Breaking down the December 2nd Alpha Patch

by JR Cook - 9 years ago     show comments

Some big changes have been made to Heroes of the Storm with the new patch update on Tuesday. With any patch some will be disappointed in the balance changes to their favorite heroes but remember this game is still in Alpha and any changes made are done to try to bring a fun and balanced product to the players when it hits open Beta.

Jaina Proudmore has been made a playable hero in the Nexus and brings her wide array of frost mage skills to the field.

• Frost Bite is her passive, which makes all of her abilities apply a chill effect that slows, and increases damage to the target.
• Q Frost Bolt has a quick cool-down and serves as her primary harass tool.
• W Blizzard provides a large area of effect spell that can create favorable spacing during the lane phase and during team fights.
• E Cone of Cold is another solid harass that can also be used to clear minions waves, due to its decent cool-down and mana cost.
• Ring of Frost provides massive damage and a root effect that can be taken advantage of for team fights or fleeing targets.
• Summon Water Elemental brings an extra minion onto the field that can be controlled by Jaina. The choices in ultimates are both good ones, and which one to use will depend on the build that is more comfortable for the player.

Jaina is a hero that will need to be played cautiously in the beginning, due to her large squish factor, but will scale late game into a huge damaging presence in team fights, not to mention her crowd control capabilities.

Almost more significant than the addition of Jaina are the changes that have been made to the maps.

• The channeling time has been reduced on Tributes in the Cursed Hollow map from 7 seconds to 6 seconds. This is a notable change because one second is a lifetime in the Nexus, and now team fights are even more competitive when tributes are up. A team will have to be that much more focused and strategic to successfully claim the Tribute.
• In the Haunted Mines the base health and health scaling on minions were increased, while the summoned golem had his damage and health decreased. This should make teams less reliant on the golem for pushing lanes, while forcing smarter play down in the mines.
• The Dragon Shire also saw significant changes with this patch. The Dragon Knight can no longer be targeted with allied hero abilities and talents. This prevents teams from preserving the Dragon Knight, and utilizing him to dominate the map for an easy win.

Talents also saw big changes and there will be a shift in talents picked for heroes.

• Imposing Presence had its attack speed reduction upped from 30% to 50%. This significant change means that your opponent will get 1 attack for your 2, and since frontline melee engagers are often targets, players should consider choosing this talent on those heroes.
• Resurgence of the Storm had its cool down upped from 120 seconds to 180 seconds. This is still an amazing skill; however now players are forced into less reckless play after RotS has been triggered.
• Rewind also had its cool-down upped from 60 seconds to 90 seconds with a mechanic change that now refreshes all basic abilities, rather than reducing basic ability cool-downs by 10 seconds. This change makes Rewind more reliable for ability cool-down reduction, but forces the player to be more mindful on choosing when to trigger it. Rewind is still a top choice for most heroes that have access to it, and might be one of the best activate talents in the game.

Seventeen of the Nexus heroes saw balance changes. While some had slight adjustments others had big changes as listed below.

•Abathur had one of the biggest changes with his massive cool-down on Ultimate Evolution. The cool-down does not start until after the cloned hero expires. This was to take away Abathur’s advantage of only needing to wait 35 seconds to recast UE when his clone was left unfocused. Now players can target and kill a clone knowing they won’t see another for a full 2 minutes.
•Anub’arak had the Rewind talent taken away from his kit but was given Imposing Presence. This may be a positive due to the fact that Imposing Presence received such a buff and Anub’arak is a frontline target.
•Chen lost the shield that was granted when he uses his ultimate: Wandering Keg. This now forces Chen players to keep safety in mind while utilizing the barrel. Expect to see the keg used as an escape or a chase tactic more often than a reckless engage.
•Li Li had her Jug of 1000 Cups ultimate changed around again, but this time it receives a buff. With the cool down reduced and the healing and radius increased, more Li Li players will go back to using this ultimate as it was intended.
•Nova had some changes to her Hot Shots talent, a reduction in damage on her Snipe, and lost access to the Rewind talent. Hot Shots will now be called Anti-Armor Shells and the damage increase was reduced from 330% to 300%. This was a needed change because Nova wants to pop out of stealth, get some shots off, and then disappear again. Therefore the extra 30% to the basic attacks was a bit much.
•Tassadar had three key changes to the Overload talent, the Distortion Beam talent, and Archon’s effect time. Overload no longer increases damage, but instead now increases range. Distortion beam had its slow reduced from 25% to 20% and Archon’s duration is now 12 seconds down from 15. All of these changes were made because Tassadar was too strong of a mage for being such a solid support hero. This should bring him back down to earth a bit while making him still a very playable support.

With all of these changes, and the addition of Stimpacks, which will allow for faster accumulation of experience and gold, it should be a fun winter in the Nexus. So log on, pick a hero, and jump into those team fights. For the full patch notes you can click here