Now That Groundbreaker Is Nerfed on Garrosh Is It Time to Look at Body Check Again?

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Math of the Storm

Kel'Thuzad Balance Patch

Kel'Thuzad'due south residual patch (v27.five) hitting alive servers yesterday, and ChaosOS takes a deep dive into the changes you can see in the Nexus this week.

This calendar week'south patch spreadsheet tin can exist plant here.

The big winners of this patch are Butcher, Thrall, Brightwing, and Lt. Morales, while KT lost a pregnant amount of burst harm. Base HP buffs always make an impact on a hero'southward win rates, so expect to see more of those buffed heroes. Brightwing'due south Z build will come across a major resurgence, and I'one thousand 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 frontwards, I await the Ana balance patch to be "The Blizzcon Patch", so expect a lot of changes in that patch as Blizzard tries to become the meta exactly where they desire information technology for the biggest event of the year.

Cassia
AA & Q build buffed, W build removed

Stats

• Bones assault damage increased from 125 to 130

Talents

• Blinding Light (West)
  
  • Passive harm bonus to blinded targets increased from fifteen to 20%

Cassia'southward basic attack harm overall was improved by iv%, then a post-buff level i Cassia will have the same attack damage as a pre-buff level two Cassia. The buff to her passive increases her harm against blinded targets by ~4.3%. Combining this with the bones assail buff, her basic attacks at present exercise 156 damage confronting blinded targets rather than 143.75.

Talents

• Level 1
  
  • Thunderstroke (Q)
    • Kickoff quest advantage damage bonus increased from 75 to 100
  • True Sight (W)
    
    • Removed
  • Seraph's Hymn (Due west)
    
    • Moved from Level 13
      
    • Cooldown reduction per basic attack confronting Blinded Heroes reduced from iii to two seconds

The Thunderstroke quest completion pre-patch, at 75 bonus damage, represents a 36% increase to the impairment of Lightning Fury at level 4, which decays downward to 18% additional damage past level 20. The quest advantage mail service-patch, at 100 bonus damage, being buffed to a 48% increase that decays down to 24% added damage past level 20, internet buffing Thunderstroke past 9% additional impairment decaying downwardly to 5% additional damage.

Incidentally, I learned that Lightning Fury has four.five% scaling on its damage rather than iv%. 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 increment of 1 second of bullheaded duration (from 2 to 3 seconds) and increased the bonus damage from xv% to 30%.

Seraph's Hymn nevertheless reduces the mana cost of Blinding Light from 70 to 40, just at present simply reduces the cooldown of Blinding Light past ii seconds for every basic assault that Cassia makes against blinded heroes instead of providing 3 seconds of cooldown reduction per basic set on against blinded heroes. Seraph's Hymn is significantly worse at level 1 compared to level 13 not only due to the direct nerf simply as well 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 iii basic attacks during her 2 2d blind, reducing the cooldown of Blinding Low-cal from xv seconds to 9 seconds.

Remaining on Cassia'due south level 1 talent tier is Charged Strikes, which provides a iii.5 meter radius bounce to her basic attacks and was slightly buffed by the basic attack damage buff. At present, 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 meliorate

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'south quest significantly easier, and should result in quest completion in 75% of games (bold that the opportunity to learn stacks is constant over time).

Talents

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

In improver 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 past putting Time Traps on peak of their Temporal Loops, Rewind has a range of 11 meters.

Kel'Thuzad
Mana worse, no longer can 100-0 tanks with philharmonic

Abilities

• Frost Nova(Due west)
  • Mana cost increased from 45 to 50
• Chains of Kel'Thuzad (Eastward)
  • Mana cost increased from 45 to 50
• Frost Blast (R)
  • Cooldown reduced from 100 to fourscore seconds
• Shadow Fissure (R)
  • Damage reduced from 440 to 400
  • Cooldown increased from xv 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 at present costs (20+50+50+60)=180 mana, upwardly from (twenty+45+45+50)=160 mana. "Poking" with Chains of Kel'Thuzad and Frost Boom now costs ~11% more mana.

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

I'll comprehend the Shadow Cleft damage nerf in the next section when I talk about full combo damage.

Talents

• Level 7
  • Glacial Fasten (Agile)
    • Damage reduced from 220 to sixty
    • Delay before the fasten spawns increased from .5 to i seconds
• Level 16
  • Hungering Cold (Westward)
    • Bonus damage reduced from lx to 55

To first, let'due south look at Kel'thuzad'southward combo damage. On live, the E1WERQ is capable of one shotting the vast majority of the cast at level sixteen with his Hungering Cold Ability Spike, which then drops off a bit by level xx due to 2.5% scaling. This combo was hit by three damage nerfs and a usability ane past adding a delay to Glacial Spike. Taken every bit a whole, these changes moves the less durable Warriors and Tanks from the "Gets one shot" side of the aisle to the "Does non get ane shot" side. Furthermore, at earlier levels (7 and 10) these changes let some of the tankier assassins to survive Kel'thuzad's full philharmonic. For full details on who is no longer ane shot check the spreadsheet, every bit the full listing of breakpoint changes is rather lengthy.

