Heroes of Newerth Blog

Hero Teaser: Berzerker

2012-01-27T18:21:00.000-08:00

When news of the war in Newerth reached the Berzerker, he hastily left his frozen homeland in the North. Though he holds no allegiance to the Legion, the chance to face hell's demons is one the Berzerker could not pass up. An incredible warrior with an indomitable will, the Berzerker's reckless disregard for his own life gives him strength and power seemingly beyond measure, albeit at a risk. Once he has steeled himself, only death will stop him from killing his foes.

Berzerker is a melee strength hero who excels at chasing down a single enemy while shrugging off any attempts to hinder his forward progression. The Berzerker feeds off of the presence of his enemies in battle, making him a terrifying opponent to face!

Abilities Teaser:

Chain Spike

Strength Sap

Mark for Death

Carnage

Look forward to seeing Berzerker in the hero spotlight coming soon!

Patch 2.5.8 Changelog - Balance Patch

2012-01-25T20:41:00.000-08:00

Version 2.5.8
------------
- Free Hero Pool will be updated on Friday the 27th. The list is as follows:
* Valkyrie
* Sand Wraith
* Shadowblade
* Master of Arms
* Soulstealer

* Defiler
* Pollywog Priest
* Thunderbringer
* Plague Rider
* Hellbringer

* Armadon
* Drunken Master
* Keeper Of the Forest
* Pebbles
* Accursed

- In celebration of the Lunar New Year we will be adding special limited edition Pharaoh Alt Avatar - Golden Emperor!
* He will only be available from 12:00 AM EST 1/27/2012 through 8:00 02/03/2012!
- Also in celebration of the Year of the Dragon you will find a new Year of the Dragon Icon available for purchase!

- Fixed an issue causing some users in large clans to suffer periodic hitches.
- Creeps sounds tweaked and generally lowered in volume
- host_timescale gets reset when disconnecting from a practice game
- You can no longer spectate or mentor someone who is already spectating or mentoring

Kongor
- Gold received for getting the last hit on Kongor normalized from 300-400 to 350

Towers
- Gold received for getting the last hit on Towers normalized from 452-470,502-520,552-570,602-620 to 460,510,560,610

Structure Gold (Meatball/Huts)
- Gold received for getting the last hit on a Structure normalized from 102-120 to 110

== Items ==

Abyssal Skull
- Minor tooltip fix

Charged Hammer
- Fixed a wonky effect

Couriers
- Fixed death animation so it sinks in the ground correctly

Daemonic Breastplate
- Scaled the effects under player's feet better

Energizer
- Recipe cost reduced from 700 to 600

Genjuro
- Slow no longer goes through Magic Immunity

Helm of the Black Legion
- Now charge based. 20 charges max, loses 5 per Hero, Tower, or Boss attack and 1 per creep attack
- Gains a charge every 400 MS
- Won't block unless there are enough charges

Nullstone
- Fixed a wonky effect

Ring of Sorcery
- Increased manacost from 25 to 40

Savage Mace
- No longer stacks with itself

Shieldbreaker
- Increased recipe cost from 900 to 1000
- Removed Deflection pierce

Sol's Bulwark
- Armor auras lowered from +/- 5 to +/- 4

Stormspirit
- Now lasts 2 seconds, after landing the target is Perplexed (Can't use items) for another 0.5 second

== Heroes ==

Aluna
- Base Attack cooldown lowered from 1700 to 1550
- Increased starting Intelligence from 21 to 22

Arachna
- Increased starting Strength from 17 to 18
- Increased starting Agility from 22 to 23

Corrupted Disciple
- Corrupted Conduit Mana cost from 20/30/40/50 to 50

Defiler
- Starting Agility from 14 to 16
- Base Armor from 0.96 to 1.74 (After Agility)
- Grave Silence radius from 200/275/350/350 to 250/300/350/350
- Fixed interaction of Unholy Expulsion with Geometer's Bane

Devourer
- Devour unbinds the target on impact (prevents Valkyrie's Courageous Leap cancels for instance)

Electrician
- Can no longer use Energy Shield with less than 5 mana
- Energy Absorption no longer has the first target mechanic (you no longer get 5 charges for 1 hero or 3 for a creep on first hit)

