Predecessor Patch V.0.6

HOTFIXES

Hotfix V0.6.4 (28/04/23)
◆ Added some extra code to the game to help combat those pesky Steam login issues (we're looking at you, AB-400 errors!)
◆ Fixed an issue that could occur for players who rather ambitiously competed in both EU and NA Competitive Night events in the same day (take that, P-1000 error!)

Hotfix V0.6.3 (26/04/23)
◆ Fixed a bug related to Competitive Nights ahead of it going live.

Hotfix V0.6.2 (25/04/23)
◆ Fixed an issue with Murdock's Ultimate not firing and going on cooldown after a specific input sequence.
◆ Fixed an issue with Phase's Telekinetic Link stopping working when trying to link to a dying teammate.
◆ Fixed a crash while scrubbing through replay that has wards placed on the map.

Hotfix V0.6.1 (19/04/23)
◆ Resolved an issue that meant party invites weren't properly working for EGS players.
◆ Fixed an issue that caused the game to crash during initial loading.

ORIGINAL UPDATE

Welcome to Season 2, Champions!

We’re kicking off the new season with a bang! V.0.6 brings with it a new Hero, the first iteration of our replay system, competitive nights, rewards for season one, balance changes and more!

Let’s start by talking about balance. Our focus with this patch is to help build in a longer Time-To-Kill (TTK), but we want to set expectations that these changes are by no means the single silver bullet that’ll deliver our TTK goals on the first attempt. What we’re delivering in this update is the first step of many, directed specifically towards the Carry role for now as their damage output has been the most problematic. As a result, elements such as Critical Strike Damage and Hero Basic Attack scalings are receiving a reduction in power, alongside a decrease in potency for many Carry items too. To compensate however, we’ve shifted some of this damage towards Abilities to facilitate clearer trading patterns and windows of strength. This may seem counterproductive to our TTK goals, but alongside targeting a longer TTK, we also wish to complement this by better defining power windows that reward intelligent positioning and smart Ability usage. As always we’ll be reviewing all the data and the feedback as well as making further balance changes with this additional goal in mind.

And fear not - it’s not all nerfs! There is a peppering of other adjustments to Heroes such as Offlane/Jungle-centric Riktor buffs to open up his Role diversity, Feng Mao Mana improvements to help grant him more of a presence on the map, and even some love for The Fey’s Harvest Nettles ability to make her aggressive playstyle more rewarding.

While many changes are still cooking in the Omeda ovens and will be rolled out in future patches, the ultimate balance goal is to progressively shift towards a higher TTK environment where unique Hero Ability interactions and windows of power are better defined, leading to more tactical, engaging and rewarding combat encounters. This is a lofty goal and we realise it may take some time to achieve. We also anticipate some growing pains as we progress towards these goals from patch to patch. Rest assured we will be keeping a close eye on how things are going and will respond swiftly to any undesirable results.

Your feedback is vital in helping us get this right, so please do take the time to join the official Predecessor Discord or Subreddit where you can leave your feedback and suggestions for the team to read.

With all that said there still plenty more to come in Season 2 so stay tuned, and we’ll see you out on the battlefield!

- Rei, Game Designer

A NEW HERO APPEARS

Phase makes her appearance!

The Psychic Stray, Phase, is the newest Support Hero joining the Predecessor line up! Her telekinetic talents allow her to psychically connect with her allies, all while skillfully manipulating the battlefield in her team’s favour!

ABILITIES:

Essence Catalyst
Effect: After Phase finishes casting an ability, she gains 20-37% attack speed, 10 (10%) magic damage on hit and 5 mana on successful basic attacks for 3 seconds.

Pulse Bolt [LMB]
Effect: Ranged basic attack dealing physical damage.

Psychic Flare [Q]
CD: 13/12/11/10/9
Cost: 60/65/70/75/80
Effect: Blast a flare of psychic energy around Phase and her Linked ally, dealing  75/115/155/195/235 (70%) magic damage. Enemies take 20% damage from a second flare. 

Targets hit that are also facing the flare are blinded for 1/1.1/1.2/1.3/1.4s.

