Our latest update for the Heroes of the Storm brings a new Hero and a host of balance changes to the Nexus!

Malthael’s Bargain Event

The event begins during the week of June 12, and lasts until June 26. Click here to learn more about Malthael's Bargain

Quest: Play 15 Games with friend in VS AI, QM, Ranked, and Unranked as Diablo Heroes

Earn epic in-game rewards in both Diablo III and Heroes just by playing Heroes of the Storm with a friend!

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Once the Aspect of Wisdom, Malthael abandoned heaven after the Worldstone’s destruction. In secret, he had resolved to end the Eternal Conflict by becoming a Reaper of Souls and eliminating everything affected by demonic corruption, including humanity.

Trait

Basic Attacks afflict non-Structure targets with Reaper’s Mark for 4 seconds. Marked enemies are revealed and take damage equal to 2.5% of their maximum Health every second.

Basic Abilities

After 0.25 seconds, unleash a wave of dark mist that applies Reaper’s Mark to the enemies it hits.

Instantly teleport through an enemy afflicted by Reaper’s Mark, dealing damage and refreshing Reaper’s Mark.

Heroic targets heal Malthael for an additional 3% of the Hero’s maximum Health.

Extract the souls of nearby enemies afflicted with Reaper’s Mark, dealing damage and Healing Malthael for a portion of the damage dealt to each target hit.

Heroic Abilities

(!) Repeatable Quest: Enemies killed while under the effect of Last Rites permanently reduce its cooldown by 5 seconds, to a minimum of 15 seconds.

Apply a death sentence to an enemy Hero that, after 2 seconds, deals damage equal to 50% of their missing Health.

Gain 20 Armor and unleash a torrent of souls, continually applying Reaper’s Mark to enemies for 4 seconds.

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General

New loading screen art, created by artist Alex Horley, has been added in celebration of Malthael’s arrival to the Nexus.

Heroes, Abilities, and Talents

The following Heroes have received updated visual effects to coincide with Talent updates:

Genji's Dragon Claw button art has been updated to make progress easier to read at a glance.

This marker will appear above low-health enemies for Greymane and Malthael when Go for the Throat or Last Rites will deal fatal damage to the target.

A generic marker has been added to indicate when enemies can be killed by an ability.

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General

If an item does not have its own page, the link will open to the relevant category in the Collection with that item's title in the search bar.

Holding SHIFT + left-clicking an Announcer, Banner, Emoji, Portrait, Spray, or Voice Line in your Collection will now create a chat link that directs other players to that item.

Hero Select

When two or more Heroes are tied, those Heroes will be further sorted by release date.

Use this sorting feature to quickly locate Heroes who require the least amount of XP in order to level-up.

A “Close to Leveling” sorting option has been added to non-draft Hero Select and the Profile’s Roster tab.

Hotkeys

ALT, CTRL, and SHIFT can now be set as Modifiers for Basic Hotkeys (Q, W, E, R, Attack, Move, etc.).

Heroes who attack while moving, like Tracer, will continue to attack enemies during a Force Move command. However, while using these Heroes, Force Move commands will prevent players from clicking a new target or accidentally switching from the locked-on target.

When a Hero receives a Force Move command, they will move to the target point without attacking any units on the way or anything that was clicked when the command was issued.

A Force Move command has been added to the Basic Hotkeys menu.

Mastery Taunts

New Mastery Taunts have been added, and can be unlocked on a per-Hero basis by reaching Hero Levels 25, 50, 75, and 100 with that Hero.

Quest Log

For example: Hovering the cursor over an upcoming Hero Level 10 reward will indicate that the player will receive 500 Gold and a Hero-Specific Loot Chest.

Instead, hovering the cursor over that slot will now display a tooltip that communicates all rewards granted upon reaching that level.

Hero Levels that grant multiple progression rewards will no longer take up two or more slots in the Quest Log.

Ranked Play

When this occurs, the party leader can choose to enter the lengthy queue if they are willing to wait, or cancel the queue to find additional party members and get a match more quickly.

When average queue times for 2-player parties in Team League become lengthy, the leaders from additional 2-player parties attempting to enter the queue will see a warning message that they may be in for a long wait.

Team League matchmaking will now allow players to wait indefinitely until the system finds a reasonable match for their skill level.

Lessened personal rank adjustments in both Hero and Team Leagues, which will allow players’ ranks to move more quickly during win or loss streaks.

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General

Cooldowns for Abilities and Talents that can be toggled on and off have been unified to 0.5 seconds across the board. While most of these Abilities and Talents already had a 0.5 second delay, there were a few outliers, which have now been updated:

Talents

New Bolt of the Storm alternatives have been added to several Heroes

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Map Rotation Update

Find the Map Rotation icon next to the Grand Master Leaderboard and Ranked Guide buttons.

Hover the cursor over the Map Rotation icon to display a list of all Battlegrounds currently available in Ranked matchmaking.