Engineer
- Spider Mines trigger(chasing) radius from 200 to 250

Flux
- Can now target allies with Magnetic Surge
- Magnetic Surge is now Physical
- Can now change between the Push or Pull without a hitch if you are running

Forsaken Archer
- Fixed interaction between Geometer's Bane & Call of the Damned

Gauntlet
- Death sound touched up

Gemini
- Fixed Twin Fangs playing through fog
- Fire and Ice now gain 80/90/100% of stats from Gemini
- The wolves from Fire and Ice now have their movespeed set to Gemini's
- Fixed a rare anomaly where Gemini would go in a random direction when recombining from split form
- Fixed Gemini's split form Fire Fang & Ice Fang so they get stunned properly while bound to the projectile
- Removed invulnerability from Fire Fang and Ice Fang while bound to the projectile
- Fixed Fire and Ice assist mechanic to function properly

Geomancer
- Dig no longer usable while Immobilized
- Can use Items while in Dig
- Crystal Field decreased time till explosion from 3 to 3/2.75/2.5

Hammerstorm
- Increased Movespeed from 295 to 300
- Increased Intelligence gain from 1.3 to 1.6 per level

Jeraziah
- Protective Charm and Sol's Blessing no longer gives assists

Kraken
- Strength gain lowered from 3.0 to 2.8 per level
- Release the Kraken damage per second lowered from 40/50/70 to 40/50/60

Lord Salforis
- Cast Time of Life Tap removed

Magebane
- Starting Strength from 18 to 16
- Flash cast range from 1000/1075/1150/1150 to 850/950/1050/1150

Magmus
- Lava Surge no longer usable while Immobilized

Martyr
- Sacrificial Lamb reworked. Now gives allies increased movespeed and attack speed based on how low Martyr is
* 0.2/0.4/0.6/0.8 Movespeed per 1% missing and 0.2/0.4/0.6/0.8 attack speed per 1% missing. Radius of 500

Midas
- Lion’s Pride and Golden Salvo cooldowns swapped
* Lion’s Pride is now 18 starting and Golden Salvo is 13
- Lion’s Pride heal reduced from 75/120/165/210 to 30/60/90/120

Monarch
- Starting Armor reduced from 2.1 to 1.1
- Starting Movespeed from 300 to 295
- Crippling Pollen reduced cast range from 600 to 550
* This is listed as 500 in the in-game client. It should be 550.
- Fixed the last second of Crippling Pollen so that the slow doesn't go through magic immunity

Moon Queen
- Increased attack range from 330 to 350
- Lunar Glow increased from 6/13/20/27 to 7/14/21/28

Pandamonium
- Face Smash unbinds the target on impact (prevents Valkyrie's Courageous Leap cancels for instance)

Pharaoh
- Made his Wall of Mummies suck in enemy player-controlled non-hero units

Predator
- Venomous Leap cooldown from 20/17/14/11 to 16/14/12/10

Puppet Master
- Base Damage from 40-51 to 46-55

Revenant
- Essence Shroud cooldown from 30 to 25
- Essence Shroud duration from 10/15/20/25 to 12/15/18/21

Soul Reaper
- Increased starting armor from 1.10 to 1.75
- Judgment manacost reduced from 125/145/165/185 to 120/140/160/180
- Withering Presence radius increased from 700/800/900/1000 to 800/900/1000/1100

Succubus
- Smitten reworked. Now decreases all damage dealt from the target by 10/20/30/40%, 15 second duration
- Succubus' Hold unbinds the target on use (prevents Valkyrie's Courageous Leap cancels for instance)

Tremble
- Starting Armor reduced from 4.92 to 3.92
- Terrorform manacost from 110 to 150/140/130/120

Zephyr
- Cyclones heal reduced from 30 to 25
- Fixed interaction between Geometer's Bane & Cyclones
- Typhoon no longer gives an extra tornado (from 7/9/11 to 6/8/10)
- Typhoon no longer gives Zephyr a tornado unless he stays in it's radius

