Hey Champions,
Spooky season has arrived! We've got a fiendish lineup of Halloween skins ready for you to haunt your enemies in lane. For the balance side of things, this patch aims to deal with specific outliers in the meta since the Bloodtide launch, with larger changes planned for 1.18.
Let's dive in!
Store News
Haywire Mourn [Epic]
Rattlebone Iggy & Scorch [Epic]
Bloodrose Renna [Epic]
Returning Shadow's Eve Skins
Shadow's Eve skins have returned for a limited time only, along with a whole bunch of brand new variants!
- Reaver Kira [Skin]
- Tomb Reaver Kira [Skin Variant]
- Spectral Reaver Kira [Skin Variant]
- Reaver Greystone [Skin]
- Occult Reaver Greystone [Skin Variant]
- Spectral Reaver Greystone [Skin Variant]
- Franken Steel [Skin]
- Gore Franken Steel [Skin Variant]
- Occult Franken Steel [Skin Variant]
- Cinder Franken Steel [Skin Variant]
- Ash Franken Steel [Skin Variant]
- Bash-O-Lantern Narbash [Skin]
- Ichor Bash-O-Lantern Narbash [Skin Variant]
- Spectral Bash-O-Lantern Narbash [Skin Variant]
- Infernal Wukong [Skin]
- Ichor Infernal Wukong [Skin Variant]
- Spectral Infernal Wukong [Skin Variant]
- Sweet Dreams Khaimera [Skin]
- Feline Queen Sparrow [Skin]
- Spider Witch Lt. Belica [Skin]
Bundles
Haywire Mourn Bundle
- Haywire Mourn [Epic Skin]
- Ash Haywire Mourn [Exclusive Skin Variant]
- “Doubt” [Overhead Emote]
- Haywire Mourn [Profile Icon]
- Haywire Mourn [Banner]
- Mourn [Hero]
- Rattlebone Iggy & Scorch [Epic Skin]
- Spectral Rattlebone Iggy & Scorch [Exclusive Skin Variant]
- I’m Coming [Animated Overhead Emote]
- Rattlebone Iggy & Scorch [Banner]
- Rattlebone Iggy & Scorch [Profile Icon]
- Iggy & Scorch [Hero]
Bloodrose Renna Bundle
- Bloodrose Renna [Epic Skin]
- Azure Bloodrose Renna [Exclusive Skin Variant]
- Occult Bloodrose Renna [Skin Variant]
- Blight Bloodrose Renna [Skin Variant]
- Sanguine Bloodrose Renna [Skin Variant]
- Bonk [Overhead Emote]
- Bloodrose Renna [Banner]
- Bloodrose Renna [Profile Icon]
- Renna [Hero]
Shadow's Eve Bundle Core
- Venom Reaver Kira [Exclusive Skin Variant]
- Omen Reaver Kira [Skin Variant]
- Spectral Franken Steel [Exclusive Skin Variant]
- Gore Franken Steel [Skin Variant]
- Occult Bash-O-Lantern Narbash [Exclusive Skin Variant]
- Onyx Bash-O-Lantern Narbash [Skin Variant]
- Cinder Infernal Wukong [Exclusive Skin Variant]
- Cobalt Infernal Wukong [Skin Variant]
- Gilded Reaver Greystone [Exclusive Skin Variant]
- Volcanic Reaver Greystone [Skin Variant]
- Haywire Mourn [Skin]
- Venom Haywire Mourn [Exclusive Skin Variant]
- Rattlebone Iggy & Scorch [Skin]
- Gilded Rattlebone Iggy & Scorch [Exclusive Skin Variant]
Updated Debutante Ball Bundle Core
It's time to crash the ball!
3 exclusive skin variants are being added to the Debutante Ball Bundle Core
- Azure Bloodrose Renna [Exclusive Skin Variant]
- Nocturne Bloodrose Renna [Exclusive Skin Variant]
- Ethereal Bloodrose Countess [Exclusive Skin Variant]
Shadow's Eve Map
It wouldn't be Shadow's Eve without a map makeover! Sanctuary has well and truly been petrified, complete with haunting new lighting, jack o' lanterns, candles and more!
Eternals Balance
Major Blessing:
As mentioned last patch, we wanted to assess the strength of Weald’s Major Blessing after reducing the strength of its Minor Blessings. Now that we’ve seen the results, the Major Blessing continues to provide too much burst damage to Heroes, so a reduction in strength is needed - especially in the case of On-Hit effect interactions.
- Missile Base Damage decreased from 8 to 7.
