Update V40

## Related links

* Patch Notes

**Release Notes - V.40 Update**

## Gamplay Changes

* Shield
	+ Shields now absorb mitigated damage (previously absorbed unmitigated damage).
	+ This means Shields behave as Temporary Health and are affected by Armor in the same way.
* Core
	+ The Core encounter has been reworked to allow for a more consistent damage output and to encourage destroying multiple Inhibitors before pushing to destroy the Core.
	+ No longer splits damage between all targets in radius.
	+ Now deals 110 Basic Damage to all enemies in radius.
	+ Attack Speed is reduced depending on how many Inhibitors are destroyed.
* Jungle Changes
* We have updated melee Jungle minion behavior so that they are more difficult to kite and avoid their damage entirely. They will now more reliably hit players who are a short distance away from them. As a result of the change, we’ve adjusted the damage and reward levels for fighting Jungle camps.
	+ Reduced white Jungle minion damage per attack to 6 from 7.
	+ Increased white Jungle minion CP bounty to 85 from 73.
	+ Increased white Jungle minion Amber Link CP contribution to 35 from 30.
	+ Gold Buff
		- Replaced Gold Buff with a Gold variant of the River buffs.
		- Grants 300 CP when killed.
	+ Green Buff
		- Increased damage reflect to 20 from 15.
		- Reduced explosion base damage to 80 from 100.
		- Reduced explosion damage per Hero level to 13 from 15.
	+ Raptor Camp
		- Changed respawn time to 5 min from 4 min.
		- Reduced Raptor CP bounty to 650 from 800.
	+ Orb Prime
		- Increased the duration of the Orb Prime Buff to 150 seconds from 120 seconds.

## Hero Updates

###  **Phase**

* Telekinetic Link (RMB/R1) - Creates a link between Phase and an one target friendly Hero. Can be reactivated to pull the tethered target to her. Additionally, Phase passes her Health Regen to her linked ally. Using any of Phase’s abilities (or reactivating Telekinetic Link) gives her a quick Health Regen boost.
* Psychic Flare (Q/Square) - Phase emits a blast of light around her and her linked target. The blast both deals damage and Blinds enemies caught in the area of effect.
* Energy Lance (E/Circle) - Phase fires a stream of energy from her hands, dealing damage and a stacking slow every hit. If she can keep her lance on the target long enough the slow will stack into a root.
* Hyperflux (R/Triangle) - Both Phase and her link will gain a short Movement Speed boost, increased Attack Speed, Mana Regen bonus and Cooldown Reduction. Mana Regen of +75. Upon cast, she and her linked ally will get a 2s decaying Movement Speed burst (like Muriel’s boots).
* Added Shadow Lynx Phase Skin to the in-game store.
* Added Sluggo Disapproves Emote to the in-game store.

###  **Aurora**

* Cryoseism
	+ Corrected an issue which could cause Cryoseism to deal unintended additional damage.

###  **Feng Mao**

* Reaping Dash
	+ Damage Bonus increased to 35% / 70 % / 105% / 140% from 10% / 25% / 40 % / 55%.
	+ Can no longer Crit.

###  **Gadget**

* Speed Gate
	+ Movement Speed increased to 200 from 125, and now decays over the effect duration.

###  **Greystone**

* General
	+ Added Novaborn Greystone (Tier 3) Skin to the in-game store.
* Stoic
	+ Has been reworked :
		- Every 9 / 7 / 5 / 3 seconds Greystone will block 100% of the damage from the next Basic Damage instance that hits him.
		- No longer provides bonus Health and Basic Armor

###  **Iggy & Scorch**

* Flame Turret
	+ Turrets now have 200 / 350 / 500 / 650 Health instead of pips.
	+ Turrets take 60% reduced Ability Damage.

###  **Lt. Belica**

* Void Drone
	+ Base damage reduced to 30 / 50 / 70 / 90 from 60 / 80 / 100 / 120.
	+ Power scaling reduced to 0.376 from 0.5
	+ Now has 200 / 375 / 550 / 725 Health instead of pips.
	+ Now takes 60% reduced Ability Damage.