== Bugfixes ==

Aluna: Fixed Deja Vu's 3rd activation from playing through fog
Arachna: Scripting optimized
Artesia: Made her Arcane Missile slow transferable via Parasite
Balphagore: Optimized Corpse Conversion corpse detection slightly
Behemoth: Fixed Fissure so you can't tab to the invisible gadgets
Bombardier: Scripting optimized
Bubbles: Shell Surf now spawns 50 units closer to him so it hits units right in front of him
Bubbles: Fixed Kelp Field from playing in fog
Chipper: Rockets Barrage touch changed from Physical to Magic
Chipper: Scripting optimized
Corrupted Disciple: Scripting optimized
The Dark Lady: Touched up a few animations
Devourer: Made Devour give assists properly if it did no damage
Drunken Master: Scripting optimized
Empath: Fixed As One from playing in fog
Engineer: Scripting optimized
Gravekeeper: Minor fix to Illusions
Kraken: Fixed a bug where the target's corpse stands up after death if they died while bound to Tsunami Charge
Lord Salforis: Fixed Life Tap playing through fog
Martyr: Fixed up the Alt Avatar's sounds when casting abilities
Master of Arms: Shrunk blue attack projectile effects slightly on towers
Parasite: Fixed up some weird interactions when he is inside a creep
Parasite: Fixed him so he is correctly disarmed when inside a creep
Pyromancer: Burning! now capped at 127 charges
Rhapsody: Fixed up her model and the weird animations going on
Scout: Fixed Detonate ability (for both Scout & Electric Eyes) so they can be used while stunned as well
Shadowblade: Soul's Sight bonus damage no longer propogates to Illusions
Succubus: Made Succubus' Hold give assists properly if it did no damage
Torturer: Minor fix to Torment's interaction when multiple items used on him at once
Wretched Hag: Animation smoothing on Wretched Hottie
Zephyr: Scripting optimized

Count Dampeer Alt.Avt

2012-01-23T23:29:00.000-08:00

Behold, the newest incarnation of Dampeer! The Count is not amused by the lack of concern by the overly relaxed Vacation Dampeer. While Count Dampeer requires three essences to transform, all it takes is one hero to be consumed before Dampeer unleashes destruction on the land of Newerth.

Appears that when the Dracula Dampeer got essences, it will transform into the Bat Dampeer, so 2 model in 1 alt.avt and also I think it will be a gold collection alt.avt

Dracula Dampeer Alt.Avt coming soon

2012-01-20T06:59:00.000-08:00

Patch 2.5.7 Changelog - Gravekeeper and Gipys Fayde

2012-01-20T06:05:00.000-08:00

Version 2.5.7
------------
- Free Hero Pool has been updated. The current list is as follows:
* Forsaken Archer
* Arachna
* Slither
* The Madman

* Soul Reaper
* Pyromancer
* Bubbles
* Glacius

* Maliken
* Legionnaire
* Amun-Ra
* Tundra
* Deadwood
* Jeraziah
* Keeper of the Forest

- Significant optimizations have been made to the UI. Most of these are aimed at memory usage and memory management, improving performance, and stability.
* These changes reflect dramatic improvements to the core framework of the game client, resulting in a streamlined end-user experience and reducing the hardware requirements necessary to Get It HoN!
* Memory usage has been dramatically reduced to help alleviate hardware limitations for players both new and old
* All Mods should be disabled once the game has been patched, as they will not reflect optimizations made to the client and will need to be updated

- Fixed a reconnection overwrite issue that caused players disconnected from a game to lose the ability to reconnect to the server if logged into another account
- Fixed MMR reward issues where players were given more MMR than they should have been when a teammate disconnects from the game
- Fixed time waited calculations to reflect when a group is placed back into queue
- Increased the size of Fist of Sol Taunt and added splatter effects based on community feedback
- Increased the size of Dumpster Taunt and added a new effect - Dumpstered!

- Added new Early Access Hero: Gravekeeper
- Added new Limited Edition Early Access Alt Avatar: Shinigami Gravekeeper

- Added new Fayde Alt Avatar: Gypsy Fayde

Amun-Ra
- Phoenix Ra's Path of Destruction animation has been modified to boost visual feedback of the skill

Gemini
- Fire and Ice is now interrupted if either dog gets stunned or silenced while channeling
* Gemini is undergoing extensive balance changes which will be revealed and implemented as the hero undergoes substantial testing in the coming weeks

GraveKeeper Hero Spotlight

2012-01-16T19:30:00.000-08:00

Gravekeeper Mini Hero Guide :

