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Published on March 14, 2017

Heroes of the Storm Patch Notes - March 14, 2017

We just released a new patch for Heroes of the Storm that brings a new Hero, balance updates, and more to the Nexus!

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Heroes:

General Updates

Free Hero Rotation Expanded

The free-to-play Hero rotation has been expanded from 10 to 14 Hero slots.
- The first 10 Hero rotation slots are available to all players at level 1.
- Rotation slots 11 - 14 still unlock at account levels 5, 7, 12, and 15, respectively.
This change should allow players to meet Unranked Draft mode's 14 Hero minimum requirement more easily.
- However, Heroes must still reach level 5 in order to qualify for Ranked Play.

2017 Ranked Season 1 Has Begun!

Once today’s patch arrives to the live version of Heroes of the Storm, Ranked Season 3 will officially come to a close, and 2017's First Season will begin!
- League standings will be reset and all players will need to play through 10 Placement Matches in order to receive their new starting rank for 2017 Season 1.
- As always, the matchmaking system’s certainty level in all players’ skill ratings will once again be loosened. This should make it a little easier to move up and down the rankings during initial matches this season.
Seasonal Rewards
- Players will receive their Season 3 rewards upon logging in to Heroes of the Storm after the patch becomes available in their home regions.
- Players who manage to brawl their way up through the leagues during 2017 Ranked Season 1 can claim a new portrait, mount, and gold rewards for their achievements in Hero and Team League.
Click here to learn more about 2017 Season 1 and the rewards it has to offer.

Special Event Quest: Two Heads are Better than One

Players who don’t own Cho’gall can permanently unlock the two-headed ogre by completing a brand new Special Event Quest!
- Win 2 Games as Cho or Gall while partied with a player who owns Cho’gall to permanently unlock the Hero.
- Those who do not own Cho’gall may only complete this Quest once. However, they can still help as many other players unlock the hero as they wish.

Battlegrounds & Map Updates

Heroes Brawl

Bloodlust Brawl
- The hero selection pool has been curated to favor non-spell caster heroes since they benefit less from the Bloodlust Buff
Mage Wars
- Weekly Brawl quest completion criteria reduced from Play 3 Games to Play 2 Games
Silver City
- Now uses Shuffle Pick for hero selection instead of All Random

Developer Comment: With the release of Single Lane Brawls, we've always wanted to try various forms of Hero selection to create interesting gameplay. We know there are avid fans of the completely Random Hero selection (aka ARAM), so that's how we initially released these Brawls. However, over time, we've also received feedback that a truly Random Hero selection can lead to widely imbalanced team comps, which can contribute towards a frustrating play experience. For example, we've seen some matches where one team has 4 Warriors and is unable to effectively fight against a heavy Assassin comp. Combined with the potential for longer games, we think Shuffle Pick may offer your team a better play experience by applying some balance options through Role and Hero Selection. As always, our endeavor is to create the best gameplay experiences for our players so please continue to provide feedback to us on whether or not this change improved your Brawl experience.

Waygate Usage Consistency
- The use of Waygates across all relevant maps (Towers of Doom, Haunted Mines, Blackheart's Revenge) has been unified with a common ruleset:
  - Channels will not be interrupted by taking "normal" damage
  - Channels will be interrupted by Abilities such as stuns and knockbacks
  - Waygates can now be channeled while mounted

Sky Temple

Removed a few bushes in the jungle between bottom lane and middle lane.

Developer Comment: We love the gameplay around bushes, but feel some maps--and in particular certain lane transitions--have too many bushes for players to negotiate. We are starting to cull some bushes starting with Sky Temple. While this change is small, we are happy with its impact on the map in our internal testing and want to see how this impacts the game as we look to make similar adjustments.

Hero Balance Updates (16)

Cho

Hero Balance Adjustments

Stats Builds Impact

Developer Comment

***See comments for Gall. LEVEL (TIER) CHO TALENTS 1 (1) Consuming Fire (W) (!) Fuel for the Flame (W) Calloused Hide (D) 4 (2) Uppercut (Q) Rollback (E) Seared Flesh (Passive) 7 (3) Power Surge (Q) Firestarter (W) Enraged Regeneration (D) 10 (4) Hammer of Twilight (R) Upheaval (R) — — 13 (5) Frenzied Fists (Q) Runic Feedback (E) Runed Gauntlet (Passive) 16 (6) Surging Dash (Q) Twilight Veil (Active) Molten Block (Active) 20 (7) C'Thun's Gift (R) Favor of the Old Gods (R) The Will of Cho (Passive) Hour of Twilight (Passive)

Base Abilities & Stats

General Base Stats

Maximum Base Health reduced from 3528 to 2950
Health Regen reduced from 7.35 to 6.15

Surging Dash (Q)

Cooldown reduced from 13 to 12 seconds.
Lowered maximum dash range from 12 to 10
Reduced full charge up duration from 8 to 4 seconds.
Times out after 5 seconds.

