Heroes of the StormJan 16, 2018 1:28 pm CT

Latest Heroes of the Storm patch reworks Tyrael, goes full anime with its trailer

By Alex Ziebart
Editor-in-Chief, Emeritus

Though the Heroes of the Storm developers have been teasing a Tyrael rework for a while now, none of us quite expected it to arrive out of the blue today. Many of his passive and generic talents have been removed, including the talents that used to augment his trait, in favor of a more active playstyle. His passive Spell Armor has also been removed in favor of slightly higher health and health regen.

But the bigger story here is probably going to be the anime-style teaser trailer that came with the patch. Blizzard didn’t hold back with this one, pitting Mecha Tyrael and Mecha Rehgar against the evil Xenotech Abathur. But enough talking, I’ll just let you see it for yourself:

As for the rest of that Tyrael rework, his mana costs have been marginally reduced, which was a much needed change for the mana-hungry hero, but it might not prove to be too significant a buff: Many of Tyrael’s new talents increase the frequency at which he can use his abilities. The new talent Law and Order, for example, reduces the cooldown on Righteousness for every hero hit by Smite. The new Tyrael might be able to squeeze out more abilities in a shorter period of time, but it’ll very likely leave him with no mana, just like the old Tyrael.

This rework also appears to have focused heavily upon El’druin’s Might as his defining ability. Many of his new talents augment El’druin’s Might — such as enabling double teleports — or give him a variety of power bonuses when El’druin is on the field. With some of these talents, it will be advantageous to keep El’duin on the ground as often as possible for as long as possible, rather than tossing it out the very moment you want to teleport.

Check out the full rework notes below:

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment (Official Post)

Heroes

Warrior

Tyrael

General

Tyrael will now face the target of his Basic Attack after attacking. This is a visual change, and does not directly affect gameplay
Passive Spell Armor has been removed

Stats

Base Maximum Health increased from 2296 to 2468
Health Regeneration increased from 4.78 to 5.14

Abilities

El’druin’s Might (Q)
- Mana cost reduced from 50 to 45
Righteousness (W)
- Mana cost reduced from 60 to 50
- Allied Shield amount changed from a flat value to 40% of the Tyrael-only Shield value.
  - This is the same amount of Shields, but it makes it easier to understand new Talent interactions
Smite (E)
- Can now be cast while moving
- Damage increased from 144 to 150

Talents

Level 1
- Salvation (W)
  - Moved from level 16
  - New functionality:
    - Increase Righteousness’ Tyrael-only Shield amount by 25%. If the Shield is destroyed, heal Tyrael for 125 Health.
- (New) Justice for All (W)
  - Increases Righteousness’ allied shield value to 100% of the Tyrael-only Shield amount.
- (New) Ardent Restoration (Passive)
  - Damaging an enemy Hero grants 2.5 Health per Second to Tyrael for 5 seconds. Stacks up to 10 times.
- Protection in Death (Trait)
  - Removed
- Even in Death (Trait)
  - Removed
- Regeneration Master (Passive)
  - Removed
Level 4
- (New) Stalwart Angel (Q)
  - Tyrael gains 25 Armor while El’druin’s Might is out, and for 3 seconds after teleporting.
- (New) Bound by Law (Q)
  - Increases El’druin’s Might’s slow amount from 25 to 35%. Tyrael’s Basic Attacks increase the duration of the slow by 1 second, up to 4 seconds.
- (New) Divine Vigor (Passive)
  - Damaging an enemy with Smite causes Tyrael’s Basic Attacks to heal him for 50% of their damage for 4 seconds.
- Vigorous Strike (Passive)
  - Removed
Level 7
- Purge Evil (E)
  - Moved from level 1
  - New functionality:
    - Every enemy Hero hit by Smite increases Tyrael’s Basic Attack damage by 30% for 4 seconds
- Swift Retribution (E)
  - Movement Speed bonus increased from 10 to 20%
  - No longer increases the duration of Smite’s Movement Speed bonus
  - Added functionality:
    - Now also causes Smite’s friendly effect to increase Attack Speed by 25%
- Angel’s Grace (Q)
  - Removed
- Zealotry (W)
  - Removed
- Follow Through (Passive)
  - Removed
Level 13
- Sword of Justice (Q)
  - Moved from level 16
  - New functionality:
    - Can teleport with El’druin’s Might twice, returning to Tyrael’s original position.
- Holy Ground (Q)
  - Moved from level 16
  - Duration reduced from 4 to 3 seconds
- (New) Law and Order (W)
  - Reduce the cooldown of Righteousness by 1 second for each enemy Hero hit by Smite. Righteousness increases the damage of your next Smite by 25% for each ally affected.
- Burning Rage (Passive)
  - Removed
- Angelic Absorption (W)
  - Removed
- Angelic Might (E)
  - Removed
Level 16
- (New) Burning Halo (Q)
  - El’druin and Tyrael deal 15 damage per second to nearby enemies. This damage is increased by 100% for Tyrael for 3 seconds after teleporting to El’Druin.
- Horadric Reforging (Q)
  - Moved from level 4
  - New functionality:
    - Basic Attacks reduce the cooldown of El’druin’s Might by 1.5 seconds
- (New) Smite the Wicked (E)
  - Smite’s cooldown recharges 100% faster while El’druin is out and for 3 seconds after teleporting to El’Druin
- Blood for Blood (Active)
  - Removed
Level 20
- (New) Defense of the Angels (Active)
  - Activate to reduce all incoming damage by 40% for 5 seconds. Any time Tyrael or an ally shielded by Righteousness take damage, reduce the cooldown by 3 seconds. 120 second cooldown
- (New) Seal of El’druin (Passive)
  - Every time Tyrael casts a Basic Ability, increase his Attack Speed by 50% for 3 seconds
- Nullification Shield (Active)
  - Removed
- Nexus Blades (Passive)
  - Removed

Bug Fixes

Heroes, Abilities, and Talents

Blaze: Fixed an issue allowing players to cast Flame Stream while dead if they entered a Bunker while dying.
Blaze: Fixed an issue that could cause Heroes to enter permanent Stasis if they were killed just as they entered a Bunker.
Hanzo & Leoric: Fixed an issue causing Towers to spawn if Leoric was directly impacted by Sonic Arrow.
Malfurion & Stitches: Fixed an issue that could cause Heroes to become unplayable if Nature’s Cure was cast while they were affected by Stitches’ Gorge.
Malfurion & Zagara: Nature’s Cure can no longer cleanse Heroes of the Devouring Maw effect.
Uther: The Well Met talent will no longer affect non-Heroic units.
Valeera: The Strangle talent will no longer affect non-Heroic units.

This patch also includes the new Mecha skins, one of which belongs to Tyrael himself. Considering the teasers relating to that Tyrael skin, maybe we shouldn’t have been surprised by the timing of this rework at all.

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