Heroes of the Storm II: Thread. Augmented. Logical Decision

[Draken]

I love he new banelings so much.

[Grytorm]

I've started playing a little again. Stupid Blizzard and there 50 dollar WoW expansion with cool mount attached. I want to play Guldan, swish my cape, and ride into the sunset on my demon.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

So, surprise surprise, I picked up Li-Ming again during rotation, and for whatever reason I've finally started to click with her. Anyhow, she's on my roster now and I've had some sweet sweet playmaking moments. I think I really like the Calamity build (all teleport, and I even pick up Aether Walker because it lets me double-teleport to clear a minion wave), but I also dipped into some of the other talents in other matches where teleports were less optimal. I also haven't picked Disintegrate once since this past week; Wave of Force is just a really enjoyable ult that I feel has a lot of potential, but it needs to be properly used. (I've...definitely messed up my teammates with Wave of Force, knocking enemies towards them when they're trying to escape. ...oops.)

Really, I just love the spell-slinging playstyle she has, along with the teleport mobility. I can't wrap my head around playing KT well, but Li-Ming comes a lot more naturally to me.

[Spore]

I think the constant tinkering with KT has put a lot of people off. "Here is a minor patch. Oh and we have COMPLETELY reworked KT for the 27th time."

[Keltest]

I think the constant tinkering with KT has put a lot of people off. "Here is a minor patch. Oh and we have COMPLETELY reworked KT for the 27th time."

They might as well just remove him from Draft mode, he's basically on perma-ban status. I don't think it actually even matters if he's any good now, people are just so intimidated by being set on fire and having giant fireballs of doom sent after them.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

They might as well just remove him from Draft mode, he's basically on perma-ban status. I don't think it actually even matters if he's any good now, people are just so intimidated by being set on fire and having giant fireballs of doom sent after them.

There's people who still freak out when you don't first-ban Li-Ming, and her winrate's been normal-sized for a while.

[Grytorm]

It definitely seems like I have chosen Heroes over League. With luck I will resist the temptation to spend money on it, I've only bought one bundle so far.

Played some Leoric, finally have the time. And my first two games as him got me halfway through level 4. Tried both ults. Definitely the cage seems stronger and more reliable. But March is really scary lategame if you can land it. I don't know where my damage from but in the second game I did almost twice as much damage as the rest of my team.

Edit: Also how does Leoric's Willing Vessel talent work? I thought his W healed based on the damage done, so does the talent actually increase the healing amount or does it only increase the cap?

Willing Vessel Increases the healing from Drain Hope to 30% of your maximum Health and Drain Essence to 15% of your maximum Health.

[Gandariel]

It increases the amount. Yeah, it's pretty good.

And yeah, Leoric is very solid against double tank (but you need another tank on your side who can provide the CC, like Anub)

Entomb is generally great at securing kills, while March is the survivability talent for when you need more healz and you're constantly teamfighting.

A bit like Anub, really. Locust Swarm when I need the healing, Cocoon when there's someone I want to isolate and kill.

[DaedalusMkV]

Played some Leoric, finally have the time. And my first two games as him got me halfway through level 4. Tried both ults. Definitely the cage seems stronger and more reliable. But March is really scary lategame if you can land it. I don't know where my damage from but in the second game I did almost twice as much damage as the rest of my team.

The cage is generally the superior pick. March can be pretty good against certain team comps all game long (if you hit three enemies with at least two of your three swings you'll fully heal and do some hefty damage), but rarely secures kills or creates ridiculous advantage like Tomb. On the other hand, the level 20 talent for March wins fights unbelievably hard if you've got some Talents into W abilities. I've managed to get 5 Drain Hopes going at once with a level 20 March, and at that point the enemy has to pretty much just scatter and hope for a better engagement later. They certainly can't kill you, not with you regenerating something like 33% of your max health per second when you just full-healed off March, and doing around 20% damage to every enemy on the team after you probably just Marched three or four of them for a couple hundred means they're all going to be under serious threat from your team. Once that level 20 Talent comes online, March does surpass Tomb pretty handily.

Leoric isn't quite the powerhouse he used to be (shortly after release, he pretty much always topped out his team's Siege and Hero damage thanks to Skeletal Strike being able to one-shot Minion waves less than halfway into the game, among other things), but his constant presence on the battlefield and strong mix of hero/siege damage abilities and sustain still make him great on a solo lane and very respectable at pushing with very little support, and once his ults come online he can definitely make his presence known in teamfights.

As for your question, his W's healing and damage are not related to one another. You heal for 20% (or 30% with Willing Vessel) of your max health, and damage the enemy for 20% of their max health. If the other guy is a Stitches or Diablo with a zillion health, your damage will outpace the healing you get out of it. If your target is Abathur or Chromie, you'll get way more in heals than you do in damage. No matter who you hit with Drain Hope, the amount you heal does not change.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Yeah, Leoric's W isn't actually lifesteal, which can be confusing. But on the flipside, that means it doesn't matter how beefy of a target you go after; W-ing Valla gets you just as much health as W-ing Cho'Gall.

[ChaosOS]

Patch day!

http://us.battle.net/heroes/en/blog/...2016-7-25-2016

TL;DR Kerrigan, Greymane, Brightwing nerfs. Gul'dan, Artanis, Chromie buffs.

[Gray Mage]

I love the dev notes on Artanis.
Chromie's too.

I wonder if Q build Guldan is more viable now that Q damage is buffed. On a short cooldown talent that adds uo quickly.
Also, Xul got hit by a major nerf. 10 extra seconds on his most popular bone armor. Almost a minute now.

[Gandariel]

Also, Xul got hit by a major nerf. 10 extra seconds on his most popular bone armor. Almost a minute now.

