Hey Champions,
It’s time for another Balance Patch! This week, we’ve got a whole bunch of balance tweaks and some incredible new skins!
We’ve seen a lot of discussion over the last couple of weeks about the new Eternals introduced in Update 1.16: Aegis of Dawn. We really appreciate all of your feedback, and our team has made a number of adjustments to bring these new Eternals in line with the originals.
We'll be keeping an eye out for your feedback once this update launches, so please jump on Reddit or Discord to let us know what you think.
Let’s dive in!
Store News
Unchained Steel [Epic]
Spiritcaller Morigesh [Rare]
Spiritcaller Khaimera [Rare]
Bundles
Unchained Steel Bundle
- Unchained Steel [Epic Skin]
- Unchained Steel Malachite [Skin Variant]
- Unchained Steel Obsidian [Skin Variant]
- Unchained Steel Bronze [Skin Variant]
- Unchained Steel Iron [Skin Variant]
- Love of the Fight [Overhead Emote]
- Unchained Steel Icon [Profile Icon]
- Unchained Steel Banner [Banner]
- Steel [Hero]
Spiritcaller Morigesh Bundle
- Spiritcaller Morigesh [Epic Skin]
- Spiritcaller Morigesh Pyre [Skin Variant]
- Spiritcaller Morigesh Astral [Skin Variant]
- Spiritcaller Morigesh Shadow [Skin Variant]
- Spiritcaller Morigesh Sanguine [Skin Variant]
- Devious Smile [Overhead Emote]
- Spiritcaller Morigesh [Banner]
- Spiritcaller Morigesh [Icon]
- Morigesh [Hero]
Spiritcaller Khaimera
- Spiritcaller Khaimera [Skin]
- Spiritcaller Khaimera Pyre [Skin Variant]
- Spiritcaller Khaimera Astral [Skin Variant]
- Spiritcaller Khaimera Shadow [Skin Variant]
- Spiritcaller Khaimera Sanguine [Skin Variant]
- Rage! [Overhead Emote]
- Spiritcaller Khaimera [Banner]
- Spiritcaller Khaimera [Profile Icon]
- Khaimera [Hero]
Eternal Bundle Core
In Update 1.14 we added a bunch of new Icons and Banners for each Eternal, and made them exclusive drops from Ion cores. We know a lot of players were happy with this, but the main feedback pointed at their rarity and the lack of duplication protection, which made them more of a frustrating experience rather than an exciting one.
The Eternal Bundle Core is a Common Loot Core drop from Ion Cores and has a 4% drop rate, the following rates were changed to support this.
- Common Amber was 12% now 10%
- Common Banner was 11% now 10%
- Common Profile Icons was 11% now 10%
Eternals Balance
Major Blessing:
Weald’s Major Blessing feels satisfying and powerful, but is currently scaling too heavily with very high Attack Speed Threshold builds. We’re reverting the previous buff to its Scaling that occurred last pass to ensure it’s in closer parity with other Eternals, but are favoring a softer approach here to ensure Weald’s Major Blessing still feels impactful, and opting to reduce larger amounts of strength out of the Minor Blessings first, before we consider further changes to the Major effect. Likewise, various Bugfixes and QoL changes are present.
- Number of Missiles decreased from 4 (+1 per 25% Bonus Attack Speed) to 4 (+1 per 30% Bonus Attack Speed).
- [QoL] Weald’s Missiles now Travel through Walls, but disappear after travelling 3000u.
- [Bugfix] Missile now Scale correctly with the Attack Speed Scaling interval, instead of needing slightly more to gain a new Missile.
- Cooldown per Hero increased from 8s to 10s.
- [Bugfix] Weald now correctly triggers on proc damage.
Forage:
Given the scaling burst potential offered by weald, and how strong it synergizes with On-Hit builds in the mid-game+, we’re reducing the amount of free Gold on offer from Forage to ensure that laners accelerate their economy at a slower pace throughout the early and mid-game.
- Gold On Minion & Monster Kill decreased from 4 to 3.
Dryad’s Boon:
Dryad’s Boon can enable various Heroes to hit incredibly powerful uptime breakpoints. This was a similar case for Technocrat in the old Minor Blessing system, and given the other powerful effects Weald offers, Dryad’s Boon can have a lower power budget to ensure that the entire Eternal Tree is more fairly rounded out.
- Cooldown Reduction On-Hit decreased from 0.2s to 0.15s.
Wind-Rider:
Wind-Rider is also providing too much raw value as a standalone Minor Blessing, with its Total Attack Speed amp having far higher uptime and activation control compared to Xyris’ Furor Blessing. As a result, we’re shifting Wind-Rider from Total Attack Speed, to Bonus, making its curve less spiky in the end-game, while having the additional benefit of normalizing its strength across a wider range of Heroes, regardless of how heavily they invest into Attack Speed abilities and effects.
- Attack Speed changed from 20% Total Attack Speed to 20% (+1% per Level) Bonus Attack Speed.
Savage Strikes:
A quick Description fix for Thraex as the previous value was rounding up unintentionally.
- [Bugfix] Description now shows the correct Level 1 damage of 1.5, instead of 2.
Adaptive Plating:
Given the length of time needed to sit in a fight to reach max stacks, Adaptive Plating isn’t quite cutting it in the Tank-enhancing department. To provide a higher upside, we’re increasing the maximum stacks the Blessing can offer, further rewarding frontliners that stick in an extended fight and allowing them to become even larger raid-bosses, if not dealt with swiftly enough.
- Maximum Stacks increased from 8 to 10.
Growing Threat:
The wait for Growing Threat to activate can feel slightly too long for many laners that would otherwise consider it, with the 18-minute mark routinely being the stage of the game where most laning interactions start to dissipate in favour of heavier shoving and rotations. We’re shifting forward the activation time from the Blessing a couple of minutes, allowing its Users a larger window to leverage its power amp while the laning phase persists.
- Threshold time decreased from 18-minutes to 16-minutes.
