Changelog for v0.97b
Gameplay:
- changed Chomp to treat level 7+ creeps as heroes
Fixes:
- fixed Afflictor soundset
- fixed Conductive Sphere, Falling Stars, Lunge, and Meditation Aura tooltip typos
- fixed Death and Decay buff
- fixed Quilbeast damage
- fixed Toughness hotkey
Balancing:
- lowered Dryad agility growth slightly
- nerfed Blood Transfusion to 200/300/400/500 life transfered
- improved Chain Reaction damage to 14/20/26/32 per explosion
- reduced Conductive Sphere damage to 35/50/65/80 and duration to 15 seconds
Other:
- reduced Spirit size slightly
- improved the terrain a bit
This version fixed a few game and balance issues that have cropped up with some of the new content introduced last version.
See v0.97 changelog here.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Friday, December 26, 2008
v0.97 Changelog
Changelog for v0.97
Gameplay:
- added new hero: Illidan the Demon Hunter
- added new hero: Kartosh the Afflictor
- merged Dark Ranger's Skeletal Synergy ability with Black Arrow; reintroduced Shadow Wave
- replaced Dryad's Critical Strike with Harmony
- replaced Hydra Hatchling's ultimate Mutating Growth with Hydra Split
- merged Kodo Rider's Endurance with War Drums (now non-ult), added the Chomp ability
- reworked Ogre Warlord: now Ogre Fighter; 3 new abilities and the other significantly changed
- merged Raider's Blazing Speed with Blood Pact; added Dagger Throw
- changed Storm Panda's Flicker to non-ultimate; replaced Seeker Lightning with Conductive Sphere
- reduced gold lost on death to n^2 + 5n, n being the dying hero's level
Fixes:
- fixed Last Reprisal buff
- fixed Infernal Flame and Mana Disruption tooltip typos
- fixed Keg of Ale cost typo
Balancing:
- improved Dragonhawk Rider agility growth by .4/level
- nerfed Hydra Hatchling's other abilities
- reduced Illusionist's illusion damage to 7%, also reduced damage taken to 300%
- nerfed Jungle Stalker's abilities overall
- buffed Knight and his abilities substantially
- reduced Lightning Panda's spell cooldowns for Energized Release and Mega Bolt considerably
- increased Mistress of Pain movespeed to 295
- reduced Apocalypse cooldown to 150
- changed Blazing Agility to a fixed 10/18/26/34/42 agility bonus
- removed Death and Decay's upgrade inheritance and reduced number of raised units to 2
- reduced Fire Aura aoe to 300
- lowered Global Stomp stun duration to 1.5 second
- added Lacerate bonus damage based on strength
- nerfed Lich King's Pact healing slightly
- increased Lightning Fury actual striking areas a bit
- lowered Pain Spike cooldown to 150 seconds
- nerfed Quilbeast damage to 20/25/30/35/40 on average
- reduced Soul Barrage cooldown to 60 seconds
- nerfed Zerginate considerably
- increased Zergling Rush heal to 5% per Zergling; slowed Zergling attacks moderately
Items:
- reduced Charm of Wealth and Charm of Prosperity income bonuses in half
- reduced Curve Bow stun durations to 1/1.25/1.5/1.75
- lowered Wind Boots' Blink cast range to 700
Others:
- added new Curse of Ner'zhul, Shadowfury, and Void Blast icons
- added a model attachment to Blood Pact, removed the special effect
- added floating text showing Mega Bolt's damage
- made Bank Account floating text more obvious
- nudged Circle of Power locations a bit
- renamed many abilties to avoid confusion with similar-sounding ones or to shorten them
- rearranged Flame Contraption's Fire Wave and Soul Burn abilities
- clarified Glaive Frenzy's normal tooltip with its duration
- switched Medicine Blast and Medicine Field icons
This version features two new heroes, one hero remake, and quite a few new spells on other heroes. The first hero added was the Demon Hunter, Illidan, who is an agility-based miscellaneous damage dealer. Demon Morph and Blind Rage allow him to drastically increase his attack damage and attack speed respectively, and the morph allows him to fire at a range with chaos damage, highly destructive to fortifications, while raging may cause him to miss attacks. His Tracking ability saps armor from nearby enemies, making them more vulnerable to Illidan's attacks. Finally, he can use Expulsion, a high-powered ultimate with area of effect damage at a relatively low cost.
The second new hero is Kartosh the Afflictor, an intelligence hero that can cause massive damage over time, and is modeled off the WoW Warlock. Corruption and Curse of Agony are both able to gently hurt enemy targets; Curse of Agony deals slightly more damage but damages more slowly. Kartosh can use Life Tap to convert a portion of his health into a decent amount of mana, based on maximum hp and mana. The ultimate Extend Suffering causes any Corruption or Curse of Agony spell cast in a short duration to last longer, dealing more damage.
The Ogre Warlord was remade, and is now the Ogre Fighter. He can deal extensive area of effect damage with Force Slam, hitting enemies very closeby for even more. The Final Strength ability allows his strength to surge temporarily. Toughness is similar to the original ultimate, adding strength and lowering agility and intelligence, but is now non-ultimate. The new ultimate, Power Smash, deals a significant amount of damage equal to a multiple of the Ogre's strength, stunning the target as well.
Quite a few heroes also received new abilities. Dark Ranger gained Shadow Wave (replacing Skeletal Synergy), a line damage spell that the hero originally had when it was designed. Dryad now has Harmony (replacing Critical Strike), which allows it to remove harmful effects and restore hp and mana over time based on her intelligence. Hydra Hatchling's new Hydra Split (replacing Mutating Growth) allows it to split temporarily into three hydras, each having chaos damage. Kodo Rider now has Chomp (replacing Endurance), a new ultimate ability that allows the Kodo to swallow a target alive, though only temporarily on heroes; its War Drums ability is now non-ultimate. The Raider gained Dagger Throw (replacing Blazing Speed), allowing it to actively slow an opponent, dealing damage to it as well. Finally, Storm Panda gained Conductive Sphere (replacing Seeker Lightning), a powerful ultimate that generates orbs that electrocute nearby enemies; its Flicker ability is now non-ultimate.
There wasn't too much fixing to do, but plenty of balancing was done with heroes, abilities, and items. Additionally, many abilities were renamed for the sake of clarification or conciseness; e.g. both Firelord and Warlock had an ability named Incinerate. And also, happy holidays!
Gameplay:
- added new hero: Illidan the Demon Hunter
- added new hero: Kartosh the Afflictor
- merged Dark Ranger's Skeletal Synergy ability with Black Arrow; reintroduced Shadow Wave
- replaced Dryad's Critical Strike with Harmony
- replaced Hydra Hatchling's ultimate Mutating Growth with Hydra Split
- merged Kodo Rider's Endurance with War Drums (now non-ult), added the Chomp ability
- reworked Ogre Warlord: now Ogre Fighter; 3 new abilities and the other significantly changed
- merged Raider's Blazing Speed with Blood Pact; added Dagger Throw
- changed Storm Panda's Flicker to non-ultimate; replaced Seeker Lightning with Conductive Sphere
- reduced gold lost on death to n^2 + 5n, n being the dying hero's level
Fixes:
- fixed Last Reprisal buff
- fixed Infernal Flame and Mana Disruption tooltip typos
- fixed Keg of Ale cost typo
Balancing:
- improved Dragonhawk Rider agility growth by .4/level
- nerfed Hydra Hatchling's other abilities
- reduced Illusionist's illusion damage to 7%, also reduced damage taken to 300%
- nerfed Jungle Stalker's abilities overall
- buffed Knight and his abilities substantially
- reduced Lightning Panda's spell cooldowns for Energized Release and Mega Bolt considerably
- increased Mistress of Pain movespeed to 295
- reduced Apocalypse cooldown to 150
- changed Blazing Agility to a fixed 10/18/26/34/42 agility bonus
- removed Death and Decay's upgrade inheritance and reduced number of raised units to 2
- reduced Fire Aura aoe to 300
- lowered Global Stomp stun duration to 1.5 second
- added Lacerate bonus damage based on strength
- nerfed Lich King's Pact healing slightly
- increased Lightning Fury actual striking areas a bit
- lowered Pain Spike cooldown to 150 seconds
- nerfed Quilbeast damage to 20/25/30/35/40 on average
- reduced Soul Barrage cooldown to 60 seconds
- nerfed Zerginate considerably
- increased Zergling Rush heal to 5% per Zergling; slowed Zergling attacks moderately
Items:
- reduced Charm of Wealth and Charm of Prosperity income bonuses in half
- reduced Curve Bow stun durations to 1/1.25/1.5/1.75
- lowered Wind Boots' Blink cast range to 700
Others:
- added new Curse of Ner'zhul, Shadowfury, and Void Blast icons
- added a model attachment to Blood Pact, removed the special effect
- added floating text showing Mega Bolt's damage
- made Bank Account floating text more obvious
- nudged Circle of Power locations a bit
- renamed many abilties to avoid confusion with similar-sounding ones or to shorten them
- rearranged Flame Contraption's Fire Wave and Soul Burn abilities
- clarified Glaive Frenzy's normal tooltip with its duration
- switched Medicine Blast and Medicine Field icons
This version features two new heroes, one hero remake, and quite a few new spells on other heroes. The first hero added was the Demon Hunter, Illidan, who is an agility-based miscellaneous damage dealer. Demon Morph and Blind Rage allow him to drastically increase his attack damage and attack speed respectively, and the morph allows him to fire at a range with chaos damage, highly destructive to fortifications, while raging may cause him to miss attacks. His Tracking ability saps armor from nearby enemies, making them more vulnerable to Illidan's attacks. Finally, he can use Expulsion, a high-powered ultimate with area of effect damage at a relatively low cost.
The second new hero is Kartosh the Afflictor, an intelligence hero that can cause massive damage over time, and is modeled off the WoW Warlock. Corruption and Curse of Agony are both able to gently hurt enemy targets; Curse of Agony deals slightly more damage but damages more slowly. Kartosh can use Life Tap to convert a portion of his health into a decent amount of mana, based on maximum hp and mana. The ultimate Extend Suffering causes any Corruption or Curse of Agony spell cast in a short duration to last longer, dealing more damage.
The Ogre Warlord was remade, and is now the Ogre Fighter. He can deal extensive area of effect damage with Force Slam, hitting enemies very closeby for even more. The Final Strength ability allows his strength to surge temporarily. Toughness is similar to the original ultimate, adding strength and lowering agility and intelligence, but is now non-ultimate. The new ultimate, Power Smash, deals a significant amount of damage equal to a multiple of the Ogre's strength, stunning the target as well.
Quite a few heroes also received new abilities. Dark Ranger gained Shadow Wave (replacing Skeletal Synergy), a line damage spell that the hero originally had when it was designed. Dryad now has Harmony (replacing Critical Strike), which allows it to remove harmful effects and restore hp and mana over time based on her intelligence. Hydra Hatchling's new Hydra Split (replacing Mutating Growth) allows it to split temporarily into three hydras, each having chaos damage. Kodo Rider now has Chomp (replacing Endurance), a new ultimate ability that allows the Kodo to swallow a target alive, though only temporarily on heroes; its War Drums ability is now non-ultimate. The Raider gained Dagger Throw (replacing Blazing Speed), allowing it to actively slow an opponent, dealing damage to it as well. Finally, Storm Panda gained Conductive Sphere (replacing Seeker Lightning), a powerful ultimate that generates orbs that electrocute nearby enemies; its Flicker ability is now non-ultimate.
There wasn't too much fixing to do, but plenty of balancing was done with heroes, abilities, and items. Additionally, many abilities were renamed for the sake of clarification or conciseness; e.g. both Firelord and Warlock had an ability named Incinerate. And also, happy holidays!
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
v0.96, v0.96b, and v0.96c Changelog
Changelog for v0.96
SMotA now stands for Sacred Masters of the Arctic
Gameplay:
- added a new hero: Beastmaster
- implemented a Spirit system; dying heroes at least level 2 will spawn a Spirit lasting until revival; Spirits are invisible, flying, but vulnerable; they travel very fast and can scout nearby areas; have a long-range Blink and low-damage Finger of Death and Rain of Fire abilities
- allowed summoner heroes to teleport their nearby summons with them when using base-to-lane teleporters
- reworked Naga Warrior: its Naga Training ability has been merged with the ult Poison Blade, which now increases attack speed but not movement; Soul Blade is now and active ability and is renamed to Draining Blade; a new ability, Leg Slice, deals moderate aoe damage
- allowed Ether Burst to bypass the 60% hp rule when target has less than 1000 current hp; changed damage type from Spell to Exact
- changed Dragonhawk Rider to an agility hero
Fixes:
- fixed a glitch that randomly activated Only Mid Mode
- fixed a tower bounty glitch with the Demonic side
- fixed Wisdom of the Dead to work properly
- fixed Counter to reflect damage with correct chance
- fixed Death Roar's actual knockback amount
- fixed Water Bolt projectile issue
- corrected a typo with Leap's mana cost
- updated Warding Boots tooltip
- fixed Prophet sound set
Balancing:
- improved Beetle hp by 75 at all levels
- reduced Black Arrow summon duration to 35 sec; Skeletons now cannot spawn more of themselves on kills
- reduced Chaotic Power damage bonus to 20/35/50/65/80%
- nerfed Charged Shot damage to 70/125/180/235/290
- improved Exploding Arrow damage by 100
- improved Felhounds' feedback amount to 30
- increased Gold Stash mana cost significantly
- changed Last Reprisal's agility bonus into an attack speed bonus
- reduced Life Orb's mana cost to 25
- improved Lightning Fury damage to 85/125/165/205 per bolt
- reduced Mass Purge damage to 4x int
- nerfed Nature's Curse duration damage to 9/13/17/21/25
- improved Omniscience duration to 5/10/20/30 seconds
- nerfed Phantom Scream effects across the board
- increased Play Dead cooldown by 5 sec
- reduced Quick Attack cast range to 500
- changed Rage hp cost to 2% of current hp rather than str/2
- reduced Rifle Upgrade damage bonus to 12/24/36/48
- nerfed Skeletal Form stats significantly
- reduced Skeletal Mastery bonuses; bonuses now apply to hero as well
- made Sludge Monstrosities not immune to magic
- changed Snap Dragon damage type from Piercing to Normal; increased its hp and damage output
- nerfed Spear Mastery damage bonus to 15/30/45/60
- reduced Storm Crow hp to 400/550/700/850/1000; removed Fierce Claw
- reduced Summon Zombies summon amount to 3
- reduced Unholy Conversion cooldown to 12
- improved Vindication max hp per second cap to 11/9/7/5%
- improved Voodoo Spirits damage significantly
Items:
- added stats regarding stacking on the Orbs' tooltips
Others:
- added visual indications for Counter and Spirit Hull
- changed Culling Strike animation
- reduced size of Incinerate (Firelord) and Fire Wall
- added new icons for Infestation and Void Blast
- added floating text for Mana Disruption
- clarified Dark Volley tooltip for buildings
- added new model for Mind Control Orb
- rearranged Helicopter skills slightly
- reworked Demon base building layout
- added some floating doodads to the Orc outpost
The primary addition was the new Spirit system. When a hero dies, it will turn into a Spirit until it respawns. Spirits are invisible and have extremely fast flying movement; however, with 100 hp, they are quite vulnerable against truesight as well as area-of-effect spells, and they also do not attack. They do have the Blink ability, which allows them to travel across the map instantly. Two damaging spells, Finger of Death and Rain of Fire, can be used by Spirits to hit single targets and areas respectively.
The new Beastmaster is a powerful tank, healer, and summoner. It can summon Quilbeasts that have many bonuses, including an explosive effect that can prevent the summoning of Spirits if an enemy hero dies. The Mending Wave spell can heal the Beastmaster and his allies, acting as a splashing chain heal. Natural Affinity, a passive ability, increases the hitpoints, damage, and speed of Rexxar and his summons. Finally, as an ultimate, he can summon a Spirit Bear with an incredible amount of hitpoints, also with a variety of bonuses.
The Naga Warrior received a partial makeover. The Snap Dragon was buffed significantly, and its Soul Blade life-draining passive was remade into an active and renamed Draining Blade. The old speed passive, Naga Training, was merged with the ultimate Poison Blade, which retains its name, but is now much weaker although it adds a slight attack speed bonus. A new ability, Leg Sweep, was added, allowing the Naga Warrior to deal area of effect damage.
Again, numerous fixes and balances were made, and quite a few visual enhancements were done.
v0.96b
- fixed a major glitch that occurred in multiplayer
v0.96c
- fixed a major glitch with Beastmaster's Mending Wave
- fixed Bandit Rage, Draining Blade, and Quick Attack typos
SMotA now stands for Sacred Masters of the Arctic
Gameplay:
- added a new hero: Beastmaster
- implemented a Spirit system; dying heroes at least level 2 will spawn a Spirit lasting until revival; Spirits are invisible, flying, but vulnerable; they travel very fast and can scout nearby areas; have a long-range Blink and low-damage Finger of Death and Rain of Fire abilities
- allowed summoner heroes to teleport their nearby summons with them when using base-to-lane teleporters
- reworked Naga Warrior: its Naga Training ability has been merged with the ult Poison Blade, which now increases attack speed but not movement; Soul Blade is now and active ability and is renamed to Draining Blade; a new ability, Leg Slice, deals moderate aoe damage
- allowed Ether Burst to bypass the 60% hp rule when target has less than 1000 current hp; changed damage type from Spell to Exact
- changed Dragonhawk Rider to an agility hero
Fixes:
- fixed a glitch that randomly activated Only Mid Mode
- fixed a tower bounty glitch with the Demonic side
- fixed Wisdom of the Dead to work properly
- fixed Counter to reflect damage with correct chance
- fixed Death Roar's actual knockback amount
- fixed Water Bolt projectile issue
- corrected a typo with Leap's mana cost
- updated Warding Boots tooltip
- fixed Prophet sound set
Balancing:
- improved Beetle hp by 75 at all levels
- reduced Black Arrow summon duration to 35 sec; Skeletons now cannot spawn more of themselves on kills
- reduced Chaotic Power damage bonus to 20/35/50/65/80%
- nerfed Charged Shot damage to 70/125/180/235/290
- improved Exploding Arrow damage by 100
- improved Felhounds' feedback amount to 30
- increased Gold Stash mana cost significantly
- changed Last Reprisal's agility bonus into an attack speed bonus
- reduced Life Orb's mana cost to 25
- improved Lightning Fury damage to 85/125/165/205 per bolt
- reduced Mass Purge damage to 4x int
- nerfed Nature's Curse duration damage to 9/13/17/21/25
- improved Omniscience duration to 5/10/20/30 seconds
- nerfed Phantom Scream effects across the board
- increased Play Dead cooldown by 5 sec
- reduced Quick Attack cast range to 500
- changed Rage hp cost to 2% of current hp rather than str/2
- reduced Rifle Upgrade damage bonus to 12/24/36/48
- nerfed Skeletal Form stats significantly
- reduced Skeletal Mastery bonuses; bonuses now apply to hero as well
- made Sludge Monstrosities not immune to magic
- changed Snap Dragon damage type from Piercing to Normal; increased its hp and damage output
- nerfed Spear Mastery damage bonus to 15/30/45/60
- reduced Storm Crow hp to 400/550/700/850/1000; removed Fierce Claw
- reduced Summon Zombies summon amount to 3
- reduced Unholy Conversion cooldown to 12
- improved Vindication max hp per second cap to 11/9/7/5%
- improved Voodoo Spirits damage significantly
Items:
- added stats regarding stacking on the Orbs' tooltips
Others:
- added visual indications for Counter and Spirit Hull
- changed Culling Strike animation
- reduced size of Incinerate (Firelord) and Fire Wall
- added new icons for Infestation and Void Blast
- added floating text for Mana Disruption
- clarified Dark Volley tooltip for buildings
- added new model for Mind Control Orb
- rearranged Helicopter skills slightly
- reworked Demon base building layout
- added some floating doodads to the Orc outpost
The primary addition was the new Spirit system. When a hero dies, it will turn into a Spirit until it respawns. Spirits are invisible and have extremely fast flying movement; however, with 100 hp, they are quite vulnerable against truesight as well as area-of-effect spells, and they also do not attack. They do have the Blink ability, which allows them to travel across the map instantly. Two damaging spells, Finger of Death and Rain of Fire, can be used by Spirits to hit single targets and areas respectively.
