The latest update for Blizzard Entertainment’s Heroes of the Storm has arrived bringing a ton of game-changing content to the Blizzard-themed multiplayer online battle arena. This includes the brand-new hero Qhira, a new ranked format, map updates, more additions to the collection, and bug fixes. The full Heroes of the Storm August 2019 update patch notes can be found at the very bottom of the page. Below are a few highlights from the new update.
Heroes of the Storm August 2019 Update Patch Notes Highlights | Qhira
According to Blizzard, the newest hero to join the ever-growing Heroes of the Storm roster is Qhira, the Iresian Bounty Hunter. Unlike most of the heroes, with the exception of Orphea, Qhira has never been featured in another Blizzard Entertainment game. She is a brand-new character created from the ground up for the MOBA.
Qhira uses an extendable sword that acts almost like a whip (similar to Ivy from the Soul Calibur series). She is most optimal when first engaging or getting that final blow on an enemy.
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Her “D” ability the grappling hook which allows her to pull herself towards to whatever it connects, including enemies. Her “Q” is Carnage, which shoots her sword into a chosen direction, dealing continuous damage. Her “W” is Blood Rage, which will buff your basic attack and abilities to deal some bleeding damage that can stack. Lastly, her “E” is Revolving Sweep which lets you attach your sword to an enemy and swing around them for a short period of time, damaging any enemy caught in between you and the attached enemy. Reactivating it will shoot you towards the enemy dealing a good amount of damage as well as stunning them.
She will also have two heroic abilities. Unrelenting Strikes deals damage to all nearby enemies for a few seconds as her sword grows; once that time expires, it deals even more damage and stuns them briefly. Final Strike will send your sword in a line to deal some massive damage to anyone caught in its path. If those enemies have less than 50% health, the damage of the ability will increase by 25% to those weakened enemies.
If you want to see her in action, you can check out the Hero Spotlight which flaunts all of her abilities, as well as explains her backstory narrated by Qhira herself.
Heroes of the Storm August 2019 Update Patch Notes Highlights| Storm League
Storm League is the new ranked system for Heroes of the Storm. The Ranked Points you garner from playing will now directly map to your matchmaking rating (MMR). Additionally, the game’s matchmaker will not take your rank into account. As always, leaving a Ranked lobby or game will have negative consequences, resulting in a 500 Rank Point penalty.
There are also a few features meant to make the Ranked experience more pleasant. Instead of requiring you to play 10 Ranked matches to be placed in a Rank, you will now only need to play three. Promotion and demotion matches have also been removed; instead, you will move “seamlessly” through leagues and divisions.
There are also some new eligibility requirements now to receive Ranked Seasonal Rewards or be part of the Grand Master Leaderboards. A Ranked Seasonal Questline is provided to all Ranked players, which is now a prerequisite to get any rewards you earn from playing the competitive mode.
Lastly, not every map will be available in Ranked. Here is the full map pool for Storm League:
- Alterac Pass
- Battlefield of Eternity
- Braxis Holdout
- Cursed Hollow
- Dragon Shire
- Hanamura Temple
- Infernal Shrines
- Sky Temple
- Tomb of the Spider Queen
- Towers of Doom
- Volskaya Foundry
Heroes of the Storm August 2019 Update Patch Notes Highlights | New bundles, skins, and mounts
Introducing a new character means there will be even more skins to collect. In addition to the Qhira skins, there are a few bundles that will only be available for a limited time. These bundles include the Qhira Heroic Bundle, Warchrome Commanders Bundle, and Deathranger Nova Bundle. Here are all the new bundles, skins and mounts coming to Heroes of the Storm:
Bundles
- Qhira Heroic Bundle
- Warchrome Commanders Bundle
- Deathranger Nova Bundle
Skins
- Fearless Qhira
- Jade Qhira
- Scrapper Queen Qhira
- Berserk Scrapper Queen Qhira
- Executor Scrapper Queen Qhira
- Desert Scrapper Queen Qhira
- Vanquisher Scrapper Queen Qhira
- Deathranger Nova (Limited Time Only!)
- Mirage Deathranger Nova
- Rugged Deathranger Nova
- Dusk Deathranger Nova
- Ember Deathranger Nova
- Daredevil Roadraider Raynor
- Molten Diesel Speaker Nazeebo
Mounts
- Daredevil Helldorado
- Scavenger’s Ripper
- Outrider’s Ripper
- Soldier’s Ripper
Full Heroes of the Storm August 2019 Update Patch Notes
GENERAL
On-Fire System
- Hero name-plates will now display that a Hero is On-Fire when they are performing well during a match
NEW HERO: QHIRA, IRESIAN BOUNTY HUNTER
A sworn knight and holder of a singularity shard, Qhira’s only desire is to seek out others who may have escaped the destruction of her doomed home realm, Iresia. While she searches, she gets by as a bounty hunter— a job she loathes, despite her exceptional skill.