Inescapable:
A quick shift in Slow effectiveness for Inescapable, with a higher intensity, but less duration, making it both stronger, and easier to feel and appreciate as a soft-counter to mobility-heavy Heroes.
- Slow increased from 20% to 25%.
- Slow Duration decreased from 2s to 1.75s.
Terror:
Terror’s Minion Effect tends to fall off heavily past the first few minutes of the lane, leaving the Tower Damage reduction to carry the primary incentive to select the Blessing. To ensure the effect continues to feel valuable, better specialising those that take it towards greater ability to tower dive opponents that opt into more defensive and passive gameplay.
- Tower Damage Reduction increased from 20% to 25%.
Voracity:
As with many other Blessings, we’re continuing to trim the amount of gold generation present across their effects, and in Krix’s case, given how spiky mid-game Krix builds can be, slowing down the gold curve is needed.
- Gold on Unit Kill decreased from +3 to +2.
Festering Wounds:
Festering Wounds’ Anti-Heal window is currently too tight for Heroes that trigger it via the Immobilize condition to meaningful leverage, given that the target is typically Stunned for half of the duration anyway. An increase to its duration is being granted to make it more generically applicable for various frontliners to consider, when needed.
- Healing Reduction Duration increased from 2s to 3s.
Cannibalism:
Cannibalism’s ability to lead to a heavier snowball once a few Takedowns are secured is currently making many Krix users feel immovable in the mid-game, and a small reduction is needed.
- Takedown Max Health decreased from 35 to 30.
Predator:
Predator’s Movement Speed effect is currently hard to feel and appreciate, and is receiving a small increase to better enable Tank Junglers to progress around the map, given their slower clear speeds relative to other classes.
- Movement Speed on Camp Leader Kill increased from 3% to 4%.
Major Blessing:
Much like Weald, the general strength of Knell’s Major blessing is seen as being in a somewhat appropriate spot. While more assessment is needed in this area as other elements shift around it, for now, to bring Knell’s strength down to a more reasonable level with the original Eternal set, we are choosing to strip out strength from Knell’s Minor Blessings instead of hitting the major. Finally, there was a bug that prevented Knell from triggering more than once on multi-hit abilities, such as Terra’s Ruthless Assault, or Scarlett’s Minueta - this has now been resolved.
- [Bugfix] Now correctly stacks with Multi-hit Abilities, instead of being once per Ability.
Patina:
Patina is currently difficult to maintain in the laning phase due to the longer cooldown window, while also not doing enough to deter early-lane Ranged poke. While we have to be careful with Patina as this style of effect has the potential to become too strong of a defensive tool for laning purposes, there is currently room to provide it with a little more leeway and strength.
- Shield increased from 30 to 35.
- Cooldown decreased from 12 to 10s.
Peal:
Peal is currently offering its users far too much Ultimate spam, and is one of the main contributors to Knell’s overall strength. As a result, it is seeing a large reduction to provide greater windows between its user’s ultimate engagements.
- Ultimate Haste decreased from 25 to 15.
Fracture:
Fracture is the primary additional damage source for Knell Users, and the main element that allows Ranged Classes to consider it. While we are not against these roles opting into Knell in specific match-ups, currently the damage on offer is too high and risks outshining other Eternals, especially when paired with the durability and utility offered by its Major Blessing effects.
- Damage decreased from 4% (+0.3% per Level) to 4% (+0.2% per Level).
Resonant Repair:
Resonant Repair is currently too underwhelming to consider taking over Peal or Fracture. While both have taken hits this pass, thereby increasing its relative strength, we’re also opting to provide the Blessing with some additional Tenacity, better suiting the Blessing to being a strong option when dealing with CC-heavy teams.
- Now also grants 20 Tenacity for 4s upon being Immobilized.
Cold Hearted:
Cold Hearted is seeing a small but meaningful adjustment, with its overall Slow remaining the same, but it now ramping up faster. This will allow Melee Heroes to catch up to and collapse on ranged heroes that choose to poke them too aggressively in the Laning phase, providing Melee Heroes especially a stronger chance at threatening a ranged lane opponent if the Blessing is run.
- Movement Speed Slow increased from 2% to 3%.
- Max Stacks decreased from 5 to 4.
Lich:
Lich is currently causing laning interactions to degrade and become stagnant too early into a match. Much like many other sustain-focused Blessings, we are opting to heavily reduce the amount it offers in the early game, with the Magical Lifesteal now being more backloaded at the Level 11 and 16 thresholds. Further reductions may occur in the next balance pass, but for now we will monitor how this adjustment goes.
- Magical Lifesteal changed from 8% (+0.5% per Level) to 5%/8%/12%/16% at Levels 1/6/11/16.
Phylactery:
Phylactery is receiving a bump to its duration, better allowing its users to leverage its Cooldown Progression effect. Additionally, we have now added a cooldown to its effect to prevent Ultimate-spam abuse cases (which may or may not be relevant for an upcoming Hero…)
- Shield and Cooldown Progression Duration increased from 3s to 4s.
- Now has a 20s Cooldown.
Millenia:
Millenia is currently providing too much raw value and potency to late-game Ultimates, with Heroes such as Renna able to rely on it too heavily to push their damage output past a reasonable threshold in late-game teamfight scenarios.
- Ultimate Damage per Minute decreased from +1% to +0.75%.
Harmonic Currents:
Harmonic Currents currently provides ability-spamming Heroes with too much durability and mana due to its instantaneous effect. We are shifting the effect to be over a duration, with 1 tick of Regeneration occurring on activation, and the remaining 3 occurring once a second. This means that spammy Heroes still have slightly more innate synergy with the Blessing, but that the value is more reasonable and spread out in fights.
- [Soft-rework] Healing and Mana Regeneration now occurs over a 3s Duration, instead of instantly.
Neurotoxin:
Similar to Knell’s Fracture, Neurotoxin is providing too much of a stat swing when paired with the 12% Damage Debuff Pilow can apply to its targets, resulting in an 18% overall DPS swing. We’re bumping this down further by reducing the damage amp, maintaining Pilow’s Major Blessing strength as a supportive frontline choice, but better ensuring damage-based Users cannot utilize it as heavily for 1v1 purposes.
