Heroes of the Storm news » Heroes of the Storm 2.0 Open Beta Notes — April 17, 2017

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New Hero: Genji

Trait

• Cyber Agility (D)
  • Activate to jump to the target area.

Basic Abilities

• Shuriken (Q)
  • Throw 3 Shuriken in a spread pattern, each damaging the first enemy it hits.
  • Stores up to 3 charges. Shuriken’s cooldown replenishes all charges at the same time.
• Deflect (W)
  • Become Protected for 1.25 seconds. Any damage blocked during this period causes Genji to throw a Kunai toward the nearest enemy, prioritizing Heroes and dealing damage.
• Swift Strike (E)
  • Dash forward, dealing damage to all enemies in a line. Enemy Heroes who die within 2 seconds after being hit by Swift Strike cause the cooldown and Mana cost to be refunded.

Heroic Abilities

• Dragonblade (R)
  • Unleash the Dragonblade for 8 seconds. While active, Dragonblade can be reactivated to lunge forward and slash in a huge arc. If any enemy Heroes are killed within 2 seconds after being hit by Dragonblade, Swift Strike’s cooldown is reset.
• X-Strike (R)
  • Perform 2 perpendicular slashes that deal damage and ignite after 1.25 seconds, dealing additional damage to enemies in their area of effect.

New Battleground: Hanamura

Objectives

• Protected Cores
  • Both Cores are protected by a barrier that cannot be attacked by Heroes.
  • Payloads must be escorted across the Battleground in order to deal damage to the enemy Core.
• Escort Payloads
  • The first set of Payloads spawn for each team after 2:30 into the match, and additional waves will periodically spawn throughout the rest of the game.
  • Stand near an allied payload to escort it. The more allies who are present to escort a payload, the faster it will move. This effect caps at 3 nearby allies.
  • Payloads that haven’t been escorted for a period of time will begin to slowly move backward.
• Empowered Payloads
  • Destroying enemy Forts will cause the next allied Payload to deal additional damage when it arrives at its destination.
  • Destroying enemy Keeps will cause Sappers to spawn with allied Minion waves, which will fire on the Core upon reaching the end of their lanes.
  • Deal a total of 7 damage the opposing Core to claim victory!

Mercenary Camps

• Three types of Mercenary Camps exist on Hanamura, and captured Mercenaries will not travel down a lane to attack enemies.
  • Instead, captured Mercenary Camps will each award one of three consumable power-ups.
  • Right-click a power-up to collect it, and then use the “Map Mechanic Ability” hotkey (Default: F) to activate it.
• Recon Camp
  • Reward: Dragon Spirits
    • Release 3 Dragon Spirits that seek out enemy Heroes, who are then revealed for 5 seconds. Dragon Spirits are destroyed after finding enemy Heroes or after 10 seconds.
• Fortification Camp
  • Reward: Turret
    • Place a Turret on the ground or on your team’s payload.
• Support Camp
  • Reward: Healing Pulse
    • Restore 35% Health and 23% Mana to you and your allies over 15 seconds.
• ​​​Mega Enforcer
  • Defeat the Mega Enforcer found at the center of Hanamura to fire 1 shot on the opposing Core.

Art

General

• Visual effects that indicate Movement Speed bonuses have received updates.
• Sprays have received additional polish that should help them feel more integrated with battleground environments.

Heroes, Abilities, and Talents

• Tassadar: Nullification (Talent) has received updated visual effects.

Collection

Open Beta Note

User Interface

General

• Attack Move Target Point
  • Attack Move Target Point has been added to the Gameplay Options menu.
    • If enabled, attack move (default: A + Left-Click) concentrates on the closest enemy to the target point.
    • If disabled, attack move concentrates on the closest enemy to your Hero.

Collection

• Item borders have received updated art to make it easier to differentiate between owned and unowned items in your Collection.
• Heroes
  • An “All Heroes” tab has been added to the Heroes page in your Collection.
• Portraits
  • Selecting the Basic Portrait Border in your Collection will now display your current Player Level on loading screens, in the party panel, and the player’s profile.
  • All Player Level Progression Badge and Portrait Borders have received updated art.

Heroes Brawl

• Completing matches in Heroes Brawl will now award Hero XP.
  • In cases where multiple Heroes are used during the same Heroes Brawl, the total XP earned will be divided evenly among them.
• Completing the weekly Heroes Brawl quest will now award a Loot Chest, rather than a Portrait and Gold.

