This patch also includes changes that will be released to live servers later this week. You can find those notes at the bottom.
Heroes of the Storm PTR Notes —September 18, 2017
In Development Video
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General
New Special Event: Pachimari Mania
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Open Loot Boxes and be the first team to find the Golden Pachimari!
At the beginning of a match, Loot Boxes will spawn around your starting area. Open as many as you can, and try to find the legendary Golden Pachimari!
Opening a Loot Box will grant you a movement speed boost, enabling you to open even more boxes.
The player to open the most Loot Boxes on each team will be announced when the event ends, so be sure to always try your best!
The first team to find the Golden Pachimari will win the event and earn credit toward their Pachimari Mania quest progress!
Quests and Rewards
Pachimari Mania is a four-part quest chain. All quests must be completed in order, and only one quest will be active at a time.
Part 1: Find 2 Golden Pachimaris to earn a set of Pachimari in-game Emojis
Part 2: Find 5 Golden Pachimaris to earn a Pachimari-themed Banner
Part 3: Finding 8 Golden Pachimaris will unlock the Golden Pachimari spray
Part 4: Finding 10 Golden Pachimaris will unlock the Pachimari Portrait
PTR Note: While elements of this event may be visible on the Public Test Realm, any progress or rewards earned during PTR testing will not transfer to the live version of the game when this patch is officially released next week.
New Hero: Ana
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As a founding member of Overwatch and one of the world's best snipers, Ana Amari uses her skills to protect the innocent. Though she went MIA after losing her eye, Ana's sense of duty and responsibility has brought her back to the fight.
Trait
Shrike
Basic Attacks apply a Dose to non-Structure enemies, dealing an additional 44 damage over 5 seconds, stacking up to 5 times.
Basic Abilities
Healing Dart (Q)
Fire a dart which heals the first allied Hero hit for 250 Health.
Biotic Grenade (W)
Toss a Grenade at the target area. Allied Heroes hit are healed for 175 Health and receive 25% increased healing for 3 seconds. Enemies hit take 60 damage and receive 100% less healing for 2 seconds.
Sleep Dart (E)
Fire a dart that Sleeps the first enemy Hero hit, rendering them unable to act for 3 seconds. Sleep’s effects end instantly if the target takes damage after the first 0.5 seconds.
Cannot be used on Vehicles.
Heroic Abilities
Nano Boost (R)
Instantly boost an allied Hero, restoring 200 Mana. For the next 8 seconds, they gain 30% Spell Power and their Basic Ability cooldowns recharge 150% faster.
Cannot be used on Ana.
Eye of Horus (R)
Assume a sniping position, gaining the ability to fire up to 8 specialized rounds with unlimited range. Rounds hit the first allied or enemy Hero or enemy Structure in their path. Allies are healed for 300 and enemies are damaged for 175. Deals 50% damage to Structures.
Ana is unable to move while Eye of Horus is active.
Talents:
Lvl 1
Grenade Calibration
Quest: Hit enemy Heroes with Biotic Grenade. Reward: After hitting 10 Heroes, Biotic Grenade does 75% more damage per allied and enemy Hero hit.
Reward: After hitting 20 Heroes, Biotic Grenade's duration on allies is increased from 3 seconds to 12 seconds, and its healing radius is increased by 100%.
Piercing Darts
Quest: Hit Heroes with Sleep Dart. Reward: After hitting 10 Heroes, Sleep Dart now hits 2 Heroes and its range is increased by 50%.
Reward: After hitting 20 Heroes, Healing Dart now hits 2 Heroes and its range is increased by 50%.
Detachable Box Magazine
Quest: Stack 5 Doses on an enemy Hero. Reward: After reaching maximum Dosage 5 times, Doses deal 50% increase damage to enemies with 5 Doses.
Reward: After reaching maximum Dosage 15 times, unlock the Active Reload Ability, which can be activated to instantly gain 3 charges of Healing Dart.
Lvl 4
Air Strike
Activate to use Biotic Grenade with a 275% increased range, but Grenades thrown this way take 4 seconds to land.
