BALANCING CHANGES
SPRINT SPEEDS
In Dominion, being able to rotate quickly to contest objectives and maximizing renown is important. Certain Heroes were too slow when sprinting, which discouraged rotations and made these Heroes less useful in a team. To mitigate this, we've increased the sprint speed of the slowest characters by ~8%.
Affects:
Conqueror
Kensei
Highlander
Sohei
Note that this does not impact Shugoki as they have access to Super Sprint.
PINNING PROJECTILES
We are making a change to pinning projectiles. These were designed to ensure additional attacks could be performed, but this meant we couldn't have them abide by the typical Anti-Gank rules. While these will now provide damage reduction appropriately, we've loosened up the rules to ensure it is always possible to land an extra attack, unless the victim was already in 2nd hit-stun.
Affects:
Gladiator's Boleadoras
Centurion's Vainglorious Pugio (new Tier 3 Feat)
AFEERA
Gravity's Pull can now be dodged 400ms before the hit (up from 300ms)
Speeding Comet changes
Can now be dodged 400ms before the hit (up from 300ms)
When performed at close range, now gains Full Block at 400ms (up from 0ms)
When the feat also triggers Fleet Foot, the attack gains Full Block after running for 400ms (up from 0ms)
When the feat also triggers Fleet Foot, Fleet Foot's minimum duration is now 400ms (up from 200ms)
[Developer's Comments]
Since Gravity's Pull and Speeding Comet are fast unblockable moves accessible from neutral, we've adjusted the amount of time players have to dodge these moves in line with similar moves/Feats.
We also adjusted when full block is active during Speeding Comet as it was too easy to use in reaction to attacks from neutral. With these changes, it should remain a strong tool to engage from further away while toning down its effectiveness in close-up scenarios.
BERSERKER
Health increased to 130 (up from 125)
[Developer's Comments]
Berserker relies on trading to get their offense started, but with the more recent changes to bring the Hero back more in line with other Heroes, their lower Health total made trading riskier. This should give the Hero an edge on trading and starting their offense with less risk.
BLACK PRIOR
Reduced the Stamina drain for holding Bulwark Stance to 3.5/s (down from 5/s)
[Developer's Comments]
Bulwark Stance's defensive properties are not as strong as other similar defensive stances, requiring a commitment to get stronger defense. Black Prior's Tier 2 feat also relies on entering and staying in Bulwark Stance, and our recent changes to Stamina drain while in defensive stances had a bigger impact on Black Prior than desired.
CENTURION
Eagle's Talons damage reduced to 28 (down from 30)
Feats
New Tier 1 Feat - Amplified Roar
Passive: Lion's Roar Finisher now unbalances enemies
New Tier 2 Feat - Eagle's Windfall
Passive: After landing an Eagle's Talon, reduce enemies' Attack and increase ally movement speed
Enemies deal 20% less damage for 10s
Allies gain 20% movement speed for 10s
New Tier 3 Feat - Vainglorious Pugio
Active: Throw a projectile that Binds. Performing a Legion Kick on the Bound target unbalances them. Deals 15 damage, 120s cooldown
New Tier 4 Feat - Refined Phalanx
Active: Give all allies a moderate amount of Shield and Cleanse negative status effects. Grant 50 Shield for 10s, 180s cooldown
Default & Alternate Feats have been adjusted
Default Feats:
Tier 1: Body Count -> Amplified Roar
Tier 2: Inspire -> Eagle's March
Tier 3: Second Wind -> Enhanced Pugio
Tier 4: Catapult -> Refined Phalanx
Alternate Feats 1:
Tier 1: Bounty Hunter (no change)
Tier 2: Haymaker -> Inspire
Tier 3: Pugio -> Second Wind
Tier 4: Stalwart Banner (no change)
Alternate Feats 2:
Tier 1: Rush -> Body Count
Tier 2: Centurion's March -> Executioner's Respite
Tier 3: Sharpen Blade (no change)
Tier 4: Phalanx -> Catapult
[Developer's Comments]
We are revamping Centurion's Feats to be more focused on his signature moves.