In-Game U.I.

• The in-game Chat box has been slightly lowered to provide more visibility in the center of the screen.

Mastery Taunts

Heroes

Assassin

Abilities

• Fend (E)
  • Cooldown decreased from 10 to 8 seconds
  • Mana cost reduced from 50 to 40
• ​Ball Lightning (R)
  • Mana cost increased from 40 to 60
• Valkyrie (R)
  • Cooldown decreased from 90 to 60 seconds
  • Mana cost reduced from 70 to 60

Talents

• Level 1
  • True Sight (W)
    • Quest requirement reduced from 80 to 60 hits
    • Passive damage bonus against Blind targets increased from 10% to 15%
• Level 7
  • Impale (E)
    • Health required to trigger bonus damage increased from 40% to 50%
  • War Traveler (Trait)
    • Movement Speed bonus increased from 3% to 4% per stack
  • Surge of Light (Trait)
    • Damage dealt on activation reduced from 250 to 225
• Level 20
  • Infinite Lightning (R)
    • Cooldown reduction reduced from 4 to 3 seconds per bounce

Abilities

• Inner Beast (W)
  • Cooldown increased from 16 to 20 seconds
  • Every Basic Attack while Inner Beast is active now reduces its cooldown by 0.5 seconds
• Cursed Bullet (R)
  • Damage increased from 35% to 40% of the enemy’s current Health

Talents

• Level 1
  • Wolfheart (W)
    • Now increases the cooldown reduction per Basic Attack from 0.5 to 1 second while Inner Beast is active
• Level 4
  • Insatiable (W)
    • No longer has a restriction on the amount of Mana that can be restored

Specialist

Abilities

• Plague of Toads (E)
  • Damage increased from 126 to 140 over 6 seconds
• Gargantuan (R)
  • Basic Attack damage reduced from 175.5 to 150
  • Health reduced from 2500 to 2300

Talents

• Level 13
  • Superstition (Passive)
    • Spell Armor reduced from 50 to 40
• Level 20
  • Humongoid (R)
    • Cooldown reduced from 45 to 40 seconds
  • Vile Infection (Trait)
    • Voodoo Ritual stacks required increased from 150 to 175

Abilities

• Photon Cannon (E)
  • Can now be self-cast

Support

Abilities

• Sacred Sweep (Q)
  • Damage increased from 75 to 80
  • Center damage increased from 150 to 160
• Detainment Strike (E)
  • Damage increased from 100 to 115
  • Terrain collision damage increased from 100 to 115
• Resurrect (R)
  • New Functionality
    • Increased cooldown from 70 to 120 seconds
    • Reduced channel time from 3 to 0.5 seconds
    • Added a 5 second delay between finishing the cast and the Hero coming back to life

Talents

• Level 1
  • Increase Clarity (Q)
    • Damage bonus for completing the quest increased from 120 to 150
  • Righteous Assault (Q)
    • Cooldown reduction increased from 2 to 3 seconds per Hero hit
    • No longer has a cap
• Level 4
  • Repeated Offense (E)
    • Quest reward damage bonus increased from 200 to 250
• Level 7
  • Glimmer of Hope (Trait)
    • Energy cost reduction increased from 50% to 75%
  • Empathic Link (Trait)
    • Energy stored for damage taken by Bestow Hope’s target increased from 20% to 25%
• Level 13
  • Blinding Flash (Q)
    • Blind duration reduced from 3 to 2.25 seconds
  • Piercing Lash (E)
    • Now also reduces the cooldown by 2 seconds for each enemy Hero hit
• Level 20
  • Shield of Hope (Active)
    • Cooldown increased from 45 to 60 seconds
  • Light Speed (R)
    • New Functionality
      • Removed the increased Health upon reviving
      • Now causes the cooldown of Resurrect to recharge 100% faster while previous target is alive

Abilities

• Soothing Mist (Trait)
  • Now displays a range ring around Brightwing that conveys the radius of her heal. This is only visible to Brightwing.