- Missile On-Hit Modifier decreased from 30% to 20%.
Taproot:
Taproot continues to provide too much value to its users, making Weald too well-rounded as a total package. Another reduction in the Healing it offers is needed to bring it further in line.
- Bonus Physical Power Scaling decreased from 7% to 6%.
Cannibalism:
Cannibalism can contribute to some niche, but powerful snowball scenarios when early Takedowns are achieved. To help reduce the amount of mid-game durability available for its users that get ahead, we’re trimming down some of its value.
- Max Health on Takedown decreased from 30 to 25.
Feeding Frenzy:
Feeding Frenzy is currently contributing to the damage output of Bruisers that run Krix a little too heavily, resulting in Bruisers opting for Krix over alternatives such as Thraex due to there not being enough of a damage tradeoff relative to other, less durable Eternals.
- Attack Speed decreased from 12% to 10%.
Patina:
Patina’s Shield has received more appreciation from players thanks to the long-term effective health it provides its user throughout the laning phase, as well as the anti-burst it offers as the late-game rolls around. We’re reducing the strength of the shield slightly at all stages of the game, making it less oppressive to play into.
- Shield decreased from 35-290 (+15 per Level) to 30-268 (+14 per Level).
Dampening:
Dampening has largely flown under the radar as a significantly strong defensive option against long-range opponents. Now that players are beginning to realise its strength, it’s time for us to tone it down so that it is more in line with other defensive Minor Blessings that offer a similar benefit.
- Damage Reduction decreased from 12% to 10%.
Major Blessing:
Lotus continues to blur the lines between offense and defense as a catch-all Eternal thanks to the variety of stats it offers. While this is largely part of the Eternal’s identity that makes it accessible to a range of Heroes, for Mages and Bruisers especially, it is providing too much durability in combination with the rest of its effects. As a result, we’re pulling down the Health on offer, ensuring there is a greater durability tradeoff for Lotus compared to other tankier Eternals.
- Max Health decreased from 1.5% to 1.25%.
Immaculate:
Immaculate continues to contribute to unhealthy all-in stat check scenarios, both in the early lane, and in late-game catch scenarios. Once again we are reducing the DR, and will monitor it further to assess if larger changes become necessary.
- Damage Reduction decreased from 12% to 10%.
Philosopher:
We have seen a rise in the uptake of Philosopher on Heroes such as Shinbi and Countess that simply seek to accrue gold throughout a match, allowing them to freely scale up and accelerate. Given that Heroes do not need to interact with opponents to benefit from Philosopher and is therefore low risk, it is simply granting too much free gold.
- Gold decreased from 5 to 4.
Hero Balance
Aurora’s wall has been suffering from 2 bugs. Firstly, it was not granting Movement Speed to Allies on the wall at all. And secondly, there was a rather destructive bug where Aurora could split off the lane to block Minions, which would then cause them to retreat back up the lane, and sometimes even all the way back to the Inhibitor. Naturally, this was rather OP. Alas, both have now been resolved.
Glacial Charge [Primary]:
- [Bugfix] Fixed an issue where Aurora’s Wall would not grant herself or Allies Movement Speed while on the Wall.
- [Bugfix] Fixed an issue where Aurora could force Minions to path back up the lane when blocking a lane with her wall. They will now walk into it and stop correctly.
Bayle is receiving a range of changes aimed at providing him the uptime, durability, and damage he needs to function as a Bruiser in late-game scenarios. Currently, he tends to fall off a little too hard in the mid-game and beyond unless he secures a large snowball, which results in Bayle players frequently opting for 1-shot Assassin builds to feel useful, rather than a more well-rounded Fighter build. We hope that these changes provide him with the tools he needs to feel functional when investing in more durable Fighter builds, as the additional durability should now provide his base kit strengths the time to shine across longer fights.
General:
- Attack Speed Growth increased from 1.4 to 1.8.
- Physical Armor Growth increased from 4.8 to 5.2.
- Movement Speed increased from 690 to 695.
Cursed Edge [Primary]:
- Bonus Physical Power Scaling increased from 80% to 85%.
- Magical Power Scaling increased from 50% to 55%.
Dire Howl [Secondary]:
- Damage Taken Healing increased from 10%/14%/18%/22%/26% to 10%/15%/20%/25%/30%.
- Mana Cost increased from 60 to 60/65/70/75/80.
Skull Crusher [Alternate]:
- Bonus Physical Power Scaling increased from 110% to 125%.
- Cooldown decreased from 17/15.5/14/12.5/11 to 16/14.5/13/11.5/10.