###  **Kallari**

* Crippling Dagger
	+ Has been moved to RMB / R1 and is now a quickcast ability.
	+ Base damage increased to 75 / 115 / 155 / 195 from 60 / 80 / 100 / 120.
* Backflip
	+ Has been removed.
* New ability: Shadow Dance (E / Triangle).
	+ Passively provides bonus Health Regeneration while Kallari is in the Shadow Plane (3 / 6 / 9 / 12).
	+ Allows Kallari to jump up to two additional times after Jumping (in the same way as Backflip did) (Spacebar / X).
	+ Cooldown of triple jump reduced to 14/12/10/8 seconds from 18/15/12/9 seconds.
	+ Activating the triple jump costs no Mana.
* Shadow Walk
	+ Now automatically activates when Kallari drops below 35% Health.
	+ This effect can only trigger once every 60 seconds.
	+ Only triggers if the damage dealt comes from enemy heroes.
* Death Sentence
	+ Added a -250 slow while Kallari is channeling Death Sentence to her intended victim.
	+ This should help her line up more when she arrives.

###  **Morigesh**

* General
	+ Base Ability Armor reduced to 20 from 21.4.
	+ Ability Armor per level reduced to 0.75 from 0.81.

###  **Muriel**

* General
	+ As a reminder, all Shields are now treated as extra Health, and benefit from target’s resistances. (such as Armor)
* Alacrity
	+ Movement Speed increased to 150 / 175 / 200 / 225 from 35 / 50 / 65 / 80.
	+ Movement Speed now decays over its 2 second duration.

###  **Murdock**

* Move Along
	+ Has been removed.
* Static Trap
	+ Has been removed.
* Buckshot
	+ Has been reworked:
		- Moved from Q / Primary to RMB / R1.
		- Enemies damaged by Buckshot are pushed if they are within 700 units of Murdock (up to a maximum distance of 700 units away from Murdock).
		- Damage range remains 1000 units.
* New Ability: Hot Pursuit (Q / Primary)
	+ Passive: Grants an additional 100 / 150 / 200 / 250 Movement Speed when running at visible, Critically Wounded enemies within 3000 / 4000 / 5000 / 6000 units.
* New Ability: Shots Fired! (E / Secondary)
	+ Passive: Grants Murdock’s next basic attack bonus range and 15 / 30 / 45 / 60 Basic Penetration every 10 / 8 / 6 / 4 seconds.
	+ This shot can miss, and if it does the cooldown is consumed.

###  **Narbash**

* March!
	+ Movement Speed increased to 125 / 150 / 175 / 200 from 65 / 90 / 115 / 140.
	+ Duration reduced to 2.5 seconds from 3 seconds.
	+ Movement Speed now decays over its duration.

###  **Riktor**

* Shock Therapy
	+ Cooldown reduced to 12 seconds at all levels from 21/18/15/12.

###  **Shinbi**

* All Kill!
	+ Shinbi can now move while casting.
	+ Wolf stack duration increased to 10 seconds from 7 seconds.
* Rushing Beat
	+ Shinbi will no longer lose the ability to recast Rushing Beat after being Stunned or Silenced.
* Line Tempo
	+ Projectile speed increased.

###  **Steel**

* Force Shield
	+ Has been removed.
* Bulwark
	+ Has been reworked:
		- Steel now deploys a smaller, attached Force Shield as an extension of his shield while channeling Bulwark.
		- Duration increased to 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 from 4 seconds at all levels.
* New Ability: Ablative Armor (E / Circle)
	+ Passive: Grants Steel four stacks of 50 / 65 / 80 / 95 Ability Armor (For a total of 200 / 260 / 320 / 380 Ability Armor).
	+ Taking Ability Damage removes one stack.
	+ Steel gains one stack every 6 / 5 / 4 / 3 seconds. This timer is reset whenever he takes new instances of Ability Damage.

###  **The Fey**

* Harvest Nettles
	+ Consecutive hits on the same target within 9 seconds deal an additional 15% damage per hit, stacking up to a maximum of 60% bonus damage per hit.