Consuming Blaze (W)

New functionality:
Ignite all nearby enemies for 5 seconds, dealing 30 damage per second and instantly healing Cho for 30 Health per target hit.
Attacks against ignited Heroes reapply the debuff (instant heal + refresh dot duration).

Rune Bomb (E)

Rune Bomb now continues its full path regardless of when or if Gall decides to detonate it.

Two-Headed Ogre (D)

Removed

New Trait: Ogre Hide (D)

While active Cho gains 25 Armor.
5 Second cooldown.
Effect is removed if Gall activates Ogre Rage.

Twilight Hammer (R)

Damage reduced from 156.25 to 150

Talent Changes

Level 1

General

Surging Dash (Q)
Removed
Blazing Bulwark (W)
Removed
Fuel for the Flame (W)
New functionality:
!Quest: Kills empower Consuming Blaze’s Heal
!Reward: Every 5 Minions killed near Cho increases the heal of Consuming Blaze by 1%
!Reward: Every Hero killed near Cho increases the heal of Consuming Blaze by 2%
New Talent: Consuming Fire (W)
Consuming Blaze’s heal is increased by 150% against Heroic targets.
New talent: Absorbent Hide (D)
Increase all healing received by Cho by 15% while Ogre Hide is active.
Runed Gauntlet (E)
New functionality:
Basic Attacks against Heroes decrease the Cooldown of both your and Gall’s Heroic Abilities by .5 seconds.
Seared Flesh (Passive)
New functionality:
Each consecutive Basic Attack against an enemy Hero deals 20% more damage. Up to a 60% bonus.
This bonus lasts 5 seconds or until a different unit is attacked.
New Talent: Uppercut (Q)
If Surging Dash hits an enemy Hero, it also deals 7% of their max health in damage.
Fire Eater (W)
Removed
I AM Hurrying! (Passive)
Removed
Power Surge (Q)
New functionality:
Each enemy Hero hit reduces the cooldown of Surging Fist by 4 seconds.
New Talent: Firestarter (W)
Reduce the cooldown of Consuming Blaze by 3 seconds.
Basic Attacks against Heroes reduce the cooldown of Consuming Blaze by an additional 1 second.
New Talent: Enraged Regeneration (D)
Cho’s Health Regeneration is increased by 200% while Ogre Rage is active.
Surge of Stamina (Q)
Removed
Molten Block (Active)
Runic Feedback (E)
New functionality:
Gall’s Runic Blast reduces the cooldown of Rune Bomb by 1 second for every enemy hit. This bonus is doubled against Heroes.
Crippling Blow (Q)
Removed
Frenzied Fists (Q)
New functionality:
Gain 75% attack speed for 5 seconds after using Surging Fist.
Twilight Veil (W)
New functionality:
Activate to triple the effect of Ogre Hide for 2 seconds (25 to 75 Armor). 30 second cooldown
If cast while Ogre Rage is active, instantly swap to Ogre Hide.
Surging Dash (Q)
New functionality:
Cho gains 150 Health per second and is unstoppable while Surging Dash is channeled.
Favor of the Old Gods (R)
New functionality:
Upheaval roots all Heroes hit for 1.5 seconds
The Will of Gall (Passive)
Removed (from Cho)
New Talent: The Will of Cho (Trait)
Every takedown permanently increases the Armor of Ogre Hide by 2.
New Talent: Hour of Twilight (Passive)
Cho’gall’s death timer is reduced by 50% 
(!) indicates a Questing Talent.
*Italic text* indicates a ***NEW*** Talent.

Level 20

Bold text

 indicates a **MOVED** Talent.