- Mana Cost increased from 40 to 40/45/50/55/60.
The previous round of changes to Drongo helped bring him back into the spotlight as a serious contender in the Carry role. However, we are currently not too happy with his ability to rip Rad Rounds and run at his opponent in early all-in scenarios, so we are reducing his level 1 durability and damage by a smidge to ensure he has to choose his engagements a little more wisely.
General:
- Physical Power decreased from 57 to 56.
- Health decreased from 695 to 680.
- Physical Armor decreased from 27 to 26.
- Magical Armor decreased from 29 to 28.
To help bring further utility and reinforce her unique elements, we’re bumping up the speed of Gadget’s Security Gate, and increasing the Shred on offer from her Ultimate. These changes will make catching opponents or speeding Allies a little more reliable, while also solidifying her strengths as a strong anti-tank Mage, compared to the rest of the roster.
Security Gate [Secondary]:
- Max Range Travel Time decreased from 1.35s to 1.2s.
Tesla Dome [Ultimate]:
- Magical Armor Shred increased from 3.5% to 4%.
After investigating Greystone further, we continue to feel like he is providing too much value at higher levels of play when it comes to acting as a neutralizing force, that then transitions into a sticky diver in the end-game. As a targeted nerf to higher levels of play, we’re reducing the amount of refund he gains when leaping on an Enemy, as this is a skill-check high end players hit more consistently, and therefore benefit from more frequently.
Assault The Gates [Alternate]:
- Cooldown Refund on Hero Hit decreased from 35% to 30%.
- [Bugfix] Cooldown refund now only occurs on Hero or Camp Leader hit, as stated.
We’re making some smaller changes to Grux’s ability to take all-ins and repeat trades in the early game thanks to his Basic Attack strength, and Double Pain’s lower Mana Cost.
General:
- Physical Power decreased from 64 to 62.
Double Pain [Alternate]:
- Mana Cost increased from 30/35/40/45/50 to 40/45/50/55/60.
Ikra has gained a surge of popularity in high-end play, thanks to his offering of incredible safety, scaling, and late-game burst potential. Now that players are starting to master Ikra and utilize his mechanics to their fullest, we are looking to make some targeted changes to the strengths that the best Ikras take advantage of (Gold Scaling, Zoning with Stuns, Ultimate 1-shot combos), and offering him a little strength on his lesser used Eternal Passives and Cascade Augments to ensure there is still variety in playstyle for him while not hitting Ikra’s viability on the lower end as heavily, as he already struggles to make an impact when controlled by the average player.
Cascade [Augment]:
- Damage increased from 10 to 15
- Magical Power Scaling increased from 20% to 30%.
Herald [Passive]:
- Harbinger Fathom Magical Power Scaling increased from 8% to 10%.
- Divine Bubble Healing increased from 4/6/8/10/12 to 5/8/11/14/17.
- Divine Bubble Healing Magical Power Scaling increased from 10% to 12%.
Narcosis [Primary]:
- Cooldown increased from 16/15/14/13/12 to 16/15.5/15/14.5/14.
Brine [Alternate]:
- Gold On Kill decreased from 3/4/5/6/7 to 3/3.5/4/4.5/5.
Genesis [Ultimate]:
- Damage decreased from 320/480/640 to 320/460/600.
- Slow decreased from 50% to 40%.
While winrates alone might lead some of you to believe Khaimera is overly powerful, when you dig beyond the simple numbers, it is clear that Khaimera feels rather dysfunctional and weak right now, especially in mid/high tier play. As a simpler Hero with limited options to outplay an opponent, he needs a higher general level of strength to function and feel satisfying. While we are conscious of not inflating Khaimera's strengths too heavily in lower tiers of play where he thrives, we believe he has room for improvement due to his inability to stick to targets with his leap, or survive easily once the later stages of a match roll around. As a result, we are targeting some early game nerfs towards him to slow him down, as this is typically where he feels most oppressive for lower tiers of play due to isolated fights, and then reinforcing his ability to stick in ganks, and survive in the late game with Armor Growth improvements that will compound with the Regeneration he possesses.
General:
- Physical Power decreased from 65 to 63.
- Physical Armor decreased from 35 to 30.
- Physical Armor Growth increased from 3 to 4.
Ambush [Alternate]:
- Bonus Physical Power Scaling increased from 70% to 80%.
- Slow changed from 25%/30%/35%/40%/45%/ to 40%.