###  **Yin**

* Lash Kick
	+ Range reduced to 750 units from 950 units.
* Windburn
	+ Mana cost increased to 40 from 20.
	+ Cooldown increased to 21 / 18 / 15 / 12 from 20 / 15 / 12 / 8.

## Card Updates

We’re still in the process of a full rework of the card system planned for 2017. This release continues our trend of updating the existing card set to reflect our general direction for the future. This includes several reworks of niche cards alongside updated functionality and balance across the full library.

* HEALTH
	+ Health per CP has been increased to 60 Health from 50 Health.
* BASIC ARMOR
	+ Basic Armor per CP has been increased to 8 from 7.
* ABILITY ARMOR
	+ Ability Armor per CP has been increased to 6 from 4.
* WEEKLY CARD PACK
	+ Minor Cast
	+ Flashfire Piston
	+ Wellspring Staff
* HEMORRHAGE
	+ Rework. Now Universal Affinity
		- Cost: 6 Points
		- 5% Lifesteal, 11 Attack Speed
		- Active: BERZERK - For 6 seconds, gain 44 Attack Speed and 80 Movement Speed, but take an additional 15% damage. (Costs 50 Mana) (35 second cooldown).
* NANOPLASM
	+ Rework. Now Universal Affinity
		- Cost: 6 Points.
		- 6 Power, 60 Max Mana.
		- Passive: Spell Vamp - Abilities heal for 20% of the damage dealt to enemy Heroes, 5% against Minions.
* TAINTED MAGICK
	+ Rework. Now Universal Affinity
		- Cost: 7 points
		- +12 Power, 0.3 Mana Regen
		- Spell Burn - Dealing Ability Damage to enemy Heroes applies a damage over time effect that deals Ability Damage equal to 8% of the target's Current Health over 3 seconds. This effect cannot stack. Consecutive Ability Damage instances refresh duration.
* SCOUT’S WARD
	+ Now has 150 Health instead of pips and takes 60% reduced Ability Damage.
* SHADOW WARD
	+ Now has 225 Health instead of pips and takes 60% reduced Ability Damage.
* CIRCLET OF MANA
	+ Rework
		- Maxed Passive Added. Mana Regen aura is now applied globally.
* CIRCLET OF HEALTH
	+ Rework
		- Maxed Passive Added. Health Regen aura now applied globally.
* ARMAVORE
	+ Changed stat to Attack Speed from Attack Penetration.
	+ Increased Mana restored per Basic Attack to +6 from +2.
* BATTLE MANTRA
	+ Increased bonus Mana Regen when above 50% to 2.4 Mana/sec from 1.5 Mana/sec.
* BLOOD CATALYST
	+ Increased Mana Regen to 17.5/sec from 10/sec for 10 seconds
	+ Removed Critically Wounded limitation.
* CHARGING BRUTE
	+ Increased Movement Speed per stack to 20ms from 10ms.
	+ Increased Buff duration to 7 seconds from 5 seconds.
	+ Added ability to move through units during duration.
* EMPYREAN MASK
	+ Increased amount of stats granted in all forms.
		- Power increased to 24 from 18
		- Basic Armor increased to 14 from 10.5
		- Ability Armor increased to 8 from 6
		- Mana Regen increased to 1.2/sec from 0.9/sec
* EVERGLASS
	+ Reduced cost to 5 CP from 6 CP.
* FONT OF RAPTURE
