Balance Patch V1.0.2

Introduction

Greetings Champions! 

As the dust settles on our momentous V1 release we’re already looking ahead to the future. 

V1.1 is mere weeks away, and brings a brand new original Hero, joining the ranks of Argus, Zarus and Kira! That’s not all though, as the update brings many highly requested features such as mouse and keyboard support for consoles, PS5 trophies and more!

But enough about V1.1 - let’s focus instead on the smaller, more balance focused V1.0.2 patch.

It’s not just balance changes though, V1.0.2 brings the highly demanded legendary Doomsday Steel skin alongside all-new variants.

Let’s jump right in!

Store News

Doomsday Steel [Legendary]

Foretell the end for your enemies and prepare for Doomsday, with the Steel’s new Doomsday Skin!

Available in Store in the skins tab or in the following limited-time Bundles:

Clockwork Revenant [Uncommon]

Stick up your targets in steampunk style, with Revenant’s bronze-gilded new Clockwork skin!

Available in Store in the skins tab or in the following limited-time Bundles:

Punk Phase [Common]

Blast your foes green with envy and prove that your punk power is more than just a Phase, with her new Punk skin!

Available in Store in the skins tab.

Dark Heart Morigesh [Rare]

The Dark Heart of the swamp returns once more with a brand new bundle of variants!

Available in Store in the skins tab or in the following limited-time Bundles:

Hero Balance Changes

Alongside some general efficacy hits to both his Ultimate and early-game threat, Argus is receiving some reductions to Dread Nova’s hitbox to provide more room for counterplay following frequent community feedback that the ability can be frustrating to interact with. With the tighter hitbox, not only will the visuals be more representative of the actual damaging area, but it will also require more accuracy from Argus to land, allowing for more dodging opportunities and better rewarding skillful execution.

Aurora’s Ice Wall can be difficult for Allies to fully utilise before it melts away, so some additional movement speed is being granted to Heroes gliding on it to make it more quickly usable. Additionally, Boreal Sweep is receiving a reduction in raw damage in return for some additional uptime, further unwinding Aurora from excessive Ability Haste reliance and ensuring full-tank builds do not possess as much inherent burst damage.

Dekker’s general elusiveness and mobility is already on the high-end, made more extreme by her Movement Speed which exceeds many other ranged Heroes. She is receiving a reduction to her Movement Speed to reduce her general safety and roam effectiveness, providing more room for punishment should she overstep. 

Drongo’s ability to bully out a lane with poke and threaten all-ins provides him with too much general laning strength compared to other Carries. As a result, some general Ability damage is being stripped back to reduce Drongo’s general trading strength with him having to work a little harder to secure an advantage.

The previous set of changes to Feng Mao have seen him make a resurgence in the Jungle as we intended. However, his general ability to snowball out of control should he secure a lead can happen in extreme ways. Some general mobility and damage is being pulled back, especially in the case of his Basic Attacks, ensuring his ability to run away with a gold advantage is not as extreme.

Gideon struggles to keep pace with other Mages in the wave-clear department and is receiving some additional uptime to his Cosmic Rift Ability. Additionally, his Torn Space Ability is also receiving some additional uptime in the late-game, in return for a higher cooldown in the early game to ensure the window for punishing him while it is down is more present.

Grux often struggles to function in the later stages of a match due to his high cooldowns and lower general mobility. Some additional durability and ability uptime is being granted to him in the later stages of a match to reduce his overall Ability Haste reliance, improving his build options and better allowing him to swap between targets in a fight. 

Howitzer is seeing some of his damage redistributed away from his Basic Abilities and into his Ultimate, reducing his lane general poke potential in return for a higher impact moment when commiting to Make It Rain.

Similar to previous changes, Kwang is once again seeing a reduction in early game trading strength while in lane in return for some additional Ultimate damage, bringing more emphasis to his Level 6 spike. Some further uptime is also being granted to Judgement of the Heavens in the late-game, better allowing him to string combos together in teamfights.

Lt.Belica received a meaningful bump in strength with her last set of changes but still struggles to keep pace in the Midlane in terms of waveclear. Void Bomb is being granted some additional strength to further bridge this waveclear gap.

Murdock’s Long Arm Of The Law has very high uptime and global presence in the earlier stages of a match. Not only does this heavily impact other lanes, but it can also accelerate his strength independent of how well he is playing in the lane when picking up stray kills. An increase to its cooldown is being levied to ensure Murdock’s general global presence is no longer as high, bringing more emphasis to every Ultimate he uses.

Some changes are being made to Muriel’s abilities. Firstly, we’re bringing greater efficacy and emphasis to Alacrity, allowing for more frequent use as it is frequently an afterthought in her ability rotations. Likewise, Serenity’s Slow is receiving some changes, providing less efficacy in the early game in return for far more potency when levelled, thereby acting as a harsher form of disruption when Muriel wishes to peel away or catch out a target in fights.

Phase is receiving a suite of minor changes aimed at improving her general agency throughout a match. This can be seen through additional basic attack strength, providing a higher reward for playing aggressive in lane; more scaling across her kit, and a larger jolt of Movement Speed to Hyperflux that will better allow it to serve as a go-button when looking to capitalise on enemy mistakes. 