Passive: Reduce Biotic Grenade cooldown by 4 seconds.
Overdose
Hitting enemies with Sleep Dart and Biotic Grenade applies 2 Doses.
Aim Down Sights
Shrike can be activated to increase vision radius by 112.5% and Basic Attack range by 2 but reduce Movement Speed by 20%. Lasts until canceled.
Lvl 7
Temporary Blindness
After Sleep Dart's effects wear off, targets are Blinded for 2 seconds.
Mind-Numbing Agent
Every Dose a Hero has reduces their Spell Power by 15%.
Debilitating Dart
Activate to fire a dart which reduces the damage dealt by the first enemy Hero it hits by 50% for 4 seconds.
Lvl 10
Nano Boost
Instantly boost an allied Hero, restoring 200 Mana. For the next 8 seconds, they gain 30% Spell Power and their Basic Ability cooldowns recharge 150% faster. Cannot be used on Ana.
Mana: 75
Cooldown: 60 sec
Eye of Horus
Assume a sniping position, gaining the ability to fire up to 8 specialized rounds with unlimited range. Rounds hit the first allied or enemy Hero or enemy Structure in their path. Allies are healed for 300 and enemies are damaged for 175. Deals 50% less damage to Structures. Ana is unable to move while Eye of Horus is active.
Mana: 75
Cooldown: 60 sec
Lvl 13
Speed Serum
Healing Dart grants 25% Movement Speed to affected Heroes for 2 seconds.
Purifying Darts
Healing Dart removes Roots and Slows from the target, and heals for 20% more when doing so.
Smelling Salts
Healing Dart removes Stuns from the target, and grants them 50 Armor for 2 seconds when doing so.
Lvl 16
Sharpshooter
Healing Dart's healing is increased by 5% each time it heals a Hero, up to 50%. This bonus is reset if Healing Dart fails to hit a Hero.
Concentrated Doses
Increase Healing Dart's healing by 10% for each Dose active on enemy Heroes.
Arcane Echoes
Biotic Grenade heals for 30% more per allied and enemy Hero hit.
Lvl 20
Nano Infusion
Allies affected by Nano Boost heal for 50% of Spell Damage dealt.
Ballistic Advantage
Eye of Horus rounds explodes upon impact, healing nearby allies for 300 and dealing 150 damage to nearby enemy Heroes.
Somnolent Doses
Upon stacking 5 Doses, Heroes are Slept for 2 seconds.
Dynamic Shooting
Basic Attacks increase Attack Speed by 10% for 4 seconds, up to 100%.
Custom Optics
Increase the Aim Down Sights Basic Attack range bonus from 2 to 4.
Battlegrounds
New Battleground: Volskaya Foundry
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Objective
Control Points
Throughout the match a Control Point will activate at one of three locations, beginning in a neutral capture state.
Once a player stands on the control point without any enemies, they gain control progress for their team at a steady rate.
If an enemy enters the point, the point becomes contested and will not gain or lose control progress.
When a team's control progress hits 100, they gain control of the point.
As long as a team has control of the point, they gain victory progress at a steady rate.
Victory progress does not decay for any reason.
Overtime: When a point is at 99% victory progress about to tick over to 100%, it will stay at 99% and enter the overtime state if there are any enemy heroes on the point or the point just flipped from the enemy's control.
When a team's victory progress hits 100%, they win the event. The control point deactivates and a two-person Triglav Protector spawns on the point for the winning team after a short delay.
Triglav Protector
Pilot Abilities
Charge (Q)
After .5 seconds, charge to the target unit's current location and deal damage in an area. Deals double damage to structures and minions. 8 second cooldown
Rocket Fist (W)
Launch a Rocket Fist that impacts the first Hero or Structure hit. Roots Heroes for 1 second. Disables Structures for 2 seconds. Destroys all minions in its path. 14 second cooldown.
Shield Emitter (E)
Grants 25 armor to vehicle and grants a Shield to all nearby allies equal to 25% of their maximum health. 16 second cooldown.