Frankly, I think it's fine. It's not like you ever use it twice in a teamfight ever.

With Ratmah's blessing he is already too often at full mana and HP. Giving him a long Cooldown to make sure he isn't always present is good.

Also kinda random Artanis buff, but who am i to complain. Anyways, time to play him more :P

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Yeah, and I think also that people overrate Shade Armor; the exploding armor is also pretty ace.

[Spore]

They dont even bother to comment KT's changes anymore. I guess it's not a patch when you havent tinkered with the Bloodelf.

[Draken]

I love the dev notes on Artanis.
Chromie's too.

I wonder if Q build Guldan is more viable now that Q damage is buffed. On a short cooldown talent that adds uo quickly.
Also, Xul got hit by a major nerf. 10 extra seconds on his most popular bone armor. Almost a minute now.

Fel Flame spam build starting with Chaotic Energy and finishing with Rampant Hellfire sounds fun.

Pursuit of Flame remains, in my opinion, the single most feeble talent in Heroes.

[Keltest]

They dont even bother to comment KT's changes anymore. I guess it's not a patch when you havent tinkered with the Bloodelf.

Kael secretly has a nerf addiction, and Blizzard is enabling him.

[Grytorm]

Played Rexxar up to 5, feels good enough to put him in the next 3 purchases along with Chromie and maybe Greymane. But the last game was close and kind of cool. Played somewhat sloppy early game on Spider Tomb and didn't really think through going for merc camp spamming. We got behind, but then I went to boss as an enemy objective was cleared up right as it spawned. Then hatched the next objective. And things slowly turned around.

Also, how helpful is the global nature of Artanis's ultimates?

[Keltest]

Played Rexxar up to 5, feels good enough to put him in the next 3 purchases along with Chromie and maybe Greymane. But the last game was close and kind of cool. Played somewhat sloppy early game on Spider Tomb and didn't really think through going for merc camp spamming. We got behind, but then I went to boss as an enemy objective was cleared up right as it spawned. Then hatched the next objective. And things slowly turned around.

Also, how helpful is the global nature of Artanis's ultimates?

The blind is amazing and can utterly devastate an AA team. The laser is less helpful because most of the time all it does is force the target to relocate or stutter step a bit. If you can actually force the target to stand still for it, its quite dangerous though.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Also, any channeling-based objective can be disrupted with ease if the team isn't there yet. And his Suppresion Pulse is really good for this because of its low cooldown.

[Gandariel]

Yeah, basically the Blind ult is amazing. Stupid low CD, so feel free to cast it often. When it hits well it renders many Heroes useless, so it might just turn a fight around. But, again, do use it for random 1v1s you see on the minimap that look dangerous/promising

I don't like the laser ult at all, so I won't comment. I mean, I guess it's good when you follow it up with a stun. But everything's good with a stun :P

[Anxe]

The Lazer ult has proven most useful against Diablo and ETC to be. Use it when they ult and stay in one place for a bit. They will die.

[Gray Mage]

It's also good against Li Ming's ult and when your team has roots/big slows.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

It's also good against Li Ming's ult and when your team has roots/big slows.

It's good against one of Li-Ming's ults.

Everyone forgets about Wave of Force! Which is actually a pretty good ult.

[Gray Mage]

It's good against one of Li-Ming's ults.

Everyone forgets about Wave of Force! Which is actually a pretty good ult.

To be fair it's also only good against only one of ETC's and Diablo's as well.

[ChaosOS]

PTR Patch notes! http://us.battle.net/heroes/en/blog/...-2016-8-1-2016

TL;DR Auriel, but no bundle until live

Significant Kael changes and Tracer nerfs, Nazeebo W now counts as terrain for purposes of collision (Auriel Stuns, Falstad can barrel roll, but no sweeping strike/whirlwind through it), minor Gazlowe and Leoric buffs. Performance improvements, bug fixes

[Gray Mage]

Man, Tracer's nerf to total recall is brutal.

[Keltest]

PTR Patch notes! http://us.battle.net/heroes/en/blog/...-2016-8-1-2016

TL;DR Auriel, but no bundle until live

Significant Kael changes and Tracer nerfs, Nazeebo W now counts as terrain for purposes of collision (Auriel Stuns, Falstad can barrel roll, but no sweeping strike/whirlwind through it), minor Gazlowe and Leoric buffs. Performance improvements, bug fixes

Many many bug fixes. now I want to try to possess a BHB chest as sylvanas before they change it.

[Gandariel]

Poor Kael.

I mean he's probably balanced now, but it's ridiculous how many iterations his kit has been through. At least I'm happy they found an idea ("punish clumped enemies") to design around.

Tracer deserved nerfs to her only OP talents, sure, but she could have probably used some buffs elsewhere since her winrate right now is barely average.

Auriel seems like a skillful and fun character that support players will be happy about. Hope she's able to solo support, and hope she's strong enough for competitive play.

Her resurrect ultimate seems super situational and her other ultimate seems like a worse divine shield (you save your ally but don't let him move, you prevent your ally from dealing damage, deal some damage yourself but enemies can dodge it).
But we'll see.

[Spore]

I bought KT back in the days where the Living Bomb build was insane and he was OP. I never liked Flamestrike if not for clearing minions. The time between activation and damage is too long in a game full of Tracers, Li-Mings, Vallas and Sylvanas'. Female heroes have kits around escaping cowardly. Triggered.

Now all Living Bomb talents revolve around staying in range and autoattacking the target. NOTHING in his kit (expect Arcane Barrier) supports staying in range or pretending to be an auto attack hero. Yes I know about Sunfire Enchantment. But I feel KT should have two viable builds around his SPELLS as he is a MAGE not his auto attacks. He's squishy enough as is.