Two heroes in need of love took steps in the right direction while Kael'thas goes under the knife once again in the latest balance update to hit the nexus.
Some heroes seem to get changed every other week, while others haven't featured in the patch notes for months. In the most recent balance updates going live on April 27th, we see a little bit of both.
For starters, Rexxar is getting some much needed improvements. More max HP and HP regeneration and longer auto attack range are just a few of the buffs everyone's favorite (but obviously low tier) hunter needed to survive a meta filled with powerhouse heroes
Developer Comments: "We’re currently looking at doing a larger pass on Rexxar in the future, but wanted to give him some love in the meantime to help make him more rewarding to play. It should now be easier to stick Misha to targets with her increased Leash range, and Rexxar should be able to both zone and survive against enemies better with increases to his Health and to his Basic Attack range. We’re listening to your feedback on him, and are looking forward to bringing out something more substantial in the future."
The next hero to enjoy buffs is The Butcher. Base improvements to Furnace Blast and Ruthless Onslaught make the all-in melee assassin stronger at diving enemies, but the most powerful buff may be the subtle change to a PvE talent, Chop Meat:
Chop Meat (Talent)
- Bonus damage to Minions and Mercenaries increased from 50% to 100%
Easier wave clear means more stacks of meat, which means more damage for a team fight, which means more hero kills. It wouldn't surprise me if this change alone makes the Butcher a significantly stronger hero, especially in an organized competitive environment.
Developer Comments: "There are a lot of ways for enemy teams to shut down our favorite meat-cleaving demon friend. We want to give him some more opportunities to engage enemies by reducing the cooldown of Ruthless Onslaught, which we feel is appropriate since he puts himself at risk when diving opponents. While taking a look, we saw an opportunity to buff up some of his weaker Talents, which should make him feel more compelling to play."
Kael'thas is getting nerfed in some ways and buffed in others. The single target damage of Sun King's Fury was too strong for how "low-risk" it was, resulting in a flat damage reduction. To make up for it, the Convection talent gives slightly more damage when players complete the talent's quest portion. Mana Addict now only requires 20 globes down from 25 to complete the quest, but Fel Infusion only provides 4% ability damage down from 5%.
These are slight changes, but all aimed at building a Kael'Thas more in line with Blizzard's vision.
Developer Comments: "Fel Infusion is doing a little bit too much, too well compared to other Talents on its tier for how low-risk it is, so we’re giving it a slight nerf and buffing the others. Mana Addict should feel more consistently achievable in an average game, and Convection’s reward is now more worth the risk of taking the talent.
We’re a little uncomfortable with how much single-target burst damage Kael’thas is able to put out with Sun King’s Fury, so we’re toning it down. He threw a fit about it, but we’re sure he’ll manage to find some other way to be a little too powerful. He always does."
That last developer comment though.
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