Gall

Hero Balance Adjustments

Stats Builds Impact

Developer Comment

***When we were first told about the new event “Two Heads are Better Than One,” we immediately set to work on giving Cho’gall’s talent trees a much-needed face-lift. A lot of our Warriors were getting Armor updates in this patch, and originally Cho’gall was no exception. After playing with a generic form of it internally, we realized we had a once-in-a-Nexus opportunity to do something very different and seized the moment. The foundation of the Cho’gall rework revolves around their new Traits, Ogre Hide and Ogre Rage, which are the keys to success with the Hero. The destructive potential of Cho’gall should be greater than ever, but you will have to make sure both heads are working together in order to maximize your damage output while keeping yourself alive long enough to keep doing it. LEVEL (TIER) Gall TALENTS 1 (1) Keep Moving! (Z) Taskmaster (Z) We See You! (1) 4 (2) (!) Bomb’s Away (E) Runic Persistence (E) Double Back (W) 7 (3) Edge of Madness (Q) (!) Double Trouble (Q) Ogre Rampage (Trait) 10 (4) Shadow Bolt Volley (R) Twisting Nether (R) — — 13 (5) Rising Dread (W) Searing Shadows (Q) Twilight Nova (W) 16 (6) Shadowsnare (Q) Leaden Orb (W) Deafening Blast (E) 20 (7) Shadowfury (R) Shifting Nether (R) The Will of Gall (Trait) Psychotic Break (Passive)

Base Abilities & Stats

Abilities

Shadowflame (Q)

Damage increased from 118 to 125

Dread Orb (W)

Radius reduced from 2 to 1.6
Damage increased from 119 to 126

Runic Blast (E)

No longer destroys Cho’s Rune Bomb on activation
Damage increased from 221 to 233

Twisting Nether (R)

Damage reduced from 415 to 353

Shadowbolt Volley (R)

Damage increased from 82 to 87

Hurry Up Oaf! (Z)

Removed

New Trait: Ogre Rage (D)

While active Gall deals 25% more damage.
5 Second cooldown.
Effect is removed if Cho activates Ogre Hide.

Talent Changes

Level 1

General

Spurred Onward (Z)
Removed
Shove (Active)
Moved to (Z)
Cooldown increased from 20 to 30 seconds
Now also grants Cho 25% move speed for 2 seconds after using
Eye of Kilrogg (Active)
Charges reduced from 4 to 2
Cast range reduced from 16 to 12
New Talent: Keep Moving! (Z)
Increase the Move Speed duration of Shove by .5 seconds.
While active, Basic Attacks from Cho increase the duration of the Movement Speed bonus by an additional 1 second.
New Talent: Taskmaster (Z)
Reduces the cooldown of Shove by 10 seconds
Basic Attacks by Cho reduce the cooldown of Shove by 1 second.
New Talent: We See You! (1)
Reduces the cooldown of Eye of Kilrogg by 15 seconds
Increases the cast range of Eye of Kilrogg by 33%
Bomb’s Away (E)
New functionality:
Quest: Damaging an enemy Hero with Runic Blast permanently increases its damage by 5.
Reward: After damaging 20 enemy Heroes, increase the range and speed of Rune Bomb by 20%.
Runic Persistence (E)
New functionality:
Detonating Runic Blast leaves a damaging field on the ground, dealing 180 damage over 3 seconds.
Double Back (W)
New functionality:
The third bounce of Dread Bomb deals 100% bonus damage to non-Heroic units. You can activate Dread Bomb again to reverse the last bounce.
Edge of Madness (Q)
New functionality:
Every subsequent hit of Shadowflame on an enemy Hero deals 8% more damage, up to a 40% bonus. These bonuses are lost after 4 seconds.
Double Trouble (Q)
New functionality:
Quest: Hitting enemy Heroes affected by Consuming Blaze with Shadowflame lowers the cooldown of Shadowflame by 1 second.
Reward: After doing this 20 times, permanently lower the cooldown of Shadowflame by 1 second.
Dark Descent (E)
Removed
New Talent: Ogre Rampage (Trait)
Gall’s Basic Abilities cooldown 75% faster for 5 seconds after Cho activates Ogre Hide.
Rising Dread (W)
New functionality:
Increase the size and damage of each Dread Orb bounce by 25%.
Speed of Twilight (W)
Removed
Dread Shield (W)
Removed
New Talent: Searing Shadows (Q)
Shadowflame deals additional damage equal to 2% of a Heroes’ Maximum Health.
Twilight Nova (W)
Giant Scorcher (Q)
Removed
Shadowflare (Q)
Removed
New Talent: Shadowsnare (Q)
Shadowflame slows enemy Heroes by 10% for 4 seconds. This effect can stack up to 3 times.
New Talent: Leaden Orb (W)
Enemies hit by Dread Orb are stunned for .5 seconds.
New Talent: Deafening Blast (E)
Enemy Heroes hit by Runic Blast are silenced for 1.25 seconds.
The Nether Calls (R)
Removed
Psychotic Break (Passive)
New functionality:
When Cho dies, you gain the effects of Ogre Rage and can continue casting Basic Abilities for 10 seconds.
New Talent: Shifting Nether (R)
Twisting Nether can now teleport Cho a short distance before it begins casting.
New Talent: The Will of Gall (Trait)
Takedowns permanently increase the damage bonus of Ogre Rage by 2%.  
(!) indicates a Questing Talent.
*Italic text* indicates a ***NEW*** Talent.

