Our latest Heroes of the Storm patch is now live in the Nexus with Hanzo, Winter Veil, the 2018 Gameplay Update, and much more!

NOTE: Changes highlighted in orange indicate an addition or change between the Live and PTR patch notes.

Winter Veil 2017 Event Quest

Celebrate Winter Veil this year by with a stocking full of in-game treats that you can earn by playing Heroes of the Storm! The event kicks off Tuesday, December 12, and lasts until the week of January 8, so be sure to complete the quests below before they disappear!

2018 Ranked Season 1 Begins

Our new ranked season has begun! Find out more about rewards and requirements

Performance-Based Matchmaking

Under this new system, players will now reach their intended Matchmaking Rating quicker and more accurately.

The matchmaking system has been updated to include a performance-based data-driven system, which takes individual player performance into account when determining MMR gains and losses.

Game Camera Height

In-game Camera height has been significantly increased in order to provide more visibility of the battlefield.

Terrain Outlines

Outlines will now display on terrain when playing Junkrat or Lúcio. This should allow for a more accurate view of what can be used for Frag Launcher bounces and Wall Rides.

Outlines will now display on terrain when playing Junkrat or Lúcio. This should allow for a more accurate view of what can be used for Frag Launcher bounces and Wall Rides.

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Once heir to the Shimada clan's criminal empire, Hanzo abandoned his birthright after he almost killed his younger brother. He now strives to perfect his skills as a warrior, and sees the Nexus and its endless conflict as the ideal training ground.

Trait

Target unpathable terrain or a Structure to jump to the other side of it.

Basic Abilities

Fire an arrow that grants vision in a large area 8 seconds. Enemies inside are revealed for 1 second. If Sonic Arrow lands directly on an enemy, it deals 150 damage to them and follows them as they move.

Fire an arrow that deals 85 to the first enemy Hero hit. Scatter Arrow can collide with terrain and Structures, splitting into 5 arrows that travel extra distance, ricochet up to 4 additional times, and deal 85 damage each to the first enemy hit.

Activate to charge an arrow that deals 270 damage to the first enemy hit. Storm Bow's range increases the longer it is Channeled. Reactivate to fire.

Heroic Abilities

After traveling a long distance, the damage is increased to 350 and the Stun duration to 2 seconds.

After traveling a medium distance, the damage is increased to 200 and the Stun duration to 1.25 seconds.

Fire a missile that travels across the battleground. Explodes upon hitting an enemy Hero, dealing 100 damage to all nearby enemies and Stunning them for 0.5 seconds.

After 1.5 seconds, summon a pair of Spirit Dragons which travel forward, dealing 52 damage every 0.25 seconds to enemy Heroes in its area. Enemies in the center take 150% damage.

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You can find more details on each of our major 2018 Gameplay Update changes in our Deep Dive blogs here:

Battleground Objectives

The first Warhead indicators will appear on the Minimap 30 seconds after the game begins, as well as 30 seconds after the final Warhead in an event has been collected.

The first Altar indicators will appear on the Minimap 30 seconds after the game begins, as well as 30 seconds after the final Altars in an event has been captured.

The first Temple indicators will appear on the Minimap 30 seconds after the game begins, as well as 30 seconds after all Temples in the same event have been depleted.

Hover the cursor over a Shrine indicator on the Minimap to display whether it will be a Mortar, Frost, or Arcane Shrine.

The first Shrine indicator will appear on the Minimap 30 seconds after the game begins, and subsequent indicators will appear 30 seconds after a Punisher is defeated.

The first Tribute indicator will appear on the Minimap 30 seconds after the game begins, and subsequent indicators will appear 15 seconds after the previous Tribute has been captured.

The Minimap will now indicate the next objective spawn location for the following Battlegrounds:

The following Battleground objective timers are unchanged:

The first Battleground objective event will now activate 3 minutes into the match, following a 30-second warning, for the following Battlegrounds:

Shrines will now consistently spawn 2 minutes after a Dragon Knight has been killed.

Beacon events after the first will now consistently spawn 2 minutes and 10 seconds after a previous Zerg wave has been defeated.

Doubloon Chests will now consistently spawn 3 minutes after the final Chest of the previous event has been captured.

The first Battleground objective event will now activate 90 seconds into the match, following a 30-second warning, for the following Battlegrounds:

Regeneration Globes

Regeneration Globes will now become neutral (claimable by both teams) if not claimed within 3 seconds.

Structures

True Sight is disabled while the Structure is disabled by effects such as the Raven Lord’s Curse or Sylvanas’ Black Arrow Trait.

Forts and Keeps now have True Sight, meaning they will reveal and attack Stealthed Heroes.

