4.10.1

Version 4.10.1

18 January 2022

== Design ==

Reverted Christmas themed music, map, cosmetics, and in-game Heads-Up Display (HUD) back to their default variants.

= Staff of the Master & Master’s Legacy Changes =

Arachna

Spider Sting

Staff of the Master effect changes (to pre-existing): *Cooldown reduced from 70/50/30 seconds to 30/25/20 seconds (was previously reduced from 70/50/30 seconds to 35/25/15 seconds).

Deadlift

Unholy Strength

Staff of the Master effect changes (to pre-existing): *Cooldown is now reduced by 1.5 seconds (was previously reduced by 2 seconds). *Strength stolen increased from 4 Strength to 8 Strength (was previously increased from 4 Strength to 10 Strength).
Deadlift’s Unholy Strength was a little too strong and frustrating to deal with when boosted by Staff of the Master. This change should alleviate some of those issues while retaining Staff of the Master’s viability on Deadlift.

Drunken Master

Drink

Staff of the Master effect addition (new): *Max charges increased by 10.

3 Point Strike

Staff of the Master effect addition (new): *Time to reset all activated strike points for a target (after the effect of 3 Point Strike has been triggered already) reduced from 12 seconds to 4 seconds.

Master of Arms

Staff of the Master effect additions (to pre-existing):

Combining Bulldozer and Cheetah together has imperfections during Master’s Call, causing the bonuses to drop to 70% of their original values. *Attack Speed bonus reduced from 100/150/200 to 70/105/140. *Attack Damage bonus reduced from 40/50/60 to 28/35/42.
Master of Arms’ Staff of the Master effect was poorly designed and far too powerful, to the point where it was deemed necessary to pick up as his first core item.
A large part of the poor design stemmed from gaining the full effects from both Bulldozer and Cheetah for an abnormally long duration.
When combined with the other changes to Master of Arms, Staff of the Master is less of a “mandatory” item to get for him.

= General =

Kongor Boss Enchantment - Speed

Bonus Movement Speed per charge increased from 8 to 10.
This enchantment was barely picked up after its nerfs and after the Vitality Enchantment was introduced.

= Heroes =

Adrenaline

Starting Attack Damage increased from 43-53 to 51-57.
Adrenaline’s starting Attack Damage was drastically lower than the average Strength Hero’s starting Attack Damage.
This change should compensate for some of the other following changes to Adrenaline.

Shard Blast

Base Magic Damage reduced from 80/115/150/185 to 75/110/145/180.
Duration for maintaining charges on Shard Blast (after hitting 2+ enemy heroes) reduced from 10 seconds to 7 seconds.

Rush

Range reduced from 575/650/725/800 to 530/570/610/650.
Movement Speed bonus when dashing through an enemy hero reduced from 16/24/32/40% to 10/12/14/16%.
Movement Speed bonus from Rush can now stack up to 2 times (max of 20/24/28/32% Movement Speed).
The changes to Rush makes it less effective when used as an escape mechanism.

Ember Shard

Max pull distance reduced from 800 to 700.
Pull speed reduced from 1600 to 1400 units per second. *There is no overall change in the max amount of time in which affected enemies are pulled (they are stunned while being pulled).
Leash distance reduced from 750 to 650.
The changes to Ember Shard can be considered a minor buff, as you can proc the effects of Ember Shard more reliably without the need to use Rush.

Death’s Halo

Max duration reduced from 5/6/7 seconds to 4/4.5/5 seconds.
Bonuses are now capped at 7 charges (i.e., 3 enemy heroes and yourself).
Magic Armor per charge reduced from 1.5 to 1.
Strength per charge reduced from 4/5/6 to 3/4/5.
The changes to Death’s Halo slightly reduces its efficacy for Adrenaline’s survivability when fighting multiple heroes, which should make Adrenaline slightly easier to deal with while Death’s Halo is active.
Adrenaline was far too powerful in the hands of players skilled with him, while having relatively poor performance in the average game. These changes should address both issues and put Adrenaline in a healthy position across all skill brackets, performance-wise.

Amun-Ra

Path of Destruction

While on the path, Amun-Ra now also gains 80 Max Movement Speed.
While on the path, Movement Speed bonus increased from 300 to 380.
Meteor projectile travel time reduced from 0.5 seconds to 0.4 seconds.
Meteor impact delay reduced from 0.5 seconds to 0.4 seconds. *Total delay for impact after casting the ability reduced from 1 second to 0.8 seconds.
Now also passively grants 0.7/1.4/2.1/2.8 Health Regeneration per second.

Ignite

Now also passively grants 0.7/1.4/2.1/2.8 Health Regeneration per second.

Ashes to Ashes

Passive Health Regeneration per second reduced from 2/3/4/5 to 0.7/1.4/2.1/2.8.
Non-hero enemy units now take 25% less damage from this ability.
Amun-Ra now also gains 0.4 Attack Speed per charge from this ability (max of 8/12/16/20 bonus Attack Speed).
Requires Hero Level 3 or higher to deal Magic Damage to neutral creeps.
Amun-Ra now has better performance against enemy heroes (in general and in the laning phase) and is no longer a viable jungler.
Path of Destruction’s overall delay has been reduced by 20%, which should increase its accuracy just enough to be more of a reliable skill to use in combat.
Overall, every ability now grants a small amount of Amun-Ra Health Regeneration, which allows for variations in his skill build without needing to max out Ashes to Ashes first.