Level 20

Bold text

 indicates a **MOVED** Talent.

Zarya

Hero Balance Adjustments

Stats Builds Impact

Base Abilities & Stats

General Base Stats

Zarya's Basic Attacks can now be affected by attack speed modifications.
A number of typos and tooltip errors have been corrected across several aspects of the game.

Diablo

Fixed an issue that could cause the Unstoppable effect from A.I. Diablo’s Lightning Breath to persist for its full duration even if channeling was immediately cancelled after casting.

Kerrigan:

The Countess Kerrigan skin now plays animations while Maelstrom is active.

Kharazim:

There is no longer a pop in the Air Ally’s animations.

Nazeebo:

Zombie Wall zombies will no longer create holes in the terrain when they die after choosing the Dead Rush talent.

Observer Mode:

Excess Regeneration Globe visual effects will no longer appear for Observers and other neutral players while watching replays or custom games.

Braxis Holdout

Fixed an issue causing Zerg melee units to crowd around enemy objects that were in the process of arming, such as Toxic Nests or Time Traps, rather than ignore them.

Cursed Hollow

Fixed a rare issue that could fail to provide players with vision of an active Raven Lord Tribute.

Haunted Mines

Pinging allied or enemy Goblin Sappers will now properly create “assist” or “kill” notifications in chat.

Try Mode

Destroying the opposing Fort will now correctly despawn Misha when Rexxar is set as the enemy Hero.

Try Mode

Toggle Cooldowns will now correctly reset Diablo’s Lightning Breath cooldown.

Azmodan:

Damage dealt by the Sin's Grasp Talent will now correctly benefit from Ability Power gains.

Brightwing

Fixed an issue causing Emerald Wind to push enemies away from Brightwing’s current location rather than the original casting location.

Chen

Silence effects will no longer cause Purifying Brew to go on cooldown while Chen is Unstoppable during Wandering Keg.

Dehaka

Becoming targeted by Kharazim’s Divine Palm while affected by Dehaka's Contagion Talent will no longer cause Isolation’s model to persist indefinitely above the target.

E.T.C

Echo Pedal will now correctly deal damage to Doubloon Chests on Blackheart's Bay.

Kharazim

Fixed an issue that prevented shift-queuing Radiant Dash casts to allied Heroes.

Gul'dan

Drain Life can now be properly cast when Gul’dan has 0 mana.

Gul'dan

Fixed an issue that could cause Ruinous Affliction’s damage bonus to be applied on Echoed Corruption’s fourth consecutive strike against a target, rather than the third.

Malfurion

Learning Lunar Shower will no longer cause portions of Druid of the Flame Malfurion’s Moonfire visual effects to fail to generate.

Medivh

Entering Raven Form should no longer clear shift-queued Movement commands.

Nazeebo

The targeting indicator for Plague of Toads will now visually increase in size after learning Thing of the Deep.

Ragnaros

Vehicles piloted by Ragnaros will no longer benefit from Resilient Flame.

Ragnaros

Fixed an issue in which Empower Sulfuras would not benefit from Hand of Ragnaros when killing a secondary Heroic target.

Ragnaros

Casting a displacement Ability that pushes Ragnaros out of channeling range for Molten Core will no longer cause Ragnaros to become unresponsive.

Rexxar

Misha will no longer ignore orders to use a Healing Fountain when Rexxar is only missing Mana.

Rexxar

Fixed an issue causing Spirit Swoop to deal bonus damage to Mercenaries after learning Bird of Prey.

Samuro

Critical Strike's cooldown will no longer be paused while Samuro is dead.

Samuro

After learning Illusion Master, selecting a Mirror Image just as it dies will now correctly reselect the real Samuro.

Stitches

Casting Devour will no longer cause floating Talent Quest progress icons to appear before Stitches learns Savor the Flavor.

