Heroes of the StormApr 20, 2017 2:00 pm CT

Heroes of the Storm balance update takes aim at Cassia, Tassadar, and Warriors

By Mitch

Heroes of the Storm may be bringing the giant 2.0 update and a new hero reveal to us next week, but that doesn’t mean we’re not going to get changes in the meantime. Today’s balance update doesn’t hit anyone too hard, but makes adjustments to bring a couple heroes more in line with Blizzard’s vision for them. There are changes for every role here, but the Inner Beast changes to Greymane will surely be welcome by Grey-mains, while the Tassadar and Zarya changes will likely raise their skill cap without fundamentally changing their playstyle.

Check out the full list of updates below:

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment (Official Post)

Assassin

Cassia

Abilities

Fend (E)
- Cooldown decreased from 10 to 8 seconds
- Mana cost reduced from 50 to 40
Ball Lightning (R)
- Mana cost increased from 40 to 60
Valkyrie (R)
- Cooldown decreased from 90 to 60 seconds
- Mana cost reduced from 70 to 60

Talents

Level 1
- True Sight (W)
  - Quest requirement reduced from 80 to 60 hits
  - Passive damage bonus against Blind targets increased from 10% to 15%
Level 7
- Impale (E)
  - Health required to trigger bonus damage increased from 40% to 50%
- War Traveler (Trait)
  - Movement Speed bonus increased from 3% to 4% per stack
- Surge of Light (Trait)
  - Damage dealt on activation reduced from 250 to 225
Level 20
- Infinite Lightning (R)
  - Cooldown reduction reduced from 4 to 3 seconds per bounce

Developer Comment: Cassia has hit the Nexus right in stride. Showing around a 48% win rate this early lets us know she is tuned pretty well. We expect her to go up a bit more over the next few weeks but wanted to make some lightning quick adjustments to some under/over performing talents. The base buff to Fend should help players get more value out of those talents as well..

Greymane

Abilities

Inner Beast (W)
- Cooldown increased from 16 to 20 seconds
- Every Basic Attack while Inner Beast is active now reduces its cooldown by 0.5 seconds
Cursed Bullet (R)
- Damage increased from 35% to 40% of the enemy’s current Health

Talents

Level 1
- Wolfheart (W)
  - Now increases the cooldown reduction per Basic Attack from 0.5 to 1 second while Inner Beast is active
Level 4
- Insatiable (W)
  - No longer has a restriction on the amount of Mana that can be restored

Developer Comment: We think that the mini-game of keeping your Inner Beast active as long as you can is enjoyable gameplay, and we want to celebrate those giant combos with gameplay rewards. To do so, we’ve baked part of the functionality of the old Wolfheart Talent into the baseline ability.

Specialist

Nazeebo

Abilities

Plague of Toads (E)
- Damage increased from 126 to 140 over 6 seconds
Gargantuan (R)
- Basic Attack damage reduced from 175.5 to 150
- Health reduced from 2500 to 2300

Talents

Level 13
- Superstition (Passive)
  - Spell Armor reduced from 50 to 40
Level 20
- Humongoid (R)
  - Cooldown reduced from 45 to 40 seconds
- Vile Infection (Trait)
  - Voodoo Ritual stacks required increased from 150 to 175

Support

Auriel

Abilities

Sacred Sweep (Q)
- Damage increased from 75 to 80
- Center damage increased from 150 to 160
Detainment Strike (E)
- Damage increased from 100 to 115
- Terrain collision damage increased from 100 to 115

Talents

Level 1
- Increase Clarity (Q)
  - Damage bonus for completing the quest increased from 120 to 150
- Righteous Assault (Q)
  - Cooldown reduction increased from 2 to 3 seconds per Hero hit
  - No longer has a cap
Level 4
- Repeated Offense (E)
  - Quest reward damage bonus increased from 200 to 250
Level 7
- Glimmer of Hope (Trait)
  - Energy cost reduction increased from 50% to 75%
- Empathic Link (Trait)
  - Energy stored for damage taken by Bestow Hope’s target increased from 20% to 25%
Level 13
- Blinding Flash (Q)
  - Blind duration reduced from 3 to 2.25 seconds
- Piercing Lash (E)
  - Now also reduces the cooldown by 2 seconds for each enemy Hero hit
Level 20
- Shield of Hope (Active)
  - Cooldown increased from 45 to 60 seconds

Li Li

Abilities

Blinding Wind (E)
- Cooldown decreased from 10 to 8 seconds
- Mana cost reduced from 40 to 30
- Damage increased from 132 to 140

Developer Comment: Adventures are hard to have when you keep getting bogged down by pesky Basic Attackers. She is too mild-mannered to demand buffs, so Chen sat us down, handed us some brew and talked us into helping her out a bit.