Amplified Roar is meant to give more utility to Lion's Roar and set up ganks more effectively.
Eagle's Windfall is built to give Centurion's Eagle's Talon dual purpose: When used in a team fight, it should tilt the scales in favor of Centurion's team by giving a Defense debuff to their opponents. While being used in a gank, grant extra speed to let Centurion's team rotate faster to their next engagement.
Vainglorious Pugio is meant to make ganks more accessible and easier to set up.
Refined Phalanx now has a unique ability to Cleanse all negative status effects for Centurion's team while also giving them more survivability.
While this affects Centurion's main Feats, we also had to adjust the Hero's alternate Feats.
Centurion's March has been underperforming, and was replaced by Executioner's Respite as it fits better with Centurion's identity.
We are also removing Haymaker and replacing it with Inspire; Haymaker is causing too many issues with balancing and Inspire fits better with the Hero's identity as well.
With all these new Feats bolstering his kit, we're toning Eagles Talons down slightly and will continue to monitor it + similar moves.
CONQUEROR
Sprint Speed increased by 8%
GLADIATOR
Boleadoras now respects hit-stun rules.
If the victim was idle, they will enter 1st hit-stun and gain 25% damage reduction for subsequent hits if the attacker differs.
If the victim was already in 1st hit-stun, they will enter 2nd hit-stun and receive 75% damage reduction for subsequent hits, regardless of the attacker. Unlike traditional 2nd hit-stun, victims can be pinned again by other attackers.
If the victim was already in 2nd hit-stun, the projectile will not bind.
HIGHLANDER
Health increased to 130 (up from 125)
Offensive Form Lights are no longer Enhanced
Sprint Speed increased by 8%
[Developer's Comments]
Highlanders tend to trade a lot in Defensive Form, and his Health was on the lower side for trading Heroes, so we're increasing it slightly to make the Hero safer.
Offensive Form Light attacks are 400ms and Enhanced, and this makes them overly strong in multiple situations. We're removing the Enhanced property to make them less effective, especially when repeatedly used back to back.
HITOKIRI
Health increased to 130 (up from 125)
Sankotsu now has more forward movement
[Developer's Comments]
Hitokiri is a character that relies on trading with opponents to deal damage. We're increasing their Health slightly to make it a bit more favorable to do so.
Sankotsu is not matching our expectations as a roll catcher as well as a peeling tool, so we're increasing it's forward movement to give the Hero more reach during these situations.
JORMUNGANDR
Serpent Smite's now gains Uninterruptible Stance at 500ms (up from 400ms)
Hamarr Slam now gains Uninterruptible Stance at 100ms
Hamarr Slam now deals 28 damage (down from 30)
The Shield gained by Hamarr's Favor is now 20 (down from 25)
[Developer's Comments]
Serpent Smite is overperforming as a trading tool; by making the Uninterruptible Stance activation 100ms later, it should be trickier to use in certain situations and make Jormungandr easier to interrupt.
Hamarr Slam's overall weakness is that is easily peelable; due to the damage, Shield gain and ease of access, this felt like correct drawback to the move, but unfortunately this has proven to lead to the move having less usability as we would like it to have. We are thus modifying these components to increase the potential usage of the move, while reducing the other effects (lower Shield gain and lower damage) to compensate for the Armor gain.
JUREN
Lion's Pounce can now be interrupted on block.
Reduced the Stamina drain for holding Indomitable Stance to 2/s (down from 5/s)
[Developer's Comments]
Juren's side dodge attacks are very strong and differ from the cast as they are not as easy to counter due to their varying speeds. This creates situations where attackers must deal with an extra layer of reads when facing Juren.
With this change, when Juren dodges to the side and initiates an attack, players can place their block in the direction of the dodge; if the attack is a tapped version, it will be blocked and give the player frame advantage, while if it is the held version, players still need to deal with the attack as a feintable attack. This should help tone down the mixup from Juren and give attackers a better edge when fighting him. We'll keep an eye on this aspect, as well as other aspects of the Hero, to see if further changes are needed.
Indomitable Stance is weaker than most other defensive down stances, so we've adjusted the Stamina drain that occurs when holding it.
