PROlane Profile Joined December 2015 United States 34 Posts Last Edited: 2017-10-02 18:36:15 #1 Math of the Storm Kel'Thuzad Balance Patch



(v27.5) hit live servers yesterday, and



Assassins

Cassia



Chromie



Kel'Thuzad



The Butcher



Thrall Supports

Brightwing



Lt. Morales



Stukov



Tyrande Tanks

Chen



Dehaka



Garrosh



Leoric

This week's patch spreadsheet can be found





The big winners of this patch are Butcher, Thrall, Brightwing, and Lt. Morales, while KT lost a significant amount of burst damage. Base HP buffs always make an impact on a hero’s win rates, so expect to see more of those buffed heroes. Brightwing’s Z build will see a major resurgence, and I’m sure the players on Fnatic are excited about these buffs. This patch is especially significant for eSports because this is the patch playoffs will happen on, which decide who goes to blizzcon and who stays home. Looking forward, I expect the Ana balance patch to be “The Blizzcon Patch”, so expect a lot of changes in that patch as Blizzard tries to get the meta exactly where they want it for the biggest event of the year.





Cassia

AA & Q build buffed, W build removed

Stats

Basic attack damage increased from 125 to 130

Talents

Blinding Light (W)

Passive damage bonus to blinded targets increased from 15 to 20%



Cassia’s basic attack damage overall was improved by 4%, so a post-buff level 1 Cassia will have the same attack damage as a pre-buff level 2 Cassia. The buff to her passive increases her damage against blinded targets by ~4.3%. Combining this with the basic attack buff, her basic attacks now do 156 damage against blinded targets rather than 143.75.



Talents

Level 1

Thunderstroke (Q) First quest reward damage bonus increased from 75 to 100 True Sight (W)

Removed Seraph's Hymn (W)

Moved from Level 13

Cooldown reduction per basic attack against Blinded Heroes reduced from 3 to 2 seconds



The Thunderstroke quest completion pre-patch, at 75 bonus damage, represents a 36% increase to the damage of Lightning Fury at level 4, which decays down to 18% additional damage by level 20. The quest reward post-patch, at 100 bonus damage, being buffed to a 48% increase that decays down to 24% added damage by level 20, net buffing Thunderstroke by 9% additional damage decaying down to 5% additional damage.



Incidentally, I learned that Lightning Fury has 4.5% scaling on its damage rather than 4%. Given that Q build is already heavily slated towards late game power, it’s unclear why this design decision was made.



True Sight was the W quest talent, which provided an increase of 1 second of blind duration (from 2 to 3 seconds) and increased the bonus damage from 15% to 30%.



Seraph’s Hymn still reduces the mana cost of Blinding Light from 70 to 40, but now only reduces the cooldown of Blinding Light by 2 seconds for every basic attack that Cassia makes against blinded heroes instead of providing 3 seconds of cooldown reduction per basic attack against blinded heroes. Seraph’s Hymn is significantly worse at level 1 compared to level 13 not only due to the direct nerf but also the loss of synergy talents. Charged Strikes, another level 1 talent, could trigger the cooldown reduction multiple times per basic attack, while True Sight extended the length of her blind and thus the window to reduce the cooldown of Blinding Light. As it stands, with proper timing on her basic attacks it is possible to squeeze in 3 basic attacks during her 2 second blind, reducing the cooldown of Blinding Light from 15 seconds to 9 seconds.



Remaining on Cassia’s level 1 talent tier is Charged Strikes, which provides a 3.5 meter radius bounce to her basic attacks and was slightly buffed by the basic attack damage buff. Now, instead of improving her basic attack damage from 125 to 150, it now increases her basic attack damage from 130 to 156.







Chromie

Quests happen sooner, Timely Surprise slightly better

Abilities

Sand Blast (Q) Reduced the number of Sand Blast hits required to unlock the Sand Blast echo from 80 to 60



The Sand Blast quest buff makes completing Chromie’s quest significantly easier, and should result in quest completion in 75% of games (assuming that the opportunity to acquire stacks is constant over time).



Talents

Level 2 Timely Surprise (E) Now also increases the cast range of Time Trap by 33%



In addition to adding the reset capability, Timely Surprise now increases the range of Time Trap from 6 meters to 8 meters. For the Chromies that tried to cheese people by putting Time Traps on top of their Temporal Loops, Rewind has a range of 11 meters.





