Malfurion reworked and Blaze arrives in latest Heroes of the Storm PTR notes
![](https://cdn.blizzardwatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/malfurion-twilight-dream-header.jpg)
Alongside the new In Development video and Blaze hero spotlight, Heroes of the Storm has released its next round of PTR patch notes, and they’re simultaneously surprising and underwhelming. Rather than a long, extensive list of small changes, this patch primarily includes two major items: the new hero Blaze and another rework for Malfurion, who seems to receive an exhaustive rework on an annual basis.
Malfurion’s mana costs have been reduced across the board. Regrowth’s front-loaded healing has been removed, turning the spell into a longer-duration heal-over-time. However, when Malfurion hits enemy heroes with Moonfire, all allies under the effect of Regrowth receive a small instant heal. His talents have all been rearranged, and in the process, his offensive Moonfire build has been almost entirely removed, replaced with utility rather than damage. Entangling Roots no longer affects non-Heroic targets, and beloved talent choices Scouting Drone, Shrink Ray, Life Seed, and Storm Shield have all been removed.
Overall, it appears the changes encourage Malfurion to play more aggressively than ever before, but not for the damage output. Rather, being aggressive is the only way the new Malfurion can most effectively heal his allies.
New Hero: Blaze
Cpl. Miles “Blaze” Lewis has always been drawn to the flame, but it wasn’t until he joined up with Raynor’s Raiders that he put his pyromania to good use. He’s seen his fair share of battles since then, and has never failed to bring the heat.
Trait
- Pyromania
- Gain 25 Armor and deal 40 damage to nearby enemies every 0.5 seconds for 4 seconds. Each Hero hit by Flame Stream reduces Pyromania’s cooldown by 5 seconds.
Basic Abilities
- Flame Stream (Q)
- Fire two streams of flame that deal 83 damage to enemies hit. Flame Stream sets fire to Oil Spills it comes in contact with.
- Oil Spill (W)
- Vector Targeting.
- Dispense a slick of oil that lasts for 5 seconds and Slows enemies that come in contact with it by 40%. Flame Stream can set Oil Spills on fire for 2.5 seconds, dealing 18 damage every 0.3 seconds to enemies inside. While on fire, Oil Spills no longer Slow enemies. Additionally, Blaze is Healed for 49 Health every 0.3 seconds while standing in flaming Oil Spills. Stores up to 2 charges.
- Jet Propulsion (E)
- After 0.5 seconds, charge forward, colliding with the first enemy Hero hit, dealing 52 damage to them and nearby enemy Heroes. Enemies hit are also Stunned for 1.25 seconds.
Heroic Abilities
- Bunker Drop (R)
- After 0.5 seconds, deploy and enter a Bunker with 1300 Health. Blaze and his allies can enter and exit the Bunker at will. While in the Bunker, occupants gain access to Flamethrower, dealing 179 damage to enemies in a line. Exiting the Bunker grants 25 Armor for 2 seconds. Bunkers last 10 seconds, or until destroyed.
- Combustion (R)
- Channel up to 2.6 seconds. Once Channeling ends, nearby enemies are Slowed by 60% and take 48 damage every 0.5 seconds. Combustion’s Slow and damage over time durations are extended the longer Blaze Channels, from 1 second up to 5 seconds. Blaze’s Movement Speed is reduced by 50% while Channeling.
Art
Heroes, Abilities, and Talents
- Malfurion has received updated visual effects to coincide with Talent changes.
Battlegrounds
Battlefield of Eternity
- The Minimap will now indicate upcoming Immortal spawn locations 30 seconds after the game begins.
- Subsequent Immortal indicators will appear on the Minimap shortly after a previously summoned Immortal has been defeated.
- Swap locations will not appear on the Minimap when an Immortal has been reduced to 50% Health.
Heroes Brawl
- Dodge Brawl
- Chromie’s Health has been increased from 3 to 5
- Ghost Chromies now display player names overhead
- The in-game camera will now lock to Ghost Chromie until a new round begins
Ranked Battleground Rotation
- The Battleground rotation for Ranked Play has not been changed.
