E.T.C, Johanna, Falstad, and SGT. Hammer have two heroics but only 1 competitive option. This latest balance update looks to change that.
Talent diversity is a goal that Blizzard developers have had since the earliest stages of Heroes of the Storm. When a certain set of talents are so powerful they practically force players to choose them every game, no one wins. There are many ways of fixing this, but Blizzard has opted for a more positive one; buff the weaker talents and leave the powerful talents alone.
The majority of this balance update involves number changes to some of the least popular heroics to encourage their ability to make "big plays" and influence the game. This means more damage at the cost of a higher cool down. Blizzard explains this philosophy in greater detail:
"We are looking for opportunities to increase the impact that some Heroic Abilities have at the moment they are cast. When it makes sense, we are also looking to increase the cooldown in order to keep the big moments more impactful. This is our first pass at doing this and you can expect to see more changes like these as we move forward with this initiative"
This "initiative" will most likely change even more heroics at a later date, Li li's Water Serpent and Sylvanas's Possession are two that immediately come to mind. The following Heroics do more damage thanks to the latest patch:
E.T.C
- Stage Dive (R)
- Damage increased from 155 (+4% per level) to 201 (+4% per level)
Arthas
- Summon Sindragosa (R)
- Damage increased from 205 (+4% per level) to 255 (+4% per level)
- Cooldown increased from 80 to 100 seconds
SGT. Hammer
- Blunt Force Gun (R)
- Damage increased from 365 (+4% per level) to 500 (+3% per level)
Falstad
- Hinterland Blast (R)
- Damage increased from 411 (+4% per level) to 411 (+4.75% per level)
- Cooldown increased from 90 to 120 seconds
Johanna
- Falling Sword (R)
- Cooldown decreased from 80 to 60 seconds
- No longer slows movement while airborne
Note, in the case of Johanna, Falling Sword was buffed in ways other than increasing the damage, most notably she is no longer slowed while Airborne.
Greymane has also been buffed, but they are slight and not too exciting. The biggest changes are a buff to the Unfettered Assault talent, an overall HP buff, and cool down reductions on his basic abilities.
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