In add-on to the raw damage, Glacial Spike is now harder to philharmonic with, requiring a full 1 second of gear up up time rather than one-half a 2d.

Every bit a side note, the 10% Hungering Common cold nerf still leaves it far superior to Ability of Icecrown for enhancing philharmonic damage, while Arcane Echoes remains the amend choice for sustained impairment.

Talents

• Level iv
  • Phylactery of Kel'Thuzad (Active)
    • Quest requirement increased from 10 to 12 Regen Globes
• Level seven
  • Accelerated Decay (Q)
    • Bonus damage increased from 20 to 25%
• Level 13
  • Bondage of Water ice (E)
    • Slow duration reduced from i.25 to ane second
    • Slow amount decreased from 70 to 60%

The Phylactery modify slows down Kel'thuzad's ability to acquire a fresh phylactery in the belatedly game, increasing single lane farm time from 5:00 to 6:00 and double soak time from ii:thirty to 3:00.

The Chains of Water ice change reduces the cyberspace dull from -87.5% of base MS (three.8486 meters) to -60% (two.63904 meters).

Accelerated Disuse caps out at 6 stacks, which is now 150% added damage upwards from 120%, a 13.half-dozen% increase in the damage output at max stacks. The offset four ticks practice an boosted 105 damage, upwardly from 84, while the first 6 ticks practice an additional 262.v damage, upward from 210. This makes Accelerated Decay the best damage increase on the tier past far, and incentivizes picking upwardly the other Q talents.

The Butcher
Solid buff to late game immovability

Stats

• Basic Attack impairment increased from 125 to 130

The new Bunker build time. Butcher's basic assail damage has been played with nearly 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 downward from 130 to 125, skipping changes in the KT patch, and now going dorsum up from 125 to 130. As for the bodily effect of the change, this slightly improves his bones attack harm, but non past much. This is 5.2 damage increment at level 1 and ~11 damage increase at level 20.

Stats

• Health scaling per level increased from 4 to iv.five%
• Health Regeneration scaling per level increased from 4 to four.five%

These changes amount to a ten% vitrify to Butcher'south tardily game health pool, which is an additional 475 HP at level twenty. Tardily game health on butcher is of import for 2 reasons. First, this vitrify decreases the likelihood Butcher volition exist bursted downward in the initial CC concatenation. Second, this vitrify gives him more capacity to "fill up to" when he is lifestealing, meaning less wasted self healing. A scaling wellness vitrify enhances Butcher'south late game ability without increasing his early on ganking power.

Thrall
Much needed immovability vitrify

Stats

• Base Maximum Wellness increased from 1787 to 1876
• Base of operations Health Regeneration increased from 3.7 to iii.9

I've been pushing for a Thrall max HP vitrify for a bit, then I'g happy to see these changes. Previously, Thrall'due south base of operations HP was significantly lower than whatsoever other 'bruiser' in the game, and given his low win and pick-rates, his max HP seemed a adept identify to buff him. This 5% HP vitrify, like to the Butcher HP scaling buff, is helpful for enabling a loftier impairment melee grapheme survive the initial CC chains. Oftentimes, Thrall would only die before he was able to get through his full rotation and actually benefit from his passive healing. But at present, Thrall's actual HP pool in a fight is increased by much more than the 89 additional base of operations HP increase would advise due to the additional passive procs.

Brightwing
Z build new OP? Also, Dream Shot looks pretty stiff

Abilities

• Soothing Mist (Trait)
  • Healing aureola range increased from 6 to 7
• Glimmer 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 one.2 boosted 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 Cabalistic Flare by 50%
      • Striking 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 Cabalistic Barrage were combined into a single talent at level 1, providing a (hopefully) competitive culling to the buffed Hyper Shift and Pixie Amuse (Pixie Charm is bugged on the PTR to require half as many stacks for a ransom, but this was confirmed as unintentional). The sometime Dream Shot could reduce the cooldown of Arcane Flare to 0 seconds by hitting two heroes with the center radius, and provided a pocket-size amount of cooldown reduction for hitting with the border. However, the new Dream Shot is much stronger in the normal scenario of striking a single target with the middle, putting the cooldown to 1 second instead of 3. Besides, FYI base Arcane Flare has a range of viii.25, and Dream Shot upgrades this to 12.25.