The new Beastmaster is a powerful tank, healer, and summoner. It can summon Quilbeasts that have many bonuses, including an explosive effect that can prevent the summoning of Spirits if an enemy hero dies. The Mending Wave spell can heal the Beastmaster and his allies, acting as a splashing chain heal. Natural Affinity, a passive ability, increases the hitpoints, damage, and speed of Rexxar and his summons. Finally, as an ultimate, he can summon a Spirit Bear with an incredible amount of hitpoints, also with a variety of bonuses.
The Naga Warrior received a partial makeover. The Snap Dragon was buffed significantly, and its Soul Blade life-draining passive was remade into an active and renamed Draining Blade. The old speed passive, Naga Training, was merged with the ultimate Poison Blade, which retains its name, but is now much weaker although it adds a slight attack speed bonus. A new ability, Leg Sweep, was added, allowing the Naga Warrior to deal area of effect damage.
Again, numerous fixes and balances were made, and quite a few visual enhancements were done.
v0.96b
- fixed a major glitch that occurred in multiplayer
v0.96c
- fixed a major glitch with Beastmaster's Mending Wave
- fixed Bandit Rage, Draining Blade, and Quick Attack typos
Saturday, November 29, 2008
v0.95 Changelog
Changelog for v0.95
Gameplay:
- mode entering can be done in one line
- reduced gold income slightly (gold comes every 2 sec instead of 1.5 sec)
- lowered neutral creep xp gain by 30%
- reworked Sphinx's Mana Burn to burn mana based on target's missing mana; it is renamed Mana Disruption
- reworked Death and Decay to raise up to one dead unit per second, these
units now last twice as long and inherit upgrades
- allowed Nuclear Launch to destroy trees
Fixes:
- added a max range to the Mind Control orb
- fixed Dark Ranger's Last Reprisal to not trigger from illusions
- fixed Seeker Lightning to target heroes correctly
- corrected Corrupted Greed tooltip
- corrected Glaive Attack bonus icon position
Balancing:
- increased Priestess of the Moon base damage by 10
- lowered Black Arrow skeleton summons' max damage by 5
- reduced Dark Volley number of arrows (30 to 25)
- nerfed Forked Lightning damage (100/175/250/325/400 to 110/170/230/290/350)
- nerfed Global Stomp's stun to a constant duration (1/2/3/4 to 2 sec)
- reduced Hyperdimensional Warp cast time (3.5 to 2.5 sec) but increased the
cooldown (120 to 180)
- nerfed Lethal Injection slow to stay constant (10/15/20/25% to 15%)
- reduced heal on Lich King's Pact (15/25/35/45 to 12/20/28/36)
- improved Lockdown cast range (800 to 1000)
- lowered Mesmerize max duration (2/3/4/5/6 to 2/2.75/3.5/4.25/5 sec)
- improved Pick Toss damage (150/175/200/225/250 to 150/195/240/285/330) but lowered its stun duration slightly
- reduced Seeker Lightning cooldown (20 to 16 sec)
- reduced Strafe damage per arrow (30/60/90/120/150 to 30/50/70/90/110)
- lowered Tainted Charge cast range by 100 at all levels
- added slight move and attack speed bonus on Wisdom of the Dead (1/2/3/4/5%)
Items:
- reduced Ironwood Branch stat bonus by 5 in each attribute
- added a +3/6/10 agility bonus to Power Gauntlets I/II/II
- added a +15 agility bonus to Wind Boots
- allowed Crown of Kings to be bought directly with the appropriate amount of gold (3300); the combination method is still valid
- rearranged Goblin Merchant items slightly
Others:
- changed the loading screen
- added new Storm Panda attack animation
- added new Particle model in Chain Reaction
- added new Lockdown missile animations
- added new Lubrication, Maelstrom, War Cry, and Winter Chill buff animations
- added new Hyperdimensional Warp effect, it is now much more obvious
- added additional Nuclear Launch explosion effect
- added new icons for Magic Pause and Poison Blade
- improved Vortex spin animation
- moved Brilliance Aura, Naga Training, and Rage attachment points
- added new Dark Impact, Glaive Frenzy, and Wisdom of the Dead effect models
- changed Glaive Frenzy icon
- renamed Essence of the Dead to Essence of Blight
- added Abomination attack sound
A version heavy on fixing, balancing, and special effects.
Gameplay:
- mode entering can be done in one line
- reduced gold income slightly (gold comes every 2 sec instead of 1.5 sec)
- lowered neutral creep xp gain by 30%
- reworked Sphinx's Mana Burn to burn mana based on target's missing mana; it is renamed Mana Disruption
- reworked Death and Decay to raise up to one dead unit per second, these
units now last twice as long and inherit upgrades
- allowed Nuclear Launch to destroy trees
Fixes:
- added a max range to the Mind Control orb
- fixed Dark Ranger's Last Reprisal to not trigger from illusions
- fixed Seeker Lightning to target heroes correctly
- corrected Corrupted Greed tooltip
- corrected Glaive Attack bonus icon position
Balancing:
- increased Priestess of the Moon base damage by 10
- lowered Black Arrow skeleton summons' max damage by 5
- reduced Dark Volley number of arrows (30 to 25)
- nerfed Forked Lightning damage (100/175/250/325/400 to 110/170/230/290/350)
- nerfed Global Stomp's stun to a constant duration (1/2/3/4 to 2 sec)
- reduced Hyperdimensional Warp cast time (3.5 to 2.5 sec) but increased the
cooldown (120 to 180)
- nerfed Lethal Injection slow to stay constant (10/15/20/25% to 15%)
- reduced heal on Lich King's Pact (15/25/35/45 to 12/20/28/36)
- improved Lockdown cast range (800 to 1000)
- lowered Mesmerize max duration (2/3/4/5/6 to 2/2.75/3.5/4.25/5 sec)
- improved Pick Toss damage (150/175/200/225/250 to 150/195/240/285/330) but lowered its stun duration slightly
- reduced Seeker Lightning cooldown (20 to 16 sec)
- reduced Strafe damage per arrow (30/60/90/120/150 to 30/50/70/90/110)
- lowered Tainted Charge cast range by 100 at all levels
- added slight move and attack speed bonus on Wisdom of the Dead (1/2/3/4/5%)
Items:
- reduced Ironwood Branch stat bonus by 5 in each attribute
- added a +3/6/10 agility bonus to Power Gauntlets I/II/II
- added a +15 agility bonus to Wind Boots
- allowed Crown of Kings to be bought directly with the appropriate amount of gold (3300); the combination method is still valid
- rearranged Goblin Merchant items slightly
Others:
- changed the loading screen
- added new Storm Panda attack animation
- added new Particle model in Chain Reaction
- added new Lockdown missile animations
- added new Lubrication, Maelstrom, War Cry, and Winter Chill buff animations
- added new Hyperdimensional Warp effect, it is now much more obvious
- added additional Nuclear Launch explosion effect
- added new icons for Magic Pause and Poison Blade
- improved Vortex spin animation
- moved Brilliance Aura, Naga Training, and Rage attachment points
- added new Dark Impact, Glaive Frenzy, and Wisdom of the Dead effect models
- changed Glaive Frenzy icon
- renamed Essence of the Dead to Essence of Blight
- added Abomination attack sound
A version heavy on fixing, balancing, and special effects.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
v0.94b Changelog
Changelog for version 0.94b
Gameplay:
-gave a collision to the Mind Control Orb so that it cannot be used to strand heroes
Fixes:
-fixed -ar bug
-fixed Apocalypse delay time
-fixed Infestation to heal properly
-fixed Power Gauntlets price change
-fixed Warding Boots to heal from hero-casted spells only
-fixed typo on Ill Omen
-fixed typo on Mass Replica
Balancing:
-improved Prophet intelligence slightly
-Chaos Peon's towers' range decreased to 700
-Ill Omen now deals 35% damage to structures
-Leap cast range decreased to 600/700/800/900/1000
-Mind Control mana cost reduced to 250/350/450/550
-Predestination now heals 30% more when preventing death
-Sand Slide cooldown increased by 3 sec and mana cost now increases per level
-Undeath aoe increased to 200/400/600/800
Find 0.94 changelog here.
Gameplay:
-gave a collision to the Mind Control Orb so that it cannot be used to strand heroes
Fixes:
-fixed -ar bug
-fixed Apocalypse delay time
-fixed Infestation to heal properly
-fixed Power Gauntlets price change
-fixed Warding Boots to heal from hero-casted spells only
-fixed typo on Ill Omen
-fixed typo on Mass Replica
Balancing:
-improved Prophet intelligence slightly
-Chaos Peon's towers' range decreased to 700
-Ill Omen now deals 35% damage to structures
-Leap cast range decreased to 600/700/800/900/1000
-Mind Control mana cost reduced to 250/350/450/550
-Predestination now heals 30% more when preventing death
-Sand Slide cooldown increased by 3 sec and mana cost now increases per level
-Undeath aoe increased to 200/400/600/800
Find 0.94 changelog here.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
v0.94 Changelog
Changelog for v0.94
Gameplay:
-added new hero: Prophet (High Elf)
-added new hero: Crypt Lord (Demon)
-added new hero: Hypnotist (Demon)
Fixes:
-fixed an issue with Energized Release and Seeker Lightning
-fixed Fire Aura to deal damage correctly
-fixed Mana Leech tooltip typo
-fixed Bandit Rage tooltip typo
-fixed Venom glitch near teleporters
-fixed Nerve Poison glitch with target dying while slowed
-changed Raider's slow % at level 4 (6% to 7%) to avoid a certain glitch
Balancing:
-improved Druid of the Claw stats slightly
-nerfed Beserk (Jungle Stalker) agility gained per hit (5 to 2)
-improved Bloodlust cooldown (5 to 5/4/3/2/1)
-added Chain Heal effect: heals the primary target for an additional 20% of its missing hp
-nerfed Death Roar aoe (200/300/400/500/600 to 300)
-nerfed Kodo War Drums damage bonus (15/30/45/60% to 14/26/38/50%)
-improved Lacerate damage slightly (100/160/220/280/340 to 100/165/230/295/360)
-added Moonfire late-game scaling: +1% damage per 2 int; reduced base dmg slightly, reduced cooldown slightly
-reduced Nuclear Launch damage to strucutures in ultra-short mode (50% to 25%)
-increased Pain Spike cooldown (140 to 180)
-improved Piercing Shot damage (70/140/210/280/350 to 100/175/250/325/400)
-nerfed Putrid odor range (300 to 225)
-nerfed Quick Attack bonus damage (1/1.5/2/2.5/3x agi to 30/55/80/105/130)
-improved Retribution Aura damage (5/10/15/20/25 to 7/13/19/25/31)
-increased Ring of Fire cooldown (120 to 140)
-increased Shackling Ward cooldown (120 to 180)
-added Soul Beacon effect: activates Corrupted Greed if cast on self (like Life Tap)
-increased Stone Form slow (50% to 75%)
-removed Unholy Conversion creep number limit, it now scales with duration
-increased Warp Rift cooldown (70/60/50/40/30 to 75/65/55/45/35)
Items:
-added new item: Warding Boots
-Charm of Wealth and Prosperity now give +25/50% gold in Short/Ultra Short modes respectively
-reduced Charm of Wealth income bonus (10 to 8 gold, every 7 seconds)
-increased Charm of Prosperity cost (700 to 900 gold)
-reduced Wind Boots and Power Gauntlets II/III movespeed bonuses and costs slightly
Others:
-added many new projectile and ability effect models
-reduced scaling size of spawned creeps in general
-improved Demonic base layout slightly
-changed Retribution Aura hotkey to R,
-changed Build Tower (Summoned Peon) hotkey to W, changed Peon (Summoned) to worker ai
This version included the addition of a bunch of new content, including one new item, three new heroes, and many new spell effects. The first new hero, Medivh, the Prophet, is an intelligence based caster with the ability to cast long range damage and utility spells, though with moderate delays in the effects, as he only foretells them. He deals area of effect damage with Ill Omen as well as with his ultimate, Apocalypse; he can also heal others with Predestination, which can even save allies from death. A miscellaneous skill, Deja Vu, can be cast as to alter the location of the target based on where he previously was.
Anub'arak, the Crypt Lord, is the second new hero and a formidable tank. With its ultimate, Undeath, he can passively deflect possible fatal damage to nearby allies, thus making him nearly invulnerable in allied presence. The Spiked Carapace skill increases armor and gives a chance to reduce damage taken based on the Crypt Lord's strength. He can also use Summon Beetle to create undead companions that can help take the deflected damage. Finally, Infestation can be used to damage enemies and heal beetles that attack them.
The final new hero, Lure, the Hypnotist, is a powerful caster and support fighter. Its Mesmerize can deal damage and disable an opponent for a long amount of time in certain situations. Mass Replica creates illusions of all nearby units for the Hypnotist, and Fade turns the caster invisible and creates an illusion that takes its place. Its ultimate, Mind Control, can temporarily control the movement of a target unit, and although channeled, it can be devastating in team combat.
The new item Warding Boots is an alternative to the commonplace Power Gauntlets. Instead of increasing movement and attack speed, the new item improves movespeed and magic resistance, as well as increasing armor and stats slightly. It gives the Warding ability, which heals the caster whenever he is targeted by an enemy spell.
Balancing and bug fixing was done as usual. In this version, a bunch of spell models and effects were added as well, and should lead to a more enhanced visual interface.
Continue supporting SMotA!
Gameplay:
-added new hero: Prophet (High Elf)
-added new hero: Crypt Lord (Demon)
-added new hero: Hypnotist (Demon)
Fixes:
-fixed an issue with Energized Release and Seeker Lightning
-fixed Fire Aura to deal damage correctly
-fixed Mana Leech tooltip typo
-fixed Bandit Rage tooltip typo
-fixed Venom glitch near teleporters
-fixed Nerve Poison glitch with target dying while slowed
-changed Raider's slow % at level 4 (6% to 7%) to avoid a certain glitch
Balancing:
-improved Druid of the Claw stats slightly
-nerfed Beserk (Jungle Stalker) agility gained per hit (5 to 2)
-improved Bloodlust cooldown (5 to 5/4/3/2/1)
-added Chain Heal effect: heals the primary target for an additional 20% of its missing hp
-nerfed Death Roar aoe (200/300/400/500/600 to 300)
-nerfed Kodo War Drums damage bonus (15/30/45/60% to 14/26/38/50%)
-improved Lacerate damage slightly (100/160/220/280/340 to 100/165/230/295/360)
-added Moonfire late-game scaling: +1% damage per 2 int; reduced base dmg slightly, reduced cooldown slightly
-reduced Nuclear Launch damage to strucutures in ultra-short mode (50% to 25%)
-increased Pain Spike cooldown (140 to 180)
-improved Piercing Shot damage (70/140/210/280/350 to 100/175/250/325/400)
-nerfed Putrid odor range (300 to 225)
-nerfed Quick Attack bonus damage (1/1.5/2/2.5/3x agi to 30/55/80/105/130)
-improved Retribution Aura damage (5/10/15/20/25 to 7/13/19/25/31)
-increased Ring of Fire cooldown (120 to 140)
-increased Shackling Ward cooldown (120 to 180)
-added Soul Beacon effect: activates Corrupted Greed if cast on self (like Life Tap)
-increased Stone Form slow (50% to 75%)
-removed Unholy Conversion creep number limit, it now scales with duration
-increased Warp Rift cooldown (70/60/50/40/30 to 75/65/55/45/35)
Items:
-added new item: Warding Boots
-Charm of Wealth and Prosperity now give +25/50% gold in Short/Ultra Short modes respectively
-reduced Charm of Wealth income bonus (10 to 8 gold, every 7 seconds)
-increased Charm of Prosperity cost (700 to 900 gold)
-reduced Wind Boots and Power Gauntlets II/III movespeed bonuses and costs slightly
Others:
-added many new projectile and ability effect models
-reduced scaling size of spawned creeps in general
-improved Demonic base layout slightly
-changed Retribution Aura hotkey to R,
-changed Build Tower (Summoned Peon) hotkey to W, changed Peon (Summoned) to worker ai
This version included the addition of a bunch of new content, including one new item, three new heroes, and many new spell effects. The first new hero, Medivh, the Prophet, is an intelligence based caster with the ability to cast long range damage and utility spells, though with moderate delays in the effects, as he only foretells them. He deals area of effect damage with Ill Omen as well as with his ultimate, Apocalypse; he can also heal others with Predestination, which can even save allies from death. A miscellaneous skill, Deja Vu, can be cast as to alter the location of the target based on where he previously was.
Anub'arak, the Crypt Lord, is the second new hero and a formidable tank. With its ultimate, Undeath, he can passively deflect possible fatal damage to nearby allies, thus making him nearly invulnerable in allied presence. The Spiked Carapace skill increases armor and gives a chance to reduce damage taken based on the Crypt Lord's strength. He can also use Summon Beetle to create undead companions that can help take the deflected damage. Finally, Infestation can be used to damage enemies and heal beetles that attack them.
The final new hero, Lure, the Hypnotist, is a powerful caster and support fighter. Its Mesmerize can deal damage and disable an opponent for a long amount of time in certain situations. Mass Replica creates illusions of all nearby units for the Hypnotist, and Fade turns the caster invisible and creates an illusion that takes its place. Its ultimate, Mind Control, can temporarily control the movement of a target unit, and although channeled, it can be devastating in team combat.
The new item Warding Boots is an alternative to the commonplace Power Gauntlets. Instead of increasing movement and attack speed, the new item improves movespeed and magic resistance, as well as increasing armor and stats slightly. It gives the Warding ability, which heals the caster whenever he is targeted by an enemy spell.
Balancing and bug fixing was done as usual. In this version, a bunch of spell models and effects were added as well, and should lead to a more enhanced visual interface.
Continue supporting SMotA!
Monday, September 22, 2008
New SMotA Forum
Thank you brusz for creating a new forum for SMotA! The link is: http://smota.tk/
Please post SMotA feedback, suggestions, ideas, etc. in the new forum. I encourage even those of you who are using Hive's SMotA group to use this forum as much of the time as possible when discussing SMotA. Forums are easier to read and are more organized than a single-thread Hive group discussion. If you have a version-specific issue, then posting a comment on this blog is acceptable as well.
Have fun!
Please post SMotA feedback, suggestions, ideas, etc. in the new forum. I encourage even those of you who are using Hive's SMotA group to use this forum as much of the time as possible when discussing SMotA. Forums are easier to read and are more organized than a single-thread Hive group discussion. If you have a version-specific issue, then posting a comment on this blog is acceptable as well.
Have fun!
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Warning: Fake Versions of 0.92b and 0.93
According to MapGnome, 2 non-official versions were recently released, and I have not received any contact from who these people may be. Fortunately for us, they left a way to tell the real and fake versions apart: the real version of 0.93 has a file size of 1654 kb, while the fake 0.93 has a size of 1731 kb. (Also, the real 0.92b is 1665 kb, while the fake is 1740 kb.)
I did not find anything obviously different with the fake, but it is slightly larger in file size, as explained above. Whoever made these better be able to explain what they changed and why they did so without contacting the mapmakers first.
Have a nice day.
I did not find anything obviously different with the fake, but it is slightly larger in file size, as explained above. Whoever made these better be able to explain what they changed and why they did so without contacting the mapmakers first.
Have a nice day.
Monday, September 1, 2008
v0.93 Changelog
Version 0.93 features many new abilities, including a new hero and several remakes. Three new modes were added as well:
Arena Mode (-am): This adds a new victory condition of 50 total kills on either team. In addition, dying is not as harmful in this mode, as no gold will be lost and respawn will take 1-2 seconds, which is relatively instant.
Ultra Short Mode (-us): A beefed up version of Short Mode (-sm), this doubles xp gain rate, triples income gold, and causes non-outpost towers to have half hp.
Unlimited Repick Mode (-ur): Added as a fun mode, this allows a player to repick a hero every 60 seconds, and to prevent certain spell abuses, ahero cannot be picked twice in 60 seconds. Thanks to KavuChameleon for the suggestion.
The new version reduced the gold lost on death significantly in the early game, where two or three deaths could have effectively ended the game. The formula changed from 100 + 40x level to 15x level + level*level, or 15x level + level-squared. This way, the gold lost in the early game is minimal, but the amount climbs back up to that in the old formula and surpasses it just at level 29.