KENSEI
Sprint Speed increased by 8%
KHATUN
Fear and Fury Stance can now be cancelled into a dodge at 300ms (down from 500ms)
Zone Attack now has 433ms Guardbreak Vulnerability (up from 100ms)
[Developer's Comments]
Fear and Fury requires a large commitment, especially in team fights. We want to give it a bit more flexibility, so we're allowing dodge to be performed slightly sooner during the move. We will continue to monitor this to see if other adjustments are needed.
The Guardbreak Vulnerability window on Zone Attack was lower than intended. This has now been fixed.
LAWBRINGER
Side Light attacks are no longer Enhanced.
Top Heavy Opener now deals 23 damage (down from 25)
Top Heavy Chain now deals 24 damage (down from 26)
Top Heavy Finisher now deals 27 damage (down from 28)
Impaling Riposte is now feintable
[Developer's Comments]
Lawbringer has been overperforming, and we're toning the Hero down to bring the Hero's performance more towards expected levels.
The Hero's damage curve was too high, and Heavy attacks dealt too much damage, especially with guaranteed damage off Swift Justice, which also resets Lawbringer's chain.
Side Lights used to be Enhanced as Lawbringer struggled to open their opponents. This is no longer the case, so we're removing the property.
In the past, Impaling Riposte gave opponents a guaranteed parry when performed after a Heavy Parry. Now, by being feintable, even though the move doesn't force a reaction since it isn't unblockable, opponents will now have to guess if they want to capitalize on what looks like an easy parry.
NOBUSHI
Zone Attack (2nd hit) now costs 10 Stamina (down from 20)
Zone Attack (2nd hit) now applies Bleed that stacks (used to not stack with other Bleeds)
[Developer's Comments]
We're pushing some changes to Nobushi's Zone Attack to make it more usable, as well as fixing an issue where the 2nd hit's Bleed wouldn't stack.
OROCHI
Zone Attack can now cancel its recovery into a dodge at 200ms (up from 100ms)
[Developer's Comments]
Orochi's Zone Attack could be cancelled into a dodge quite early, and this gave the move more survivability as intended, especially by external opponents. This should put the move more in-line with other recovery cancels.
PEACEKEEPER
Dagger Cancel is now Unblockable when performed off a Top Heavy attack.
Feats
New Tier 1 Feat - Crossbow Wound
Active: Fires a crossbow that deals direct Bleed damage.
Deals 1+10 Bleed damage over 10s, 30s cooldown
New Tier 2 Feat - Bleed Armor
After a Hit on a Bleeding target, gain a Defense buff for a short duration.
Grants 25% damage reduction, 10s duration
New Tier 3 Feat - Sanguine Serrations
Active: Attacks apply Bleed. Passive: Hit a Bleeding target to reduce the Feat's cooldown.
Attacks deal an additional 10 Bleed over 5s. Active for 12s, 150s cooldown.
When hitting a Bleeding opponent while the Feat is on cooldown, the cooldown is reduced by 5 seconds.
New Tier 4 Feat - Induced Fear
Active: Nearby enemies receive a Defense debuff. Duration resets when killing enemies.
Reduces Defense by 30%, active for 20s, 180s cooldown
Default & Alternate Feats have been adjusted
Default Feats:
Tier 1: Bounty Hunter -> Crossbow Wound
Tier 2: Fiat Lux -> Bleed Armor
Tier 3: Crossbow -> Sanguine Serrations
Tier 4: Fear Itself -> Induced Fear
Alternate Feats 1:
Tier 2: Thick Skin -> Fiat Lux
Alternate Feats 2:
Tier 1: Conqueror -> Bounty Hunter
Tier 3: Sharpen Blade -> Punch Through
[Developer's Comments]
The Dagger Cancel changes aim to solve two problems.
Peacekeeper can struggle to pressure opponents externally because she requires her opponents to be Bleeding to be able to engage. While she has one of the best peel options in the game, this requires opponents to actively engage, and if they are being very defensive makes it difficult for Peacekeeper to be active during combat. By giving her access to a conditional Unblockable Dagger Cancel, the Hero can now apply Bleed in a more consistent manner and helps her be more active during combat.