	+ Changed stats to (5% Lifesteal, 6 Power) from (1.4 Health Regen, 0.3 Mana Regen, 4% Crit Chance)
* HINDER-BEAST
	+ Now works on Jungle Buffs which now includes the Green Buff, in addition to the River Buffs.
	+ Increased basic attack slow to 10% from 5%
* INCESSANT ONSLAUGHT
	+ Rework
		- Reduces active cooldowns by 0.2 seconds per basic attack hit.
* INFINITY STREAM
	+ Changed regen value scalar from “current” Mana to “missing” Mana.
	+ Increased base regen value to 3.6 Mana/sec from 2.4 Mana/sec.
* MADSPORE SASH
	+ Increased Burn radius from 300 to 500.
	+ Increased damage to 12 + (1.5 x Player Level) from 10 + Player Level.
* MENDING BLOOM
	+ Changed Stat to Max Mana from Health Regen.
	+ Increased Mana Regen to 6.0 Mana/sec from 3.8 Mana/sec for 15 seconds to yourself and nearby allies.
* NANODRIVE
	+ Grants +100 Movement Speed for 2.5 seconds (14 second cooldown).
* OVERFLOWING GIFTS
	+ Changed stat to Max Health from Mana Regen.
	+ Increased Health Regen to 9.5 Health/sec from 6.0 Health/sec to yourself and nearby allies for 15 seconds.
* PURITY CENSER
	+ Now costs 80 Mana to cast.
	+ Cooldown increased to 120 seconds from 90 seconds.
* RADIANT MANTLE
	+ Increased Burn radius from 300 to 500
	+ Increased damage to 12 + (1.5 x Player Level) from 10 + Player Level.
* RALLY THE TROOPS
	+ Now costs 50 Mana to cast.
	+ Reduced cooldown to 35 seconds from 120 seconds.
	+ Increased Attack Speed Buff to +33 Attack Speed from +22 Attack Speed.
* ROCKET SPIKE
	+ Reduced cost to 4 CP from 5 CP.
* SATORI CLOAK
	+ Increased Armor Shred duration to 2 seconds from 1.5 seconds.
* SCORPION PLATE
	+ Increased duration to 10 seconds from 6 seconds.
	+ Reduced cost to 5 CP from 6 CP.
	+ No longer shares a cooldown with Splinterbark Vest.
* SHOCKWAVE
	+ Reworked Active:
		- Now deals 50 damage in a large radius around the Hero, slowing enemies by -250 Movement Speed for 3 seconds. (Cooldown: 45 seconds)
		- Now costs 50 Mana to cast.
* SIRENSONG
	+ Increased the slow magnitude to 60 from 40. Reduced slow / speed buff duration to 3 seconds from 4 seconds.
* SPLINTERBARK VEST
	+ Increased duration to 10 second from 6 seconds.
	+ Reduced cost to 5 CP from 6 CP.
	+ No longer shares a cooldown with Scorpion Plate.
* STAB LINK
	+ Reduced base Health cost to 15% from 20%.
	+ Remove Critically Wounded restriction to, but the active cannot be used if your Health cost would result in a death.
* STASIS GEM
	+ Rework: Now a Universal Affinity.
	+ Reduced cost to 5 CP from 7 CP.
* WICKED STIGMA
	+ Rework ability to Unique Passive.
	+ Ability hits grant vision of the target for 6 seconds.
* THERMO-BOND
	+ No longer activates from Dekker’s Containment Fence ability.
* TEMPUS PEARL
	+ Reduced cooldown to 45 seconds from 60 seconds.
	+ Now costs 50 Mana to cast.
* TRAITOR’S TOUCH
	+ Increased bonus damage to 5% of target’s Current Health from 3% of Current Target Health.