- Damage Taken per Stack decreased from 2% to 1.5%.
Sacrifice:
The previous adjustment to Sacrifice was successful in reducing the passivity of many laning loops, but was a bit too harsh in how little Mana can now be gained. A bump up to its value is needed in order to allow it to feel worthwhile to consider for aggressive, Mana-hungry Heroes.
- Missing Mana Regen on Ability Hit increased from 2.5% to 3.5%.
- Hero Kill Missing Mana Regen increased from 20% to 25%.
Major Blessing:
Satariel’s ability to result in an excessive snowball has been a frustrating experience for many players to tackle since its inclusion. While killing a Satariel user can neutralize the threat temporarily, the margin for error is currently too tight to the point it can feel way too risky to interact with a stacked Satariel user before they 1-shot you in return.
While more work will likely be needed for Satariel in future updates and we will keep an eye on it, for now we are diminishing the negative impacts it’s having on players by harshly increasing the Health Penalty, and reducing the damage it provides, making it far riskier and more volatile to use as the stacked user will be easier to 1-shot in return, while also dealing less damage.
- Health Reduction increased from 6% (+4% Melee / +6% Ranged per Fearless) to 6% (+6.5% Melee / 7.5% Ranged per Fearless).
- Bonus Stats decreased from 5% (+5% per Fearless) to 5% (+4% per Fearless)
Risen:
Given that Satariel now makes a stacked user significantly more squishy and less powerful, the amount of Omnivamp offered by Risen can be increased to help a stacked user stay alive in a fight.
- Omnivamp increased from 12% to 15%.
Psychosis:
Psychosis on a stacked Satariel user is contributing to excessive burst for both a range of Melee Assassins and for Ranged Heroes in isolated 1v1 scenarios. Similar to the Major Blessing, we are taking a harsher swing at this Blessing to diminish the frequency of seemingly unfair scenarios the Eternal can create.
- Bonus Damage decreased from 3.5% (+0.4% per Level) to 3% (+0.3% per Level)
Systems
Air Control:
Air Control is being reduced, making the ability to manoeuvre and steer in the air less powerful, as currently it is too easy to spam jump and avoid various abilities, such as Riktor’s Riplash. We intend to look further into ways to limit the negative outcomes of “jump-spamming” in future updates, but for now, the reduced Air Control should help re-introduce some much needed risk to committing to a Jump in a fight, as your landing position will now be slightly more predictable and telegraphed.
- Air Control decreased from 90% to 75% for the Majority of Heroes.
- Kallari Air Control decreased from 100% to 90%.
- Eden Air Control decreased from 100% to 85%.
- Mourn Air Control decreased from 90% to 80%.
Default Camera Improvements:
We have adjusted the default camera mode (this is the normal Camera you have when not targeting or using an ability) to no longer have Camera Lag. In simple terms, this makes aiming snappier and more precise to your inputs, and should result in gameplay feeling more cleaner and more responsive.
- Ranged & Melee Default Camera Camera Lag Disabled, making aiming more precise and responsive.
Hero Balance
Adele is receiving another round of changes to reduce her potency in the Support Role through early durability and damage reductions, but is receiving some targeted increases in other areas to maintain her relevance in both the Jungle and Offlane as alternative playstyles.
Seeds Of Dominion [Augment]:
- True Damage decreased from 2/2.5/3/3.5/4 to 2.
Tyrant Of Thorns [Augment]:
- Crown Of Thorns Effectiveness increased from 300% to 400%.
General:
- Health decreased from 685 to 680.
- Physical Armor decreased from 34 to 33.
Crown Of Thorns [Passive]:
- Ally Bonus True Damage decreased from 6% to 5%.
Acacia [Basic Attack]:
- Cleave increased from 20% to 25%.
Royal Flourish [Primary]:
- Damage increased from 5/15/25/35/45 to 5/20/35/50/65.
- True Damage decreased from 70/90/110/130/150 to 60/80/100/120/140.
- True Damage Bonus Health scaling increased from 7% to 8%.
Imperial Lash [Alternate]:
- Damage decreased from 45/65/85/105/125 to 40/55/70/85/100.
- Bonus Physical Power Scaling increased from 50% to 80%.
Queen’s Garden [Ultimate]:
- Root Duration decreased from 0.75s to 0.5s.
Argus is once again receiving adjustments as we continue to fine-tune his damage output now that the general shape of his ability tuning is in a more desirable spot, with uptime and damage being stripped back slightly again to bring him to healthier mid-point of strength.
Dread Nova [Primary]:
- Cooldown increased from 16/15/14/13/12 to 16/15.25/14.5/13.75/13.
Particle Shredder [Alternate]:
- Magical Power Scaling decreased from 16% to 15%.
Synaptic Obliterator [Ultimate]:
- Damage decreased from 130/155/180 to 130/150/170.
Bayle is receiving a range of changes targeting a reduction in his strength at Level 1-5 specifically, as this is where he tends to dominate his lane-opponent too heavily. This lost early strength is being given back in the form of increased Scaling and Growth, meaning his strength will normalize to old values once the mid/late-game rolls round. Finally, we are adjusting his BAT to reduce his efficiency when utilizing Attack Speed heavy builds, as his general gameplay shape is intended from our side to be more about heavy hits, rather than fast hits.
General:
- BAT increased from 1.6 to 1.75
- Physical Power decreased from 52 to 49.
- Physical Power Growth increased from 4 to 4.4.
- Attack Speed increased from 160 to 175.
- Attack Speed Growth increased from 1.2 to 1.4.
Berserk [Passive]:
- Attack Speed increased from 15-83% (+4 per Level) to 15.5-91.5% (+4.5% per Level).
- Health Activation Threshold decreased from 40% to 35%.
Cursed Edge [Primary]:
- Bonus Physical Power Scaling increased from 75% to 80%.
