In Heroes of the Storm, significant changes are coming for many heroes. We have summarized the key points for you.
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The next big update of Heroes of the Storm brings numerous changes in the Nexus. Just yesterday, we discussed the changes regarding the ban system in Hero League, today we will take a look at the adjustments of existing heroes. In addition to numerous small adjustments, which you can see in detail in our sources, some heroes are being fundamentally reworked. We take a closer look at Kael’thas, Gazlowe, Sylvanas, Tychus, and Illidan.
Tychus – The Ex-Con with the Big Gun
The Assassin Tychus is getting some enhancements that mainly revolve around his Minigun. It no longer has a “warm-up time” and reaches its full speed immediately.
Instead, the Minigun can now also be “activated” to drain an additional 1.5% of the maximum enemy HP with each hit for 3 seconds. Along with new talents like “That’s the Stuff,” which grants healing based on the damage dealt by the Minigun, Tychus should now be significantly more resilient and finally feel more like an assassin who can also deal high spike damage. Some fun talents like “Head and Bob,” which allow him to jump up to 3 times in a row, round off the new abilities.
Gazlowe – The Architect of Orgrimmar
The Specialist Gazlowe has long been a thorn in the developers’ side because he was hardly useful in competitive mode as he took too long to “unpack”. Therefore, the changes to the Goblin Engineer are mainly buffs and improvements. Turrets, the small towers, now cost a bit more mana but have a 27% increased base range. With the new level 16 talent Superior Schematics, the turrets even deal 25% extra damage when Gazlowe is nearby.
Also exciting is the new level 20 talent “Firin’ Mah Lazorz”: When Gazlowe fires his “Deth Lazor”, all his turrets also fire such a shot!
A new level 4 talent for the “Xplodium Charge” even allows Gazlowe to place turrets more frequently: He gains 2 charges of his turrets every time the charge hits an enemy hero.
Kael’thas – The Power-Hungry Prince of the Blood Elves
The Assassin Kael’thas was given new playstyles with the update, and at least on paper, this has worked. The talent “Mana Addict” will be an exciting challenge as it rewards players in the long term. If Kael’thas manages to collect a total of 25 regeneration orbs, he gains the ability “Arcane Barrier”, allowing him to temporarily grant himself a shield to absorb damage.
Also exciting is the level 7 talent “Burned Flesh,” which modifies Flame Strike so that it burns an additional 8% of a hero’s maximum health when at least 2 enemies are affected.
As if that weren’t enough, the Living Bomb now jumps to other heroes when it explodes – but minions and buildings are no longer affected.
However, the secret highlight is the new level 20 talent “Master of Flames,” which will cause many laughs. This allows Living Bomb to jump infinitely between enemy heroes. This promises to provide fun replays.
Sylvanas – The Will of the Banshee Queen
The Specialist Sylvanas receives a new ultimate ability. Instead of being able to take over enemy minions and mercenaries, she can now inhabit enemy heroes and move them for 2.5 seconds to place them in the middle of her own team or separate them from the rest of the team. At level 20, this ability can even be upgraded to allow possessed enemies to move 100% faster for the duration. However, the old “Mind Control” for minions does not disappear – it has now simply become a level 7 talent!
The further changes to the Banshee Queen are rather minor. The functionality of many talents has been slightly adjusted and restructured, but the basic gameplay feel of the undead lady remains unchanged.
Illidan – The Warglaives of Azzinoth
Many generic talents have also been removed from the Assassin Illidan and replaced with new ones. The most important is probably Unending Hatred, a new talent at level 1. Each enemy minion killed increases the damage of automatic attacks by 0.1, and each enemy hero killed by 1. Once 20 damage has been accumulated, an additional 10 damage will be added as a bonus. At level 16, the new talent Fiery Brand awaits, allowing Illidan to cut through tanks in the future. Every 4th automatic attack that hits the same target consecutively deals an additional 6% of the opponent’s total HP as damage.
Alternatively, on the same level, “Blades of Azzinoth”: Each hit of Sweeping Strikes generates a stack of “Blades of Azzinoth”. Once 5 stacks have been reached, the ability can be activated to deal 50% bonus damage with automatic attacks for 8 seconds.
However, there is still no fixed release date for the patch. It will remain available on the test realms at least until March 29.
For more news and articles about Blizzard’s MOBA, you can find them on our Heroes of the Storm topic page.
