#223 - Into the Nexus: “Sin is in!”

• Garrett • Kyle

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Intro:  Welcome to Into the Nexus! The Heroes of the Storm podcast!

News

June 27th Balance Patch

Buffs

Yrel

The Heroes team have confirmed that her winrate is on the rise and that winrates are higher for level 10+ Yrel’s versus newcomers to the hero.

They want to lessen how badly she’s countered by interrupts by taking 2 seconds of of Divine Purpose’s Cooldown. Divine Favor took a hit at 16, losing half a second of its Cooldown reduction, to pay for the buff to the Trait’s base Cooldown.

Avenging Wrath is also getting a major damage increase to give her some lane clear and also threaten backlines. Be careful though cause that means your escape will be on Cooldown.

Devs: We’ve seen a large difference between players who have a lot of experience as Yrel (Hero level 10+) and people who are still learning the Hero. This is likely why we’ve seen her rise from her initial winrate of 40% to her current 46%.

That said, we would like her to feel a little more powerful and be countered by enemy picks a little less. We’ve increased Avenging Wrath’s damage so she gains a little wave clear (though she’ll have to use her escape to do so), while also allowing her to threaten enemy backlines. By reducing the cooldown of Divine Purpose, Yrel players won’t need to channel as frequently which will result in fewer interrupts. We’ve also made several Talent changes to buff a few that were underperforming, and to offset the lower Divine Purpose cooldown.

Divine Purpose (Trait)

• Cooldown reduced from 10 to 8 seconds.

Avenging Wrath (E)

• Damage increased from 150 to 225.

Level 4 - Aegis of Light (E)

• Armor amount increased from 25 to 35. [+40%]

Level 4 - Gift of the Naaru (Trait)

• Healing reduced from 400 to 275. [-31.25%]

Level 4 - Hand of Freedom (Active)

• Bonus Movement Speed increased from 35% to 50%. [+42%]

Level 7 - Righteous Momentum (W)

• Yrel is no longer slowed while channeling Righteous Hammer.
• Bonus Movement Speed reduced from 45% to 25%. [-44.4%]

Level 16 - Templar’s Verdict (W)

• Armor reduction duration increased from 2 to 4 seconds. [+100%]

Level 16 - Divine Favor (Trait)

• Cooldown reduction decreased from 2 to 1.5 seconds. [-25%]

Channel time was reduced, but they decided to pull back to avoid over buffing. May appear in an upcoming patch.

MattVi : Just a quick heads up that the channel time reduction actually didn't make it into today's patch, and has been removed from the patch notes.

The required art & animation tweaks made it too risky to squeeze into a balance patch, and Yrel's actually been trending up pretty strongly, so we're going to see how these other changes play out. We'll continue watching both her performance and player feedback, and still have the option to go ahead with a shorter channel time in a future patch if it feels needed (whether that be for balance or for gameplay reasons).

Cassia

Level 1 - Seraph’s Hymn (W)

• New functionality:

• Reduce Blinding Light’s cooldown and Mana cost by 33%. Basic Attacks against Blinded enemies deal 100% bonus damage.

Level 7 - Impale (E)

Bonus damage comes online sooner.

• Bonus damage threshold increased from 50% to 60% of the target’s maximum Health.

Greymane

Gilnean Cocktail (Q)

• Cooldown reduced from 10 to 9 seconds.

Level 1 - Perfect Aim (Q)

• Mana refund increased from 35 to 45. [+28.5%]

Level 13 - Visceral Attacks (Q)

• Removed.

Level 13 - Unfettered Assault (Q)

• Now also causes Worgen Basic Attacks to reduce Razor Swipe’s cooldown by 1.5 seconds.

Probius

Level 20 - Probius Loop (W)

• Required number of Heroes hit to create a new Warp Rift reduced from 2 to 1.

Ana

Shrike (Trait)

• Now also applies Doses to Structures.

Deckard

Level 20 - Morenadoes! (R)

• Cooldown reduction increased from 5 to 6 seconds.

Anub’arak

Level 20 - Nullification Shield (Active)

• Removed

Level 20 - New Talent: Hardened Shield (Active)

• Activate to gain 75 Armor for 4 seconds, taking 75% less damage.

Developer Comment: Now that we’ve removed Anub’arak’s baseline Spell Armor, we’ve also decided to normalize his Nullification Shield Talent. Since Harden Carapace provides him with a healthy amount of Spell Armor, it now shares a lot of the same design space with Nullification Shield. We want to make the use case for his Level 20 Talent clearer, which is to simply press the button when in a lot of trouble to survive burst damage.