Countess is receiving some adjustments aimed at improving her Jungle and Offlane capabilities in some subtle ways, with her Ultimate now possessing more uptime for ganks or 1v1 all-ins, and her Sanguine Slash now offering more healing against Isolated Targets, better allowing it to serve as a viable choice into trade-heavy Melee matchups.
Sanguine Slash [Augment]:
- Now also Heals Countess for 50% more against Isolated Targets.
Feast [Ultimate]:
- Cooldown decreased from 135/110/85 to 125/105/85.
Ultimate Haste now works for Dekker’s Ultimate.
Ion Strike [Ultimate]:
- [Bugfix] Fixed an issue where Dekker’s Ultimate Cooldown would not correctly be reduced by Ultimate Haste.
Drongo’s Augments are all receiving slight increases to their strength to elevate their impact and make his options sharper. Additionally, he is receiving some increases to his general utility, and ability uptime, with Rad Rounds notably now committing its cooldown the moment he activates the ability, opening up greater build synergy with items such as Ashbringer, or Vermis’ newest Mechadrive Blessing.
Smog Therapy [Augment]:
- Healing Total Physical Power Scaling increased from 105% to 115%.
Bring The Boom [Augment]:
- Rad Rounds Explosion Radius increased from 500u to 600u.
Shred Spree [Augment]:
- Shrapnel Cannon Cooldown Reduction decreased from 85% to 80%.
- Shrapnel Cannon Damage Reduction decreased from 60% to 50%.
General:
- Mana Growth increased from 40 to 45.
Gag Grenade [Primary]:
- Bonus Physical Power Scaling increased from 50% to 80%.
- Magical Power Scaling increased from 100% to 120%.
- Cooldown decreased from 22/20/18/16/14 to 18/17/16/15/14.
Rad Rounds [Secondary]:
- Cooldown now commits on Activation.
- Cooldown increased from 16/14/12/10/8 to 20/18/16/14/12.
- Mana Cost increased from 50/45/40/35/30 to 50.
Eden Heat generation continues to ramp up too quickly relative to the threat she provides, and a range of adjustments are occurring to slow down the rate at which she can acquire Max heat, especially in the early-game where she can be oppressive for various Heroes to lane into.
Tachyon Lance [Primary - Ranged]:
- Heat Generation On Hit decreased from 25 to 20.
Axiom Strike [Primary - Melee]:
- Heat Generation On Hit decreased from 7 to 6.
Zero Shift [Secondary]:
- Ranged Stance Physical Power decreased from 6/14/22/30/38 to 5/12/19/26/33.
Talon Drive [Alternate - Melee]:
- Heat Generation On Hit decreased from 25 to 20.
Sidewind [Alternate - Ranged]:
- Heat Generation On Hit decreased from 25 to 20.
Feng Mao’s ability to burst an isolated target while remaining highly active on the map due to his unnaturally high Ultimate uptime continues to allow him to snowball too consistency. A reduction to his raw 1-shot potential, alongside his Ultimate Cooldown are needed in order to slow him down further.
Hamstring [Secondary]:
- Isolation Damage Bonus Physical Power Scaling decreased from 25% to 20%.
Earth Shatter [Ultimate]:
- Cooldown increased from 105/95/85 to 125/105/85.
With the previous buffs to both Greystone himself, and items he favours such as Augmentation, Greystone has once again returned to dominance thanks to how much damage he can dish out. Reductions are occurring to help tone him down further and bring him into further parity.
General:
- BAT increased from 1.1 to 1.15.
- Attack Speed increased from 100% to 105%.
Sacred Oath [Secondary]:
- Damage decreased from 10/50/90/130/170 to 10/45/80/115/150.
- Mana Cost increased from 30 to 40.
A quick hit to Grim’s Basic Attack Scaling is occuring, reducing his late-game DPS especially as his Basic Attacks dealing Magical Damage allows his damage to accelerate due to baseline Magical Armor being lower on average. Additionally, Grim’s Reboot.Exe Augment was not offering its refund correctly, but this has now been resolved.
Reboot.exe [Augment]:
- [Bugfix] Now correctly refunds Grim’s Basic Ability Cooldowns, instead of doing nothing.
The Inverter [Basic Attack]:
- Bonus Physical Power Scaling decreased from 70% to 67.5%.
Ikra’s Hydroclasm is receiving some much needed damage amps, better rewarding him for leveraging a charged bubble in a fight. Alongside this some additional Mana is being granted to him in the mid-game to help reduce cases of running out of Mana in a moderately long fight. Finally, in return for these increases, his Health is seeing a reduction as he is currently difficult to lock down thanks to his double-stun loop, and is too naturally tanky for the damage he is capable of dishing out.
General:
- Health Growth decreased from 141 to 138.
- Mana Growth increased from 25 to 28.
Hydroclasm [Secondary]:
- Persistent Slow increased from 15% to 20%.
- Damage increased from 25/35/45/55/65 to 35/45/55/65/75
- Magical Power Scaling increased from 10% to 15%.
- Amplified Bubble Damage changed from 60/110/160/210/260 to 75/120/165/210/255.
- Amplified Bubble Magical Power Scaling increased from 70% to 80%.
Kallari continues to feel overly oppressive in the average match, able to too quickly accelerate and snowball throughout a match, with her mid-game rundown and burst potential being on the high end. A range of changes are occurring, reducing her overall damage output and presence on the map, meaning Kallari will have to execute her all-in attempts with more finesse and precision moving forward.
General:
- Health Growth decreased from 134 to 131.
- Movement Speed decreased from 695 to 690.
Death Mark [Passive]:
- Missing Health Damage decreased from 8% to 7%.
Plasteel Sword [Basic Attack]:
- Bonus Physical Power Scaling decreased from 80% to 75%.
Shadow Walk [Primary]:
- Health Regen Physical Penetration Scaling decreased from 100% to 75%.
Shadow Dance [Secondary]:
- Bonus Physical Power Scaling decreased from 50% to 45%.