Gunner Abilities
Particle Cannon (Q)
Enables the Particle Cannon ability and increases its range over 3 seconds. Reactivate to launch an orb dealing damage in an area. 5 sec cooldown.
Gatling Cannon (W)
Fires a barrage of cannon fire at the location of your cursor for 4 seconds. 11 second cooldown.
Scorching Laser (E)
A laser quickly cuts a line across the terrain dealing light damage. A secondary explosion triggers 0.75 seconds later for heavy damage. 10 second cooldown.
New Sandbox Custom Game: Volskaya Foundry
A sandbox version of Volskaya Foundry has been added to Custom Games.
Much like Sandbox version of Cursed Hollow, this Battleground allows up to 10 players at once to use a variety of “cheats” to test the limits of their Heroes, and the Battleground.
Sandbox Volskaya Foundry also features a “Triglav Protector” button, which allows a player to immediately spawn a Protector at their Hero’s location.
Vehicles
All vehicles, including the Dragon Knight, Garden Terror, and Triglav Protector are now Unstoppable.
Ranked Battleground Rotation Update
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Added to Rotation
Volskaya Foundry
Haunted Mines
Towers of Doom
Removed from Rotation
Blackheart’s Bay
Braxis Holdout
Sky Temple
The full Ranked Battleground Rotation is now as follows:
Battlefield of Eternity
Cursed Hollow
Dragon Shire
Haunted Mines
Infernal Shrines
Tomb of the Spider Queen
Towers of Doom
Volskaya Foundry
Warhead Junction
AI
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General
AI Heroes will now perform more dynamic strategies.
Many Heroes have received tactical AI improvements, including:
Anubarak
Arthas
Azmodan
Brightwing
The Butcher
Falstad
Illidan
Kael’Thas
Kerrigan
E.T.C.
Li Li
The Lost Vikings
Malfurion
Muradin
Nazeebo
Raynor
Stitches
Sylvanas
Thrall
Uther
Valla
Xul
Zul’jin
Read our recent blog, “Under the Hood: AI” for an in-depth look at these and upcoming AI improvements.
Sound
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Voice Lines
Voice lines that have been selected for use in players’ Loadouts have had their volume increased in-game.
Now have a larger 3D falloff, increased sound exclusivity, and can interrupt other voice lines.
User Interface
In-Game UI
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Banners
Banners that are placed after completing an objective, capturing Mercenaries, etc., will now display the name of the player who owns that Banner.
Healing Indicators
Increased and Decreased Healing indicators have been added and will now appear next to Heroes’ healthbars when they are affected by healing modifier effects, such as Ana’s Biotic Grenade.
Minimap
Hero icons on the Minimap now indicate which direction that Hero is facing.
Daily Quests
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A new “Play 2 Games as an Overwatch Hero” Daily Quest has been added.
Social
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Players under level 5 can no longer whisper non-friends using chat channel player lists.
However, players under level 5 who receive a whisper from a non-friend can whisper that player back.
Collection
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It should now be easier to differentiate between Owned and Unowned Items in your Collection.
Additionally, item prices are now always displayed on unowned items.
Item backgrounds and borders have received visual improvements and rarity coloring to help players more easily distinguish between items of different rarities.
Chromie
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Abilities
Time Trap (E)
Now has a unique minimap icon.
Falstad
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Miscellaneous
Flight (Z) will now go on a 10 second cooldown when interrupted by enemy or allied abilities, including self-cancelling.
Flight (Z) now has an allied chat announcement upon activation.
Nova
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Abilities
Holo Decoy (E)
Sight range increased from 6 to 12 (now matches Heroes)
Talents
Level 4
Remote Delivery (E)
Removed
Holo Stability (E)
New functionality:
Increases the cast range, sight range, and duration of Holo Decoy by 100%
Level 7
Anti-Armor Shells (Passive)
Added functionality:
Basic Attacks also decrease the physical Armor of your target by 10 for 3 seconds
Level 13
Psionic Efficiency (Q)
Range increase from 10 to 15%
Developer Comment: We made a few changes to our resident Ghost - mostly targeted at fixing some under-performing talents. Alongside that, we figured that we may as well point Anti-Armor Shells, you know, into a direction more befitting its name.