Blaze

Bunker Drop (R)

• Cooldown increased from 50 to 60 seconds. [+20%]

Combustion (R)

• Damage increased from 48 to 52. [+8.3%]

Level 4 - Feeding the Flame (Q)

• Oil Spill cooldown reduction increased from 2 to 2.5 seconds. [+25%]

Diablo

• Health increased from 2,618 to 2,670. [+1.9%]
• Health Regeneration increased from 5.45 to 5.56. [+2.01%]

Apocalypse (R)

• Cooldown reduced from 100 to 90 seconds. [-10%]

Lightning Breath (R)

• Cooldown increased from 60 to 70 seconds. [+16.6%]

Level 13 - Cruelty (W/E)

• Bonus Attack Speed duration increased from 5 to 7 seconds. [+40%]

Level 20 - Dying Breath (R)

• Cooldown reduction increased from 20 to 25 seconds per Hero hit [+25%]

Johanna

• Health increased from 2,540 to 2,700. [+6.2%]
• Health Regeneration increased from 5.289 to 5.625. [+6.3%]

Level 4 - Eternal Retaliation (W)

• Now also restores 2.5 Mana for each enemy hit by Condemn.

Zul’jin

Devs: Amani Rage has become a staple in almost every build for Zul’jin. We love that it creates meaningful moments and synergizes with his kit, so we made it a baseline ability but had to take a little power out of it to compensate. We’ve created Amani Hide as an upgrade for it that brings back the armor functionality players are accustomed to.

Level 4 - Amani Rage (Active)

• Amani Rage is now part of Zul’jin’s baseline kit.
• Cooldown increased from 20 to 30 seconds.
• No longer grants Armor.

New talent: Amani Hide (Passive)

• Reduce Amani Rage’s cooldown by 10 seconds and gain 10 Armor while regenerating Health.

Nerfs

Maiev

Developer Comment: These changes are directed towards fixing some of Maiev’s lower win-rate talents. We also wanted to address the duration of Warden’s Cage. We like that it is a big moment for Maiev, but we don’t feel it needs to linger quite so long.

Warden’s Cage (R)

• Warden Avatar duration reduced from 7 to 5 seconds. [-28.5%]

Level 1 - Pursuit of Vengeance (W/E)

• Cooldown reduction per Hero tethered increased from 1.5 to 2.5 seconds. [+66.6%]

Level 13 - Shadow Armor (E)

• Armor duration increased from 2.5 to 3 seconds. [+20%]

Level 16 - Cruel Chain (W)

• Damage bonus per stack reduced from 40% to 30%. [-25%]
• Maximum damage bonus reduced from 200% to 150%. [-25%]

Level 16 - Vengeful Knives (Q/E)

• Bonus damage per Hero hit increased from 1.2% to 1.5% maximum Health. [+66.6%]

Tracer

Basic Attack damage reduced from 28 to 27. [-3.5%]

Blink (Q)

• Cooldown increased from 8 to 9 seconds.

Zagara

Basic Attack damage reduced from 82 to 80. [-2.4%]

Hunter Killer (W)

• Damage reduced from 68 to 65. [-4.4%]

Infested Drop (E)

• Roach damage reduced from 29 to 27. [-6.8%]

Nydus Network (R)

• Cooldown increased from 100 to 120 seconds. [+20%]
• Cooldown reduction per Basic Attack while on Creep decreased from 0.75 to 0.5 seconds. [-33.3%]

Nazeebo

Plague of Toads (E)

• Damage per tick reduced from 18 to 17. [-5.5%]

Gargantuan (R)

• Attack damage reduced from 150 to 140. [-6.6%]
• Health reduced from 2,185 to 2,000. [-8.4%]

Reworks

Fenix

• Health scaling reduced from 4.25% to 4% per level. [-5.8%]
• Health Regeneration scaling reduced from 4.25% to 4% per level. [-5.8%]

Shield Capacitor (Trait)

• Shield scaling reduced from 4.25% to 4% per level. [-5.8%]
• Shield Regeneration scaling reduced from 4.25% to 4% per level. [-5.8%]

Planet Cracker (R)

• Damage increased from 108 to 112. [+3.7%]

Level 7

Combat Advantage (Q)

• Damage bonus reduced from 40% to 35%. [-12.5%]

