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Design[ | ]

  • The focus of this balance patch lies in two places:
    • To further diversify our hero pool and readjust changes made from the previous big balance patch.
    • Alter some of the overarching game systems to promote more healthy gameplay in both normal and casual mode.

New Hero[ | ]

  • New Legion Agility Hero: Nitro Nitro
Nitro is a fragile but powerful carry hero who shines most when they stay far away from opponents, peppering them with Ballistic shots while hidden behind the forest's shroud of trees. Nitro has the rare trait of not having a right-click auto attack; in its place they have Ballistic, which allows them to shoot a long-range attack while moving.

Nitro Lore[ | ]

The Death Prowlers are a tribe of bandits from the southern fringes of The Great Waste. Long before the Legion of Man and Beast Horde warily joined forces against the Hellbourne, the Death Prowlers worked as close tandems of human and creature, forming agile hit-and-run teams that survive by maximizing the benefits of strategy and instinct, intelligence and savagery. Their bond is lifelong and essential for survival--if one dies, the other cannot bear to live.
Even in a tribe of rambunctious bandits, the duo known as Nitro stands out as a live wire. This hunter-killer team is a perfect blend of aggression and composure. The driver, Mauser, knows exactly how to move and position the team for optimal kinetic impact, while the gunner, Psychopop, just likes to blow stuff up.

Nitro Attacks & Abilities[ | ]

Psychopop (Gunner) & Mauser (Driver)

Ability 1: Nitro Ballistic Ballistic

  • Nitro fires a long-range attack in the target direction.
  • Activate to fire an attack toward the cursor that hits up to 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 enemies, dealing Nitro's attack damage to all enemies hit.
  • If the target is an enemy hero, Nitro gains a charge granting 10 Attack Speed. Max 0, 2, 3, 4, 5 charges.
  • Mana cost of Ballistic increases by 1 mana per hero level of Nitro.
  • If detached from Mauser, range is increased to 1500.
  • Item proc effects work only on the first enemy hit with Ballistic.
  • Ballistic is a replacement for Nitro's Auto Attack.
  • Ballistic's cooldown is tied to Nitro's attack cooldown.

Ability 2: Nitro Divide & Conquer Divide & Conquer / Nitro Lock & Load Lock & Load

  • Divide & Conquer (Attached)
    • Nitro detaches from Mauser Mauser, sending him to melee attack their enemies.
  • Lock & Load (Separated)
    • Mauser teleports and reattaches to Nitro.
  • Activate to cause Nitro to detach from Mauser, sending him to target location.
  • Passively gain bonus damage on Ballistic equal to 0, 1, 2.5, 4, 5.5% of the distance traveled by Ballistic.
  • While detached, Nitro is immobilized and Ballistic range is increased to 1500.
  • In addition, control is switched over to Mauser who inherits attributes equal to 100% plus 2 x Nitro's level in damage.
  • If Mauser is killed, Nitro will also perish.
  • Divide and Conquer can be cast while silenced.
  • Activate again to initiate Lock & Load.

Ability 3: Nitro Runaround Runaround

  • Nitro and Mauser burst with energy becoming evasive and slowing nearby enemies.
  • Activate to cause Nitro and Mauser to gain 100% Evasion for 2.5, 3.25, 4, 4.75 seconds.
  • While Runaround is active, Nitro and Mauser receive an aura that applies a 20, 25, 30, 35% Movement Speed slow to nearby enemy units.
  • Runaround cannot be cast if either Nitro or Mauser are silenced or stunned.

Ability 4: Nitro HEAT Round HEAT Round (High Explosive Anti-Tank)

  • Ballistic applies stacks that can detonate.
  • Passively causes Ballistic to apply HEAT Round stacks to enemy heroes hit for 5 seconds.
  • Upon reaching 3 stacks, the stacks detonate dealing 150, 250, 350 Physical Damage.
  • Staff of the Master effect:
    • Upon reaching 3 stacks, also sends 4 projectiles out from the target.
    • Each projectile deals 100, 150, 200 Physical Damage and detonates any HEAT Round stacks on the first enemy hero hit.
  • New Debut Edition Nitro Avatar: Marauder Marauder
Death's Cradle is a valley that slithers between Darkwood Vale and the Rulian Marsh. It is a shadowed land full of man-eating plants and insects, quickmuck, cannibalistic tribes, and the sole location in Newerth where the legendary Hellflower grows.
Marauders of the Scourge Tribe are partially raised by an elder Cradle beast from infancy, and the two companions build an unbreakable bond by drinking one another's blood. This connects them physically, emotionally, and spiritually, and makes them a terrifying enemy that has the ability to flank, surround, and overwhelm while fighting with one mind.
This reckless Death Prowler danced a little too close to Blackwal and fell into the clutches of Lord Salforis, who saw the potential for a devastating machine of necromancy in the aggressive duo and their war wagon. After agonizing torture, death, and reanimation, Danse Macabre churned through the gates of Blackwal, hungry to begin their grisly dance of death.
  • This avatar interacts with the Blackwal avatars.

General[ | ]

  • Nitro's theme music added to Mid Wars and Forests of Caldavar lobbies.
  • A new visually improved area cast targeting indicator has been added to some abilities.

Gameplay Features[ | ]

Personal Courier[ | ]

  • Each player will now have their own personal courier. This courier will be invulnerable and cannot be controlled outside of delivering items directly between your stash and hero.
  • The courier in its current form focuses on self-satisfaction of delivering your items but comes at the cost of a shared resource: time. Time is invaluable; the difference between getting your bottle 2 minutes earlier, your key item before a big team fight or wards while you have map positioning can mean victory instead of defeat. By introducing a personal courier, we expect players to spend less time fighting amongst teammates for their items and more time participating in the action.
  • Courier models are now selected in the vault, and can no longer be changed in-game.

Gameplay Changes[ | ]

Wards[ | ]

In addition to removing the tedium of micromanaging the courier, we've also reduced the necessity for additional vision sources to de-ward.
  • Ward of Revelation Wards of Revelation: Upon placement, will additionally grant vision of all enemy Wards of Sight and enemy Wards of Revelation in the area for 12 seconds.
    • Enemy wards placed after your Ward of Revelation is placed will not be detected through fog.

