Stealth changes and more hit the Heroes of the Storm PTR with 2018 Gameplay Update

General

Performance-Based Matchmaking

• The matchmaking system has been updated to include a performance-based data-driven system, which takes individual player performance into account when determining MMR gains and losses.
• Under this new system, players will now reach their intended Matchmaking Rating quicker and more accurately.
• Read our recent blog about Performance-Based Matchmaking to learn more.

Game Camera Height

• In-game Camera height has been significantly increased in order to provide more visibility of the battlefield.

New Hero: Hanzo

• PTR Note: In order to focus playtesting and feedback on the 2018 Gameplay Update and Stealth changes found in this patch, Hanzo will not be available for play on the Public Test Realm until the week of November 27. 

Trait

• Natural Agility (D)
  • Target unpathable terrain or a Structure to jump to the other side of it.

Basic Abilities

• Storm Bow (Q)
  • Activate to charge an arrow that deals 270 damage to the first enemy hit. Storm Bow’s range increases the longer it is Channeled. Reactivate to fire.
• Scatter Arrow (W)
  • Fire an arrow that deals 85 to the first enemy Hero hit. Scatter Arrow can collide with terrain and Structures, splitting into 5 arrows that travel extra distance, ricochet up to 4 additional times, and deal 85 damage each to the first enemy hit.
• Sonic Arrow (E)
  • Fire an arrow that grants vision in a large area 8 seconds. Enemies inside are revealed for 1 second. If Sonic Arrow lands directly on an enemy, it deals 150 damage to them and follows them as they move.

Heroic Abilities

• Dragonstrike (R)
  • After 1.5 seconds, summon a pair of Spirit Dragons which travel forward, dealing 52 damage every 0.25 seconds to enemy Heroes in its area. Enemies in the center take 150% damage.
• Dragon’s Arrow (R)
  • Fire a missile that travels across the battleground. Explodes upon hitting an enemy Hero, dealing 100 damage to all nearby enemies and Stunning them for 0.5 seconds.
  • After traveling a medium distance, the damage is increased to 200 and the Stun duration to 1.25 seconds.
  • After traveling a long distance, the damage is increased to 350 and the Stun duration to 2 seconds.

2018 Gameplay Update

Battleground Objectives

• The first Battleground objective event will now activate 90 seconds into the match, following a 30-second warning, for the following Battlegrounds:
  • Blackheart’s Bay
    • Doubloon Chests will now consistently spawn 3 minutes after the final Chest during a the previous event has been captured.
  • Braxis Holdout
    • Beacon events after the first will now consistently spawn 2 minutes and 10 seconds after a previous Zerg wave has been defeated.
  • Dragon Shire
    • Shrines will now consistently spawn 2 minutes after a Dragon Knight has been killed.
• The first Battleground objective event will now activate 3 minutes into the match, following a 30-second warning, for the following Battlegrounds:
  • Battlefield of Eternity
  • Cursed Hollow
  • Garden of Terror
  • Haunted Mines
  • Infernal Shrines
  • Sky Temple
  • Towers of Doom
  • Warhead Junction
• The following Battleground objective timers are unchanged:
  • Tomb of the Spider Queen
  • Volskaya Foundry
• The Minimap will now indicate the next objective spawn location for the following Battlegrounds:
  • Cursed Hollow
    • The first Shrine indicator will appear on the Minimap 30 seconds after the game begins, and subsequent indicators will appear 15 seconds after the previous Tribute has been captured.
  • Infernal Shrines
    • The first Tribute indicator will appear on the Minimap 30 seconds after the game begins, and subsequent indicators will appear 30 seconds after a Punisher is defeated.
    • Hover the cursor over a Shrine indicator on the Minimap to display whether it will be a Mortar, Frost, or Arcane Shrine.
  • Sky Temple
    • The first Temple indicators will appear on the Minimap 30 seconds after the game begins, as well as 30 seconds after all Temples in the same event have been depleted.
  • Towers of Doom
    • The first Altar indicators will appear on the Minimap 30 seconds after the game begins, as well as 30 seconds after the final Altars in an event has been captured.
  • Warhead Junction
    • The first Warhead indicators will appear on the Minimap 30 seconds after the game begins, as well as 30 seconds after the final Warhead in an event has been collected.