Abathur
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Miscellaneous
Deep Tunnel (Z) will now go on a 10 second cooldown when interrupted by enemy or allied abilities, including self-cancelling.
Deep Tunnel (Z) now has an allied chat announcement upon activation.
Brightwing
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Miscellaneous
Phase Shift (Z) will now go on a 10 second cooldown when interrupted by enemy or allied abilities.
Phase Shift (Z) now has an allied chat announcement upon activation.
Kharazim
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Abilities
Breath of Heaven (W)
Cooldown increased from 8 to 10 seconds
Mana cost increased from 60 to 65
Talents
Level 1
Transcendence (Passive)
Healing increased from 73 to 96 per 3 Basic Attacks
Insight (Passive)
Cooldown reduction increased from 1 to 1.5 seconds per 3 Basic Attacks
Level 16
Dash of Light (Q + W)
Increased bonus healing from 50% to 75% for dashing to an ally
Developer Comment: These changes are designed to increase the power of Insight and Transcendence by shifting more of Kharazim's healing power pie into them. We want to encourage the same active gameplay that Iron Fist Kharazim's have, but increasing healing and utility instead of damage when the other Talents are chosen.
Rehgar
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Abilities
Chain Heal (Q)
Cast range reduced from 8 to 6
Bounce range reduced from 8 to 7
Primary target healing reduced from 334 to 250
Secondary bounce healing increased from 167 to 250
Developer Comment: We'd like to make positioning for Rehgar's Chain Heal matter more, so that we reward players and teams that can get the most of it. To do this we're reducing the range and radius of the heal, while also making the jumps a greater portion his overall healing.
Dehaka
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Miscellaneous
Brushstalker (Z) will now go on a 10 second cooldown when interrupted by enemy or allied abilities.
Johanna
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Abilities
Falling Sword (R)
Mana cost reduced from 100 to 90
Damage reduced from 365 to 183
Added functionality:
Now applies a 50% slow for 2.5 seconds after enemies are knocked into the air.
Talents
Level 1
Laws of Hope (Active)
Moved from Level 4
Health Regeneration reduced from 10 > 1.5
Heal increased from 20% > 30% Maximum Health
Cooldown reduced from 60 > 40 seconds
Regeneration Master (Passive)
Removed
Righteous Smash (Q)
Removed
Hold Your Ground (D)
Moved from Level 13
No longer requires Iron Skin’s shield to be broken for the 4-second cooldown reduction
Level 4
Conviction (W)
Moved from Level 7
Sins Exposed (E)
Moved from Level 7
Damage increased from 68 > 90
Eternal Retaliation (W)
Cooldown reduction decreased from .75 seconds to .5 seconds
Level 7
The Crusade Marches On (D)
Removed
(New Talent) Zealous Glare (E)
Increases the Blind duration of Shield Glare by .5 seconds. Your auto-attacks against Blinded heroes increases their Blind duration by 1 second, up to a maximum of 3 seconds
Subdue (Q)
Moved from Level 13
New functionality:
Hitting 2 enemy Heroes with Punish causes the slow to be increased to 80% and no longer decay.
!Quest: Hit 4 enemy Heroes with a single cast of Punish. !Reward: Punish now always slows enemies by 80% and no longer decays.