Dagger Cancel from Top Stance is underperforming; opponents can block Top and beat both the attack AND dagger cancel, and they both are parried at the same timing. This change now forces opponents to make a read and risk a parry on an attack that is not normally worth parrying, and this should create new venues for Peacekeeper to open up opponents.
We are also revamping Peacekeeper's Feats to focus more on Bleed and its interactions.
As a Tier 1 Feat, Crossbow Wound gives Peacekeeper another way to apply Bleed, in a relatively easy way.
Bleed Armor is a new Feat that gives Peacekeeper more defense when hitting Bleeding targets; with Bleed becoming easier to apply, she should gain a significant survivability boost during team fights.
Sanguine Serrations is an improvement over Sharpen Blade; Peacekeeper can now apply Bleed more easily, which lowers the cooldown of Sanguine Serrations significantly, which then in turn lets her apply Bleed more consistently.
Finally, Induced Fear allows Peacekeeper to keep her Defense debuff for longer if she manages to land killing blows on her opponents.
We've also adjusted her alternate Feats to give Peacekeeper better choices that are more in-line with her Bleed focus.
PIRATE
Guaranteed Pistol Blast now deals 4 damage (down from 5)
Pistol Blast (after Walk the Plank) now deals 15 damage (up from 5)
Walk the Plank now deals 12 damage (down from 24)
[Developer's Comments]
Pirate has been overperforming at all skill levels since the buffs to Cavalier Dance and Walk the Plank.
Walk the Plank especially has been a strong tool in Pirate's arsenal when near walls, as she could land the move then release the victim into a wall splat that guaranteed an extra Heavy's worth of damage. To diminish this interaction, we're adjusting the damage curve so that Walk the Plank deals less damage up front and now requires a Pistol Blast to deal more damage, rather than front-loading the damage on Walk the Plank itself.
We're also lowering the damage of the Guaranteed version of Pistol Blast to deal slightly less damage; this change is small but amounts to significant amounts of damage over the course of a match.
RAIDER
Stampede Charge now costs 30 Stamina (down from 40)
Reaping Charge now gains Uninterruptible Stance at 400ms
Finishers can now chain to Raider's Fury
[Developer's Comments]
We're adjusting Stampede Charge's Stamina cost to align its usability with similar moves. Reaping Charge is slow and cannot be feinted, so now it has uninterruptible stance to make it a bit easier to use.
Raider could already extend their chain using Storming Tap, but this tends to lead to Heavy Finishers not being used as often as we'd like because the pressure from Storming Tap makes more sense in many situations. With the ability to chain to Raider's Fury after Heavy Finishers, this gives the Hero a new route to extend chains and gives more purpose to their Heavy Finishers.
SHAOLIN
Qi Stance Lights now deal 12 damage (down from 14)
Sun Sweep Follow Up now deals 20 damage (down from 24)
[Developer's Comments]
Lowering Qi Stance Light's damage to make these moves slightly less oppressive for their properties.
Sun Sweep Follow Up now deals less damage as a drawback for the safety of the move.
SHUGOKI
Charge of the Oni Stamina cost per second reduced to 15 (down from 25)
[Developer's Comments]
Shugoki is the only Hero with a low sprint speed that didn't get their base sprint speed adjusted. To compensate, we've reduced the Stamina cost for using Charge of the Oni allowing faster rotations on the map at the expense of a bit less Stamina.
SHINOBI
Super Sprint Stamina cost on activation increased to 10 (up from 0)
[Developer's Comments]
Although the effect is minor, by repeatedly de/activating Super Sprint it was possible to maintain some of its benefits without having the Stamina drain. This is the same behavior as Shugoki's Charge of the Oni.
SOHEI
Heavy Openers now gains Uninterruptible Stance at 500ms (up from 400)
Mad Monk now gains Uninterruptible Stance at 500ms (up from 400)
Sprint Speed increased by 8%
[Developer's Comments]
Sohei has been performing better with their recent changes, but their Uninterruptible Stances initiated too early, giving Sohei too much safety when using these attacks. We're pushing their timing back by 100ms to make it easier for opponents to interrupt Sohei, and to remove certain interactions where Sohei could feint after taking a hit and getting a guaranteed Guardbreak on opponents after a trade.