The Health, granted Experience, and Damage of Standalone Towers has been redistributed into their surrounding gate Towers, Forts, and Keeps.

Standalone Towers (found next to Forts and Keeps) have been removed.

Structures now have a warmup period of .5 seconds before firing and must face their targets completely

Tower damage to minions has been reduced by 25%

Tower vision range has been increased by 25%

After reviewing community feedback, we’ve decided to revert this change. Destroying the Gate and Towers will no longer automatically destroy connected Walls.

After reviewing community feedback, we’ve decided to revert this change. Destroying the Gate and Towers will no longer automatically destroy connected Walls.

Walls will now be destroyed if their connected Towers and Gate are also destroyed. Walls can still be attacked normally.

Walls will now be destroyed if their connected Towers and Gate are also destroyed. Walls can still be attacked normally.

All attacking structures no longer have ammunition.

Minions

The 5 second delay before Minions spawn after the game begins has been removed.

Minion base damage has been increased by roughly 10%

Mercenaries

Laning Sappers now have 100 Armor vs Structures while charging and Towers will ignore charging Sappers

Respawn timer across all maps increased from 105 to 120 seconds

Now fire their attacks at target areas, instead of directly at Heroes. This behaves like the laning Sappers

This Aura is destroyed when the Wizard is killed

This Aura is destroyed when the Wizard is killed

Spell Armor is immediately removed upon leaving the aura area.

Attacks now apply a 3-second stacking -5 Armor debuff to all targets, stacking up to 20 times (structures included)

Damage taken from structures reduced by 50%

Damage scaling will now stop after 20 minutes (previously 30)

Attack telegraphing and missile trajectory has been significantly improved.

Defending Siege Giant attacks are now telegraphed on the terrain and can be dodged.

Mercenary Camps will now spawn 60 seconds after the game begins

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Heroes, Abilities, and Talents

Zeratul has received updated art to coincide with Talent changes.

Minimap

Minimap art has been updated across all Battlegrounds.

Stealth

Added a new Stealth visual effect. Enemy Stealthed Heroes should now be easier to spot.

Added an overlay to indicate when a Stealthed character goes Invisible

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Sandbox Custom Game Improvements

If the "Share Cheat" checkbox is checked, instantly respawn the player's Hero.

If the "Share Cheat" checkbox is unchecked, instantly respawn all dead Heroes.

If the "Share Cheat" checkbox is checked, complete all talent quests for that player.

If the "Share Cheat" checkbox is unchecked, complete all talent quests for all player.

If the "Share Cheat" checkbox is checked, reset the player's Health and Mana to full.

If the "Share Cheat" checkbox is unchecked, reset all players' Health and Mana to full.

Disabling Fog of War for a team will remove Fog of War, revealing the whole map for that team.

If the "Share Cheat" checkbox is checked, remove all the dummies created by that player.

If the "Share Cheat" checkbox is unchecked, remove all the dummies created by all players.

If a player hasn't dealt damage or healing to any of the dummies for 8 seconds, their damage and DPS will be reset to 0.

If the team hasn't dealt damage or healing to any of the dummies for 8 seconds, the Target Dummy Panel will disappear for that team.

If player deals damage to multiple dummies with an AOE ability, the number will be the combination of damage done to all dummies.

When a player deals damage or heals a target dummy the Target Dummy Panel will pop up displaying the damage or healing dealt.

One player cannot spawn more than 20 dummies.

Player can then click in the game world to create a dummy of the selected dummy type at mouse cursor position.

Player can then click in the game world to create a dummy of the selected dummy type at mouse cursor position.

Creates a dialog allowing players to choose a type of dummy to spawn.

The following new cheats have been added to Sandbox Custom Games:

Haunted Mines

Now passes through player-created walls rather than stopping to destroy them

Will no longer interrupt its attacks mid-swing to use an Ability

Fort and Keep attacks no longer reduce attack speed

Issuing a Move command within the Mines while on the Battleground’s upper level, or vice versa, will now cause the Hero to use the Mine Entrance or Exit that is the shortest distance from the issued order.

Ranked Battleground Rotation Update

The full Ranked Battleground Rotation is now as follows:

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Stealth

Additionally, Heroes cannot become Invisible while occupying a capture point, such as Braxis Holdout or Mercenary Camp Beacons. Instead, they will retain normal Stealth visual effects.

Invisible Heroes will not display the Stealth visual effect and can still be removed from Stealth by taking damage. This includes Heroes under the effects of temporary Stealth effects such as Samuro’s Windwalk or Tyrande’s Shadowstalk.