Abilities

• Blinding Wind (E)
  • Cooldown decreased from 10 to 8 seconds
  • Mana cost reduced from 40 to 30
  • Damage increased from 132 to 140

Stats

• Basic Attack damage increased from 10 to 12

Abilities

• Plasma Shield (Q)
  • Duration decreased from 5 to 4 seconds
  • Shield amount decreased from 550 to 475
• Force Wall (R)
  • Cooldown reduced from 10 to 8 seconds
  • Mana cost reduced from 30 to 25

Talents

• Level 1
  • Khaydarin Resonance (Passive)
    • New functionality:
      • Quest: Regeneration Globes grant 50% more Mana to Tassadar
      • Reward: After collecting 15 Globes, increase the Shield amount of Plasma Shield by 15%
      • Reward: After collecting 30 Globes, increase the Shield amount by an additional 15%
• Level 4
  • Khala’s Celerity (Q)
    • Movement Speed bonus reduced from 25 to 20%
    • Movement Speed bonus duration reduced from 5 to 4 seconds
  • Khala’s Embrace (Q)
    • Life steal increased from 50% to 60%
• Level 20
  • Twilight Archon (R)
    • Updated functionality:
      • Basic Attacks while in Archon form increase Archon’s duration by 2 seconds

Stats

• Removed passive Armor
• Base maximum Health increased from 2054 to 2156
• Health Regeneration increased from 4.28 to 4.49

Abilities

• Holy Light (Q)
  • Healing amount reduced from 427 to 380
  • Now also heals Uther for 190 if cast on an ally
• Holy Radiance (W)
  • Healing amount reduced from 219 to 160 (now matches damage)
  • Mana cost reduced from 65 to 60
• Eternal Devotion (Trait)
  • Added Functionality:
    • When Uther heals anyone with a Basic Ability, they gain 25 Armor for 2 seconds. This effect does not stack with itself.

Talents

• Level 1
  • Conjurer’s Pursuit (Passive)
    • Removed
  • Wave of Light (W)
    • No longer has a cap on the Mana return and Cooldown Reduction amounts
    • Now grants the benefits when enemy Heroes are damaged
    • Increased the amount of Mana returned from 8 to 10
    • Added a quest component:
      • !Quest: Heal or damage 60 Heroes with Holy Radiance
      • !Reward: Increase the duration of Eternal Devotion’s Armor effect to 3 seconds
  • Hammer of the Lightbringer (E)
    • New functionality:
      • Uther’s Basic Attacks restore 1.5% of his maximum Mana
      • !Quest: Hit 75 enemy Heroes with Basic Attacks
      • !Reward: Basic Attacks also reduce the cooldown of Hammer of Justice by 1 second
  • Fist of Justice (E)
    • Removed
  • (New) Silver Touch (Q)
    • !Quest: Reduce damage taken from Heroes using Eternal Devotion's Armor effect
    • !Reward: After reducing 40 sources of Hero damage, reduce the Mana cost of Holy Light by 20
    • !Reward: After reducing 80 sources of Hero damage, reduce the Mana cost of Holy Light by an additional 20 and increase the cast range by 50%
• Level 4
  • Beacon of Light (Q)
    • Moved to level 16
    • New functionality:
      • While below 50% Health, Uther receives 200% more self-healing when healing others with Holy Light
  • Boundless Conviction (W)
    • Removed
  • Protective Shield (Active)
    • Removed
  • (New) Pursuit of Justice (E)
    • Casting Hammer of Justice increases Uther's Movement Speed by 20% for 3 seconds
• Level 7
  • Burden of Guilt (E)
    • Removed
  • Holy Fire (Passive)
    • Moved to level 4
    • Damage reduced from 18 to 16 per second
  • Cleanse (Active)
    • Removed
  • (New) Armor of Faith (Trait)
    • Holy Light recharges 100% faster for 6 seconds when Uther is Stunned, Rooted, or Silenced
  • (New) Guardian of Ancient Kings (Trait)
    • Healing a Stunned, Rooted, or Silenced Hero with a Basic Ability increases the Armor bonus of Eternal Devotion from 25 to 75
  • (New) Hand of Protection (Active)
    • Activate to make target ally Unstoppable for 1 second. Cannot be cast on yourself. 90 second cooldown. Basic Attack reduce this cooldown by 5 seconds.
• Level 13
  • Blessed Champion (Q)
    • Healing from Basic Attacks reduced from 20% to 15% of Holy Light, but is calculated from the combined total of Holy Light’s Ally and self heal
  • Holy Shock (Q)
    • Moved to level 4
    • No longer increases the value of Uther’s next Holy Light, but instead refunds 45 Mana when cast on an enemy
      • Holy Shock still heals Uther for 200 if cast on an enemy
  • Shrink Ray (Active)
    • Removed
  • (New) Well Met (E)
    • Hammer of Justice also reduces enemy Hero Movement Speed by 25% and damage by 25% for 3 seconds
• Level 16
  • Hardened Focus (Passive)
    • Removed
  • Righteous Defense (Q)
    • Removed
  • Gathering Radiance (W)
    • Removed
  • (New) Tyr's Deliverance (W)
    • Hitting an allied Hero with Holy Radiance increases their healing received by 40% for 6 seconds
• Level 20
  • (New) Divine Protection (Trait)
    • Eternal Devotion's Armor can now stack twice. Each new application will refresh the duration of both armor effects