Trait
- Grappling Hook [D]
- Qhira fires a Grappling Hook that pulls her to any terrain it contacts. If an enemy Hero is hit, they take 36 damage and Qhira launches at them, dealing an additional 112 damage on impact. Can be used while Revolving Sweep is active.
- Cooldown: 25 Seconds
- Qhira fires a Grappling Hook that pulls her to any terrain it contacts. If an enemy Hero is hit, they take 36 damage and Qhira launches at them, dealing an additional 112 damage on impact. Can be used while Revolving Sweep is active.
Basic Abilities
- Carnage [Q]
- Unleash your sword in a targeted direction, continuously dealing 31 damage to enemies caught in its path.
- Cost: 40 Mana
- Cooldown: 6 seconds
- Unleash your sword in a targeted direction, continuously dealing 31 damage to enemies caught in its path.
- Blood Rage [W]
- Passive: Basic Attack and Ability damage cause enemies to bleed for 46 damage over 4 seconds. Stacks 5 times.
- Active: Qhira deals 33 damage and heals for 88 health per enemy Hero affected. Damage and healing is increased by 50% per each additional stack on that Hero.
- Cost: 35 Mana
- Cooldown: 8 seconds
- Revolving Sweep [E]
- Attach your sword to the first enemy Hero hit, Stunning them for .25 seconds. Once attached, Qhira becomes immune to all effects, swinging around the target for 2.75 seconds, and dealing 109 damage to any enemies between you and the target. Reactivate to send you to the target’s location, knocking them back, dealing 112 damage and Stunning them for .75 seconds.
- Cost: 70 Mana
- Cooldown: 16 Seconds
- Attach your sword to the first enemy Hero hit, Stunning them for .25 seconds. Once attached, Qhira becomes immune to all effects, swinging around the target for 2.75 seconds, and dealing 109 damage to any enemies between you and the target. Reactivate to send you to the target’s location, knocking them back, dealing 112 damage and Stunning them for .75 seconds.
Heroic Abilities
- Unrelenting Strikes [R1]
- Deal 46 damage to all nearby enemies every .5 seconds for 2.5 seconds as your sword grows outward. Upon expiring, deal 86 damage to all nearby enemy Heroes and Stun them for .75 seconds.
- Cost: 60 Mana
- Cooldown: 75 Seconds
- Final Strike [R2]
- After 1 second, strike your sword in a line to deal 432 damage to all enemies in its path. This damage is increased by 25% to any enemy below 50% Health.
- Cost: 45 Mana
- Cooldown: 40 Seconds
- After 1 second, strike your sword in a line to deal 432 damage to all enemies in its path. This damage is increased by 25% to any enemy below 50% Health.
STORM LEAGUE
Storm League – Season 1, 2019
- Ranked Points are now directly mapped to a player’s Storm League MMR.
- Rank is no longer considered by the matchmaker.
- Leaving a Ranked Match Lobby or Game results in a 500 Rank Point penalty which can be slowly regained in future matches.
- Placement Matches have been reduced from 10 to 3.
- Promotion and Demotion games have been removed and players will seamlessly transition through Leagues and Divisions.
- The MMR range has been rebuilt and remapped to handle this.
- A Team Leader (banning player in Ranked Draft) is selected on the highest Rank for placed players, or MMR for unplaced ones. In mixed teams, placed players have priority.
- Rank Decay has been adjusted
- Only players that are Diamond 5 or higher and that have finished their Placement Matches are eligible for decay
- If a player’s decay timer is less than 3 days, it resets to 3 days upon playing a Storm League game. If the timer is at or above 3 days, players will gain an additional grace day for each game played (up to a maximum of 30).
- A Ranked Seasonal Questline is now available to players
- This Questline will be available each Season and must be completed in order to be eligible for both the Ranked Seasonal Rewards and the Grand Master Leaderboards.
[UPDATE] We are currently revising the list of maps but the below list will be the final map rotation for Storm League.
[NEW] The Storm League pool is now:
- Alterac Pass
- Battlefield of Eternity
- Braxis Holdout
- Cursed Hollow
- Dragon Shire
- Hanamura Temple
- Infernal Shrines
- Sky Temple
- Tomb of the Spider Queen
- Towers of Doom
- Volskaya Foundry
The Quick Match pool is now:
- All maps that are available in Storm League
- Blackheart’s Bay
- Garden of Terror
- Warhead Junction
[NEW] Dev Comment: Due to player feedback about their favorite Battleground being removed or least favorite added, and also us questioning the value that we were gaining by having a Battleground rotation, we’ve decided to get our Storm League pool to 11 Battlegrounds and probably leave it there for the immediate future. The original idea behind a rotation was to facilitate a different metagame and make the game feel fresh and different, but we found that this wasn’t really panning out this way and in fact created more confusion and volatility than enjoyment. We still think that altering the game from season to season is important to keep things feeling fresh, and we’ll be exploring ways to do this beyond our regular Hero updates and new Heroes in the future.