Regeneration Globes

• Regeneration Globes will now become neutral (claimable by both teams) if not claimed within 3 seconds.
• Time before Regeneration Globes expire has been reduced to 6 seconds.

Structures

• All attacking structures no longer have ammunition.
• Walls will now be destroyed if their connected Towers and Gate are also destroyed. Walls can still be attacked normally.
• Tower vision range has been increased by 25%
• Tower damage to minions has been reduced by 25%
• Structures now have a warmup period of .5 seconds before firing and must face their targets completely
  • Structure attack warning responsiveness has been significantly improved
• Standalone Towers (found next to Forts and Keeps) have been removed.
  • The Health, granted Experience, and Damage of Standalone Towers has been redistributed into their surrounding gate Towers, Forts, and Keeps.
• Forts and Keeps now have True Sight, meaning they will reveal and attack Stealthed Heroes.
  • True Sight is disabled while the Structure is disabled by effects such as the Raven Lord’s Curse or Sylvanas’ Black Arrow Trait.

Minions

• Minion base damage has been increased by roughly 10%
• The 5 second delay before Minions spawn after the game begins has been removed.

Mercenaries

• Respawn Timers
  • Mercenary Camps will now spawn 60 seconds after the game begins
• Siege Giant Camp
  • Siege Defenders
    • Defending Siege Giant attacks are now telegraphed on the terrain and can be dodged.
  • Siege Laners
    • Attack telegraphing and missile trajectory has been significantly improved.
• Hellbat Camp
  • Respawn times have been doubled
  • Hellbats will now prioritize structures
    • Defender Hellbat Stats
      • Base health increased by 125%,
      • Health scaling increased by 200%
      • Damage increased by 125%
      • Damage scaling reduced by 50%
    • Laner Hellbat Stats
      • Base health increased by roughly 25%
      • Health scaling increased by 43%
      • Base damage increased by 50%
      • Damage scaling decreased by 66%
      • Damage taken from structures reduced by 50%
  • Attacks now apply a 3-second stacking -5 Armor debuff to all targets, stacking up to 20 times (structures included)
• Knight Camp
  • Wizard Knight Laner
    • Wizard Knight Laner has a Spell Armor Aura
      • Grants all nearby Allies (Minions, Mercenaries, and Heroes) 30 Spell Armor
        • Spell Armor is immediately removed upon leaving the aura area.
      • This Aura is destroyed when the Wizard is killed
  • Wizard Knight Defender
    • Grants nearby Knight Defenders a 15 Spell Armor aura
      • This Aura is destroyed when the Wizard is killed
• Sapper Camp
  • Sapper Defenders
    • Now fire their attacks at target areas, instead of directly at Heroes. This behaves like the laning Sappers
  • Sapper Explosion damage now scales over time
  • Health scaling increased by 33%
  • Respawn timer across all maps increased from 105 to 120 seconds
  • Laning Sappers now have 100 Armor vs Structures while charging and Towers will ignore charging Sappers

Art

Heroes, Abilities, and Talents

• Zeratul has received updated art to coincide with Talent changes.

Minimap

• Minimap art has been updated across all Battlegrounds.

Stealth

• Added an overlay to indicate when a Stealthed character goes Invisible
• Added a new Stealth visual effect. Enemy Stealthed Heroes should now be easier to spot.