Energy Lance [E]
CD: 20/18.5/17/15.5/14
Cost: 80/90/100/110/120
Effect: Channels a beam of pure energy dealing 40/60/80/100/120 (40%) magical damage over 2.5s. Each instance of damage applies a stacking 4% slow that lasts 0.8s. 

Upon reaching 8 stacks the target is rooted for 1.25s. The next instance of damage (excluding Energy Lance) will deal 40/60/80/100/120 (40%) magic damage to the target.

Telekinetic Link [RMB]
Pull CD: 24/22/20/18/16
Pull Cost: 50
Effect: Applies a Link to targeted Ally granting them 2/4/6/8/10 physical power while linked.If reactivated, Phase will Pull the Linked target towards her. 

The link will be broken if the target goes out of range or if Phase gets hit by Silence or hard CC, excluding root.

Hyperflux [R]
CD: 120/105/90
Cost: 100
Effect: Phase overcharges herself and her Linked Ally, granting both 60/90/120% attack speed, 110/115/120% movement speed, and 10/15/20% Omnivamp for 8s.
GENERAL UPDATES

MAJOR IMPROVEMENTS

Season 1 Rewards

The first season of Predecessor has officially ended, which means it’s time to collect your end-of-season rewards. Your Player Level when the patch goes live will determine the rewards you'll receive as follows:

◆ Player level 10 = Countess EA Season 1 Icon
◆ Player level 20 = Purple Hex Countess skin
◆ Player level 30 = Kira EA Season 1 Icon
◆ Player level 40 = Occult Kira Skin
◆ Player level 50+ = 300 Platinum per 10 Levels

With the start of Season 2, your Player Level will be reset. We'll release more information about Season 2 soon, including the much anticipated roadmap, so stay tuned for more.

Competitive Nights

We’re excited to introduce Competitive Nights to Predecessor! Starting April 27th we’ll be opening up the Competitive Nights queue for 3 hours every Thursday evening for Europe and NA East regions. To participate, players will need to form a party of 5 and go head-to-head against the most skilled teams in the game.

All players will start each week with the same matchmaking score, so it's a great opportunity to see how high you can climb on the leaderboard before the week is out. Grab four friends and get ready to compete in the ultimate test of skill and teamwork!

Replay System [BETA]

This week we’ve added the first iteration of the much awaited Replay and Spectator feature. With this feature you can now watch back recent matches as well as matches your friends have played. The goal is to empower the community to create more content and support community-run events.

Currently the Replay keybinds are not displayed in-game but will be in the future. For now you can find them listed below for both Keyboard & Mouse, and Gamepad.

This is just the first implementation so we understand that it might still need some polish. Please do share your feedback to help us make this feature as useful as possible.

Public API

We're excited to announce that V.0.6 will see the official release of our Public API, which has been developed with the support and collaboration of several community partners. The API provides community developers with the necessary tools to create new applications and features that support, expand and enrich both Predecessor and the wider community.

Starting tomorrow these initial community partners will have live access to the Public API, which will become more broadly available for other developers in the coming days. Look out for a separate blog post for specific details on how you can gain access and use this functionality for your own tools and events!

As always our team would like to extend a massive 'thank you' to the community members who helped us deliver this feature. We're excited to see how it's used!

Community Event - The Hunt

We're pleased to announce that a special Profile Icon featuring Kira - the winner of our first community event, The Hunt - has been added to the game. All players will receive this reward upon logging in.

Thank you all for taking part in this event. As with everything during Early Access, we look forward to expanding and improving on community events in the future and we hope you'll take part in the next one!

New skins

Another update means more new skins! The following new looks are available now in the store:

◆ Opaline The Fey [Common]
◆ Shadow Lynx Phase [Common]
◆ Grand Oracle Sevarog [Common]

Be sure to check them out and let us know what you think!

OTHER IMPROVEMENTS

◆ Changed Sparrows portrait to help her stand out from the rest of the cast.
◆ Improved map collision.
◆ Improved the way that targeted abilities snap to targets.
◆ Recommended items now include Tonics. These items will now be suggested when at full build.
◆ Improved some visual effects on Sparrow’s bow.
◆ Toned down some visual effects on some heroes when closer to the camera.
◆ Adjusted animations for Belica’s Seismic Assault and Kira’s Mercy.
◆ Various map improvements.

