Version 4.2.0

Design[ | ]

Features & UI Improvements[ | ]

Health Bars, Unit Selection Circle, Line Cast Range Indicator, and the Unit Info Window (upon hovering over them with your mouse cursor) have been revamped for improved visibility.
"Show Groundsprites" is now disabled by default to reduce visual clutter in the game.
- Can be re-enabled in Options -> Interface -> Assistance if desired.
Skill points are now automatically allocated to "Attribute Bonus" when the hero cannot allocate their skill points to any other ability.
Players that are AFK will now have a visual AFK overhead icon on their controlled units.

Reworks[ | ]

Geomancer (Rework): Strength: 18 + 2.0; Agility: 16 + 1.2 per level; Intelligence: 22 + 2.8 per level (Primary)

Attack Range: 600

Movement Speed: 325

Ability 1: Dig
- Magic Damage changed from 70/140/210/280 to 100/150/200/250.
Ability 2: Earth's Grasp (Reworked)

Range: 900

Radius: 150

Mana Cost: 125

Cooldown: 19/16/13/10 seconds

Target an area to launch a wave of grounded energy towards it, dealing 80/100/120/140 Magic Damage on impact and applying Earths Grasp to units hit for 4 seconds.
Earths Grasp deals 15/30/45/60 Magic Damage per second to the target. The Magic Damage dealt is reduced by 50% if the target is moving.
Earth's Grasp also Sights and Reveals affected targets for the duration.

Ability 3: Geo Stalk (Reworked)

Radius: 1200/1400/1600/1800

Cooldown: 75 seconds

Upon use, Geomancer burrows into the ground for the next 30 seconds.
This allows him to see moving enemies (including stealthed units) as red dots through fog within a radius around himself, but reduces his sight range to 400 and changes his Attack Range to Melee.
Geomancer is also invisible while burrowed, but is revealed to enemies within 400 radius of him.
- Geomancer can unburrow after Geo Stalk is cast.

Ability 4: Crystal Field (Reworked)

Range: 600

Radius: 350

Mana Cost: 150/200/250

Cooldown: 120/100/80 seconds

Upon use immobilizes target enemy for 2.5 seconds.
When the immobilize wears off, applies a 2/3/4 second Stun to all enemies around the target.
- The original target is not affected by this.
Deals 50/75/100 Magic Damage per second to enemies affected by the Crystal Field.
Has the same Staff of the Master effect: Upon exploding deals an additional 100/120/140 Magic Damage and applies a 4 second 50% Movement Speed Slow in a 600 radius.

Sand Wraith (Reworked)

Base Agility decreased from 23 to 20.
Strength gain per level increased from 2.0 to 2.5.

Ability 1: Desert's Curse
- Whenever an enemy unit is targeted by this ability, now causes all of your illusions within 2000 range of yourself to attack it.
  - Applies Haste to your illusions for 5 seconds or until they attack.
- "Familiar Ground" buff which gives terrain-walking and speed now also applies to all of your illusions.
Ability 2: Sand Stalkers (Reworked)

Mana Cost: 15/25/35/45

Cooldown: 30 seconds

Activate to spawn 2 Sand Stalkers next to you for 20 seconds.
Sand Stalkers are illusions which deal 25/30/35/40% Damage and take 400/350/300/250% Damage.
Using this ability also disjoints projectiles and makes you invulnerable for 0.2 seconds on cast

Ability 3: Enkindle (Reworked)
- Grants 15/25/35/45 Attack Speed to Sand Wraith and all illusions under Sand Wraith's control.

Tremble (Reworked)

Base Damage increased from 49-54 to 54-60.

Dark Swarm (Reworked)

Radius: 300

Mana Cost: 90/100/110/120

Cooldown: 12 seconds

Summons a swarm of bugs for 5 seconds. Enemies within the swarm take 32/48/64/80 Physical Damage per second, while enemies outside the swarm deal 40% less damage to Tremble.

Terror Mound (Reworked)

Range: Global

Radius: 400

Mana Cost: 50

Cooldown: 10 seconds

Creates a Terror Mound at the target location by sending Boris there. While in the Terror Mounds, you gain 15/30/45/60% Movement Speed, 50% Mana Regeneration, and Stealth with a 2 second fade time.
Terror Mounds die from 3 attacks (6 if the attacker is outside of the Mound).
Maximum of 2/4/6/8 Terror Mounds.
A permanent mound is placed at the well that can not be moved or destroyed or replaced, and does not count towards the Mound limit.
While in a Terror Mound, Tremble can use Terror Port to teleport to another Terror Mound after a 3 second channel. This has a 20 second cooldown.