Kwang is receiving a round of changes aimed at bringing greater consistency to his Tether + Ultimate combo, as oftentimes by the time the player has realised they hit a target and begin channeling their Ultimate, the target is already free from the tether. Alongside this, we are granting him some smaller damage and utility increases to make him feel appropriately spiky at level 6 (his Rank 1 Ultimate can feel underwhelming), and ensure he has adequate damage output in late-game scenarios when he is committing to bulkier builds.
Heavenly Blade [Basic Attack]:
- Cleave increased from 20% to 25%.
Judgement Of The Heavens [Primary]:
- Tether Duration increased from 1.3s to 1.45s.
Surge Of The Heavens [Secondary]:
- Damage increased from 75/100/125/150/175 to 75/105/135/165/195.
Fury Of The Heavens [Ultimate]:
- Damage increased from 230/340/450 to 250/360/470.
- Slow increased from 45%/55%/65% to 50%/60%/70%.
The previous round of adjustments to Belica’s Seismic Assault and Combat Veteran Augment have provided her with new levels of consistency that have pushed her strength over the edge. While we are generally pleased with the result of making her more enjoyable to play, she now needs to lose some general strength to compensate for the new-found consistency. While most of this is coming from her Combat Veteran Augment when combined with other sources of XP stacking such as Orb or Lotus, there is still room to trim some burst damage and uptime away from her kit to ensure that there are more appropriate tradeoffs when building that style. Likewise, we have tuned Combat Veteran’s XP to be less powerful after roughly Level 8, meaning Support Belica can still feel good about choosing it to keep up in early levels, but Mid Belica will no longer accelerate up 2-3 Levels as easily in the late-game.
Combat Veteran [Augment]:
- Movement Speed decreased from 3% to 2.5%.
- Passive XP decreased from 0.1-3 to 0.1-2.
General:
- Health decreased from 700 to 690.
Innovation [Passive]:
- Ability Haste per Maxed Ability decreased from 10 to 8.
Seismic Assault [Primary]:
- Damage decreased from 100/145/190/235/280 to 100/140/180/220/260.
- Cooldown increased from 16/15/14/13/12 to 17/16/15/14/13.
Void Drone [Secondary]:
- Magical Power Scaling decreased from 20% to 17.5%.
Void Bomb [Alternate]:
- Damage decreased from 100/140/180/220/260 to 95/135/175/215/255.
Murdock continues to trail behind other Carries due to his weaker early game compared to the more aggressive Carries such as Revenant and Drongo. While they are receiving hits to their power which will naturally make Murdock’s strength more valuable, we are pushing 1 more set of smaller changes to give him the additional stats he needs to hold his own in the early lane, and transition into a more stable mid-game.
General:
- Physical Power increased from 55 to 57.
- Health Regen increased from 1.35 to 1.5.
- Attack Speed Growth increased from 1.4 to 1.6.
Renna has faltered ever since her last set of hits she received to her Ultimate. While we stand by those changes, she is currently struggling to keep up with the stronger Mages. To help provide her with more conditional pop-off moments, we’re granting her Mortal Coil some additional damage and execute capabilities, allowing her to better work down her opponents and threaten a satisfying kill with its use.
Mortal Coil [Primary]:
- Damage increased from 70/100/130/160/190 to 70/105/140/175/210.
- Magical Power Scaling increased from 50% to 60%.
- Execution Threshold increased from 6% to 8%.
Revenant has risen to the pinnacle of the Carry role, possessing incredible pressure in the early game and the ability to snowball out of control should his opponents make but 1 or 2 mistakes. While snowballing is a part of his identity we’d like to somewhat maintain, we are undoing some of the previous buffs to his 4th Shot Movement Speed and Ultimate Cooldown, while also dropping his general damage output and snowballing to more appropriate levels by trimming back his trading power, late-game scaling, and the dueling potential his Ultimate’s Stat Steal effect provides.
General:
- Health decreased from 695 to 690.
Bounty Hunter [Passive]:
- Bonus Physical Power decreased from 3%-13.2% (+0.6% per Level) to 3%-11.5% (+0.5% per Level).
Obliterate [Primary]:
- Missile Damage decreased from 35/50/65/80/95 to 30/45/60/75/90.
Hellfire Rounds [Alternate]:
- Fourth Shot Movement Speed decreased from 12% to 10%.
Reckoning [Ultimate]:
- Cooldown increased from 135/120/105 to 140/125/110.
- Stat Steal decreased from 8%/9%/10% to 6%/7%/8%.