Tower Targeting[ | ]

You will no longer be targeted by the tower over lane creeps due to proximity.
  • Tower default attack behavior will now prioritize lane creeps over heroes.

Laning[ | ]

The high variance in levels between solo and dual lanes oftentimes forces a Jungler or discourages participation in the lane. The Jungler role is intended to be optional, not mandatory. To encourage more diverse team rosters, we've placed more emphasis on dual lanes by granting more experience exclusive to lane partners.
  • Lane creeps now yield 20% additional experience if at least one other allied hero is present.

Pushing & Resources[ | ]

Deconstructing the gameplay, we've noticed that the game has been centralized around denying the enemy the few available resources on the map. This has caused the game to focus very heavily on grouping up early to force constant teamfights. In doing so, a defending team that is behind has very limited opportunities to respond, often resulting in long, delayed base turtling which isn't fun for either side.
To help address this, we are increasing both the pushing potential and resources of creeps much sooner in the game. Pushing with lane creeps will become much more effective while pushing strategies without creeps will become less effective.
  • Tower attack damage increased from 110/130/152 to 110/160/210 to tiers 1/2/3 respectively.
  • Tier 3 tower armor lowered from 25 to 18.
    • Tier 4 towers still have 30 Armor.
  • Tower health increased from 1300/1600 to 1500/1900.
  • Melee Lane Creeps attack damage multiplier against towers increased from 0.7 to 1.0.
  • Ranged Lane Creeps attack damage multiplier against towers increased from 0.35 to 0.7.
  • Creep damage and health upgrade interval decreased from 7 minutes to 5 minutes.
  • Lane creeps will now gain +5 movement speed every 5 minutes.

Normal Mode[ | ]

Gold Changes[ | ]

We are taking a directional approach towards focusing on a baseline of individual progression. Similar to the existing bounty mechanics that increase the worth of higher GPM players, we are introducing bounty reductions and reduced gold loss on death targeted at underperforming players.
  • Hero bounties can now be reduced by up to 50% based on that hero's GPM versus the game's average GPM.
  • Hero bounties proximity gold per level decreased from 7 to 5.
  • Hero gold base bounties increased from 200 to 250.
  • Gold given for ending kill streaks increased from 25 to 50.
  • Gold loss on death can now be reduced by up to 50% based on that hero's GPM versus the game's average GPM.
  • Gold loss on death per level decreased from 25 to 20.

Experience Changes[ | ]

The current distribution of experience has two flaws with it:
  • It largely favors players who survive on the outskirts of the fight even if they contributed the least.
  • It punishes those who are first to engage even if they contributed the most.
These flaws create a high level of disparity among teammates and cause players to not be properly rewarded for their contributions. Distributing experience to dead players who have earned valid assists and kills in combat will serve as a level equalizer, lowering the incentive to strictly survive and allow players to still progress in levels even if they're severely behind.
  • Players will now split hero kill experience with other players in range, even if they are dead, as long as they contributed to the hero kill.
  • Hero EXP base bounty decreased from 90 to 75.
  • EXP from hero kills rescaled from 90 per level to 65 : 5 additional increment per level.

Pacing Changes[ | ]

  • 4th Melee Creep now spawns at 11 minutes instead of 15 minutes.
  • 2nd Ranged Creep now spawns at 22 minutes instead of 32 minutes.
  • 5th Melee Creep now spawns at 33 minutes instead of 43 minutes.

Casual Mode[ | ]

Casual Mode does a great job of ramping up action and resources, however the sudden destruction of the base from one team fight can leave a game feeling incomplete and you dissatisfied. We are toning down some of the rapid power spikes that occur from hero deaths and moving towards a more consistent game pacing.
  • Towers' armor reduction while heroes are dead decreased from 20% per hero to 10% per hero.
  • Respawn timers have been adjusted slightly to increase the window of opportunity for teams to push after killing an enemy.

Gold Changes[ | ]

  • Hero Gold Bounties decreased from 350 to 300.
  • Hero Gold Bounties per level increased from 10 to 12.
  • Gold tick increased from 88.88 to 100 GPM.
  • Tower team gold decreased from 300,350,400,450 to 250,275,300,300.

Experience Changes[ | ]

  • Hero EXP base bounty decreased from 85 to 65.
  • EXP required to level has been increased by about 5-15%. Levels 1-10 will have the most significant increase while levels 20-25 will have the least increase

Pacing Changes[ | ]

  • 4th Melee Creep spawns at 9 minutes instead of 10 minutes.
  • 5th Melee Creep spawns at 28 minutes instead of 33 minutes.
  • 6th Melee Creep spawns at 41 minutes instead of 50 minutes.
  • 2nd Ranged Creep spawns at 18 minutes instead of 32 minutes.

Hero Balance[ | ]

The following hero has been added to Tournament Rules:

The following heroes have been removed from Tournament Rules:

Arachna Arachna

Arachna's Precision had too much overlap with Andromeda's Dimensional Link and Moon Queen's Lunar Glow auras. Arachna now gains a bonus percentage increase on Physical Damage when damaging units, based on how much health they are missing. This helps Arachna's lane dominance and mid-game viability, granting her amazing damage output and crippling power against a single target.
  • Arachna Harden Carapace Harden Carapace
    • Can be activated while Stunned or Silenced when this skill is level 2 or higher.
    • Cooldown increased from 22/20/18/16 seconds to 28/28/22/16 seconds.
  • Arachna Precision Precision
    • Passively grants True Strike to allies within 900 radius at level 4 of the skill.
    • Passively increases Arachna's Attack Damage by up to 40/60/80/100% when damaging a non-building target based on how much Health they are missing.
      • Minimum of 10% bonus Attack Damage dealt; maximum of 120 bonus Physical Damage dealt.
      • Deals 50% of the bonus damage against non-hero units.
      • Attack Damage increase gradient is linear.

Artillery Artillery

Artillery has been shining a little too brightly since the rework and a cost increase to his LRM will allow for a little more thought when using the ability.
  • Artillery LRM LRM
    • Mana cost increased from 10 to 15.

Behemoth Behemoth

A small readjustment from his previous buffs. Although Merrick's Bounty is a key component to his spike in wins, we feel the new numbers on Enrage are more well-rounded.
  • Behemoth Enrage Enrage
    • Bonus damage on next attack decreased from 100/175/275/375% to 100/175/250/325% of your Base Damage.