• (!) indicates a Questing Talent.
• Italic text indicates a NEW Talent.
• Bold text indicates a MOVED Talent.

Warrior

Abilities

• Burrow Charge (E)
  • Hovering over this ability will now show the range indicator for distance traveled, as well as the area affected when he emerges from burrow
• Locust Swarm (R)
  • Damage per second reduced from 60 to 55
  • A range indicator will now appear to Anub’arak while Locust Swarm is active

Talents

• Level 7
  • Subterranean Shield (E)
    • Shield amount reduced from 365 to 345
• Level 13
  • Urticating Spines (W)
    • Hovering over the ability button after selecting this talent will now show a range indicator
• Level 16
  • Epicenter (E)
    • Cooldown reduction decreased from 2 to 1.5 seconds per Hero hit

Stats

• Health increased from 2100 to 2180
• Health Regeneration increased from 4.375 to 4.543

Talents

• Level 1
  • Guitar Hero (E)
    • Healing increased from 40% to 50% of damage dealt by Basic Attacks
• Level 4
  • Speed Metal (Passive)
    • Movement Speed increased from 10% to 15%
• Level 7
  • Pinball Wizard (W)
    • Damage increased from 200% to 300%
  • Hammer-On (Passive)
    • Damage increased from 30% to 35%

Stats

• Health increased from 2900 to 3000
• Health Regeneration increased from 6.043 to 6.25

Abilities

• Slam (W)
  • Damage increased from 96 to 104

Abilities

• Energy (Trait)
  • Rate of decay increased from 2.5 to 3 per second
• Graviton Surge (R)
  • Cooldown reduced from 100 to 80 seconds

Talents

• Level 1
  • Demolitions Expert (Q)
    • Cooldown reduction decreased from 0.5 to 0.4375 seconds per 5 Heroes hit, up to 3.5 seconds
  • Together We Are Strong (E)
    • Damage needed per point of Energy gained reduced from 9 to 6
  • Maximum Charge (Trait)
    • Energy gained from Regeneration Globes increased from 15 to 20

• Level 4
  • Give Me Twenty (E)
    • Cooldown reduction granted upon completing the quest decreased from 3 to 2 seconds
  • Speed Barrier (E)
    • Movement Speed bonus increased from 35% to 50%
• Level 16
  • Cleansing Shield (E)
    • Cooldown reduction increased from 2 to 3 seconds
  • Plasma Shock (Q)
    • Slow duration increased from 1.5 to 2 seconds
• Level 20
  • Gravity Kills (R)
    • Damage increased from 140 to 175 over the duration
  • Clear Out (R)
    • Bonus maximum Energy increased from 10 to 15 per Hero hit

Bug Fixes

General

• Mac: Launching Heroes of the Storm using the Mac 10.12 OS will no longer adjust the player’s mouse acceleration setting.

Battlegrounds

• Battlefield of Eternity: Fixed a rare issue in which an Immortal could be awarded to the wrong team if both Immortals were killed at nearly the same time.
• Haunted Mines: The terrain surrounding Sapper Merc Camps will now correctly block vision of the camp.
• Haunted Mines: Leoric will no longer fail to respawn properly after being killed via damage dealt by a nearby spawning Grave Golem.
• Tomb of the Spider Queen: Webweavers will no longer become distracted by Summoned units.
• Try Mode: The Complete Quests button will now correctly set Zul’jin’s You Want Axe quest to 120 attacks, rather than 500.
• Try Mode: The Reset Talents button will now correctly remove bonus Hungering Arrow strikes earned by previously completing the Puncturing Arrow quest.
• Try Mode: Tassadar’s Oracle cooldown will now be correctly reduced by 15 seconds when completing the Mental Acuity quest via the Complete Quests button.

