HOTS Update: New OW Hero and Battleground, Special Event and More

A new Heroes of the Storm update was released for Live Server, containing a new hero, new map, balance changes and more.

Let’s take a look at the main changes of the patch:

New Event: Pachimari Mania

• 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: Finding 2 Golden Pachimaris will unlock the Pachimari Portrait
• Part 2: Finding 5 Golden Pachimaris will unlock the Golden Pachimari spray
• Part 3: Find 8 Golden Pachimaris to earn a Pachimari-themed Banner
• Part 4: Find 10 Golden Pachimaris to earn a set of Pachimari in-game Emojis

Find Golden Pachimaris to earn your rewards until the event ends on October 17 PDT!

New Hero: Ana

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.

New Battleground: Volskaya Foundry

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.

Ranked Battleground Rotation Update

Added to Rotation:

• Volskaya Foundry
• Haunted Mines
• Towers of Doom
• Warhead Junction

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

Heroes Balance

Chromie

Abilities

Time Trap (E):

• Now has a unique minimap icon.

Falstad

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

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%

Abathur

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

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

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

Rehgar

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

Dehaka

Miscellaneous

• Brushstalker (Z) will now go on a 10 second cooldown when interrupted by enemy or allied abilities.

Johanna

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

On top of all that, the patch contains various additional little changes. To read the full patch notes, head over to the official HOTS website.