Warp Warfare (E)

• Attack Speed increased from 125% to 175%. [+40%]

Level 13

 Adanium Shell (E)

• Armor received after Warping increased from 40 to 50. [+25%]

Rapid Recharge (Trait)

• Shield recharge amount increased from 40% to 60% of healing received. [+50%]

Auxiliary Shields (Trait)

• Shields regeneration amount reduced from 15% to 10% of Basic Attack damage dealt. [-33.3%]

Rehgar

Devs: By increasing the healing potential of Chain Heal, Rehgar will feel more dynamic before level 10. He will also rely less on Ancestral to create the healing output needed from a healer. The cooldown reduction will also make Tidal Waves, Earthliving Enchant, and Blood and Thunder more attractive picks on their respective tiers. We’re reducing the healing of Ancestral some to compensate for his stronger base kit. During internal testing prior to making this change, we found the extra healing it offered frequently resulted in overhealing. As a result, we think this healing reduction won’t feel as impactful as it might initially seem.

Chain Heal (Q)

• Cooldown reduced from 9 to 8 seconds. [-11.1%]
• Healing increased from 240 to 260. [+8.3%]
• Mana cost reduced from 65 to 55. [-15.3%]

Ancestral Healing (R)

• Healing reduced from 1475 to 1180. [-20%]

Level 4 - Spiritwalker’s Grace (Q)

• Mana cost reduction decreased from 20 to 15 [-25%]

Level 4 - Stormcaller (W)

• Maximum Mana restoration increased from 40 to 100. [+150%]

Level 7 - Farsight (Active)

• Area reveal duration reduced from 10 to 5 seconds. [-50%]

• Enemy reveal duration reduced from 4 to 3 seconds. [-25%]
• Cooldown reduced from 30 to 16 seconds. [-46.6%]
• Size of reveal area reduced from 10 to 7. [-30%]

Level 13 - Earthliving Enchant (Q)

• Healing per second increased from 40 to 45. [+12.5%]

Level 13 - Tidal Waves (Q)

• Cooldown reduction decreased from 1 to 0.75 seconds. [-25%]

Level 16 - Rising Storm (W)

• Damage bonus per stack increased from 10% to 15%. [+50%]
• Maximum stacks reduced from 20 to 15. [-25%]
• Equals 225% at max stacks versus 200% bonus previously. And get their faster.

Level 20 - Farseer’s Blessing (R)

• Healing bonus increased from 50% to 75%. [+50%]
• Nearby allies healed increased from 50% to 75% of the healing done by Ancestral Healing. [+50%]

Other

Stukov canceling his own Lurking Arm on cast

We've been looking into these reports and found an issue with the way abilities are queued, which was causing this and a few other abilities to end up cancelling themselves under certain circumstances despite fat-finger protection.

We have a fix slated for our next major release so keep an eye on the patch notes.

https://old.reddit.com/r/heroesofthestorm/comments/8ubstj/stukov_auto_canceling_his_silence_still_not/

Ranked Battleground Pool

• Volskaya Foundry has returned to the ranked play Battleground pool.

Links

• https://heroesofthestorm.com/en-us/blog/21905928/heroes-of-the-storm-patch-notes-june-27-2018-2018-6-27/

Patreon Mention: Patreon.com/ITN

Thanks to our Patreon producers Declan H and CheezyBob.

Patron Thanks

• Rob V.
• Brad Barber
• Ethan Hearn
• Stefan Hacker
• Scott McIntosh

Next week! Patreon Bonanza! Sign ups go up right after the show tonight!

Raynor and Azmodan Reworks incoming

Raynor

Inven Global - Poilk on New Raynor

E - Adrenaline Rush

• Now activatable. No more automatic save.
• Restores a percentage of Health.
• Cooldown is longer but has built-in Battle Momentum. CD is reduced for attacking enemies.

R2 - Raynor’s Raider

• Banshee is now controllable
• Issue the Retreat command and the Banshee will return to Raynor and regen Health as long as it is not damaged
• Not a timed ability. The Banshee stays until it dies. Then the Cooldown begins.

New Trait

• Acquire Weak Spot

• Still has his range bonus
• Every fourth shot does increased damage and splashes to all nearby enemies.
• “And punish enemies that group up”
• Is weak spot all shots or just the bonus splash damage part

New Trait Talents

• Lv. 1 - Veteran Marksman

• Quest: Every time the primary target of Acquire Weak Spot is a Hero, permanently increase its damage bonus by 1%.