Stealth players will now become “Invisible” after remaining still for 1.5 seconds.

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In-Game UI

Press ALT + right-click the Team Level UI to indicate when both teams are on even Talent tiers, or when one team has a Talent tier advantage over the other.

ALT + left-clicking an enemy Hero portrait will ping that Hero’s location on the Minimap if they are within allied vision. If that enemy is outside of allied vision, a chat message will inform allies that the Hero is missing.

Press ALT + left-click an ally’s Hero portrait to inform teammates when that ally needs assistance.

Players can now press ALT + left-click Hero portraits and the Team Level UI at the top of the screen to generate notifications for the following situations:

Hero portraits will now be displayed when heroes are inside the following Vehicles, Battleground objectives, or Hero Abilities:

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Abilities

Activate to instantly cloak, leave a Holo Decoy at your feet, and become unrevealable for .5 seconds.

Damage per shot increased from 338 to 372

Hitting an enemy Hero increases the damage of Snipe by 5% stacking 5 times. When at max stacks (5) it gains an additional 25% damage. If Snipe fails to hit a target, all stacks are lost.

Talents

​Now also reduces the cooldown of Precision Strike by 30 seconds.

​Now also reduces the cooldown of Precision Strike by 30 seconds.

Reduce the cooldown of Permanent Cloak from 3 to 1 second

Damage bonus from clones increased from 40 to 50%

Now refunds the cost of Snipe on a successful Hero hit.

Now refunds the cost of Snipe on a successful Hero hit.

Cooldown reduction on Hero hit reduced from 3 to 2 seconds

One in the Chamber (Passive)

One in the Chamber (Passive)

Increase your Stealth movement speed by 5% after remaining stealthed for 2 seconds. While Stealthed, gain 2 additional mana regeneration per second.

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Stats

Abilities

Activate to switch places with the target Mirror Image, removing most negative effects from Samuro and the target Mirror Image. 25-second cooldown.

Now also increases Samuro’s Basic Attack damage by 10%

Now increases the attack damage of Mirror Images by 100%

Reduce the cooldown of Advancing Strikes to 8 seconds

Mirror Images are no longer instantly destroyed by Structures

Mirror Image damage is no longer a fraction of Samuro’s Attack Damage. Mirror Image base damage has been greatly reduced to 9.

Samuro will now appear in the direction of the player’s Mouse Cursor when Mirror Image is cast.

Talents

Mirror Images no longer benefit from this talent

Mirror Images no longer benefit from this talent

Attack Speed bonus reduced from 15% to 10% per stack. Maximum bonus decreased from 60% to 40%

Reduced the time between Samuro issuing a new order after using Wind Walk and the image following it. It should now be harder for the new Image to follow Samuro’s new movements after using Wind Walk.

Samuro’s Basic Attacks against enemy Heroes reduce the cooldown of Critical Strike by 1.5 seconds

Mirror Images no longer benefit from this talent

Mirror Images no longer benefit from this talent

Armor gain now also lasts for 3 seconds after being revealed

One with the Wind (E)

Mirror Images no longer benefit from this talent

Way of the Blade (W)

New Functionality: Gain 40% Movement Speed for 3 seconds upon entering or exiting Stealth by using Wind Walk

Way of the Wind (E)

Tooltips for various talents have been updated to reflect whether Samuro or his Mirror Images benefit from their effects

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Abilities

If Valeera is Vanished for 3 seconds, this ability has 5 range and teleports Valeera behind her target

If Valeera is Vanished for 3 seconds, this ability has 5 range and teleports Valeera behind her target

Now Blinds the target for 2 seconds after the stun effect ends

Now also reduces enemy Armor by 10 for 4 seconds

If Valeera is Vanished for 3 seconds, this ability has 5 range and teleports Valeera behind her target.

Talents

Damage bonus now stacks immediately to 100%, instead of stacking up to 30%.

Now also increases the Armor reduction of Ambush by 10 when the target is isolated.

Now increases the duration of Cheap Shot’s Blind from 2 to 4 seconds.

Ambush reduces the cooldown of Vanish by 4 seconds.

Bonus damage to targets affected by Garrote increased from 25 to 50%

Bonus damage to targets affected by Garrote increased from 25 to 50%

Valeera’s poison is no longer removed after the first damaging Ability, but instead is applied by all Valeera's Abilities for 4 seconds. This duration does not start until Valeera damages her first enemy

Valeera’s poison is no longer removed after the first damaging Ability, but instead is applied by all Valeera's Abilities for 4 seconds. This duration does not start until Valeera damages her first enemy.

Energy return reduced from 10 to 8 per second.