Now that Scarlett players have mastered her further, she can now receive some reductions to her general strength back closer to her initial release strength. Given her Energy economy and general combat loop’s cadence, she is a difficult balance case as there is a fine line between making her too weak in conventional scenarios, or overpowered with too many winning matchups. Given this, we’re making some smaller changes to her ability uptime and early durability, alongside reducing the Critical Damage present on her Minueta to reduce the strength of Terminus/Solaris builds in the early game. These changes should help normalize her matchups in Offlane further, and potentially open up more skill-matchups/soft-losing matchups for her to be concerned about navigating, but keep her feeling impactful to play.
General:
- Physical Armor decreased from 36 to 35.
- Health Regen decreased from 2.2 to 2.
Ashen Vow [Primary]:
- Cooldown increased from 9/8.25/7.5/6.75/6 to 9.5/8.75/8/7.25/6.5.
Minueta [Alternate]:
- Cooldown increased from 7/6.25/5.5/4.75/4 to 7.5/6.75/6/5.25/4.5.
- Critical Strike Modifier decreased from 60% to 50%.
Sevarog is receiving a range of quality of life changes to his general hitboxes and ability feel. While these changes are certainly power-positive, we feel Sevarog can feel a little clunky at times, especially in the case of his Ultimate’s hitbox being too tight, and how his Siphon can feel awkward to weave in combination with his Basic Attacks, and is therefore deserving of the changes simply to make him feel more enjoyable and intuitive to play. Oh and there’s some Junglerog buffs, yay!
Siphon [Primary]:
- Bonus Monster Damage increased from 30/35/40/45/50 to 40/45/50/55/60.
- [QoL] Cast Frame decreased from 7.5 to 6.
- [QoL] Animation Speed increased from 1.2x to 1.3x.
Colossal Blow [Ultimate]:
- Range increased from 375 to 425.
- [QoL] Cone Angle decreased from 130 to 120.
Shinbi continues to be a menace with her high dash uptime and ability to rain sparkly havoc across late-game teamfights with her Ultimate. To combat this, we’re reducing her Allegro Augment’s Cooldown refund to ensure she’s a little bit easier to lock down and catch, while also reducing some of the late-game strength of her Ultimate, as it currently kills too many Heroes from excessively high health thresholds when she gets a few items online.
Allegro [Augment]:
- Rushing Beat Cooldown Reduction decreased from 20% to 15%.
All-Kill [Ultimate]:
- Damage decreased from 44/68/92 to 44/66/88.
- Magical Power Scaling per Wolf decreased from 16% to 15%.
Terra continues to feel underwhelming for many. Once again we are increasing the power of her Highland Hurl, as this is the ability that can feel the most lackluster to use, both in terms of damage and utility. By shifting around the scaling from Slow Duration to Shred, we’re now granting her more agency in Skill Order based on matchups - as she typically struggles to deal with Tankier opponents as she is unable to access Penetration/Shred Items due to her Armor Scalings. Likewise, the utility of her Slow/Root is now more powerful, better allowing her to control fights and contribute to her team as a disruptive frontliner, even when behind.
Highland Hurl [Secondary]:
- Bonus Physical Armor Scaling increased from 30% to 40%.
- Bonus Magical Armor Scaling increased from 30% to 40%.
- Physical Armor Shred increased from 20% to 20%/22.5%/25%/27.5%/30%.
- Slow Duration increased from 1/1.05/1.1/1.15/1.2s to 1.25s.
- Root Duration increased from 1/1.05/1.1/1.15/1.2s to 1.25s.
The Fey has flown under the radar for a while now as an incredibly powerful pick, and avoided adjustments despite other Mages around her falling down in strength. To ensure that she doesn’t rise above everyone else, we’re dropping the safety offered by Bramble Patch’s Movement Speed slightly, while also reducing her mid-game harass from her Harvest Nettles (those things hurt).
Bramble Patch [Primary]:
- Movement Speed decreased from 15% to 12%.
Harvest Nettles [Secondary]:
- Damage decreased from 80/120/160/200/240 to 80/115/150/185/220.
Similar to Murdock, TwinBlast has largely been suppressed by the likes of Revenant and Drongo. While we are mindful not to push his strengths too high, there is slightly more room to give him some love in the ability department, better opening up some On-Hit and Assassin build paths and providing him with additional build variance.
Vaporize [Primary]:
- Bonus Physical Power Scaling increased from 90% to 95%.
- On-Hit Modifier increased from 170% to 200%.
Vortex Grenade [Alternate]:
- Total Physical Power Scaling increased from 40% to 45%.
Valmont has taken a while for players to get used to, but now that they better grasp his kit and mechanics, it has become apparent that he is simply too powerful and in need of a power cut in various areas.