BALANCE CHANGES

General Changes/Fixes:

Critical Strike Damage:
Carries specifically have a tendency to dish out too much raw damage in the later stages of the game once they have their Crit builds online, so we’re hitting the damage multiplier of Critical Strikes. While this won’t entirely resolve TTK feeling too fast for many players as it is purely a Crit-centric change, this is the first step of many towards redistributing damage away from basic attack potency and elevating damage windows through other means.

◆ Base Critical Strike Damage decreased from 165% to 160%.

Basic Attack Scaling adjustments:
We’re redefining the way Basic Attacks scale with Bonus Physical Power for many Heroes. In essence, all Heroes have a Basic Attack scaling which increases their Basic Attack damage as they acquire more Physical Power as any other ability might, but until now this information was not clearly visible to players.

While we already use this mechanic in several places as a balancing lever for many classes such as Mages to reduce their effectiveness when committing to Physical Power builds (encouraging them to stay within the general confines of their archetype, leaving them unaffected when built conventionally), we believe there is a greater opportunity to provide differentiation between Heroes and their Basic Attacks through these scalings. Likewise, we want to provide greater transparency regarding this mechanic, so the updated Basic Attack scalings will now be reflected in the ability tooltips so that players can see the impact these ratios have on their Hero, and therefore make more informed itemisation decisions in-game.

The end result of the Critical Strikes Damage and Basic Attack Ratio adjustments is that Heroes and Classes who invest in Physical Power and/or Crit will see a general reduction in their Basic Attack damage output as the game progresses, better pulling them in line with our TTK goals.

Balance adjustments via Ability tuning have been granted to many Heroes that are heavily impacted by these changes in a bid to better define their trading loops and general play patterns, with the intent of rewarding smart ability usage and playing to each Heroes strengths further as opposed to relying on raw Basic Attack damage to run down an opponent.

◆ Basic Attack Scalings have been adjusted for various Heroes (those affected listed below).
◆ Ability Descriptions for all Heroes now state their Base Basic Attack Damage and Basic Attack Damage from Scaling.

HEROES

A quick Slice ratio-adjustment for the Matriarch, the first of many.

Slice [LMB]
◆ Bonus Physical Power Scaling decreased from 100% to 90%.

Alongside Crunch’s Basic Attack Ratio change, we’re redistributing some of this lost Basic Attack strength back into his Passive damage to better reward him when weaving punches between abilities!

Crunch [LMB]
◆ Bonus Physical Power Scaling decreased from 90% to 80%.

Cross Crunch [Passive]
◆ Physical Power Scaling increased from 10% to 15%.
◆ Magical Power Scaling increased from 10% to 15%.

Drongo has found himself in a precarious spot as of late. His ability to disrupt fights with his Gag Grenade and eject himself from danger has created just a little too much safety. Because of this we’re stripping back the potency of Drongo’s utility in some areas, while conversely providing more uptime on his Abilities in the later stages of the game to better define his windows of aggression now that his basic attacks are dealing less damage.

Pistol Shot [LMB]
◆ Bonus Physical Power Scaling decreased from 90% to 80%.

Gag Grenade [Q]
◆ Radius decreased from 350 to 300.

Rad Rounds [E] 
◆ Cooldown decreased from 14 to 14/13/12/11/10.
◆ First Shot Damage decreased from 40/60/80/100/120 to 40/55/70/85/100.

Old Rusty [RMB] 
◆ Cooldown changed from 9/8.5/8/7.5/7 to 10/9/8/7/6.
◆ Mana Cost decreased from 60/65/70/75/80 to 60.

Shrapnel Cannon [R] 
◆ Base Damage increased from 175/300/425 to 200/325/450.
◆ Physical Armor Shred Duration decreased from 8s to 4s.
◆ Self Knockback Distance decreased from 1000 units to 800 units.

As much as Feng Mao loves to take short trades and rotate through abilities, he finds himself restricted by a relatively low mana pool. By granting his Guardian Shield a lower Mana cost and increasing his Mana Growth, Feng Mao should find himself feeling more liberated when using his Shield for short trades, alongside generally suffering less from Mana issues.

[General] 
◆ Base Mana Growth increased from 50 to 55.