A new hero, the Priestess of the Moon, was added. The Priestess is agility-based, but does have useful spells. Its Moonfire deals small initial damage followed by damage over time, and its duration is longer than its cooldown. The damage over time does stack with a second cast for the time they overlap. It also has Starlight Arrows, which passively increases the Priestess's damage percentage-wise. Elune's Grace is also passive and grants a decent protection from magic as well as increased movement speed. Finally, its ultimate Shooting Star allows the Priestess to deal area of effect damage consistently, as the spell has very short cooldown.
The Mistress of Pain received a substantial makeover, with 3 of its abilities replaced. Curse of Pain is now Instant Pain, which deals damage instantly as the name suggests. Torture Chamber is now Mind Torture, also dealing instant damage, based on the target's mana rather than hp, as Instant Pain does. The ultimate, Wave of Pain to Pain Spike, now affects a single target, and reduces its current hp by a percentage for only a short duration. However, in conjunction with the Mistress's other new spells, a single cast of Pain Spike followed by Instant Pain and Mind Torture can kill a weaker hero at full hp. Pain Spike has a very long cooldown.
Another changed hero is the Druid of the Claw. Instead of summoning a Spirit Bear, it can now morph into Bear Form, with increased hp, damage, and hp regeneration at the cost of losing its ranged attack and a slight amount of movement speed. It also loses the ability to cast Rejuvenate in Bear Form. However, Bear Form allows the Druid to use Lacerate, a melee damage spell. Lacerate has a low cooldown and mana cost. The level of Lacerate depends on the level of Rejuvenation learned.
Storm Panda collected 2 new spells as well. Its old Insta-Storm ability is now Seeker Lightning, which launches a lightning bolt at the nearest visible hero in an aoe determined by the level of the ability. When maxed out, it has very long range and packs a substantial amount of damage. Ubersphere is now Flicker, which allows the Storm Panda to blink around. Flicker has low range but also a very short cooldown.
Arcane Curse, Holy Shield, Obsidian Armor, and Shield of the Lich King (on Arcane Wizard, Footman, Sphinx, and Death Knight) were replaced with Lower Resist, Counter, Spirit Hull, and Lich King's Pact respectively. More information about these can be found below in the changelog or in the game itself.
Numerous individual ability changes occurred for balancing as well; those should be self-explanatory.
A new early-game item, Thoughtcast, was added. It grants a mana regeneration aura and gives mana whenever the user is attacked. Glass of Beer was nerfed slightly, and Thunderlizard Diamond, considerably.
The usual bug fixing and miscellaneous improvements continued as well.
v0.93 Changelog
Gameplay:
-added new hero: Priestess of the Moon (High Elf)
-reduced gold lost on death on earlier levels: 100 + 40x level to 15x level + level*level, i.e. lvl 1 loses only 16 gold (as opposed to 140), lvl 15 loses 450, lvl 29 loses 1276 (just 16 more than 1260 in the old formula)
-reduced power of mega creeps a bit; removed movement speed upgrade from creeps
-added game mode Arena Mode (-am): 50 total kills to win; instant respawn; no gold lost on death; can still win normally
-added game mode Ultra Short Mode (-us): 200% xp; 300% gold; 50% tower hp
-added game mode Unlimited Repick Mode (-ur): can repick with a 60 second interval; requires full hp and mana; a hero cannot be chosen more than once per minute; randoming is disabled
Fixes:
-fixed some minor sliding issues with Accelerating Warp, Overrun, and Sand Slide
-fixed Gushing Blade level 4 issue
-fixed Lethal Injection damage and buff icon
-fixed Poison Blade, Poison Spears, Poison Spit, and Venom to get the kill properly
-fixed an issue with Gushing Blade
-fixed Winter Bane tooltip
Balancing:
-reworked Mistress of Pain with 3 new abilities (Curse of Pain -> Instant Pain, Torture Chamber -> Mind Torture, Wave of Pain -> Pain Spike)
-reworked Druid of the Claw with 2 new abilities (Spirit Bear -> Bear Form, Rejuvenation -> Lacerate [only in Bear Form; Rejuvenation is still usable in Druid Form])
-reworked Storm Panda with 2 new abilities (Insta-Storm -> Seeker Lightning, Ubersphere -> Flicker)
-replaced Arcane Curse with Lower Resist: reduces a target's magic resistance for a short time (does not make target ethereal)
-replaced Holy Shield with Counter: gives a chance to reflect damage taken
-replaced Obsidian Armor with Spirit Hull, which has a similar effect but is passive and only applies to self
-replaced Shield of the Lich King with Lich King's Pact: gives movement bonus and heals slightly when taking damage below 33% hp
-nerfed Chaos Peon towers' base attack time (.40 -> .45)
-nerfed Hematologist strength
-nerfed Mountain Giant, Royal Guard, and Warlock stats slightly
-changed Crippling Void, Curse of Weakening, and Death and Decay to not affect bosses
-improved Assassin's Blade slightly (.2/.3/.4/.5/.6 to .3/.4/.5/.6/.7 dmg per % hp missing)
-nerfed Battle Roar to give only the damage bonus, improved damage bonus at early levels (25/50/75/100% to 40/60/80/100%)
-nerfed Blizzard slow (40/50/60/70% to 40/45/50/55%), nerfed cooldown (140/115/90/65 to 120 sec)
-nerfed Conflagrate damage (300/500/700/900 + 5/10/15/20% max hp to 200/300/400/500 + 6/12/18/24% max hp)
-increased Conjure Tome requirement of Life Orbs (7/6/5/4/3 to 8/7/6/5/4)
-improved Corrupted Greed attack speed bonus (5/10/15/20/25% to 15/30/45/60/75%), removed movespeed bonus
-added a new effect to Cripple: units who attack the Crippled target steal a portion of the target's current hp (3%)
-improved Crow Form movement bonus (7/14/21/28/35% to 10/20/30/40/50%)
-improved Demonic Charge damage (100/125/150/175/200 to 100/150/200/250/300), improved stun (1/1.25/1.5/1.75/2 to 1/1.4/1.8/2.2/2.6)
-improved Devour cooldown (45/40/35/30/25 to 35/30/25/20/15)
-nerfed Enrage heal (15/30/45/60/75 to 10/20/30/40/50)
-improved Faerie Fire cooldown (20 to 15)
-improved Fire Aura life regen decrease (1/2/3/4/5 to 3/6/9/12/15)
-nerfed Ghost Form magic damage amplifier (1.5 to 1.4), cast damage (90/135/180/225/270 to 60/90/120/150/180), and cooldown (9 to 12)
-nerfed Hemorrhage dps (8/16/24/32/40 to 5/10/15/20/25), added 8/16/24/32/40 initial damage
-nerfed Ice Magic cooldown (6 to 8 sec)
-nerfed Ice Slam cooldown (9 to 12 sec)
-nerfed Incinerate target dmg (100/175/250/325/400 to 80/150/220/290/360)
-decreased Life Orb max hp requirement for extra orb (1000 to 750)
-nerfed Lightning Ball movespeed (522 to 200)
-improved Mind Blast base damage (20/40/60/80/100 to 40/80/120/160/200)
-nerfed Phantom Scream slow (15/30/45/60/75% to 20/25/30/35/40%)
-decreased Rage self-damage amount (str to str/2)
-improved Refill number of Life Orbs gained (4/5/6/7 to 5/6/7/8), reduced mana cost (400/500/600/700 to 400), reduced cd (150 to 150/140/130/120)
-nerfed Shadowfury cooldown (10 to 13), nerfed aoe (275 to 225)
-increased Sludge Composition self slow (10% to 15%)
-changed Steal to not be an auto-cast ability
-nerfed Touch of God dmg/heal in early game (90/180/270/360/450 to 60/120/180/240/300 + 2x int)
-nerfed Toxic Stew aoe (900 to 500)
-nerfed Winter Bolt leech (2x to 1x normal leech)
-improved Words of Wisdom cooldown (12 to 9 sec)
Items:
-added new item: Thoughtcast, an early game mana regeneration item
-reduced Charm of Wealth cost (1000 to 600)
-added a new effect on Charm of Prosperity: -25% gold lost on death
-reduced Ice Claws combination cost (1000 to 650)
-reduced Keg of Ale combination cost (500 to 425)
-reduced Mask of the Vampire combination cost (2000 to 1550)
-reduced Ring of the Archmagi combination cost (1500 to 1150)
-nerfed Glass of Beer stat bonus (15 to 10; still gains +1 on hero kills), nerfed armor bonus (10 to 5)
-nerfed Thunderlizard Diamond damage (250/400/550/700/850 to 250/350/450/550/650), increased cooldown (15 to 60)
Others:
-added new icons for Bank Account, Shadow Lich, and Skinkapult
-renamed a few of Sphinx's abilities
-improved Earth Revenant model attachments
Arena Mode (-am): This adds a new victory condition of 50 total kills on either team. In addition, dying is not as harmful in this mode, as no gold will be lost and respawn will take 1-2 seconds, which is relatively instant.
Ultra Short Mode (-us): A beefed up version of Short Mode (-sm), this doubles xp gain rate, triples income gold, and causes non-outpost towers to have half hp.
Unlimited Repick Mode (-ur): Added as a fun mode, this allows a player to repick a hero every 60 seconds, and to prevent certain spell abuses, ahero cannot be picked twice in 60 seconds. Thanks to KavuChameleon for the suggestion.
The new version reduced the gold lost on death significantly in the early game, where two or three deaths could have effectively ended the game. The formula changed from 100 + 40x level to 15x level + level*level, or 15x level + level-squared. This way, the gold lost in the early game is minimal, but the amount climbs back up to that in the old formula and surpasses it just at level 29.
A new hero, the Priestess of the Moon, was added. The Priestess is agility-based, but does have useful spells. Its Moonfire deals small initial damage followed by damage over time, and its duration is longer than its cooldown. The damage over time does stack with a second cast for the time they overlap. It also has Starlight Arrows, which passively increases the Priestess's damage percentage-wise. Elune's Grace is also passive and grants a decent protection from magic as well as increased movement speed. Finally, its ultimate Shooting Star allows the Priestess to deal area of effect damage consistently, as the spell has very short cooldown.
The Mistress of Pain received a substantial makeover, with 3 of its abilities replaced. Curse of Pain is now Instant Pain, which deals damage instantly as the name suggests. Torture Chamber is now Mind Torture, also dealing instant damage, based on the target's mana rather than hp, as Instant Pain does. The ultimate, Wave of Pain to Pain Spike, now affects a single target, and reduces its current hp by a percentage for only a short duration. However, in conjunction with the Mistress's other new spells, a single cast of Pain Spike followed by Instant Pain and Mind Torture can kill a weaker hero at full hp. Pain Spike has a very long cooldown.
Another changed hero is the Druid of the Claw. Instead of summoning a Spirit Bear, it can now morph into Bear Form, with increased hp, damage, and hp regeneration at the cost of losing its ranged attack and a slight amount of movement speed. It also loses the ability to cast Rejuvenate in Bear Form. However, Bear Form allows the Druid to use Lacerate, a melee damage spell. Lacerate has a low cooldown and mana cost. The level of Lacerate depends on the level of Rejuvenation learned.
Storm Panda collected 2 new spells as well. Its old Insta-Storm ability is now Seeker Lightning, which launches a lightning bolt at the nearest visible hero in an aoe determined by the level of the ability. When maxed out, it has very long range and packs a substantial amount of damage. Ubersphere is now Flicker, which allows the Storm Panda to blink around. Flicker has low range but also a very short cooldown.
Arcane Curse, Holy Shield, Obsidian Armor, and Shield of the Lich King (on Arcane Wizard, Footman, Sphinx, and Death Knight) were replaced with Lower Resist, Counter, Spirit Hull, and Lich King's Pact respectively. More information about these can be found below in the changelog or in the game itself.
Numerous individual ability changes occurred for balancing as well; those should be self-explanatory.
A new early-game item, Thoughtcast, was added. It grants a mana regeneration aura and gives mana whenever the user is attacked. Glass of Beer was nerfed slightly, and Thunderlizard Diamond, considerably.
The usual bug fixing and miscellaneous improvements continued as well.
v0.93 Changelog
Gameplay:
-added new hero: Priestess of the Moon (High Elf)
-reduced gold lost on death on earlier levels: 100 + 40x level to 15x level + level*level, i.e. lvl 1 loses only 16 gold (as opposed to 140), lvl 15 loses 450, lvl 29 loses 1276 (just 16 more than 1260 in the old formula)
-reduced power of mega creeps a bit; removed movement speed upgrade from creeps
-added game mode Arena Mode (-am): 50 total kills to win; instant respawn; no gold lost on death; can still win normally
-added game mode Ultra Short Mode (-us): 200% xp; 300% gold; 50% tower hp
-added game mode Unlimited Repick Mode (-ur): can repick with a 60 second interval; requires full hp and mana; a hero cannot be chosen more than once per minute; randoming is disabled
Fixes:
-fixed some minor sliding issues with Accelerating Warp, Overrun, and Sand Slide
-fixed Gushing Blade level 4 issue
-fixed Lethal Injection damage and buff icon
-fixed Poison Blade, Poison Spears, Poison Spit, and Venom to get the kill properly
-fixed an issue with Gushing Blade
-fixed Winter Bane tooltip
Balancing:
-reworked Mistress of Pain with 3 new abilities (Curse of Pain -> Instant Pain, Torture Chamber -> Mind Torture, Wave of Pain -> Pain Spike)
-reworked Druid of the Claw with 2 new abilities (Spirit Bear -> Bear Form, Rejuvenation -> Lacerate [only in Bear Form; Rejuvenation is still usable in Druid Form])
-reworked Storm Panda with 2 new abilities (Insta-Storm -> Seeker Lightning, Ubersphere -> Flicker)
-replaced Arcane Curse with Lower Resist: reduces a target's magic resistance for a short time (does not make target ethereal)
-replaced Holy Shield with Counter: gives a chance to reflect damage taken
-replaced Obsidian Armor with Spirit Hull, which has a similar effect but is passive and only applies to self
-replaced Shield of the Lich King with Lich King's Pact: gives movement bonus and heals slightly when taking damage below 33% hp
-nerfed Chaos Peon towers' base attack time (.40 -> .45)
-nerfed Hematologist strength
-nerfed Mountain Giant, Royal Guard, and Warlock stats slightly
-changed Crippling Void, Curse of Weakening, and Death and Decay to not affect bosses
-improved Assassin's Blade slightly (.2/.3/.4/.5/.6 to .3/.4/.5/.6/.7 dmg per % hp missing)
-nerfed Battle Roar to give only the damage bonus, improved damage bonus at early levels (25/50/75/100% to 40/60/80/100%)
-nerfed Blizzard slow (40/50/60/70% to 40/45/50/55%), nerfed cooldown (140/115/90/65 to 120 sec)
-nerfed Conflagrate damage (300/500/700/900 + 5/10/15/20% max hp to 200/300/400/500 + 6/12/18/24% max hp)
-increased Conjure Tome requirement of Life Orbs (7/6/5/4/3 to 8/7/6/5/4)
-improved Corrupted Greed attack speed bonus (5/10/15/20/25% to 15/30/45/60/75%), removed movespeed bonus
-added a new effect to Cripple: units who attack the Crippled target steal a portion of the target's current hp (3%)
-improved Crow Form movement bonus (7/14/21/28/35% to 10/20/30/40/50%)
-improved Demonic Charge damage (100/125/150/175/200 to 100/150/200/250/300), improved stun (1/1.25/1.5/1.75/2 to 1/1.4/1.8/2.2/2.6)
-improved Devour cooldown (45/40/35/30/25 to 35/30/25/20/15)
-nerfed Enrage heal (15/30/45/60/75 to 10/20/30/40/50)
-improved Faerie Fire cooldown (20 to 15)
-improved Fire Aura life regen decrease (1/2/3/4/5 to 3/6/9/12/15)
-nerfed Ghost Form magic damage amplifier (1.5 to 1.4), cast damage (90/135/180/225/270 to 60/90/120/150/180), and cooldown (9 to 12)
-nerfed Hemorrhage dps (8/16/24/32/40 to 5/10/15/20/25), added 8/16/24/32/40 initial damage
-nerfed Ice Magic cooldown (6 to 8 sec)
-nerfed Ice Slam cooldown (9 to 12 sec)
-nerfed Incinerate target dmg (100/175/250/325/400 to 80/150/220/290/360)
-decreased Life Orb max hp requirement for extra orb (1000 to 750)
-nerfed Lightning Ball movespeed (522 to 200)
-improved Mind Blast base damage (20/40/60/80/100 to 40/80/120/160/200)
-nerfed Phantom Scream slow (15/30/45/60/75% to 20/25/30/35/40%)
-decreased Rage self-damage amount (str to str/2)
-improved Refill number of Life Orbs gained (4/5/6/7 to 5/6/7/8), reduced mana cost (400/500/600/700 to 400), reduced cd (150 to 150/140/130/120)
-nerfed Shadowfury cooldown (10 to 13), nerfed aoe (275 to 225)
-increased Sludge Composition self slow (10% to 15%)
-changed Steal to not be an auto-cast ability
-nerfed Touch of God dmg/heal in early game (90/180/270/360/450 to 60/120/180/240/300 + 2x int)
-nerfed Toxic Stew aoe (900 to 500)
-nerfed Winter Bolt leech (2x to 1x normal leech)
-improved Words of Wisdom cooldown (12 to 9 sec)
Items:
-added new item: Thoughtcast, an early game mana regeneration item
-reduced Charm of Wealth cost (1000 to 600)
-added a new effect on Charm of Prosperity: -25% gold lost on death
-reduced Ice Claws combination cost (1000 to 650)
-reduced Keg of Ale combination cost (500 to 425)
-reduced Mask of the Vampire combination cost (2000 to 1550)
-reduced Ring of the Archmagi combination cost (1500 to 1150)
-nerfed Glass of Beer stat bonus (15 to 10; still gains +1 on hero kills), nerfed armor bonus (10 to 5)
-nerfed Thunderlizard Diamond damage (250/400/550/700/850 to 250/350/450/550/650), increased cooldown (15 to 60)
Others:
-added new icons for Bank Account, Shadow Lich, and Skinkapult
-renamed a few of Sphinx's abilities
-improved Earth Revenant model attachments
Friday, August 22, 2008
v0.92b Changelog
This was mainly to fix a couple glitches with the changed -ar mode.
.92b Changelog
-fixed two glitches with Allrandom (-ar) mode
-fixed Crow Form tooltip typo
-fixed Mutating Growth tooltip typo
-nerfed Epidemic damage per second (9/18/27/36/45 to 8/16/24/32/40)
-changed multiboard colors for any Unused slots to be consistent
.92b Changelog
-fixed two glitches with Allrandom (-ar) mode
-fixed Crow Form tooltip typo
-fixed Mutating Growth tooltip typo
-nerfed Epidemic damage per second (9/18/27/36/45 to 8/16/24/32/40)
-changed multiboard colors for any Unused slots to be consistent
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
v0.92 Changelog
Version 0.92 was primarily a fix and balance version. From .90b to .91, we had intended to increase the xp gained from hero kills slightly, but a typo in the adjusting made heroes suddenly give 4 times as much xp. The 300% bonus is now fixed to 30% bonus (so it is still 1.3 times the xp gain from .90b).
Also, a rather inconvenient glitch occurred when the Dark Ranger was near some of the newer heroes; its Last Reprisal was being triggered by "dummy" units conceived to exist only to help out with spells, and not affect gameplay otherwise. This problem has been fixed.
The Bandit had several changes: its two normal spells both have significantly increased damage, and an issue was fixed for the Grappling Hook. Vigor was replaced with Avoid, which gives the Bandit a chance to evade damage from incoming spells or attacks.
Shadow Lich's Wisdom of the Dead passive was completely remade, now giving bonus intelligence temporarily upon killing a unit. This raises the potential damage capacity on its Dark Impact and Winter's Bane spells.
Many other heroes received balancing as well, and their abilities have all been kept. Footman was the most affected, with 3 ability nerfs.