• Lv. 7 - Unstable Compound

• Increase the area of Acquire Weak Spot by 15%, and enemies hit by it are Slowed by 10% for 3 seconds.

• Lv. 20 - Weak Spot Acquired

• Enemy Heroes that are the primary target of Acquire Weak Spot have their Armor reduced by 25 for 2 seconds.

• Level 1 Executioner talent
• Level 1 Exterminator - more damage to non-heroes
• Love all the stutter stepping in the trailer

Azmodan

Inven Global - McIntyre on New Azmo

Globe and Stacks

• Annihilation stacks now come from killing minions or hitting enemy Heroes with Globe of Annihilation.
• Note that the impact area graphic is now visible sooner giving enemies more warning to dodge.

• Could see this as a trend with the proposed chromie changes

All Lv. 1 Talents are based around Annihilation stacks with different rewards.

• Greed

• Increase the time Minions will grant Annihilation from 1.5 to 3 seconds.
• Quest: After gaining 200 Annihilation, the damage Globe of Annihilation deals against Minions and Mercenaries is increased by 20%.

• Gluttony

• Increase the number of stacks of Annihilation gained by hitting Heroes with Globes from 2 to 3.
• Quest: After gaining 200 Annihilation, each enemy hit by Globes reduces its cooldown by 0.25 seconds, doubled against Heroes.

• Wrath

• Basic Attacks against Heroes under 75% Health grant 1 Annihilation.
• Quest: After gaining 200 Annihilation, hitting a Hero with Gobes increases the damage of Azmodan’s next Basic Attack against them within 4 seconds by the amount of Annihilation he has.

W - Summon Demon Warrior

• Azmodan’s summons now have increased Health and deal constant AOE damage.
• No longer 2 charges baseline.

All Lv. 4 Talents empower Demon Warriors

• Army of Hell (still here but very different)

• Summon Demon Warrior spawns an additional Demon, but its CD is increased by 10 seconds.

• Hellforged Armor

• Demon Warriors and Lieutenants gain 35 Armor and last 4 seconds longer.

• Battleborn

• Azmodan’s Basic Attacks reduce the CD of Summon Demon Warrior by 0.5 seconds and Demon Lieutenant by 1 second.

E - All Shall Burn

• Now has a set channel time and does bonus damage upon completion.
• Lv. 7 - Master of Destruction

• All Shall Burn damage all nearby enemies in a wide radius at the end of the cast and grants Stacks for every Hero hit.

• Lv. 16 - Hell Rift

• All Shall Burn summons a Demon Warrior and empowers all Demon Warriors currently active.

New Heroic - Black Pool out, Tide of Sin in

• Tide of Sin - 100 Mana / 30 Second Cooldown

• Activate to make the next Globe of Annihilation cost no Mana and deal 50% more damage.

New Level 20

• Lv. 20 - Trample

• Charge in any direction
• Any enemies caught in the charge are slowed

An interesting basic attack focus build is available

Strategy #Alterac Tips

Blues are my favorites below.

LividNerd : Prioritize the mid lane before level 10, it provides the greatest tactical advantage for the objective. After 10, prioritize the other lanes since that's where the boss is.

Dionrroy : Play an aggressive comp and keep the other team zoned out when taking the camp. Similar comps to BOE

JDPotteiger : Stay in the Cavalry's halo after you capture the objective to buff them team!! Please!? (had to explain this numerous times already this week)

Ingonzowetrust : Stukov lurking arm = GG. Trust me I have 100% win rate on this map.

Scottclark610 : Just draft Sonya. Always draft Sonya. She’s a goddess of war and cares not what Battleground you’re on.

ZagaraGOD: Both of Samuro's clones, Misha and Abathur's ultimate evolution count as heroes while in the cavalries aura, each adding +5 armor to the cavalry. A lone Samuro can stack the cavalry's armor to +15 for huge pushing power! Kerrigan's Ultralisk does not count.

Disciple_Jeff : The new map is that it kind of feels like a three lane version of Battlefield of Eternity with less room to fight at the objective. Also, D. Va is pretty good on this map.

Shiby92 : use a long range ability while in your base to stall the objective being captured, like stukov lurking arm. Or play as Deckard and stand on the bridge yelling "YOU SHALL NOT ALTERAC PASS!" when facing Prime Evil Diablo

Naeser6614 : you can’t throw people into the open ice holes as Garrosh

Papa_ZW : varian banner/guldan combo with a dva bomb. Don’t think the core “boss” can hang.