Sweep [LMB] 
◆ Bonus Physical Power Scaling decreased from 90% to 80%. 

Guardian Shield [Q] 
◆ Mana Cost decreased from 60 to 50.

A quick shift in Scalings to better reward the Gideon’s that nail their opponents with a well-timed Void Breach and a full combo, rather than relying as heavily on his Cosmic Rift ability.

Cosmic Rift [Q] 
◆ Magical Power Scaling decreased from 70% to 65%.

Void Breach [RMB] 
◆ Magical Power Scaling increased from 55% to 60%.

Similar to Feng Mao, Grux struggles with a low Mana pool in the mid-game, often crippling his ability to pressure opponents with proactive ability use. By improving his Mana pool and making his Double Pain more of a potent trading tool now that his Basic Attack Ratio is reduced, the Rhino should find more success (and sometimes more failure) when opting in for trades.

[General] 
◆ Base Mana Growth increased from 40 to 50.

Chop [LMB]  
◆ Bonus Physical Power Scaling decreased from 90% to 80%.

Double Pain [RMB] 
◆ Total Physical Power Scaling increased from 110% to 120%.

Howitzer’s ability to output large amounts of damage at a safe distance has been a little overwhelming lately, particularly as he acquires his first few items. We’re taking a bit of oomph out of these mid-to-late game Missiles to help decrease the frustration of dealing with a well-equipped mech.

R2000 Missile [Q]
◆ Magical Power Scaling decreased from 75% to 70%.

While the Basic Attack Ratio decrease will slightly impact Kallari’s ability to output damage and clear the Jungle, it should be marginal due to her preferred play pattern. We’ll be keeping an eye on her and revisiting her in the future if she requires compensation. 

Slash [LMB]  
◆ Bonus Physical Power Scaling decreased from 100% to 90%. 

While everyone's’ favourite Spirit Hunter is generally in a stable spot, he’s been struggling lately with his early-game potency. By opting for a harsher reduction in his Basic Attack Ratio we can provide Khaimera with greater Scaling and Cleave on his Unleash ability, defining his window of power further while improving his early Jungle presence (alongside giving a subtle nudge to his Offlane viability…).

Hack [LMB] 
◆ Bonus Physical Power Scaling decreased from 100% to 80%.

Unleash [Q] 
◆ Scaling increased from 35% to 40%.
◆ Cleave increased from 50% to 70%.


Ambush [RMB]  
◆ Base Damage increased from 50/75/100/125/150 to 60/85/110/135/160.

In the spirit of opening up Kira’s build diversity and rewarding her trading loops, we’re shifting Dusk to deal Physical Damage, no longer punishing her as harshly when opting for Penetration builds, as well as granting more damage when purifying Targets at a single stack. The changes to Critical Strike Damage will also impact the potency of not just her Basic Attacks, but Purge and Mercy too. With all of this in mind we’ve redistributed power among her abilities to ensure Kira is adequately rewarded when weaving in Mercy shots and/or combining Dusk with a well-timed Ultimate.

Bolt [LMB]  
◆ Bonus Physical Power Scaling decreased from 90% to 80%.

Dusk [Q]  
◆ Damage type changed from Magical to Physical.
◆ Added 30/35/40/45/50 Base Damage to.
◆ Damage per Additional Stack decreased from 16/22/28/34/40 to 10/15/20/25/30.
◆ Scaling Per Stack increased from 20% to 25%.
◆ Max Damage changed from 96/132/168/204/240 to 90/125/160/195/230.

Shadow Glide [E] 
◆ Lockout Window decreased.

Mercy [RMB]
◆ Lockout Window decreased.

Lt. Belica’s Void Drone often felt bad to use due to the Gold she can unwillingly hand over to an opponent that destroys it, thus artificially accelerating their Gold gain. By decreasing the Gold reward of the Drone, Lt. Belica should feel more able to use it as a proactive zoning tool.

Void Drone [E]  
◆ Gold on Destroy decreased from 20 to 10.

