The January 27th update for Heroes of the Storm brings several changes to improve gameplay balance, enhance some heroes’ abilities, and fix critical bugs. Let’s dive into the details of this patch and analyze what these changes mean for players.
Table of Contents
Hero Changes: Buffs, Nerfs, and Tweaks
Auriel
Base Changes:
- Bestow Hope (Trait):
- Increased the amount of energy stored from 60% to 80% of damage dealt to enemy heroes.
- Increased energy stored from 20% to 50% when damaging non-Heroes.
These changes aim to enhance Auriel’s healing potential, especially in prolonged fights where energy gain from damage becomes more significant.
Talent Adjustments:
- Level 1: Searing Light
- Now only deals damage to enemy Heroes. This tweak focuses Searing Light as an ability intended purely for damage, balancing it for stronger direct combat roles.
- Level 7: Energized Cord
- Now increases Basic Attack range by 1.1. This provides Auriel with better positioning in fights, offering more utility while maintaining a safe distance.
- Level 10: Resurrect
- Reduced the delay before resurrection from 5 seconds to 3 seconds, significantly improving Auriel’s responsiveness in bringing teammates back into action faster.
- Level 16:
- Reservoir of Hope: Quest bonus reduced from 75 to 55, making it a little harder to achieve the full benefit of the quest.
- Wrath of Heaven: Armor reduction increased from 10 to 20, and spell power increased from 10% to 15%, making this talent more potent for burst damage.
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Chromie
Talent Adjustments:
- Level 1: Timewalker’s Pursuit
- Spell Power increased from 10% to 15%, enhancing Chromie’s scaling damage early on.
- Level 5: Mobius Loop
- The slow effect has been reduced from 60% to 40%. This change lowers Chromie’s crowd control power in exchange for more reliable damage output.
- Level 18: Unravelling
- The Lingering Slowing Sands no longer consumes energy and now increases cast range by 50%, making Chromie’s control more consistent and flexible.
Johanna
Base Changes:
- Shield Glare (E):
- Mana cost increased from 45 to 55, making it more expensive to use in prolonged fights.
Talent Adjustments:
- Level 1: Divine Fortress
- Health bonus starting value increased from 20% to 25%. This enhances Johanna’s tankiness right from the beginning of the game.
- Zealous Glare: Damage bonus reduced from 75% to 70% to balance her contribution to team damage.
- Level 7: Steed Charge
- Duration increased from 3 to 4 seconds, giving Johanna more mobility and utility in engaging or disengaging.
- Level 13: Blessed Hammer
- Damage reduced from 74 to 65, making it a bit less impactful in team fights.
- Level 16: Holy Renewal
- Cooldown reduction reduced from 1.5 seconds to 1 second, slightly weakening the talent’s healing potential.
- Shrinking Vacuum: Damage reduction increased from 25% to 30%, and slow increased from 25% to 30%. This gives Johanna more crowd control in clutch situations.
Tracer
Talent Adjustments:
- Level 4: Is That a Health Pack?!
- Healing from Regen Globes increased from 10% to 15% of maximum Health, giving Tracer more sustainability in fights.
- Pulse Generator: Healing reduced from 18% to 12%, balancing out Tracer’s sustain abilities.
- Level 13: Jumper
- Cooldown refresh reduced from 150% to 100%, giving Tracer more frequent access to her mobility tools.
- Shield reduced from 6.5% to 6%, a slight nerf to her defensive capabilities.
Zul’jin
Base Changes:
- You Want Axe? (Trait):
- Basic Attack damage increased from 94 to 96.
- Limit of 50 stacks introduced, meaning Zul’jin’s damage scaling has a cap.
- Bonus from quest completion reduced from 1 to 0.25.
Talent Adjustments:
- Level 1: Recklessness
- Basic Attack damage bonus reduced from 15% to 10%.
- Level 10: Guillotine
- Cooldown reduced from 40 seconds to 30 seconds and mana cost reduced from 70 to 60, making it easier to execute with this ability.
- Level 16: Let the Killing Begin
- Kill window reduced from 1.5 seconds to 0.5 seconds, making Zul’jin more deadly and precise.
- Level 20: Buzzsaw
- Kill window reduced from 1.5 seconds to 0.5 seconds, tightening up Zul’jin’s execution window for added reliability.
Bug Fixes: Quality of Life Improvements
The patch also includes several fixes for known issues affecting various heroes and abilities. Some of the key fixes include:
- Alexstrasza: Fixed an issue with Flame Buffet‘s slow effect being instantly removed on targets with reduced duration on being slowed.
- Azmodan: Chain of Command now applies to Demonic Invasion’s on-death explosion, fixing a bug where the synergy wasn’t functioning as intended.
- Chen: Fixed issues with Storm, Earth, Fire and Wandering Keg abilities, improving functionality and ensuring Chen can contest Capture Points.
- Fenix: Fixed Arsenal Synergy not granting cooldown reduction on the primary target hit by Phase Bomb.
- Johanna: Fixed Punish ability interactions with reduced duration slows, ensuring that it functions consistently with certain crowd control effects.
- Mei: Fixed Icing (E)’s slow being removed prematurely on targets with reduced duration slows.
- Zul’jin: Fixed an issue where Basic Attack damage wasn’t updating correctly while Berserker was active, improving visual clarity.
Conclusion
The January 27th patch brings much-needed adjustments to heroes like Auriel, Johanna, and Zul’jin, balancing their strengths and fine-tuning some of their abilities. Bug fixes across various heroes improve consistency and fairness, ensuring players have a smoother experience. Whether you’re looking to leverage these buffs or adjust your gameplay to the new mechanics, this update has a bit of something for everyone.
Stay tuned for further updates and continue to adapt to the ever-evolving metagame of Heroes of the Storm!