PadFanBaker : draft for the team fight, focusing on range. I've found that double support with tyrande has been working in my games.

Enjioh : Chromie. Solo defend objective with time traps and sand blasts while the rest of the team soaks. Die a little inside.

BradRBarber : Get opponent to chase you through the mud and once you're out turn around and stun them - then either escape or kill. Step 3, profit

Goolabjamun100 : Once you win the objective, you should rotate as follows: 1-0-4 or 4-0-1. This way you will win either all 3 forts or a keep. It works every time. Trust me!

Credeaux : win the first objective, cause the cavalry picks up all the snow on the ground for a GIANT SNOWBALL. Seriously. Win early or not at all.

Mocliamtoh : Defy gravity. Lucio can wall ride on nothing around the bridge in the center of the map.

Agarrett555 : get to event on time and defend your side. Lots of flanks happening from top and bottom. If your not first your last.

Idiom_krone : I don't have a tip, that's why I listen to you and Kyle!!!

Kersimus : I've had great luck with quick auto attack heroes to maximize the cavalry buff

Neosect : Don’t stand in the mud, Don’t stand in the icy water, Don’t stand in the Boss’ ice ball, Don’t stand so close to me.

Strategy

Prepping the Lane

A simple thought experiment strategy. Will grey out if we run short on time.

A simple concept that is rather complex in exectuion

Prepare the lane by the objective.

If someone is taking a merc camp, push out the lane its going down.

https://old.reddit.com/r/heroesofthestorm/comments/8tynwm/whats_going_on_with_rehgar/

https://tempostorm.com/articles/infographic-2018-hgc-midseason-brawl-dreamhack-summer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vptJo9Z6eQ&feature=youtu.be

https://old.reddit.com/r/heroesofthestorm/comments/8u9ffm/math_of_the_storm_midseason_brawl/

https://esports.heroesofthestorm.com/en-gb/news/21909317

Emails

Nate

Hey guys,

Love the podcast! It motivates me to get better, and climb higher. However, I've become burnt out as of late. This season has been such a horrendous mess. I've been stuck in Silver 1 for 50+ games this season. I seriously haven't budged out of it. I've had about 8-10 promotion matches, but each one has ended in a disappointing (and often humiliating) loss. As most people in my rank don't know how to tank, I've taken it upon myself to re-learn tanking; and have been sticking to only a small handful, per your suggestion. Over and over again, I feel that I do my job well, at least 75-80% of the time. But my team constantly overextends and dies, preventing me from setting up any type of kill. I then proceed to get toxically b*tched at because I'm not doing whatever they think I was supposed to do to magically prevent their inevitable death. I anchor during camps and obj, but am attacked because I'm not helping. No amount of explaining during (or before) seems to help. I went from 65% win rate the first 15-20 games, to like 35% this season; and I rarely feel like I'm the offending agent in this. I've re-watched my games, and can confirm this most of the time. It feels like as I'm on the verge of getting out of silver, I'm inevitably placed with a losing team. Additionally, I feel like no matter how well I play, I don't get anywhere; mmr seems to mean nothing.

As a fun little cherry on top of all of this, I played the pre-promotion match game (super excited to hit promotion, and then maybe get Gold). We lost....HORRIBLY; like QM horrible. The team attacked me, the solo tank, as usual. And suddenly, I'm scaled all the way back to a demotion match....from a single game. I swear someone at Blizzard hates me.

I've gotten to the point where I loath playing after about 2-3 games. I love this game, but  I can't stand the toxicity in HL, nor the terrible playing despite the engine supposedly placing me with "players of similar rank."

How do you guys keep the faith? Where can I play with people that aren't assholes? Lol!

John

Hi Guys, Love the show.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on how players can get into team league and any suggestions you might have for up-and-comers.

Where should they look to fill out their team?

How to organize scrims?

Finding and entering small tournaments?

I notice the chat on the podcast focusses mainly on Quick match, Hero league, e-sports and not much in between - Is low-level team league on the radar for you guys much?

I really appreciate the podcast and all of the hard work you both put into all you do.

Take care

https://www.chairleague.com/leagues

Tuesday and Thursday nights

Outro

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Personal Stuff

Garrett

Follow Garrett @GarrettArt

NOMOONart.com for Garrett’s stream designs.

The Angry Chicken: A Hearthstone Podcast

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Kyle

Kylefergusson.com