Published on March 6, 2017
We just released a new patch for Heroes of the Storm a new Hero, balance updates, and more to the Nexus!
Special Event Quest: Two Heads are Better than One

Heroes Brawl
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 of 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 whether this change improved your Brawl experience or not.

***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)
General Base Stats
Surging Dash (Q)
Consuming Blaze (W)
Rune Bomb (E)
Two-Headed Ogre (D)
New Trait: Ogre Hide (D)
Twilight Hammer (R)
General
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***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 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)
Abilities
Shadowflame (Q)
Dread Orb (W)
Runic Blast (E)
Twisting Nether (R)
Shadowbolt Volley (R)
Hurry Up Oaf! (Z)
New Trait: Ogre Rage (D)
General
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 ***For a long time Arthas has walked the line between being a Bruiser and a tank, though it was always intended that he be more of a tank as opposed to a bruiser. With Armor in 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, and now he should really shine as the Warrior to bring if the enemy team has multiple Melee heroes or those who strongly rely on their auto-attacks. In return for his extra control in teamfights, his damage has been reduced. While he will not put out damage as quickly as before, his ability to kill enemies will now rely much more on how long he can keep them in his Frozen Tempest, as once they’re in it will be very difficult for them to escape without using some kind of mobility.      Return ####
General Base Stats
Frostmourne Hungers (Trait)
Death Coil (Q)
Frozen Tempest (E)
Army of the Dead (R1)
General
General Base Stats
El'Druin's Might (Q)
General
Diablo
Kerrigan:
Kharazim:
Nazeebo:
Observer Mode:
Braxis Holdout
Cursed Hollow
Haunted Mines
Try Mode
Try Mode
Azmodan:
Brightwing
Chen
Dehaka
E.T.C
Kharazim
Gul'dan
Gul'dan
Malfurion
Medivh
Nazeebo
Ragnaros
Ragnaros
Ragnaros
Rexxar
Rexxar
Samuro
Samuro
Stitches
Tassadar
The Lost Vikings
Tyrande
Valeera
Valeera
Varian
Zarya
Artanis
Voiceover
Medivh
Kerrigan
Lunara
Hero Select
Observer Mode
Observer Mode
Score Screen
Demonic Invasion (R)
General
***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 has done it again. The changes to him 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 bringing in a swash 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)  ***We’re currently doing a pass on our Warriors, and want to better separate those that are intended to be able to solo-tank for their team, and 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 cost of damage. While we know that players enjoy putting out that DPS, we think this 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 as much damage as our Assassins. ####
New Ability: Focus Turrets! (1)
Rock-it! Turret (Q)
Deth Lazor (W)
 Xplodium Charge (E)
Robo-Goblin (R)
General
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General Base Stats
General
 ***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, but we felt that 25 base Spell Armor was a little too pointed in countering casters as they have no real options to deal with it when it is on a hero baseline. By giving him these changes, we’re hoping to make him a more well-rounded Warrior while still filling a niche that previously did not exist in our game.       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)
General Base Stats
Harden Carapace (W)
Burrow Charge (E)
Locust Swarm (R)
General
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