With each patch the game changes and we all have opinions on whetherr it does in a good way, or a bad way. The Kael'thas patch has been live for a couple weeks now and a few things have been made obvious; Kael'thas at level 16 is terrifying and ETC's Powerslide is essentially impossible to avoid.
We gathered the thoughts of our resident Heroes editorial crew and compiled them on what's good, and what isn't about the latest patch.
Hexagrams
Winners: Terran is now OP in yet another Blizzard game, as both Nova and Raynor received significant buffs to their talents in this patch. Our Blonde got a Basic Attack Buff and Captain Jim’s Inspirational speeches got stronger; A good day for the human race.
Loser: Players who like numbers and information seem to be the biggest losers, as Blizzard removed many key cooldown timers while they continue to revamp the Heroes of the Storm User Interface.
Dorazion
Winner: Sonya. Sonya is a threat no matter how you build her. With buffs to Seismic Slam damage and a massive cooldown reduction on Whirlwind, playing her doesn't feel like a constant struggle anymore. Honorary mention to Anub’arak, who went from never picked to seen often in a matter of days.
Loser: Diablo by a long shot. It's a sad day when making a hero more fun to play (as well as allowing more dynamic talent selection) ultimately makes that same hero much weaker. Nerfing Diablo's tankiness and removing the "Unstoppable" part of Shadow Charge were a lot more damaging than I first imagined. Right now, he resembles his old, bottom tier incarnation as apposed to his high tier, dominant self we have grown to love.
TDX
Winner: Forget heroes and all the “winners” and “losers” talk. There’s a clear winner here and it’s you, the gamer. Blizzard tweaks the user interface every patch, and it’s approach the pinnacle. It’s the small things in life. Pinging on the map and it showing the player’s name is ingenious. With HOTS players growing increasingly vitriol (probably all the ex-Dota players), muting chat was essential. The menu screens are looking good and accessibility has never been better. An easier interface makes for a better game, regardless of any hero changes.
ManMode
Winner: Anub'arak. Over the last week, Anub'arak has more than proved that all he needed was some quality of life changes. He's more fluid than ever with no delays on his abilities and with the upgrades to his beetle A.I. he is a severe threat 1v1. As a warrior he may not be the sturdiest but he's definitely found his place as a disrupter and bruiser.
Loser: How many Stitches players have you seen since the patch? One? Maybe two? I think that’s a clear sign that he’s nowhere near as strong as he used to be. With tanks like E.T.C. and Anub'arak being popular, a hook means almost nothing in the meta, not to mention the substantial hits he’s taken to damage and tankiness. R.I.P. and tear in peace, Stitches.
JamesDickens
Winner: After reading the patch notes it was clearly Sonya. Bizarrely, I did not encounter any Sonya players in the EU high rank hero league games so far. But what I did encounter a lot of is Gazlowe. The annoying goblin with his turrets and their ridiculous range buff just has to be the winner considering how much hate Gazlowe players have been getting up until this patch for picking this “useless” hero.
Loser: Assassin players. We have all been sacrificed to the rise of the warriors. Right now as an assassin player most of your muscle memory and estimations are outdated and wrong. You get caught out by ETC more than you like to admit and Anub’arak straight up toys with you. A warrior is no longer just a big target to hit at, delivering some occasional crowd control. With this patch warriors became a force to be reckoned with and this really hurts on assassins.
Zfury
Winner: Anub’arak is the clear winner of this patch. When his rewind from 16 was removed the hero fell into relative obscurity for months touting one of the lowest pick rates in both hero league and competitive. Much like the Diablo changes, the increased speed and usability of his two core abilities (Burrow charge and Impale) make the Hero feel much more fluid and the changes to his beetle A.I. make him a brawling powerhouse. Don’t be surprised if you see your team’s Anub topping damage.
Loser: The Lost Vikings barely squeeze in as the biggest loser of the patch. Before the quick and timely hotfixes on Abathur's cooldowns he was in a pretty poor state but since then I’d have to say the much more vulnerable Vikings take the spot. Reducing the amount of time you can “Jump!” by 33% is felt immensely and the stun when Longboat is destroyed feels like an eternity. Combine these vulnerably changes with the prevalence of Living Bomb build Kael’thas players, and you’re gonna find yourself having a bad time.
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