Data provided by Heroes Profile
Published on December 16, 2019
Heroes of the Storm has just been updated with Hero balance changes! Read on for details.
Developer Comment: We’ve read recent feedback that it is strange that Silences are removed by the Unstoppable behavior, but Blinds are not. While Unstoppable has traditionally been primarily intended to remove effects that cause a hero to not be able to control the movement of their character, this philosophy gets a little grey when it comes to Silences, as heroes can still freely move, but they lose their ability to use movement abilities. In the past we decided that it was better for Silences to be removed, but understand the argument that Blinds are effectively Silences for auto-attack based heroes. We’re trying this change to see how it pans out, as Blinds have traditionally been very powerful forms of soft CC in our game and this can help out heroes that are heavily shut down by them.
Developer Comment: While we’re excited for the experience globes and the increased clarity that they offer in regards to how experience is gained, we’ve read the feedback that it can be too difficult for many heroes to gain the globes. While we think there are some good reasons to keep them as a pick-up only mechanic, we overall agree with the sentiment, and are going to allow heroes who kill Minions to get the experience from them. We still believe that this change will allow for more interesting hero interactions overall, and are excited to see how it pans out over the course of the rest of the season. We’re also including some quality of life changes that should make Experience Globes feel generally better to collect.
Many seasonal items will be returning to the Collection, and will be available for crafting and in Loot Chests for a limited time!
New Bundles (Limited Time Only!)
New Skins
New Mount
New Content
** It’s been awhile since our Old God worshipping Ogre has had some love, so we’re both buffing up some of Cho’s weaker talents as well as reducing the time that Surging Fist needs to be channeled in order to get a significant charge. This should help make Cho’s Q build more viable as well as allow him to better reposition himself during teamfights.
Surging Fist [Q]
Calloused Hide [Trait]
Enraged Regeneration [Trait]
Twilight Veil [Active]
** Similar to Cho, we took a look at Gall and we’re giving him some talent love. The buffs to Leaden Orb and Shadowsnare should hopefully cascade into other talents in his tree becoming more powerful as well.
Keep Moving! [Z]
We See You! [Passive]
Edge of Madness [Q]
Twilight Nova [W]
Leaden Orb [W]
Shadowsnare [Passive]
** These changes are mostly looking to buff Yrel’s late-game by adding more power to her Level 16 talents. We want her to be more relevant without dominating the solo lane too much, so we’re opting to make her Level 16 tier to be an exciting spike for her to hit in her games. ### Healer
Dauntless [Passive]
Holy Avenger [E]
Templar’s Verdict [W]
Divine Favor [Trait]
Holy Wrath [Passive]
Word of Glory [R1]
** Uther is in a bit of a strange spot at the moment, as he has recently had a spike in his win rate, and at higher level play we’ve been seeing him flexed into the main tank role. We think it’s pretty cool that heroes can sometimes splash into other roles, but in general Uther is overperforming, so we’re lowering his Health a bit. On an unrelated note, similar to Greymane, Uther’s Level 20 talents have long been dominated by one choice, in this case Redemption. We’re giving the other talents on the tier some significant buffs so that they can better compete. We hope that this won’t increase his win rate significantly as Redemption has always been a fairly powerful talent, and are prepared to make adjustments if this ends up not being the case. ### Melee Assassin
General Base Stats
Bulwark of Light [R1]
Divine Hurricane [R2]
Divine Protection [Trait]
** We’re trying some fairly significant buffs to Resurrect in order to help it better compete with Crystal Aegis. Auriel can now Resurrect herself, which should help if she is the focus of the enemy team, and her targets will now come back faster and with all of their Health.
