from 2 to 4

Talents

Level 4
- From the Shadows (Q)
  - No longer grants additional stun time.
  - Additional range increased from 33 to 40%
Level 13
- Fire Devil (W)
  - Bonus attack damage reduced from 25 to 20%
- Hellfire (W)
  - Bonus damage from Heroes hit increased from 10 to 12%
  - Max damage value increased from 100 to 120%
Level 16
- Domination (E)
  - No longer grants cooldown reduction on Overpower
Level 20
- Hellgate (Active)
  - Cooldown increased from 90 to 120 seconds

Developer Comments: It’s nice to see the Lord of Terror running amok inside the Nexus once again. These changes are targeted at talents that are slightly over or under tuned and should help equalize some of his Talent tiers.

Sonya

Abilities

Whirlwind (E)
- Damage increased from 339 to 441 over 3 seconds
- Healing increased from 20 to 25% of damage done (tripled versus Heroes)

Talents

Level 7
- Poisoned Spear (Q)
  - Damage increased from 100 to 150% of Ancient Spear
  - Duration increased from 4 to 6 seconds
Level 13
- Life Funnel (E)
  - Healing increased from 30 to 35% to correspond with base Whirlwind changes

Developer Comments: Sonya has steadily been dropping to the bottom of our Hero winrates, primarily because a lot of Heroes fulfill her role slightly better. The focus of these buffs is to improve her winrate, but also to solidify the reason to take Sonya: when you can get a lot of value out of Whirlwind because of the map mechanic, an abundance of Mercenaries, or an enemy team that consistently groups up.

Stitches

Stats

Health increased from 2738 to 2900
Health Regeneration increased from 5.7 to 6 per second

Developer Comments: Stitches come back to play! Stitches big scary monster, don’t need Armor, has lots of Health!

Zarya

Stats

Basic Attack damage reduced from 21 to 20

Abilities

Particle Grenade (Q)
- Damage reduced from 74 to 71

Talents

Level 1
- Maximum Charge (Trait)
  - Energy gain from Regeneration Globes reduced from 20 to 15

Developer Comments: We’re pretty happy with Zarya’s gameplay and how often we’re seeing her, but we think toning down her damage slightly is in order to keep her in line.

Bug Fixes

General

Rooster Race: Turning in the final Lunar Festival item required just before time expires will now properly grant credit for completing the Rooster Race.

A.I.

General: Error messages will no longer display on-screen when A.I. players use Abilities.
Try Mode: Fixed an issue causing Abathur to behave strangely when chosen as an ally in Try Mode.

Art

Samuro: Monkey King Samuro’s Mirror Images will no longer use a different skin variation than the real Samuro.

Battlegrounds

Battlefield of Eternity: Tyrael’s Holy Ground and Zagara’s Devouring Maw can no longer be used to displace the opposing Immortal while the Immortals are fighting.

Heroes, Abilities, and Talents

Chromie: Timewalker’s Pursuit quest rewards will no longer be granted immediately upon selecting the Talent.
Dehaka: Essence Devourer will now grant the intended amount of Essence per Regeneration Globe collected before and after completing its quest.
Dehaka: Bonus Essence granted by Regeneration Globes after completing the Essence Devourer quest will now properly grant credit toward Enhanced Agility and Tissue Regeneration quests.
Greymane: Marked for the Kill now correctly reduces the target’s armor by 25, increasing their damage taken.
Ragnaros: Fixed an issue that made it possible for Empower Sulfuras to occasionally deal double damage.
Rexxar: After learning Thrill of the Hunt, Misha’s Basic Attacks will no longer provide Rexxar with a Movement Speed bonus.
Stitches: The Hungry for More talent will now correctly grant maximum Health bonuses after collecting Regeneration Globes.
Stitches: Savor the Flavor no longer grants bonus Health Regeneration after using Devour on non-Heroic targets.
Tassadar: Fixed an issue causing damage absorbed by Plasma Shield to display as double on the tab/score screen.
Tassadar: Khala’s Light will no longer grant Armor to Structures affected by Plasma Shield.
Tassadar: Fixed an issue in which Basic Attacks did not always count toward Templar’s Will quest progress.
The Lost Vikings: Fixed an issue causing the Viking Hoard talent to fail to grant bonuses to Health Regeneration.
Tychus: Fixed an issue causing Overkill to deal less damage than expected.
Valeera: Dealing Shield damage to a Stealthed Valeera after the Unrevealable phase of Vanish has expired will now properly reveal her.
Valla: Hungering Arrows after the first will no longer fail to deal damage when cast multiple times on the same target.
Zeratul: Bonus Ability Power granted by Grim Task is now properly removed on death.
Zeratul: Fixed an issue in which Vorpal Blade could fail to teleport Zeratul the full distance to his target.