A few heroes have new proper names and 3 have new hero names. The gold splitting function for leaver gold was fixed, and allrandom (-ar) mode now works traditionally, giving out 1 hero at a time.
v0.92 Changelog
Gameplay:
-decreased xp from hero kills dramatically
-decreased gold lost on death (200 + 40x level to 100 + 40x level)
-items sold from leaver heroes now split gold to allies
-leavers now give their gold to allied players still in the game
-Allrandom mode (-ar) now gives out heroes in order rather than all at once
Fixes:
-fixed hero revive tooltip typo
-fixed Demolish tooltip typo on Siege Form
-fixed Grappling Hook to hook properly
-fixed Last Reprisal to not activate on dummies from Exploding Arrow, Life Orb, Maelstrom, and Silk Trail
-fixed Nether Fire to slow movespeed instead of attack speed
-fixed Rage to deal physical damage instead of exact damage
-fixed This For That tooltip typo
Balancing:
-buffed Hematologist stats slightly
-nerfed Spider agility slightly
-nerfed War Golem stats slightly
-added a 25 gold bounty for destroying Peon towers; improved their attack speed by 20%
-replaced Vigor with Avoid: gives a chance to evade magical or physical damage
-reworked Wisdom of the Dead: gives temporary bonus int on kills
-nerfed Cold Sword to slow only movespeed, improved its duration slightly (2 to 3 sec)
-buffed Crossbow Mastery damage multiplier (1.5/2/2.5/3 to 1.75/2.25/2.75/3.25)
-nerfed Culling Blade stun duration (2/2.5/3/3.5 to 2 sec), improved non-fatal damage slightly (150/200/250/300 to 150/225/300/375)
-improved Essense of the Dead aoe (800 to 900)
-nerfed Gush stun duration at max level (2/2.5/3/3.5 to 3 sec)
-improved Grappling Hook initial damage (40/80/120/160/200 to 55/110/165/220/275)
-nerfed Holy Shock damage (15/30/45/60/75 to 12/24/36/48/60), damage increase (8/16/24/32/40% to 6/12/18/24/30%)
-nerfed Hyperdimensional Warp stun duration (2/2.75/3.5/4.25 to 2/2.5/3/3.5 sec)
-nerfed Nether Fire dps (5/10/15/20/25 to 3/6/9/12/15)
-improved Plunder Bolt damage (25/50/75/100/125 to 40/80/120/160/200)
-nerfed Purify cooldown (12 to 20/18/16/14/12 sec)
-nerfed Rage mana cost (20 to 25), damage to self (100% str instead of 20% str)
-nerfed Spirit Bear hp (600/1200/1800/2400/3000 to 600/1150/1700/2250/2800), also its Bash chance (25% to 20%)
-improved This For That cast range (800 to 900)
-nerfed Vampiricism chance (15% to 10%), increased multiplier (2/3/4/5 to 2.5/3.5/4.5/5.5)
-nerfed War Cry stat bonus (20/30/40/50 to 12/18/24/30)
Others:
-improved Grappling Hook animation
-removed Holy Shock's shock animation
-changed Mind Sap icon to its original one
-changed Flame Contraption icon
-changed Scorpion's ability hotkeys
-renamed Polar Furbolg Shaman to Polar Furbolg Mystic (an existing hero is named Shaman)
-renamed Holy Knight to Holy Champion (an existing hero is named Knight)
-changed a few heroes' proper names (those of Abomination, Druid of the Talon, Meat Wagon, Spell Breaker, Sphinx [was Obsidian Statue], and Tauren)
Also, a rather inconvenient glitch occurred when the Dark Ranger was near some of the newer heroes; its Last Reprisal was being triggered by "dummy" units conceived to exist only to help out with spells, and not affect gameplay otherwise. This problem has been fixed.
The Bandit had several changes: its two normal spells both have significantly increased damage, and an issue was fixed for the Grappling Hook. Vigor was replaced with Avoid, which gives the Bandit a chance to evade damage from incoming spells or attacks.
Shadow Lich's Wisdom of the Dead passive was completely remade, now giving bonus intelligence temporarily upon killing a unit. This raises the potential damage capacity on its Dark Impact and Winter's Bane spells.
Many other heroes received balancing as well, and their abilities have all been kept. Footman was the most affected, with 3 ability nerfs.
A few heroes have new proper names and 3 have new hero names. The gold splitting function for leaver gold was fixed, and allrandom (-ar) mode now works traditionally, giving out 1 hero at a time.
v0.92 Changelog
Gameplay:
-decreased xp from hero kills dramatically
-decreased gold lost on death (200 + 40x level to 100 + 40x level)
-items sold from leaver heroes now split gold to allies
-leavers now give their gold to allied players still in the game
-Allrandom mode (-ar) now gives out heroes in order rather than all at once
Fixes:
-fixed hero revive tooltip typo
-fixed Demolish tooltip typo on Siege Form
-fixed Grappling Hook to hook properly
-fixed Last Reprisal to not activate on dummies from Exploding Arrow, Life Orb, Maelstrom, and Silk Trail
-fixed Nether Fire to slow movespeed instead of attack speed
-fixed Rage to deal physical damage instead of exact damage
-fixed This For That tooltip typo
Balancing:
-buffed Hematologist stats slightly
-nerfed Spider agility slightly
-nerfed War Golem stats slightly
-added a 25 gold bounty for destroying Peon towers; improved their attack speed by 20%
-replaced Vigor with Avoid: gives a chance to evade magical or physical damage
-reworked Wisdom of the Dead: gives temporary bonus int on kills
-nerfed Cold Sword to slow only movespeed, improved its duration slightly (2 to 3 sec)
-buffed Crossbow Mastery damage multiplier (1.5/2/2.5/3 to 1.75/2.25/2.75/3.25)
-nerfed Culling Blade stun duration (2/2.5/3/3.5 to 2 sec), improved non-fatal damage slightly (150/200/250/300 to 150/225/300/375)
-improved Essense of the Dead aoe (800 to 900)
-nerfed Gush stun duration at max level (2/2.5/3/3.5 to 3 sec)
-improved Grappling Hook initial damage (40/80/120/160/200 to 55/110/165/220/275)
-nerfed Holy Shock damage (15/30/45/60/75 to 12/24/36/48/60), damage increase (8/16/24/32/40% to 6/12/18/24/30%)
-nerfed Hyperdimensional Warp stun duration (2/2.75/3.5/4.25 to 2/2.5/3/3.5 sec)
-nerfed Nether Fire dps (5/10/15/20/25 to 3/6/9/12/15)
-improved Plunder Bolt damage (25/50/75/100/125 to 40/80/120/160/200)
-nerfed Purify cooldown (12 to 20/18/16/14/12 sec)
-nerfed Rage mana cost (20 to 25), damage to self (100% str instead of 20% str)
-nerfed Spirit Bear hp (600/1200/1800/2400/3000 to 600/1150/1700/2250/2800), also its Bash chance (25% to 20%)
-improved This For That cast range (800 to 900)
-nerfed Vampiricism chance (15% to 10%), increased multiplier (2/3/4/5 to 2.5/3.5/4.5/5.5)
-nerfed War Cry stat bonus (20/30/40/50 to 12/18/24/30)
Others:
-improved Grappling Hook animation
-removed Holy Shock's shock animation
-changed Mind Sap icon to its original one
-changed Flame Contraption icon
-changed Scorpion's ability hotkeys
-renamed Polar Furbolg Shaman to Polar Furbolg Mystic (an existing hero is named Shaman)
-renamed Holy Knight to Holy Champion (an existing hero is named Knight)
-changed a few heroes' proper names (those of Abomination, Druid of the Talon, Meat Wagon, Spell Breaker, Sphinx [was Obsidian Statue], and Tauren)
Sunday, August 3, 2008
v0.91 Changelog
Version 0.91 did not introduce as many new features as the past few versions, but it did have many changes to existing gameplay and balance. The gold and xp gain rates were just too high, especially in Short Mode (-sm), which was automatically selected. Now the gold income rate has been reduced by 33%, while xp requirements increase in later levels. Hero kills will now give significantly more xp.
Speaking of hero kills, the gold loss and respawn time penalties were not nearly harsh enough for dying to have a significant impact. The repsawn time is increased by 33% and the gold loss penalty per level is also 33% higher, and is even more costly at the early levels because a base was added.
Because Outpost towers were relatively easy to destroy, and their magic damage barely left a scratch on a decently leveled hero, their damage is increased by 100% against heroes. This alleviates the Outpost backdooring problem as well.
This version also resolved several balance issues. Most of the changes were minor, but the Conjurer underwent much needed nerfs, especially on its Life Orb and Conjure Potion abilities. The ultimate was improved slightly though. The Hydra Hatchling had its Poisonous Spit duration lowered by 60%; however, he does not lose stats on death from Mutating Growth anymore. Other than these two heroes, most had only small changes.
A new item, the Charm of Prosperity, can be upgraded from the basic item Charm of Wealth. The Circlet of Nobility costs slightly more, but the Keg of Ale costs more or less the same, with a decreased recipe price.
A few animations and special effects were added.
v0.91 Changelog
Gameplay:
-decreased income gold rate (2 per 1.5 sec on normal, 4 per 1.5 sec on Short Mode, down from 3 and 6 respectively)
-increased the amount of xp required for each level, increased xp from hero kills
-increased hero respawn time (1.5x level to 2x level)
-increased the amount of gold lost on death (30x level to 200 + 40x level)
-All-Pick mode is built-in now
-Short Mode is not automatically selected anymore
-improved lane creep upgrades in Only Mid mode when a barrack falls
-improved tower upgrades for outpost towers, also increased their damage vs heroes (100% to 200%)
-increased power of bosses
-added a super-boss, a Sea Giant Behemoth, that has the same spawn chance as normal bosses after 30 minutes have passed (it will not spawn before then)
-normalized all melee heroes' range to 100
Fixes:
-fixed Only Mid (-om) mode to not always spawn special creeps in the center lane
-fixed Command quest to give a proper list
-fixed Epidemic to reinfect properly with Putrid Odor
-fixed Lift Off to increase movespeed properly
-fixed Mega Bolt to deal correct damage
-fixed Regurgitate to launch corpse before death when it deals fatal damage to self
Balancing:
-improved Huntress base intelligence (19 to 23)
-nerfed Spirit of Vengeance strength (16 + 1.6/level to 1.4 + 1.4/level)
-nerfed Troll Beserker strength growth (1.5/level to 1.3/level)
-nerfed Accelerating Warp cast range (750/900/1050/1200/1350 to 600/725/850/975/1100)
-improved Avatar bash chance increase (4/8/12/16% to 6/12/18/24%)
-changed Bank account to increase gold even when the Merchant is dead
-nerfed Battle Roar cooldown (60 to 80)
-nerfed Conjure Potion restoration (cut in half to 2x str + 1x agi hp, 2x int + 1x agi mana), reduced potion sell cost (50 to 25)
-improved Demonic Curse interval damage (40/50/60/70/80 to 50/60/70/80/90)
-nerfed Divine Empowerment cooldown (60 to 80)
-improved Fire Wave distance (700 to 900)
-improved Gold Stash bonus damage cap (25/50/75/100/125 to 30/60/90/120/150)
-nerfed Impaling Spear cooldown (10 to 12)
-nerfed Life Orb cooldown (15 to 30), increased number of orbs gained (1 to 2)
-changed Liquid Fire to not slow unit attacks, buildings are still affected
-changed Mutating Growth to not lose stats on death
-nerfed Nether Strike initial damage (60/100/140/180/220 to 40/60/80/100/120)
-nerfed Poisonous Spit duration (5 to 2)
-improved Refill orbs gained (3/4/5/6 to 4/5/6/7)
-nerfed Regurgitate (dmg to self 200/300/400/500 to 300/450/600/750)
-nerfed Shadowsight damage multiplier (4/5/6/7 to 3/4/5/6), decreased mana cost (150/200/250/300 to 150/175/200/225)
-improved Silk Trail halt duration (.25 sec to .75 sec per segment)
-improved Skinkapult's Launch cooldown (10 to 5) at the cost of the build cooldown (14 to 20)
-changed Soul Barrage cooldown (100/85/70/55 to 90/90/90/90) and damage to buildings (30% to 50%)
-improved Torture Chamber damage per second (70 to 85)
-improved Web area of effect (250 to 275)
-nerfed Winter's Bane cooldown (100 to 120)
Items:
-added new recipe item Charm of Prosperity (upgrade for Charm of Wealth)
-changed Talisman of Evasion icon
-increased Circlet of Nobility cost (450 to 550)
-reduced Keg of Ale combination cost (650 to 500)
Others:
-added an animation for Speed Drain
-added a special effect for Blazing Agility
-added a special effect for Holy Shock, also changed its shock interval from 2 to 3 sec, retaining the same dps
-changed Mistress of Pain attack missile
-changed Fire Wave animation
-changed Infiltrate lightning animation
-added new model for Helicopter's Lift Off
-added Gargoyle on Orb exception list
-renamed Spirit Walker's proper name (Storm Shadow to Stormy)
-clarified Hemorrhage tooltip that it will refresh if the unit is attacked
Speaking of hero kills, the gold loss and respawn time penalties were not nearly harsh enough for dying to have a significant impact. The repsawn time is increased by 33% and the gold loss penalty per level is also 33% higher, and is even more costly at the early levels because a base was added.
Because Outpost towers were relatively easy to destroy, and their magic damage barely left a scratch on a decently leveled hero, their damage is increased by 100% against heroes. This alleviates the Outpost backdooring problem as well.
This version also resolved several balance issues. Most of the changes were minor, but the Conjurer underwent much needed nerfs, especially on its Life Orb and Conjure Potion abilities. The ultimate was improved slightly though. The Hydra Hatchling had its Poisonous Spit duration lowered by 60%; however, he does not lose stats on death from Mutating Growth anymore. Other than these two heroes, most had only small changes.
A new item, the Charm of Prosperity, can be upgraded from the basic item Charm of Wealth. The Circlet of Nobility costs slightly more, but the Keg of Ale costs more or less the same, with a decreased recipe price.
A few animations and special effects were added.
v0.91 Changelog
Gameplay:
-decreased income gold rate (2 per 1.5 sec on normal, 4 per 1.5 sec on Short Mode, down from 3 and 6 respectively)
-increased the amount of xp required for each level, increased xp from hero kills
-increased hero respawn time (1.5x level to 2x level)
-increased the amount of gold lost on death (30x level to 200 + 40x level)
-All-Pick mode is built-in now
-Short Mode is not automatically selected anymore
-improved lane creep upgrades in Only Mid mode when a barrack falls
-improved tower upgrades for outpost towers, also increased their damage vs heroes (100% to 200%)
-increased power of bosses
-added a super-boss, a Sea Giant Behemoth, that has the same spawn chance as normal bosses after 30 minutes have passed (it will not spawn before then)
-normalized all melee heroes' range to 100
Fixes:
-fixed Only Mid (-om) mode to not always spawn special creeps in the center lane
-fixed Command quest to give a proper list
-fixed Epidemic to reinfect properly with Putrid Odor
-fixed Lift Off to increase movespeed properly
-fixed Mega Bolt to deal correct damage
-fixed Regurgitate to launch corpse before death when it deals fatal damage to self
Balancing:
-improved Huntress base intelligence (19 to 23)
-nerfed Spirit of Vengeance strength (16 + 1.6/level to 1.4 + 1.4/level)
-nerfed Troll Beserker strength growth (1.5/level to 1.3/level)
-nerfed Accelerating Warp cast range (750/900/1050/1200/1350 to 600/725/850/975/1100)
-improved Avatar bash chance increase (4/8/12/16% to 6/12/18/24%)
-changed Bank account to increase gold even when the Merchant is dead
-nerfed Battle Roar cooldown (60 to 80)
-nerfed Conjure Potion restoration (cut in half to 2x str + 1x agi hp, 2x int + 1x agi mana), reduced potion sell cost (50 to 25)
-improved Demonic Curse interval damage (40/50/60/70/80 to 50/60/70/80/90)
-nerfed Divine Empowerment cooldown (60 to 80)
-improved Fire Wave distance (700 to 900)
-improved Gold Stash bonus damage cap (25/50/75/100/125 to 30/60/90/120/150)
-nerfed Impaling Spear cooldown (10 to 12)
-nerfed Life Orb cooldown (15 to 30), increased number of orbs gained (1 to 2)
-changed Liquid Fire to not slow unit attacks, buildings are still affected
-changed Mutating Growth to not lose stats on death
-nerfed Nether Strike initial damage (60/100/140/180/220 to 40/60/80/100/120)
-nerfed Poisonous Spit duration (5 to 2)
-improved Refill orbs gained (3/4/5/6 to 4/5/6/7)
-nerfed Regurgitate (dmg to self 200/300/400/500 to 300/450/600/750)
-nerfed Shadowsight damage multiplier (4/5/6/7 to 3/4/5/6), decreased mana cost (150/200/250/300 to 150/175/200/225)
-improved Silk Trail halt duration (.25 sec to .75 sec per segment)
-improved Skinkapult's Launch cooldown (10 to 5) at the cost of the build cooldown (14 to 20)
-changed Soul Barrage cooldown (100/85/70/55 to 90/90/90/90) and damage to buildings (30% to 50%)
-improved Torture Chamber damage per second (70 to 85)
-improved Web area of effect (250 to 275)
-nerfed Winter's Bane cooldown (100 to 120)
Items:
-added new recipe item Charm of Prosperity (upgrade for Charm of Wealth)
-changed Talisman of Evasion icon
-increased Circlet of Nobility cost (450 to 550)
-reduced Keg of Ale combination cost (650 to 500)
Others:
-added an animation for Speed Drain
-added a special effect for Blazing Agility
-added a special effect for Holy Shock, also changed its shock interval from 2 to 3 sec, retaining the same dps
-changed Mistress of Pain attack missile
-changed Fire Wave animation
-changed Infiltrate lightning animation
-added new model for Helicopter's Lift Off
-added Gargoyle on Orb exception list
-renamed Spirit Walker's proper name (Storm Shadow to Stormy)
-clarified Hemorrhage tooltip that it will refresh if the unit is attacked
Monday, July 28, 2008
v0.90b Changelog
Version 0.90b was created primarily to fix two of the new items, the Battle Standards, to not drop on death. The new Warp Rift also had a rather obvious mismatch between its learn and normal tooltips.
v0.90b Changelog
Fixes:
-fixed Battle Standard (Red or Blue) to not drop on death
-fixed Warp Rift tooltip typo
Balancing:
-nerfed Helicopter agility growth (23 + 2.7/level to 21 + 2.5/level)
-decreased Spear Mastery damage bonus by 5 (25/45/65/85 to 20/40/60/80)
-increased Conjure Tome mana cost (150 to 200)
The v0.90 Changelog can be found here.
v0.90b Changelog
Fixes:
-fixed Battle Standard (Red or Blue) to not drop on death
-fixed Warp Rift tooltip typo
Balancing:
-nerfed Helicopter agility growth (23 + 2.7/level to 21 + 2.5/level)
-decreased Spear Mastery damage bonus by 5 (25/45/65/85 to 20/40/60/80)
-increased Conjure Tome mana cost (150 to 200)
The v0.90 Changelog can be found here.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
v0.90 Changelog
Two more heroes were added in version 0.90: the Dreadlord and the Conjurer. The Dreadlord is a strength-based "dps-er," with increased attack speed and damage, along with accessory damage and heal abilties. The Conjurer uses Life Orbs, special orbs can be gathered through an innate ability, to cast his other spells, which have various purposes, including conjuring potions and tomes as well as causing powerful detonations.
The Nerubian Lord was revamped as well, his ult is now a Shadowsight ability, which can gain vision of a target enemy and cause the Nerubian Lord's next attack against that target to deal critical damage. Web now works on an aoe.
Several items were included in this update, including 1 new basic and 4 new recipe items. The Charm of Wealth can increase the income of the wearer (although it does not stack with multiple charms). The Mask of the Vampire includes a melee lifesteal aura, the Ice Claws allow the user to cast a Frost Nova, as well as granting other powerful effects. Two Battle Standards, one red and the other blue, add several auras and enhancements to further strengthen the users.
v0.90 Changelog
Gameplay:
-revamped Nerubian Lord - Web works differently, Subjugating Attack is now non-ult, new ability: Shadowsight (new ult), removed Cannibalize
-new Hero: Dreadlord (Demon)
-new hero: Conjurer (High Elf)
Fixes:
-fixed Royal Guard to be a strength hero
-fixed Spirit Ferry to say Channeling
Balancing:
-improved Lightning Fury damage (50/75/100/125 to 65/95/125/155 per bolt)
-improved Maelstrom aoe (300 to 350)
-changed Warp Rift to improve cooldown instead of duration per level (duration at 5 sec)
-changed Mechanical Frame's spell reduction to a movement bonus (6/12/18/24/30 ms)
Items:
-replaced Staff of Silence with Charm of Wealth, which provides a non-stacking bonus income
-added a new recipe item shop with 4 new items: Mask of the Vampire, Ice Claws, Battle Standard (Red), Battle Standard (Blue)
Others:
-changed Death Swarm icon and animation
The Nerubian Lord was revamped as well, his ult is now a Shadowsight ability, which can gain vision of a target enemy and cause the Nerubian Lord's next attack against that target to deal critical damage. Web now works on an aoe.