TIANDI
Side Dragon Dodge is now vulnerable to Guardbreak for 533ms (up from 400ms)
Side Dragon Dodge can be performed from side dodge from 200-500ms (up from 200-300ms)
Zone (1st hit) now costs 20 Stamina (down from 30)
[Developer's Comments]
We're fixing the Guardbreak Vulnerability of Side Dragon Dodge to match other slow dodge attacks (like Jiang Jun and Warmonger). If the attack is performed as early as possible during a side dodge, it will be vulnerable for a total of 733ms.
Similarly, we're increasing how late you can perform the move during side dodge for the same reasons.
Lastly, we're reducing Zone Attack's Stamina cost to make it slightly more useable even when feinted or soft feinting to Dragon Kick.
VIRTUOSA
Sidesways Misdirect can now be performed during side dodges from 200ms to 400ms (down from 200ms to 600ms)
Holding Posture now drains 5 Stamina per second (down from 7 per second)
[Developer's Comments]
We initially had a longer window during dodge to perform Sideways Misdirect for input comfort. However, this allowed Virtuosa to avoid certain mix-ups by delaying their attacks later, so it was reduced to standard values.
Posture is having its Stamina drain reduced to match standards. Unlike most other Defensive Stances, Virtuosa spends Stamina to exit Posture with attacks (except when dodging out of it). So for now, similar to Valkyrie, we won't be adding an extra cost on entry, but we will be monitoring this closely.
WARMONGER
Light Opener Attacks are now Enhanced
Vicious Impale Claw on unbalanced Out-of-Stamina opponents now deals 10+32 Bleed damage (up from 10+20 Bleed)
Beast of Prey now deals 22 damage (down from 24).
[Developer's Comments]
We had initially changed Warmonger's Opener Light attacks to remove the Enhanced property as we wanted the Hero focus more on other venues of opening-up opponents. While this worked, it also limited Warmonger's ability to use Vicious Impale and removed a route to open-up opponents. We're reverting the change to allow Warmonger more diversity in how she can be played and can pressure opponents.
Vicious Impale Claw has an issue where performing it on unbalanced opponents limits the damage output of Warmonger. We've increased the amount of Bleed damage this attack deals to ensure the tradeoff isn't too drastic.
Beast of Prey's damage is being reduced to be in line with similar slow dodge attacks.
FEATS
Last Laugh now deals 20 to 100 damage (down from 20 to 140)
[Developer's Comments]
We previously nerfed Last Laugh's damage, but it still is too rewarding at being able to one-shot the vast majority of the cast. With this, it should no longer one-shot opponents above 100 Health.
Corruption: Damage-per-tick reduced to 8 damage (down from 10)
[Developer's Comments]
Corruption's damage output is some of the highest in the game and makes the effect too strong. We're lowering the damage output of Corruption so it is less frustrating to fight against and is more in-line with other Feats.
BUG FIXES
BALANCING
Afeera: Fixed an issue that caused Orbiting Shield to debuff allies when hit.
Pirate: Fixed an issue that caused Trick Shot to debuff allies when hit.
Shinobi: Fixed an issue that allowed Super Sprint to be activated 300ms earlier than intended.
CENTURION
Fixed an issue that allowed Jab to be guaranteed after a Charged Heavy (Opener/Finisher).
CONQUEROR
Fixed the Fireworks Mood FX VFX remaining after the end of an execution.
GRYPHON - THE SCORCHING HERALD LEGENDARY SKIN
Fixed missing unique Faction VOs when equipping the Scorching Herald Skin on Gryphon.
JUREN
Fixed a VFX when performing Juren's execution Chair Slam while Feat 4 God Among Men is active.
Fixed an issue with the Po Jun chest not taking Material on the legs.
LEADERBOARDS
The player's Top % ranking is now visible in the Leaderboard pages.
LOCALIZATION
Fixed an incorrect translation for the perk Rapid Refresh in Spanish and Latin America Spanish.