Balance Update v0.6.5

Heya Champions! o/

As we gear up towards the v0.7 content patch we’re tiding you over with a slightly smaller balance patch, this time decreasing the damage values of some Mage, Assassin and Bruiser itemisation to push back the raw strength of their early item spikes. The aim here is to decrease the snowball potential of non-ADC roles, while helping push towards our larger and more long term TTK goals.

We’ve also been keenly listening to your feedback - powering up Phase who didn’t quite stick the landing when she was introduced last week. Grux is also getting some help, this time to his mid-late game potential. He may have thick skin but this Rhino definitely needs a little love.

Looking beyond this week however, we’re excited to say that the v0.7 patch we mentioned just a moment ago is coming along very well, and we can’t wait to share it with you in a couple of weeks.  Things could still change depending on how swamped we are but right now we're hoping to lace it with some VERY big changes that'll help us push further towards those TTK goals. Watch this space!

Thank you all as always for your ongoing support - have a lovely week! <3

- Bloodmordius, Senior Game Designer

New Skins

Get ready for a fresh new look with this season’s hottest new skins! Head to the store to find the following:

◆ Red Death Kallari [Common]
◆ Siege-Breaker Crunch [Common]

Replay Improvements

We’ve been listening to your feedback and working hard to improve the recently-added Replay system. In this update we’ve added some extra functionality to keyboard and mouse keybindings as well as improving the bindings for those of you using gamepads. This does mean that some buttons have changed functions, so please check the updated tables below to avoid confusion.

BALANCE CHANGES

HEROES

As mentioned already we’re giving the Rhino some love this week, buffing his passive to help keep the bleed relevant even in the later stages of the game, which until now has become especially unnoticeable when your opponents start to pick up more sustain. We’re also pumping up his Double Pain a bit to help him retain some laning strength against matchups that he really should be winning (*stares at Sevarog*).

◆ Bloodlust Base Damage increased from 5 (+2 per level) to 5 (+3 per level).
◆ Double Pain Base Damage increased from 10/30/50/70/90 to 20/40/60/80/100.
◆ Crush Bonus Physical Power Scaling decreased from 80% to 70%.

Howitzer continues to be a problem to the current meta so we’re gonna be a problem to him. We’re continuing to target his damage potential, particularly his Slow Grenades, helping decrease his zone potential and lower how reliably he can poke from a distance.

◆ Slow Grenades Base Damage decreased from 30/60/90/120/150 to 30/50/70/90/110.
◆ Slow Grenades Secondary Grenade Damage decreased from 6/12/18/24/30 to 6/10/14/18/22.  

It’s no big secret that Phase has struggled a little bit since her release, so we’re lending her a hand in the early laning phase with some base damage bumps and uptime changes on her Energy Lance ability. We’ll be looking into further changes for her down the road but they’ll require more testing that we could squeeze in ahead of this balance pass, so you can expect those at a slightly later date.

◆ [Bug Fix] Fixed an issue where the blind from Psychic Flare was not being affected by tenacity.
◆ Base Physical Power increased from 46 to 52.
◆ Energy Lance Base Damage increased from 40/60/80/100/120 to 60/90/120/150/180.
◆ Energy Lance Bonus Damage decreased from 40/60/80/100/120 to 30/45/60/75/90.
◆ Energy Lance Scaling increased from 40% to 50%.
◆ Energy Lance Bonus Damage Scaling decreased from 40% to 25%.
◆ Energy Lance Cooldown decreased from 20/18.5/17/15.5/14 to 18/17/16/15/14.

ITEMS

T2:

Ruthless Broadsword:
It’s always been a little awkward to shake off those pesky Corrode stacks. We’re pulling it in line with other stacking conventions and decreasing its potency to help tanks hold their ground slightly better, even when being shredded.

◆ Corrode Physical Armor Shred Magnitude decreased from 5% per stack to 4% per stack.
◆ Corrode Duration increased from 2s to 3s.
◆ Corrode stacks now fall off altogether rather than one at a time.

Crests:

Leafsong:
Leafsongs uptime makes it a little harder to pick up when pitched against other options, so we’re letting it be used more leniently to allow easier engagements and disengages.

◆ Phantom Rush Cooldown decreased from 120s to 100s.

Carry:

Viper:
Matching the broadsword changes above, Viper’s evolved forms are also getting the same adjustments.