Battlegrounds

Sandbox Custom Game Improvements

• The following new cheats have been added to Sandbox Custom Games:
• Spawn Camps
  • Respawn all Mercenary Camps.
• Spawn Dummy
  • Creates a dialog allowing players to choose a type of dummy to spawn.
    • Player can then click in the game world to create a dummy of the selected dummy type at mouse cursor position.
    • One player cannot spawn more than 20 dummies.
  • When a player deals damage or heals a target dummy the Target Dummy Panel will pop up displaying the damage or healing dealt.
    • If player deals damage to multiple dummies with an AOE ability, the number will be the combination of damage done to all dummies.
    • If the team hasn’t dealt damage or healing to any of the dummies for 8 seconds, the Target Dummy Panel will disappear for that team.
    • If a player hasn’t dealt damage or healing to any of the dummies for 8 seconds, their damage and DPS will be reset to 0.
• Clear Dummies
  • If the “Share Cheat” checkbox is unchecked, remove all the dummies created by all players.
  • If the “Share Cheat” checkbox is checked, remove all the dummies created by that player.
• Toggle Fog of War
  • Disabling Fog of War for a team will remove Fog of War, revealing the whole map for that team.
• Reset HP/MP
  • If the “Share Cheat” checkbox is unchecked, reset all players’ Health and Mana to full.
  • If the “Share Cheat” checkbox is checked, reset the player’s Health and Mana to full.
• Complete Quests
  • If the “Share Cheat” checkbox is unchecked, complete all talent quests for all player.
  • If the “Share Cheat” checkbox is checked, complete all talent quests for that player.
• Instant Respawn
  • If the “Share Cheat” checkbox is unchecked, instantly respawn all dead Heroes.
  • If the “Share Cheat” checkbox is checked, instantly respawn the player’s Hero.

Haunted Mines

• Issuing a Move command within the Mines while on the Battleground’s upper level, or vice versa, will now cause the Hero to use the Mine Entrance or Exit that is the shortest distance from the issued order.
• Summoned Grave Golem
  • Fort and Keep attacks no longer reduce attack speed
  • Will no longer interrupt its attacks mid-swing to use an Ability
  • Now passes through player-created walls rather than stopping to destroy them

Ranked Battleground Rotation Update

• Added to Rotation
  • Warhead Junction
• Removed from Rotation
  • Volskaya Foundry
• Garden of TerrorThe full Ranked Battleground Rotation is now as follows:
  • Battlefield of Eternity
  • Braxis Holdout
  • Cursed Hollow
  • Dragon Shire
  • Infernal Shrines
  • Sky Temple
  • Tomb of the Spider Queen
  • Towers of Doom
  • Warhead Junction

Design

Stealth

• Stealth players will now become “Invisible” after remaining still for 1.5 seconds.
  • Invisible Heroes will not display the Stealth visual effect and can still be removed from Stealth by taking damage. This includes Heroes under the effects of temporary Stealth effects such as Samuro’s Windwalk or Tyrande’s Shadowstalk.
  • Additionally, Heroes cannot become Invisible while occupying a capture point, such as Braxis Holdout or Mercenary Camp Beacons. Instead, they will retain normal Stealth visual effects.

User Interface

In-Game UI

• General
  • Hero portraits will now be displayed when heroes are inside the following Vehicles, Battleground objectives, or Hero Abilities:
    • Dragon Knight
    • Garden Terror
    • Triglav Protector
    • Anub’arak – Cocoon
    • Lt. Morales – Medivac Dropship
    • Stitches – Gorge
    • Zagara – Devouring Maw
• Manual Talent Tier and Hero Status Callouts
  • Players can now press ALT + left-click Hero portraits and the Team Level UI at the top of the screen to generate notifications for the following situations:
    • Press ALT + left-click an ally’s Hero portrait to inform teammates when that ally needs assistance.
    • ALT + left-clicking a dead Hero’s portrait will generate a chat message indicating that Hero’s remaining respawn time.
    • ALT + left-clicking an enemy Hero portrait will ping that Hero’s location on the Minimap if they are within allied vision. If that enemy is outside of allied vision, a chat message will inform allies that the Hero is missing.
    • Press ALT + right-click the Team Level UI to indicate when both teams are on even Talent tiers, or when one team has a Talent tier advantage over the other.