Tassadar

Fixed an issue that could prevent Archon from refreshing Dimensional Shift’s cooldown.

The Lost Vikings

Olaf will no longer Charge destroyed Structures.

Tyrande

Fixed an issue that prevented enemies from seeing Starfall’s area of effect indicator when it was cast inside of Brush or Vents.

Valeera

Shift queuing movement commands followed by a Hearthstone or Mount command will no longer break Stealth before channeling begins.

Valeera

Stitches’ Putrid Bile will no longer cause a red “revealed” icon to appear over Valeera’s nameplate while she is inside Smoke Bomb’s area of effect.

Varian

The cooldown for Victory Rush will no longer be reduced when nearby enemy Structures are destroyed.

Zarya

Damage that occurs just before Zarya’s Barrier breaks will now correctly grant her energy.

Artanis

Allies will no longer hear Artanis’s death voiceover globally.

Voiceover

Fixed an issue in which an excessive number of left-clicks were required in order to play certain Hero voiceover lines.

Medivh

Will now play his Ready voiceover when locked in during draft selection.

Kerrigan

Fixed an issue in which Essence for Essence would always follow the player’s global Quick Cast settings.

Lunara

Changing Lunara's Skin selection during draft mode will now correctly update her draft portrait.

Hero Select

Tyrande will now appear in the list of available Heroes when “Hearthstone” is used as a search term during Hero Select.

Observer Mode

The Follow Player Camera hotkey (C) will now correctly follow the selected player while observing a match or watching a replay.

Observer Mode

The Quick View Player hotkey (V) will now limit the Observer’s vision to the selected player as long as it is held down.

Score Screen

Echoed Corruption’s Talent Quest will now correctly appear complete on the Talents tab at 40 stacks rather than 35.

Arthas

Hero Balance Adjustments

Stats Builds Impact

Developer Comment

 ***Arthas has long walked the line between being a bruiser and a tank, though we always intended him to be more of a tank as opposed to a bruiser. With Armor coming into the game, we saw the opportunity to really embrace him being that slow-approach-of-death that he encapsulated so well in Wrath of the Lich King. Arthas’s crowd control capability and survivability have been significantly increased in this rework. Now he should really shine as the Warrior to bring to battle if the enemy team has multiple melee Heroes, or just a lot of Heroes who are heavily dependent on their auto-attacks. His damage has been reduced to compensate for the extra control he’s getting in team fights. Since he won’t put out damage as quickly as he did before, his ability to kill enemies will greatly rely on how long he can keep them trapped inside his Frozen Tempest. Once they’re in the Tempest, it will be very difficult for them to escape without enhanced mobility.      Return ####

Base Abilities & Stats

General Base Stats

Health increased from 2404 to 2524
Health Regeneration increased from 5.0117 to 5.2578
Basic Attack damage reduced from 99 to 95

Frostmourne Hungers (Trait)

Now deals a bonus 99 damage when hitting enemies (is no longer based on his normal Basic Attack damage)

Death Coil (Q)

Heal increased from 238 to 262

Frozen Tempest (E)

Damage lowered from 26 to 20.  Now slows enemy movement speed and attack speed by 10% per second, up to 40%.  This now stacks over 4 seconds instead of 5.
Now functions as an aura (same as Lucio's Crossfade) when concerning Stuns and Silences
If Arthas is Stunned or Silenced, he will not be able to toggle Frozen Tempest on or off, but if it is active it will persist for the duration of the Stun or Silence.

Army of the Dead (R1)

Cooldown lowered from 100 to 80 seconds
Mana cost lowered from 100 to 80
Ghoul attack damage increased from 18 to 20
Ghoul Health increased from 960 to 1060