A new Map Rotation icon has been added to the Ranked Play screen.

A new Map Rotation icon has been added to the Ranked Play screen.

The Ranked Map Rotation has been updated to include the following:

The Ranked Map Rotation has been updated to include the following:

Hero and Team League are now the only game modes that will feature a Map Rotation.

Thanks for sharing your Map Rotation feedback with us! As a result of community-driven discussions, we’re making all 13 Battlegrounds available for play in Versus A.I., Quick Match, and Unranked modes.

Minions

Can now slightly overlap with one another to help prevent them from becoming stuck against one another when multiple Catapults bunch up around a Core.

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Talents

Activate to teleport a short distance and deal 50 damage to enemies in the area. Enemy Heroes hit give Kerrigan 300% of the damage dealt as Assimilation Shields. 70-second cooldown.

Talents

Abilities

Feral Spirit travels 25% further with each enemy hero hit

No longer stops upon the first enemy hero hit

Range of bounces decreased from 7 to 5

Number of bounces increased from 2 to 3

Talents

Activate to teleport to a target location and gain Windfury

For 3 seconds after being hit by a Feral spirit, Thrall’s basic attacks deal 3% of the targets maximum health.

This quest never completes and will reset even at maximum stacks.

Reward: Chain Lightning deals 25% more damage to the primary target.

Reward: Chain Lightning slows targets by 8%, stacking up to 40%.

!Quest: Cast Chain Lightning on a hero. Dying or casting it on the same hero twice in a row resets progress.

Every 45 seconds, gain 50 Spell Armor against the next enemy ability and subsequent abilities for 1.5 seconds. Triggering Frostwolf Resilience reduces this Cooldown by 5 seconds.

Healing amount increased from 100 to 150% of Feral Resilience

Activate to consume 8 stacks of Ancestral Wrath, stealing 15% of target hero’s maximum health over 3 seconds. Thrall heals for 150% of this amount over 3 seconds.

Each time Frostwolf Resilience activates, Thrall gains a stack of Ancestral Wrath, up to a maximum of 8.

Reward: Increases the movement speed bonus of Windfury from 30% to 40%

When Mana Tide procs, now also reduces basic ability cooldowns by 0.5 seconds.

Reward: Decreases the cooldown from 12 to 6 seconds, and decreases the mana cost from 60 to 30

!Quest: Hit 7 heroes with Feral Spirit. Progress is reset upon dying or if Feral Spirit doesn’t hit at least one enemy hero.

Each enemy hero hit by Feral Spirit grants 2 charges of Block, granting 50 physical armor. Lasts until consumed or Feral Spirit is cast again.

!Quest: Hit at least 2 enemy heroes, 20 times, with a single cast of Chain Lightning

Reward: Increases bounce damage by 10 up to a maximum of 400

!Quest: Hit at least 2 enemy heroes with a single cast of Chain Lightning

!Quest: Kill 20 minions or heroes within 1.5 seconds of them being hit by Chain Lightning

Reward: Decreases the mana cost of Chain Lightning by 20

!Quest: Kill 10 minions or heroes within 1.5 seconds of them being hit by Chain Lightning

New Talent: Echo of the Elements (Q)

New Talent: Echo of the Elements (Q)

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Talents

Abilities

Heal over time ticks reduced from 31 to 28

Talents

When activated, channel for 1 second and then instantly teleport to the target location and cast Twilight Dream. This shares a cooldown with Twilight Dream.

Nightmare has been renamed to Astral Communion (R)

Upon casting Innervate, Malfurion gains 50 Mana and his cooldowns refresh 50% faster for 5 seconds

The heal-over-time portion of Regrowth is increased by 40% while you are above 75% Health

Heroes hit by Entangling Roots have all healing received reduced by 30% for the duration of the Root effect

Reward: Every enemy Hero hit increases the damage of the Treant by 8

Entangling Roots also spawns a Treant that lasts for 10 seconds.

Reward: For every 5 nearby lane Minions killed, increase this damage bonus by 1%. After hitting 25% additional bonus damage, the bonus damage is also applied to Mercenaries and Monsters

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Talents

Basic Attacks against enemy Heroes heal Stitches for 5% of his maximum Health.

While active, Gorge has increased range and can be repeatedly recast until the first target is expelled. Gorging a target outside of melee range will teleport Stitches to the target.

Now increases the slow effect from 35 to 45%

Healing and Movement Speed bonuses have been removed

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

New Skins

New Mounts

Epic Battle Raptor Mounts – Awarded to players who achieved Master in Hero League or Team League during 2017 Ranked Season 1.

Battle Raptor Mounts – Awarded to players who achieved Platinum in Hero League or Bronze in Team League during 2017 Ranked Season 1.

Golden Treasure Goblin – Can only be unlocked using Gold. Available for a limited time.

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General

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

A.I.

Hanamura: A.I. players will no longer pace back and forth near the payload when a Stealthed enemy Hero is nearby.