## General Changes

* LOOT CRATE UPDATE
	+ Loot Crates: New content for 40.0
		- Added Skin Variations:
			* Aqua Default Phase
			* Cobalt Default Phase
			* Coral Default Iggy & Scorch
			* Marine Default Iggy & Scorch
		- Added Mastery:
			* Revenant
		- Added Emotes:
			* Cloud Bringer (Morigesh)
			* Epic Riff (Greystone)
			* Prove It (Dekker)
			* Hats Off (Revenant)

UI
--

* + Switching to alternate PS4 controller configuration for new players.
	+ Community Tab added to the Home Screen.
	+ Community Popup added.
	+ Golden Keys introduced.
	+ Monthly Mega Vault added to the in-game Home Screen.
		- Rewards:
			* Snakebite Murdock Deep Sea Variation.
			* Golden Loot Key.
			* Loot Key.
			* 3 - Diamond Chests.
			* "Destroy 1 enemy inhibitor."
			* "Destroy 2 enemy inhibitors."
		- Added the following quest:
			* "Destroy 1 enemy ward.”
		- Changed the following quests:
			* “Destroy 2 enemy towers.” (previously 3 enemy towers)
			* “Destroy 3 enemy towers.” (previously 7 enemy towers)
			* “Destroy 1 enemy inhibitor.” (previously 3 enemy inhibitors)
	+ There is now an animation when you receive new daily quests.
	+ Fixed a display issue that caused daily quests to show more credit than has actually been earned.
	+ All reticles will turn red when you are targeting a valid target.
	+ Damage number pops adjustments:
		- Made numbers much smaller.
		- Physical damage moves to the right and energy damage moves to the left.
		- Crits are slightly bigger and pop up more.
		- No more scaling numbers on amount of damage.
	+ Minion health bar tweaks:
		- Disabled scaling on minion health bar.
		- Fade out healthbar background when not targeted.
	+ Adjustments to placement of health bar, recall, and respawn UI.
	+ If players were using the alternative control scheme, that is now the default. New players will have this alternative control scheme by default.
	+ The boost indicator on the frontend no longer glows gold even if no boosts are active.
	+ Adding Bonus Start Event for when you start at a higher tier than bronze for the star chest

## Agora

* + Updated stealth river buff to trigger the same Shadow Plane visuals as Kallari's Shadow Walk and Necroveil card. Minor tweaks to Shadow Plane post processing to better fit with Monolith's updated visuals.
	+ Ward destruction visual effects improved.
	+ Minor visual polish and optimization on Minion death FX and tower projectiles/impacts. \*\*Tower projectile impacts now leave less residual plasma particles hanging around.
	+ Polish pass on minion/jungle creature impact FX.
	+ Minions should no longer follow players into the jungle when aggro'd at spawn.

AI
--

* + Bot difficulty tweaks:
		- "Normal" bots difficulty tweak: Will run away when hurt a bit sooner.
		- "Easy" bots difficulty tweaks: No longer recall, will take damage under tower, no longer avoid AOE attacks.
		- "Intro" bots difficulty tweaks: No longer run away when hurt, now have delayed strategic reactions, max targeting distance brought in 500 units.
	+ Bots no longer attempt to recall while suffering a DOT.

## Audio

* Fix for generic impact sound effect that plays when damaging another hero.
* Shadowplane sound added for Purple Buff and Shadowplane card.
* The draft lobby should now play the frontend music selection correctly.

## Gameplay

* Fixed extra meshes (helmets, pumpkin heads, etc) not disappearing on heroes when the camera gets too close.

## Hero Changes

### General

* Polish and Bug Fixing
	+ Corrected various issues causing interrupted abilities to improperly go on cooldown when no effect was acheived.

###  **Aurora**

* Aurora's ice footprints should now appear as intended.

###  **Feng Mao**

* Fix for Conversion Shield flashing FX on medium settings.
* Fixed material FX not working for his attack buff on Reaping Dash.

###  **Gadget**

* Fix for Gadget not being able to use abilities after canceling her ultimate.

###  **Greystone**

* Variations apply correctly to White Tiger Greystone's helmet.

###  **Grux**

* Increased volume of sounds during recall and added grunts.

###  **Howitzer**

* Howitzer sounds updated: primary shot is shorter, primary explode is shorter and volume slightly reduced.
* Fixed timing of reload.

###  **Kwang**

* Improved animation timing for Kwang's Swordsman Style emote.

###  **Morigesh**

* Fixed an issue where Morigesh would be unable to activate Curse on her marked target if she attempted to mark a new target but failed because the hero was immune to the spell effect.

###  **Narbash**

* Minor visual bug fix for Narbash's health regen aura.

###  **Revenant**

* Fixed issue where Revenant hands went through his hat when playing Hats Off emote while wearing the Raven skin.
* Fixed Hand Cannon projectiles not impacting Rev when reflected by Yin.
* Fixed reload getting stuck when interrupted by Aurora's Ult.

###  **Shinbi**

* Fixed an issue where her sword would move to different positions on her back when recalling on slopes.

###  **TwinBlast**

* TwinBlast's basic attacks should now leave decals.

###  **Yin**

* Adjusted Yin's whip audio to be less overpowering.