Khaimera’s Invigorate Heal was subject to a bug that was causing it to heal up to 2x the value, based on his Rage stacks. While this healing is actually at an acceptable level, in order to ensure that tooltips match intended functionality, we have resolved the issue and buffed the Health Regeneration Multiplier to compensate and ensure that the Heal remains at roughly the same level moving forward.
Lane Lurker [Augment]:
- [Bugfix] Fixed an issue where Khaimera’s Passive Health Regeneration would not Scale with Magical Power while the Augment is equipped.
Invigorate [Secondary]:
- [Bugfix] No longer heals for up to double, based on current Rage stacks.
- Current Health Regen Heal Multiplier increased from 1.5x to 4x.
Legion is receiving some tuning to various Abilities, opening up different build-path possibilities thanks to lower stat requirements from his Passive, while we are also enhancing the general strength of his abilities further, better allowing him to compete with the top Carries.
Ballistic Calibration [Passive]:
- Magical Power Threshold decreased from 90 to 80.
- Ability Haste Threshold decreased from 50 to 45.
- 45 Ability Haste: Frag Order Missing Health Damage increased from 8% to 10%.
Saturation Charge [Primary]:
- Cooldown decreased from 20/19/18/17/16 to 19/18/17/16/15.
Rally Point [Secondary]:
- Healing Physical Penetration Scaling increased from 95% to 100%.
- Healing Magical Power Scaling increased from 8% to 10%.
Orbital Sanction [Ultimate]:
- Damage increased from 28/47/66 to 30/50/70.
Lt. Belica is receiving some changes targeting a mix of improvements to her functionality and strength in the Support role, while also making her more consistent to pilot in general. For Seismic Assault especially, the ability can be overly inconsistent for her to hit relative to the risk she puts herself in when walking up, even for the top tier players, and as such the hitbox is receiving a small increase to match the pace of the match around her. Likewise, the ability can now be Blink-proxied, meaning she has another way of making a high impact play with the ability that is inline with the majority of the rest of the cast.
Combat Veteran [Augment]:
- Now also grants Lt. Belica +3% Movement Speed.
Seismic Assault [Primary]:
- Cooldown decreased from 18/16.5/15/13.5/12 to 16/15/14/13/12.
- Hitbox Width increased from 250u to 270u.
- Seismic Assault can now be Blink-proxied mid-cast.
Maco continues to dominate the duo lane, largely thanks to the wide breadth of tools he has access to. While having multiple tools is not a bad thing, he needs to be less sharp in various areas such as the Movement Speed he offers to Allies to ensure other supports can reasonably shine in other areas. Combined with other reductions across his kit, and him now falling out of his Passive Speed immediately when hit, Maco will be far easier to catch out and contest for space. Finally, a large bug was fixed with his Maco Strike Stun, meaning it no longer always Stuns for at least 1s, and therefore he must now correctly take the time to charge it to achieve a longer stun, rather than kit dumping mindlessly.
Shatterbloom [Augment]:
- Healing increased from 15/25/35 to 20/30/40.
General:
- Health Growth decreased from 131 to 128.
- Health Regen decreased from 1.8 to 1.6.
- Physical Armor Growth decreased from 5.15 to 4.9.
Mach Speed [Passive]:
- Taking Hero Damage now removes Maco’s Mach Speed Buffs immediately.
- Standing Still Buff Fall-off Time increased from 1.5s to 3s.
Maco Gift! [Primary]:
- Ally Movement Speed decreased from 10%/12%/14%/16%/18% to 8%/9%/10%/11%/12%.
Maco Strike! [Ultimate]:
- Damage decreased from 80/120/160 to 70/110/150.
- Explosion Damage decreased from 110/170/230 to 100/160/220.
- [Bugfix] No longer always Stuns for 1s+, and now correctly scales its Stun from 0.25-1.4s, based on 0-1s Charge Time.
Muriel’s Serenity ability continues to feel a little awkward and inconsistent to use. While more work may be needed on this front in the future, for now we are taking the time to do a quick pass to its general feel and behaviour to make it feel more accurate and responsive to use, with the Projectile now being slower, but decently larger.
Serenity [Alternate]:
- Projectile Radius increased from 65 to 85.
- Projectile Speed decreased from 4250 to 3900.
- [QoL] Projectile VFX Scale increased from 1.1 to 1.4
- [QoL] Projectile Spawn Location changed from Chest to Right Hand.
Narbash is also receiving some changes aimed at making him feel a little more responsive to play, with March and Song Of My People no longer locking out Narbash for as long when Cast. Likewise, he is receiving some general buffs across his kit, with further increases to his Physical Power builds especially, further solidifying his off-role capabilities for those that enjoy the playstyle.
War Anthem [Augment]:
- [Bugfix] Fixed an issue where Narbash’s Song Of My People would not Scale with Magical Power while the Augment is equipped.
General:
- Physical Power increased from 58 to 60.
- Mana Growth increased from 45 to 50.
- Physical Armor increased from 30 to 32.
March [Primary]:
- Blocking window decreased from 0.3s to 0.1s.
Song Of My People [Secondary]:
- Blocking window decreased from 1s to 0.8s.
Thunk [Alternate]:
- Bonus Physical Power Scaling increased from 120% to 130%.
- Cooldown decreased from 14/13/12/11/10 to 13/12/11/10/9.
Crash, Bang, Boom [Ultimate]:
- Magical Power Scaling increased from 30% to 40%.
- Bonus Physical Power Scaling increased from 50% to 70%.
- Final Strike Magical Power Scaling increased from 70% to 80%.
- Final Strike Bonus Physical Power Scaling increased from 100% to 120%.
N3on has fallen behind the other Mages for the average player, as she was one of the few that received barely any love in the previous round of buffs to the Mage Class in general. To help elevate her up to the level of other Mages, the main improvement is reducing how Mana hungry she is with L.I.N.X and increasing the consistency of her Erase Vector Basic Attack hitbox, while small damage increases are also being peppered across her kit to allow her a more consistent shot at dueling opponents. In return, a few smaller reductions in strength are needed to reduce her Erase Vector bully potential in the early lane now it is more consistent to hit, and a lower Jump Height in Ultimate being levied to make her less obnoxious and slippery to deal with.