Calamity Calamity

Calamity's ultimate was providing too much free initiation for a ranged carry and we had to rein it in a bit. A slight mana cost increase on her Firebomb will make her mana management a little more crucial.
  • Calamity Firebomb Firebomb
    • Mana cost increased from 85/90/95/100 to 80/95/110/125.
  • Calamity Sunder's Vault Sunder's Vault
    • Range decreased from 1500 to 1200.

Chronos Chronos

Chronos is a hard carry and is meant to be played that way. However, competitors began using Chronos as a suicide initiator and it was causing Chronos to become more of a nuisance than a true carry hero. The changes below are aimed at making Chronos less reliable as a ganker and more reliable as a carry.
  • Chronos Curse of Ages Curse of Ages
    • Chance now starts at 0% and increases by 5/6/7/8% every time Chronos attacks a non-building unit.
      • Skill will not proc immediately after another proc; at least 1 attack must happen before the skill can proc again.
      • Automatically procs on 12th attack no matter what.
    • Timer for charge loss adjusted from 8/7/6/5 seconds to 7 seconds.
    • All charges are now lost when the timer on Curse of Ages expires.
    • Procs deal 2x damage to targets affected by Chronofield.

Deadlift Deadlift

Deadlift's design is focused around a very strong early game. He is meant to crush his lane and push down towers, and then fall off hard in the late game. His laning is very frustrating to deal with and his late game is almost non-existent. We are hoping to pull this back a bit and look at him some more for the next balance patch if needed.
  • Deadlift Death Grip Death Grip
    • Increased the max channel duration from 2.6 seconds to 4.6 seconds so it can travel further.
      • Still requires a channel time of 2 seconds to receive the max immobilize duration.
    • Only travels up to a maximum of 1000 units if the channel is canceled.
    • You no longer need to activate the ability a second time for it to be able to travel the full 3300 range.
  • Deadlift Onslaught Onslaught
    • Cooldown decreased from 25 to 25/23/21/19.
    • Attack speed reduced from 50/75/100/125 to 20/50/80/110.
  • Deadlift The Dead Shall Rise The Dead Shall Rise
    • Damage reduced on active from 90/110/130/150 to 75/100/125/150.

Deadwood Deadwood

Deadwood has transitioned into an anti-strength hero rather than an anti-everything hero. This change was healthy for diversity; however, the feel and impact Deadwood left in a game went down. To compensate for that loss in feel, we have made the following changes:
  • Deadwood Rotten Grasp Rotten Grasp
    • Now does Physical Damage over time instead of Magic Damage over time.
      • Cast effect type is still Magic.
    • Damage reduced from 150/200/250/300 to 100/150/200/250 Physical Damage.
  • Deadwood Willowmaker Willowmaker
    • Deals 250/475/725 Physical Damage and 19 x 35% of the target's Strength in bonus Physical Damage.
    • Now gives Deadwood 35% of the target's Strength for 7 seconds after hitting them.
    • Still applies the Stun and Slow.

Defiler Defiler

Defiler has lost her way as a massive "teamfight" hero with amazing push capabilities. With these changes we are increasing her push capabilities immensely, making Defiler one of the premiere pushers in Newerth.
  • Base Strength increased from 19 to 23.
  • Defiler Unholy Expulsion Unholy Expulsion
    • Number of spirits spawned increased from 5/10/16 to 7/12/17.
      • Number of bonus spirits from Power in Death remains the same, effectively increasing the number of spirits Defiler has by 2/2/1.
    • Staff of the Master Added
      • 1500 cast range.
      • Activating this ability again while the spirits are active will quickly send them toward the target.
      • Targeting enemy units and structures will send the spirits to attack once and then return to Defiler.
        • Spirits deal 80% of their regular damage when using this ability.
      • Targeting an allied hero will consume all spirits, healing the target for half of their stored damage.
      • While Defiler's spirits are alive, the second activation has a 6-second cooldown after being used.

Flint Beastwood Flint Beastwood

Flint has been a staple in HoN since the beginning, but we felt the ability to gank him successfully was too easy to accomplish. The following changes are meant to make him have a more solid interaction with his abilities and offset some of his weaknesses.
  • Flint Beastwood Explosive Flare Explosive Flare
    • Cast range increased from 800 to 900.
    • Projectile speed increased from 2000 to 2200.
  • Flint Beastwood Hollowpoint Shells Hollowpoint Shells
    • Now has a 100% chance to proc when attacking out of Dead Eye's fully faded invisibility.
  • Flint Beastwood Dead Eye Dead Eye
    • Increases day and night vision radius by 50/100/150/200 units.
    • While standing still, Flint Beastwood fades into invisibility over 1.5 seconds.
  • Flint Beastwood Money Shot Money Shot
    • Mana cost decreased from 175/275/375 to 150/250/350.

Forsaken Archer Forsaken Archer

For a long time now Forsaken Archer has overlapped heroes like Draconis and, to a degree, Klanx. We want Forsaken Archer to be the go-to option for an AoE Magic damage-dealing carry, and boy is she. With this, we realize that Draconis will need a rework as well and that is coming in an upcoming patch!
  • Forsaken Archer Crippling Volley Crippling Volley
    • Cooldown increased from 10 to 18/16/14/12 seconds.
    • Forsaken Archer now leaves a Skeletal Minion behind to cast the ability instead of casting it herself, allowing her to cast it without interrupting her other orders.
  • Forsaken Archer Split Fire Split Fire
    • Can be toggled on and off on a 1-second cooldown.
    • While toggled on:
      • Increases damage taken by 15% but grants 10/15/20/25 Attack Speed and splits your attacks into 2/3/4/5, each dealing 50/60/70/80% of damage.
      • Main target takes full damage.
  • Forsaken Archer Call of the Damned Call of the Damned
    • You no longer collect or store Skeletal Minions by gaining last hits.
    • Now passively grants a 10% chance to spawn an archer any time Forsaken Archer or any of her units deal non-dot damage.
    • The archer will attack 1 time dealing 10/20/30/40% of your attack damage in magic damage and disappear.
      • Archers can spawn more archers themselves, provided the chance procs. They deal 10/20/30/40% of Forsaken Archer's Damage.
    • In addition, this effect is guaranteed to trigger on Forsaken Archer's attack whenever the ability is off cooldown (with a 5-second cooldown).
      • This also allows for 2 Skeletal Minions to spawn at the same time due to a proc.