Resurrect [R1]
** These changes are intended to limit Samuro’s split-pushing capabilities, particularly with Illusion Master, as well as increase his presence in teamfights. A good Samuro player can be a bit of a pain to deal with, particularly when he’s spending most of his time macroing and not engaging with the enemy team except to swap to a far away clone. These changes should make this scenario happen less often, while also giving Samuro more rewarding tools for engaging and fighting the enemy team. ### Ranged Assassin
General Base Stats
Mirror Image [Q]
Wind Walk [E]
Image Transmission [Trait]
Way of the Blade [W]
Way of the Wind [E]
Burning Blade [W]
Phantom Pain [W]
Crushing Blows [W]
Bladestorm [R1]
Illusion Master [R2]
Mirrored Steel [Q]
Dance of Death [R1]
Three Blade Style [R2]
** Echo of the Elements and Crash Lightning are both fairly solid talents that have different use cases for when to pick them. Rolling Thunder has been less successful, so we’re trying something new with the talent. We’re still keeping its theme of marking targets with Chain Lightning and then hitting them for a bonus, but now this bonus will allow Thrall to deal bonus damage to enemy Heroes while also interacting with Frostwolf Resilience.
Rolling Thunder [Q]
** We weren’t super happy with the power of Frenzy’s buff, as well as that it asked Varian players to learn a new Basic Attack cadence after being used to one speed the whole game. Instead, we’re turning the Attack Speed bonus into a bonus to his damage over time by buffing Heroic Strike instead.
Frenzy [R3]
** It’s just a little more Health on Illidan. What could go wrong?
General Base Stats
Fiery Brand [Passive]
** Johanna’s become a dominant force in the tanking world, and is currently the #1 most picked hero at high level play. Because of this, we’re slightly reducing her Health, as well as reverting her previous Condemn buff. ### Bruiser
General Base Stats
Condemn [W]
** For Greymane, we’re giving part of Incendiary Elixir’s cooldown reduction bonus baseline so that the talent gives him some baseline power, as well as making it easier for him to complete the quest. In addition to this change, we’re addressing his Level 20 talent diversity, which has not been the best. We’re giving 3 of his talents significant buffs so that they can compete with Hunter’s Blunderbuss, which has traditionally been the go-to option. Unleashed now makes it easier to proc Go for the Throat, as well as causing those procs to give him significantly more mobility and damage due to resetting his cooldowns. For Gilnean Roulette, we’re trying the idea of the talent changing Cursed Bullet to be more like a 4th Basic Ability that can be used multiple times in a teamfight or as a potent poke tool. Finally, Tooth and Claw is now also turning Razor Swipe into a significant source of damage.
Incendiary Elixir [Q]
Unleashed [R1]
Gilnean Roulette [R2]
Tooth and Claw [Trait]
** These buffs are to some of Anub’arak’s talents that have been lagging behind their competitors for some time. Beetle, Juiced in particular should now be more consistent in its benefit to round out a Beetle-oriented build, even if Anub’arak isn’t able to get a lot of Basic Attacks off on enemy Heroes.
Locust Swarm [R1]
Debilitation [E]
Beetle, Juiced [Trait]
** It turns out that Deathwing has lived up to his name, and has been destroying the Nexus since his release. Cataclysm and Burn Beneath My Shadow in particular have proven to be incredibly powerful, so we’re reducing their effectiveness by a fairly significant amount. In addition to these changes, we’re reducing the power of some overperforming talents as well as slightly nerfing his Destroyer form. Even with these changes, we expect Deathwing to continue to be a powerful addition to any team that he’s on.
General Base Stats
Incinerate [W]
Onslaught [E]
Cataslysm [R]
Draconic Might [Trait]
Skyfall [E]
Burn Beneath My Shadow [R1]
Elementium Plating [Active]
** Our last changes to Brightwing have better rounded out her talents, however Greater Polymorph was a little too hard to consistently proc. Instead of requiring her to hit a Polymorphed target, she now has a slightly larger window of time to get the cooldown reduction proc. We’re also increasing the cooldown reduction bonus from 6 to 7 seconds.
Greater Polymorph [W]
General
Heroes
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