Several items were included in this update, including 1 new basic and 4 new recipe items. The Charm of Wealth can increase the income of the wearer (although it does not stack with multiple charms). The Mask of the Vampire includes a melee lifesteal aura, the Ice Claws allow the user to cast a Frost Nova, as well as granting other powerful effects. Two Battle Standards, one red and the other blue, add several auras and enhancements to further strengthen the users.
v0.90 Changelog
Gameplay:
-revamped Nerubian Lord - Web works differently, Subjugating Attack is now non-ult, new ability: Shadowsight (new ult), removed Cannibalize
-new Hero: Dreadlord (Demon)
-new hero: Conjurer (High Elf)
Fixes:
-fixed Royal Guard to be a strength hero
-fixed Spirit Ferry to say Channeling
Balancing:
-improved Lightning Fury damage (50/75/100/125 to 65/95/125/155 per bolt)
-improved Maelstrom aoe (300 to 350)
-changed Warp Rift to improve cooldown instead of duration per level (duration at 5 sec)
-changed Mechanical Frame's spell reduction to a movement bonus (6/12/18/24/30 ms)
Items:
-replaced Staff of Silence with Charm of Wealth, which provides a non-stacking bonus income
-added a new recipe item shop with 4 new items: Mask of the Vampire, Ice Claws, Battle Standard (Red), Battle Standard (Blue)
Others:
-changed Death Swarm icon and animation
Friday, July 25, 2008
v0.89 Hero Statistics
Ranks in these lists do not factor in items or abilities; however, stat bonuses are included at level 29 statistics. In case of tie, heroes in the tie will be ranked in no particular order. Thanks to KavuChameleon for providing the original spreadsheet!
Top Tens
Strength per Level
1. Sludge King (+4.0)
2. Doom Guard (+3.3)
3. Ogre Warlord (+3.2)
4. Pit Lord (+3.2)
5. Abomination (+3.1)
6. Bandit (+3.0)
7. Jungle Stalker (+3.0)
8. Grunt (+2.9)
9. Mountain Giant (+2.9)
10. Death Knight (+2.6)
Agility per Level
1. Warden (+3.2)
2. Spell Breaker (+2.9)
3. Naga Warrior (+2.9)
4. Gnoll Assassin (+2.9)
5. Burning Archer (+2.9)
6. Gargoyle (+2.8)
7. Raider (+2.8)
8. Zergling (+2.8)
9. Harpy Stormwitch (+2.8)
10. Dark Ranger (+2.7)
11. Helicopter (+2.7)
12. Illusionist (+2.7)
Intelligence per Level
1. Void Walker (+3.6)
2. Skeletal Mage (+3.5)
3. Archmage (+3.3)
4. Banshee (+3.2)
5. Faerie Dragon (+3.2)
6. Druid of the Talon (+3.2)
7. Storm Panda (+3.0)
8. Tree Goddess (+3.0)
9. Tuskarr Mage (+2.9)
10. Satyr Thundercaller (+2.9)
11. Medicine Man (+2.9)
Total Stats per Level
1. Faerie Dragon (+6.7)
2. Archmage (+6.6)
3. Spell Breaker (+6.5)
4. Void Walker (+6.5)
5. Doom Guard (+6.4)
6. Demolitionist (+6.3)
7. Far Seer (+6.3)
8. Warden (+6.3)
9. Druid of the Talon (+6.3)
10. Chaos Peon (+6.3)
Level 29 Damage *(not including dice)
1. Sludge King (178)
2. Void Walker (169)
3. Skeletal Mage (161)
4. Archmage (156)
5. Faerie Dragon (155)
6. Ogre Warlord (154)
7. Doom Guard (154)
8. Banshee (154)
9. Pit Lord (153)
10. Druid of the Talon (153)
11. Abomination (153)
Level 29 Attack Speed *(cooldown in seconds)
1. Warden (0.74)
2. Naga Warrior (0.75)
3. Zergling (0.76)
4. Gnoll Assassin (0.76)
5. Burning Archer (0.76)
6. Gargoyle (0.77)
7. Spell Breaker (0.77)
8. Harpy Stormwitch (0.77)
9. Raider (0.77)
10. Dark Ranger (0.78)
11. Helicopter (0.78)
12. Mutation (0.78)
Level 29 DPS *(Damage per second)
1. Warden (205.18)
2. Naga Warrior (194.09)
3. Zergling (189.74)
4. Spell Breaker (185.44)
5. Raider (181.18)
6. Mutation (176.96)
7. Gnoll Assassin (174.46)
8. Burning Archer (174.46)
9. Illusionist (172.80)
10. Gargoyle (172.38)
Level 29 HP
1. Sludge King (3468)
2. Ogre Warlord (2964)
3. Doom Guard (2964)
4. Pit Lord (2943)
5. Abomination (2943)
6. Jungle Stalker (2769)
7. Bandit (2775)
8. Mountain Giant (2754)
9. Grunt (2733)
10. Death Knight (2565)
Level 29 Armor
1. Warden (14.1)
2. Naga Warrior (13.6)
3. Zergling (13.4)
4. Spell Breaker (13.2)
5. Raider (13.0)
6. Knight (13.0)
7. Mutation (12.8)
8. Illusionist (12.6)
9. Hippogryph (12.0)
10. Earth Revenant (12.0)
11. Desert Advocate (12.0)
12. Blood Fiend (12.0)
Level 29 EHP (Effective Hit Points, includes armor)
1. Ogre Warlord (4725)
2. Abomination (4709)
3. Sludge King (4654)
4. Jungle Stalker (4574)
5. Pit Lord (4568)
6. Doom Guard (4529)
7. Grunt (4520)
8. Mountain Giant (4473)
9. Bandit (4424)
10. Footman (4213)
Level 29 Mana
1. Void Walker (2086)
2. Skeletal Mage (1974)
3. Archmage (1904)
4. Faerie Dragon (1890)
5. Banshee (1876)
6. Druid of the Talon (1862)
7. Storm Panda (1806)
8. Tree Goddess (1778)
9. Satyr Thundercaller (1750)
10. Medicine Man (1750)
Level 29 Movespeed
1. Warden (346.2)
2. Crypt Lurker (345.8)
3. Spell Breaker (344.4)
4. Dark Ranger (343.8)
5. Illusionist (343.2)
6. Knight (342.0)
7. Hippogryph (342.0)
8. Huntress (341.6)
9. Kobold Digger (340.4)
10. Dragonhawk Rider (338.0)
Level 29 Battle Power (DPS times EHP)
1. Raider (718,839)
2. Warden (693,143)
3. Ogre Warlord (685,467)
4. Spell Breaker (684,870)
5. Sludge King (684,538)
6. Abomination (682,528)
7. Naga Warrior (667,235)
8. Mutation (664,544)
9. Jungle Stalker (653,782)
10. Grunt (643,012)
Bottom Tens
Strength per Level
1. Tree Goddess (+1.2)
2. Skeletal Mage (+1.3)
3. Skinkapulter (+1.4)
4. Rifleman (+1.4)
5. Gnoll Assassin (+1.4)
6. Huntress (+1.4)
7. Zergling (+1.5)
8. Harpy Stormwitch (+1.5)
9. Helicopter (+1.5)
10. Merchant (+1.5)
11. Tuskarr Mage (+1.5)
12. Troll Beserker (+1.5)
13. Warden (+1.5)
14. Elven Hunter (+1.5)
15. Flame Contraption (+1.5)
16. Banshee (+1.5)
Agility per Level
1. Sludge King (+1.0)
2. Storm Panda (+1.0)
3. Banshee (+1.3)
4. Satyr Thundercaller (+1.3)
5. Skeletal Mage (+1.3)
6. Void Walker (+1.3)
7. Shadow Lich (+1.3)
8. Doom Guard (+1.3)
9. Tree Goddess (+1.3)
10. Paladin (+1.3)
11. Pit Lord (+1.3)
Intelligence per Level
1. Sludge King (+1.0)
2. Raider (+1.1)
3. Dryad (+1.2)
4. Grunt (+1.2)
5. Footman (+1.2)
6. Hippogryph (+1.2)
7. Gnoll Assassin (+1.2)
8. Naga Warrior (+1.2)
9. Ogre Warlord (+1.2)
10. Troll Beserker (+1.3)
11. Abomination (+1.3)
12. Rifleman (+1.3)
13. Jungle Stalker (+1.3)
14. Blood Fiend (+1.3)
Total Stats per Level
1. Rifleman (+4.9)
2. Hippogryph (+5.2)
3. Troll Beserker (+5.3)
4. Master of the Hunt (+5.3)
5. Nerubian Lord (+5.5)
6. War Golem (+5.5)
7. Shaman (+5.5)
8. Gnoll Assassin (+5.5)
9. Shaman (+5.5)
10. Dryad (+5.5)
11. Troll Batrider (+5.5)
Level 29 Damage *(not including dice)
1. Merchant (107)
2. Nether Dragon (109)
3. Ghost (111)
4. Druid of the Claw (111)
5. Meat Wagon (111)
6. Rifleman (114)
7. Crypt Lurker (114)
8. Eredar Diabolist (114)
9. Nerubian Lord (114)
10. Shaman (117)
11. Knight (117)
Level 29 Attack Speed *(cooldown in seconds)
1. Sludge King (1.21)
2. Storm Panda (1.17)
3. Paladin (1.14)
4. Doom Guard (1.13)
5. Tree Goddess (1.13)
6. Shadow Lich (1.13)
7. Satyr Thundercaller (1.12)
8. Void Walker (1.12)
9. Banshee (1.12)
10. Skeletal Mage (1.10)
11. Pit Lord (1.10)
12. Sorceress (1.10)
Level 29 DPS
1. Druid of the Claw (113.34)
2. Paladin (113.58)
3. Demolitionist (113.79)
4. Warlock (113.99)
5. Shaman (115.15)
6. War Golem (115.52)
7. Alchemist (115.88)
8. Eredar Diabolist (116.40)
9. Polar Furbolg Shaman (116.54)
10. Spirit Walker (116.54)
Level 29 HP
1. Tree Goddess (1578)
2. Skeletal Mage (1620)
3. Skinkapulter (1683)
4. Huntress (1704)
5. Elven Hunter (1746)
6. Troll Beserker (1746)
7. Rifleman (1746)
8. Zergling (1746)
9. Gnoll Assassin (1767)
10. Flame Contraption (1767)
11. Harpy Stormwitch (1767)
12. Merchant (1767)
13. Helicopter (1767)
Level 29 Armor
1. Storm Panda (4.3)
2. Skeletal Mage (5.2)
3. Druid of the Talon (5.4)
4. Hematologist (5.7)
5. Sludge King (5.7)
6. Shadow Lich (5.8)
7. Tree Goddess (5.8)
8. Warlock (5.9)
9. Arcane Wizard (5.9)
10. Void Walker (5.9)
11. Satyr Thundercaller (5.9)
Level 29 EHP
1. Skeletal Mage (2125)
2. Tree Goddess (2127)
3. Flame Contraption (2403)
4. Banshee (2432)
5. Void Walker (2449)
6. Tuskarr Mage (2453)
7. Druid of the Talon (2506)
8. Shaman (2507)
9. Holy Priest (2515)
10. Sorceress (2522)
Level 29 Mana
1. Raider (868)
2. Footman (910)
3. Hippogryph (924)
4. Naga Warrior (924)
5. Dryad (938)
6. Gnoll Assassin (952)
7. Ogre Warlord (952)
8. Sludge King (952)
9. Abomination (952)
10. Jungle Stalker (952)
Level 29 Movespeed
1. War Golem (287.2)
2. Centaur Khan (291.0)
3. Pit Lord (294.4)
4. Warlock (295.8)
5. Rifleman (296.4)
6. Makrura (297.4)
7. Grunt (297.8)
8. Paladin (298.2)
9. Kodo Rider (299.8)
10. Alchemist (300.8)
Level 29 Battle Power
1. Tree Goddess (276,484)
2. Shaman (288,662)
3. Shadow Lich (300,087)
4. Ice Troll Priest (304,503)
5. Flame Contraption (305,070)
6. Holy Priest (308,027)
7. Skeletal Mage (309,777)
8. Sorceress (316,863)
9. Storm Panda (331,420)
10. Destroyer (331,581)
Top Tens
Strength per Level
1. Sludge King (+4.0)
2. Doom Guard (+3.3)
3. Ogre Warlord (+3.2)
4. Pit Lord (+3.2)
5. Abomination (+3.1)
6. Bandit (+3.0)
7. Jungle Stalker (+3.0)
8. Grunt (+2.9)
9. Mountain Giant (+2.9)
10. Death Knight (+2.6)
Agility per Level
1. Warden (+3.2)
2. Spell Breaker (+2.9)
3. Naga Warrior (+2.9)
4. Gnoll Assassin (+2.9)
5. Burning Archer (+2.9)
6. Gargoyle (+2.8)
7. Raider (+2.8)
8. Zergling (+2.8)
9. Harpy Stormwitch (+2.8)
10. Dark Ranger (+2.7)
11. Helicopter (+2.7)
12. Illusionist (+2.7)
Intelligence per Level
1. Void Walker (+3.6)
2. Skeletal Mage (+3.5)
3. Archmage (+3.3)
4. Banshee (+3.2)
5. Faerie Dragon (+3.2)
6. Druid of the Talon (+3.2)
7. Storm Panda (+3.0)
8. Tree Goddess (+3.0)
9. Tuskarr Mage (+2.9)
10. Satyr Thundercaller (+2.9)
11. Medicine Man (+2.9)
Total Stats per Level
1. Faerie Dragon (+6.7)
2. Archmage (+6.6)
3. Spell Breaker (+6.5)
4. Void Walker (+6.5)
5. Doom Guard (+6.4)
6. Demolitionist (+6.3)
7. Far Seer (+6.3)
8. Warden (+6.3)
9. Druid of the Talon (+6.3)
10. Chaos Peon (+6.3)
Level 29 Damage *(not including dice)
1. Sludge King (178)
2. Void Walker (169)
3. Skeletal Mage (161)
4. Archmage (156)
5. Faerie Dragon (155)
6. Ogre Warlord (154)
7. Doom Guard (154)
8. Banshee (154)
9. Pit Lord (153)
10. Druid of the Talon (153)
11. Abomination (153)
Level 29 Attack Speed *(cooldown in seconds)
1. Warden (0.74)
2. Naga Warrior (0.75)
3. Zergling (0.76)
4. Gnoll Assassin (0.76)
5. Burning Archer (0.76)
6. Gargoyle (0.77)
7. Spell Breaker (0.77)
8. Harpy Stormwitch (0.77)
9. Raider (0.77)
10. Dark Ranger (0.78)
11. Helicopter (0.78)
12. Mutation (0.78)
Level 29 DPS *(Damage per second)
1. Warden (205.18)
2. Naga Warrior (194.09)
3. Zergling (189.74)
4. Spell Breaker (185.44)
5. Raider (181.18)
6. Mutation (176.96)
7. Gnoll Assassin (174.46)
8. Burning Archer (174.46)
9. Illusionist (172.80)
10. Gargoyle (172.38)
Level 29 HP
1. Sludge King (3468)
2. Ogre Warlord (2964)
3. Doom Guard (2964)
4. Pit Lord (2943)
5. Abomination (2943)
6. Jungle Stalker (2769)
7. Bandit (2775)
8. Mountain Giant (2754)
9. Grunt (2733)
10. Death Knight (2565)
Level 29 Armor
1. Warden (14.1)
2. Naga Warrior (13.6)
3. Zergling (13.4)
4. Spell Breaker (13.2)
5. Raider (13.0)
6. Knight (13.0)
7. Mutation (12.8)
8. Illusionist (12.6)
9. Hippogryph (12.0)
10. Earth Revenant (12.0)
11. Desert Advocate (12.0)
12. Blood Fiend (12.0)
Level 29 EHP (Effective Hit Points, includes armor)
1. Ogre Warlord (4725)
2. Abomination (4709)
3. Sludge King (4654)
4. Jungle Stalker (4574)
5. Pit Lord (4568)
6. Doom Guard (4529)
7. Grunt (4520)
8. Mountain Giant (4473)
9. Bandit (4424)
10. Footman (4213)
Level 29 Mana
1. Void Walker (2086)
2. Skeletal Mage (1974)
3. Archmage (1904)
4. Faerie Dragon (1890)
5. Banshee (1876)
6. Druid of the Talon (1862)
7. Storm Panda (1806)
8. Tree Goddess (1778)
9. Satyr Thundercaller (1750)
10. Medicine Man (1750)
Level 29 Movespeed
1. Warden (346.2)
2. Crypt Lurker (345.8)
3. Spell Breaker (344.4)
4. Dark Ranger (343.8)
5. Illusionist (343.2)
6. Knight (342.0)
7. Hippogryph (342.0)
8. Huntress (341.6)
9. Kobold Digger (340.4)
10. Dragonhawk Rider (338.0)
Level 29 Battle Power (DPS times EHP)
1. Raider (718,839)
2. Warden (693,143)
3. Ogre Warlord (685,467)
4. Spell Breaker (684,870)
5. Sludge King (684,538)
6. Abomination (682,528)
7. Naga Warrior (667,235)
8. Mutation (664,544)
9. Jungle Stalker (653,782)
10. Grunt (643,012)
Bottom Tens
Strength per Level
1. Tree Goddess (+1.2)
2. Skeletal Mage (+1.3)
3. Skinkapulter (+1.4)
4. Rifleman (+1.4)
5. Gnoll Assassin (+1.4)
6. Huntress (+1.4)
7. Zergling (+1.5)
8. Harpy Stormwitch (+1.5)
9. Helicopter (+1.5)
10. Merchant (+1.5)
11. Tuskarr Mage (+1.5)
12. Troll Beserker (+1.5)
13. Warden (+1.5)
14. Elven Hunter (+1.5)
15. Flame Contraption (+1.5)
16. Banshee (+1.5)
Agility per Level
1. Sludge King (+1.0)
2. Storm Panda (+1.0)
3. Banshee (+1.3)
4. Satyr Thundercaller (+1.3)
5. Skeletal Mage (+1.3)
6. Void Walker (+1.3)
7. Shadow Lich (+1.3)
8. Doom Guard (+1.3)
9. Tree Goddess (+1.3)
10. Paladin (+1.3)
11. Pit Lord (+1.3)
Intelligence per Level
1. Sludge King (+1.0)
2. Raider (+1.1)
3. Dryad (+1.2)
4. Grunt (+1.2)
5. Footman (+1.2)
6. Hippogryph (+1.2)
7. Gnoll Assassin (+1.2)
8. Naga Warrior (+1.2)
9. Ogre Warlord (+1.2)
10. Troll Beserker (+1.3)
11. Abomination (+1.3)
12. Rifleman (+1.3)
13. Jungle Stalker (+1.3)
14. Blood Fiend (+1.3)
Total Stats per Level
1. Rifleman (+4.9)
2. Hippogryph (+5.2)
3. Troll Beserker (+5.3)
4. Master of the Hunt (+5.3)
5. Nerubian Lord (+5.5)
6. War Golem (+5.5)
7. Shaman (+5.5)
8. Gnoll Assassin (+5.5)
9. Shaman (+5.5)
10. Dryad (+5.5)
11. Troll Batrider (+5.5)
Level 29 Damage *(not including dice)
1. Merchant (107)
2. Nether Dragon (109)
3. Ghost (111)
4. Druid of the Claw (111)
5. Meat Wagon (111)
6. Rifleman (114)
7. Crypt Lurker (114)
8. Eredar Diabolist (114)
9. Nerubian Lord (114)
10. Shaman (117)
11. Knight (117)
Level 29 Attack Speed *(cooldown in seconds)
1. Sludge King (1.21)
2. Storm Panda (1.17)
3. Paladin (1.14)
4. Doom Guard (1.13)
5. Tree Goddess (1.13)
6. Shadow Lich (1.13)
7. Satyr Thundercaller (1.12)
8. Void Walker (1.12)
9. Banshee (1.12)
10. Skeletal Mage (1.10)
11. Pit Lord (1.10)
12. Sorceress (1.10)
Level 29 DPS
1. Druid of the Claw (113.34)
2. Paladin (113.58)
3. Demolitionist (113.79)
4. Warlock (113.99)
5. Shaman (115.15)
6. War Golem (115.52)
7. Alchemist (115.88)
8. Eredar Diabolist (116.40)
9. Polar Furbolg Shaman (116.54)
10. Spirit Walker (116.54)
Level 29 HP
1. Tree Goddess (1578)
2. Skeletal Mage (1620)
3. Skinkapulter (1683)
4. Huntress (1704)
5. Elven Hunter (1746)
6. Troll Beserker (1746)
7. Rifleman (1746)
8. Zergling (1746)
9. Gnoll Assassin (1767)
10. Flame Contraption (1767)
11. Harpy Stormwitch (1767)
12. Merchant (1767)
13. Helicopter (1767)
Level 29 Armor
1. Storm Panda (4.3)
2. Skeletal Mage (5.2)
3. Druid of the Talon (5.4)
4. Hematologist (5.7)
5. Sludge King (5.7)
6. Shadow Lich (5.8)
7. Tree Goddess (5.8)
8. Warlock (5.9)
9. Arcane Wizard (5.9)
10. Void Walker (5.9)
11. Satyr Thundercaller (5.9)
Level 29 EHP
1. Skeletal Mage (2125)
2. Tree Goddess (2127)
3. Flame Contraption (2403)
4. Banshee (2432)
5. Void Walker (2449)
6. Tuskarr Mage (2453)
7. Druid of the Talon (2506)
8. Shaman (2507)
9. Holy Priest (2515)
10. Sorceress (2522)
Level 29 Mana
1. Raider (868)
2. Footman (910)
3. Hippogryph (924)
4. Naga Warrior (924)
5. Dryad (938)
6. Gnoll Assassin (952)
7. Ogre Warlord (952)
8. Sludge King (952)
9. Abomination (952)
10. Jungle Stalker (952)
Level 29 Movespeed
1. War Golem (287.2)
2. Centaur Khan (291.0)
3. Pit Lord (294.4)
4. Warlock (295.8)
5. Rifleman (296.4)
6. Makrura (297.4)
7. Grunt (297.8)
8. Paladin (298.2)
9. Kodo Rider (299.8)
10. Alchemist (300.8)
Level 29 Battle Power
1. Tree Goddess (276,484)
2. Shaman (288,662)
3. Shadow Lich (300,087)
4. Ice Troll Priest (304,503)
5. Flame Contraption (305,070)
6. Holy Priest (308,027)
7. Skeletal Mage (309,777)
8. Sorceress (316,863)
9. Storm Panda (331,420)
10. Destroyer (331,581)
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
v0.89 Changelog
Version 0.89 includes the introduction of 2 new heroes, which brings the total count up to 100! One of the new heroes is the (Naga) Royal Guard, a strength-based hybrid that can fight efficiently and cast powerful water spells. The Spirit of Vengeance is an intelligence-based assassin that can instantly but temporarily traverse the map and stay in areas long enough to provide killing blows. Both of the new heroes are spell-heavy, with no passives.