◆ Corrode Physical Armor Shred Magnitude decreased from 5% per stack to 4% per stack.
◆ Corrode Duration increased from 2s to 3s.
◆ Corrode stacks now fall off altogether rather than one at a time.

Assassin:

Deathstalker:
Again matching the broadsword change, Assassin’s evolved forms also need the same adjustments.

◆ Corrode Physical Armor Shred Magnitude decreased from 5% per stack to 4% per stack.
◆ Corrode Duration increased from 2s to 3s.
◆ Corrode stacks now fall off altogether rather than one at a time.


Malady:
Malady is the first on the chopping block for a cut to its damage potential. Currently it’s a very powerful first buy because the item scales far too fast. We’re decreasing its infinite scaling potential so that Heroes don’t ramp up too fast on their first few procs.

◆ Demise Additional Damage per Stack decreased from 10 to 5.


Painweaver:
Painweaver is also another very powerful buy for assassins and thus is getting a small nerf to its effect to stop certain purple rascals running rampant ‘round the battlefield.

◆ Splice Bonus Physical Penetration per stack decreased from 4 to 3.
◆ Splice Bonus Movement Speed per stack decreased from 4% to 3%.  

Fighter:

Augmentation:
Augmentation is a very powerful first item pickup for Crunch and provides too much of a spike relative to his other options. We’re toning down its damage potential which will hopefully directly affect Crunch's currently too powerful early-game.

◆ True Strike Total Physical Power Scaling decreased from 50% to 40%.


Basilisk:
Matching the broadsword changes, Basilisk's evolved forms also need the same adjustments.

◆ Corrode Physical Armor Shred Magnitude decreased from 5% per stack to 4% per stack.
◆ Corrode Duration increased from 2s to 3s.
◆ Corrode stacks now fall off altogether rather than one at a time.

Mage:

Azure Core:
With most first-item spikes getting taken down a notch, Azure needs similar treatment. This is to help match the item spikes a bit more so that Azure isn’t as overwhelming an option as we decrease the damage potential of other, more offensive first-buys.

◆ Arcane Magic Maximum Mana Scaling decreased from 4% to 3.5%.


Combustion:
Another victim of abuse in the early game, Combustion grants a Mage too much kill threat on the first item spike and so is getting nerfs to its initial damage and uptime. The cooldown change should also stop heroes like Howitzer getting off multiple rotations of the effect easily in extended trades.

◆ Pyro Base Damage decreased from 70 to 55.
◆ Pyro Cooldown increased from 12s to 15s.


World Breaker:
World Breaker is a big offender due to a lot of its interactions, but for now to wrangle it in line with other options here we’re also decreasing its damage potential.

◆ Fiend Percent Increased Magical Damage decreased from 4% per stack to 3% per stack.


Wraith Leggings:
Wraith Leggings, especially alongside Combustion, is providing far too much of a burst spike for mages in the early game. So, like a few items today, it’s also taking a hit - this time to its burst potential.

◆ Carnage Percent Increased Magical Damage decreased from 20% to 15%.

Tank:

Crystalline Cuirass:
Crystalline creates some challenging matchups for heroes like Shinbi and Countess, so we’re shifting some of its damage output into its defensive stats.

◆ Health increased from 200 to 275.
◆ Volatile Maximum Health Scaling decreased from 3% to 2%.


Dynamo:
Dynamo is also providing too much offensive potential and sees a lot of abuse from Support roles due to its powerful shred that keeps our Tanks quaking in their booties. Decreasing both the potency and duration should give said Tanks more wiggle room when navigating fights against Dynamo users.

◆ Immobilizer Percent Shred decreased from 30% to 20%.
◆ Immobilizer Shred duration decreased from 4s to 3s.

BUG FIXES

◆ Fixed an issue where Corrode was not correctly applying on Drongo and Grux Passives.
◆ Fixed an issue where Tainted Guard Scaling was incorrect.
◆ Fixed an issue where Murdock’s Stimpack was cleansing slows.
◆ Fix a bug where Phase’s Telekinetic Link [RMB] was not playing SFX correctly.
◆ Fixed a bug where a debug sphere would appear when spectating players while dead.
◆ Fixed issues related to replays when viewed back using controller inputs.
◆ Resolved a bug related to player positioning on the mini-map.

Additional bug fixes/patch notes may be added to this post once the update is live.

That's all this week!

Let us know what you think of these changes over on Twitter, the Predecessor Subreddit or our official Discord server - all the links are down below!

Catch you next time!