Impalers (Reworked)
- Passively makes your autoattacks apply a 10/20/30/40% Movement Speed Slow and -1/-2/-3/-4 Armor to the target for 2.5 seconds.
Hive Mind (Reworked)

Mana Cost: 50/75/100

Cooldown: 60 seconds

Summon Shudder at your location for 40 seconds. Shudder is invulnerable and cannot be controlled and follows Tremble, attacking what Tremble attacks for 60/90/120 Attack Damage.
For 40 seconds, Hive Mind becomes Ensnare.

Ensnare

Range: 600

Mana Cost: 0

Cooldown: 15 seconds

Immobilizes a target enemy unit for 1.5/2/2.5 seconds.
Staff of the Master effect: instead of spawning an uncontrollable Shudder, Tremble now spawns a permanent, controllable Shudder with 90/120/150 Attack Damage, 1000/1400/1800 Health, 4/8/12 Armor and 5 Magic Armor.
Shudder's skills are: Ensnare, Terror Mounds, Impalers and Razor Carapace (30 Deflection).

General[ | ]

Siege Creeps can now be targeted by Spells and Abilities.
- Siege Creeps now have 10 Magic Armor.

Antlore Healer no longer heals neutrals while it is an NPC.
Antlore Necromancer's active ability has changed:
- Summons 10 Zomblings with 270 Health, 5 Magic Armor, 300 Movement Speed, 15 Attack Damage and a 30 second cooldown.
- This active ability will not be used if it is controlled by the AI.

Illusions now inherit bonus Attack Speed, Health Regeneration, Mana Regeneration, and Lifesteal from the original hero.

Heroes[ | ]

Andromeda

Void Rip
- Now deals a negligible amount of non-lethal damage to its target upon being cast.
  - Acts as a damage instance for some combat purposes, e.g. putting Portal Key on its cooldown.

Bubbles

Kelp Field
- Staff of the Master no longer boosts the duration by 2 seconds.
  - Still reduces the cooldown and increases damage.

Dampeer

Bloodthirst
- Attack Speed per Essence reduced from 15 to 10.

Devourer

Guttling Hook
- New Staff of the Master effect: Increases range by 500 (1600 total) and reduces the cooldown from 14 seconds to 6 seconds.
- Staff of the Master also increases the maximum range that you can pull a target from 1440 to 1920.
Devour
- No longer has a Staff of the Master effect.

Flux

Release
- Now applies a 45% Movement Speed Slow for 4 seconds regardless of distance to the target
- In Pull polarity mode, applies a 10% Damage Amplification to all targets hit for 4 seconds.
- In Push polarity, applies a 10% Damage Output Reduction to all targets hit for 4 seconds.
Magnetic Surge
- Now counts as an autoattack.
Discharge
- Range is no longer Global.
- Now affects all enemy heroes within 2000 radius.
  - As a result, Null Stone will not be able to block Discharge.
- The push and pull effects are no longer inhibited by cliffs, buildings or any type of obstacle.
- Displacement distance changed from 500/600/700 units to 400/600/800 units.

Kraken

Base Movement Speed increased from 295 to 300.
Strength gain increased from 2.8 to 3.3.
Torrent
- Movement Speed Slow increased from 30% to 40%.
- Mana Cost reduced from 120 to 90/100/110/120.
Splash
- Now deals the same Physical Damage to all enemies within the radius (325).
- Physical Damage increased from 60/100/140/180 to 60/120/180/240.
Release the Kraken!
- No longer stuns enemies that reach the center.
- Now Immobilizes enemies that reach the center for 2/2.5/3 seconds.

Lodestone

Strength gain per level reduced from 3.2 to 3.0.
Agility gain per level increased from 1.0 to 1.2.
Base Movement Speed increased from 290 to 300.
Rocket Drill
- Initial projectile impact time decreased from 400ms to 300ms.
Headsmash
- Range reduced from 250 to 200.
- Now hits in a 180 radius around the main target.
- Mana Cost removed.
Lodestone Plates (Reworked)
- Now passively blocks 10/20/30/40 Physical Damage from attacks.
  - Does not stack with other forms of damage block, e.g. Iron Buckler or Helm of the Black Legion.
- When off cooldown, reduces the next instance of hero damage over 150 by 30%.
Cooldown: 12/10/8/6 seconds

Lord Salforis

The Undying
- Previous Staff of the Master effect removed.
- New Staff of the Master effect: Pauses the duration of The Undying when Salforis is within 600 range of the target. Each hero that dies while under the effects of Undying permanently increases the Damage per second done by this ability by 5, up to a max of 50 bonus Damage.