Gravekeeper is an intelligence hero with a ranged attack. His abilities all revolve around death, and slinging corpses around a fight. He deals primarily magical damage, with Corpse Toss, Corpse Explosion, and the bursting zombies from Zombie Apocalypse. Items that benefit his defenses and magical damage at once are the best. Grave Locket, Power Supply, and Steam Boots are all wise pick ups. One could opt for Ghost Marchers, which allows much better harassing and kiting with Corpse Toss/Defiling Touch, but it's a trade for less survivability. Tablet of Command and Nullstone are great defensive items, one providing escape and the other providing health and spell nullifying, and both benefitting his Mana pool. End-game items like Hellflower, Kuldra's, and Frostfield Plate all benefit Gravekeeper and help him stay alive longer. Spellshards would increase the damage on a few abilities, but since it won't affect Zombie Apocalypse and Corpse Toss uses charges/Defiling Touch is passive, the cooldown reduction is not useful. Stormspirit would increase Gravekeeper's mana regeneration and grant survivability, as well, but may be opted out for other, more powerful items.

Pheonix Ra Teaser Trailer

2012-01-14T17:17:00.001-08:00

Gravekeeper - Hero Teaser

2012-01-13T17:09:00.000-08:00

Gravekeeper is a ranged intelligence hero who calls upon the dead to aid him in battle! Gravekeeper is effective at skirting around the edges of the battlefield harassing his enemies with the dead themselves. The more death around him, the more potential Gravekeeper has to unleash unparalleled havoc!

[S2]Buro

S2 Staff Member

Abilities Teaser:

Corpse Toss

Corpse Explosion

Defiling Touch

Zombie Apocalypse

Look forward to seeing Gravekeeper's Defiling Touch in the hero spotlight coming soon!

Patch 2.5.6 Changelog - Pheonix Ra

2012-01-13T06:52:00.000-08:00

Version 2.5.6
------------
- The current Free Heroes were changed. The current available list is as follows:
* Corrupted Disciple
* Moon Queen
* Hammerstorm
* Predator
* Night Hound
* Kraken
* Balphagore
* Behemoth
* Witch Slayer
* Chipper
* Slither
* Bombardier
* Demented Shaman
* Empath
* Voodoo Jester

- Groups with less than 1150 MMR should have an easier time finding a match now
- If a matchmaking game ends prematurely (whether due to an early remake or a player fails to connect) any groups who were in the match should now be able to re-queue and leave off at their previous wait time
* A message will be broadcast notifying the group when they have been re-placed into the queue
- Made a few changes to how point gain/losses are adjusted for team mates if there is a leaver on the team, it's now a bit more lenient in terms of what conditions must be true in order for the team with the disconnected player(s) to receive an adjustment
- Made some adjustments to match fidelity slider, selecting "Fairer Matches" should now do a bit better job at finding other groups close to the skill range of the group that selected this option
- The UI should now remember the match fidelity slider setting selected when creating a group and entering the queue
- Greatly improved how the game client re-connects to game servers
* Players should no longer have to type "Reconnect" on the console or re-login manually as the client will automatically try to reconnect to the game server. Players can still reconnect by re-logging or typing reconnect, but they will no longer have to do this, they can simply wait for the reconnect dialogue to display

- Gold gained from creeps and neutrals now normalizes over time
* An example: Two heroes farm a lane for 20 minutes getting equal creep kills. Before, their gold values would have differed greatly. Now, they will have nearly equal amounts of gold.

- Added a new Amun-Ra Alt Avatar : Phoenix Ra

Upcoming Balance Patch on 27th January

2012-01-12T22:54:00.000-08:00

Many of you don't know that a HUGE balance patch is in the works but there is! There have been countless messages to go over in general discussion, balance forums, competitor forums, tournaments, IMs, and emails which have all been extremely helpful in creating the upcoming patch. Going through all of these sources takes considerable time (and we try to give attention to every source!) to get a good basis of what needs to change, what could change, and what should not change. Even after making this list we want more then theory crafting, we put our changes into extensive testing to make sure we are making proper balance decisions.

For your patience here's a sneak peak of some balance changes expected to come:

Gemini
- Fire and Ice will require both dogs to channel
There have been many complaints of how hard it is to kill Gemini and we agree! This change alone should help remedy much of that. Other areas to be looked at are movespeed and stats transfer.