Murdock’s access to utility and safety via his Traps and Stimpack often left him in a position of overbearing strength against Melee Heroes. To better define his weaknesses, not only is his damage seeing a reduction with the Crit Damage and Basic Attack Ratio changes but we’re also removing the Slow Immunity on his Stimpack and scaling down the size of his Traps. It’s not all bad though, we’re also improving his ability to trade blows with Buckshot from afar and offering him a slight increase in uptime on the Ability. Collectively, this should ensure that Murdock thinks twice about his positioning and keeping his opponents at a healthy distance, lest he fall prey to aggressive foes. 

Single Fire [LMB]  
◆ Bonus Physical Power Scaling decreased from 100% to 90%.

Static Trap [Q]  
◆ Root Duration decreased from 1.25s to 1s.
◆ Radius decreased from 150 to 135.

Stimpack [E]  
◆ Slow Immunity Removed.     

Buckshot Damage [RMB]  
◆ Falloff Range decreased from 60% to 50%.
◆ Damage increased 75/112.5/150/162.5/200 to 75/110/145/180/215.
◆ Total Physical Power Scaling decreased from 112.5%/125%/137.5%/150%/162.5% to 110%/120%/130%/140%/150%.
◆ Cooldown decreased from 14/13/12/11/10 to 13/12/11/10/9.

Super simple this week like the big man himself. Less Wallop for the Orc without changing how handsome he is! 

Wallop [LMB] 
◆ Bonus Physical Power Scaling decreased from 100% to 90%.

Swipe got a little less… swipey!

Swipe [LMB]  
◆ Bonus Physical Power Scaling decreased from 100% to 90%.

Revenant has lost some late-game damage through his Passive and Hellfire Rounds, alongside a slight reduction in his Bounty Hunter Gold gain and early Obliterate threat to ensure his trading pattern in-lane is less oppressive and snowbally. However, due to still having a 100% Basic Attack Ratio, he’s no longer as overly punished for building non-Crit Itemisation and maintains the oomph of landing a well-timed 4th shot early on.

Bounty Hunter [Passive] 
◆ Base Kill Gold gain decreased from 50 to 25.
◆ Bonus Physical power decreased from 6.5-15% to 5.75-10%.

Obliterate [Q]
◆ Base Damage decreased from 50/70/90/110/130 to 40/60/80/100/120.
◆ Range decreased from 1750 to 1550.

Hellfire Rounds [RMB]
◆ Critical Strike Multiplier changed from 140/147/154/161/168/175% to 145/150/155/160/165/170%.

Riktor has struggled to perform ever since his Riplash ability took a hit to its Mana cost. While this was necessary to reduce his Support dominance, it proved too punishing and diminished his ability to function in alternative Roles. To encourage greater role diversity we’re giving Riktor some extra love in the Offlane and Jungle positions (without overly improving his Support viability), providing clearer windows of strength (or weakness) based on the status of his Riot Shield, and ensuring smart usage of Riplash does not always leave him feeling starved for Mana.

[General] 
◆ Base Health Regeneration decreased from 1.4 to 1.
◆ Base Mana increased from 280 to 320.
◆ Base Mana Growth increased from 40 to 50.
◆ Base Mana Regeneration decreased from 2 to 1.6.

[Passive] 
◆ Riot Shield Scaling increased from 12% to 15%.

Whip [LMB] 
◆ Bonus Physical Power Scaling decreased from 100% to 90%.

Electrocute [E] 
◆ Mana decreased from 60/70/80/90/100 to 60/65/70/75/80.
◆ Now deals 20% additional damage to Monsters.

The Reaper’s ability to Heal from using Siphon on a Minion wave resulted in too much sustain, leaving interactions with Sevarog feeling rather stagnant. For now we’re stripping back some of this healing to provide greater windows of punishment before he stacks up and becomes a menace. 

Crush [LMB]
◆ Bonus Physical Power Scaling decreased from 70% to 60%.

Siphon [Q]  
◆ Minion Healing decreased from 10% to 5%.

Shinbi’s Empowered Passive attack now applies a Track stack from her Ultimate to her Target!

Biting Melody [Passive] 
◆ Now applies a stack of Track on the Empowered Basic Attack.

Cutting Edge [LMB] 
◆ Bonus Physical Power Scaling decreased from 90% to 80%.