Heroes
Support
Malfurion
Stats
- Basic Attack Damage reduced from 64 to 60
Abilities
- Regrowth (Q)
- Mana cost reduced from 45 to 35
- No longer has an initial heal effect
- Heal amount per tick decreased from 27 to 20
- Duration increased from 15 to 20 seconds
- Moonfire (W)
- Mana cost reduced from 15 to 10
- Damage reduced from 100 to 90
- Added functionality:
- For every enemy Hero hit with Moonfire, instantly heal all targets with an active Regrowth for 140
- Entangling Roots (E)
- No longer effects non-Heroic targets
- Tranquility (R)
- Duration reduced from 10 to 8 seconds
- Cooldown reduced from 100 to 80 seconds
- Mana cost reduced from 100 to 80
- Added functionality:
- All Heroes with an active Regrowth effect gain 10 Armor while in range of Tranquility
Talents
- Level 1
- Shan’do’s Clarity (D)
- Functionality changed:
- The cooldown of Innervate regenerates 25% faster for each active Regrowth
- Functionality changed:
- Scouting Drone (Active)
- Removed
- New Talent – Nature’s Swiftness (Q)
- Malfurion passively gains 5% Movement Speed for each active Regrowth
- Shan’do’s Clarity (D)
- Level 4
- Full Moonfire (W)
- Removed
- Strangling Vines (E)
- Moved from Level 7
- New functionality:
- Enemy Heroes rooted by Entangling Roots receive 25% less healing for 2 seconds
- New Talent – Deep Roots (E)
- Entangling Roots grow 25% larger and last 25% longer
- Full Moonfire (W)
- Level 7
- Tenacious Roots (E)
- Moved from Level 16
- New functionality:
- Root duration is increased by 25%. If Malfurion becomes stunned, refresh the cooldown of Entangling Roots
- New Talent – Nature’s Cure (Active)
- Activate: Remove all stuns, roots and slows from allies with an active Regrowth. 45 second cooldown.
- New Talent – Wild Growth (W)
- Every time your Moonfire hits an enemy Hero, increase the duration of all active Regrowths by 1 second
- Tenacious Roots (E)
- Level 13
- Shrink Ray (Active)
- Removed
- Life Seed (Passive)
- Removed
- Revitalize (Q)
- Moved from Level 16
- Hindering Moonfire (W)
- Moved from Level 7
- Shrink Ray (Active)
- Level 16
- Ysera’s Gift (Q)
- Bonus heal amount increased from 40 to 60%
- New Talent – Moonlit Harmony (W)
- Increase the heal of your Moonfire by 15% for every active Regrowth
- New Talent – Nature’s Balance (W)
- Increase the area of Moonfire by 25% and the duration of Regrowth by 5 seconds
- Ysera’s Gift (Q)
- Level 20
- Serenity (R)
- New functionality:
- Every Hero hit with Moonfire lowers the cooldown of Tranquility by 3 seconds. While active, Tranquility’s healing is increased by 10% for each active Regrowth
- New functionality:
- Storm Shield (Active)
- Removed
- Rewind (Active)
- Removed
- Lunar Shower (W)
- Moved from Level 7
- New functionality:
- Hitting an enemy Hero reduces the cooldown of Moonfire by 1 second and ramps the damage of the next Moonfire by 20%, stacking up to 3 times
- New Talent – Lifebloom (Q)
- Casting Regrowth on a player instantly heals them for 10% of their missing Health
- Serenity (R)
Warrior
Johanna
Abilities
- Falling Sword (R)
- Johanna can no longer take damage or be targeted while initially casting Falling Sword
Collection
General
- Items in the Collection have received updated UI colors to improve readability
New Bundle
- Blaze Heroic Bundle – Available until January 22, 2017
New Announcer
- Blaze
New Skins
- Blaze
- Hazardous Blaze
- Veteran Blaze
- Fel Reaver Blaze
- Abominable Fel Reaver Blaze
- Coldfire Fel Reaver Blaze
- Infernal Fel Reaver Blaze
- Smoldering Fel Reaver Blaze
- Probius
- Ara Tribe Probius
- Nerazim Probius
Bug Fixes
General
- Fixed a number of typo and tooltip errors across several aspects of the game.
Art
- Abathur: Casting Ultimate Evolution will no longer cause visual effects to persist on the terrain at Abathur’s previous location.
- Valla: The color of Lavendar Deputy Valla’s scarf has been updated to match the rest of the skin.
Heroes, Abilities, and Talents
- Abathur: Locusts will now correctly retain their selected skins during Ultimate Evolution.
- Chen: Fixed an issue that could cause Chen to become unresponsive if Wandering Keg’s duration expired while the barrel was too close to unpathable terrain.
- Garrosh: Talent descriptions for Inner Rage and Brute Force will no longer swap when selecting either Talent.
- Junkrat: Total Mayhem will no longer trigger twice if Junkrat is killed by the secondary Basic Attack damaged granted by the Giant Killer Talent.
- Junkrat: Casting Rocket Ride will no longer cause an empty Health Bar to appear.
- Junkrat: Fixed an issue in which Ripper Air could grant cooldown reduction to Concussion Mine if a Summon, such as a Creep Tumor, Healing Ward, etc., was also hit when the Mine was detonated.
- Nazeebo: Gargantuan Stomp can no longer be cast while the Gargantuan is stunned or polymorphed.
- Samuro: Illusion Master can no longer be cast while Samuro is airborne after being hit by an effects like Junkrat’s Concussion Mine detonation.
- Samuro: Issuing a Hold Position command to Samuro’s Mirror Images and then selecting one of them will no longer cause the others to cancel the Hold Position command.
- Zul’jin: Lacerate’s Talent icon is now correctly colored blue, rather than purple.
If, at first glance, you’re no fan of the Malfurion rework, look on the bright side: at least Johanna can’t get ganked while casting Falling Sword anymore.
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