Tychus, Raynor and Chen undergo a huge list of changes while Bright Wing suffers big nerfs.
This patch was a doozy.
Casting aside the obvious (Ha! R.I.P Tyrael) the Lost Vikings are now a fully playable hero. We will see highlight reels, Dragon shire shenanigans, and on the other end of the spectrum, a lot of Erik feeding in these first couple of weeks. As the first vintage throwback hero released for play, I am excited to see how players who may not be familar with the Lost Vikings lore grow to love the trio. I dare you not to crack a smile the first time you you activate Longboat Raid!
But even for all the hype the Lost Vikings bring, the sheer volume of nerfs and other balance changes brought on by this patch are arguably much more exciting! There is no time to waste, so let's get into the most important details you need to know!
Four new talents seen below have been put into the game, all of them being available at level 20. It is also important to note that Rewind has been moved to a level 20 talent to more appropriately fit the power level.
Nexus Blades and Nexus Frenzy are clearly very powerful passives, however it is doubtful whether or not they will be poweful enough to choose over Bolt of the Storm. Heroes like Raynor, Valla, Tychus (especially Tychus due to his nerfs) and Illidan are extremely reliant on the ability to blink out of harms way at later stages in the game, so these DPS increasing passives will most likely benefit heroes like Tyrande and Sgt. Hammer. Hammer Will now have to choose between this new talent, and the absurdly powerful range and damage Napalm upgrade, where as Tyrande will basically always get this new talent.
Fury of the Storm offers incredible lane pushing power, and seems particuarly powerful when coupled with the Lost vikings, as I assume that each viking's seperate attack will be buffed. However, these type of affects are that important at the level 20 stage of the game, so I don't predict this talent seeing much play. Hardened Shield however has tremendous potential to soak up huge ammounts of damage and might be exactly the type of survivability buffs that Anub'Arka, Gazlowe, and Sonya need to survive a late game team fight, as currently they have a pretty hard time doing so.
As I go through the heroes, due to the massive nature of this patch, I will highly the most important details and provide the full list of changes for those who want to see the entire picture. Starting with Sonya, we see damage buffs all around. Wrath of the Bezerker will do more damage, Seismic Slam will do more damage, and even her auto attack damage has been buffed. Sonya has always had a problem dying too quickly, so Blizzard seems to be making the risk of entering a team fight as Sonya a more worthwhile risk.
So summarize the numerous changes to her rage generation and ability cost, she will essentially have more rage more often, thanks to an flat increase in the ammount of rage gained when taking damage and hitting a target with Ancient spear. However, the increased rage cost on her abilities means that pooling your rage for explosive bursts will be harder to do. So while players will find them selves with more rage and more ways to gain rage in desperate times, the capacity for spamming consecutive abilities is lessened.
Thanks to a helpful redditor for bringing some of the nuances of this rage change to my attention!
Full list of Tychus changes here.
Tychus is a hero that's playstyle was defined by the tankiness raw damage output all thanks to his heroic ability, Comandeer Odin. All this has changed now. Tychus will now die once the Odin dies, and activating Odin no longer grants Tychus full health. The Odin now starts off with whatever percentage base health Tychus had intially, meaning Tychus no longer as an emergency rescue button when he is about to die. To compensate for these nerfs, Tychus's normal attack ranged while in Odin has been increased by a whopping 30% and his attack speed has increased by 9%.
This means everyone will have to play Tychus differently. Odin MUST be used before premptively before a fight starts in order to get any value out of hit, making Tychus much more fragile to focus fire. His second Lazer Drill heroic will probably be picked much more, as Blizzard seems to be moving Tychus into a "get into a safe position and start dealing huge ammounts of damage" hero, which is a far departure from the "Go deep and bully opponents" style of play we are used too. More damage, less surviability.
Full list of Arthas changes here.
R.I.P the Arthas reign of Terror. At least in the earliest stages of the games where he has notably been used as a powerful roamer. With the removal of the Envenom talent and nerfs to healing granted by both Life Tap and Army of the Damned, Arthas has taken a serious drop in power towards the early stages of the game. While the the rest of his abilities (especially Frozen Tempest) have actually been buffed, Arthas probably won't deliver the type of dominant performance we have grown to expect from him. The most common complaint with tanky warrior heroes like Arthas is that they also deliver huge ammounts of burst damage. Blizzard seems to be pulling Arthas closer in the direction they envisioned him- large tank that excells in winning long, grindy team fights.
Full list of Raynor changes here.
Raynor has always been a deceptive hero. People assumed that he was the "beginner friendly" choice due to his star role in the tutorial, however this is actually the least accurate description you could possibly give him him. With no escape ability, a huge reliance on hitting a narrow skill shot, orb walking, and a passive trait that encourages last hitting, new player were never able to actually use Raynor to the best of his ability.
