The test servers for Heroes of the Storm are now online, and some data miners have already extracted the release dates for new characters…
Lots of stuff: Heroes, balancing, Diablo offers…
Since yesterday, the latest patch of Heroes of the Storm is on the test servers and allows players to try out the Monk, among other things. But even more awaits us in the seemingly endless patch notes. Data miners have managed to find release dates for the new heroes. But let’s take a look at the highlights.
The Monk and Rexxar are coming – and faster than expected
If the data extracted from the game files is to be believed, Kharazim the Monk will be gracing us starting August 19 on the battlefield. Exactly three weeks later, on September 8, Rexxar with his bear Misha is supposed to join and dominate the battlefields of the Nexus. Of course, these dates may change if there are significant discrepancies or previously undiscovered bugs. However, since Leoric has been playable for a while now, the date for Kharazim seems very likely.
Diablo 3 players get Diablo (who would have thought?)
If you own the base game Diablo 3 or the expansion “Reaper of Souls”, you can rejoice, as you will receive Diablo as a playable character in Heroes of the Storm – provided you log in to Blizzard’s MOBA within three weeks of the next patch’s release!
For those who bring a seasonal character to level 70 in Season 4, they will soon be able to ride around in the Nexus on Malthael’s Phantom, an exclusive mount that can only be obtained this way.
Conversely, the rewards also work the other way around: If you reach an account level of at least 12 in Heroes of the Storm, you will receive a unique frame for your hero portrait and a banner in Diablo 3, which allows you to display this achievement in the hack & slash.
Comparable rewards have also been introduced for other Blizzard games.
Major balancing changes for Kael’thas and Kerrigan
Although almost all characters are getting minor adjustments, Kael’thas and Kerrigan stand out the most, as they will see the biggest changes. The full list is long, so we will only address the most significant changes.
The blood elf prince Kael’thas will be buffed in some areas, while being weakened in others.
- First, his Flamestrike will be approximately 10% more effective.
- The talent Ignite is being removed and replaced with Wrath of the Sunwell, which triggers a second Flamestrike at the same location one second after the first.
- The Living Bomb will also be slightly stronger, but the talent Meltdown will no longer increase the damage by 75%, now only 30%, but it will increase the explosion radius by that value.
- To make Pyroblast more attractive, its range will be increased by 20%.
The Queen of Blades, Kerrigan, was heavily penalized with the last patch and was significantly too weak. She too receives improvements in almost all areas.
- The new talent Queen’s Rush increases movement speed by 25% for 4 seconds when activated and is automatically triggered when an enemy hero is defeated.
- The damage of Overwhelm has been increased by 10% and its mana cost reduced from 75 to 50. The range of the Impaling Blades has been increased by 20%.
- Both heroic abilities are being improved! The damage of the Wrath of the Void has been increased by 20%, but its duration has been reduced from 9 to 7 seconds, as well as its cooldown from 120 to 100 seconds.
- The talent Torrasque from the Ultralisk can now be triggered infinitely as long as the Ultralisk’s egg is not destroyed within 8 seconds.
In addition to the aforementioned changes, the patch will also introduce the new map Infernal Shrines, which will not be immediately available at the patch’s release. Additionally, adjustments for many characters that will receive some graphical polish are on the way. Especially fans of blood elf Tyrande can look forward to new animations.