L.I.N.X [Primary]:
- Damage increased from 48/68/88/108/128 to 48/69/90/111/132.
- Mana Cost changed from 50/60/70/80/90 to 55/60/65/70/75.
Erase Vector [Alternate]:
- Damage decreased from 65/90/115/140/165 to 60/85/110/135/160.
- Projectile Radius increased from 55u to 60u.
- [QoL] Projectile VFX Scale increased from 1x to 2.75x.
Final Thread [Ultimate]:
- Jump Height decreased from 50% to 45%.
- Damage increased from 140/210/280 to 155/225/295.
Phase continues to be problematic in higher level play especially with the various forms of safety she has for herself, and provides for her team thanks to excessive long range pulls. While this is primarily a symptom of the forgiveness window we added to the Link in v1.12, we believe this change is good for the general UX of playing Phase and not accidentally having the Link snap immediately. So, in order to both keep the forgiveness for the average Players, but limit its negative impacts at higher level play, her Link now has slightly shorter range, and it will now immediately break if she or her target move too far away from each other, regardless of the forgiveness window, as this is the interaction the average player does not utilize, but highly experienced players leverage heavily.
Kindred Surge [Augment]:
- [Bugfix] Fixed an issue where Phase’s Kindred Surge Augment would not provide any healing when her Ultimate was Rank 2 or 3.
General:
- Health Growth decreased from 131 to 127.
Psychic Flare [Primary]:
- [Bugfix] Blink Cooldown is now correctly reset to 2.5s at all Levels, instead of at just Levels 1-6.
Telekinetic Link [Alternate]:
- Ally Bonus Physical and Magical Power decreased from 4%/5%/6%/7%/8% to 3%/4%/5%/6%/7%.
- Max Link Radius decreased from 1800u to 1700u.
- The Link now immediately breaks regardless of the 1s Purple Forgiveness Window if the Link Target is 2100u away from Phase.
Tiny Titan continues to be a problem in the post-Eternal ecosystem, and is seeing a removal of its “No Combat Penalty" functionality to ensure that Rampage can no longer bite ankles as freely or easily, giving his opponents an easier time at spacing him.
Tiny Titan [Augment]:
- No longer removes Combat Penalty.
General:
- Physical Armor Growth decreased from 4.8 to 4.5.
Behemoth [Ultimate]:
- Movement Speed decreased from 5% to 3%.
Renna possesses surprisingly high laning strength despite having a sharper Scaling curve across her kit. Pair this with her ability to raw-fire her Ultimate at an opponent in the late-game (especially when paired with Vesh’s Millenia) makes her a little too powerful at various stages of the match. As a result, reduction to her early strength through hits to her Augments and Base Health, alongside some late-game Ultimate reductions are in order.
Netherward [Augment]:
- Shield Magical Power Scaling decreased from 40% to 35%.
Vital Essence [Augment]:
- Missing Health and Mana Restore decreased from 3.5% to 3%.
General:
- Health decreased from 685 to 675.
- Physical Armor Growth decreased from 5 to 4.8.
Abyssal Rift [Ultimate]:
- Damage decreased from 60/82/104 to 60/78/96.
- Magical Power Scaling decreased from 25% to 24%.
- Mana Cost increased from 100 to 100/125/150.
Revenant’s general ability uptime was lessened with the additional of the Eternals to account for the various new forms of Ability Haste available in the system. However, considering he rarely opts into these options, we can adjust his cooldowns to provide him with greater uptime, and better allow him to consider maxing out various combinations of abilities, based on his playstyle preferences.
Obliterate [Primary]:
- Cooldown changed from 9 to 10/9.5/9/8.5/8.
Scar [Secondary]:
- Cooldown decreased from 15/14.25/13.5/12.75/12 to 15/14/13/12/11.
Hellfire Rounds [Alternate]:
- Fourth Shot Movement Speed increased from 10% to 12%.
Reckoning [Ultimate]:
- Cooldown decreased from 145/125/105 to 135/120/105.
Riktor is largely held down by his ability to hit smaller targets with his Riplash, especially with the previous Air Control values that have now been lessened. While this alone may make him feel more reliable in lane, we’re offering Riktor some various increases to the uptime and options when using his Kit, helping out his Support capabilities further, while also giving Jungle and Offlane Riktor a little more bang for their buck.
General:
- Mana increased from 400 to 420.
Electrocute [Secondary]:
- Movement Speed increased from 6%/7%/8%/9%/10% to 8%/9%/10%/11%/12%.
- Cooldown decreased from 15/13.75/12.5/11.25/10 to 15/13.5/12/10.5/9.
Riplash [Alternate]:
- Cooldown decreased from 20/18.75/17.5/16.25/15 to 20/18.5/17/15.5/14.
Skewer [Ultimate]:
- Damage increased from 110/190/270 to 110/200/290.
The initial hotfix balance Scarlet received helped make her a little more consistent for the average player and gave her a lot of the strength she was missing. Given that she takes some additional time to master, we expect Players to continue to improve with her over time and find more success as she is currently deadly in the right hands, and therefore do not want to overly increase her output in the short-term, we do not believe she needs major adjustments just yet. However, to help resolve some of her friction points, her Energy Restore on her Third Strike, as well as her Ultimate Range are both seeing increases, which should provide her with slightly more consistent ways to navigate fights.
General:
- [Bugfix] Scarlett now correctly regenerates Energy while in the Base.
Cindara [Basic Attack]:
- Third Strike Energy Restore Against Heroes changed from 10 to 10/10/15/20 at Levels 1/6/11/16.
Swan Song [Ultimate]:
- Range increased from 825u to 960u
- [QoL] Cast Frame decreased from 20.5 to 19.5 to make hit timing more intuitive.
A quick hit to Serath’s Burn Damage to reduce how quickly she can melt through a target at various stages of a match, as with the addition of Weald, she is seeing a resurgence in popularity and success.
