The new patch has changed a lot. Li-Ming is arguably one of the strongest heroes released since Kael'Thas (potentially even stronger) and the most popular quick match hero, Nova, has been totally reworked. Old instincts may serve you well, but ignorance in the face of such massive changes is a risky proposition.
Here are the biggest things to know in order to survive the Li-Ming induced wave of change:
1. Li-Ming will be in every game
This goes without saying because Li-Ming is a new hero, but it is especially true because... well Li-Ming is Li-Ming. She is the flashiest Hero in the game hands down and she is also capable of the highest burst damage. She is designed to cater to high mechanically skilled players, and because everyone thinks they are a high mechanically skilled player, Li-Ming is an inevitability we must accept.
That being said, there are ways to counter Li-Ming. For one, she is beyond fragile. Seriously, just pick Greymane, Illidan or Zeratul and enjoy killing Li-Ming's that are still getting used to her positioning and razor's edge gameplay. Illidan in particular has found a new usefulness, as The Hunt is deviously fun to cast on Li-Ming. It casts a huge target on her head, and last time I checked squishie heroes hate to be stunned from across the map.
Li-Ming is also extremely effective at destroying structures. She does it quickly and easily out of range of tower shots. You simply can not allow Li-Ming to single handedly push your lanes without pressure.
2. Structures are more dangerous
Sick of the abuse and neglect, the humble cannon tower is tanking it's stand.
To heroes that aren't Li-Ming, increased tower damage is a real thing. It's harder for squads of heroes to roam and gank constantly as long as their target stay relatively near it's defensive structures. All the same vulnerabilities are there, but the prospect of trading your death for the enemy hero tanking all of the tower shots is much more likely.
On top of this buff, structures no longer receive vulnerability debuffs. Slight nerf to heroes like Jaina and Nova.
However, as structures get stronger, heroes that shuts them down get's stronger. These are subtle buffs towards Sylvanas and a subtle nerf towards heroes that enjoy diving towers, such as Diablo, Johanna, Muradin, Cho'Gall and to some extent Zeratul. Diablo especially has a harder time aggressively rushing heroes near their tower, and it should be avoided unless you have significant hero advantage .
3. Nova has more incentive to stick with the team.
It's already been written about on this site, but the changes to Nova can't be underestimated. If you still want to see success with Nova, it's highly recommended you stick with your team to help secure kills. Pinning Shot talents are very powerful and can help even the sloppiest of teams focus their damage on one target.
Two charges of a Pinning Shot with increased range that grants vulnerability outweighs most other talents selections, and her burst damage just isn't high enough to roam around the map solo killing enemy heroes anymore.
4. Shadow Assault Zeratul will flourish
I already miss you, allied Void Prison
Not only is Shadow Assault a pretty good counter to Li-Ming, but it's an inherently fun talent that now has a 45 second cool down. You may understand that Void Prison is better (and it's hard to ever ignore such a powerful heroic) but Shadow Assault Zeratul is here to say so you might as well get used to it.
Against an unorganized team, Zeratul with Shadow Assault can be extremely frustrating. The greedy auto attack build shines when it can't be punished, so against a Zeratul who takes Shadow Assault, immediate focus fire should be your main priority.
If you are being isolated by a Shadow Assault Zeratul, you can't escape; It's the nature of the Heoric. Your best bet is to fight him head on and try to burst him down before he bursts you do. It's not likely going to happen, so stick with a teammate to avoid this scenario entirely.
5. Abathur and Gazlowe do a lot more damage.
Since the scaling changes, players have seen the Toxic Mine style of Abathur play flourish, with more and more slugs ignoring Symbiote talents completely. The Toxic Mine build is still very strong, but the damage buffs to Abathur demand a new found respect for a target enhanced with Symbiote. Abathur was already a strong hero and now he is even stronger.
Gazlowe has never been a strong hero, but he has been given hope this patch. Simply put, once Gazlowe gets level 4 it's not a good idea to stand in front of his Deth Lazor. If he manages to hit multiple targets with the improved version, it's an absurd amount of AoE damage.
Things get even crazier once Gazlowe hits level 16 and his Deth Lazor charges twice as fast. You simply can't afford to fight within range of multiple 900+ damage Deth Lazor blasts. The best counter to Gazlowe is still the same- just walk away and keep the fight mobile.
6. Rehgar is a threat to squishies.
"Finally!" - Rehgar after hearing about his damage buffs.
Rehgar has also been changed dramatically, and the most noticeable difference is the amount of burst damage he can bring at every stage of the game thanks to Feral Lunge being added to his base list of abilities. That, on top of some seriously powerful AoE damage with lighting shield at level 16 allows Rehgar to do more damage then ever before while still being a solid healer. It's important to note that his overall burst healing (not taking into consideration Ancestral Healing) has been reduced due to the removal of some key Healing Wave talents.
Blizzard explains it well in this developer commentary:
"Rehgar was usually brought to teams as a main support, which meant players were heavily incentivized to pick every healing option available to him. We tried to rectify this by placing healing Talents against each other on the same Talent tier. Of course, this removes some of his healing power as players cannot stack each Talent, so we also increased his base power to compensate. Our hope is that these changes will allow Rehgar players to be a more aggressive while supporting their team, which was always his design intent. "
Translation: Squishy heroes should avoid hanging around Rehgar when they have around 50% health. The gladiator shaman has sharpened his claws since last patch and it shows.
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