Level 13
Roar (Q)
Moved from Level 4
Damage bonus reduced from 50% > 25%
Additional Functionality:
Punish deals 125% increased damage if it hits 2 or more enemy Heroes
Burning Rage (Passive)
Removed
Blessed Hammer (Active)
Moved from Level 16
New Functionality: Activate to create 2 hammers that spiral around Johanna. Hitting enemy Heroes with Shield Glare reduces the cooldown of this ability by 8 seconds. 30-second cooldown
Damage increased from 41 to 80
(New Talent) Holy Fury (W)
Deal damage to enemies around you. Each enemy Hero hit by Condemn increases the damage by 40% for 5 seconds
Level 16
Fanaticism (D)
Additional Functionality: Now also increases the duration of Iron Skin by 2 seconds
Level 20
Heaven’s Fury (R)
Cooldown reduction increased from 2 to 3 seconds
Indestructible (Passive)
Duration reduced from 5 to 4 seconds
Storm Shield (Active)
Removed
(New Talent) Blinded by the Light (Active)
Activate to grant nearby allies a shield equal to 25% of their maximum Health for 3 seconds. Hitting enemy Heroes with Shield Glare reduces this cooldown by 8 seconds. 60-second cooldown
Developer Comment: To her credit, Johanna has not needed many changes since she was first released into the Nexus. Her talent pick and win rates have been fair compared to most heroes, and she has almost always had a place in the meta. While she is not in dire need of changes, we saw an opportunity to spruce up her talent tree and give her some more interesting options to choose from on various tiers.
Collection
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Collection Adjustments
Loot Chests
Loot Chests purchased via the Loot tab will now only grant Rare Loot Chests, rather than Normal Loot Chests.
Please note: This only applies to Loot Chests purchased after this patch is applied to the live version of the game in each region. Normal Loot Chests the player already owns will not convert to Rare Loot Chests.
Rewards
The Celestial Steed Mount has been removed and replaced by the Celestial Raptor as a reward for purchasing Loot Chests.
The 1,000 Gem reward for reaching level 5 has been removed.
Please note: Veteran players who have not logged in following the release of Heroes 2.0 earlier this year will no longer be able to claim this reward once this patch is applied to the live version of the game in each region.
Bundles
The Welcome Bundle has been removed from the Collection.
New Skins
Ana
Midnight Ana
Burnished Ana
Sunset Ana
Twilight Ana
Medic Ana
Shrike
Agent Shrike
Aquamarine Shrike
Rescue Shrike
Stealth Shrike
Varian
Commandant Varian
Grand Commandant Varian
Recon Commandant Varian
Stealth Commandant Varian
Tundra Commandant Varian
Anub’arak
Deatholme Underking Anub’arak
Auriel
Kuroi Sakura Auriel
Sora Sakura Auriel
Azmodan
Lucky Azmodunk
Cassia
Aranoch Warmatron Cassia
Askari Warmatron Cassia
Dehaka
D.Haka
D.Va
Camo D.Va
Global Pro D.Va
Perfect Pro D.Va
X-Treme D.Va
Lúcio
Prime Ribbit Lúcio
Rosa Ribbit Lúcio
Nova
Moonlight Widowmaker Nova
Tracer
Hot Rod Turbo Tracer
Valeera
Emerald Bloodfang Valeera
Moonstone Bloodfang Valeera
Zarya
Golden Cyberdemon Zarya
Restored Cyberdemon Zarya
Mounts
Illidan’s Nightmare
Wretched Illidan’s Nightmare
Crimson Illidan’s Nightmare
Invisible Horse
Celestial Raptor – As mentioned above, this Mount is awarded upon purchasing Loot Chests with Gems.
Bug Fixes
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General
Fixed a number of typo and tooltip errors across several aspects of the game.
Art
Zeratul: Zeratul’s mask will no longer stretch and bend oddly during Hero Select or in the Collection on low graphic settings.
Battlegrounds
Blackheart’s Bay: Fixed an issue that could allow Medivh and Falstad to enter and stand in certain areas inside the enemy Hall of Storms.
Haunted Mines: The right-side team’s top Keep can no longer hit enemy Heroes who path into the Gate.
Try Mode: The You Want Axe? Talent will now correctly grant bonus Basic Attack range after using the Complete Quest button.
Try Mode: Garrosh will no longer continue to benefit from the Warbreaker Talent after clicking Reset Talents.
Try Mode: Toggling off Minion spawns will no longer cause AI Heroes to wait at their Fort Gates indefinitely.
