The PTR patch notes came out yesterday and Phase Shield and Blink Heal both received significant nerfs. What does this mean for Brightwing’s viability in Hero League and competitive?
Brightwing Patch Note Changes
Ability Changes
(Trait) Brightwing’s Soothing Mist Healing increased by 25%.
(Heroic) Blink Heal range reduced by 15%
Talent Changes
(Level 1) Hyper Shift no longer reduces the cooldown of Phase Shift when Brightwing heals herself
Dream Shot moved from level 7 to level 1
(Level 7) The Shield amount of Phase Shield has been reduced from 548 to 400 (at level 1) and the duration has been reduced from 20 seconds to 10 seconds
(Level 7) Mistified cd reduction reduced from 1 second to 0.75 seconds when using a basic ability
(Level 20) Continuous Winds now increases Soothing Mist healing by an additional 7%
(Level 20) Rewind removed
What is the New Brightwing good at?
Brightwing was pretty bad at burst healing before these changes, and now, she will be terrible at it. Before the patch note changes, Brightwing’s main selling point was mobility and good single target sustain healing. New Brightwing won’t be great at any of these things - the Hyper shift and blink heal nerfs hurt her mobility and the Phase shield nerf hampers her ability to save allied heroes from being focused down, leaving many to wonder why on earth they would ever pick Brightwing.
The answer lies with the 25% buff to the soothing mist healing output. No, that won’t save an allied hero like phase shield, but 25% is a huge amount: often changes of around 10% can totally change a hero’s viability. Also, because Mistified and Phase Shift both got nerfed while her base healing went up dramatically, cleanse is now a far more viable option for Brightwing at level 7.
What are the ramifications? Brightwing becomes a hard counter to non-burst oriented damage dealers: heroes like Nazeebo, Lunara, and Zagara will find themselves significantly less effective vs. Brightwing since she will now be able to save her team through their sustained damage almost effortlessly.
Meanwhile, her effectiveness vs. burst compositions will be effectively zero outside of cleanse and shield dust, making her pretty much incapable of saving an allied hero being focus fired.
Hero League Viability
The old Phase-shield blink heal build was extremely popular because it was versatile - it could be picked into a variety of situations and drafts and be effective. Rarely was Blink Heal Brightwing the absolute best support to pick - but it could get the job done. With the new patch, it is clear Blizzard has decided they want her to be primarily a sustain based support.
This makes her a bad pick unless one of the following is true:
- She is being picked to counter sustain damage or for her polymorph against heroes like Illidan/Tracer
- She is being picked with one of Tassadar/Medivh, both of which excel at supporting allied heroes through burst damage.
- She is being picked for Emerald Wind to counter an insanely dive heavy composition.
Therefore, I expect Brightwing’s pick rate in Hero League to fall precipitously, although her win rate probably won’t change much due to her being more effective in the niche situations where she makes sense.
Competitive Viability
I expect that most people will assume that since all Brightwings seen in competitive play have used the Phase Shield/Blink Heal build, that a massive nerf of both talents will cause Brightwing to vanish altogether from the pro scene. Oddly enough, I anticipate the exact opposite: I believe this patch will see the return of Brightwing to prominence in pro play, even as her Hero League pick rate plummets.
Why is this? Well, first of all, she will now be able to realistically take Cleanse. Considering how important Cleanse is in the pro-scene, that’s already a major plus. More importantly, there are now situations where Brightwing will legitimately be the best support hero to pick at the pro level post 25% soothing mist buff.
Brightwing's current problem at the pro level is that in any situation where Brightwing is viable, there is typically a different support hero that is better in that spot. This point can’t be understated - pros typically pick the best hero they can in any given situation, not the 2nd or 3rd best one. The Medivh/Tassadar issue may plague Hero League, but not the pro-level, so this problem from Hero League doesn’t carry over.
Brightwing and Medivh: Best Friends Forever?
New Brightwing with Emerald Wind will have two major issues:
- She can sustain aoe heal for days, but she can’t save anyone from being focused.
- Emerald Wind is a game changing ult, but ever since the Sprint removal from her kit it can be a struggle to get into good positions to get a good one off.
Medivh is the solution to both issues - his portal allows her to get into good positions to Emerald Wind and then get out safely, while his Force of Will ability mostly solves the focus fire issue. I can’t wait to see the potential plays this combo will make in competitive once the new patch is live.
The Continuous Winds Buff Isn’t Enough
All Continuous Winds realistically does is keep enemies out of a specific area a little longer once it is cast. The problem is other Level 20 talents are better: Storm Shield is better vs. burst (also has a lower cooldown than Emerald Wind) and Revitalizing Mist is better as a sustain option. Adding a passive 7% to the trait doesn’t do anything because Revitalizing Mist is still the better sustain healing talent. What they should do is give Brightwing her old Gust of Healing back as part of Continuous Winds - it will hardly be OP as part of a level 20 talent and it might make it actually worth picking in certain situations.
The Bottomline
With these changes, Blizzard has changed Brightwing into an aoe sustain healer and drastically reduced the number of situations she can be viable in. While she may be better in competitive play now, drastically reducing the number of situations she can realistically be played in hurts the hero, even if she is much better than before in the situations where she can be used.
Follow us on Twitter @GosuGamersHotS and on Facebook for more competitive Heroes of the Storm news and coverage from around the world.