To provide a little more context and transparency on his strength, when we tested him internally prior to release, we saw many players heavily struggling to succeed with him in their initial 5-10 matches despite us believing he was powerful in the right hands (which was mirrored by players struggling in the first week of his release too). This is typically normal - especially with more unconventional Heroes. As a result, with many new Heroes we tend to give them slightly more power than necessary as a way of compensating for the mastery curve players must go through when learning to play as, with and against a new Hero over the initial release patch, with players becoming more competent with each match they play towards the next balance update. In Valmont’s case, we definitely overshot a bit too much. While there is no exact science to this as it's difficult to predict the speed players will become proficient with a new Hero in various skill brackets, hopefully that helps explain why some Heroes can release as seemingly “OP” - especially in Valmont’s case, as we already predict he will trend to being stronger in lower skill-brackets due to the healing/spacing checks he places on opponents that can lead to him feeling oppressive, similar to Khaimera.
There is a fine line between us overshooting and the Hero being too strong, or undershooting and everyone giving up on it after a couple of matches, thus diminishing the impact of a new Hero’s release because players feel it's too underwhelming to stick with. Overall, it's an important (but challenging) aspect of nailing the Player Experience that we must consider for new Hero releases that will always have mixed results, but hopefully this insight is helpful in allowing you to understand the balance process a little further!
Sanguine Banquet [Augment]:
- Omnivamp Bonus Mana Scaling decreased from 0.5% to 0.4%.
- Hero Death Bonus Mana decreased from 30 to 20.
- [Bugfix] Updated the Description to state that Valmont must kill targets to gain Mana, now matching the existing functionality.
Rupturing Fangs [Augment]:
- Missing Health Damage Modifier decreased from 100% to 85%.
General:
- Physical Armor decreased from 28 to 26.
Hemophagia [Passive]:
- Mana Restore On Unit Kill decreased from 3-41 to 3-38.
- Lilith Damage decreased from 15/23/31/39/47 to 12/20/28/36/44.
Rupture [Primary]:
- Damage decreased from 20/29/38/47/56 to 20/28/36/44/52.
- Cooldown increased from 8/7.5/7/6.5/6 to 9/8.5/8/7.5/7.
Exsanguinate [Ultimate]:
- Damage decreased from 40/70/100 to 40/65/90
- Damage Magical Power Scaling increased from 22% to 23%.
- Healing decreased from 25/45/65 to 20/40/60.
- Healing Magical Power Scaling increased from 20% to 22%.
Arise my Wukong brethren! Hair stacks no longer fall off over time, meaning your Clones will be up more consistently, and you can feel less bound to his Masterful Mimicry Augment.
84000 Hairs [Ultimate]:
- Wukong no longer loses Hair Stacks while Out of Combat.
Yurei’s Skulls have been suffering from a bug where they were counting as Minions for the sake of various interactions, meaning effects that would boost damage against Minions would deal excessive damage when damaging them. This has now been resolved.
Severance [Secondary]:
- [Bugfix] Fixed an issue where Yurei’s Skulls counted as a Minion for the sake of damage calculations and item effects.
Similar to some other Heroes such as Grux, we’re slightly nudging down Zarus’ early strength, specifically targeting his clear speed and level-6 gank potency from his Ultimate in order to slightly drop his efficacy and reduce how oppressive and impactful he can feel throughout the early game.
General:
- Physical Power decreased from 64 to 62.
Coliseum [Ultimate]:
- Damage decreased from 200/325/450 to 180/305/430.
- Bonus Physical Power Scaling decreased from 100% to 90%.
Item Balance
Crests:
- [Bugfix] Fixed an issue where various automatic basic attacks (Legion, Eden) would only stack the Crest on the first shot.
Exodus has seen a surge in popularity in the North American region especially, with players now fully seeing the power it has at disrupting fights and catching opponents. As a result, we’re undoing one of the Cooldown buffs it received in the past to ensure its uptime and ability to interrupt key abilities as frequently is reduced.
- Cooldown increased from 90 to 100.
- [Bugfix] Fixed an issue where Exodus’ Active Effect could not be used while Grounded/Rooted.
Rift Walkers has largely fallen out of favour ever since we reduced the range of its Pull. As it has been a rather long time since this occurred and the game has shifted dramatically since then, we are undoing that change, pushing it back closer to its old value (650) to bring it back into relevance. If it’s an overshot, we will adjust it as necessary in the following patches.
- Rift Snatcher Pull Radius increased from 550 to 625.