Glacius Glacius

A new Staff of the Master to really help bring his ultimate into a masterful lockdown tool.
  • Glacius Glacial Downpour Glacial Downpour
    • Staff of the Master changes:
      • When activated you apply your current level of Ice Imprisonment to yourself.
      • Enemies who are hit by three shards of ice from this ability have your current level of Ice Imprisonment applied to them.
      • Staff of the Master no longer increases the damage dealt by this ability.

The Gladiator Gladiator

Gladiator's Call to Arms was available for too much of the game and was providing the 50% temporary damage reduction to allies for too long during teamfights. Therefore, these parameters got readjusted to more reasonable values.
  • The Gladiator Call to Arms Call to Arms
    • Cooldown increased from 70/60/50 seconds to 80/70/60 seconds.
    • Damage reduction duration reduced from 10 seconds to 5/6/7 seconds.

Gunblade Gunblade

Some solid buffs to help Gunblade during his solo harass and changes aimed at making him more gank-focused. Lethal Range will increase his farm but at a cost of placing himself in questionable positions.
  • Gunblade Lethal Range Lethal Range
    • Attacking a non-hero unit within 200 units of you grants 50% of the bonus damage you'd get against a hero.
  • Gunblade Grappling Shot Grappling Shot
    • Cooldown decreased from 90/75/60 seconds to 70/50/30 seconds.

Klanx Klanx

Klanx has had one defining problem: he has too much of an early game focus with such a hard carry kit. These changes are aimed at reducing his early game farm and his ability to escape that allowed him to snowball a bit too quickly.
  • Agility gain per level decreased from 3.0 to 2.8.
  • Klanx H.A.W.K. H.A.W.K.
    • Mana cost increased from 65 to 75.
    • State duration reduction when being attacked increased from 2.5 seconds per attack to 4 seconds per attack.
  • Klanx Goon Squad Goon Squad
    • The first minion (the one with Chain Lightning) and the second minion (the one with the Movement Speed Slow application) are switched.

Lord Salforis Lord Salforis

A hero that has always filled an extremely cool niche in the game but has never been fully explored by competitors and the public playerbase. These changes are intended to give Salforis a solid contribution to any lineup even if they are not centered around "anti-healing."
  • Base Damage increased from 47-57 to 53-57.
  • Magic Armor increased from 5 to 6.
  • Strength gain per level increased from 2.4 to 2.6.
  • Lord Salforis Mors Certissima Mors Certissima
    • Radius increased from 225 to 250.
  • Lord Salforis Dark Lord's Presence Dark Lord's Presence
    • Health Regeneration reduction on enemies and Health Regeneration steal changed from 50% to 30/45/60/75%.
    • Minimum True Damage per second increased from 10 to 15.
  • Lord Salforis The Undying The Undying
    • Staff of the Master
      • In addition to the soul mechanic you gain a bonus 20 Health Regeneration as well as a bonus 3 Health Regeneration per 100 HP of missing life while The Undying is active on a target.
      • Still keeps the soul gain on-kill benefit if someone dies while under the influence of the ultimate.

Magebane Magebane

Magebane now has slightly increased effectiveness against casters without changing his core playstyle.
  • Magic Armor increased from 5.5 to 7.
  • Magebane Mana Combustion Mana Combustion
    • Mana Combustion amount changed from 16/32/48/64 to 6/14/22/30 + 3/4/5/6% of the target's Max Mana.
  • Magebane Mana Rift Mana Rift
    • Radius increased from 325 to 375.

Moira Moira

Moira was providing too much frustration because of her immense utility alongside the safety of her Ephemeral Forge mimic. More counterplay was introduced for Mana Sunder and the overall effectiveness of Shards of Harkon was reduced slightly at all levels.
  • Moira Shards of Harkon Shards of Harkon
    • Stun duration decreased from 2 seconds to 1.25/1.5/1.75/2 seconds.
      • The duration was bugged to be 2 seconds at all levels; this is simply readjusting them to their intended numbers.
    • Magic Damage reduced from 70/140/210/280 to 70/120/170/220.
  • Moira Mana Sunder Mana Sunder
    • Is now purgeable (target regains their suppressed mana when the state is purged).

Moon Queen Moon Queen

The need to diversify our hero pool continues with this change, making her passive different from those of Arachna and Andromeda. At the same time this will increase her ability to target enemies with Moon Beam and Moon Finale during nighttime.
  • Moon Queen Lunar Glow Lunar Glow
    • In addition to its current benefits, Moon Queen's night vision radius is increased by 200/400/600/800 units.

Moraxus Moraxus

The buff to Moraxus was overshot slightly and with the Staff of the Master coming we decided to tone down the previous buff to compensate.
  • Moraxus Arcane Shield Arcane Shield
    • Bonus Attack Damage reduced from 60/80/100/120 to 40/60/80/100.
  • Moraxus Matraxe Matraxe
    • Staff of the Master
      • While Moraxus' ultimate is active, all damage he deals from all sources will shoot an axe toward the enemy.

Myrmidon Myrmidon

A readjustment from the buffs of the first balance patch to squeeze Myrmidon right where he needs to be.

Pandamonium Pandamonium

Pandamonium received some quality of life tweaks with all his spells. In particular, Face Smash comes out much quicker to reduce the chances of a target slipping away from a surprise gank or blink with Portal Key, while Flick's ridiculously high cooldown has been toned down to be available more often.
  • Base Intelligence increased from 15 to 17.
  • Pandamonium Flick Flick
    • Cooldown reduced from 24/22/20/18 seconds to 16/15/14/13 seconds.
    • Mana cost reduced from 85 to 65.
  • Pandamonium Cannon Ball Cannon Ball
    • Mana cost rescaled from 100 to 85/90/95/100.
  • Pandamonium Face Smash Face Smash
    • Cast action time reduced from 500ms to 350ms.
    • Mana cost reduced from 100/175/250 to 100/150/200.