In addition, the Death Ranger is completely remade, now known as the Burning Archer. Its old skills are no more, although Strafe retains the original name. Strafe now deals its damage near instantaneously, as opposed to a launching timed barrage of arrows. It also gained the Burning Arrows ability, allowing it to fire special arrows that deal extra damage and cause Burn damage over time. Instead of utilizing a Decoy, the Burning Archer can increase its damage directly with Blazing Agility, improving its base agility by a percentage temporarily. Finally, it now has the power to launch an Exploding Arrow, which travels in a line until it hits an enemy, whereupon the arrow explodes and deals massive area of effect damage. Like the new heroes introduced in this version, the Burning Archer also has no passives, and thus must make wide use its abilities.
v0.89 included the usual balancing and bug fixing, though no hero was changed drastically, except of course Burning Archer. The Merchant suffered a severe damage limitation in its Gold Stash ability, which used to cause way too much damage. Also, Shadow Lich's Wisdom of the Dead ability is now able to hit a given target only once per second, thus reducing its old damage output immensely in certain scenarios.
Concerning items, a slight change was made to the stat bonus from hero kills on the Glass of Beer. The stacking used to encourage players to have multiple Glasses, as the high stat bonuses would provide a feedback loop, making it easier to kill the next hero, etc. This effect is now unable to stack with multiple Glasses, although the regeneration, armor, and normal stat bonuses still stack.
Finally, some heroes underwent a few aesthetic changes, with a few new icons as well as attack and spell animations. The Death Ranger's old model changed into a flaming one, thus allowing it to become the Burning Archer.
.89 Changelog
Gameplay:
-remade Death Ranger into Burning Archer, with 4 new abilities
-new hero: Royal Guard (High Elf)
-new hero: Spirit of Vengeance (Demon)
Fixes:
-fixed top lanes to not spawn bonus creeps in the first wave
-fixed Poison Arrows to be unable to target allied units
-fixed a stun glitch with Crippling Void and Voodoo Curse
-fixed Bloodfiend's hotkey overlap from new ability last version
-fixed Mana Freeze tooltip typo
Balancing:
-Druid of the Claw: agility - 1.8/level to 2.1/level
-Helicopter: base movespeed - 325 to 310
-Illusionist: strength - 2.2/level to 1.9/level, agility - 2.4/level to 2.7/level
--Pandemonium: mana cost - 150/120/90/60/30 to 100
--Image Slash: slash damage - 30/60/90/120/150 to 40/80/120/160/200, mana cost - 60 to 100
-Jungle Stalker
--Beserk: agility gained when taking damage - 3 to 5
-Merchant
--Gold Stash: damage cap - 40/80/120/160/200 to 25/50/75/100/125, cooldown - 8/6/4/2/0 to 0/0/0/0/0
--Alchemy: cooldown - 150/120/90/60/45 to 45/45/45/45/45, mana cost - 140 to 150/120/90/60/30
-Mutation
--Kyriaki: cooldown - 140 to 120
-Necromancer: intelligence - 2.2/level to 2.6/level
-Obsidian Statue: strength - 2.2/level to 1.9/level, agility - 1.6/level to 1.9/level
-Shadow Lich
--Wisdom of the Dead: limited hits on one target to once per second
-Shadow Priest
--Unholy Conversion: max level limit for creeps - 5 to 6
-Spider: agility - 2.3/level to 2.4/level
-Void Walker
--Anti-magic Shell: shield life - 100/175/250/325/400 to 125/250/375/500/625
Items:
-Glass of Beer now does not stack in stat bonuses from hero kills
Others:
-added new model for Death Ranger, who is now Burning Archer
-added new icons for Death Swarm, Impaling Spear, Lethal Injection, Lift Off, Pick Toss, Overrun, Toxic Stew
-added new attack missiles for Arcane Wizard, Flame Contraption, Meat Wagon, Spirit Walker
-added new animations for Arcane Channeling, Lethal Injection
In addition, the Death Ranger is completely remade, now known as the Burning Archer. Its old skills are no more, although Strafe retains the original name. Strafe now deals its damage near instantaneously, as opposed to a launching timed barrage of arrows. It also gained the Burning Arrows ability, allowing it to fire special arrows that deal extra damage and cause Burn damage over time. Instead of utilizing a Decoy, the Burning Archer can increase its damage directly with Blazing Agility, improving its base agility by a percentage temporarily. Finally, it now has the power to launch an Exploding Arrow, which travels in a line until it hits an enemy, whereupon the arrow explodes and deals massive area of effect damage. Like the new heroes introduced in this version, the Burning Archer also has no passives, and thus must make wide use its abilities.
v0.89 included the usual balancing and bug fixing, though no hero was changed drastically, except of course Burning Archer. The Merchant suffered a severe damage limitation in its Gold Stash ability, which used to cause way too much damage. Also, Shadow Lich's Wisdom of the Dead ability is now able to hit a given target only once per second, thus reducing its old damage output immensely in certain scenarios.
Concerning items, a slight change was made to the stat bonus from hero kills on the Glass of Beer. The stacking used to encourage players to have multiple Glasses, as the high stat bonuses would provide a feedback loop, making it easier to kill the next hero, etc. This effect is now unable to stack with multiple Glasses, although the regeneration, armor, and normal stat bonuses still stack.
Finally, some heroes underwent a few aesthetic changes, with a few new icons as well as attack and spell animations. The Death Ranger's old model changed into a flaming one, thus allowing it to become the Burning Archer.
.89 Changelog
Gameplay:
-remade Death Ranger into Burning Archer, with 4 new abilities
-new hero: Royal Guard (High Elf)
-new hero: Spirit of Vengeance (Demon)
Fixes:
-fixed top lanes to not spawn bonus creeps in the first wave
-fixed Poison Arrows to be unable to target allied units
-fixed a stun glitch with Crippling Void and Voodoo Curse
-fixed Bloodfiend's hotkey overlap from new ability last version
-fixed Mana Freeze tooltip typo
Balancing:
-Druid of the Claw: agility - 1.8/level to 2.1/level
-Helicopter: base movespeed - 325 to 310
-Illusionist: strength - 2.2/level to 1.9/level, agility - 2.4/level to 2.7/level
--Pandemonium: mana cost - 150/120/90/60/30 to 100
--Image Slash: slash damage - 30/60/90/120/150 to 40/80/120/160/200, mana cost - 60 to 100
-Jungle Stalker
--Beserk: agility gained when taking damage - 3 to 5
-Merchant
--Gold Stash: damage cap - 40/80/120/160/200 to 25/50/75/100/125, cooldown - 8/6/4/2/0 to 0/0/0/0/0
--Alchemy: cooldown - 150/120/90/60/45 to 45/45/45/45/45, mana cost - 140 to 150/120/90/60/30
-Mutation
--Kyriaki: cooldown - 140 to 120
-Necromancer: intelligence - 2.2/level to 2.6/level
-Obsidian Statue: strength - 2.2/level to 1.9/level, agility - 1.6/level to 1.9/level
-Shadow Lich
--Wisdom of the Dead: limited hits on one target to once per second
-Shadow Priest
--Unholy Conversion: max level limit for creeps - 5 to 6
-Spider: agility - 2.3/level to 2.4/level
-Void Walker
--Anti-magic Shell: shield life - 100/175/250/325/400 to 125/250/375/500/625
Items:
-Glass of Beer now does not stack in stat bonuses from hero kills
Others:
-added new model for Death Ranger, who is now Burning Archer
-added new icons for Death Swarm, Impaling Spear, Lethal Injection, Lift Off, Pick Toss, Overrun, Toxic Stew
-added new attack missiles for Arcane Wizard, Flame Contraption, Meat Wagon, Spirit Walker
-added new animations for Arcane Channeling, Lethal Injection
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
A Beginner's Guide to SMotA
This is a beginner's guide to SMotA and is written for those who have just started the game or want some tips for improvement.
Contents
I. AoS Gameplay
I. AoS Gameplay
SMotA is an Aeon of Strife (AoS) type map, where each player controls a hero that can grow stronger over time. A familiar map that is also an AoS would be DotA. AoS originally came from StarCraft; however, the WarCraft III map editor is simply much stronger, allowing for functions impossible to make with the StarCraft editor.
1. Objective
Destroy the enemy base structure.
The High Elves must raze the Demonic Portal, whereas the Demons must eradicate the Well of Eternity. Both of these structures have an extremely high amount of hitpoints and armor, and also quite a bit of regeneration. The easiest way to bring these down is to first destroy the barrack structures, allowing upgraded creeps and even Mega Creeps, the strongest level of spawned creeps. Mega Creeps can kill the otherwise invincible fortresses in a matter of seconds. These are much stronger than their counterparts in DotA.
2. Heroes
To help reach the objective, each player picks a hero from one of the taverns in the beginning of the game. They can also use the -random command, giving them a random hero. If the decision is made within the first two minutes, a player can type -repick, relinquishing their current hero and allowing him to repick another.
Each hero has a primary attribute: strength, agility, or intelligence. Strength heroes tend to have more hitpoints and be difficult to kill, agility heroes are generally faster and can deal more damage, while intelligence heroes normally have a wide range of spells available to help with many aspects of the game. For a more detailed explanation of these, take a look at the Attributes article.
3. Items
In SMotA, many items can "upgrade" or combine with other items into more powerful versions.
In the early game, it is important to have a source of hitpoint and/or mana regeneration and also bonus stats. It is not a surpise then that one of the most popular starting items for advanced players is the Keg of Ale, which provides hitpoint and mana regeneration, armor, and a bonus to all stats. It is created from 4 items that each provide one of the bonuses of the original item: Ring of Regeneration, Sobi Mask, Ring of Protection, and Circlet of Nobility.
Another important aspect throughout the game is movement speed, which is given by the Boot/Gauntlet tree. A simple level 1 Boots of Speed is sufficient in the early game, but a level 3 Boots of Speed can later combine with a level 3 Gloves of Haste, resulting in a level 1 Power Gauntlets, which in turn can also be upgraded to level 3, providing a whopping 110 movespeed. There are many more items for the beginner to explore, and it must be mentioned that a secret shop exists, despite the fact that it doesn't sell anything.
4. Lanes
A lane is a path that is taken by spawned creeps from its own base to the enemy's. There are three lanes, which are commonly referred to as top, middle, and bottom. The top and bottom lanes each possess an Outpost, while the middle lane contains two. Observatories also exist between the middle lane and either side lane.
5. Bases
Each team begins with one relatively large base. Players are normally safe once inside their bases, that is, unless oppoenents have taken down base towers and such. Bases contain shops that sell important items. The High Elves begin with a base on the Southwest, while the Demonic base resides in the Northeast.
6. Outposts
Outposts are mini-bases that are located near the center or at the other two corners from the main bases. The top lane outpost is initially controlled by the High Elves and is located in the Northwest, whereas the bottom lane outpost is controlled by the Demons in the Southeast. Additionally, two Outposts are located in the middle lane, each team controlling the closer one in the beginning. Outposts spawn special creeps, provide sight, and come with teleporters back to base. Outposts can be captured by either team. If a team can hold all four Outposts for an extended period of time, they are normally at an advantage.
7. Observatories
Observatories, like Outposts, can be traded back and forth between the two teams. Observatories do not offer as many benefits such as extra creep spawning and teleporters, but they provide an enormous area of sight, hence their name. See the article on Observatories for more information.
8. Creeps
Creeps are spawned primarily from the two main bases, however, the Outposts will spawn bonus creeps once in a while. Outpost creeps are stronger than normal ones, but are small in number. Main bases also periodically spawn bonus creeps themselves, including magical and flying ones in addition to the normal melee and ranged creeps. Neutral creeps exist at several sites across the map; these fight for neither side and are hostile to anyone who crosses their path. However, they often give more bounty than lane creeps, and tougher ones can give more experience as well.
9. Pushing
Pushing is simply the act of advancing along one or more lanes; this normally involves destroying towers. On the map it looks like one team is pushing the other one back, hence the name. A win is impossible without pushing, because a player must advance into the enemy base to achieve victory.
II. Hero Classifications
Note: one hero can fit into more than one classification.
1. Assassin
Assassins specialize in quickly killing other heroes, especially ones with low hitpoints. Assassins are generally agility heroes and many have ambushing abilities like some form of invisiblity or quick movement. Many assassins also have skills that improve their damage output.
Subcategories:
These heroes nuke or use spells to deal massive damage as opposed to using physical attacks. Almost all nukers are intelligence heroes.
Examples:
These are heroes who excel in destroying large waves, or groups, of enemy creeps and can also empower allied ones. And as the name suggests, these heroes are also able to advance quickly along a selected lane; any abilities that help kill towers help as well. A successful pusher can often win the game for their team if they succeed in infiltration of the enemy base.
Subcategories:
These heroes will help their allies and hurt their enemies with support skills, not necessarily dealing damage. This is perhaps the widest category of heroes.
Subcategories:
These are heroes who can tank, or withstand a lot of damage, usually with high hitpoints, armor, or healing. Tanks are used to draw enemy fire away from more fragile targets like assassins or nukers. They are also used to lead pushes. Most tanks are strength heroes.
Examples:
1. Try to avoid dying. And by that I mean be alert, look around often for enemy heroes, etc. It is normally more important to keep yourself alive than to kill an enemy.
2. Look through the heroes on single player. SMotA allows unlimited repicking in single player, so it is possible to go through many heroes in a single session. Generally beginners find agility-based ranged heroes easiest to play.
3. Look through the items on single player as well. Knowing the types of items can help with various aspects of the game.
4. Don't try to fight someone several levels above you, unless they are on low hitpoints and you know you can kill them.
5. Know when to retreat. If you are chasing a nearly dead enemy and they reach their base or another hero, it is normally time to give up the chase and return home.
6. Level really matters!
7. Try not to let creeps attack you in the early game. If you follow this, you will almost always have more hitpoints.
8. Do not fight when outnumbered. I had a game where an ally and I were pushing a lane with about 10 creeps, and suddenly an enemy popped up to face us both with the creeps. He ran into the midst of the creeps and we killed him in about 5 seconds. Which brings us to:
9. Do not underestimate creeps. You can face them in the late game, but trying to solo a creep wave is suicidal early on.
10. Keep your health up. If you are running low on health, go back to base as quickly as possible (i.e. via Teleporters), heal, and get back in the lane. Many beginners die because they think they are safe even when they have only a small amount of hitpoints left. Generally, if you are ever at less than 33% health, a fountain heal is recommended.
11. Keep your team in mind. If an ally deserves a kill, don't steal it. If you have a healing spell, heal your allies when they are low on health. Use beneficial spells on them, etc.
12. Know that spells deal 75% damage to heroes. Suppose you want to finish someone off with a 400 damage spell, and you are attacking the enemy. Wait for his hp to go below 300, then cast the spell; this will kill him. If you cast the spell first, they will immediately run and depending on the situation, it may or may not be possible to chase them.
13. To get gold for killing a creep, you must provide the final hit. In other words, if you took down a creep from 500 to 10 health and a nearby allied creep with more than 10 damage hits it, you will not get any gold. A good player will turn that around, letting allied creeps do the damaging and then time a last hit to get the gold. You get experience either way.
14. You can deny an allied creep, causing it to not give gold or experience to your opponents. This is done by attacking and killing one of your allied creeps when they are at low health.
15. Get a Keg of Ale in the early game. It will help you survive immensely.
Contents
I. AoS Gameplay
- Objective
- Heroes
- Items
- Lanes
- Bases
- Outposts
- Observatories
- Creeps
- Pushing
- Assassin
- Nuker
- Pusher
- Support
- Tank
I. AoS Gameplay
SMotA is an Aeon of Strife (AoS) type map, where each player controls a hero that can grow stronger over time. A familiar map that is also an AoS would be DotA. AoS originally came from StarCraft; however, the WarCraft III map editor is simply much stronger, allowing for functions impossible to make with the StarCraft editor.
1. Objective
Destroy the enemy base structure.
The High Elves must raze the Demonic Portal, whereas the Demons must eradicate the Well of Eternity. Both of these structures have an extremely high amount of hitpoints and armor, and also quite a bit of regeneration. The easiest way to bring these down is to first destroy the barrack structures, allowing upgraded creeps and even Mega Creeps, the strongest level of spawned creeps. Mega Creeps can kill the otherwise invincible fortresses in a matter of seconds. These are much stronger than their counterparts in DotA.
2. Heroes
To help reach the objective, each player picks a hero from one of the taverns in the beginning of the game. They can also use the -random command, giving them a random hero. If the decision is made within the first two minutes, a player can type -repick, relinquishing their current hero and allowing him to repick another.
Each hero has a primary attribute: strength, agility, or intelligence. Strength heroes tend to have more hitpoints and be difficult to kill, agility heroes are generally faster and can deal more damage, while intelligence heroes normally have a wide range of spells available to help with many aspects of the game. For a more detailed explanation of these, take a look at the Attributes article.
3. Items
In SMotA, many items can "upgrade" or combine with other items into more powerful versions.
