Heroes of the Storm patch brings major balance changes and more
Blizzard just released the patch notes for the latest Heroes of the Storm balance patch, and there is a lot to unpack. More than 20 heroes are receiving balance changes, which is a quarter of the entire roster. Some of the game’s fundamental mechanics are also getting adjusted. Read on for our breakdown of the main changes coming in this patch.
Everything moves faster
All Heroes of the Storm heroes are receiving a 10 percent movement speed increase. The patch notes state that the change will be monitored and adjusted. This is supposedly something Blizzard has been working on implementing before. Skillshot abilities will also be rebalanced in the future to make up for this drastic change.
Many heroes are getting tweaked in various ways. Some will receive straight nerfs, like balance team mascot Anub’arak, who can hardly go a couple of months without changes. Others are getting only buffs, which is the case with Valeera and Falstad. The buffs should be a boon for dedicated Falstad players. Heroes of the Storm’s Gryphon Rider had not received any balance in a very long time.
Zeratul’s changes should reduce his ability to blink in, deal heavy Cleave damage, and blink out safely. This move became very popular since his last redesign, which gave him a lot of spell damage output.
Imperius is getting another partial rework, likely in an attempt to bring him back to the 50 percent win-rate he had before the last one. The new changes include the Press Forward talent, which increases the duration of currently active regen globes on him as long as he is damaging enemy heroes. This should prove helpful on Heroes of the Storm maps where the majority of fights happen in lane, like Tomb of the Spider Queen.
Some minor changes are also coming to E.T.C., Mal’Ganis, Artanis, Mephisto, Greymane, Orphea, Valla, Sonya, Ana, Anduin, Rehgar, Yrel, Medivh, Illidan, and Maiev. Blizzard is also tweaking Chen’s recent rework slightly. Rehgar’s and Yrel’s changes in particular seem to indicate once again that Blizzard is cutting talent tiers down to three choices across the board.
Hanamura Swordsmen and other changes
Sergeant Hammer will no longer be available on ARAM maps. This change likely comes as a result of her last rework, which put all of her power in her Siege Mode. The protective radius that Hammer provides when sieged makes it extremely risky for enemy teams to dive on hers. This, in turn, enables full-team single lane pushing. And Heroes of the Storm’s ARAM maps are not easy to pull wide flanks on, which is the natural counter-tactic. For now, Hammer will not make any appearances on those maps.
The Swordsman mercenary camp on Hanamura Temple now respawns 30 seconds slower. Hanamura has a single objective, so the team who is down a player in order to clear the pushing Swordsman typically loses it. And Swordsmen push pretty hard, so it’s really a loss-loss for whoever has to deal with them. This change is most likely an attempt to reduce the importance of these camps as a win condition.
That sums up the major details from this patch. Make sure, though, to check out the official patch notes for all the little details. And stay tuned to Daily Esports for more Heroes of the Storm news and content!