Kel'Thuzad

Mana worse, no longer can 100-0 tanks with combo

Abilities

Frost Nova(W) Mana cost increased from 45 to 50

Chains of Kel'Thuzad (E) Mana cost increased from 45 to 50

Frost Blast (R) Cooldown reduced from 100 to 80 seconds

Shadow Fissure (R) Damage reduced from 440 to 400 Cooldown increased from 15 to 20 seconds Mana cost increased from 50 to 60



The Kel’thuzad mana cost increases should slightly worsen his sustain. His full E1WERQ combo now costs (20+50+50+60)=180 mana, up from (20+45+45+50)=160 mana. “Poking” with Chains of Kel'Thuzad and Frost Blast now costs ~11% more mana.



Frost Blast and Shadow Fissure were brought closer together in terms of power, with a 20% cooldown cut to Frost Blast and a 33% cooldown increase to Shadow Fissure.



I’ll cover the Shadow Fissure damage nerf in the next section when I talk about full combo damage.





Talents

Level 7 Glacial Spike (Active) Damage reduced from 220 to 60 Delay before the spike spawns increased from .5 to 1 seconds

Level 16 Hungering Cold (W) Bonus damage reduced from 60 to 55



To start, let’s look at Kel’thuzad’s combo damage. On live, the E1WERQ is capable of one shotting the vast majority of the cast at level 16 with his Hungering Cold Power Spike, which then drops off a bit by level 20 due to 2.5% scaling. This combo was hit by three damage nerfs and a usability one by adding a delay to Glacial Spike. Taken as a whole, these changes moves the less durable Warriors and Tanks from the “Gets one shot” side of the aisle to the “Does not get one shot” side. Furthermore, at earlier levels (7 and 10) these changes allow some of the tankier assassins to survive Kel’thuzad’s full combo. For full details on who is no longer one shot check the spreadsheet, as the full list of breakpoint changes is rather lengthy.



In addition to the raw damage, Glacial Spike is now harder to combo with, requiring a full 1 second of set up time rather than half a second.



As a side note, the 10% Hungering Cold nerf still leaves it far superior to Power of Icecrown for enhancing combo damage, while Arcane Echoes remains the better choice for sustained damage.





Talents

Level 4 Phylactery of Kel’Thuzad (Active) Quest requirement increased from 10 to 12 Regen Globes

Level 7 Accelerated Decay (Q) Bonus damage increased from 20 to 25%

Level 13 Chains of Ice (E) Slow duration reduced from 1.25 to 1 second Slow amount decreased from 70 to 60%



The Phylactery change slows down Kel’thuzad’s ability to acquire a fresh phylactery in the late game, increasing single lane farm time from 5:00 to 6:00 and double soak time from 2:30 to 3:00.



The Chains of Ice change reduces the net slow from -87.5% of base MS (3.8486 meters) to -60% (2.63904 meters).



Accelerated Decay caps out at 6 stacks, which is now 150% added damage up from 120%, a 13.6% increase in the damage output at max stacks. The first four ticks do an additional 105 damage, up from 84, while the first 6 ticks do an additional 262.5 damage, up from 210. This makes Accelerated Decay the best damage increase on the tier by far, and incentivizes picking up the other Q talents.







The Butcher

Solid buff to late game durability

Stats

Basic Attack damage increased from 125 to 130

The new Bunker build time. Butcher’s basic attack damage has been played with almost every patch since the Butcher Rework that came in the Garrosh patch , with the rework reducing his damage from 140 to 130, the following balance patch bringing him down from 130 to 125, skipping changes in the KT patch, and now going back up from 125 to 130. As for the actual effect of the change, this slightly improves his basic attack damage, but not by much. This is 5.2 damage increase at level 1 and ~11 damage increase at level 20.



Stats

Health scaling per level increased from 4 to 4.5%

Health Regeneration scaling per level increased from 4 to 4.5%

These changes amount to a 10% buff to Butcher’s late game health pool, which is an additional 475 HP at level 20. Late game health on butcher is important for two reasons. First, this buff decreases the likelihood Butcher will be bursted down in the initial CC chain. Second, this buff gives him more capacity to “fill up to” when he is lifestealing, meaning less wasted self healing. A scaling health buff enhances Butcher’s late game power without increasing his early ganking power.





Thrall

Much needed durability buff

Stats

Base Maximum Health increased from 1787 to 1876

Base Health Regeneration increased from 3.7 to 3.9

I’ve been pushing for a Thrall max HP buff for a bit, so I’m happy to see these changes. Previously, Thrall’s base HP was significantly lower than any other ‘bruiser’ in the game, and given his low win and pick-rates, his max HP seemed a good place to buff him. This 5% HP buff, similar to the Butcher HP scaling buff, is helpful for enabling a high damage melee character survive the initial CC chains. Oftentimes, Thrall would simply die before he was able to go through his full rotation and actually benefit from his passive healing. But now, Thrall’s actual HP pool in a fight is increased by much more than the 89 additional base HP increase would suggest due to the additional passive procs.





