Patch 1.1.4.0

Patch 1.1.4.0 brings more experimental gameplay and balance changes and minor bug fixes.

Gameplay

General

• Starting power adjustments:
  • Starting power for all heroes reduced by 23%: 130->100.
  • Starting damage of all NPCs (lane creeps, neutrals, bosses) reduced by 23%.
  • Starting health for all units (heroes and NPCs) reduced by 23%.
  • First tower health and damage reduced by 23%. Other buildings damage and health reduced by the same amount as first tower.

  
  This is the biggest change of the patch. While the main focus of the change is to make power more intuitive as a mechanic, we also expect the change to make health, health regeneration and mitigation items to become stronger while resistance will become weaker at the same time.

• Generators: transferred some shield to health, shield to total health ratio: 19%->16%.
  While adjustment made to generator's shield was a change in right direction, the step was too big. While we were aiming to decrease efficiency of dealing slowly destroying generator by small damage each wave, we don't want to make single blow push the only option to destroy it.

Heroes

• Aemon
  • Concentration (Q):
    • Cooldown: 18/16/14/12s->12/10/8/6s;
    • Base damage: 10/20/30/40->20/30/40/50.

  • Hope (W):
    • Now reduces stun and slow duration by 25%/30%/35%/40%;
    • Base heal: 7/12/17/22->10/15/20/25;
    • Duration: 1.5s->2s.

  • Courage (E):
    • Duration: 1s->1.5s.

  • Justice (R):
    • Cooldown: 10/8/6s->16/14/12s;
    • Base Damage: 75/100/125->100/125/150;
    • Base Returned Damage: 15/25/35->20/35/50.

  
  With the changes above we hope it will be more rewarding for Aemon players to stick consecrated land, while not making him weak immediately once he leaves it.
• Malph
  • Healing Rations (W):
    • Total heal value reduced: 140,180,220,260->100,135,170,205;
    • Resistance: 20,30,40,50->15,20,25,30.

  • The Underground (R):
    • Mole Holes are concealed for enemies until they stay next to it for 1 second.

  
  Malph's W was one of the most absurd abilities in the game, giving incredible amount of health (in comparison to other abilities) and granting even more absurd amount of resistance on top of it. However it felt unfair to take something from the hero without giving something in return. Enhancing Malph's core mechanic was our choice to achieve that.

Items

• Giant's Visage
  • Power gain multiplier increased for base item (0.9%->1%) and enchantment (1%->1.1%).

  
  The change is part of Starting Power adjustment change.

• Healing Rod
  • Base item base heal: 100->130.
  • Enchantments reworked:
    • All enchantment additional gold 0.
    • Utility: Also gives target 50 Mana. Cooldown increased by 15 seconds;
    • Focus: Increases Base Heal by 30 Health, but range is decreased by 100;
    • Generosity: Decreases Base Heal to 100 Health but also heals allies in 600 radius around target.

  
  First of all basic item definitely required some love and therefore the base heal value was increased. However this was the item we decided to test our approach to enchantments: to focus on giving some benefit in exchange of some other property. Enchantments as a system currently is a pay2win/play2win mechanic, that was mostly designed to encourage gem purchase and giving advantage to players with many matches under their belt. With the new approach we hope to both make the game less punishing for new players while giving experienced players more variety.
• Inertia Boots
  • Movespeed bonus: 55->65.

  
  Melee heroes (who mostly by Inertia Boots) it should be able to get in touch with ranged heroes. And while CC-break is still considered one of the strongest mechanics in the game, it was incorrect choice to harm movement speed.

• Vampiric Dagger
  • Thirst enchantment: gold cost changed to 0, but no longer grants resistance.

  
  The Thirst enchantment is the best effect in the game, which alone was able to turn tide of battle. However we decided not to adjust the effect, but take away another item's benefit in exchange, following new approach to enchantments.

Pets

• Tortus
  • Rejuvenate (Active):
    • Now restores 15% of Max Health.

  • Harden (Triggered):
    • Now reduces damage from basic attacks by 50% for 2 seconds.
    • Cooldown: 13-7s->12s.

  
  Our last change to Tortus proved how hard it is to balance ability with static values in Strife: we made Tortus extremely hard to deal in early game, but it was still not a big deal in late game. And since every other pet scales with power or is %-based we did the same with Tortus for consistency. We still will monitor and expect to adjust the value slightly one way or another, but we are confident that is the correct way to make him impactful but not overpower through the whole match.

Bug Fixes

• Malph's The Underground (R) now have proper limit on Mole Holes as intended.
• Aemon's Consecration (Q) and Justice (R) no longer deal damage to neutrals in opponent Aemon's consecrated area.
• Captain's Crest now reduces damage minions receive from all structures correctly, not just the first tower.
• Magic Lifesteal now works properly with Trace's Bomb Toss (W).
• Values of attack damage bonus in tooltip for Blazer's Overcharge (E) and Vermillion's Dead Eye (E) now scale with power.
• Damage % increase in Rip's Dark Empowerment (E) tooltip is no longer colored orange.
• Fixed link to Newbie Checklist on main screen.
• Black and Guardian colors of Rook's Dawnbringer skins are now shown correctly in preview.