Heresy [Ultimate]:
- Burn Damage decreased from 15/30/45 to 14/27/40.
A niche bugfix for Shinbi when using Thraex.
All-Kill! [Ultimate]:
- [Bugfix] Fixed an issue where Shinbi would not gain Track Stacks while using Thraex’s Alpha’s Court.
Alongside a larger bugfix to her Hypercharge + Satariel Broken Wings interaction, Skylar is having some damage trimmed out of her kit, with Air Assault especially taking a larger hit as the double missile from her Assault MK-II Augment is capable of dishing out a deceptively high amount of damage, and contributes heavier to rundown scenarios than it might seem.
Air Assault [Secondary]:
- Damage decreased from 15/20/25/30/35 to 10/15/20/25/30.
- Magical Power Scaling decreased from 15% to 12%.
- Bonus Physical Power Scaling decreased from 25% to 20%.
Hypercharge [Alternate]:
- Bonus Attack Speed Scaling decreased from 11% to 10%.
- [Bugfix] Satariel’s Broken Wings no longer removes the Combat Penalty from Hypercharge’s Attack.
Steel is receiving a bump to his Jungle capabilities, with his Shield Bash now dealing more damage to monsters generically, and his Max Health Damage seeing an increase as well, making him generically more threatening in Jungle and Offlane especially.
Shield Bash [Alternate]:
- Max Health Damage increased from 5%/5.5%6%/6.5%/7% to 5%/5.75%/6.5%/7.25%/8%.
- Bonus Monster Damage increased from 30/35/40/45/50 to 50/55/60/65/70.
Since the fix to various Armor Shred Effects, Terra has largely fallen out of favour and is struggling to keep up with the various other Heroes in offlane once the mid-game rolls around. To assist with this fall-off, we’re offering her more mid-game scaling and threat in general, better allowing her to take trades and threaten other Tank and Bruiser threats especially.
Axe Retrieval [Secondary]:
- Highland Hurl Bonus Damage increased from +15% to +20%.
Ruthless Assault [Primary]:
- Third Strike Max Health Damage increased from 5%/6%/7%/8%/9% to 5%/6.25%/7.5%/8.75%/10%
Highland Hurl [Secondary]:
- Damage increased from 80/115/150/185/220 to 80/120/160/200/240.
- Slow increased from 30% to 40%.
Wild Rush [Alternate]:
- Bonus Physical Armor Scaling increased from 37.5% to 40%.
- Bonus Magical Armor Scaling increased from 37.5% to 40%.
- Max Charge Bonus Physical Armor Scaling increased from 112.5% to 120%.
- Max Charge Bonus Magical Armor Scaling increased from 112.5% to 120%.
Unstoppable Force [Ultimate]:
- Tenacity increased from 40/70/100 to 50/100/150.
Item Balance
Crests:
Silentium contributes to unnecessary burst damage loops from Supports, especially considering the strength of the Silence effect itself. A damage reduction is occurring as a result, as it primarily exists to provide confirmation feedback of the effect, rather than serve as a supplementary source of burst.
- Muzzle Damage decreased from 100 to 50.
Tier 2:
Brimstone is seeing a larger change, with a reduction to its cost, in exchange for slightly less damage and Health. This better allows it to be picked up early for Tanks, and therefore allows them to keep pace with other Roles in the damage and waveclear departments where needed, further enabling various Tank Junglers and Offlaners to function.
- Health decreased from 250 to 200.
- Cost decreased from 1200 to 1000.
- Recipe changed to: Vitality Beads + 650g.
- Blaze Damage decreased from 12 to 10.
Assassin:
Deathstalker’s build path makes it awkward to purchase, especially for those looking to pick it up in an early slot. We’re shifting it to have nicer components, as well as granting it some additional Physical Power, making it a far smoother and powerful pick-up for those that desire it.
- Physical Power increased from 45 to 50.
- Recipe changed: Honed Kris + Sai + Sabre + 400g
Demon Edge largely exists as a safeguard within the Item System in the event there are ever too many shields in a single team-comp, and therefore will always be niche. Despite this, even when it is required, it still fails to provide enough bang for its buck, so a bump in efficiency is needed.
- Physical Power increased from 45 to 50.
- Ability Haste increased from 10 to 15.
Dread’s cooldown can feel overly long when it comes to late-game teamfight scenarios. While the intention is for it to only ever really fire once in a fight, in a world where a disengagement occurs, there needs to be more room for Assassins to re-gain access to the effect so that they can consider a swifter re-engage.
- Vital Shield Cooldown decreased from 20s to 15s.
Infernum needs to serve as an Anti-Tank outlet for Assassins to leverage when needed, but currently falls a little short when attempting to deal with a Tank-heavy comp. A small bump in its damage against Physical Armor stackers should help it feel more impactful.
- Furnace Additional Cinder Damage increased from 0.65% to 0.8%.
Malady is contributing to general Assassin snowballing due to its overall strength and efficiency as a 1st-buy. A drop in Penetration is needed to alleviate this.
- Physical Penetration decreased from 12 to 11.
Fighter:
With Bruisers struggling to keep up in the current ecosystem, sometimes lacking the damage to threaten targets, and sometimes lacking the durability to survive long enough to finish off a target. Basilisk is one area where we can sure this up, granting it a little more Health to help a Bruiser survive long enough to ramp up in a fight and leverage its Shredding capabilities.
- Health increased from 275 to 300.
Citadel is on the extreme end of low Physical Power, making it feel underwhelming as a purchase for the various non-Basilisk Bruisers that might consider it. A small bump in power should make it feel more impactful on purchase.
- Physical Power increased from 35 to 40.
Gaia Greaves’ Jump Height contributes to “Jump Spam” frustration, but the item itself doesn't feel like it satisfies the durability needs as a single slot Physical Armor option. As a result, we’re granting it less Jump Height, but slightly more Physical Armor.
- Physical Armor increased from 45 to 50.