While strong in her own right, Sparrow is relatively under-represented among the Carry roster. With TTK slowing down for Carries via Itemisation/Crit Damage changes, she naturally becomes more relevant due to her Passive’s % Health damage component. While she may need further adjustments in the future, we’ve opted to wait for the dust to settle before we jump the gun (or bow) with further changes.

Bow Shot [LMB] 
◆ Bonus Physical Power Scaling decreased from 90% to 80%.

Steel’s ability to take short trades is rather potent due to the safety of his Passive’s Shield. To create more counterplay we’re dropping the duration of his Passive Shielding to better define his windows of strength, whilst also providing more windows of punishment should he overstep.

Battering Barrier [Passive] 
◆ Shield Duration decreased from 5s to 3.5s.

Punch Bonus [LMB] 
◆ Physical Power Scaling decreased from 100% to 90%.

The Fey struggles to keep pace with her counterparts due to how punishing failing to chain Harvest Nettles together can be to her overall Mana pool. To help her out we’re giving her a little love in the Mana department to reward aggressive Fey’s for proactively opting for those longer, more aggressive trades.

Harvest Nettles [E]
◆ Mana Cost decreased from 80 to 60.

ITEMS

Vision:

Sentry:
Sentry’s uptime has proven a little too oppressive for Ward denial as of late. While there are various areas that we can improve, for now we’re simply cutting back on Sentry’s uptime.

◆ Duration decreased from 15 to 12s.

Crests:

Consort/Guardian/Keeper/Warden Crest:
Supports have been gaining slightly too much Gold in the earlier stages relative to where we want them to be so we’re nudging it down prior to their Crest completion. This should also have the added benefit of slowing down how fast Mages in the Support role can reach their item spikes, while traditional Support picks remain less affected due to their cheaper item choices.

◆ Passive Gold per Charge decreased from 25 to 20. 
◆ Evolve Gold Required decreased from 300 to 240.


Brutallax:
The Attack Speed component of Purifying Rage’s Cleanse gave a large amount of aggressive utility to an otherwise defensive Crest. We’re removing it to better define the theme of the item as anti-CC and to reduce some of the general stat-bloat it possesses.

◆ Physical Power decreased from 25 to 20.
◆ Health increased from 125 to 200.
◆ Purifying Rage Attack Speed Removed.


Eviscerator:
A slight bump down in scaling for Eviscerator's first shot! Subsequent shots remain unaffected as Carries that manage to successfully pump an opponent deserve the reward of a significant damage amp over a fight.

◆ Rending Strikes Scaling decreased from 18% to 15%.


Liberator:
Liberator’s status as a defensive Cleanse option is enticing for many Carries. However, given the size of the Shield and the amount of raw Lifesteal it provides, Liberator offers a little too much safety and durability for Carries. We’re giving it a slight hit to its defensive capabilities.

◆ Lifesteal decreased from 8% to 5%.
◆ Purifying Guard Shield Level Scaling removed.


Pacifier:
Pacifier’s ability to dash and chain kills together provides for some great skill expression. However, the ability to burst an opponent with its effect could be too high due to it benefitting from Critical Strikes. In the spirit of gearing towards a higher TTK, we’re no longer allowing Adrenalize’s damage to double up with Critical Strikes, thus opening the Crest up further to non-Crit build paths and further normalising its damage potential across a match.

◆ Adrenalize bonus damage can no longer Critically Strike.
◆ Bonus Power Scaling increased from 20% to 25%. 


Witchstalker:
Witchstalker was a little heavy in the sustain department so it’s receiving a slight decrease in Omnivamp and getting a bump in Physical Penetration to better fit the Assassin archetype.

◆ Physical Penetration increased from 4 to 6.
◆ Omnivamp decreased from 6% to 4%.

T1:

Codex:
Codex was providing a little too much value relative to other Magical Power items, so we’re bumping it back down to its intended efficiency as to not overshadow other options! 

◆ Magical Power decreased from 15 to 12.

T2:

Ironwood Warbow:
A quick shift to the stat profile of Ironwood Warbow to provide a little less raw bang for its buck while better defining its theme of repeated attacks.

◆ Physical Power decreased from 25 to 20.
◆ Attack Speed increased from 10 to 15.
◆ Zap Base Damage decreased from 20 to 15.