Parallax Parallax

A hard carry like Parallax was peaking too high in the laning phase of the game due to the sheer strength of his Fulcrum Shift ability. We toned this down slightly and adjusted his ultimate, while adding a new Staff of the Master to keep one of our newer faces in Newerth up to date!
  • Parallax Fulcrum Shift Fulcrum Shift
    • Bonus Magic Damage decreased from 10% max mana + 0/65/85/85/105 to 8% max mana + 0/60/80/80/100.
  • Parallax Earthshatter Earthshatter
    • Amount of excess max mana required for a 4 Damage/second increase against an enemy hero increased from 100 max mana to 125 max mana.
    • A bug was fixed where Parallax was doing 20 damage per second less than intended after obtaining more mana than an enemy hero.
    • Staff of the Master added:
      • Causes this ability to deal Superior Magic damage and halves the cooldown at each level.

Pearl Pearl

Pearl lacked offensive presence in the laning phase and failed to peel people properly. With these changes, Pearl's Asphyxiate has more of an area of effect purge focus, rather than focusing on its single-target damage. Its damage and slow have been rescaled appropriately to be much more intimidating at level 1. Preservation plays a better role in peeling people away from Pearl's team with a slight stun airtime increase.
  • Pearl Asphyxiate Asphyxiate
    • Targetable on allies (purges debuffs, retains the second AoE burst effect against enemies).
    • Second burst radius increased from 300 to 400.
    • Second burst Magic Damage increased from 35/70/105/140 to 80/120/160/200.
    • Initial burst Magic Damage reduced from 35/70/105/140 to 30.
      • Total damage to a single target changed from 70/140/210/280 to 110/150/190/230.
    • Second burst Movement Speed slow duration increased from 0.6 seconds to 0.6/0.9/1.2/1.5 seconds.
    • Delay for second burst to occur reduced from 2 seconds to 1.5 seconds.
  • Pearl Preservation Preservation
    • Stun airtime increased from 1 second to 1.2 seconds.
    • Cast effect type changed from Magic to Superior Magic.
      • Push effect bypasses Magic Immunity.
    • Push distance properly adjusted to 600 units away from the center of the bubble.
      • Units were pushed back slightly less than intended if the target was closer to the edge of the bubble.
    • Cooldown reduced from 120/100/80 seconds to 100/85/70 seconds.

Pestilence Pestilence

Still a solid initiator that has simply lost a bit of its niche in the competitive scene. A slight increase in stun duration and damage will help Pestilence stay a relevant pick in the current meta.
  • Pestilence Impale Impale
    • Physical Damage increased from 50/100/150/200 to 75/125/175/225.
    • Stun duration increased from 1/1.25/1.5/1.75 seconds to 1.25/1.5/1.75/2 seconds.

Prophet Prophet

Prophet has suffered from a lack of a role or "Role Confusion" since his inception. The hero was not the best ganker, support, or semi-carry. These changes are aimed at making him less level-dependent and more of a hard support.
  • Prophet Raven Form Invigorate
    • Bonus Attack Speed increased from 50/100/150/200 to 100/200/200/200.
    • Number of attacks with the bonus Attack Speed rescaled from 2 attacks to 2/2/3/4 attacks.
  • Prophet Decelerate Persecution
    • Magic Damage readjusted from 35/40/45/50 to 25/35/45/55.
      • Initial hit deals 50 Magic Damage.
    • Max number of attacks that proc the ministun increased from 1/2/3/4 attacks to 2/3/4/5 attacks.
  • Prophet Shared Fate Shared Fate
    • The 50% Movement Speed Slow is no longer a tapering slow; it is always a 50% Movement Speed Slow now.
    • Cast range increased from 600 to 700.
    • Cast radius increased from 450 to 600.
    • Charge system removed from the skill.
    • Cooldown increased from 30 seconds to 100/80/60 seconds.
    • Mana cost increased from 75 to 100/150/200.
    • Duration readjusted from 7 seconds to 5/7/9 seconds.

Ravenor Ravenor

The original design for Ravenor was to get into a fight and deal more damage the longer he is in the fight. He was not intended to farm right before a teamfight and melt a target with max charges on his Power Overwhelming skill before they could react. Additionally, Ravenor's Power Overwhelming is the main problem due to a high power variance between 0 charges & maximum charges.
To better control this and prevent certain items from giving Ravenor a huge power spike, the proc mechanics of Power Overwhelming were changed to be gained only when damaging enemy heroes with Ravenor's auto attacks or his abilities.
To partially compensate for the loss of farm speed from the auto attacks on Power Overwhelming, Electrical Feedback was changed to deal more damage against non-hero units. It was also reworked to fit Ravenor's style of play by triggering on his auto attacks rather than ultimately acting as a "filler skill" and relying on enemies to attack him. It also gives Ravenor another reliable method of obtaining charges on Power Overwhelming due to the design changes on that skill.
  • Ravenor Electrical Feedback Electrical Feedback
    • Passively shocks the target and 2 enemy units within 400 radius every 2 auto attacks, dealing 10/20/30/40 Magic Damage.
    • Prioritizes enemy heroes.
    • Deals 300% more damage against non-hero units (40/80/120/160 Magic Damage).
    • Activate to gain 15/30/45/60 Attack Speed for 6 seconds.
    • Mana cost: 40/50/60/70.
    • Cooldown: 12 seconds.
  • Ravenor Power Overwhelming Power Overwhelming
    • Charges are now only gained when ability damage and auto attack damage is dealt against enemy heroes.
    • Charge gain per instance of ability damage and auto attack damage increased from 4 to 7.
    • Max charges increased from 100 to 125.
    • Bonus Movement Speed per charge decreased from 0.75/1/1.25 to 0.6/0.8/1.
    • Bonus Damage per charge decreased from 1/1.5/2 to 0.8/1.2/1.6.
      • Same maximum potential bonus Movement Speed and bonus Damage.
    • A minimum of 25 charges is obtained on Ravenor when he deals ability damage or auto attack damage against an enemy hero.

Riftwalker Riftwalker

An overall buff to Riftwalker's laning presence to make her a more viable support pick-up amongst her competitors.
  • Riftwalker Rift Burn Rift Burn
    • Radius increased from 150 to 200 for the initial Magic Damage burst.
    • Radius increased from 300 to 400 for the continuous Magic Damage pulses.
    • Magic Damage pulse interval decreased from 1 second to 0.75 seconds.
    • Now lasts 4.5 seconds, down from 6.
      • Total damage output remains the same.