In the early game, it is important to have a source of hitpoint and/or mana regeneration and also bonus stats. It is not a surpise then that one of the most popular starting items for advanced players is the Keg of Ale, which provides hitpoint and mana regeneration, armor, and a bonus to all stats. It is created from 4 items that each provide one of the bonuses of the original item: Ring of Regeneration, Sobi Mask, Ring of Protection, and Circlet of Nobility.
Another important aspect throughout the game is movement speed, which is given by the Boot/Gauntlet tree. A simple level 1 Boots of Speed is sufficient in the early game, but a level 3 Boots of Speed can later combine with a level 3 Gloves of Haste, resulting in a level 1 Power Gauntlets, which in turn can also be upgraded to level 3, providing a whopping 110 movespeed. There are many more items for the beginner to explore, and it must be mentioned that a secret shop exists, despite the fact that it doesn't sell anything.
4. Lanes
A lane is a path that is taken by spawned creeps from its own base to the enemy's. There are three lanes, which are commonly referred to as top, middle, and bottom. The top and bottom lanes each possess an Outpost, while the middle lane contains two. Observatories also exist between the middle lane and either side lane.
5. Bases
Each team begins with one relatively large base. Players are normally safe once inside their bases, that is, unless oppoenents have taken down base towers and such. Bases contain shops that sell important items. The High Elves begin with a base on the Southwest, while the Demonic base resides in the Northeast.
6. Outposts
Outposts are mini-bases that are located near the center or at the other two corners from the main bases. The top lane outpost is initially controlled by the High Elves and is located in the Northwest, whereas the bottom lane outpost is controlled by the Demons in the Southeast. Additionally, two Outposts are located in the middle lane, each team controlling the closer one in the beginning. Outposts spawn special creeps, provide sight, and come with teleporters back to base. Outposts can be captured by either team. If a team can hold all four Outposts for an extended period of time, they are normally at an advantage.
7. Observatories
Observatories, like Outposts, can be traded back and forth between the two teams. Observatories do not offer as many benefits such as extra creep spawning and teleporters, but they provide an enormous area of sight, hence their name. See the article on Observatories for more information.
8. Creeps
Creeps are spawned primarily from the two main bases, however, the Outposts will spawn bonus creeps once in a while. Outpost creeps are stronger than normal ones, but are small in number. Main bases also periodically spawn bonus creeps themselves, including magical and flying ones in addition to the normal melee and ranged creeps. Neutral creeps exist at several sites across the map; these fight for neither side and are hostile to anyone who crosses their path. However, they often give more bounty than lane creeps, and tougher ones can give more experience as well.
9. Pushing
Pushing is simply the act of advancing along one or more lanes; this normally involves destroying towers. On the map it looks like one team is pushing the other one back, hence the name. A win is impossible without pushing, because a player must advance into the enemy base to achieve victory.
II. Hero Classifications
Note: one hero can fit into more than one classification.
1. Assassin
Assassins specialize in quickly killing other heroes, especially ones with low hitpoints. Assassins are generally agility heroes and many have ambushing abilities like some form of invisiblity or quick movement. Many assassins also have skills that improve their damage output.
Subcategories:
- Invisibility Heroes: can become invisible in some way, useful for ambushing and escaping; check out the Invisibility article for a comprehensive list of these heroes
- Chasers: can move at very high speeds and outrun fleeing heroes, or can slow down or even stop enemies with spells and bashes
- DPS'ers: have high damage per second (dps)
- Elven Hunter: can become passively invisible with Hunter's Cunning and can slow enemies down with Poison Arrows and Speed Drain, of which the latter speeds up the Elven Hunter as well
- Raider: can move quickly with Accelerating Warp and Blazing Speed and deal massive damage with Blood Pact, also can slow down enemies with Gushing Blade
- Troll Beserker: can increase attack speed with Beserk and damage with Spear Mastery
These heroes nuke or use spells to deal massive damage as opposed to using physical attacks. Almost all nukers are intelligence heroes.
Examples:
- Tuskarr Mage: can deal spell damage with Frost Bolt, Snowball, Winter Chill, and Nova of Frost
- Warlock: can deal spell damage with Immolate, Incinerate, Shadowfury, and Conflagrate :D
These are heroes who excel in destroying large waves, or groups, of enemy creeps and can also empower allied ones. And as the name suggests, these heroes are also able to advance quickly along a selected lane; any abilities that help kill towers help as well. A successful pusher can often win the game for their team if they succeed in infiltration of the enemy base.
Subcategories:
- AoE (Area of Effect) Heroes: can deal damage to multiple targets at a time, facilitating annihilation of creep waves, includes both AoE physical and magical damage
- Summoners: can summon their own special creeps to attack enemies
- Tower Killers: can kill towers more easily than most heroes
- Mountain Giant: can hit multiple creeps in one attack with Mighty Attack
- Skeletal Mage: can summon Zombies and cause AoE damage with Soul Barrage and Crippling Void
- Goblin Sapper: can raze enemy structures with Demolition Bot and Land Mine
These heroes will help their allies and hurt their enemies with support skills, not necessarily dealing damage. This is perhaps the widest category of heroes.
Subcategories:
- Healer: can heal allied heroes
- Enchanter: can place powerful buffs on allied heroes, including auras
- Disabler: can cast spells that reduce or neutralize enemies' combat abilities, including damage output, defense, movement, and spell-casting
- Stunner: can stun enemy heroes, stopping them and rendering them unable to attack or cast spells shortly
- Holy Priest: can heal allies with Touch of God and Global Heal, and can provide two buffs with Brilliance Aura and Divine Intervention
- Paladin: can heal allies and remove harmful spell effects with Purify and can siginificantly improve their defense with Divine Empowerment
- Tree Goddess: can Rock Hex enemies and also immobilize them with Grasp of Nature
- Tauren: can stun enemies with Split Earth and Global Stomp
These are heroes who can tank, or withstand a lot of damage, usually with high hitpoints, armor, or healing. Tanks are used to draw enemy fire away from more fragile targets like assassins or nukers. They are also used to lead pushes. Most tanks are strength heroes.
Examples:
- War Golem: can heal with Reassemble and can improve hitpoints and armor with Nanoplating
- Sludge King: can have an enormous quantity of hitpoints and armor with Sludge Composition
1. Try to avoid dying. And by that I mean be alert, look around often for enemy heroes, etc. It is normally more important to keep yourself alive than to kill an enemy.
2. Look through the heroes on single player. SMotA allows unlimited repicking in single player, so it is possible to go through many heroes in a single session. Generally beginners find agility-based ranged heroes easiest to play.
3. Look through the items on single player as well. Knowing the types of items can help with various aspects of the game.
4. Don't try to fight someone several levels above you, unless they are on low hitpoints and you know you can kill them.
5. Know when to retreat. If you are chasing a nearly dead enemy and they reach their base or another hero, it is normally time to give up the chase and return home.
6. Level really matters!
7. Try not to let creeps attack you in the early game. If you follow this, you will almost always have more hitpoints.
8. Do not fight when outnumbered. I had a game where an ally and I were pushing a lane with about 10 creeps, and suddenly an enemy popped up to face us both with the creeps. He ran into the midst of the creeps and we killed him in about 5 seconds. Which brings us to:
9. Do not underestimate creeps. You can face them in the late game, but trying to solo a creep wave is suicidal early on.
10. Keep your health up. If you are running low on health, go back to base as quickly as possible (i.e. via Teleporters), heal, and get back in the lane. Many beginners die because they think they are safe even when they have only a small amount of hitpoints left. Generally, if you are ever at less than 33% health, a fountain heal is recommended.
11. Keep your team in mind. If an ally deserves a kill, don't steal it. If you have a healing spell, heal your allies when they are low on health. Use beneficial spells on them, etc.
12. Know that spells deal 75% damage to heroes. Suppose you want to finish someone off with a 400 damage spell, and you are attacking the enemy. Wait for his hp to go below 300, then cast the spell; this will kill him. If you cast the spell first, they will immediately run and depending on the situation, it may or may not be possible to chase them.
13. To get gold for killing a creep, you must provide the final hit. In other words, if you took down a creep from 500 to 10 health and a nearby allied creep with more than 10 damage hits it, you will not get any gold. A good player will turn that around, letting allied creeps do the damaging and then time a last hit to get the gold. You get experience either way.
14. You can deny an allied creep, causing it to not give gold or experience to your opponents. This is done by attacking and killing one of your allied creeps when they are at low health.
15. Get a Keg of Ale in the early game. It will help you survive immensely.
Monday, July 14, 2008
v0.88 Hero Statistics
Ranks in these lists do not factor in items or abilities; however, stat bonuses are included at level 29 statistics. In case of tie, heroes in the tie will be ranked in no particular order. Thanks to KavuChameleon for providing the original spreadsheet!
Top Tens
Strength per Level
1. Sludge King (+4.0)
2. Doom Guard (+3.3)
3. Ogre Warlord (+3.2)
4. Pit Lord (+3.2)
5. Abomination (+3.1)
6. Bandit (+3.0)
7. Jungle Stalker (+3.0)
8. Grunt (+2.9)
9. Mountain Giant (+2.9)
10. Death Knight (+2.6)
Agility per Level
1. Warden (+3.2)
2. Spell Breaker (+2.9)
3. Naga Warrior (+2.9)
4. Gnoll Assassin (+2.9)
5. Gargoyle (+2.8)
6. Raider (+2.8)
7. Zergling (+2.8)
8. Harpy Stormwitch (+2.8)
9. Dark Ranger (+2.7)
10. Helicopter (+2.7)
Intelligence per Level
1. Void Walker (+3.6)
2. Skeletal Mage (+3.5)
3. Archmage (+3.3)
4. Banshee (+3.2)
5. Faerie Dragon (+3.2)
6. Druid of the Talon (+3.2)
7. Storm Panda (+3.0)
8. Tree Goddess (+3.0)
9. Tuskarr Mage (+2.9)
10. Satyr Thundercaller (+2.9)
11. Medicine Man (+2.9)
Total Stats per Level
1. Faerie Dragon (+6.7)
2. Archmage (+6.6)
3. Spell Breaker (+6.5)
4. Void Walker (+6.5)
5. Doom Guard (+6.4)
6. Demolitionist (+6.3)
7. Far Seer (+6.3)
8. Warden (+6.3)
9. Druid of the Talon (+6.3)
10. Chaos Peon (+6.3)
Level 29 Damage *(not including dice)
1. Sludge King (178)
2. Void Walker (169)
3. Skeletal Mage (161)
4. Archmage (156)
5. Faerie Dragon (155)
6. Ogre Warlord (154)
7. Doom Guard (154)
8. Banshee (154)
9. Pit Lord (153)
10. Druid of the Talon (153)
11. Abomination (153)
Level 29 Attack Speed *(cooldown in seconds)
1. Warden (0.74)
2. Naga Warrior (0.75)
3. Zergling (0.76)
4. Gnoll Assassin (0.76)
5. Gargoyle (0.77)
6. Spell Breaker (0.77)
7. Harpy Stormwitch (0.77)
8. Raider (0.77)
9. Dark Ranger (0.78)
10. Helicopter (0.78)
11. Mutation (0.78)
Level 29 DPS *(Damage per second)
1. Warden (205.18)
2. Naga Warrior (194.09)
3. Zergling (189.74)
4. Spell Breaker (185.44)
5. Raider (181.18)
6. Mutation (176.96)
7. Gnoll Assassin (174.46)
8. Gargoyle (172.38)
9. Harpy Stormwitch (168.24)
10. Dark Ranger (166.18)
Level 29 HP
1. Sludge King (3468)
2. Ogre Warlord (2964)
3. Doom Guard (2964)
4. Pit Lord (2943)
5. Abomination (2943)
6. Jungle Stalker (2769)
7. Bandit (2775)
8. Mountain Giant (2754)
9. Grunt (2733)
10. Death Knight (2565)
Level 29 Armor
1. Warden (14.1)
2. Naga Warrior (13.6)
3. Zergling (13.4)
4. Spell Breaker (13.2)
5. Raider (13.0)
6. Knight (13.0)
7. Mutation (12.8)
8. Hippogryph (12.0)
9. Earth Revenant (12.0)
10. Desert Advocate (12.0)
11. Blood Fiend (12.0)
Level 29 EHP (Effective Hit Points, includes armor)
1. Ogre Warlord (4725)
2. Abomination (4709)
3. Sludge King (4654)
4. Jungle Stalker (4574)
5. Pit Lord (4568)
6. Doom Guard (4529)
7. Grunt (4520)
8. Mountain Giant (4473)
9. Bandit (4424)
10. Footman (4213)
Level 29 Mana
1. Void Walker (2086)
2. Skeletal Mage (1974)
3. Archmage (1904)
4. Faerie Dragon (1890)
5. Banshee (1876)
6. Druid of the Talon (1862)
7. Storm Panda (1806)
8. Tree Goddess (1778)
9. Satyr Thundercaller (1750)
10. Medicine Man (1750)
Level 29 Movespeed
1. Helicopter (348.6)
2. Warden (346.2)
3. Crypt Lurker (345.8)
4. Spell Breaker (344.4)
5. Dark Ranger (343.8)
6. Knight (342.0)
7. Hippogryph (342.0)
8. Huntress (341.6)
9. Illusionist (341.6)
10. Kobold Digger (340.4)
Level 29 Battle Power (DPS times EHP)
1. Raider (718,839)
2. Warden (693,143)
3. Ogre Warlord (685,467)
4. Spell Breaker (684,870)
5. Sludge King (684,538)
6. Abomination (682,528)
7. Naga Warrior (667,235)
8. Mutation (664,544)
9. Jungle Stalker (653,782)
10. Grunt (643,012)
Bottom Tens
Strength per Level
1. Tree Goddess (+1.2)
2. Skeletal Mage (+1.3)
3. Skinkapulter (+1.4)
4. Rifleman (+1.4)
5. Gnoll Assassin (+1.4)
6. Huntress (+1.4)
7. Zergling (+1.5)
8. Harpy Stormwitch (+1.5)
9. Helicopter (+1.5)
10. Merchant (+1.5)
11. Tuskarr Mage (+1.5)
12. Troll Beserker (+1.5)
13. Warden (+1.5)
14. Elven Hunter (+1.5)
15. Flame Contraption (+1.5)
16. Banshee (+1.5)
Agility per Level
1. Sludge King (+1.0)
2. Storm Panda (+1.0)
3. Banshee (+1.3)
4. Satyr Thundercaller (+1.3)
5. Skeletal Mage (+1.3)
6. Void Walker (+1.3)
7. Shadow Lich (+1.3)
8. Doom Guard (+1.3)
9. Tree Goddess (+1.3)
10. Paladin (+1.3)
11. Pit Lord (+1.3)
Intelligence per Level
1. Sludge King (+1.0)
2. Raider (+1.1)
3. Dryad (+1.2)
4. Grunt (+1.2)
5. Footman (+1.2)
6. Hippogryph (+1.2)
7. Gnoll Assassin (+1.2)
8. Naga Warrior (+1.2)
9. Ogre Warlord (+1.2)
10. Troll Beserker (+1.3)
11. Abomination (+1.3)
12. Rifleman (+1.3)
13. Jungle Stalker (+1.3)
14. Blood Fiend (+1.3)
Total Stats per Level
1. Rifleman (+4.9)
2. Hippogryph (+5.2)
3. Troll Beserker (+5.3)
4. Master of the Hunt (+5.3)
5. Nerubian Lord (+5.5)
6. War Golem (+5.5)
7. Necromancer (+5.5)
8. Shaman (+5.5)
9. Druid of the Claw (+5.5)
10. Gnoll Assassin (+5.5)
11. Shaman (+5.5)
12. Dryad (+5.5)
13. Troll Batrider (+5.5)
Level 29 Damage *(not including dice)
1. Merchant (107)
2. Nether Dragon (109)
3. Ghost (111)
4. Druid of the Claw (111)
5. Meat Wagon (111)
6. Rifleman (114)
7. Crypt Lurker (114)
8. Eredar Diabolist (114)
9. Nerubian Lord (114)
10. Shaman (117)
11. Knight (117)
Level 29 Attack Speed *(cooldown in seconds)
1. Sludge King (1.21)
2. Storm Panda (1.17)
3. Paladin (1.14)
4. Doom Guard (1.13)
5. Tree Goddess (1.13)
6. Shadow Lich (1.13)
7. Satyr Thundercaller (1.12)
8. Void Walker (1.12)
9. Banshee (1.12)
10. Skeletal Mage (1.10)
11. Pit Lord (1.10)
12. Sorceress (1.10)
Level 29 DPS
1. Druid of the Claw (108.66)
2. Necromancer (112.08)
3. Obsidian Statue (112.74)
4. Paladin (113.58)
5. Demolitionist (113.79)
6. Warlock (113.99)
7. Shaman (115.15)
8. War Golem (115.52)
9. Alchemist (115.88)
10. Eredar Diabolist (116.40)
Level 29 HP
1. Tree Goddess (1578)
2. Skeletal Mage (1620)
3. Skinkapulter (1683)
4. Huntress (1704)
5. Elven Hunter (1746)
6. Troll Beserker (1746)
7. Rifleman (1746)
8. Zergling (1746)
9. Gnoll Assassin (1767)
10. Flame Contraption (1767)
11. Harpy Stormwitch (1767)
12. Merchant (1767)
13. Helicopter (1767)
Level 29 Armor
1. Storm Panda (4.3)
2. Skeletal Mage (5.2)
3. Druid of the Talon (5.4)
4. Hematologist (5.7)
5. Sludge King (5.7)
6. Shadow Lich (5.8)
7. Tree Goddess (5.8)
8. Warlock (5.9)
9. Arcane Wizard (5.9)
10. Void Walker (5.9)
11. Satyr Thundercaller (5.9)
Level 29 EHP
1. Skeletal Mage (2125)
2. Tree Goddess (2127)
3. Flame Contraption (2403)
4. Banshee (2432)
5. Void Walker (2449)
6. Tuskarr Mage (2453)
7. Druid of the Talon (2506)
8. Shaman (2507)
9. Holy Priest (2515)
10. Sorceress (2522)
Level 29 Mana
1. Raider (868)
2. Footman (910)
3. Hippogryph (924)
4. Naga Warrior (924)
5. Dryad (938)
6. Gnoll Assassin (952)
7. Ogre Warlord (952)
8. Sludge King (952)
9. Abomination (952)
10. Jungle Stalker (952)
Level 29 Movespeed
1. War Golem (287.2)
2. Centaur Khan (291.0)
3. Pit Lord (294.4)
4. Warlock (295.8)
5. Rifleman (296.4)
6. Makrura (297.4)
7. Grunt (297.8)
8. Paladin (298.2)
9. Kodo Rider (299.8)
10. Alchemist (300.8)
Level 29 Battle Power
1. Tree Goddess (276,484)
2. Shaman (288,662)
3. Shadow Lich (300,087)
4. Ice Troll Priest (304,503)
5. Flame Contraption (305,070)
6. Necromancer (306,056)
7. Holy Priest (308,027)
8. Skeletal Mage (309,777)
9. Sorceress (316,863)
10. Storm Panda (331,420)
Top Tens
Strength per Level
1. Sludge King (+4.0)
2. Doom Guard (+3.3)
3. Ogre Warlord (+3.2)
4. Pit Lord (+3.2)
5. Abomination (+3.1)
6. Bandit (+3.0)
7. Jungle Stalker (+3.0)
8. Grunt (+2.9)
9. Mountain Giant (+2.9)
10. Death Knight (+2.6)
Agility per Level
1. Warden (+3.2)
2. Spell Breaker (+2.9)
3. Naga Warrior (+2.9)
4. Gnoll Assassin (+2.9)
5. Gargoyle (+2.8)
6. Raider (+2.8)
7. Zergling (+2.8)
8. Harpy Stormwitch (+2.8)
9. Dark Ranger (+2.7)
10. Helicopter (+2.7)
Intelligence per Level
1. Void Walker (+3.6)
2. Skeletal Mage (+3.5)
3. Archmage (+3.3)
4. Banshee (+3.2)
5. Faerie Dragon (+3.2)
6. Druid of the Talon (+3.2)
7. Storm Panda (+3.0)
8. Tree Goddess (+3.0)
9. Tuskarr Mage (+2.9)
10. Satyr Thundercaller (+2.9)
11. Medicine Man (+2.9)
Total Stats per Level