Ruthless Broadsword:
The existence of Ability Haste on Ruthless Broadsword bloated the item and forced the stat upon its Tier 3 counterparts. We’re removing it to allow us to better define the statlines of the item and those it builds into. 

◆ Cost decreased from 1400 to 1300.
◆ Physical Power increased from 20 to 25.
◆ Removed Ability Haste.

Carry:

Absolution:
While eating a Rampage rock to the face is hardly ever a pleasant experience, Absolution’s Damage Mitigation resulted in too much durability for its wielders. Likewise, the general stats provided by it as a result of its Determined Passive made it incredible as both an aggressive and defensive tool. As a result we’re removing the second passive to better define the item and make it more accessible through a cheaper cost.

◆ Cost decreased from 3300 to 3150.
◆ Bravery Damage Mitigation decreased from 25% to 20%.
◆ Determined Passive Removed.


Breach:
Percent Penetration is an extremely potent effect, so we’re increasing the investment required to access it.

◆ Cost increased from 2900 to 3000.


Demolisher:
Similar to Breach, a quick bump-up in price for Demolisher due to its value as a Percent Penetration item. It is tax season after all, right?

◆ Cost increased from 2900 to 3000.


Lightning Hawk:
Lightning Hawk’s raw potency as an all-round damage and utility tool makes it an incredible first buy for many Heroes, and contributes greatly to the damage output a Carry can deal. We’re stripping back its general power to ensure Carries don’t hit quite as hard, quite as fast. 

◆ Physical Power decreased from 50 to 45.
◆ Chilling Zap Scaling decreased from 75% to 50%.
◆ Chilling Zap Slow Magnitude decreased from 30% to 25%.


Kingsbane:
A mixed damage profile can be incredibly difficult to itemise against, so we’re transitioning Kingsbane’s on-hit damage to Physical damage to enable opponents to better defend themselves with additional Armor. Likewise we’re shifting the effectiveness of its Passives to be less potent in the early-game, but scale more appropriately into the late-game, better curving the on-hit path.

◆ Chaos Damage type changed from Magical to Physical.
◆ Chaos Base Damage decreased from 15 to 10.
◆ Chaos Scaling increased from 10% to 15%.
◆ Order Base Healing decreased from 15 to 10.


Resolution:
A quick nerf to Resolutions Physical Power to ensure it stays in line with other options.

◆ Physical Power decreased from 45 to 40.


Sky Splitter:
Sky Splitter’s ability to cut through Tanks could sometimes prove a little overwhelming, so we’re knocking it down a peg or two.

◆ Attack Speed increased from 30 to 35.
◆ Rend Damage decreased from 3% to 2.5%.

Viper:
The presence of Ability Haste on Viper convoluted its identity and was largely unnecessary. Due to many Carries receiving small buffs to their Ability Cooldowns, they shouldn’t feel too punished in its absence!

◆ Ability Haste Removed.

Tainted Rounds:
Tainted Rounds could dish out some insane damage, often beating out other alternatives at various stages of a match while offering anti-heal to boot. To help make it fit in more appropriately we’ve squashed its damage potential to keep it in line. Fear not, it remains a valuable pick up should a Carry need to put down a rabid Khaimera or two!

◆ Wicked Strikes Physical Power Scaling changed from (+12% Total Physical Power) to (+15% Bonus Physical Power).
◆ Wicked Strikes Critical Strike Chance Scaling decreased from 25% to 20%.

Terminus:
The raw durability of Terminus’ reset mechanic resulted in unnatural windows of durability and safety for Carries, even if they mispositioned. To better define the importance of intelligent positioning for Carries we’ve opted to no longer grant Terminus users a Shield on Takedown, instead letting the item exist strictly as a strong sustain option, rather than one that has the potential to turn a Carry into an unkillable machine under certain conditions. 

◆ Endless Passive Removed - No longer grants a Shield on Takedown.

Vanquisher:
A quick shift in numbers to better define Vanquisher as a burst option via Penetration to better suit those Carries looking to blow up an Opponent in a shorter window (looking at you, Drongo), rather than it serving as an all purpose DPS stick. 

◆ Physical Power decreased from 50 to 45.
◆ Physical Penetration increased from 10 to 12.