Now triggers when Valeera teleports to her target with Ambush, Cheap Shot, and Garrote.

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Abilities

Now tracks stacks instead of damage on the quest tracker

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​Abilities

Activate to duplicate the last ability cast. Damaging abilities deal 50% less damage. This ability does not benefit from talents. 20-Second Cooldown

Passive: After using an Ability, Zeratul’s next Basic Attack within 6 seconds deals 40% more damage

(New Talent) Might of the Nerazim (R)

(New Talent) Might of the Nerazim (R)

Talents

Zeratul heals himself for 75% of Ability Damage Dealt to enemy Heroes

Activating Might of the Nerazim resets the cooldown of all of Zeratul’s Basic Abilities

Vorpal Blade now has 2 charges. Casting Vorpal Blade also causes Zeratul's next Basic Attack within 6 seconds to deal 30% bonus damage

Damaging an enemy Hero with Basic Attacks or Abilities increases Zeratul's damage by 6% for 3 seconds, stacking up to 5 times.

Mana cost reduction of Blink increased from 2 to 3

Regen Globe required for quest completion reduced from 20 to 15

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Abilities

Talents

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Talents

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Stats

Talents

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Talents

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Arctic Reign-Deer – This Mount will be awarded to players who complete the Winter Veil 2017 event quest chain.

Arctic Reign-Deer – This Mount will be awarded to players who complete the Winter Veil 2017 event quest chain.

The following Mounts have been awarded to players who reached Master or higher in Hero League or Team League during 2017 Ranked Season 3:

The following Mounts have been awarded to players who reached Platinum in Hero League or Bronze in Team League during 2017 Ranked Season 3:

New Bundles – The following new Bundles and Skin Packs are available for a limited time!

Artanis’ prices have been reduced to 7,000 Gold and 625 Gems.

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General

Fixed a number of typo and tooltip errors across several aspects of the game.

Art

The Lost Vikings: Fixed an issue causing Baelog to cast superfluous shadows on the terrain.

Samuro: Monkey King Samuro’s model will no longer exhibit flickering during Hero Select while running Medium or High graphic settings.

Leoric: The Shroud of the Dead King Talent will now correctly play an animation and a sound when activated.

Kharazim: Kharazim's arms and upper body now animated correctly during his dizzy animation.

Battlegrounds

Volskaya Foundry: Fixed an issue in which Heroes on the outer edge of the Hall of Storms would not receive Healing or protection.

Towers of Doom: The Headless Horseman Boss is no longer incorrectly categorized as a Monster.

Structures: Auriel's Blinding Flash and Artanis' Suppression Pulse can no longer Blind Structures.

Sky Temple: Fixed an issue that could prevent Temple lasers from appearing correctly on the Minimap.

Heroes, Abilities, and Talents

Alexstrasza: Life-Binder is no longer interrupted when entering or exiting Dragonqueen.

Diablo: Fixed an issue that could cause Shadow Charge to deal its collision damage multiple times under certain circumstances.

Garrosh: Casting Wrecking Ball on Mercenaries will no longer cause them to leash while in combat.

Gul'dan: Movement caused by a conveyor belt will no longer cancel Rain of Destruction channeling.

Kel'thuzad: The Power of Icecrown Talent will now correctly grant bonus Spell Power for enemy Heroes Slowed by Chains of Kel’Thuzad with the Chains of Ice Talent.

Li-Ming: Zei's Vengeance and Arcane Orb tooltips have been updated to clarify bonus damage functionality. Damage amounts have not been changed.

Lt. Morales: The Second Opinion Talent will now correctly grant cooldown reduction when one of the Heroes struck by Displacement Grenade is piloting a Vehicle, like the Garden Terror.

Lunara: Fixed an inconsistency that allowed Lunara to cast Leaping Strike over some, but not all, allied units after learning Boundless Stride.

Medivh: Creating a Portal entrance after learning Portal Mastery and then entering the Triglav Protector will no longer prevent him from using the Protector’s abilities.

Muradin: Learning Reverberation no longer incorrectly updates the Attack Speed Slow amount in Thunder Clap’s tooltip.

Murky: Spawn Egg with the Egg Hunt Talent can now be cast correctly on Volskaya Foundry’s conveyor belts.

Nazeebo: Fixed an issue preventing the Superstition talent effect from being removed by Hero basic attacks after Nazeebo died with this talent.

Sgt. Hammer: The Hyper-Cooling Engines talent will no longer grant cooldown reduction from basic attacks against non-Heroic targets while in Siege Mode.

Tychus & Stitches: Tychus can now be affected by Stitches’ Gorge while in Commandeer Odin.