Part of being a member of RCT means that I get access to the patch a week before it comes out on the retail client, which means that I will be play testing and conferring with others on the changes in order to fully understand some of these changes. This is the first in the series of Patch Analysis articles I will be doing for S2, and I hope to not disappoint!
Heroes:
Balphagore
Pathogen: Duration changed from 1/2/3/4 to 2/2.5/3/3.5
Pathogen: Damage changed from 60 to 40/50/60/70
This change is a double-edged sword for Balphagore lovers such as myself. To begin with what was buffed, at level 1 this skill will deal 80 Magic Damage and silence for 2 seconds. A good buff overall because the old version only dealt 60 Magic Damage and silenced for 1 second.
This skill is now better to pick up as a 1-skill wonder, but it is still recommendable to max out Balphagore’s Corpse Conversion(E) for the pushing power, and Regurgitate for the 20% Slow and 367.5 Magic Damage at max level.
At max level, this skill will now deal 245 Magic Damage, and silence for 3.5 seconds. It is a slight nerf to his late game, as his silence is now 0.5 seconds LESS. The damage only increases by 5 Magic Damage. I would recommend grabbing only 1 point, because now your silence can stop pesky spellcasters and blinkers, but the Mana cost of100 Mana at level 1 is still too heavy for a strength hero to spam.
Rating:
Chronos
Illusions now proc damage from bash at 33% less than Chronos. (They do not bash)
Another follow-up on the illusion buff resembling Flint Beastwood’s illusion buff, this grants the option to build Geometer’s Bane for survivability while slightly boosting damage. If an illusion proc is passive, it will deal ~23 Magic Damage, which won’t bash but will be an ok boost when you have two illusions or possibly an Illusion Tablet.
Fun fact: While not being overly powerful, it is quite good, as Chronos’ Illusions may freely walk and attack while in Chronosphere(R). It is now a better item for Chronos to pick up late game, as the dispel on use and added Attack Speed/Move Speed greatly benefits a hard carry. Definitely an item to watch out for.
Rating:
Hellbringer
Summon Malphas: Reduced cooldown from 165 to 160/150/140
Summon Malphas: Increased movespeed from 325 to 325/350/375
The pièce de résistance of this patch, this change attempts to bring an old top-tier pick back into the competitive and casual fray. One of the biggest complaints with Malphas was that after the stun, he was too slow to keep up, which means that he will not deal his passive aoe damage on an enemy carry. The enemy team will almost always have a higher move speed than Malphas, which means that simple kite tactics will ensure Malphas won’t be able to focus anyone down.
Once he is in position, he will be able to deal his damage on an enemy target without needing to purchase Energizer for the move speed, though it can be added as a Move Speed buff for his allies, or for the Unit Walking for Malphas so that his big model size won’t hinder him.
For the casual player, it is fun to be able to have a pet to defend yourself with, as the big hulk will now be able to move around and defend Hellbringer, which will prompt enemy players to decide whether to retreat or endure Malphas’ heavy damage. The casual player will have a stronger game with this change.
For the competitive player, Malphas is now an even better pet to have as a Puzzlebox minions push strategy, along with Plated Grieve/Abyssal Skull/Sol’s Bulwark. This was an excellent change to a legendary hero.
Fun fact: You can even buy Ring of Sorcery in order to supply Malphas with enough Mana for an extra Flame Breath, which deals 200 Magic Damage at max level, and his extra move speed will ensure that it won’t miss because of range.
Rating:
Martyr
Sol's Conviction: Reduced cooldown from 18/14/10/6 to 6 seconds.
A good buff to a healing hero, this change attempts to bring Martyr back to his roots. Now, he has a better early game option, being able to grab only 1 this spell and work better as a healing support. He can max out Retribution(Q) and Guardian Angel(W) as always, but now he won’t have to fully max out Sol's Conviction for the lowered cooldown.
Fun fact: You may use this skill more often now, which will lower your HP, thereby adding damage to Retribution(Q).
Rating:
Items:
Harkon’s Blade
Reduce the Mana cost from 75 to 50.
A big change to this item comes with this patch. Normally, the 75 Mana cost would deter players from having this skill automatically on at all times, and would deter non-intelligence carries from picking it up most of the time.
I can foresee a wider range of heroes making use of this item with the lowered Mana cost, though only time will tell if this change will end up breaking the item on certain Mana efficient heroes such as Oogie. This is an ambiguous change.
Rating:
Riftshards
Reduced recipe cost from 950 to 925.
Lowering the cost of the recipe will allow you to farm the level 4 version faster, with an overall 100 Gold decrease.
It is possible that S2 is looking to push the usage of this item. As of now, this will be a slight buff for heroes that rush this item, such as The Dark Lady or Magebane, but not game breaking. A gentle nudge is what I would call this change.
Rating:
I hope you enjoyed this week’s patch analysis!
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Deansy
Good stuff yo
Posted about 10 months ago
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