Riptide Riptide

We are honing in on where Riptide should be playing with her water mechanic and these changes are to facilitate these adjustments.
  • Riptide Undertow Undertow
    • Puddle duration increased from 3 to 4 seconds.
    • Slow duration increased from 3 to 4 seconds.
  • Riptide In My Element In My Element
    • Cooldown reduced from 45 to 20 seconds.
  • Riptide Eye of the Storm Eye of the Storm
    • Now twice as easy to control.
    • Touch radius against heroes for the explosion reduced from 200 to 150.
    • Cooldown increased from 80 to 100/90/80 seconds.

Scout Scout

Some minor quality of life changes for a hero that is underperforming. The focus on Vanish should help players roam more efficiently and gain better positioning in team fights.
  • Scout Vanish Vanish
    • Cooldown reduced from 15/12/9/6 seconds to 12/10/8/6 seconds.
    • Movement Speed bonus increased from 10/12/14/16% to 10/15/20/25%.

Silhouette Silhouette

A small tweak to her ultimate to allow players ganking Silhouette to have a small window in which they can attack before she swaps.

Succubus Succubus

Succubus is the single-target debilitator hero, and is also the iconic hero for winning 1v1 mid lanes the vast majority of the time. Though she has this niche, she has always failed to consistently capitalize on her lead because her ultimate is not available to her for a large part of the early game. These changes are aimed at allowing her to capitalize on her laning phase advantage.
  • Succubus Smitten Smitten
    • Cast action time reduced from 500ms to 300ms.
    • Target's damage output reduction adjusted from 40% to 26/34/42/50%.
    • Duration increased from 4/8/12/16 seconds to 10/12/14/16 seconds.
  • Succubus Mesmerize Mesmerize
    • Succubus can cancel Mesmerize on herself at any time.
    • Cooldown decreased from 15 seconds to 15/14/13/12 seconds.
    • Cast range increased from 500/550/600/650 to 500/575/650/725.
    • Cast action time decreased from 500ms to 400ms.
  • Succubus Cursed Embrace Cursed Embrace
    • Cooldown decreased from 120/100/80 seconds to 100/85/70 seconds.

Tundra Tundra

A hero that fills a unique niche in our game of map control has been outdone by the recent addition of Veiled Rot. We decided rather than having Veiled Rot counter Tundra, Tundra should counter it.
  • Magic Armor decreased from 5.5 to 4.5.
  • Tundra Call of Winter Call of Winter
    • Shiver Shiver
      • Shiver's day & night vision increased from 800/800/1200/1200 units to 800/1000/1200/1400 units.
      • Shiver now reveals units that have the Veiled Rot stealth state within 800/1000/1200/1400 of Shiver.
        • Does not dispel the Veiled Rot stealth state.
    • Coeurl Coeurl
      • Coeurl's Attack Damage rescaled from 0/26/26/46 to 0/26/36/46.
      • Coeurl's Max Health rescaled from 0/400/400/500 to 0/400/450/500.
      • Coeurl's Attack Speed Slow on Winter's Bite increased from 0/20/20/35 to 0/20/30/40.
      • Coeurl's Movement Speed Slow on Winter's Bite increased from 0/20/20/35% to 0/20/30/40%.
  • Tundra Cold Shoulder Cold Shoulder
    • Attack Speed bonus increased from 15/30/40/60 to 20/40/60/80.

Vindicator Vindicator

Vindicator always had the problem of being either no fun to play, too frustrating to play against, or both. He failed at his intended role as a carry and also failed at his spellcast interruption niche due to being reliant on his enemy's spellcast actions. The rework solves these problems by giving him an arsenal of soft crowd control (CC) skills and giving him a much more active role. He also has much more potential to carry the team through his disruption kit, as well as some more late-game scaling with buffs to Master's Incantation.
  • Base Strength reduced from 20 to 17.
  • New voice lines.
  • Vindicator Brain Drain Sage's Lore
    • Brain Drain was replaced and had its name changed back to Sage's Lore; the skill is already better when comparing the difference in the skill names alone.
    • Target a position to deal 85/140/195/250 Magic Damage to all enemies within the area and Disarm player-controlled enemy units for 0.7/1/1.3/1.6 seconds.
      • Effect type: Magic
      • Range: 700
      • Radius: 300
      • Mana Cost: 80/100/120/140
      • Cooldown: 14/12/10/8 seconds
      • Cast action time of 300ms
  • Vindicator Master's Incantation Master's Incantation
    • Mana cost reduced from 15 to 10.
    • No longer has a cooldown.
    • No longer considered an Attack Modifier.
      • For clarification, you can still manually cast the skill to "orbwalk" and not draw creep aggro. The only thing that changed is that the skill can stack with other Attack Modifiers.
    • Bonus True Damage is multiplied by 1.5 against silenced targets.
    • Bonus True Damage rescaled from 0/15/30/45/60% of Vindicator's Intelligence to 0/22/33/44/55% of Vindicator's Intelligence.
    • Passive: Vindicator now gains +1 Intelligence permanently when he kills an enemy hero, or if an enemy hero dies within 925 radius.
      • Enemies do not lose any Intelligence when they die.
      • Skill is automatically leveled at level 1, making this a 5-point skill. Active is disabled when the skill is at level 1.
  • Vindicator Glyph of Silence Glyph of Silence
    • Target a position to summon an immobile Totem that lasts for 5 seconds. The Totem will be destroyed when it receives 2 auto attacks.
    • Enemy units within 1000 radius of the Totem receive a Movement Speed Slow up to 30/34/38/42% the closer the target is to the Totem (minimum of 0/4/8/12% Movement Speed Slow). The Movement Speed Slow lingers for 1 second after leaving the radius, after the Totem expires, or is destroyed.
    • Enemy units within 300 radius of the Totem are also Silenced for 1.3/1.7/2.1/2.5 seconds upon entering this inner radius. Enemies already affected by this Silence will not be silenced if they re-enter this 300 radius within the same cast instance of Glyph of Silence.
    • Grants 25 gold when killed by an enemy.
      • Effect type: Magic
      • Range: 700
      • Mana Cost: 90/105/120/135
      • Cooldown: 17 seconds
      • Cast action time of 150ms
  • Vindicator Final Chapter Final Chapter
    • Cooldown decreased from 160 seconds to 110 seconds.
    • Global Silence duration decreased from 3/4/5 seconds to (0.1 x charges) seconds.
      • Final Chapter gains 20/25/30 charges when coming off cooldown and gains 1 charge every 4.5 seconds.
      • Maximum of 30/40/50 charges.
      • Total time to reach maximum effectiveness (max charges) from after the skill is used is 145/167.5/200 seconds (adjusted from a static cooldown of 160 seconds).
    • Final Chapter also globally applies a 40% Movement Speed Slow to all enemy heroes for 1 second.
    • Mana cost decreased from 200/250/300 to 175/225/275.
    • Cast action time decreased from 300ms to 200ms.
    • When cast, the sound for the enemy team will be muted for the duration of ability. However, Taunts and certain other important sounds are still audible for gameplay reasons.