Art

• Cyber Ram: Fixed an issue in which the Cyber Ram’s hind legs appeared slanted.
• Gazlowe: Restored missing visual effects during Gazlowe’s transformation into Robo-Goblin form.
• Greymane: Restored missing visual effects during Go for the Throat.
• Rexxar: Misha, Focus! now uses the same Ability icon in-game as it does on Rexxar’s detail page in the Collection.
• Valla: Strafe visual effects will no longer continue to play after the Ability expires.
• Varian: Will no longer appear scaled-down on the Ranked Play screen.
• Xul: Will no longer appear offset on the Ranked Play screen.

Heroes, Abilities, and Talents

• Quest Talents: Fixed a bug that caused quest talents that track every second to ping continuously. They will now only ping every 5 seconds as intended.
• Regeneration Globes: Will now play an animation upon expiration rather than suddenly disappearing.
• Spell Shield: Toggling Spell Shield will no longer cancel an active Hearthstone channel.
• Abathur: Heroes can no longer push a player-controlled Monstrosity by walking into it.
• Auriel: Detainment Strike will now correctly stun enemies who collide with corners of terrain.
• Auriel: Fixed an issue that could cause Resurrect’s revive message to appear on the MVP screen.
• Chen: Freshest Ingredients will no longer grant 3 Health Regeneration stacks for Regeneration Globes collected during Storm, Earth Fire.
• Diablo: Fixed an issue preventing Diablo from using Basic Attacks against his Overpower target if Overpower was interrupted by Zeratul’s Void Prison.
• Cho: Twilight Hammer will now deal damage to Murky’s Pufferfish.
• Gall: Fixed an issue that could cause Gall to use his base skin on the MVP screen despite using an alternate skin during the match.
• Gazlowe: Can now correctly issue commands to active Rock-It! Turrets while dead.
• Illidan: Fixed an issue that could cause Illidan to respawn at his death location if he cast Sweeping Strikes in the same moment that he was killed.
• Murky: Can no longer call down a Nuke during Safety Bubble on Warhead Junction.
  Nazeebo: Corpse Spiders will no longer prioritize Kharazim’s Air Ally or Lúcio’s Boombox over enemy Heroes.
• Probius: Pylons and Photon Cannons will no longer be affected by Power Overflowing when Probius is not inside a Pylon’s Power Field.
• Samuro: Way of Illusion will no longer continue to generate quest progress icons after its quest is complete.
• Tassadar: Prismatic Link will no longer cause Basic Attacks to continue to hit the tertiary target if the primary and secondary targets move out of range of one another.
• The Butcher: Victuals will no longer stop functioning after completing Fresh Meat’s quest.
• The Butcher: Butcher’s Brand visual effects will no longer persist on a Punisher until it is killed.
• The Butcher: Will now properly receive Healing for Basic Attack damage dealt to a Punisher affected by Butcher’s Brand.
• The Lost Vikings: Fixed an issue causing Olaf to begin attacking the nearest enemy after using Charge, rather than the intended target.
• Tracer: After using Blink, Tracer will now correctly continue to walk in the direction she was originally moving prior to the cast.
• Tyrael: Fixed an issue that could cause Archangel’s Wrath to immediately explode on death, and prevent Tyrael from respawning.
• Varian: After learning Second Wind, Varian will now correctly earn bonus Healing for bonus damage dealt by Shattering Throw against a Shielded target.
• Zagara: Damage dealt by Hunter Killer and Roach summons will no longer be reduced by Armor.
• Zeratul: A revealed icon will no longer appear above enemies hit by Rending Cleave.
• Zul’jin: Taz'dingo! Will now correctly prevent Zul’jin from dying when cast at the same moment that he would have taken fatal damage.

Sound

• E.T.C.: Enemies affected by a Mosh Pit that was cast from inside of a bush or vent will now correctly hear the Ability’s sound effects.

User Interface

• Hotkeys: Control group hotkeys in the default Standard for Lefties profile now correctly mirror the Standard profile, with the first slot bound to the 7 key.
• Heroes Brawl: Brawls that only require completion of 2 matches will no longer state that 3 matches are needed in order to earn rewards.
• Kill Feed: The Kill Feed will no longer display blank portraits for Heroes who are killed by an Immortal while the Immortals are dueling on Battlefield of Eternity.