Talent Changes

Level 1

General

Block (Passive)
Removed
Eternal Hunger (Trait)
New functionality:
!Quest: Using Frostmourne Hungers on an enemy Hero permanently increases the Mana it restores by 4, up to 40
!Quest: Using Frostmourne Hungers on an enemy Hero permanently increases its damage bonus by 4
Frost Presence (W)
New functionality:
!Quest: Root 5 heroes to reduce the cooldown of Howling Blast by 2 seconds. 
!Quest: After rooting 10 heroes, increase Howling Blast's range by 30%.  Quest: After rooting 20 heroes, Howling Blast roots enemies on its path.
New Talent: Rime (Passive)
Every 5 seconds, reduce the next Hero Basic Attack by 60%.  Stores up to 3 charges.
Biting Cold (E)
Frozen Wastes (E)
New functionality:
!Quest: After hitting enemy Heroes 150 times with Frozen Tempest, the Movement and Attack Speed slows of Frozen Tempest last for an additional 1.5 seconds against enemy Heroes.
New Talent: Icy Talons (E)
Increase Arthas’ attack speed by 3% each time an enemy Hero is hit by Frozen Tempest for 1.5 seconds, stacking up to 60%.
Deathlord (Q)
Increase the range bonus on Death Coil from 25 to 30%.
Increase the cooldown reduction from 2 to 3 seconds.
Immortal Coil (Q)
New functionality:
Bonus healing now applies to self-casting Death Coil.
Bonus healing reduced from 100 to 50%.
Icebound Fortitude (Active)
Reduced the cooldown from 40 to 35 seconds
Trail of Frost (W)
Removed
Frigid Winds (E)
Removed
New Talent: Shattered Armor (W) 
Enemy heroes rooted by Howling Blast have their Armor reduced by 15 for 4 seconds.
Frost Strike (Trait)
Slow increased from 40 to 50%.
Biting Cold (E)
New functionality:
Frozen Tempest does 12.5% increased damage per second to enemies, up to 50% bonus damage (over 4 seconds).
Embrace Death (Q)
Added Functionality:
Now also affects the healing of Death Coil.
Anti-Magic Shell (Active)
New functionality:
No longer provides 100 Spell Armor. Arthas now takes 0 damage from Spells instead and heals for 25% of the damage prevented.

Lúcio

Hero Balance Adjustments

Stats Builds Impact

Developer Comment

 ***We’re currently doing a pass on our Warriors, and want to better separate those intended to be able to solo tank for their team from those who are better identified as “bruisers.” With Armor coming into the game, we also saw an opportunity to make our Warriors have unique roles for their team so that the strongest or most survivable few weren’t identified and always favored regardless of the enemy team composition. In this patch, we’ve taken a pass at both Arthas and Anub’arak to better embrace their roles as solo Warriors for their team. They have both received significant changes, largely with the theme of adding control and/or survivability to their kits at the expense of damage. While we know that players enjoy putting out that DPS, we think that moving them away from damage-heavy roles is a healthier direction for the game, and should make the decision of which Warrior to bring to a team more meaningful. We’re also hoping that this direction helps push against the trend of it being the “correct” choice to bring multiple Warriors to a team because some can bring both CC and survivability while also doing almost as much damage as our Assassins. ####

Base Abilities & Stats

General Base Stats

Base Maximum Health decreased from 1450 to 1380
Base Health Regen decreased from 3.02 to 2.88

Amp it Up (E)

Healing amount reduced from 15.5 to 14.5

Reverse Amp (R)

Cooldown increased from 40 to 45 seconds
Mana Cost increased from 50 to 55

Talent Changes

Level 16

General

Bring it Together (E)
Healing bonus increased from 40 to 45%

Raynor

Hero Balance Adjustments

Stats Builds Impact

Base Abilities & Stats

Raynor's Raiders (R)

Health increased from 639 to 766
Damage increased from 27 to 31

Tyrael

Hero Balance Adjustments

Stats Builds Impact

Base Abilities & Stats

General Base Stats

+15 Spell Armor
Base Maximum Health reduced from 2468 to 2296
Health Regen reduced from 5.14 to 4.78

El'Druin's Might (Q)

Will now clamp the cast to the maximum range of the Ability

Righteousness (W)

Personal Shield amount increased from 320 to 336
Allied Shield amount increased from 128 to 135

Judgment (R)

Damage increased from 100 to 150
Splash Damage increased from 50 to 75

Talent Changes

Level 4

General

Amplified Healing (Passive)
Removed
Imposing Will (W)
Removed
Angelic Absorption (W)
Heal amount increased from 52 to 60
Hardened Shield (Active)
Removed
New Talent: Nullification Shield (Active)
Activate to gain 60 Spell Armor for 5 seconds.

