HOTS – JULY 20, 2021 Balance Patch Notes | Morales gets a major rework!

Introduction

In the latest patch notes, Heroes Rework: Morales takes center stage. The base health of the character has been reduced from 1545 to 1515, while the energy regeneration interval for the Healing Beam has been reduced from 1 to .5 seconds. Additionally, the energy regenerated per interval has been reduced from 6 to 2.5. But that's not all - the Healing Beam UI now displays the portrait and name of Heroic targets while active. Safeguard has also been tweaked, with armor reduced from 35 to 30. The patch notes also include changes to talents, such as the addition of the new functionality for Life Support at Level 1, which regenerates 100% more energy for the first 2 seconds of energy regeneration. The Cellular Reactor at Level 4 now has a reduced healing duration of 3 seconds, while the cooldown has been reduced from 45 to 20 seconds. The Medivac Dropship at Level 10 now grants the Reinforcements ability, allowing allies to enter the dropship for 10 seconds to travel to the original cast location. With these changes, Lt. Morales is sure to spice up the game and provide players with more flexibility in shuttling their allies around earlier in the game.

Heroes Rework: Morales

Base

Health reduced from 1545 to 1515.
Healing Beam [Q]
- Energy Regeneration interval reduced from 1 to .5 seconds.
- Energy Regenerated per interval reduced from 6 to 2.5.
- Additional functionality: Healing Beam UI now displays the portrait and name of Heroic targets while active.
Safeguard [W]
- Armor reduced from 35 to 30.
Stim Drone [R1]
- Cooldown reduced from 90 to 70 seconds.

Talents

Level 1
- Life Support [Q]
  - New functionality: For the first 2 seconds of Energy Regeneration, regenerate 100% more Energy.
  - Passive: Increase your Maximum Energy by 10.
- Clear! [E]
  - Additional functionality: Heroes hit by Displacement Grenade restore 3 Energy.
Level 4
- Cellular Reactor [Active]
  - Healing duration reduced from 4 to 3 seconds.
  - Healing amount reduced from 40 to 30% maximum Health.
  - Cooldown reduced from 45 to 20 seconds.
  - Additional functionality:
    - Passive: Regenerate 2 Energy each time Safeguard reduces damage, up to 10 per cast.
- Trauma Trigger [Passive]
  - Cooldown increased from 20 to 40 seconds.
  - Additional functionality:
    - Passive: Increase Caduceus Reactor’s healing from 2 to 4% maximum Health.
- Blast Shield [E]
  - New functionality: Heroes hit by Displacement Grenade are slowed by 50% for 1 second after being knocked back and grant Lt. Morales a Shield equal to 6% of her maximum Health, stacking up to 5 times.
Level 10
- Medivac Dropship [R2]
  - Additional functionality: Grants the Reinforcements ability, allowing Lt. Morales to call down a Medivac Dropship at the Hall of Storms that allies can enter for 10 seconds to travel to your original cast location.
  - Cooldowns reduced from 60 to 45 seconds.
Level 13
- System Shock [E]
  - Duration reduced from 4 to 3 seconds.
- Second Opinion [E]
  - Moved to level 20.
- (New) Bedside Manner [E]
  - Basic Attacks against Heroes deal 1% of maximum Health as damage. Heroes hit by Displacement Grenade take 6% of maximum Health as damage from Lt. Morales’ next Basic Attack.
Level 16
- Extended Care [Q]
  - Additional functionality: Channeling Healing Beam on a Hero for at least 3 seconds will heal them for 50% of Healing Beam’s base value for 3 seconds once channeling ends.
- First Responder [Q]
  - Additional functionality: Also grants Lt. Morales and her Healing Beam target 15% increased movement Speed while active.
- Shield Sequencer [W]
  - Additional functionality: Increases the range of Safeguard by 60%
Level 20
- Hyperactivity [R1]
  - Cooldown reduction reduced from 45 to 35 seconds.
- Safe Zone [R2]
  - Protected duration increased from 2 to 3 seconds.
  - Additional functionality: Reduces the cooldown of Medivac Dropship abilities by 15 seconds.
- Reinforcements [Active]
  - Removed.
- (New) Hospice Care [W]
  - Safeguard grants its target Unkillable for 1 second. If the target is under 50% maximum Health when this effect ends, they are healed for 8% of their maximum Health.
  - Developer Comment: While Lt. Morales has been performing well at all levels of play, we felt her talents options could use a little spice. We also thought it was appropriate to bake in the old "Reinforcements" talent from level 20 into the Medivac Dropship Heroic. This should give Morales a little more flexibility in shuttling her allies around earlier in the game.

Heroes

TANK	BRUISER	HEALER	RANGED
Blaze	Artanis	Kharazim	Azmodan
Muradin	Dehaka	Lucio	Cassia
		Stukov	Falstad
		Tyrande	Jaina
			Zagara

Tank

Blaze

Base

Flame Stream [Q]
- Damage reduced from 83 to 76.
Pyromania [D]
- Flame Stream cooldown reduction reduced from 5 to 4 seconds.