The previous set of changes to Rampage have successfully facilitated a return to form in the Jungle. While we’re continuing to monitor his strength as the dust continues to settle, a small hit to his early-game clear speed is being levied to ensure he does not outpace other Junglers too heavily.

Riktor is once again receiving a bump to his Electrocute’s uptime and scaling, further pushing his ability to perform in the Jungle and Offlane - Roles where he relies on it most.

Serath is receiving some additional Mana efficiency and Heaven’s Fury damage, better pushing her ability to perform in the Offlane and reciprocate early pressure against some of her harder matchups.

Shinbi can struggle to have a direct impact, often taking too long to scale-up to the point she can win duels, just to struggle again once end-game fights occur. While further power could be pushed into her Line Tempo and All-Kill to make her more of a damage threat, this tends to be the least interactive aspect when playing against Shinbi as she can choose to play passively. Instead, we’re providing her with some further aggressive incentives, with Circle Rhythm and Rushing Beat now granting some additional damage and shielding, better allowing her to take duels and further rewarding her for getting up close and personal.

Sevarog is receiving a shift to Colossal Blow’s damage profile, with some of the base damage being redistributed into scaling to further ensure a full-tank Sevarog does not output unreasonably high levels of burst damage given how difficult he can become to take down in the later stages of a match.

Terra is once again receiving a decrease to her durability, as well as a significant hit to Ruthless Assault’s empowered damage. The combination of these changes will reduce her general strength in lane, while also providing a better balance between durability and damage based on the Items she invests in.

Fey is receiving a significant set of changes aimed at improving the general responsiveness and enjoyment of playing her, opening up her skill orders and lean away from passive waveclearing, as well as providing more pronounced moments of strength. This can be seen in the form of more consistency from her Harvest Nettles as we improve its responsiveness and its ability to chain hits together, more incentive to invest in her Bramble Patch as a control tool now that it provides a stronger scaling Slow, and a sharper burst of speed when she secures a Takedown. 

TwinBlast’s early game can feel too scripted around his Vaporize trades, otherwise feeling rather underwhelming until he hits his Item spikes. To help provide him with more agency in the early game some additional bonus Attack Speed is being granted to his Passive, further incentivizing ability weaving between Basic Attacks, as well as a slight bump in damage to his earlier Ultimates to grant him more consistent early-game impact.

Zinx  has emerged as an extremely capable Support, with her general healing output and versatility outshining much of the roster and requiring the need for some hits. To start with, reductions to her overall healing capabilities are needed to ensure she does not stifle aggressive plays too effectively. This is being done in the form of a general decrease to Infuse’s potency and the bonus healing offered by Triage Protocol. Additionally, she is seeing a shift in early-game mana economy to further discourage passively spamming heals in lane instead of being aggressive with Bad Medicine. Finally, there is a reduction in the Revival window of Neural Regenesis, allowing enemies to wait-out its duration more easily should she jump the gun.

Item Balance Changes

Carry:

Some additional Ability Haste is being granted to Nuclear Rounds, further differentiating it and facilitating builds revolving around a heavier emphasis on Ability usage. 

• Ability Haste increased from 15 to 20.

Assassin:

Envy contributes to frustrating moments of gameplay and a feeling of inadequate counterplay due to the combination of damage and disruption it provides. General reductions to its overall strength are being levied to ensure there is an adequate opportunity cost when purchasing it over other damage options, and that its Silence does not feel as oppressive to be hit by.

• Physical Penetration decreased from 7 to 6.

• Sacrificial Strike Duration decreased from 3 to 2.5.

• Hush Silence Duration decreased from 1s to 0.8s.0

Since the previous change to Cinder’s stacking, Infernum has naturally lost some of its general potency. Now that the abuse-cases are far less frequent, we can provide it with some additional upfront strength, allowing it to serve as a more relevant anti-tank option for Assassins in need.

• Cinder Max Health Damage increased from 3.5% to 4%.

Malady’s ability to blast through Minions and Monsters thanks to Parting Gift’s AoE damage can lead to excessive clear speeds, often contributing to an extreme shift in Jungle pace, and an accelerated lack of interaction in lane as it begins to cull waves with ease. To ensure game pace does not shift as aggressively when Malady is acquired. Parting Gift is seeing a reduction in its AoE damage output.

• Parting Gift Damage decreased from 25% to 20%.

Both Mesmer and Spellbreaker are seeing an increase to their Spellshield cooldowns to ensure there is an adequate amount of time to capitalise on them once popped. However, Mesmer is receiving some additional Physical Power to ensure it provides a comparable spike in power when foregoing other alternatives.

• Physical Power increased from 40 to 45.

• Vengeful Shroud Cooldown increased from 45 to 60.

Fighter:

Basilisk is receiving an increase to Eminence’s Missing Health damage as it currently struggles to serve as an effective response to tankier targets now that they are more prevalent in matches.

• Eminence Missing Health Damage increased from 3% to 3.5%.