Heroes

Assassin

Nova

Abilities

• Snipe (Q)
  • Damage reduced from 310 to 255.
  • Baseline quest added:
    • Hitting an enemy Hero increases the damage of Snipe by 5% stacking 5 times. When at max stacks (5) it gains an additional 25% damage. If Snipe fails to hit a target, all stacks are lost.
• Pinning Shot (W)
  • Damage from 110 to 105
• Holo Decoy (E)
  • Added functionality:
    • Decoys now deal 10% of Nova’s damage
• Permanent Cloak (Trait)
  • Added functionality:
    • Gain 15% movement speed while Stealthed
• Triple Tap (R)
  • Damage per shot from 338 to 372
• (New) Ghost Protocol (1)
  • Activate to instantly cloak, leave a Holo Decoy at your feet, and become unrevealable for .5 seconds.

Talents

• Level 1
  • Advanced Cloaking (Trait)
    • New functionality:
      • Increase your Stealth movement speed by 5%. While Stealthed, gain 2 additional mana regeneration per second.
• Level 7
  • Snipe Master (Q)
    • Removed
  • Perfect Shot (Q)
    • Moved from Level 16
    • Cooldown reduction on Hero hit reduced from 3 to 2 seconds
• Level 13
  • Psionic Efficiency (Q)
    • Bonus range increased from 10 to 15%
  • (New Talent) Ionic Force Field (Trait)
    • Gain 25 Armor for 2 seconds after losing stealth
• Level 16
  • Lethal Decoy (E)
    • Damage bonus from clones increased from 40 to 50%
• Level 20
  • (New Talent) Apollo Suit (Trait)
    • Reduce the cooldown of Permanent Cloak from 3 to 1 second

Samuro

Stats

• Basic Attack damage increased from 88 to 110

Abilities

• Mirror Image (Q)
  • Samuro will now appear in the direction of the player’s Mouse Cursor when Mirror Image is cast.
  • Mirror Image damage is no longer a fraction of Samuro’s Attack Damage. Mirror Image base damage has been greatly reduced to 9.
  • Mirror Images are no longer instantly destroyed by Structures
• Critical Strike (W)
  • Cooldown increased from 8 to 10 seconds
• Illusion Master (R)
  • New functionality:
    • Reduce the cooldown of Advancing Strikes to 8 seconds
  • Now increases the attack damage of Mirror Images by 100%
  • Now also increases Samuro’s Basic Attack damage by 10%
• Image Transmission (Trait)
  • Additional functionality:
    • Activate to switch places with the target Mirror Image, removing most negative effects from Samuro and the target Mirror Image. 25-second cooldown.

Talents

• Tooltips for various talents have been updated to reflect whether Samuro or his Mirror Images benefit from their effects
• Level 1
  • Way of the Wind (E)
    • New Functionality: Gain 40% Movement Speed for 3 seconds upon entering or exiting Stealth by using Wind Walk
  • Way of the Blade (W)
    • No longer grants bonus Critical Strike damage
  • Way of Illusion (Q)
    • Mirror Images no longer benefit from this talent
• Level 4
  • One with the Wind (E)
    • Armor gain now also lasts for 3 seconds after being revealed
    • Mirror Images now also gain Armor
    • Armor amount reduced from 60 to 30
• Level 7
  • Phantom Pain (W)
    • Mirror Images no longer benefit from this talent
  • Crushing Blows (W)
    • Mirror Images no longer benefit from this talent
    • Bonus Critical Strike damage has been removed
    • Additional functionality:
      • Samuro’s Basic Attacks against enemy Heroes reduce the cooldown of Critical Strike by 1.5 seconds
• Level 13
  • Kawarimi (E)
    • Reduced the time between Samuro issuing a new order after using Wind Walk and the image following it. It should now be harder for the new Image to follow Samuro’s new movements after using Wind Walk.
• Level 16
  • Press the Attack (Trait)
    • Attack Speed bonus reduced from 15% to 10% per stack. Maximum bonus decreased from 60% to 40%
  • Harsh Winds (E)
    • Mirror Images no longer benefit from this talent
  • Merciless Strikes (W)
    • Mirror Images no longer benefit from this talent