Arachna

Attack Range increased from 550 to 575.

Webbed Shot

Mana Cost reduced from 20 to 15.

Spider Sting

Max Health of the Spiderling increased from 4/5/6 to 5/6/7.
Arachna’s lane dominance has been partially reinforced with these small changes, as the hero tapers off due to its lack of a farming tool.

Calamity

Dragon’s Path

Magic Damage per hit increased from 20/45/65/90 to 25/50/70/95.

Chipper

Focus Buffer

Max Shield Health for Magic Damage reduced from 125/250/375/500 to 125/225/325/425.

Chronos

Strength growth per level increased from 1.4 to 1.5.

Circe

Doppelganger

Illusion lifetime reduced from 15/20/25/30 seconds to 14/16/18/20 seconds.
Cooldown increased from 11 seconds to 18/16/14/12 seconds.
Circe’s illusions were frustrating to deal with at higher levels of play. The overall uptime of the illusions have been reduced to address this issue.

Twisted Visage

Cooldown reduced from 100/80/60 seconds to 90/75/60 seconds.
Mana Cost reduced from 100/150/200 to 100/130/160.
In exchange, Circe gets slightly better availability on her most fun ability, Twisted Visage.

Deadlift

Unholy Strength

Max amount of Strength stolen reduced from 100 to 80.

Doctor Repulsor

Ludicrous Speed

Cooldown increased from 0.5 seconds to 1.2/0.85/0.5 seconds.
This change should make Doctor Repulsor noticeably more vulnerable and have slightly less sustained damage in the early to mid game, without affecting his primary combos at those phases of the game.

Electrician

Intelligence gain per level increased from 1.5 to 1.8.

Emerald Warden

Hunter’s Command

Damage multiplier when hitting enemy heroes that you do not have vision of increased from 0.5x to 0.75x.

Empath

Base Agility reduced from 20 to 18.

Flux

Base Intelligence increased from 16 to 18.

Glacius

Strength growth per level increased from 1.5 to 1.6.
Agility growth per level increased from 1.5 to 1.6.
Base Movement Speed increased from 285 to 290.

Tundra Blast

Cooldown reduced from 15 seconds to 15/14/13/12 seconds.

Magebane

Strength gain per level reduced from 2.6 to 2.5.
Base Strength reduced from 22 to 21.

Flash of Anti-Magic

Mana Cost increased from 60 to 65.
Magic Damage Shield Health reduced from 40/70/100/130 to 30/55/80/105.
Magic Damage reduced from 40/70/100/130 to 30/55/80/105.
Magic Damage to enemies in the area now only triggers if the shield breaks from receiving Magic Damage (instead of being applied upon reaching your target destination). *This Magic Damage instance will not be triggered if the shield expires normally (i.e., when its state lifetime expires).
Movement Speed Slow reduced from 20/25/30/35% to 15/20/25/30%.
Radius reduced from 400 units to 350 units.

Master of the Mantra

Attack Speed bonus granted to Magebane when attacking an enemy hero reduced from 20/30/40/50 to 16/24/32/40.

Mana Rift

Cooldown increased from 100/85/70 seconds to 105/90/75 seconds.
Magebane is powerful in lane and is deliberately intended to be that way to retain his threat level against mages at the point where they are the most powerful.
However, his early game power has been toned down a bit for his opponents to have more reasonable timings regarding counterplay.
Most notably, he has lost a large amount of last-hit power and extra harass damage (as well as a bit of overall farm speed in mid-game) through the nerfs on Flash of Anti-Magic, as the anti-magic shield must be broken for it to deal damage around him.

Master of Arms

Base Intelligence increased from 14 to 16.

Weapon Enhancement

Bulldozer: Attack Range bonus rescaled from 150 to 90/105/120/135/150.

Master’s Call

Cast action time reduced from 0.2 seconds to 0.1 seconds.
Buff duration for the Attack Speed/Attack Damage bonus on self reduced from 25 seconds to 14 seconds.
Now also grants Master of Arms 60/90/120 tapering bonus Movement Speed for the first 6 seconds.
Master of Arms will now have better overall performance in the mid-game and late-game without Staff of the Master, while having slightly less Attack Range with his Bulldozer gun in the early game.
The ridiculously high buff duration of Master’s Call has also been reduced to a reasonable duration.

Ophelia

Command

Creeps affected by Command now also gain 0.5/1/1.5/2 Mana Regeneration per second and 25/50/75/100 Max Mana.
This change will allow Ophelia players to not always have to pick up Ring of Sorcery in every single game, allowing her more potential build options.
Note that Ophelia can passively boost the Mana Regeneration of her creeps even further with auras like Ring of the Teacher, or by dominating Catman Champion to make use of its Mana Regeneration aura.

Prophet

Debilitate

Tapering Movement Speed Slow magnitude reduced from 30% to 20%.