War Beast War Beast

The reward for Battle Cry was too high and allowed heroes to win their lanes too easily. This change will make the spamming of this ability more of a choice and lower the uptime during the laning phase.
  • War Beast Battle Cry Battle Cry
    • Mana cost increased from 25/20/15/10 to 30 at all levels.

Wildsoul Wildsoul

While Wildsoul's kit is more attuned to the game of Heroes of Newerth, he is still having trouble competing with other heroes of his like. With 12 inventory slots as his unique niche in the game, we want to help facilitate that by increasing his farm capabilities.
  • Wildsoul Summon Booboo Summon Booboo
    • Booboo Magic Resist Alpha Male Damage to creeps increased from 25% to 50% and bonus damage at level 4 increased from 25 to 50% (total 100%).

Wretched Hag Wretched Hag

A quality of life change since Sonar Scream's radius does not significantly improve as the skill is leveled up.
  • Wretched Hag Sonar Scream Sonar Scream
    • Radius increased from 425/450/475/500 to 500 at all levels.

Zephyr Zephyr

Zephyr has fallen off due to the lack of a meta that needs him. However, his presence in HoN is still quite underwhelming. These changes are aimed at allowing Zephyr to start off in the jungle and to get more consistent damage out of his cyclones.
  • Zephyr Gust Gust
    • Increased cast range from 700 to 800.
  • Zephyr Cyclones Cyclones
    • Increased the damage AoE of each cyclone from 150 to 300.
    • Lifetime of a cyclone decreased from 60 to 40 seconds.
    • You will now passively gain a cyclone every 20 seconds.
      • This allows you to get about 2 cyclones early game to get a nice start in the jungle.
    • When cyclones expire they now heal for the same amount as if you used them manually.
    • Heal decreased from 25 to 20.
    • Damage decreased from 15/20/25/30 to 6/9/12/15.
      • The increased AoE for cyclone's damage is a huge buff so these changes are to compensate a bit for that.
    • Cyclones no longer deal 25% less damage to creeps and neutrals.
  • Zephyr Typhoon Typhoon
    • Cyclones will now spawn even if Zephyr is not inside the Typhoon.

Items[ | ]

Genjuro Genjuro

A fix to match the previous Assassin Shroud change.
  • Stealth duration increased from 9 seconds to 11 seconds.
  • Charge refresh time increased from 14 seconds to 16 seconds.
    • Matches Assassin's Shroud duration and cooldown increases from Patch 3.6.0.

Merrick's Bounty Merrick's Bounty

Merrick's Bounty is doing a lot of good things for supports right now but the amount of gold returned is about 5% too much. We toned it down a bit to reflect that.
  • Cooldown decreased from 30 to 20 seconds.
  • Gold per charge decreased from 10 to 9.

Runed Cleaver Runed Cleaver

Small quality of life change.

Thunderclaw Thunderclaw & Charged Hammer Charged Hammer

While we reevaluate the item pool in general, we found it necessary to increase the cost of Thunderclaw to reduce its effectiveness on early game farming.
  • Thunderclaw recipe cost increased by 200 gold.
  • Charged Hammer recipe cost decreased by 200 gold (total price remains the same as before).

Jungle Changes[ | ]

The following changes are meant to alleviate some of the tediousness in the jungle in general.
  • Corpses no longer block camps from spawning.
  • Antlore Necromancer Antlore Necromancers no longer spawn Zomblings when unowned by a player.
    • Can still toggle the ability on when a player controls an Antlore Necromancer.
  • Wild Hunter Wild Hunter Camp no longer has both stealth and magic immunity.
    • One Stealth Hunter Unit Wild Hunter now has stealth, and the other has magic immunity.

Community[ | ]

HoN Tour Season 4[ | ]

The fourth edition of the official competitive circuit for Heroes of Newerth continues! With a multi-divisional format, there are opportunities for both amateurs and professionals in HoN Tour. Grab your friends and head over to www.hontour.com for more information.

Community Funding | The Paragons[ | ]

Paragon Rhapsody joins her Paragon cohorts and hits Merrick's shop on September 30th. Show your support for HTS4 and get your Paragon avatars today! 25% of all proceeds collected will go directly to competitive HoN eSports!

New Patch Avatar Discounts[ | ]

Every patch a handful of avatars will be placed on discount. This patch's discounted avatars can be found with the Diamond Chest and Ticket Exchange information in the News section of the forums: http://forums.heroesofnewerth.com/forumdisplay.php?83-News

New Message of the Day[ | ]

We've implemented a new Message of the Day (MotD) system. Upon opening the client you'll notice the new MotD! With the ability to host 5 separate news articles and several links to many places in HoN's store and UI, the new MotD will allow us to better communicate with our community!

Community Event Team[ | ]

Community Event Team: Bringing you HoN-related events with huge prizes!