- Unburden Jump Height decreased from +65% to +50%.
Legacy is another item that is not providing enough Physical Power to Fighters to help them stay on curve, and likewise, its Cleanse Cooldown is exceptionally high where it's rarely available, making it difficult to justify picking up. Both elements are being enhanced.
- Physical Power increased from 35 to 40.
- Tenacious Bravery Cooldown decreased from 120s to 60s.
A quick Health Regen bump for Mistmeadow, making it more desirable as a counter-buy against Magical threats in lane.
- Base Health Regen increased from 100% to 125%.
Paired with Krix, Rapture is simply dealing far too much damage. A reduction to its Health Scaling is required to reduce the impact it can have on the likes of Rampage.
- Nearsight On-Hit Damage Bonus Health Scaling decreased from 3% to 2.5%.
Rebirth’s primary use-case should be as a defensive option to help Heroes survive and reset engagements, not provide too much raw Power. Currently its too high on the Physical Power side, allowing it to be picked up early in builds without enough downside.
- Physical Power decreased from 50 to 45.
A bump to Salvation's shield, providing a strong outlet for Fighters to survive and fight through incoming burst in situations where Rebirth is less optimal.
- Aegis Max Health Shield increased from 22% to 25%.
Solstice, especially when paired with Eternals such as Demiurge and Satariel, allows for too much upfront burst damage from a single attack which tends to allow Assassins to overkill targets too easily. A bump down in its Effect Scaling is needed to help alleviate this.
- Bonus Physical Power Scaling decreased from 0-55% to 0-50%.
Given its more utility and ultimate-orientated effect, Tyranny lacks the base stats to hold up outside of those windows and is being granted some additional Physical Power to better allow it to compete with alternatives.
- Physical Power increased from 40 to 45.
More bulk for Volcanica, allowing its users to survive for more rotations of abilities.
- Health increased from 300 to 325.
Vyzar is positioned as an aggressive short-trade option, but outside of its Shield Effect, can make its Users feel too fragile compared to other options.
- Health increased from 225 to 250.
Mage:
Astral Catalyst tends to be too potent on supportive Heroes such as Mourn and Muriel, and has to be tuned to lower values to ensure Utility Ults are not overly benefitted by it. To get away from this bottleneck, the Ultimate Refund is being split for Kills and Assist, better rewarding Midlaners that play for kills, while helping control the frequency at which Supportive Heroes can repeat their Ultimates throughout a match.
- [Soft Rework] Ravenous Ultimate Cooldown Refund changed from 20% on Takedown to 25% on Hero Kill, 15% on Hero Assist.
- [Bugfix] Ravenous no longer reduces your Ultimate Cooldown if the owner Kills themself.
Support:
Vanguardian’s Aura does not currently provide enough team-wide Magical Durability to stand up as an Anti-AoE buy when looking to deal with larger Mage Ultimates so we’re offering it some additional Magical Armor.
- Guardian Magical Armor Aura increased from 12 to 15.
A small price cut for Xenia, further separating it from mainline Tank options and providing a cheaper durability option for Supports that need the raw bulk.
- Cost decreased from 2450 to 2400.
Tank:
Cursed Scroll continues to be too performant since the addition of Krix due to the scaling synergies they have with one another. Another larger hit is being issued to ensure that Health-stackers are not melting through their targets as quickly.
- Physical Armor decreased from 45 to 40.
- Forbidden Art Attack Speed decreased from 2% to 1.5%.
- Forbidden Art Bonus Health Regen decreased from 25% to 20%.
Given that Fire Blossom is also receiving some power increases, Elafrost needs some additional efficacy in order to be competitive.
- Health increased from 300 to 325.
- Frostblade Slow Duration increased from 1.25s to 1.5s.
With the change to Brimstone, we’re adjusting Fire Blossom to be more powerful in its effect and feel more premium in early builds, with a small increase to its cost to ensure there is an adequate gap between the Tier 2 and the item itself, but more damage to its burn throughout a match.
- Cost increased from 2900 to 3000.
- Heatwave Bonus Health Scaling increased from 0.7% to 1%.
- Firestorm Damage Ramp decreased from 6.25%-50% to 5%-40%.
- Recipe changed: Brimstone + Steel Mail + Vitality Beads + 650g
Giant’s Ring is often overlooked, with its Gigantism Effect feeling hard to appreciate. We’re enhancing it to make its durability spike more meaningful, and thereby allowing its Users to leverage the window to make more aggressive plays.
- Gigantism Damage Reduction increased from 5% to 8%.
- Hero Size increased from 15% to 20%.
—--
Bug Fixes
- Fixed an issue where Brawl was offering the incorrect XP/Amber values. It has now been changed to match the values of ARAM.
- Fixed an issue where Brawl loadouts would not equip correctly and would default to Lane loadouts instead.
- Fixed an issue in Brawl where an invisible ledge was present in the Dusk Team’s Spawn.
- Fixed an issue in Ranked Draft where Users would force highlight their Preferred Hero when they transition to the Ban Phase.
- Fixed an issue where Users could see Overhead Emotes while dead, even if they muted the Enemy Player.
- Fixed an issue where Remake Matches would have a delay before ending when the timer reaches 0.
- Fixed an issue on the Eternal Selection page in Draft where the “Back” button could clip off screen for Low Level Accounts.
- Fixed an issue where Wraith’s Marked VFX does not display on a Target if they are not in direct line of sight of the User.
- Fixed a rare issue where Khaimera could infinitely attack without penalty.
- Fixed an issue where Switching Roles in the Loadout Builder could stop the Search from functioning.
- Fixed an issue where Users that were Gifted would not always be shown every Item Gifted within the pop-up.
- Fixed an issue where featured loadouts were sometimes incorrectly ordered
- Fixed an issue where loadouts would occasionally show an incorrect rating
- Fixed an issue where Noxia was not displaying damage dealt on the scoreboard.
That’s all for now! Update v1.16.4, launches on Tuesday 1st September.
Rei & Steggs - Game Design & Community @ Omeda Studios