Assassin:

Deathstalker:
As a result of the change to Ruthless Broadsword, we can provide Deathstalker with a little more raw bang for its buck! 

◆ Cost Decreased from 3100 to 3000.
◆ Physical Power increased from 40 to 45.
◆ Ability Haste decreased from 20 to 10.

Fighter:

Basilisk:
Similar to Deathstalker, we can now shift the recipe for Basilisk as Ruthless Broadsword no longer provides Ability Haste, better suiting it to the Fighters that love to pick it up.

◆ Health increased from 250 to 300.
◆ Recipe changed from Ruthless Broadsword+Sabre+Vitality Beads to Ruthless Broadsword+Violet Brooch+Vitality Beads.


Draconum:
Draconum’s ability to stack its Surge effect by a Hero simply engaging in combat made the condition more like a permanent effect rather than one you play for. By adjusting it to be more deliberate and proactive in its stack condition, Draconum users will now have to better consider how to approach a fight if they want to receive its benefits. 

◆ Physical Armor increased from 35 to 40.
◆ Surge changed from Dealing and Receiving any damage from any source to dealing damage with Basic Attacks and Abilities to Enemy Heroes or Monsters.
◆ Surge Duration changed from until Out of Combat to 5s.

Mage:

Tainted Sceptre:
Mages often felt restricted when trying to apply Blight to Enemies with Tainted Sceptre due to its application being tied to Ability Cooldowns. To alleviate this we’re providing some extra uptime to its Blight effect to better suit your typical spellslinger. 

◆ Blight Duration increased from 3s to 4s.

Jungle:

Cyan Buff:
The Cyan Buff was granting a little too much experience in the later stages of the game which could often lead to some excessive snowballing when uncontested. While it remains an important mini-objective, we’ve opted to nudge its experience reward down a touch to bring it in line with the broader economy and offer a bit more freedom when choosing to group up with your team in the later stages of a match.

◆ XP Growth per minute decreased from 20 to 15.


Gold Buff:
Gold Buff, much like its name suggests, has been providing a little too much Gold. Not only could this result in yet more extreme cases of snowballing when it’s uncontested and gobbled up repeatedly by a single Carry, but it also placed Carries further ahead of the Gold curve relative to other Roles, allowing them access to items a little too fast. As a result, we’re dropping the overall Gold it grants as a match progresses. This ensures that Carries do not unnaturally accelerate their builds as frequently, while also allowing them to feel more freedom in leaving the Duo Lane when teamplay and grouping becomes more required. 

◆ Health Growth decreased from 90 to 70.
◆ Gold Growth per minute decreased from 8 to 4. (Max Gold decreased from 200 to 140.)

BUG FIXES

◆ Fixed a Bug where Prophecy’s Hasty passive was incorrectly stating 75% scaling instead of 60%.
◆ Fixed a Bug where Basilisk was incorrectly granting 350 max health instead of its intended amount.
◆ Fixed a Bug causing vision to break after disconnecting.
◆ Fixed a Bug causing players to be unable to reconnect.
◆ Fixed a Bug causing Revenant to be pulled out of the nether realm leaving the target trapped inside.
◆ Fixed a bug causing Augmentation's Overclocked Passive to work improperly.
◆ Fixed Rogue and Magician Crest to correctly stack with Kira’s Mercy.
◆ Fixed Kira’s Mercy to always correctly refund half the cooldown when hitting a target.
◆ Fixed the Shift modifier bind blocking re-binding to Shift.
◆ Fixed Crunch’s Re-Crunch not triggering Augmentation’s Overclocked passive.
◆ Fixed a Bug causing Hunt to not show its evolution in the Items Tab.
◆ Fixed an issue where Scalding Scepter and Caustica descriptions were not displaying the Magical Penetration as % Magical Penetration.
◆ Tonics on Core Items + Middle Recommended slot once player has full Tier 3 items.
◆ Fixed an issue where Feng Mao’s Earth Shatter bonus Movement Speed was being applied to Tectonic Mallet’s Power Conversion passive.
◆◆ This Movement Speed is intended to improve the feel of the ability and does not count towards conventional Movement Speed.
◆ Fixed a rare bug that sometimes caused Basic Attacks to incorrectly trigger with no player input.

That's all this week!

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