Brightwing

Z build new OP? Also, Dream Shot looks pretty strong

Abilities

Soothing Mist (Trait) Healing aura range increased from 6 to 7

Blink Heal (R) Cooldown reduced from 10 to 9 seconds



Talents

Level 1 Unfurling Spray (Trait) Removed



Soothing Heal got a nice base buff of 1 additional meter of range, replacing Unfurling Spray which represented 1.2 additional meters of range.



Blink Heal benefitted from a 10% cooldown reduction that should result in more saves for both Brightwing and her target.





Talents

Level 1 Dream Shot (Q) New functionality: Increases the range of Arcane Flare by 50% Hitting an enemy Hero in the center portion of Arcane Flare reduces the cooldown of Arcane Flare to 1 second

Level 4 Arcane Barrage (Q) Removed



Dream Shot and Arcane Barrage were combined into a single talent at level 1, providing a (hopefully) competitive alternative to the buffed Hyper Shift and Pixie Charm (Pixie Charm is bugged on the PTR to require half as many stacks for a bribe, but this was confirmed as unintentional). The old Dream Shot could reduce the cooldown of Arcane Flare to 0 seconds by hitting two heroes with the center radius, and provided a small amount of cooldown reduction for hitting with the edge. However, the new Dream Shot is much stronger in the normal scenario of hitting a single target with the center, putting the cooldown to 1 second instead of 3. Also, FYI base Arcane Flare has a range of 8.25, and Dream Shot upgrades this to 12.25.



Talents

Level 1 Hyper Shift (Z) Cooldown reduction per Hero healed increased from 2 to 3 seconds

Level 4 Peekaboo (Z) Revealed area radius reduced from 20 to 15 Added functionality: Pixie Dust is now applied to the target of Phase Shift

Level 7 Phase Shield (Z) Added functionality: Now applies Shield to Brightwing and her target



Hyper Shift now provides 50% more CDR per target healed, and combined with the Peekaboo and Phase Shield buffs the “Z build” Brightwing may be making a return. In an ideal situation, affecting 4 targets every 4 seconds, pre-patch Hyper Shift reduced the cooldown on Phase Shift from 55 seconds to 20. Now, with the improved base range on her Healing Mist (making this easier), and improved Hyper Shift, the ideal cooldown is 16 seconds. Both have a bit of leeway built in, as there is a bit of “overkill” cooldown reduction provided by Hyper Shift. As for healing a single target, pre patch CD was 37 seconds now it is 32 seconds. The shield and added Pixie Dust to the “Z build” should greatly improve the survivability of both Brightwing and her target.





Lt. Morales

More resilient to dive & energy delay is less awkward

Stats

Base Maximum Health increased from 1528 to 1605

Base Life Regen increased from 3.18 to 3.34



The HP buff is a 5% buff, which also improves the healing from Caduceus Reactor from 30.56 HPS to 32.1 HPS. This should help Morales stay alive a little bit longer against opposing dives.



Abilities

Healing Beam (Q) Energy Regeneration cooldown reduced from 3 to 2 seconds You can no longer redirect Healing Beam to a target that is already being healed by your Healing Beam



The Healing Beam buff slightly improves Morales ability to juggle her energy management and makes it less punishing to heal up your team in small amounts. Although fully spending her Healing Beam will still take 16.5 seconds, now her energy will fully recharge in 19 seconds rather than 20.



The redirect change does not provide any real functionality change beyond making it so you won’t click on your current Healing Beam target in a crowded team fight when trying to change Healing Beam targets.





Talents

Level 1 Caduceus Feedback (Passive) Now increases Basic Attack Range by 1.1 and only generates Energy from Basic Attacks against Heroic targets.



Caduceus Feedback lost the “1 energy back per non-hero attack”, but the 1.1 meter attack range constitutes a major buff to the talent, improving her AA range from 5.5 to 6.6. A 20% AA range increase is a powerful level 20 talent on any marksman, and helps significantly with Morales’ ability to safely AA and get energy back from Caduceus Feedback.





Stukov

Spine Launcher much better

Talents

Level 1 Spine Launcher (Passive) Basic Attack damage reduction decreased from 50 to 30%



Unmodified, the base damage on Stukov’s basic attack is 262 damage. Pre-patch spine launcher reduced his basic attack damage to 131, while post patch reduces his basic attack damage to 183.4. This represents a 40% buff to Stukov’s damage output with Spine Launcher.





