Blizzard has been hard at work the last few months doing what they can to improve their objectively-busted Warcraft 3: Reforged title that released earlier this year. Having been released about as far from finished as it could be, the development crew had their task cut out for them.
But kudos to them, they’ve been working to get the game up to the standard it was promised to be at the start. With this latest patch, the developers are targeting heroes for better balance, providing some buffs and nerfs.
To be clear, there’s a lot more going on in this patch than some hero buffs, but we’re primarily going to be focusing on them for now. Earlier this week we discussed some of the many previously announced changes that the new patch will have, including some art improvements and item tweaks.
“For heroes in general, we’re looking at the costs and sometimes the functionality of hero ultimate abilities, to make them a bit more competitive with a hero’s baseline abilities and mana pool,” Blizzard explained in their notes.
Beginning with the Human race, the Mountain King is seeing a modest change. Thunderclap’s cooldown has been increased from 6 seconds to 7 across all levels of the ability. Blizzard explains this is because of some overperformance issues, and they hope the minor nerf can bring it more in line.
The Paladin is also seeing a change, though theirs serves as a buff. Resurrection’s mana cost has been reduced by 25%, from 200 to 150. Blizzard hopes that this will help increase the viability of the Resurrection spell over other options.
Orcs have changes coming to three different heroes, which are as follows:
- Shadow Hunter’s Big Bad Voodoo has had its cost reduced from 200 to 150 in order to help with mana tension
- Far Seer’s Earthquake has been nerfed to last 20 seconds instead of 25, though the building DPS has been increased from 50 to 60 and the mana cost reduced. It will also no longer affect friendly units or structures
- Tauren Chieftain’s War Stomp has had its cooldown increased from 6 seconds to 7
Night Elves have a single change coming, only targeting the Keeper of the Grove hero. Tranquility’s invulnerability has been removed and its duration reduced from 15 to 12 seconds, though the healing has been increased. Additionally, Entangling Roots has had its range at level 3 drastically increased from 600 to 800.
Finally, we have the Undead race, which has changes coming to the Death Knight and Crypt Lord heroes. The Death Knight has a single change – Animate Dead’s mana cost has been reduced from 175 to 125. The Crypt Lord, however, has a wide set of changes, which are as follows:
- Impale can no longer be interrupted, and enemies knocked airborne are now targetable
- Crypt Lord cast point increased from .4 to .5
- Carrion Beetles mana cost increased from 30 to 45, but now spawns 2 beetles instead of 1. Crypt Lords can also now have 6 beetles instead of 5, though the cooldown has increased from 6 seconds to 9
And those are the changes coming to the heroes of Warcraft 3: Reforged! As Blizzard continues to improve the title, we can expect to see more and more patches in the coming months.