Midas
- Lion's Pride will have healing reduced
Midas is a hero that many people, including us, would say needs a nerf and most agree that the heal is the biggest problem.

Zephyr
- Reducing the amount zephyr can heal
Zephyr's survivability is a little too high, as evidenced both by our observations of competitive play and community feedback.

Monarch
- Reducing the cast range on Crippling Pollen from 550 to 500
Crippling Pollen started with a higher cast range when compared similar spells. Although only higher by 50 it becomes much easier to snag those heroes trying to attack from 600 range. This slight touch on the spell seems to put it back into place.

Ring of Sorcery
- Slightly increasing the manacost to activate
Typically purchased selfishly this items focus is meant to be a team item (like astrolabe and energizer). Increasing the mana cost will make it less effective for the individual to use.

HotBL
- Expect changes to come! A big thanks to everyone who contributed on the balance forums for this one!
Too effective at all points in the game we're hoping to release a new concept to this item that will keep it's current effectiveness in helping carries farm during the mid game but not make it impossible for other heroes to kill a hero with an early HotBL.

Our expected release date is Jan 27th. Many thanks to all our testers and everyone else who has helped contribute.

[S2]DOGKaiser

S2 Staff Member

5 Reasons Torturer is better than Artesia by Nigma

2012-01-12T15:45:00.000-08:00

Artesia just came out, and after playing a few games with her I am prepared to risk embarrassing myself after a few weeks by saying that she's pretty mediocre. I will preface this by saying that there's a good chance I'm completely wrong about this. I often scold people for sharing opinions about Heroes that aren't out yet, or Heroes that literally just came out the same day. With that in mind, I could just be stupid. But alas, in the few games I've played with Artesia, I spent most of the time wondering to myself: "Why am I playing this Hero and not Torturer?". So here you go, my top 5 Reasons why Torturer can replace Artesia on my team any day :

Read the 5 Reasons in Nigma's Blog

Ra Alt.Avt Coming Soon - Confirmed by FourCourtJester

2012-01-12T15:37:00.001-08:00

Ra Alt. Avt?

HoN Tumblr Blog

2012-01-09T05:00:00.000-08:00

It's a new year and here's a new way for the community to keep track of what we're doing over at S2 Games. Ideally, there'll be 1-2 posts a week talking about what we're doing at the S2 offices. I'll take some pictures and maybe do some interviews too!

Please check out the blog here!

[S2]xanderK

S2 Staff Member

Captain America Bubble coming soon ?

2012-01-06T07:54:00.000-08:00

Visit LightningCold in http://forums.heroesofnewerth.com/showthread.php?t=364275

Patch 2.5.4 Review by Nigma

2012-01-06T07:37:00.001-08:00

Patch 2.5.4 Changelog - Artesia and WS Alt.Avt

2012-01-06T05:00:00.000-08:00

Version 2.5.5

- Minor fix to Artesia's Essence Projection

Version 2.5.4
------------
- The current Free Heroes were changed. The current available list is as follows:
* Soulstealer
* Silhouette
* Defiler
* Tremble
* Andromeda

* Blacksmith
* Pollywog Priest
* Nymphora
* Vindicator

* Gladiator
* Devourer
* Pestilence
* Magmus
* Pebbles
* Rampage

- Added a new Early Access Hero: Artesia
* Added a new Limited Edition Alt Avatar: Arcannis

- Added a new Wildsoul Alt Avatar: Arctic Wildsoul

- Christmas Music has been removed
- Monarch is now pickable in Tournament Mode
- Minor tweaks to Dumpster and Fist of Sol Taunts

Balphagore Hero Guide by Nigma

2012-01-05T03:55:00.000-08:00

HNGH, I'M CRAMPING UP!

Dreamhack Winter 2011 Top 5 Moments by HonCast

2012-01-04T06:57:00.000-08:00

Dreamhack Winter 2011 was by far one of the most exciting Heroes of Newerth tournaments of the year and Honcast was there to provide coverage of the entire event. Here is a look at the crew's top 5 moments of the event in Jönköping, Sweden.