Moon Queen

Base Strength reduced from 17 to 15.
Strength gain increased from 2 to 2.2.
Base Agility reduced from 20 to 18.
Moon Beam
- Stun duration reduced from 1 second to 0.75 seconds.
Moon Finale
- Now has clear visuals beneath Moon Queen to indicate when Moon Finale is still active after its initial cast time.

Midas

Elemental Warp
- New Staff of the Master effect: Increases cast range from 700 to 1400, and passively reduces all your ability cooldowns by 2 seconds.

Myrmidon

Forced Evolution
- Staff of the Master: Total Attack Damage while transformed reduced from 155/205/255 to 140/190/240.

Parasite

Infest
- Added a new Staff of the Master effect: Can now infest Ancients.

Pearl

Asphyxiate
- Buff/Debuff dispel now only occurs when the bubble explodes.
Ability 3: Bubble Pop (Reworked)

Mana Cost: 100

Cooldown: 20 seconds

Range: 500/600/700/800

Radius: 500

Target an area to travel there by using bubble momentum, healing ally heroes within the area for 75/125/175/225 Health.

Preservation
- Damage Reduction against units outside the bubble decreased from 100% to 40/60/80%.
- Health Regeneration increased from 20/30/40 to 20/40/60.

Prophet

Invigorate (Reworked)

Radius: 800

Mana Cost: 65

Cooldown: 8/7/6/5 seconds

Activate to heal for 75/100/125/150 Health and grant a bonus 100/200/200/200 Attack Speed for 5 seconds or the next 2/2/3/4 autoattacks. Chains to the closest ally hero within 800 radius.

Shared Fate
- Shared Fate is now applied to all enemies within 1200 radius around yourself for 5/7/9 seconds (instead of spawning a lingering field for a duration at a target location).

Pyromancer

Blazing Strike
- Staff of the Master: Now always deals 50% of its Magic Damage to enemies within range, not just when the target dies.

Rhapsody

Disco Inferno
- Can now be double-activated to cast the skill at your location.
Protective Melody
- Staff of the Master now allows movement at full speed.
  - This is in addition to the previous effects.

Shadowblade

Base Strength, Agility and Intelligence reduced from 19 to 17.
Strength, Agility and Intelligence gain per level reduced from 2.3 to 2.2.
Gargantuan's Blast
- No longer grants bonus Physical Armor.
- Movement Speed Slow changed from 20/25/30/35% to 25%.
Essence Shift
- Percentage gained from the target's primary attribute changed from 30/40/50% to 20/40/60%.

Solstice

Base Strength increased from 24 to 25.
Strength gain increased from 2.7 to 3.2.
Base Agility reduced from 20 to 18.
Base Intelligence reduced from 17 to 16.
Intelligence gain reduced from 1.9 to 1.6.
Blinding Dash
- Range increased from 600/800/1000/1200 to 900/1000/1100/1200.
Graceful Strikes
- New Staff of the Master effect: Reduces the number of hits required for a proc from 3 to 2. Allows you to activate the ability to switch between Day and Night mode at will.
  - No longer switches modes passively while Staff of the Master is equipped.

Chipper

Strength gain reduced from 1.8 to 1.6.
Agility gain reduced from 1.6 to 1.5.
Base Intelligence increased from 23 to 25.
Intelligence gain increased from 2.5 to 3.0.

Voodoo Jester

Spirit Ward
- Staff of the Master now also makes the ability non-channelling. The ward lasts for the usual duration of 8 seconds and disappears if Voodoo Jester gets stunned, silenced or dies.

War Beast

Metamorphosis
- Added a new Staff of the Master effect: Now permanently turns you into a wolf and passively gives you all the bonuses of this ability except for the Movement Speed bonus. This includes a lower Base Attack Time (BAT), extra Health and Critical Strike.
  - Activating the ability grants you and your units Max Movement Speed and Unitwalking for the usual duration.

Items[ | ]

The following items in the Item Shop have been moved from the Combative section to the Morph Attack section:

New Items[ | ]

New Combative Item: Master's Legacy

Recipe:

Staff of the Master (4200) + Recipe (1500) = 5700 Gold Total.

Passively gives +10 Strength/Agility/Intelligence, 200 Health and 150 Mana, and boosts your abilities just like Staff of the Master.
Active Ability:

Range: Global

Target a real ally hero to permanently boost another ally hero's abilities with any Staff of the Master effects they may have.
This can only be done once and only on heroes who aren't already boosted.
Losing the item will remove the boost from the ally and put the item on a 5 minute cooldown.