Valeera

Abilities

• Vanish (D)
  • Movement Speed increased from 10% to 20%
• Ambush (Q)
  • If Valeera is Vanished for 3 seconds, this ability has 5 range and teleports Valeera behind her target.
  • Damage reduced from 180 to 130
  • Now also reduces enemy Armor by 10 for 4 seconds
• Cheap Shot (W)
  • Stun duration reduced from 1.25 to .75 seconds
  • Now Blinds the target for 2 seconds after the stun effect ends
  • If Valeera is Vanished for 3 seconds, this ability has 5 range and teleports Valeera behind her target
• Garrote (E)
  • Silence duration increased from 2.25 to 2.75 seconds
  • If Valeera is Vanished for 3 seconds, this ability has 5 range and teleports Valeera behind her target

Talents

• Level 1
  • Subtlety (D)
    • Adjusted functionality:
      • Now triggers when Valeera teleports to her target with Ambush, Cheap Shot, and Garrote.
    • Energy return reduced from 10 to 8 per second.
  • Crippling Poison (Active)
    • Slow duration reduced from 5 to 4 seconds.
    • Valeera’s poison is no longer removed after the first damaging Ability, but instead is applied by all Valeera’s Abilities for 4 seconds. This duration does not start until Valeera damages her first enemy.
• Level 4
  • Wound Poison (Active)
    • Healing reduction duration decreased from 5 to 4 seconds
    • Valeera’s poison is no longer removed after the first damaging Ability, but instead is applied by all Valeera’s Abilities for 4 seconds. This duration does not start until Valeera damages her first enemy
• Level 7
  • Slice and Dice (E)
    • Valeera’s Basic Attacks now restore 2 Energy.
• Level 13
  • Death from Above (Q)
    • New functionality:
      • Ambush reduces the cooldown of Vanish by 4 seconds.
  • Blind (W)
    • Now increases the duration of Cheap Shot’s Blind from 2 to 4 seconds.
  • Strangle (E)
    • Spell Power reduction increased from 25% to 40%
    • Duration reduced from 7 to 6 seconds
• Level 16
  • Assassinate (Q)
    • Bonus damage reduced from 100% to 50%
    • Now also increases the Armor reduction of Ambush by 10 when the target is isolated.
    • Moved from level 7
  • Expose Armor (E)
    • Removed.
• Level 20
  • Nightslayer (D)
    • Removed.
  • Rupture (D)
    • Damage bonus now stacks immediately to 100%, instead of stacking up to 30%.
    • Moved from level 16
  • Elusiveness (D)
    • Moved from Level 13
    • Movement Speed bonus increased from 10% to 20%

Valla

Abilities

• Level 1
  • Monster Hunter (Q)
    • Now tracks stacks instead of damage on the quest tracker

Zeratul

​Abilities

• Shadow Assault (R)
  • Removed
• (New Talent) Might of the Nerazim (R)
  • Passive: After using an Ability, Zeratul’s next Basic Attack within 6 seconds deals 40% more damage
  • Activate to duplicate the last ability cast. Damaging abilities deal 50% less damage. This ability does not benefit from talents. 20-Second Cooldown

Talents

• Level 1
  • Vorpal Blade (1)
    • Added as a baseline ability. Default Hotkey: 1
  • (New Talent) Move Unseen (Passive)
    • Gain 25% bonus Movement Speed while Stealthed
  • Shadow Hunter (E)
    • Regen Globe required for quest completion reduced from 20 to 15
    • Mana cost reduction of Blink increased from 2 to 3
• Level 4
  • Combo Slash (Passive)
    • Removed
  • Grim Task (Passive)
    • Removed
  • (New Talent) Psionic Strength (Passive)
    • Damaging an enemy Hero with Basic Attacks or Abilities increases Zeratul’s damage by 6% for 3 seconds, stacking up to 5 times.
  • (New Talent) Darkness Descends (Active)
    • Passive: Increase Zeratul’s attack speed by 10%.
    • Activated ability – Zeratul gains 40% bonus attack speed for 5 seconds. 30-second cooldown
• Level 7
  • Wormhole (E)
    • Duration increased from 2 to 3 seconds
  • Slip into Shadow (E)
    • Removed
  • (New Talent) Warp Skirmisher (1)
    • Vorpal Blade now has 2 charges. Casting Vorpal Blade also causes Zeratul’s next Basic Attack within 6 seconds to deal 30% bonus damage
• Level 16
  • Sentenced to Death (W)
    • Bonus damage reduced from 40 to 30%
• Level 20
  • Rewind (Active)
    • Removed
  • Nerazim Fury (R)
    • Removed
  • (New Talent) Twilight Falls (R)
    • Activating Might of the Nerazim resets the cooldown of all of Zeratul’s Basic Abilities
  • (New Talent) Shadow Mending (Passive)
    • Zeratul heals himself for 75% of Ability Damage Dealt to enemy Heroes