1. Faerie Dragon (+6.7)
2. Archmage (+6.6)
3. Spell Breaker (+6.5)
4. Void Walker (+6.5)
5. Doom Guard (+6.4)
6. Demolitionist (+6.3)
7. Far Seer (+6.3)
8. Warden (+6.3)
9. Druid of the Talon (+6.3)
10. Chaos Peon (+6.3)
Level 29 Damage *(not including dice)
1. Sludge King (178)
2. Void Walker (169)
3. Skeletal Mage (161)
4. Archmage (156)
5. Faerie Dragon (155)
6. Ogre Warlord (154)
7. Doom Guard (154)
8. Banshee (154)
9. Pit Lord (153)
10. Druid of the Talon (153)
11. Abomination (153)
Level 29 Attack Speed *(cooldown in seconds)
1. Warden (0.74)
2. Naga Warrior (0.75)
3. Zergling (0.76)
4. Gnoll Assassin (0.76)
5. Gargoyle (0.77)
6. Spell Breaker (0.77)
7. Harpy Stormwitch (0.77)
8. Raider (0.77)
9. Dark Ranger (0.78)
10. Helicopter (0.78)
11. Mutation (0.78)
Level 29 DPS *(Damage per second)
1. Warden (205.18)
2. Naga Warrior (194.09)
3. Zergling (189.74)
4. Spell Breaker (185.44)
5. Raider (181.18)
6. Mutation (176.96)
7. Gnoll Assassin (174.46)
8. Gargoyle (172.38)
9. Harpy Stormwitch (168.24)
10. Dark Ranger (166.18)
Level 29 HP
1. Sludge King (3468)
2. Ogre Warlord (2964)
3. Doom Guard (2964)
4. Pit Lord (2943)
5. Abomination (2943)
6. Jungle Stalker (2769)
7. Bandit (2775)
8. Mountain Giant (2754)
9. Grunt (2733)
10. Death Knight (2565)
Level 29 Armor
1. Warden (14.1)
2. Naga Warrior (13.6)
3. Zergling (13.4)
4. Spell Breaker (13.2)
5. Raider (13.0)
6. Knight (13.0)
7. Mutation (12.8)
8. Hippogryph (12.0)
9. Earth Revenant (12.0)
10. Desert Advocate (12.0)
11. Blood Fiend (12.0)
Level 29 EHP (Effective Hit Points, includes armor)
1. Ogre Warlord (4725)
2. Abomination (4709)
3. Sludge King (4654)
4. Jungle Stalker (4574)
5. Pit Lord (4568)
6. Doom Guard (4529)
7. Grunt (4520)
8. Mountain Giant (4473)
9. Bandit (4424)
10. Footman (4213)
Level 29 Mana
1. Void Walker (2086)
2. Skeletal Mage (1974)
3. Archmage (1904)
4. Faerie Dragon (1890)
5. Banshee (1876)
6. Druid of the Talon (1862)
7. Storm Panda (1806)
8. Tree Goddess (1778)
9. Satyr Thundercaller (1750)
10. Medicine Man (1750)
Level 29 Movespeed
1. Helicopter (348.6)
2. Warden (346.2)
3. Crypt Lurker (345.8)
4. Spell Breaker (344.4)
5. Dark Ranger (343.8)
6. Knight (342.0)
7. Hippogryph (342.0)
8. Huntress (341.6)
9. Illusionist (341.6)
10. Kobold Digger (340.4)
Level 29 Battle Power (DPS times EHP)
1. Raider (718,839)
2. Warden (693,143)
3. Ogre Warlord (685,467)
4. Spell Breaker (684,870)
5. Sludge King (684,538)
6. Abomination (682,528)
7. Naga Warrior (667,235)
8. Mutation (664,544)
9. Jungle Stalker (653,782)
10. Grunt (643,012)
Bottom Tens
Strength per Level
1. Tree Goddess (+1.2)
2. Skeletal Mage (+1.3)
3. Skinkapulter (+1.4)
4. Rifleman (+1.4)
5. Gnoll Assassin (+1.4)
6. Huntress (+1.4)
7. Zergling (+1.5)
8. Harpy Stormwitch (+1.5)
9. Helicopter (+1.5)
10. Merchant (+1.5)
11. Tuskarr Mage (+1.5)
12. Troll Beserker (+1.5)
13. Warden (+1.5)
14. Elven Hunter (+1.5)
15. Flame Contraption (+1.5)
16. Banshee (+1.5)
Agility per Level
1. Sludge King (+1.0)
2. Storm Panda (+1.0)
3. Banshee (+1.3)
4. Satyr Thundercaller (+1.3)
5. Skeletal Mage (+1.3)
6. Void Walker (+1.3)
7. Shadow Lich (+1.3)
8. Doom Guard (+1.3)
9. Tree Goddess (+1.3)
10. Paladin (+1.3)
11. Pit Lord (+1.3)
Intelligence per Level
1. Sludge King (+1.0)
2. Raider (+1.1)
3. Dryad (+1.2)
4. Grunt (+1.2)
5. Footman (+1.2)
6. Hippogryph (+1.2)
7. Gnoll Assassin (+1.2)
8. Naga Warrior (+1.2)
9. Ogre Warlord (+1.2)
10. Troll Beserker (+1.3)
11. Abomination (+1.3)
12. Rifleman (+1.3)
13. Jungle Stalker (+1.3)
14. Blood Fiend (+1.3)
Total Stats per Level
1. Rifleman (+4.9)
2. Hippogryph (+5.2)
3. Troll Beserker (+5.3)
4. Master of the Hunt (+5.3)
5. Nerubian Lord (+5.5)
6. War Golem (+5.5)
7. Necromancer (+5.5)
8. Shaman (+5.5)
9. Druid of the Claw (+5.5)
10. Gnoll Assassin (+5.5)
11. Shaman (+5.5)
12. Dryad (+5.5)
13. Troll Batrider (+5.5)
Level 29 Damage *(not including dice)
1. Merchant (107)
2. Nether Dragon (109)
3. Ghost (111)
4. Druid of the Claw (111)
5. Meat Wagon (111)
6. Rifleman (114)
7. Crypt Lurker (114)
8. Eredar Diabolist (114)
9. Nerubian Lord (114)
10. Shaman (117)
11. Knight (117)
Level 29 Attack Speed *(cooldown in seconds)
1. Sludge King (1.21)
2. Storm Panda (1.17)
3. Paladin (1.14)
4. Doom Guard (1.13)
5. Tree Goddess (1.13)
6. Shadow Lich (1.13)
7. Satyr Thundercaller (1.12)
8. Void Walker (1.12)
9. Banshee (1.12)
10. Skeletal Mage (1.10)
11. Pit Lord (1.10)
12. Sorceress (1.10)
Level 29 DPS
1. Druid of the Claw (108.66)
2. Necromancer (112.08)
3. Obsidian Statue (112.74)
4. Paladin (113.58)
5. Demolitionist (113.79)
6. Warlock (113.99)
7. Shaman (115.15)
8. War Golem (115.52)
9. Alchemist (115.88)
10. Eredar Diabolist (116.40)
Level 29 HP
1. Tree Goddess (1578)
2. Skeletal Mage (1620)
3. Skinkapulter (1683)
4. Huntress (1704)
5. Elven Hunter (1746)
6. Troll Beserker (1746)
7. Rifleman (1746)
8. Zergling (1746)
9. Gnoll Assassin (1767)
10. Flame Contraption (1767)
11. Harpy Stormwitch (1767)
12. Merchant (1767)
13. Helicopter (1767)
Level 29 Armor
1. Storm Panda (4.3)
2. Skeletal Mage (5.2)
3. Druid of the Talon (5.4)
4. Hematologist (5.7)
5. Sludge King (5.7)
6. Shadow Lich (5.8)
7. Tree Goddess (5.8)
8. Warlock (5.9)
9. Arcane Wizard (5.9)
10. Void Walker (5.9)
11. Satyr Thundercaller (5.9)
Level 29 EHP
1. Skeletal Mage (2125)
2. Tree Goddess (2127)
3. Flame Contraption (2403)
4. Banshee (2432)
5. Void Walker (2449)
6. Tuskarr Mage (2453)
7. Druid of the Talon (2506)
8. Shaman (2507)
9. Holy Priest (2515)
10. Sorceress (2522)
Level 29 Mana
1. Raider (868)
2. Footman (910)
3. Hippogryph (924)
4. Naga Warrior (924)
5. Dryad (938)
6. Gnoll Assassin (952)
7. Ogre Warlord (952)
8. Sludge King (952)
9. Abomination (952)
10. Jungle Stalker (952)
Level 29 Movespeed
1. War Golem (287.2)
2. Centaur Khan (291.0)
3. Pit Lord (294.4)
4. Warlock (295.8)
5. Rifleman (296.4)
6. Makrura (297.4)
7. Grunt (297.8)
8. Paladin (298.2)
9. Kodo Rider (299.8)
10. Alchemist (300.8)
Level 29 Battle Power
1. Tree Goddess (276,484)
2. Shaman (288,662)
3. Shadow Lich (300,087)
4. Ice Troll Priest (304,503)
5. Flame Contraption (305,070)
6. Necromancer (306,056)
7. Holy Priest (308,027)
8. Skeletal Mage (309,777)
9. Sorceress (316,863)
10. Storm Panda (331,420)
v0.88 Changelog
The changes for version 0.88 focused mainly on four existing heroes: Paladin, Jungle Stalker, Chaos Peon, and Spider. Paladin was essentially remade, leaving none of his original abilities intact; in fact, Wave of Light is the only ability that is remotely similar, thus it retains the old name. Jungle Stalker was also revamped, although all four of his abilities have the same function as before, with some slightly different mechanics, including the removal of the annoying knockback on Rampage. Both Paladin and Jungle Stalker were renovated primarily because of the lag they were sometimes causing in multiplayer games.
Chaos Peon had a significant glitch in v0.87, the version it was released in. Its Summon Peon ability was supposed to have a limit of 1 Peon at a time, but players soon found out that it could spawn many more. This was the first thing fixed in v0.88. Spider's Silk Trail was also remade, as the original passive one was highly glitched. It is now an active ability that is somewhat stronger when casted, and allows the Spider easier escape at times because the enemy won't always have a trail of webs to follow.
Additionally, Blood Fiend and Goblin Sapper were each given a new ability that replaced an old one. Blood Fiend originally had Blood Enhancement, which increased hitpoints and attack speed. However, this passive made the Blood Fiend a bit boring to use; it is now replaced with Blood Boil, an active ability that can be casted on an ally or himself, increasing damage and hitpoint regeneration. This complements his other abilities well, especially with lifesteal.
Goblin Sapper's old Suicide ability was simply useless most of the time, and even in the rare case that the player could blow something up, they would die and have to wait to respawn. It is now replaced with Sticky Grenade, which plants an invisible bomb on any target, showing neither an animation nor a debuff. After 5 seconds, the grenade will explode, dealing massive area of effect damage. If the target unit died before the 5 seconds, the explosion would occur then with stronger effect. This can be casted on the Goblin Sapper's own Demolition Bot and Land Mines, causing their explosions to be much more deadly.
Many hero stats were slightly tweaked for minor balancing. Demolitionist had a somewhat large makeover as his primary attribute changed from intelligence to strenth. However, this should not significantly affect his play style. Again, no items were changed.
v0.88 Changelog
Gameplay:
-remade Paladin and Jungle Stalker due to heavy lag from their original abilities
Fixes:
-fixed Summon Peon to be able to summon only 1 Peon at a time
-fixed Ring of Fire to work on a target on a friendly Teleporter
Balancing:
-Blood Fiend
--Blood Boil (replaced Blood Enhancement): new skill
-Death Ranger
--Silence: mana cost - 75 to 100
-Demolitionist
--now a strength hero
--strength: 1.5/level to 1.8/level
--agility: 1.6/level to 1.9/level
--intelligence: 3.4/level to 2.6/level
-Dryad: agility - 20 to 22
-Ghost: agility - 19 to 25
-Goblin Sapper
--Sticky Grenade (replaced Suicide): new skill
-Knight: strength - 2.5/level to 2.0/level, agility: 2.2/level to 2.5/level
-Nerubian Lord: agility - 20 to 24
-Rifleman: agility - 23 to 26
-Skeletal Mage: intelligence - 3.3/level to 3.5/level
-Spider
--Silk Trail is now an active ability; this was also to fix an annoying glitch
-Troll Batrider: agility - 2.7/level to 2.3/level
-Void Walker: intelligence - 3.3/level to 3.6/level
Others:
-fixed several slight tooltip errors, e.g. misspellings, etc.
-improved terrain outpost terrain
Chaos Peon had a significant glitch in v0.87, the version it was released in. Its Summon Peon ability was supposed to have a limit of 1 Peon at a time, but players soon found out that it could spawn many more. This was the first thing fixed in v0.88. Spider's Silk Trail was also remade, as the original passive one was highly glitched. It is now an active ability that is somewhat stronger when casted, and allows the Spider easier escape at times because the enemy won't always have a trail of webs to follow.
Additionally, Blood Fiend and Goblin Sapper were each given a new ability that replaced an old one. Blood Fiend originally had Blood Enhancement, which increased hitpoints and attack speed. However, this passive made the Blood Fiend a bit boring to use; it is now replaced with Blood Boil, an active ability that can be casted on an ally or himself, increasing damage and hitpoint regeneration. This complements his other abilities well, especially with lifesteal.
Goblin Sapper's old Suicide ability was simply useless most of the time, and even in the rare case that the player could blow something up, they would die and have to wait to respawn. It is now replaced with Sticky Grenade, which plants an invisible bomb on any target, showing neither an animation nor a debuff. After 5 seconds, the grenade will explode, dealing massive area of effect damage. If the target unit died before the 5 seconds, the explosion would occur then with stronger effect. This can be casted on the Goblin Sapper's own Demolition Bot and Land Mines, causing their explosions to be much more deadly.
Many hero stats were slightly tweaked for minor balancing. Demolitionist had a somewhat large makeover as his primary attribute changed from intelligence to strenth. However, this should not significantly affect his play style. Again, no items were changed.
v0.88 Changelog
Gameplay:
-remade Paladin and Jungle Stalker due to heavy lag from their original abilities
Fixes:
-fixed Summon Peon to be able to summon only 1 Peon at a time
-fixed Ring of Fire to work on a target on a friendly Teleporter
Balancing:
-Blood Fiend
--Blood Boil (replaced Blood Enhancement): new skill
-Death Ranger
--Silence: mana cost - 75 to 100
-Demolitionist
--now a strength hero
--strength: 1.5/level to 1.8/level
--agility: 1.6/level to 1.9/level
--intelligence: 3.4/level to 2.6/level
-Dryad: agility - 20 to 22
-Ghost: agility - 19 to 25
-Goblin Sapper
--Sticky Grenade (replaced Suicide): new skill
-Knight: strength - 2.5/level to 2.0/level, agility: 2.2/level to 2.5/level
-Nerubian Lord: agility - 20 to 24
-Rifleman: agility - 23 to 26
-Skeletal Mage: intelligence - 3.3/level to 3.5/level
-Spider
--Silk Trail is now an active ability; this was also to fix an annoying glitch
-Troll Batrider: agility - 2.7/level to 2.3/level
-Void Walker: intelligence - 3.3/level to 3.6/level
Others:
-fixed several slight tooltip errors, e.g. misspellings, etc.
-improved terrain outpost terrain
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Ya'shil the Harpy Stormwitch
Ya'shil was once the queen of the harpies, but caught battling to the death in the invasion of the Burning Legion, the harpies had no choice but to surrender their homeland. Ya'shil is still the master of the winds, and can summon fierce turbulent winds that can lift enemies into the air. Her spells complement each other greatly, making her not only deadly but also difficult to kill.Stats
Affiliation: High Elves
HP: 465
Mana: 238
Primary: Agility
Str: 15 + 1.2
Agi: 22 + 2.8
Int: 17 + 1.8
Range: 550
Speed: 300
Ya'shil starts with a normal amount of hitpoints and mana, high agility, but at 550, her range is slightly shorter than that of most ranged heroes. Her average movespeed can be increased with the Cyclone's speed aura, but with Turbulence, she can easily outmaneuver just about any hero.
Stratoblast [T]The Harpy launches a blast of stratospheric wind at an enemy target, dealing damage, knocking the unit back a certain distance, and stunning for 1 second.
Level 1 - 50 dmg, 150 knockback
Level 2 - 100 dmg, 225 knockback
Level 3 - 150 dmg, 300 knockback
Level 4 - 200 dmg, 375 knockback
Level 5 - 250 dmg, 450 knockback
Cooldown: 9
Mana Cost: 100/115/130/145/160
Stratoblast is a highly flexible ability; at most times it can be used like a normal damage/stun spell, but the knockback really gives this ability variety. The most common use of the knockback is a combination with Turbulence; using Turbulence first, the hero becomes invisible and swooshes to behind the enemy hero. This causes the enemy to knocked towards the Harpy's team, usually at a tower or an allied hero. This combo also slows down an enemy retreat dramatically by forcing them to go backwards. Good players often find creative uses for this ability. Because of the increased damage and knockback, many players prefer to max this soon, i.e. immediately after Cyclone.
Cyclone [E]Summons a controlled cyclone to assist the Harpy.
Level 1 - 400 hp, 23 to 25 dmg, gains Trueshot Aura
Level 2 - 600 hp, 33 to 35 dmg, gains Wind Turbulation
Level 3 - 800 hp, 43 to 45 dmg, gains Quivering Aura
Level 4 - 1000 hp, 53 to 55 dmg, gains Trueshot Aura (Level 2)
Level 5 - 1200 hp, 63 to 65 dmg, gains Wind Turbulation (Level 2)
Cooldown: 30
Mana Cost: 100/115/130/145/160
The Cyclone is a summoned unit useful for its three important auras. Trueshot Aura adds 10% attack damage to nearby ranged units, including the Harpy and the Cyclone itself. At Cyclone level 4, Trueshot Aura improves to level 2, providing 20% bonus damage.
Wind Turbulation gives a subtle movespeed boost, 5% at level 1 and 10% at level 2, which are gained at levels 2 and 5 of the Cyclone respectively. It may seem insignificant, but 10% movespeed can often make the difference between a succesful chase ending in a kill and a failed one where the enemy escapes with only a remnant of hp.
Quivering Aura is slightly different in that it affects enemies and has only one level, but it does have significant power, reducing nearby enemies' attack damage by 15%. Each aura alone may seem small, but with all three together it can sway any battle, especially larger ones where the auras affect more heroes.
The Cyclone can also be used to capture Observatories in the early game without having to give up experience by leaving the lane with the hero. Combined with its auras, it is no secret that good players will max this ability first.
Turbulence [R]Uses the turbulence in the air to become invisible for 5 seconds, increasing movespeed to maximum. Cooldown decreases per level.
Cooldown: 18/16/14/12/10
Mana Cost: 75
Similar to Nerubian Weaver's Shukuchi in DotA, Turbulence is used to travel very quickly and escape difficult situations. It does not deal damage when hitting someone; however, this added stealth helps set up ideal knockback situations in combination with Stratoblast. Its most valuable asset is the speed, allowing the Harpy to quickly traverse SMotA's landscape.
For detailed information about the invisibility mechanic, check out the Invisibility article.
Cyclonic Storm [C]The Harpy Stormwitch summons boisterous cyclones into the air for a duration of time, making nearby enemy units invulnerable but unable to attack, move, or cast spells.
Level 1 - 5 seconds, 1000 aoe
Level 2 - 6 seconds, 1500 aoe
Level 3 - 7 seconds, 2000 aoe
Level 4 - 8 seconds, 2500 aoe
Cooldown: 120/100/80/60
Mana Cost: 150/200/250/300
Another flexible spell at the Harpy's disposal, Cyclonic Storm disables and launches all nearby enemies into the sky, although at the same time making them unable to attacked. This is useful in escaping, chasing, and base destroying. If you or an ally is about to die, casting this will normally give more than enough time to escape, and at the same time allowing other allies to zoom in and counter attack. While chasing, this can be used to give you and your allies time to run into the enemy's escape path, also allowing a deliberate positioning of a Stratoblast knockback. The third main use is to delay enemy opposition when capturing or destroying their base, as this ability does not lift buildings into the air! After all the units are hopelessly blown into the air, the Harpy and her allies gain precious time for bringing down the target structure before the swirling enemies come back down.
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