Art

Tyrande: Trueshot Aura will now correctly display visual effects on the terrain when graphics are set to Low.

Murky: Octo-Grab’s model will no longer persist on the target if Murky is Stopped in the same moment that the Ability is cast.

Diablo: Prime Evil Diablo’s model while no longer freeze in place during its victory animation.

Battlegrounds

Mercenaries: Captured enemy Mercenaries will no longer drop Fresh Meat stacks for The Butcher or Mineral stacks for Probius.

Try Mode: Refresh Forts will no longer cause the cooldown timer above the Healing Fountain to disappear.

Try Mode: Complete Quests will now properly grant Ragnaros’s Catching Fire Quest Talent rewards.

Try Mode: The Complete Quests button will now properly complete Gazlowe’s Clockwerk Steam Fists Quest Talent.

Towers of Doom: Capturing an Altar will now properly reset that player’s AFK warning timer.

Hanamura: Map Mechanic Turrets can now correctly attack the Mega Enforcer and Mercenaries.

Hanamura: When the player is not holding an item, the Map Mechanic Ability button tooltip now correctly explains that Hanamura-specific Abilities can be earned by defeating Mercenaries.

Hanamura: The Mega Enforcer will no longer leash after consuming a Hero.

Dragon Shire: The Dragon Knight’s Savage Charge Ability will no longer cancel Anub’arak’s Burrow Charge.

Cursed Hollow: A small shadow will no longer appear at the location where a new Tribute is about to spawn when graphics are set to Low.

Braxis Holdout: Fixed an issue in which players could be kicked for inactivity while defending the Beacons.

Heroes, Abilities, and Talents

Basic Attacks: Splash and Cleave damage will now correctly reveal targets who are hit while inside Bushes and Vents.

DoT Effects: Illidan’s Evasion, Chen’s Elusive Brew, and Xul’s Shade Armor will no longer prevent Damage over Time effects from displaying properly in their Health bars.

DoT Effects: Enemy Health bars will now correctly display damage over time effects after being hit by Swift Strike with the Strike at the Heart Talent.

Polymorphs: Fixed several issues in which Polymorph effects could incorrectly knock Heroes out of Stealth.

Abathur: Locusts will now assist Heroes who are attacking a Mercenary Camp rather than immediately traveling to a lane.

Abathur: Can now correctly cast Symbiote on an allied Nova’s Holo Decoys.

Anub’arak: An active Cocoon will no longer be destroyed if it is moved by Abilities that block pathing, such as Tyrael’s Holy Ground or Tassadar’s Force Wall.

Azmodan: All Shall Burn will now properly cancel any active Movement commands issued to Azmodan prior to casting.

Azmodan: General of Hell will now assist Azmodan while he is attacking a Mercenary Camp rather than immediately traveling to a lane.

Diablo: Fixed an issue that could allow Shadow Charge to Stun enemies who did not collide with the terrain.

Gazlowe: Can no longer cast Deth Lazor if he has less than the required amount of Mana.

Greymane: Insatiable will no longer cause Basic Attacks to restore Mana when Inner Beast is not active.

Greymane: After learning Viciousness, Cursed Bullet will now correctly refresh Inner Beast’s duration.

Illidan: Evasion will no longer prevent damage over time effects from displaying on Illidan’s Health bar.

Kharazim: Duration bars for Echo of Heaven and Deadly Reach will now appear simultaneously if both are active at once.

Li-Ming: Wave of Force will no longer cancel Sonya’s Whirlwind animation.

Murky: Can now properly collect Regeneration Globes during Safety Bubble.

Nazeebo: The tooltips for Nazeebo’s Voodoo Ritual Trait now properly indicate that it contains a Quest.

Nazeebo: Silencing the Zombies that were created by Zombie Wall with the Dead Rush Talent will no longer prevent them from uprooting.

Ragnaros: Empower Sulfuras’s animation will no longer play without dealing damage if the attack was cancelled by issuing Movement Commands.

Stitches: Hook can no longer pull Stealthed enemy Heroes through allied Gates.

Tassadar: Fixed an issue causing the first tick of Psionic Storm to deal slightly less damage than intended.

Tassadar: After learning Prismatic Link, Basic Attacks that bounce to a secondary target will now properly reveal that enemy.

The Butcher: Minions that die near The Butcher will now always drop Fresh Meat stacks.

The Butcher: Fresh Meat earned via Hero Takedowns, and collected while piloting the Garden Terror or Dragon Knight, will now correctly increment The Butcher’s Fresh Meat stacks.

The Butcher: Insatiable Blade’s Movement Speed bonus is now properly granted when Butcher’s Brand is applied to non-Heroic targets.

Valeera: Wound Poison’s reduced Healing debuff will now correctly display a red plus symbol next to the affected Hero’s status bar rather than a purple plus overhead.

Valeera: Will no longer be revealed when entering the Haunted Mines or using the Tunnel on Towers of Doom.