Specialist

Abathur

Abilities

• Spawn Locust (Trait)
  • Health increased from 288 to 316

Talents

• Level 1
  • Survival Instincts (Trait)
    • Bonus Health decreased from 50% to 40%
• Level 7
  • Calldown: MULE (Active)
    • No longer refills Structure ammo

The Lost Vikings

Talents

• Level 4
  • It’s a Sabotage! (Passive)
    • No longer removes Structure ammo
    • Damage increased from 27 to 35

Warrior

Muradin

Talents

• Level 4
  • Sledgehammer (Q)
    • No longer removes Ammo from structures

Collection

Bug Fixes

General

• Fixed a number of typo and tooltip errors across several aspects of the game.

Art

• Kharazim: Kharazim’s arms and upper body now animated correctly during his dizzy animation.
• Leoric: The Shroud of the Dead King Talent will now correctly play an animation and a sound when activated.
• Samuro: Monk ey King Samuro’s model will no longer exhibit flickering during Hero Select while running Medium or High graphic settings.
• The Lost Vikings: Fixed an issue causing Baelog to cast superfluous shadows on the terrain.

Battlegrounds

• Sky Temple: Fixed an issue that could prevent Temple lasers from appearing correctly on the Minimap.
• Structures: Auriel’s Blinding Flash and Artanis’ Suppression Pulse can no longer Blind Structures.
• Towers of Doom: The Headless Horseman Boss is no longer incorrectly categorized as a Monster.
• Volskaya Foundry: Fixed an issue in which Heroes on the outer edge of the Hall of Storms would not receive Healing or protection.

Heroes, Abilities, and Talents

• Alexstrasza: Life-Binder is no longer interrupted when entering or exiting Dragonqueen.
• Diablo: Fixed an issue that could cause Shadow Charge to deal its collision damage multiple times under certain circumstances.
• Garrosh: Casting Wrecking Ball on Mercenaries will no longer cause them to leash while in combat.
• Gul’dan: Movement caused by a conveyor belt will no longer cancel Rain of Destruction channeling.
• Kel’thuzad: The Power of Icecrown Talent will now correctly grant bonus Spell Power for enemy Heroes Slowed by Chains of Kel’Thuzad with the Chains of Ice Talent.
• Li-Ming: Zei’s Vengeance and Arcane Orb tooltips have been updated to clarify bonus damage functionality. Damage amounts have not been changed.
• Lt. Morales: The Second Opinion Talent will now correctly grant cooldown reduction when one of the Heroes struck by Displacement Grenade is piloting a Vehicle, like the Garden Terror.
• Lunara: Fixed an inconsistency that allowed Lunara to cast Leaping Strike over some, but not all, allied units after learning Boundless Stride.
• Medivh: Creating a Portal entrance after learning Portal Mastery and then entering the Triglav Protector will no longer prevent him from using the Protector’s abilities.
• Muradin: Learning Reverberation no longer incorrectly updates the Attack Speed Slow amount in Thunder Clap’s tooltip.
• Murky: Spawn Egg with the Egg Hunt Talent can now be cast correctly on Volskaya Foundry’s conveyor belts.

User Interface

• Death Recap: Fortification Camp Turret attacks now display a Turret icon in the Death Recap screen.