This patch has made changes to Raynor that attempt to fix that. Searing Attacks has been removed which was one of the most important parts of his position reliant auto attack build, and on top of this, Inspire no longer provides bonus attack. His normal auto attack damage has been reduced and his Lead from the Front passive (The one that encouraged last hitting and hero kills) has now been split into more powerful level 13 and level 20 talents. On the surface, Raynor has changed from an auto attack "Drow Ranger" style hero, to a much more versatile one. Raynor might actually have a viable Mercany based build, as a new talent Raynors "Recruitment" is a more powerful version of Bribe that synergizes with the new availability of mercanary lord!
So he is, in a way, easier to play right? Not exactly. Inspire now adds more 25% attack speed up from 15%, meaning that orb walking for max damage is harder to do. On top of that, his damage is even more reliant on hitting his Q skill shot and Raynors Raiders now has micro-management options using the R button to select individual targets. So in a way, Raynor has possibly become even harder to play effectively.
Full list of Anub'Arak changes here.
The Beatle has gotten small buffs and some small nerfs, but the most important change is the huge buff to his seldom picked Web Blast heroic. Web Blast will now incapcitate an enemy hero for 8 seconds, and when upgraded with the Crypt Weave Ability, can be channeled for an additional 4 seconds. That is 12 seconds of hero lock down with added bonus of distracting other enemy heroes to stop what they are doing and forcing them to attack the webbed unit in order to free them. There weren't many reasons to choose Anub'arak over more powerful tanks like Arthas or Muradin, but this added CC may be the buff needed to encourage heavy CC based strategies.
Full list of Diablo Changes here.
Diablo has needed some love for a long time now, and this patch offers...some. While no huge buffs (and actually, one apparent nerf to the already patheticalyl weak Fire Stomp), Diablo has at least received a flat damage increase to his auto attack damage. Also, the most clunky hero in the game promises to be less clunky for now on, as the functionaility of his Shadow Charge and Overpower abilities have supposedly been improved greatly.
These are the type of changes that are most readily apparent when playing the hero for your self, so I suggest taking him for a spin. Blizzard has already stated that they plan on overhauling Diablo completey, so maybe they are trying to see if, once cleaned up a little, the current Diablo might be good enough unchanged.
Full list of Brightwind changes here.
Brightwing has recieved some pretty big nerfs this patch, and they are quite simple. Brightwing has becoming squishier, Rewind is now a level 20 talent, He no longer has access to Bolt of the Storm and Pixie Dust blocks less and doesn't increase speed as much. Although the talent Phase Shield was buffed, there are much better talents that are usually picked, most notably Sprint or Iceblock. Brightwings healing hasn't been touched, but the durability of the hero is noticeably less.
?
Full list of Chen changes here.
The list of changes to Chen are long and will most likely change the popular builds that Chen players are used to going. On average, Chen will be doing less damage and his early game CC domination has been nerfed significantly. The power spike that Chen has originally enjoyed from level 7 has essentially been changed to level 16. We should see less completely unkillable Chens in the early stages of the game, and a tankier chen that should towards the later stages. His HP regeneration when at high levels of brew has been buffed, and at below 50 percent brew he will now benefit from a speed increase, instead of the speed increase at above 50 percent.
These changes are best experience in game, however it appears that Chen is moving more towards a more defensive itteration this patch.
Full list of Murky changes here.
Murky's cool down on placing his egg has been reduced by a significant 25 seconds, allowing more aggressive and on the spot placement of the egg when rapid siege of an area is needed. This style of aggressive play has always been very effective on maps like Cursed Hallow, so it is interestng to see how this change might further specialize Murky and give him an actual role in competitive play. However, with the removal of Gathering Power and Rejuvenation Bubble being decreased to only 50 percent healing, Murky has become undeniably weaker in a skirmish.
Conclusion
A lot of the most powerful heroes in the game have been nerfed substantially. Arthas and Tychus may finally lose their spot at the very top of the tier lists, as by comparison, the heroes that have not been nerfed at all seem much more powerful. Muradin and E.T.C were already strong enough contenders as some of the most powerful tanks in the game, and now that Arthas's more overpowered strengths have been curbed (and Tyrael has lost the Cast Aside talent) there isn't much downside in picking one of them. Stiches is still probably the best tank in the game, despite the relatively small nerfs.
Only time will tell how these changes will adjust the already volatile meta we see in the earliest stages of competitive Heroes of the Storm (and we haven't even talked about what type of degenerate strategies the Lost Vikings are capable of), but I for one like the direction the game is headed. Heroes are becoming more specialized in their roles, meaning the opportunity for teams to implement new strategies around these specializations is increasing.
What do you think of the new patch? Are the nerfs warranted, or should Blizzard be focusing on stregthening existing heroes instead? If you have gotten this far, you assuredly have an oppinion on the matter, so let us know in the comment section!
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