MAP UPDATES
Braxis Holdout
- Functionality of the Braxis control-point is now consistent with that of Dragon Shire
- Zerg Waves
- Make-up and stats of the Zerg Wave units have been adjusted
- Zergling
- Health reduced from 750 to 450
- Health scaling over time increased
- Damage increased from 5 to 10
- Damage scaling over time decreased
- No longer has a 10% damage penalty to Structures
- Baneling
- Health reduced from 500 to 450
- Health scaling over time increased
- Damage increased from 55 to 150
- Damage scaling over time decreased
- Now have a 50% damage bonus to Heroes
- No longer have a 50% damage bonus to Structures
- Explosion radius increased from 2.75 to 3
- Now prefers attacking Structures
- Hydralisk
- Health reduced from 1500 to 850
- Health scaling over time increased
- Damage increased from 25 to 70
- Damage scaling over time decreased
- No longer have a 10% damage penalty to Structures
- Guardian
- Health reduced from 2250 to 1000
- Health scaling over time increased
- Damage increased from 80 to 110
- Damage scaling over time decreased
- No longer have a 25% damage penalty to Structures
- Ultralisk
- Health reduced from 6000 to 4700
- Health scaling over time increased
- Damage increased from 50 to 100
- Damage scaling over time decreased
- No longer have a 10% damage penalty to Structures
- While attacking, Guardian and Ultralisks now spawn Drop Pods with 3 Zerglings and 1 Hydralisk (can occur once every 13 seconds)
Developer Comment: We’ve made some changes to Braxis to even out the power curve of Zerg waves and introduce what we’ve found is a fun new mechanic in Drop Pods. By causing reinforcements of Zerg to periodically appear via Drop Pods, it makes some effects like Planet Cracker and Lava Wave a little less powerful against them. It also provides a stronger focus for single target characters, as removing Ultralisks and Guardians earlier will cause fewer Drop Pods to spawn, thereby indirectly helping against the massive zerg onslaught. The tuning changes get the zerg in line with most of our other Mercenaries and Minions, which mostly mirror a Hero’s power level over the course of a game (though Battleground events tend to get more deadly in the late game to force a conclusion to matches). Overall, we think you’ll enjoy these small changes to Braxis. It won’t greatly change the way the Battleground feels but introduce a little freshness to the map while helping balance a few longstanding issues with over the top Hero imbalances on the Battleground.
COLLECTION
New Bundles (Limited Time Only!)
- Qhira Heroic Bundle
- Warchrome Commanders Bundle
- Deathranger Nova Bundle
New Skins
- Fearless Qhira
- Jade Qhira
- Scrapper Queen Qhira
- Berserk Scrapper Queen Qhira
- Executor Scrapper Queen Qhira
- Desert Scrapper Queen Qhira
- Vanquisher Scrapper Queen Qhira
- Deathranger Nova (Limited Time Only!)
- Mirage Deathranger Nova
- Rugged Deathranger Nova
- Dusk Deathranger Nova
- Ember Deathranger Nova
- Daredevil Roadraider Raynor
- Molten Diesel Speaker Nazeebo
New Mounts
- Daredevil Helldorado
- Scavenger’s Ripper
- Outrider’s Ripper
- Soldier’s Ripper
New Announcer
- Qhira Announcer
New Content
- Several emojis, portraits, banners and other items have been added to the collection!
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BUG FIXES
- [NEW] Interrupting Brightwing’s Intensive Winds cast will now set the cooldown to 5 seconds.
- [NEW] Fixed various Movement Speed bugs that had occurred with the increased Movement Speed patch.
- Zeratul no longer auto-acquires targets that walk within range while Cloaked.
- Taking the Snowstorm talent on Jaina in the middle of a Blizzard cast no longer changes the damage value for the rest of the game.
- Learning Yrel’s Seraphim talent while channeling or disabled no longer leaves it permanently disabled.
- Blinding Wind, Shadow Dagger, Seeker Swarm, Frost Blast, Unstable Compound, and Weak Spot Acquired will no longer apply their effects to Heroes in Time Stop.
- Critical Strike, Oil Spill, Lightning Fury, Ravage, Keg Smash, and Particle Grenade are now affected by cooldown reduction effects.
- Sgt. Hammer’s Siege Mode can no longer out-range kill credit for the Salvaging the Stables questline.
- Varian’s Banner of Ironforge now correctly displays the plus-Healing UI when augmented with Glory to the Alliance.
- Uther can now /dance and /taunt during Eternal Vanguard.