Heroes, Abilities, and Talents
Alarak: Rite of Rak’shir will no longer be placed on a dead target if it was cast just as that target took fatal damage.
Diablo: Fixed an issue that could prevent Diablo from traveling with his Shadow Charge target if another Hero stood between Diablo and his target.
D.Va: Using Boosters to smash destructible barrels on Blackheart’s Bay will no longer place the Ability on full cooldown.
D.Va: Fixed an issue that could cause D.Va to inconsistently activate Healing Wells while using Boosters.
D.Va: Dying while casting Call Mech will no longer create an untargetable Mech that persists until D.Va respawns.
D.Va: Mech deaths that occur while no enemy Heroes are nearby will now correctly grant XP and update D.Va’s death count on the in-game score screen.
D.Va: A Nuke’s area of effect indicator will no longer disappear if D.Va finishes channeling Nuke in the same moment that her Mech is destroyed.
Garrosh: Wrecking Ball will no longer end Rehgar’s Ghost Wolf.
Garrosh: Using Body Check with the Brute Force Talent on a Boss no longer causes the Healing debuff icon to appear next its Health bar.
Garrosh: Bloodthirst will no longer cause Garrosh to automatically retarget his Basic Attacks to the closest enemy.
Garrosh: Into the Fray will no longer place targeting indicators on attacking Hydralisks on Braxis Holdout.
Genji: Fixed an issue that could prevent Fort attacks from Slowing Genji if he has Dodge charges remaining, and there is another Genji on the opposing team.
Genji: Fixed an issue that could cause Dodge to behave inconsistently against Sylvanas’ and Lunara’s Basic Attacks.
Illidan: Abilities that can interrupt Dive, like Li-Ming’s Wave of Force, will no longer cause Illidan to become briefly unresponsive.
Jaina: Fixed an issue that prevented Jaina from casting Water Elemental if unpathable terrain existed between Jaina and the desired casting location.
Jaina: Fixed a typo in the Icy Veins tooltip which incorrectly stated that the Talent provided a 300% cooldown recharge rate , rather than 200%. This only affected the tooltip, and the Talent's functionality has not changed.
Johanna: Abilities that block pathing, such as Sonya’s Arreat Crater and Tassadar’s Force Wall, will no longer block Johanna’s movement during Falling Sword.
Leoric: Fixed an issue that could prevent the Mithril Mace Talent from granting bonus Attack Speed for Minion and Hero kills.
Leoric: Percentage damage dealt by the Spectral Leech Talent will now properly count as Ability damage rather than Basic Attack damage.
Probius: Floating Combat Text will now indicate the amount of Shields granted to Probius by a Pylon after learning Shield Battery, rather than displaying zero for each tick.
Stukov: Abilities that move Heroes, like Alarak’s Telekinesis and Stiches’ Hook, no longer remove Weighted Pustule from the affected Hero.
Sylvanas: Withering Fire can no longer target destructible barrels on Blackheart’s Bay.
The Lost Vikings: Can no longer clip into Gates on Braxis Holdout during the pre-game countdown.
The Lost Vikings: Casting Longboat Raid immediately after one of the Vikings is killed will no longer prevent the player from using Mortar during the Heroic Ability’s duration.
Tychus: The That’s the Stuff! Talent’s Heal indicator will no longer disappear if Tychus stops attacking before Minigun expires.
Tyrande: Sentinel can no longer leave the starting zone during the pre-game countdown.
Valla: Enemy Heroes who were broken out of Stealth by Hungering Arrow can now correctly be hit by subsequent Hungering Arrow strikes.
Valla: Caltrops dropped by the Vault Talent will no longer display Health bars, and are no longer selectable.
Zagara: Creep Tumors no longer exhibit a short delay before granting vision of the area affected by Creep.
Sound
Li-Ming: Templar Li-Ming will now correctly play death sounds when killed.
Valeera: Enemy Heroes will no longer hear when Valeera primes her activated Talents, like Crippling Poison, when she is Stealthed.
User Interface
Hotkeys: The Dragon Knight and Garden Terror will now correctly follow Force Move commands.