Bonesaw is receiving some additional ramping Attack Speed, better allowing it to serve those Bruisers seeking to ramp up their damage over the course of a fight, especially against those chunkier targets.

• Colossal Sunder Bonus Attack Speed increased from 10% to 12%.

Draconum aims to provide Fighters with a healthy injection of Physical Armor, allowing them to continue their investment in Bruiser Itemsation without the need for another option when heavier Physical Armor investment is not required. However, the current amount of Physical Armor it provides falls short of acting as a solid single source so an additional chunk is being granted. 

• Physical Armor increased from 35 to 40.

Earthshaker’s stats were stripped back a bit too heavily since its switchover to Ability Haste. It is regaining the Attack Speed it lost to better allow it to stand out to the various Heroes it pairs with.

• Attack Speed increased from 25 to 30.

Legacy is another Item that does not provide an adequate amount of protections in a single slot. Like Draconum, it is receiving a bump to its Magical Armor to make it more impactful as a standalone defensive option.

• Magical Armor increased from 30 to 35.

Mage:

Lifebinder struggles to find its place in many builds given its relatively niche use-cases and the strength of its competing options. Some additional Ability Haste is being added to better allow it to justify its place in builds further and allowing it to compete more readily with other Haste options.

• Ability Haste increased from 10 to 15.

Contrary to its use-case, Magnify’s Shred effect struggles to havea meaningful impact when used against an Enemy stacking a ton of Magical Armor. Some additional Shred potency is being granted to allow it to better exist as an appropriate response when dealing with tankier targets.

• Arcana Magical Armor Shred increased from 15% to 20%.

Orb requires a significant time investment to receive a return from. Even when it is fully evolved, for Heroes other than Iggy it often struggles to justify the investment compared to simply opting for other sources of Health with more immediate return. Some additional Health is being given to its Enlightened effect, better rewarding those Magical Bruisers that delay their tempo in order to get it online, further closing the gap between other options such as Magnify and Elafrost. 

• Enlightened Health per Level increased from 12 to 15.

Spellbreaker, like Mesmer, is receiving a cooldown increase to its Spellshield to ensure there is an adequate window of opportunity to play for after it has been popped.

• Veil Cooldown increased from 45 to 60.

Support:

Health is a bit of a luxury Stat for Supports, with few Items providing it in meaningful bulks. In its absence it can feel difficult to pair Armor heavy options such as Galaxy Greaves or Hexbound into a build, oftentimes  feeling far more optimal to forego traditional Support options for the likes of Raiment to get the Health injection needed. Dawnstar is receiving a bump in Health to help rectify this and allow for a cleaner 1-2 pairing between more Items.

• Health increased from 250 to 300.

Lunaria is once again receiving a hit to its Healing efficacy and stack generation due to its inherent synergy with Zinx and the abnormal levels of healing it allows a hybrid Healer like her to put out. 

• Incandescence Max Healing decreased from 100-300 to 100-250.

• Incandescence Damage stored decreased from 30% to 25%.

Marshal exists as the go-to item for the majority of Ranged Supports, simply outshining other options due to how well rounded it is. To bring it back into greater contention with other options and make it less of a catch-all, some of its Mana Regen is being stripped back.

• Base Mana Regen decreased from 125% to 100%.

Tank:

Similar to other Items, Elafrost is another defensive option that does not provide enough Physical Armor as a standalone Item which leads to many builds feeling required into further Physical Armor investment to hit an adequate Armor threshold. An exchange of Health for Armor is being given to better allow it to serve a Hero’s Physical Armor needs and further allow investment in alternative non-Physical Armor pairings.

• Health decreased from 400 to 350.

• Physical Armor increased from 30 to 35.

Similar to Elaforst, Giant’s Ring is being granted some additional Physical Armor in exchange for a reduction in Health, further reducing some of the excess Health offered across Tank Items and further specialising it as a Physical Armor option. 

• Health decreased from 350 to 300

• Physical Armor increased from 45 to 50.

Raiment offers too much raw bulk on initial purchase given its strong regenerative capabilities. Due to this, many Support Heroes opt to rush it first and forego other options which can lead to abnormal bumps in durability, while also shutting down a lot of interactivity in lane due to the regeneration effects. While this is a problem we will be addressing fully at a future date, for now Raiment is seeing a reduction in Health to ensure the durability spike is at a more reasonable level. 

• Health decreased from 700 to 650.

While Warden’s exists to provide a strong counter-option when dealing with multiple Critical Strike threats, it should still feel valid to pick up when looking to deal with a strong threat. It is currently too specialised and can feel underwhelming when dealing with anyone other than the Critical Strike dealer. To bring more generic strength to the Item, some additional Physical Power reduction is being granted to Mocking Presence, better allowing it to bring value against alternate Physical Damage sources such as Assassins and Fighters. 

• Mocking Presence Physical Power reduction increased from 5% to 8%.

That’s all for now!

1.0.2 might be a lighter patch than our recent 1.0 update, but rest assured 1.1 is shaping up nicely. In fact we could say we think you’ll have a BLAST playing with the new Hero ;) 

Until next time,

Rei, Alex & Kari

Game Design and Community @ Omeda Studios