Update v0.4.7.3 - Halloween Map Update!

Hello everyone! Halloween is here!

▌Halloween Map!

• Celebrate the spooky season with a Halloween themed map!

▌Friends Page Improvements!

• Added a new notification ping which appears whenever you have a friend request
• New online friends count on friends list
• Friend requests can now be sent through player profiles!

▌Miscellaneous

• Fixed a bug which caused players joining a lobby to be unable to see assigned bot characters
• Fixed a bug in Captain Draft where Kumihu bans would not appear

▌Gameplay

• Reduced the effects of Health Regeneration overall 
  
• Projectiles are no longer destroyed by invulnerable targets
• Lowered the invisible unit detection radius
• Maximum Level changed from 10 to 12
  • At Level 11, the other Level 6 Talent becomes selectable
  • At Level 12, the other Level 10 Talent becomes selectable
• EXP Gains in-game increased (heroes will level up faster)
• Respawn timer reduced
• Tower Damage per stack of tower hit decreased
• Frigid Curse Duration: 2.5s ⇒ 3s
• Recall (B): 
  • No longer heals 25% Max Health upon recalling

▌Heroes

Alvar

After the last nerf to Alvar, he went from one of the strongest characters in the game to one of the weaker ones in an instant. A change to his Furious Kick Boost talent has been made to boost his viability with skill expression in mind, as well as a few... uhh... reduced Heavenly Mark damage by 5? What? 

• Furious Kick (K):
  • Now grants 8 Movement Speed for 3 seconds to himself and allies upon hitting an enemy. 
• Level 6 Right Talent: (Furious Kick Boost)
  • Grants 6 Movement Speed and 20% Attack Speed for 2.5s ⇒ Grants 50% Lifesteal for 3s
• Heavenly Mark (Passive):
  • Marking Damage: 10 ⇒ 5

Arel

Arel is a good pick in 1v1s, but he suffers more in 2v2s due to his lower speed. His Movement Speed will be slightly increased to both make him a more viable hero in 2v2s and increase consistency overall.

• Movement Speed: 68 ⇒ 70

Belle

Belle's +1 Floral Ambush Bomb talent at Level 10 gave her Floral Ambush ability even more range, nearly guaranteeing a hit on enemies each cast. The talent will be changed to prevent Belles from killing people out of vision, in addition to a small buff to her Level 6 Floral Ambush Slow talent to give it more use.

• Level 10 Right Talent: (+1 Floral Ambush Bomb)
  • Reworked: +1 Floral Ambush Bomb ⇒ Prickly Vine Stun Delay -1s
• Level 6 Right Talent: (Floral Ambush -15 Movement Speed)
  • Movement Speed reduction: -15 ⇒ -20

Magdalene

For both her level 6 and 10 talents, Magdalene has one option which almost always is the better option. The overlooked talents will be changed in order to make them favourable in more situations, as well as changing a few other things.

• Level 6 Left Talent: (+2 Soul Harvest Stacks - Kill/Assist)
  • Provides an additional 2 stacks of Soul Harvest for each player kill ⇒ Provides an additional 3 stacks of Soul Harvest for each player kill 
• Level 6 Right Talent: (Scream of Pain Pushback +0.4s)
  • Pushback Duration: 0.4s ⇒ 0.5s
• Level 10 Left Talent: (Empower Swarm of Ghosts)
  • Reworked: Swarm of Ghosts deals 25% more damage per stack ⇒ Swarm of Ghosts slows enemies by 30% for 1s
• Swarm of Ghosts (L): 
  • No longer applies stacks on minions. 
  • Damage against minions: 50% ⇒ 100%

Kumihu

Kumihu's talents have proven to be a nuisance, most notably the charm duration increase on her Level 6 right talent, and the Magical Orb range increase on her Level 10 left talent. All of Kumihu's talents will be changed to hopefully make them less infuriating to play against.

•  Level 6 Left Talent: (Magical Orb cooldown -1.5s)
  • Cooldown Reduction: 1.5s ⇒ 1s
• Level 6 Right Talent: (Charm Duration +0.5s)
  • Reworked: Charm Duration +0.5s ⇒ Arcane Dash cooldown -1.5s
• Level 10 Left Talent: (Magical Orb Range +25px)
  • Reworked: Magical Orb Range +25px ⇒ Empowered Basic Attack pierces units
• Level 10 Right Talent: (Enhanced Attack +125%)
  • Reworked: Enhanced Attack +125% ⇒ Magical Orb reduces vision by 50% for 3.5s when hitting the same enemy twice
• Enhanced Basic Attack:
  • Base Damage: 90 ⇒ 110

Foxy

Foxy has been greatly struggling in comparison to the rest of the heroes. The only thing which stands out about him is his grenade, which offers a large and controllable AoE damage. His K ability, however, feels plain by comparison. While not changed yet, his Rapid Fire ability will be reworked in the future, and for now, some of his talents and damage numbers will be tweaked.  

• Level 10 Left Talent: (Rapid Fire CC Immunity)
  • Reworked: Rapid Fire CC Immunity ⇒ Grenade Radius +75%
• Rapid Fire (K): 
  • Attack Damage: 35% ⇒ 40%
• Attack Damage Scaling: 2 ⇒ 2.5

Sparrow

Sparrow has been performing extremely well, especially in combination with Hunter's Longbow. Her Attack Speed scaling will be slightly reduced for now.