Talents

Level 4
- Oil Dispersal [W]
  - Cooldown reduction reduced from 1 to .75 seconds.
Level 13
- Collision Course [E]
  - Damaged reduced from 325 to 275.
  - Developer Comment: Blaze has been successful in making a big splash, but his damage is helping his team secure kills more frequently than we would like.

Muradin

Talents

Level 1
- Perfect Storm [Q]
  - Storm Bolt damage bonus per Heroic Basic Attack increased from 0.5 to 0.75.
Level 4
- Sledgehammer [Q]
  - Additional functionality: Increase Storm Bolt's cooldown reduction from Basic Attacks by 0.25 seconds.
  - Developer Comment: We’re happy with how Muradin is playing with his level unlock, so we’re keeping it, and polishing up Perfect Storm and Sledgehammer.

Bruiser

Artanis

Base

Twin Blades [W]
- Charge range increased from 3 to 3.5.
Phase Prism [E]
- Cast time increased from .0625 seconds to .25 seconds.
- New functionality:
  - Artanis no longer has to channel while the Phase Prism missile is active.
  - Artanis gains Unstoppable for 1.5 seconds after swapping with an enemy Hero.
Purifier Beam [R2]
- Cooldown reduced from 80 to 70 seconds.
- Mana cost reduced from 80 to 65.

Talents

Level 1
- Reactive Parry [W]
  - New functionality: Hitting enemy Heroes with Twin Blades or Blade Dash grants a charge of Block for 50 Physical Armor. Stacks up to 2 times.
Level 4
- Shield Battery [Trait]
  - New functionality:
    - Shield Overload’s cooldown recharges 125% faster while active.
    - Passive: Reduce Shield Overload’s cooldown by 4 seconds.
Level 7
- Follow Through [Passive]
  - Removed.
- (New) Final Cut [Passive]
  - After using an Ability, your next Basic Attack within 6 seconds deals 40% more damage. When under 25% health, this bonus is increased to 60%.
Level 16
- Blades of a Templar [Passive]
  - Attack speed bonus reduced from 30% to 20%.
Level 20
- Zealot Charge [W]
  - Distance bonus amount reduced from 100% to 75%.
  - Developer Comment: Artanis has long struggled to get value out of his swaps when facing heavy CC teams and this has a large impact on his viability, especially in higher levels of play. We're giving him a brief window of unstoppability after swapping with Phase Prism, as well as improving the general usability of the ability. We're also giving him a teensy bit more range on his Twin Blades charge. All of these changes combined should help Artanis feel a bit more impactful and safe in team fights.

Dehaka

Base

Basic Attack
- Attacks per second increased from 1.11 to 1.25.
Burrow [E]
- Additional functionality: Dehaka can move at 50% Movement Speed during Burrow.

Talents

Level 4
- Lurker Strain [E]
  - Additional functionality: Deal 125 damage to enemies hit by Burrow.
- One-Who-Collects [Trait]
  - Additional functionality: Dark Swarm deals 40% more damage to Mercenaries.
Level 7
- Feeding Frenzy [Q]
  - Cooldown reduction reduced from 2 to 1.75 seconds.
  - Additional functionality: Increases the duration of Drag by .5 seconds.
- Paralyzing Enzymes [Q]
  - New functionality: Passive: Drag Slows enemies by 40% for 2 seconds after it ends.
  - Gambit: When Drag ends deal an additional 280 damage to the target over 2 seconds. Each death reduces this damage by 40, up to 5 times.
Level 13
- Ferocious Stalker [W]
  - Damage bonus increased from 50% to 60%.
Level 16
- Tunneling Claws [E]
  - New functionality: Increase Movement Speed during Burrow to 125%
- Pack Leader [Z]
  - Additional functionality: Gain 15% increased Attack Speed while in a bush and for 5 seconds after.
  - Developer Comment: Much essence left to collect. Must collect faster.

Healer

Kharazim

Talents

Level 20
- (New) Fists of Legend [Trait]
  - Gain 50% of the benefit from both level 1 talents that were not chosen.
  - Developer Comment: Kharazim has Transcended past the desire for Insight… because he has Iron Fists. Or something like that.

Lucio

Talents

Level 10
- High Five [R2]
  - Ally healing reduced from 250 to 230.
Level 13
- Slip [Z]
  - Changed functionality: While Wall Ride is active passing near an enemy Hero increases its Movement Speed bonus to 40%, and grants 15 Armor, for 1 second.
Level 20
- Mixing Fire [R2]
  - Removed functionality: Casting High Five on an enemy Hero no longer heals or grants Unstoppable to Lucio.
  - Developer Comment: Lucio continues to be a powerful force at high level play. We’re again targeting his survivability when played in this style to allow his opponents more room to punish him. We generally don’t prefer to remove functionality, so we will be keeping an eye on Mixing Fire to see if it needs an injection of fun in coming patches.

Stukov

Talents

Level 1
- Fetid Touch [W]
  - Additional functionality: Ranged attacks and Melee attacks are now toggleable with an active.
  - Developer Comment: We greatly appreciate and agree on the feedback of us combining Spine Launcher with Fetid Touch last patch. To give player’s back control, we have made the Talent grant the ability to toggle between both ranged or melee attack modes.