Puppet Master

Voodoo Puppet

After becoming unkillable, increased Voodoo Puppet’s lifetime from 1.5/2/2.5 seconds to 1.5/2.25/3 seconds.

Sand Wraith

Mirage

Cooldown increased from 125/115/105 seconds to 130/120/110 seconds.

Silhouette

Base Strength increased from 15 to 16.

Thunderbringer

Blast of Lightning

Reveal effect from this ability: reveal radius that reveals enemy Wards now only has a radius of 450 units (from 900 units). *Still grants vision in a large area and reveals other stealthed enemy units.

Lightning Storm

Reveal effect from this ability no longer reveals enemy Wards. *Still grants vision in a large area and reveals other stealthed enemy units.
Thunderbringer’s counterwarding utility yielded too high of a reward for little to no risk.
Reducing the radius drastically increases the precision requirements if the player wishes to counterward.
Overall, significantly more time will have to be spent to check a larger area for wards with Blast of Lightning, should the player wish to be thorough.

Torturer

Agonizing Bonds

Magic Damage changed from 65/130/195/260 to 80/140/200/260.

Torment

Using a non-ultimate ability grants Torturer 4/7/10 Health Regeneration per second for 4 seconds. *This effect does not stack additively, but using non-ultimate abilities will refresh the duration of the Health Regeneration bonus.
Torturer does not have any form of sustain built into his kit. Leveling Torment will now grant him a tiny bit of Health Sustain to help with this issue.

Tremble

Terrorform

Terror Mound’s level 3 cast range increased from 5000 units to 7000 units.

Voodoo Jester

Starting Attack Damage changed from 51-61 to 51-59.

= Items =

= Wingbow-related Changes =

Faux Bow

Recipe cost reduced from 550 Gold to 250 Gold. *Total cost reduced from 2200 Gold to 1900 Gold. *Note that this reduces Wingbow’s total cost by 300 Gold as well.
Now grants Melee heroes 50 Attack Range.

Savage Mace

Chance to gain True Strike reduced from 100% to 80%. *Chance to proc other effects remain unchanged, at 40%.

Wingbow

Agility bonus increased from 32 to 33.
Melee heroes now also gain an additional 5 Agility (for a total of 38 Agility) and 75 Attack Range. *Total Cost reduced from 6200 Gold to 5900 Gold, based on Faux Bow’s cost change.
These changes make Wingbow more viable on melee heroes, and retains some usefulness of bonus Evasion even against Savage Mace.

= Other Item Changes =

Codex

Magic Damage for level 1 Codex increased from 330 to 350.
Heroes that commonly pick up this item are at a much more balanced performance now due to changes made for those heroes. As a result, Codex’s level 1 damage value can be reverted.

Genjuro

Attack Damage bonus reduced from 35 to 30.
Attack Speed bonus reduced from 20 to 10.
Genjuro was already giving a lot of value through its upgraded active ability from Assassin’s Shroud. Some of its “free” stat bonuses have been toned down slightly because of this.
Its pickup rate should now be more comparable to that of Wingbow.

Ghost Marchers

State duration for the bonus Movement Speed increased from 3 seconds to 3.5 seconds.

Helm of the Black Legion

Max Health bonus reduced from 270 to 250.
Block chance reduced from 60% to 50%.

Ultor’s Heavy Helm

Max Health bonus reduced from 300 to 275.
Block amount reduced from 80 to 70 (if the wielder of the item is a melee hero).
Ultor’s Heavy Helm’s was a little too effective after its previous buffs, so its block amount and Max Health bonus have been slightly reduced.

== Bug Fixes & Optimizations ==

= General =

The following sources of Armor Reduction and Magic Armor Reduction will no longer apply to boss units:

Blacksmith’s Flaming Hammer
Hellbringer’s Evil Presence
Myrmidon’s Wave Form
King Klout’s Conscription
Revenant’s Mortification
Tremble’s Impalers (and the controllable Shudder’s Impalers)
Armor of the Mad Mage
Harkon’s Blade
Shieldbreaker

= Heroes =

Amun-Ra

Ignite now deals the proper amount of damage upon respawning from Pyroclasmic Rebirth.

Blood Hunter

Reduced the volume of Hemorrhage’s initial hissing sound.

Bubbles

Take Cover will no longer trigger when Bubbles damages himself (e.g., with Blood Chalice).

Ellonia

Absolute Zero’s trail visual effect is now correct for the Frostshard Ellonia avatar.

Goldenveil

Stun state from Plunge is now correctly treated as a Status Disable (instead of a Status Debuff) to be consistent with other stun states.

Magebane

Mana Combustion now properly displays its visual mana trail effects when burning an enemy unit’s mana (similar to Nullfire Blade’s visual effects, but with thinner mana trails).

Myrmidon

Wave Form’s detrimental states applied to enemy units are now properly treated as Status Debuffs.

= Items =

Insanitarius

Now toggles off automatically upon death. This resolves a health quantity issue when interacting with Amun-Ra’s Pyroclasmic Rebirth and Token of Life.

Plated Greaves

Activation will no longer interrupt channeling for self.