Varian

Hero Balance Adjustments

Stats Builds Impact

Base Abilities & Stats

Taunt (R)

Health gain reduced from +60% to +40%
Now also grants 15 Armor

Talent Changes

Level 13

General

Banner of Ironforge (Active)
Armor granted reduced from 25 to 20

Artanis

Hero Balance Adjustments

Stats Builds Impact

Base Abilities & Stats

Basic Attack

Reduced the period during which Artanis is locked in place during his Basic Attacks to be consistent with other Heroes with similar attack timings

Azmodan

Hero Balance Adjustments

Stats Builds Impact

Base Abilities & Stats

Demonic Invasion (R)

Casting Demonic Invasion will now remove/clear minions lingering from the previous cast

Talent Changes

Level 1

General

Taste for Blood (Q)
Killing a Hero with Globe of Annihilation will now increase its damage by 10

Gazlowe

Hero Balance Adjustments

Stats Builds Impact

Developer Comment

***I’m not exactly sure where this Goblin keeps getting the hoards of gold he needs to bribe the design team, but sure enough, he’s done it again. These changes started off as quality-of-life fixes, but eventually evolved into something of a minor rework. Overall, we tried to even out the power-level of a couple talent tiers (including his Heroics), while also bringing in a bunch of baseline changes in order to make him feel a bit more user-friendly. We realize his win rate is above average in certain MMR brackets (and game modes), and that this may be viewed as a substantial buff to him. However, we felt it was important to bring these changes to our players and are prepared to act quickly if any tweaks are needed. Level (Tier) Gazlowe Talents 1 (1) Extra TNT (E) Scrap-o-Matic Smelter (D) Break it Down! (D) Goblin Repairs (Passive) 4 (2) (!) Clockwerk Steam Fists (Q) ARK Reactor (E) Reduce, Reuse, Recycle (D) Hired Goons (Passive) 7 (3) Engine Gunk (Q) Rock-It! Turret XL (Q) Hyperfocus Coils (W) 10 (4) Robo-Goblin (R) Grav-O-Bomb 3000 (R) — — 13 (5) EZ-PZ Dimensional Ripper (W) Goblin Fusion (W) X-Tra Large Bombs (E) 16 (6) Turret Storage (Q) Superior Schematics (Q) Kwik Release Charge (E) 20 (7) Mecha-Lord (R) Miniature Black Hole (R) Firin' Mah Lazors (W) It's Raining Scrap (Active)

Base Abilities & Stats

New Ability: Focus Turrets! (1)

Activate Focus Turrets! to order nearby Turrets to focus a specific enemy. 1 second cooldown.

Rock-it! Turret (Q)

Vision range increased by 1
Damage decreased from 68 to 62

Deth Lazor (W)

Can now be channeled indefinitely.
Can now be cancelled with a full refund by right-clicking.

 Xplodium Charge (E)

Increase cast range from 6.5 to 10

Robo-Goblin (R)

Removed functionality:
No longer grants Focus Turrets!
No longer grants PvE bonus damage
New functionality:
Now grants 100% Basic Attack damage.
New active:
Activate to gain 30 Armor and 30 Movement Speed for 4 seconds. 60 second cooldown.

Talent Changes

Level 1

General

Regeneration Master (Passive)
Removed
New talent: Goblin Repairs (Passive)
Quest: Gather regeneration globe to permanently gain +1 health per second, up to a maximum of 25
Reward: Gain an additional 15 health per second
Mercenary Lord (Passive)
Removed
New talent: Hired Goons (Passive)
Non-boss mercenaries near you do 50% more damage. Your turrets gain 50 Armor from Mercs and Minions, taking 50% reduced damage from them.
Clockwerk Steamfists (Q)
Duration bonus per attack decreased from 2 to 1.5 seconds
Engine Gunk (Q)
Slow amount from 25 to 20%
Rock-it Turret XL (Q)
Search arc increased from 65° to 80°
Hyperfocus Coils (W)
Added functionality:
Also lowers the Mana cost of Deth Lazor by 50%
Turret Storage (Q)
EZ PZ Dimensional Ripper (W)
Slow increased from 40 to 50%
X-Tra Large Bombs (E)
No longer increases cast range
Added functionality:
Whenever Gazlowe is stunned or rooted, he drops a Xplodium charge at his feet.
Goblin Fusion (W)
Superior Schematics (Q)
New functionality:
Nearby Turrets gain 25% additional range
These stay that way until you leave the new longer range             
Mecha-lord (R)
Grants 25 Armor
Increases Basic Attack damage by an additional 100%
Firin’ Mah Lazors (W)
Lazor centerpoints now track mouse cursor (Like Li Ming’s Magic Missiles)
(!) indicates a Questing Talent.
*Italic text* indicates a ***NEW*** Talent.

Level 20

Bold text

indicates a **MOVED** Talent.

