Heroes of the Storm news » Heroes of the Storm Balance Update — November 10, 2016

Assassin

Talents

Level 7

• Sun King's Fury (W)
  • Increased damage bonus from 30 to 35%

Talents

Level 4

• Punishment (W)
  • Bonus damage per Hatred stack decreased from 5 to 4%

Level 7

• Arsenal (W)
  • Cooldown reduction per Hero hit reduced from 3 to 2 seconds

Developer Comments: Valla is sitting in a really good spot right now, but we feel like the damage output compared to ease of use is too high on her Multishot talents. The changes to Punishment and Arsenal should incentivize players into taking the higher skill-vs-reward talents on those tiers.

Stats

• Basic Attack Damage decreased from 93 to 88

Abilities

• Mirror Images (Q)
  • Damage dealt reduced from 30 to 25% of Samuro’s damage
• Illusion Master (R)
  • Damage increase reduced from 15 to 10%

Talents

Level 13

• Shukuchi (E)
  • Teleport range decreased by 20%

Developer Comments: While there are a lot of knobs for us to turn in order to help bring Samuro’s win rate more in line, we felt that his damage output (especially burst) was where we wanted to start first. We are happy with his survivability options and feel his fantasy should cater towards being elusive. We also realize that damage and confusion are really all he brings to a team, so we wanted to be careful with the changes. We feel that these small tweaks to his damage (and the fact that they compound on each other) will cause a reasonable drop in his win rate and will continue to closely monitor him.

Specialist

Abilities

• Slime (Q)
  • Damage increased from 82 to 86
• Pufferfish (W)
  • Damage increased from 390 to 410

Developer Comments: “Aaaaaughibbrgubugbugrguburgle!” Translated, that means he’s getting a 5% buff to most of his damage, but expect to see larger Talent changes in the early part of next year.

Support

Talents

Level 1

• Shan'do's Clarity (Trait)
  • Cooldown reduction decreased from 10 to 8 seconds
• ​Moonburn (W)
  • Bonus damage against non-heroes reduced from 100 to 75%

Level 4

• Elune's Grace (Passive)
  • Ability range decreased from 30 to 25%

Developer Comments: Similar to ETC, Malfurion is simply a little too powerful. We’re toning down some of his talents to keep him more in line with other supports.

Warrior

Stats

• Maximum Base Health decreased from 2556 to 2428
• Base Health Regen from 5.32 to 5.06

Talents

Level 1

• Prog Rock (E)
  • Quest reward ally heal reduced from 53 to 50

Level 7

• Echo Pedal (Passive)
  • Bonus damage to Minions and Mercenaries reduced from 100 to 75%

Level 13

• Face Smelt (W)
  • Slow amount reduced from 60 to 50%

Developer Comments: ETC is a little too strong at all levels of play, so we’re looking to trim down his power. He also has a few over performing talents in Prog Rock, Echo Pedal, and Face Smelt, so we’re lowering their power to make the other talents on their tiers more competitive.

Stats

• Base Maximum Health increased from 2556 to 2633
• Health Regen increased from 5.32 to 5.48

Talents

Level 4

• Crowd Control (W)
  • Added functionality:
    • Now also refunds 5 Mana per enemy hit

Level 7

• Skullcracker (Passive)
  • Added functionality:
    • Now also passively increases Muradin’s attack speed by 25%
• Iron-Forged Momentum (Passive)
  • No longer decreases the cooldown of Dwarf Toss

Level 16

• Heavy Impact (E)
  • Stun duration reduced from .75 to .5

Developer Comments: Muradin’s pick rate in both Hero League and Pro Play continues to be extremely high. Oddly enough his win rate is actually below average in most levels of play. We realize that he brings a very versatile kit that allows him to be a great solo-Warrior for his team. Our main change to offset his Health is to remove the escape effectiveness of Iron-Forged Momentum. Next week we will also be reducing the amount of Health that Avatar provides. The rest of the changes are minimal and targeted towards talent win/pick rates.

Talents

Level 1

• Demolitions Expert (Q)
  • Quest reward of hitting 5 Heroes increased from .375 to .5
• Together We Are Strong (E)
  • Increased Energy per damage dealt from 10 to 9
  • Increased the maximum Energy gained from 25 to 30
• Maximum Charge (Trait)
  • Quest completion time increased from 120 to 150 seconds

Level 4

• Defensive Shielding (Passive)
  • Block charge duration from 12 to 6 seconds

Level 7

• Hit Me (Trait)
  • Bonus Energy from Zarya’s Shields decreased from 20 to 15%

Level 13

• Unstoppable Competitor (W)
  • Unstoppable duration increased from 1.5 to 2 seconds
• Endurance Training (Passive)
  • Damage reduction decreased from 25 to 20%

Level 16

• Plasma Shock (Q)
  • Slow duration increased from 1 to 1.5 seconds
• Cleansing Shield (E)
  • Added functionality
    • Also decreases Cooldown of Shield Ally from 12 to 10 seconds

Level 20

• Unyielding Defender (Active)
  • Cooldown increased from 45 to 60 seconds

Developer Comments: Zarya’s power level is slightly higher than what we’d like, and in general her Energy Talents are stronger than all the other options on their tiers. These changes should increase Talent diversity and deliver a slight nerf to the Hero..