Tassadar

Stats

Basic Attack damage increased from 10 to 12

Abilities

Plasma Shield (Q)
- Duration decreased from 5 to 4 seconds
- Shield amount decreased from 550 to 475
Force Wall (R)
- Cooldown reduced from 10 to 8 seconds
- Mana cost reduced from 30 to 25

Talents

Level 1
- Khaydarin Resonance (Passive)
  - New functionality:
    - Quest: Regeneration Globes grant 50% more Mana to Tassadar
    - Reward: After collecting 15 Globes, increase the Shield amount of Plasma Shield by 15%
    - Reward: After collecting 30 Globes, increase the Shield amount by an additional 15%
Level 4
- Khala’s Celerity (Q)
  - Movement Speed bonus reduced from 25 to 20%
  - Movement Speed bonus duration reduced from 5 to 4 seconds
- Khala’s Embrace (Q)
  - Life steal increased from 50% to 60%
Level 20
- Twilight Archon (R)
  - Updated functionality:
    - Basic Attacks while in Archon form increase Archon’s duration by 2 seconds

Developer Comment: It’s no secret that Khaydarin Resonance has consistently proven to be a problematic talent on Tassadar. We want to keep the talent ‘support natured’ which the new design embraces. With the volatility of him in competitive drafts we are striking at his Plasma Shield duration again and offsetting the nerfs with some base damage buffs. The rest of the changes address some talent imbalances and should help even out a few of his Talent Tiers.

Warrior

Anub’arak

Abilities

Burrow Charge (E)
- Hovering over this ability will now show the range indicator for distance traveled, as well as the area affected when he emerges from burrow
Locust Swarm (R)
- Damage per second reduced from 60 to 55
- A range indicator will now appear to Anub’arak while Locust Swarm is active

Talents

Level 7
- Subterranean Shield (E)
  - Shield amount reduced from 365 to 345
Level 13
- Urticating Spines (W)
  - Hovering over the ability button after selecting this talent will now show a range indicator
Level 16
- Epicenter (E)
  - Cooldown reduction decreased from 2 to 1.5 seconds per Hero hit

E.T.C.

Stats

Health increased from 2100 to 2180
Health Regeneration increased from 4.375 to 4.543

Talents

Level 1
- Guitar Hero (E)
  - Healing increased from 40% to 50% of damage dealt by Basic Attacks
Level 4
- Speed Metal (Passive)
  - Movement Speed increased from 10% to 15%
Level 7
- Pinball Wizard (W)
  - Damage increased from 200% to 300%
- Hammer-On (Passive)
  - Damage increased from 30% to 35%

Stitches

Stats

Health increased from 2900 to 3000
Health Regeneration increased from 6.043 to 6.25

Abilities

Slam (W)
- Damage increased from 96 to 104

Zarya

Abilities

Energy (Trait)
- Rate of decay increased from 2.5 to 3 per second
Graviton Surge (R)
- Cooldown reduced from 100 to 80 seconds

Talents

Level 1
- Demolitions Expert (Q)
  - Cooldown reduction decreased from 0.5 to 0.4375 seconds per 5 Heroes hit, up to 3.5 seconds
- Together We Are Strong (E)
  - Damage needed per point of Energy gained reduced from 9 to 6
- Maximum Charge (Trait)
  - Energy gained from Regeneration Globes increased from 15 to 20

Level 4
- Give Me Twenty (E)
  - Cooldown reduction granted upon completing the quest decreased from 3 to 2 seconds
- Speed Barrier (E)
  - Movement Speed bonus increased from 35% to 50%
Level 16
- Cleansing Shield (E)
  - Cooldown reduction increased from 2 to 3 seconds
- Plasma Shock (Q)
  - Slow duration increased from 1.5 to 2 seconds
Level 20
- Gravity Kills (R)
  - Damage increased from 140 to 175 over the duration
- Clear Out (R)
  - Bonus maximum Energy increased from 10 to 15 per Hero hit

Developer Comment: Zarya has continued to be one of the most powerful Heroes in the Nexus. We’re targeting a nerf at her Energy decay rate because we think that’s it’s too easy for Zarya to stay at really high Energy amounts over a long period of time. Rather than continuing to reduce her potential damage output, we want to make the moments that she gets to maximum Energy more rare (but still scary).

Bug Fixes

Heroes and Talents

E.T.C. – Fixed an issue causing Powerslide to fail to trigger the Rockstar effect after learning the Crowd Surfer talent.
Medivh – Fixed an issue that could cause Medivh to become unresponsive when entering vehicles. (Dragon Knight, Garden Terror, etc.)

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