Illidan

Hero Balance Adjustments

Stats Builds Impact

Base Abilities & Stats

Metamorphosis (R)

Will now clamp the cast to the maximum range of the Ability

Johanna

Hero Balance Adjustments

Stats Builds Impact

Base Abilities & Stats

General Base Stats

+25 Physical Armor
Health reduced from 2451 to 2179
Health Regen reduced from 5.11 to 4.54

Talent Changes

Level 1

General

Reinforce (Q)
Physical Armor reduced from 75 to 50
Amplified Healing (Passive)
Removed
Spell Shield (Passive)
Removed

Zul'jin

Hero Balance Adjustments

Stats Builds Impact

Talent Changes

Level 1

General

You Want Axe? (Q)
The buff tracker (located next to the portrait) now shows a specific number for Heroes hit, and how many hits are required to complete the Quest reward

Kerrigan

Hero Balance Adjustments

Stats Builds Impact

Base Abilities & Stats

Summon Ultralisk (R)

Cooldown increased from 70 to 80 seconds
Cooldown now also counts down while the Ultralisk is alive

Anub'arak

Hero Balance Adjustments

Stats Builds Impact

Developer Comment

 ***Anub’arak has received some baseline changes and talent tweaks to embrace his role as an anti-caster Warrior. New additions to his kit include: a lower cooldown and slowing Burrow Charge, a buff to his Harden Carapace shield amount, and some buffs to his Beetle build. Understandably, some players may be wondering why we lowered his Spell Armor when we want him to be an anti-caster. We felt that 25 base Spell Armor was a little too powerful in terms of countering casters because they have no real options to deal with it when it is a baseline hero stat. By giving him these changes, we’re hoping to make him a more well-rounded Warrior who still fills a niche that didn’t exist in our game before his addition.       LEVEL (TIER) ANUB'ARAK TALENTS 1 (1) Resilient Scarabs (Passive) Nerubian Armor (Passive) (!) Regeneration Master (Passive) 4 (2) Bed of Barbs (Q) Shed Exoskeleton (W) Underking (E) Legion of Beetles (Active) 7 (3) Chitonous Plating (W) Subterranean Shield (E) Leeching Scarabs (Passive) 10 (4) Locust Swarm (R) Cocoon (R) — — 13 (5) Burning Rage (Passive) Urticating Spines (W) Acid Drenched Mandibles (Passive) 16 (6) Epicenter (E) Debilitation (E) Beetle, Juiced (Passive) 20 (7) Hive Master (R) Cryptweave (R) Nullification Shield (Active) Rewind (Active)

Base Abilities & Stats

General Base Stats

Spell Armor reduced from 25 to 20
Basic Attack damage reduced from 99 to 95

Harden Carapace (W)

Shield amount increased from 300 to 315

Burrow Charge (E)

Cooldown reduced from 16 to 12 seconds. 
Added functionality:
Targets hit by Burrow Charge have their Movement Speed slowed by 25% for 2.5 seconds.
Damage reduced from 107 to 96

Locust Swarm (R)

Damage reduced from 66 to 60
Healing reduced from 18 to 17

Talent Changes

Level 1

General

Extended Spikes (Q)
Removed
Dampen Magic (Passive)
Removed
Assault Scarab (Passive)
Removed
New Talent: Resilient Scarabs (Trait)
Your Beetles have 50 Spell Armor
New Talent: Nerubian Armor (Passive)
Every 8 seconds, gain 30 Spell Armor against the next Ability and subsequent Abilities cast against you for 1.5 seconds.
Locust Needles (Passive)
Removed
Shed Exoskeleton (W)
New Talent: Subterranean Shield (E)
When you cast Burrow Charge, gain a shield for 5 seconds.
Leeching Scarabs (Passive)
Added functionality:
Also increases the damage of your Beetles by 20%
Bed of Barbs (Q)
Damage decreased from 46 to 23
New Talent: Acid Drenched Mandibles (Passive)
Attacking a Hero that is slowed, rooted, or stunned increases your Basic Attack damage by 70% for 3 seconds.
Blood for Blood (Active)
Removed
Epicenter (E)
Decrease cooldown reduction from 4 to 2 seconds
New Talent: Debilitation (E)
Enemy Heroes hit by Burrow Charge have their Spell Power reduced by 50% for 4 seconds.
Hardened Shield (Active)
Removed
New Talent: Nullification Shield (Active)
Activate to gain 60 Spell Armor for 5 seconds.
(!) indicates a Questing Talent.
*Italic text* indicates a ***NEW*** Talent.

Level 20

Bold text

 indicates a **MOVED** Talent.