New Combative Item: Madfred's Brass Knuckles

Recipe:

Punchdagger (500) +

Soulscream Ring (440) + Recipe (260) = 1200 Gold Total.

Passively grants: +15 Attack Damage, +3 Strength, +6 Agility, +3 Intelligence
Passively gains 4 bonus Attack Damage whenever you score a hero kill or assist, up to a max of 5 stacks (20 bonus Attack Damage).
Upon reaching 5 stacks, also grants 15 Bonus Movement Speed.

New Combative Item: Corrupted Sword

Recipe:

Sword of the High (3400) + Recipe (600) = 4000 Gold Total.

Passively grants: +70 Attack Damage.
Double-activate (or target self) to consume Corrupted Sword and permanently gain 35 Attack Damage. This effect stacks.

Counter Pick[ | ]

Pick Phase duration increased from 20 seconds to 40 seconds.
No longer has a team-shared pool of extra picking time.

Mid Wars Beta[ | ]

Ruleset:

Primary Pick Mode: Hero Ban
Secondary Mode: Blitz Mode
- Cooldown reduction adjusted from 80% to 60% for Mid Wars Beta.

Features changed from Mid Wars

Passive Experience per minute (XPM) increased from 120 to 180.

Matchmaking Maps & Modes[ | ]

Champions of Newerth (CoN)
- Map: Forests of Caldavar
- Mode: Counter Pick
Forests of Caldavar
- All Pick
- Single Draft
- Balanced Random
Mid Wars
- Hero Ban
- Mid Wars Beta

New Content[ | ]

Silver Coin[ | ]

New Silver Coin Calamity Avatar: Archimedes Calamity

Many in the Legion worship the power of Sol, but Calamity has discovered a way to use his presence against them by using mirrors and parabolic lenses to harness the sun's energy into a weapon with devastating power. A single burst from her minion mirrors is enough to set an entire ship ablaze, and when she summons her lethal lenses to surround an enemy with blazing heat, everything within the vault is reduced to steam and ashes.

General[ | ]

New Magebane Avatar: Tutankhamun

Circe the Deceiver watched from the shadows, disguised as an ancient beggar, a gilded merchant, a wandering shepherd, as the young pharaoh Tutankhamun rose to power. Circe had worked tirelessly to sow dissatisfaction with the Egyptian gods, and many temples and shrines lay in ruins, abandoned because of her efforts. Now the young pharaoh was restoring the temples, the people's faith, and Circe's fears. The gods had exiled her once -- never again. So she murdered the pharaoh's wife Ankhesenamun and took her form, allowing Circe to get close enough to the ruler to stage a terrible accident that left him shattered, weak, and quickly dead. Unfortunately for the gods, the Thutmoside blood line died with him

Still in disguise, Circe had his body hastily sealed within his unfinished burial chamber to ensure no one could examine the corpse and become suspicious. But the gods did not need physical evidence of her crimes. They created Tutankhamun's Curse, a vow of vengeance against Circe that would bring the young, powerful pharaoh back to life when the heavens and hells collapsed, releasing the gods and spirits from their prisons. And even though it was Apex and the Third Corruption that brought this catastrophic event about, the curse was nevertheless triggered, and now Tutankhamun rises from his sarcophagus as a warrior of justice for the gods to hunt his killer.

New Demented Shaman Avatar: Firefighter Shaman

Firefighter Shaman lives for battling flames, and it doesn't matter if they come from a carelessly tossed torch, an epic lightning strike, or the fires of daemonic corruption -- they will be extinguished! When she arrives on-scene, civilians know an unbreakable barrier has been placed between them and the raging inferno, and the storm of skills she unleashes upon the flames instantly turns a terrifying disaster into an amazing display of water, steam, and harmless ash.

New Klanx Avatar: Firefighter Klanx

Firefighter Klanx is constantly searching for signs of smoke, and as soon as he spots a potential threat he loads up, mobilizes, and pounces to unleash the full firefighting arsenal carried by him and his crew to extinguish the danger before it can become a problem for anyone else. As for the cleanup, well, most troublemakers are biodegradable.

Hero Reworks[ | ]

These heroes have been reworked and now have new base models:

Bug Fixes & Optimizations[ | ]

General[ | ]

The in-game Emote animations for heroes (obtained via Hero Mastery) have been improved for a large number of heroes.
Illusions and all otther owned hero units are now properly selectable when pressing the "Select Own Units" hotkey (default hotkey is F2).