Carry:
Quiver is another item that has largely fallen out of favour compared to other options, and given the amount of beefy frontliners running around, we want to push its strength up to give Carries a stronger countermeasure when dealing with close range divers.
- Multishot Damage increased from 8-30% to 10-35%.
Fighter:
- [Bugfix] Fixed an issue where Mutilator was not being applied on AoE abilities when they dealt damage to multiple enemies.
Mage:
Azure Core is seeing too much popularity, even on Mages where its acquisition is questionable. To create a greater differentiation between it and other options, we’re dropping its Ability Haste, making the likes of Oathkeeper and Soulbinder more attractive first buys, alongside the staple of Combustion.
- Ability Haste decreased from 15 to 10.
A quick bump for Oathkeeper’s effect damage, helping it better compete as an early game pickup.
- Celestial Spellblade Damage increased from 60 to 65.
Soulbinder continues to be underbought by the Heroes best suited to it, and is in need of a small bump to help it compete with the other 1st buys in the class.
- Arcane Salvo True Damage increased from 7% to 8%.
Support:
A quick bump for Luxforge’s Physical Power, as it has been left behind the other items that received a bump.
- Physical Power increased from 30 to 35.
Tank:
Flux Matrix is another item that sees minimal play. A bump to its Haste will make it more attractive relative to other Magical Armor items for the likes of Aurora, Shinbi and Kwang.
- Ability Haste increased from 10 to 15.
Vainglory can often feel a bit underwhelming to pick up, despite it signalling its use as a capstone. We’re granting it more strength to make it a more satisfying pickup for Armor stacks, and incentivise them to forgo a less durable damage item.
- Magical Armor increased from 35 to 40.
- In Vain Bonus Max Stack Armors increased from +10% to +12%.
Crucible Balance
Eternals:
Bottomless Vial:
Bottomless Vial suffered from an issue where it was granting more Magical Power than we intended in the 3v3 mode. This has now been resolved.
- [Bugfix] Magical Power per River Buff decreased from 15 to 5.
Systems:
Recall:
Recall Speed is being reduced in Crucible to improve the overall pacing of the mode.
- Recall Time decreased from 8s to 7s.
Hero Passive Stacking:
Sevarog and Renna were not gaining stacks passively as they do in other game modes. This has now been implemented into Crucible.
- [Bugfix] The following Heroes now correctly gain Passive Stacks: Sevarog, Renna.
Item Stacking:
Items such as Overlord or Azure Core were not receiving stacks passively as they do in other game modes. This has now been implemented into Crucible.
- [Bugfix] Various Stacking Items now passively gain Stacks (E.g: Overlord), like they do in ARAM.
- [Bugfix] Various Crests Stacking Items now gain multiple charges per use (E.g: Obelisk), like they do in ARAM
Hero Damage Modifier:
We’re removing the custom damage modifiers from Crucible. These modifiers were originally designed around the 5v5 ARAM experience and did not translate well to the 3v3 environment, resulting in some Heroes having unintuitive power spikes, be that excessive damage or durability. Heroes will now be using their standard live values instead of having additional Damage Amps/Reduction Modifiers, and we hope this change provides a more consistent experience. We’ll be monitoring this change closely as the goal is to allow all Heroes to be playable and find success in Crucible, but this may cause some fallout. Naturally, we’re open to re-introducing custom values if it’s needed in future, but for now we’ll assess how the mode plays without them.
- Heroes no longer have adjusted Damage Output, Healing/Shielding Output, and Damage Taken modifiers in Crucible 3v3, and their stats now match their defaults.
Jungle:
General:
We’re adding a small delay before Jungle Monsters spawn on match start. The goal of this change is to reduce the immediate rush at the start of the game and allow players more time to navigate the shop without the threat of the Enemy team taking Jungle Buffs before you’ve had time to even move.
- Various Jungle Monster’s Initial Spawn Time increased from 00:05s to 00:20s (See below for full details).
Blue Buff:
Small adjustments to Blue Buff that aim to decrease its damage potential in the early game whilst increasing the HP mid to late game to prevent the camp being cleared too quickly as the Heroes get stronger, and to be less punishing to kill solo.
- Health increased from 950 (+200 per Level) to 1000 (+300 per Level) at Levels 1-6, (+100 per Level) at Levels 7-11.
- Health Scaling now increases to Level 11 (increased from 6).
- Current Health Damage decreased from 6% to 4%.
- Initial Spawn Time increased from 00:05s to 00:20s.
Red Buff:
Similar to Blue, Red will be receiving changes to decrease its damage potential in the early game whilst increasing the durability across the match. With this change, Red Buff will be able to take a few hits and allow teams more time to contest it before it’s killed.