Riftwalker was in dire need of flavor tooltips for her abilities. The following submissions have won, and the players who submitted them get a Riftwalker alt avatar of their choice!
  • Riftwalker Cascade Event Cascade Event: When reality collapses, pull yourselves together. [Bersk]
  • Riftwalker Shared Existence Shared Existence: Your death will be slow, just like your existence. [Teepeter]
  • Riftwalker Rift Burn Rift Burn: A Riftwalker's best burn is "Do you even Rift?" [Chime]
  • Riftwalker Wormhole Wormhole: One time, I ended up in a different game. [LOLsmiles]

Matchmaking Maps & Modes[ | ]

New Content[ | ]

Paragons[ | ]

The Paragons are a faction of ancient, elemental guardians from the isolated Isle of Argentia. They embody the wisdom, emotion, and power of the earth, and the flesh of each Paragon has been overtaken by veins of crystals that hold a strong connection to the planet. They have refused to enter the wars among Man, Beast, and Daemon for fear that if captured, their bodies could be used as conduits to feed death and corruption directly into the earth.
But with King Jeraziah driven to the brink of his faith and needing someone to counter the self-righteous destruction of the URSA Corps, he summons The Paragons, knowing that once they see the state of Newerth they will be forced to join the fight against the Hellbourne as well.
The youngest of the Paragons, Tourmaline is focused on eliminating anger, fear, and jealousy from the world while remaining calm and tranquil herself. Some may call her naive for setting such a lofty goal, but all who stand near her in battle can attest to the overwhelming feelings of tranquility and peace, even in moments of unbelievable pressure. However, if they are being completely honest, they will also divulge the hints of jealousy toward her flawless hair and effortless musicality. And so Tourmaline's journey continues...
  • Tourmaline Paragon Rhapsody Upgrades:
  • Rhapsody Staccato Staccato Upgrade: Adds a sound wave beam, sound waves circling the source and target, and pink crystal shards exploding off of the target.
  • Rhapsody Disco Inferno Disco Inferno Upgrade: Adds pulsing circles growing from the center to the edges, sound waves encircling the boundary, brighter crystals and crystal notes, and crystal notes of the appropriate colors encircling units for enemy and ally states (red and green).
  • Rhapsody Arcane Hymn Arcane Hymn Upgrade: Adds sound pulses and lights circling the feet of the character.
  • Rhapsody Protective Melody Protective Melody Upgrade: Adds spiraling crystals emitting from her and sound waves on the staff lines encircling her.
  • Carnage Counter Upgrade: Dazzle all of Newerth with a running display of your all-time kills and assists with your Paragon avatars!

The War Effort[ | ]

It began with The First Corruption, when the swarms of Great Waste Carrion Beetles originally tasted dead daemon flesh. The undying corruption within the meat took root in the carcass eaters and began to change them, speeding their evolution into massive and terrifyingly efficient scavengers. When The Second Corruption shattered Newerth, the fully daemonic Carrion Beetles not only feasted upon the mountains of man, beast, and daemon corpses -: they also discovered a taste for living flesh, even though it quickly ceased to be such.

General[ | ]

Although the fringe societies along the Seradati Plains claimed to adhere to Legion law under Maliken Grimm, their traditions of slavery and human fighting pits endured long after their banners flew beneath his. Grimm allowed this, for it served as a vetting process for the elite combatants in his vanguard, but when Prince Jeraziah took the throne he ordered the pits closed and the slaves freed. The slavemasters would not sleep well knowing such dangerous and vengeful men lived and plotted among them, and so ordered the execution of every gladiator and slave. "The King wants them freed," they joked, "what is more free than death?"

But the gladiators made it their life's work to not die easily, and when the executioners came they faced an army of professional killers led by the most veteran among them, the one called Vanquish, who earned his sobriquet time and again as he sacked city after city, leaving a trail of dead slavemasters in his wake.

The Rune Weavers have tried to reclaim all of their precious Portal Keys from the Hellbourne, but the daemons instantly recognized the power within the teleportation devices and now guard them with brutal greediness. This has forced the Rune Weavers to reluctantly unleash the Rune Breaker, a titan from the furthest valleys of the Iron Mountains whose sole purpose is to seek the magic wrought by the Weavers, crush those who wield it and claim it for himself.
School's in, you simpletons! The Headmistress is here to make sure you keep your faces buried in the books -- literally, if necessary -- and don't bother trying to sneak any private messages or cheat codes past her. If she catches you (and she will), she'll drag you into her private detention faster than you can claim you were only smitten and mesmerized by her stunning outfit.
Very few who attempt to join the reclusive order of hermits known as the Vindicators actually succeed -- indeed, there is only one known in all of Newerth -- and many slip into the dark, cobwebbed corners of sorcery to be lost forever. Such is the case with Alhazred the Conjurer, who became obsessed with the legendary Necronomicon, a tome that catalogs and classifies every dead soul in existence. When he came across his own name among the endless pages, the sorcerer went mad and demanded the book tell him how to return to the realm of the living. The words appeared below his name, written in blood: "Born in the cradle of death, it blooms as life wilts." And so Alhazred began his eternal search for the Hellflower, and redemption.
  • New Ward Bundle: Classic Off-Lane Heroes
That's a long road ahead of you friend, better keep an eye out in style with these classic off-lane hero wards!
  • Bubbles Ward Bubbles
    • Know when to surf ahead and when to take cover with this whimsical Bubbles ward!
  • Chronos Ward Chronos
    • What time is it? Time to place a custom Chronos ward!
  • Wildsoul Ward Wildsoul
    • Even your natural attunement could use some help from this primal lookout!
  • Plague Rider Ward Plague Rider
    • Extinguish anyone foolish enough to wander into your lane with this cursed, contagious ward!
  • Rally Ward Rally
    • Plant your battle flag and demoralize your lane foes with this rally point ward!
  • Wretched Hag Ward Wretched Hag
    • Haunt the longest lane and drive your enemies batty with the Wretched Hag ward!

Hero and Avatar Model Updates[ | ]

The following heroes have new base models with improved textures, animations, and effects:

The following avatar has been imported from the China build! This vastly improved model replaces the current version.

POGs[ | ]

These high-definition skins will be released one-per-patch and will be available via the store, Plinko, or both, depending upon the region.

Bug Fixes[ | ]

Rift Wars

Runed Cleaver Runed Cleaver

Chronos Chronos

Pandamonium Pandamonium

  • Pandamonium Flurry Flurry tooltip range fixed to be accurate.

Pearl Pearl

  • Pearl Preservation Preservation no longer grants lingering vision of the area after the ability expires.

Pestilence Pestilence

Skrap Skrap

  • Vorax Vorax now disengages from targets that become invisible.

Zephyr Zephyr

  • Fixed the cyclones spawned by the ultimate to deal the correct amount of damage.
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