Talents

• Level ane
  • Hyper Shift (Z)
    • Cooldown reduction per Hero healed increased from 2 to iii seconds
• Level 4
  • Peekaboo (Z)
    • Revealed area radius reduced from 20 to fifteen
    • Added functionality:
      • Pixie Dust is now applied to the target of Stage 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 Stage Shield buffs the "Z build" Brightwing may be making a return. In an ideal state of affairs, affecting iv 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 platonic cooldown is 16 seconds. Both accept a bit of leeway built in, equally at that place is a fleck of "overkill" cooldown reduction provided by Hyper Shift. Equally for healing a unmarried target, pre patch CD was 37 seconds now it is 32 seconds. The shield and added Pixie Dust to the "Z build" should greatly meliorate the survivability of both Brightwing and her target.

Lt. Morales
More resilient to dive & free 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 live a little bit longer against opposing dives.

Abilities

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

The Healing Beam buff slightly improves Morales ability to juggle her energy direction and makes it less punishing to heal up your team in small amounts. Although fully spending her Healing Beam will still take sixteen.5 seconds, now her free energy will fully recharge in 19 seconds rather than 20.

The redirect modify does not provide any real functionality modify beyond making it and then yous won't click on your current Healing Beam target in a crowded team fight when trying to change Healing Axle targets.

Talents

• Level 1
  • Caduceus Feedback (Passive)
    • Now increases Bones Assail Range past one.1 and but generates Free energy from Basic Attacks against Heroic targets.

Caduceus Feedback lost the "1 energy dorsum per non-hero attack", merely the ane.ane meter attack range constitutes a major vitrify 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' power to safely AA and get energy dorsum from Caduceus Feedback.

Stukov
Spine Launcher much meliorate

Talents

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

Unmodified, the base damage on Stukov'south basic attack is 262 damage. Pre-patch spine launcher reduced his bones attack damage to 131, while post patch reduces his basic attack damage to 183.4. This represents a xl% buff to Stukov'southward harm output with Spine Launcher.

Tyrande
D build ameliorate, W build worse

Talents

• Level seven
  • Huntress' Fury (D)
    • Added functionality:
      • At present also increases the range of Hunter'due south Marking by 50%

Huntress Fury, in add-on to causing Tyrande'south basic attacks against marked targets to splash in a 7 meter radius, at present 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 simply provided 4s CDR per hitting, and the pre-patch 4s base CDR + 4s CDR per hitting. Owl has gone from xviii/fourteen/10/half dozen/2 to xiv/x/6/two/0 to 16/12/viii/4/0, based on the number of enemies hit, over the final few patches.

Chen
7 tier merely got even *more than* 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

Chen continues to become some… curious… changes. Chen's level 7 talent tier is now as follows:

• Brewmaster's Remainder: While at or below l Brew, proceeds 20% Movement Speed. While at or above fifty Brew, regenerate an additional 18 Wellness per second.
• Bolder Flavor: Fortifying Brew instantly Shields you for 318 HP. Additionally, Shields persists for one extra second after you end drinking.
• And the buffed Purifying Brew: The side by side Stun or Silence used against you has its duration reduced by 75% and resets the cooldown of Fortifying Mash. Tin can only trigger once every 15 seconds. Additionally, Chen gains xxx spell armor while channeling Fortifying Mash.

This is a *stacked* level 7 tier, and merely got more than 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 articulate slowed downwardly

Stats

• Basic Set on damage reduced from 105 to 100

Abilities

• Dark Swarm (West)
  • 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 Nighttime Swarm from 350 damage to 329 damage. Combined, these two changes combined constitute a decent nerf to Dehaka's moving ridge clear and teamfight harm. This pushes back Dehaka's breakpoints for wave articulate past 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 set on.

Garrosh
Small nerfs overall, minor buff to Trunk Check build

Abilities

• Groundbreaker (Q)
  • Mana cost increased from thirty 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 toll was increased from 90 to 105, a 16.vii% increase. Decimate had its mana cost slightly reduced so 3 charges toll 75 mana instead of xc.

Talents

• Level 1
  • Body Check (Agile)
    • Cooldown decreased from 20 to 16 seconds
• Level 7
  • Into the Fray (Active)
    • Cooldown increased from thirty to 40 seconds

The cooldown changes to Body Bank check and Into the Fray shouldn't significantly alter their usage as both cooldowns are still too long to meet multiple uses in a fight. This change does make the level 20 upgrade to Body Check, Inner Rage, amend by increasing the likelihood that the cooldown reduction will requite 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 sixty seconds

Entomb is now in between the pre-rework fifty second cooldown and the post-rework 75 second cooldown. The more meaning 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.

Wow, honey the new formatting!

Overnice analysis, I like it

johnsonened1977.blogspot.com

Source: https://tl.net/forum/heroes/527037-hots-mots-kelthuzad-balance-patch-analysis

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