•   Attack Speed Scaling: 2% ⇒ 1.5%

Kira

Kira is the only support hero with the ability to heal allies. While it makes sense for a healing support character to have lower damage, both her damage and healing felt lackluster, especially early game. Decreasing her cooldowns offers her both more opportunities to inflict damage with abilities and heal herself and teammates with enhanced Basic Attacks.

• Rain of Sparks (K): 
  • Cooldown: 7s ⇒ 6s
• Static Phantasm (L):
  • Cooldown: 10s ⇒ 9s

▌Items

Titan's Armor 

Granting the user the ability to escape a tight situation with three seconds of invulnerability and healing, Titan's Armor is an overall good pick for any hero. The invincibility duration will be reduced, which consequentially lowers the healing done while immune.

• Duration: 3s ⇒ 2.5s

Hunter's Longbow

Hunter's Longbow has been quite strong thanks to not only its large Attack Speed boost and extra Attack Damage, but its lower price compared to Berserker's Bow and Nimble Longbow. Its Attack Damage and Critical Chance will be removed, and instead Hunter's Longbow will grant a small amount of Movement Speed.

• Item Cost: 450 (950 total) ⇒ 500 (1000 total)
• Attack Damage: 12 ⇒ 0
• Critical Chance: 10% ⇒ 0%
• Movement Speed: 0 ⇒ 3

Corrupted Light Slayer

Corrupted Light Slayer has consistently been a strong item for Attack Damage heroes, even after a barrage of nerfs. Hopefully reducing its Lifesteal and Attack Damage granted to nearby allies will prevent it from being as powerful.

• Passive: Grants 10% Lifesteal and 10 Attack Damage to nearby allies ⇒ 8% Lifesteal and 7 Attack Damage

Divine Ring

Divine Ring in combination with Vampiric Rod can be quite strong due to the healing boost to Vampiric Rod's heal and Vampiric Rod giving Divine Ring stacks almost infinite uptime, granting an almost permanent 20 Ability Power boost. Its Ability Power per stack will be lowered, reducing its offensive power but keeping the self-sustain untouched.

• Ability Power per Stack: 4 ⇒ 3

Vampiric Rod

Vampiric Rod's healing has been too powerful if unchecked, and even remained strong against items reducing healing. In addition, its healing could be buffed even further thanks to Divine Ring's passive effect. Vampiric Rod will receive a nerf to its healing and regeneration, to reduce the power of the Vampiric Rod and Divine Ring combo without affecting the power of Divine Ring too much, while offering a small Ability Power boost in return.

• Passive: Your abilities heal you for 32% of damage dealt ⇒ 27% of damage dealt
• Ability Power: 23 ⇒ 24
• Health Regeneration: 3 ⇒ 0

Berserker Bow

Not only can getting all eight stacks of Berserker Bow's Attack Speed buff prove to be a difficult feat, but its short buff duration makes retaining it equally hard to do. The duration of the buffs will be slightly increased.

• Buff Duration: 3s ⇒ 3.5s

Shadow Slayer

Shadow Slayer's burst damage is way too low compared to other Attack Damage items, even though Shadow Slayer is designed around dealing large burst damage. The amount of damage its passive deals will be increased to help Shadow Slayer fulfill its job.

• Passive:
  • Damage: 4% of enemy's Max Health ⇒ 6% of enemy's Max Health

Burning Rod

Burning Rod gives both a strong offensive passive and a generous helping of Max Health to heroes purchasing the item. To make the item more offense focus, some of the Max Health granted will be redistributed to its Ability Power.

• Max Health: 80 ⇒ 70
• Ability Power: 15 ⇒ 16

Healing Potion

An absolute necessity for early game, Healing Potions allow for heroes to stay in the battle for longer, allowing for more gold from farming minions and less recalls back to base. In combination with the reduction to Health Regeneration, a small hit to the maximum healing duration should nerf Healing Potion without removing its value.

• Active:
  • Duration: 10s ⇒ 9s

Observer Ward

Even in ranked 2v2s, where the item's impact is greater, Observer Ward has been underused mainly due to the cost harming teams behind in gold. Its price will be reduced to help combat this.

• Item Cost: 40 ⇒ 20

▌Items Granting Health Regeneration

Health Regeneration as a whole was powerful, especially in combination with items like Plate Armor, further amplifying its effects. The items listed below gave Health Regeneration, and had their values lowered or changed for this reason.

Plague Ring

•    Health Regeneration: 3 ⇒ 2

Chronos Ring

• Health Regeneration: 3 ⇒ 2

 Frost Ring

• Health Regeneration: 3 ⇒ 2

Ring of Regeneration

• Health Regeneration: 2 ⇒ 1

Garun's Defender

• Health Regeneration: 4 ⇒ 3

Shield of Defiance

• Health Regeneration: 3 ⇒ 0
• Max Health: 0 ⇒ 100

Kirin's Defender

• Health Regeneration: 6 ⇒ 0
• Max Health: 0 ⇒ 100

Enchanted Shield

• Health Regeneration: 3 ⇒ 0
• Max Health: 0 ⇒ 50

Enduring Shield

• Health Regeneration: 4 ⇒ 3

Vampiric Shield

• Health Regeneration: 5 ⇒ 3
• Armor: 4 ⇒ 5