Tyrande

Base

Sentinel [W]
- Additional functionality: If an enemy Hero dies while revealed by Sentinel, reset its cooldown.
Hunter’s Mark [D]
- Additional functionality: Tyrande’s Basic Attacks heal for 1% of her maximum Health, doubled against Marked targets.

Talents

Level 1
- Trueshot Aura [Active]
  - Passive bonus Attack Damage increased from 15% to 30%.
  - Activation aura Attack Damage increased from 25% to 30%.
Level 4
- Mark of Mending [D]
  - New functionality: Basic Attacks against Marked targets Heal all nearby allied Heroes for 4% of their maximum Health.
Level 13
- Ranger’s Mark [D]
  - Cooldown reduction of Hunter’s Mark per Basic Attack from 1 to 2 seconds.
  - Cooldown reduction of Lunar Flare from Basic Attacks against Marked targets from 3 to 4 seconds.
Level 16
- Darnassian Archery [Passive]
  - Stacking bonus damage from 10% to 12%.
  - Developer Comment: We love Tyrande’s Healing niche in the Nexus but wanted to give her a couple of spicy baseline updates, as well as tune-up a few of her under-performing Talents.

Ranged

Azmodan

Base

Demonic Invasion [R1]
- Cooldown increased from 90 to 100 seconds.
- Demon Grunt explosion damage reduced from 97.5 to 88.

Talents

Level 4
- Hellforged Armor [W]
  - Armor bonus reduced from 25 to 20.
  - Developer Comment: *bonking motions with the nerf bat*

Cassia

Base

Blinding Light [W]
- Blinded damage bonus reduced from 20% to 15%.

Talents

Level 1
- Thunderstroke [Q]
  - Initial damage bonus reduced from 25 to 15.
Level 7
- Seraph's Hymn [W]
  - Additional Blinded damage bonus increased from 10% to 15%.
- Surge of Light [D]
  - Damage reduced from 240 to 220.
  - Developer Comment: We like the role Cassia is filling as an almost Bruiser style Ranged Assassin, but she’s doing so with too much burst damage.

Falstad

Talents

Level 1
- Gathering Storm [Q]
  - Damage bonus per stack increased from 0.4% to 0.5%.
  - Additional functionality: After hitting 30 Heroes with Hammerang, increase its damage by 15%.
- Dishonorable Discharge [W]
  - Additional functionality: At 30% damage bonus, reduce Lightning Rod's cooldown by an additional 2 seconds.
- Frequent Flyer [Active]
  - Duration reduced from 5 to 4 seconds.
Level 7
- Secret Weapon [Q]
  - Damage bonus reduced from 90% to 75%.
- BOOMerang [Q]
  - Damage bonus increased from 75% to 100%.
  - Developer Comment: Falstad’s Basic Attack talents have become a dominant playstyle, so we’re rebalancing his early talents. While we’re not bringing Dishonorable Discharge’s cooldown reset earlier, we feel this compromise still helps the old bird without overly frustrating his foes.

Jaina

Talents

Level 4
- Frost Shards [Q]
  - Frost Bolt pierce increased from one to two additional targets.
Level 7
- Ice Lance [Q]
  - Cooldown reduction increased from 1.25 to 1.5 seconds.
- Ice Floes [E]
  - Changed functionality: Cone of Cold hitting an enemy Hero reduces its cooldown by 2 seconds, doubled if they are chilled, up to a maximum of 8 seconds per cast.
Level 10
- Ring of Frost [R1]
  - Cooldown reduced from 80 seconds to 70 seconds.
Level 16
- Northern Exposure [W]
  - Armor reduction increased from 20 to 25.
- Cold Snap [R1]
  - Cooldown reduction increased from 10 to 15 seconds.
  - Developer Comment: Jaina’s talents have started to freeze in place, so we’re hoping this gets them moving around.

Zagara

Base

Basic Attack
- Attack range increased from 5.5 to 6.6.
Creep Tumor [D]
- Removed functionality: No longer increases Zagara's attack range.
- Move Speed bonus for Zagara's summons increased from 20% to 30%.
Baneling Barrage [Q]
- Charges reduced from 4 to 2.
- Cast time increased from .0625 to .125 seconds.
- Additionality functionality: Launches two Banelings per cast.
Infested Drop [E]
- Roachling Basic Attack damage increased from 27 to 30.

Talents

Level 16
- Jagged Barbs [D]
  - Attack damage bonus increased from 40% to 50%.
Level 20
- Fury of the Storm [Passive]
  - Removed.
- (New) Broodmother [Q]
  - Every 3rd Basic Attack also launches a Baneling towards the target.
- (New) Pack Instincts [W]
  - Zagara and her summons deal 25% more damage to enemies attacked by a Hunter Killer in the last 3 seconds.
  - Developer Comment: Zagara’s abilities have always had higher than normal variance in their effectiveness. We think the increased Movement Speed, and larger barrage, will leave her in a more reliable spot. We’re also adding some level 20s that play into her Zerg style.