Tyrande

D build better, W build worse

Talents

Level 7 Huntress’ Fury (D) Added functionality: Now also increases the range of Hunter’s Mark by 50%



Huntress Fury, in addition to causing Tyrande’s basic attacks against marked targets to splash in a 7 meter radius, now increases the range of Hunter’s mark from 5.5 meters to 8.25 meters.



Talents

Level 13 Empower (W) Base cooldown reduction decreased from 4 to 2 seconds



This nerf puts Empower halfway between the post-rework never picked version, which only provided 4s CDR per hit, and the pre-patch 4s base CDR + 4s CDR per hit. Owl has gone from 18/14/10/6/2 to 14/10/6/2/0 to 16/12/8/4/0, based on the number of enemies hit, over the last few patches.





Chen

7 tier just got even *more* competitive.

Talents

Level 1 Grounding Brew (D) Removed

Level 7 Purifying Brew (D) Cooldown reduced from 45 to 15 seconds Added functionality: Chen now gains 30 Spell Armor while channeling Fortifying Brew



Brewmaster’s Balance : While at or below 50 Brew, gain 20% Movement Speed. While at or above 50 Brew, regenerate an additional 18 Health per second.

: While at or below 50 Brew, gain 20% Movement Speed. While at or above 50 Brew, regenerate an additional 18 Health per second. Bolder Flavor : Fortifying Brew instantly Shields you for 318 HP. Additionally, Shields persists for 1 extra second after you stop drinking.

: Fortifying Brew instantly Shields you for 318 HP. Additionally, Shields persists for 1 extra second after you stop drinking. And the buffed Purifying Brew: The next Stun or Silence used against you has its duration reduced by 75% and resets the cooldown of Fortifying Brew. Can only trigger once every 15 seconds. Additionally, Chen gains 30 spell armor while channeling Fortifying Brew. This is a *stacked* level 7 tier, and just got more competitive by combining Purifying Brew and Grounding Brew. Purifying Brew seems to be the “Anti-mage” talent, while the other two talents have more nebulous functions.

Chen continues to get some… curious… changes. Chen’s level 7 talent tier is now as follows:This is a *stacked* level 7 tier, and just got more competitive by combining Purifying Brew and Grounding Brew. Purifying Brew seems to be the “Anti-mage” talent, while the other two talents have more nebulous functions.





Dehaka

Wave clear slowed down

Stats

Basic Attack damage reduced from 105 to 100 Abilities Dark Swarm (W) Damage per tick reduced from 50 to 47



Dehaka took a ~5% nerf to his basic attack damage and a 6% nerf to Dark Swarm. This reduces the damage of a full Dark Swarm from 350 damage to 329 damage. Combined, these two changes combined constitute a decent nerf to Dehaka’s wave clear and teamfight damage. This pushes back Dehaka’s breakpoints for wave clear by about a minute. This is mostly relevant for the early-mid breakpoint of ranged minions needing 1 AA instead of 2 and wizard minions directly dying to Dark Swarm rather than needing a basic attack.





Garrosh

Small nerfs overall, small buff to Body Check build

Abilities Groundbreaker (Q) Mana cost increased from 30 to 35

Wrecking Ball (E) Mana cost increased from 60 to 70

Decimate (R) Mana cost decreased from 30 to 25



Garrosh's QE Combo’s mana cost was increased from 90 to 105, a 16.7% increase. Decimate had its mana cost slightly reduced so 3 charges cost 75 mana instead of 90.



Talents

Level 1 Body Check (Active) Cooldown decreased from 20 to 16 seconds

Level 7 Into the Fray (Active) Cooldown increased from 30 to 40 seconds



The cooldown changes to Body Check and Into the Fray shouldn’t significantly alter their usage as both cooldowns are still too long to see multiple uses in a fight. This change does make the level 20 upgrade to Body Check, Inner Rage, better by increasing the likelihood that the cooldown reduction will give a 3rd use of Body Check.





Leoric

Small buff to entomb, future bug fix will be really nice

Abilities Entomb (R) Cooldown reduced from 75 to 60 seconds



Entomb is now in between the pre-rework 50 second cooldown and the post-rework 75 second cooldown. The more significant change here is the Mithril Mace fix in the PTR patch, which should incentivize a more active Leoric than the predominant Ominous Wraith-centered build.



Writer Editor-in-Chief - LiquidHeroes Kel'Thuzad's balance patch (v27.5) hit live servers yesterday, and ChaosOS takes a deep dive into the changes you can see in the Nexus this week.This week's patch spreadsheet can be found here