Artesia - Hero Spotlight

2012-01-02T20:47:00.001-08:00

Artesia Mini Hero Guide :

Artesia is a ranged intelligence hero with low-cooldown and low-manacost spells. She can rain down a deluge of arcane magics on enemies, damaging nearby heroes, as well as heal and support her team in times of need. With no escape mechanism, she'll need to focus on some defensive items early game, such as Steamboots or Plated Greaves. Mana Battery, Grave Locket, Ring of the Teacher, and Blood Chalice are all great items to pick up on Artesia for early game survivability and mana regeneration. Items that increase her maximum mana pool and regeneration best benefit her mid-game, allowing chain casting for long periods of time, such as Nullstone and Bloodstone. If you find yourself against a team who deal physical-oriented damage, Frostfield Plate is a great pickup. Spellshards will increase her damage output and mana regeneration, but the cooldown reduction on her spells will be almost unnoticeable. End-game items, Kuldra's Sheepstick or Hellflower, will help her survivability, mana regeration, and offensive prowess.

First Look : Artesia

2011-12-31T08:17:00.001-08:00

Here is your first look at the first hero of 2012, Artesia!

We wish everyone a Happy New Year and look forward to bringing you Artesia and much, much more in 2012!

[S2]Konran

S2 Staff Member

Honcast Top 10 Plays of the Week 26/12/11

2011-12-28T03:22:00.000-08:00

No New Hero this Friday

2011-12-28T03:15:00.000-08:00

So according to S2XanderK in this thread, we wont get a new hero this Friday. But the clue is the next upcoming hero should be a female hero.

I retweeted this tweet last night from S2SoundWizard about the Batman Thing hero, but then the sad news is that the new hero isnt a batman related thing, its just a joke nothing more or less, as you can see in his tweets below :

Happy HoNidays !

2011-12-23T00:27:00.000-08:00

It's a very special time of year and that calls for some very special stuff from us here at S2 Games. The list below contains some special thank you's from the team to our players PLUS a few special offers that simply can't be missed!

To start, everything in the store will be 25% off Gold and Silver coins until December 27th at midnight! Huzzah! (Excludes sub-accounts, stat resets, and nickname changes)
Legacy players get another exclusive benefit! There's a FREE symbol in the store waiting for players with Legacy accounts but only until December 27th at midnight. Thanks again for your support!
Jollywood and Christmas Keeper are available once more until December 27th at midnight and they are FREE! Go pick them up and show your Christmas spirit before they're gone!
Ho ho ho! Santa Midas is now available for purchase in the store. Go pick him up and enjoy throwing presents and reindeer at your foes! Yes, we're serious. Thank community member Veldt for this amazing alt avatar! Only available until December 30th!
There's a new symbol called Silver Lord. You can only buy it with silver coins so it's great way to show your friends how awesome you are at HoN! It'll be available from now on in the store!
Need some more coins for all the awesome stuff? It's time for a double silver coin week! From now until December 31st at midnight, players will earn double coins from Matchmaking games. Let's get it on!
We also have a very special offer for all of our free-to-play players. From right now until December 27th at midnight EST, we're offering a package deal with EVERY hero in the game for only $10. Don't miss this amazing offer! (Excludes EA heroes)
CLICK HERE FOR THIS AMAZING DEAL!

Don't forget! Player Santa is still up and running until January 2nd! Whenever you buy an item with gold coins, you're able to gift a copy of that item to a friend for free! Get in that giving mood! (Excludes sub-accounts, stat resets, and nickname changes)

Subscribe LightningCold @ Youtube for more !

2011-12-22T23:31:00.000-08:00

Shark Hunter - BloodHunter Alt.Avt

Dumpster Taunt :

Fist of Sol Taunt :

Dominatrix Torturer :

Mother Nature Keeper :

2.5.3 Patch Notes - Happy HONidays !

2011-12-22T16:06:00.000-08:00

Version 2.5.3
-------------
- Create a Guide
* You can now create your own hero guides in the game client in the Herodex

- Added content for the store for Christmas. This content will become available over the coming days. Stay tuned to the MotD for more information as these become available!

- Dominatrix Torturer is now available.
- Sol's Fist Taunt size increased from 1.1 to 1.85

- Monarch
* Noxious Cloud increased manacost from 100 to 100/115/130/145
* Noxious Cloud no longer gives vision