- Health increased from 950 (+200 per Level) to 1000 (+300 per Level).
- Health Scaling now increases to Level 11 (increased from 6).
- Current Health Damage decreased from 6% to 4%.
- Initial Spawn Time increased from 00:05s to 00:20s.
River Buff:
Given how quickly they can be killed, River Buff spawning at the start of the match felt a bit disconnected from the intention of players fighting around the larger buffs. We’ve adjusted its initial spawn time to be slightly later than other Camps, meaning there is a better bridge in decision making between invading the Enemy River Buff, doubling back for your own, or going to the lane.
- Initial Spawn Time increased from 00:00 to 00:30s.
Brown Camp (5):
- Initial Spawn Time increased from 00:05s to 00:20s.
Seedling:
- Initial Spawn Time increased from 00:05s to 00:20s.
Shaper:
We’re reducing the duration of the Orb Prime buff to prevent it from influencing the game for an excessive amount of time, and give the defending team higher odds of making a comeback.
- Prime Buff Duration decreased from 180s to 150s.
Fangtooth:
The Fangteeth are receiving large amounts of changes aimed at reducing their damage potential and increasing their mid/late-game durability. We’re also reducing the stats gained from defeating Fangtooth, as the current rewards provide too much power and make it difficult for teams to recover after falling behind. Additionally we’ve adjusted its initial spawn to spawn later into the match to ensure players are strong enough to fight the demonic dinos.
- Fangtooth Current Health Damage decreased from 6% to 4%.
- Stats Gained per Fangtooth Kill decreased from 2% to 1.5%.
- Magical Armor increased from 25 (+1 per Level) to 25 (+2 per Level).
- Health increased from 3000 (+500 per Level) to 3000 (+625 per Level).
- [Bugfix] Health increased from 3000 (+500) at levels 1-11, then 16000 at 12-15, to 3000 (+625) at all levels.
- Initial Spawn increased from 150 to 210.
Items:
Crests:
Marksman Crest was taking longer to charge on average than the other Crests, so we’ve reduced the stack limit required to Evolve. With this change the Crest will come online at a similar pace to other options.
- Stack Limit to Evolve decreased from 120 to 90.
- Stack Limit to Evolve decreased from 120 to 90.
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Bug Fixes
- Fixed an issue where picking a Hero too fast would result in incorrect Eternals being assigned to the User.
- Fixed an issue where extra stats from Items and Augments were not being reflected correctly on the Shop Stats Column.
- Fixed an issue where Soulbearer was not granting its Shield on activation to Rage Heroes.
- Fixed an issue where Grim’s Instant Reload Augment would reset his Ultimate cooldown against targets that enter a Resurrection state.
- Fixed an issue with Lt. Belica’s Ultimate Description where it did not state there was a small forgiveness window on Hero Deaths resetting its cooldown.
- Fixed an issue where Eden’s Heat Bar would not visually reset after using her Ranged Ultimate.
- Fixed an issue where Steel’s Passive could result in a negative Armor value in specific scenarios.
- Fixed an issue where Valmont’s bats would remain active in the world after tracking an untargetable target.
- Fixed an issue where Pinging “Crest Ready” whilst on cooldown would incorrectly ping your Blink progress.
- Fixed an issue where Pinging “Blink Ready” whilst on cooldown would incorrectly ping your Crest progress.
- Fixed an issue where the Damage Hit Markers Reticule/Crosshair was not centralised on the screen.
- Fixed an issue where Orb Prime’s Buff VFX would not display if gained while Invisible.
- Fixed an issue where Yin was able to reflect other Heroes’ Projectiles whilst in Revenant’s Nether Realm.
- Fixed an issue where Gravitum and Voidgazer were not being reflected correctly in some scenarios.
- Fixed an issue where Gravitum and Voidgazer could destroy themselves if they were fired at each other.
- Fixed an issue where Scarlett’s Japanese Ability Descriptions could clip off the screen when levelled.
- Fixed an issue where Zinx DoT Damage was being shown as Infuse on the damage recap instead of Refibrillator.
- Fixed an issue where Wraith’s Sniper’s Bounty Augment would not add the Bonus Gold it generates to his “End Gold” on Scoreboard after a match ends.
- Fixed an issue in Replays where changing from Drone to Hero Chase will always result in the 1st Dusk Hero being selected.
That's all for now! Update v1.17.2 launches on Tuesday 13th October. Happy haunting!
Rei, Bronze & Steggs - Game Design & Community @ Omeda Studios
