heroes Azmodan & Raynor Gameplay Updates

[Stan 5,240]

Azmodan and Raynor reworks will go live this week and Blizzard released a post with talent previews and comments about the latest Hero updates.

NOTE: Abilities & talents posted here may be slightly outdated. Differences between the PTR and live patch will be outlined in the official patch notes.

Azmodan Rework [Build Guide]

Goals

• Solidify his role as a long-range siege character.
• Increase strength as the game progresses.
• Reduce situational nature of many of his abilities.

Rework Highlights

• Azmodan receives stacks of annihilation when killing minions or hitting Heroes with Globe Of Annihilation. Each point increases the ability's base damage. The impact area is visible sooner, allowing enemy Heroes more time to dodge when firing from long range.
• Summon Demon Warrior no longer has 2 charges baseline, but his minions have increased health and deal constant AoE damage. 
• Army of Hell allows him to summon two Demon Warriors at once.
  • Hellforged Armor (new Level 4 talent) gives armor and increased duration to Warriors and Lieutenants.
• Battleborn reduces the cooldown of his minions through auto attacks.
• All Shall Burn now has a set channeling time that will do bonus damage upon completion of the cast. The ability pairs well with certain talents.
  • Master of Destruction (Level 7 talent) damages all nearby enemies at the end of the cast and grants Annihilation for every Hero hit.
  • Hell Rift (new Level 16 talent)
    • Summons a Demon Warrior and empowers all other Demon Warriors that are currently active.
• Azmo's Black Pool (Heroic ability) has been redesigned. It's now called Tide of Sin, costs 100 Mana and has a 30-sec cooldown.
  • Activate to make the next Globe Of Annihilation cost no Mana and deal 50% more damage.
• New Talents
  • At Level 1, Azmodan has 3 new talents:
    • Greed (Q)
      • Increase the time Minions will grant Annihilation from 1.5 to 3 seconds.
      • Quest: After gaining 200 Annihilation, the damage Globe Of Annihilation deals against Minions and Mercenaries is increased by 20%.
    • Gluttony (Q)
      • Increase the number of stacks of Annihilation gained by hitting Heroes with Globe Of Annihilation from 2 to 3.
      • Quest: After gaining 200 Annihilation, each enemy hit by Globe Of Annihilation reduces its cooldown by 0.25 seconds, doubled against Heroes.
    • Wrath (Q)
      • Basic Attacks against Heroes under 75% Health grant 1 Annihilation.
        • Quest: After gaining 200 Annihilation, hitting a Hero with Globe Of Annihilation increases the damage of Azmodan's next Basic Attack against them within 4 seconds by the amount of Annihilation he has.
  • Hellforged Armor (new level 4 talent)
    • Demon Warriors and Lieutenants gain 35 Armor and last 4 seconds longer.
  • Trample (new Level 20 talent)
    • Allows Azmodan to charge in any direction for an aggressive engage or a quick escape.

Rework Details

Blizzard (Source)

Stats

• Health reduced from 2738 to 2464.
• Health regeneration reduced from 5.7031 to 5.1328.

Abilities

Globe Of Annihilation (Q)

• New baseline quest
  • Hitting Heroes and killing minions within 1.5 seconds of being hit by Globe grants 2 stacks of Annihilation.
  • Each stack of Annihilation increases Globes’ damage by 1, up to 400.
• Warning splat is now created earlier in the ability cast.
• Range decreased from 35 to 30.
• Cast time reduced from .75 to .5625 seconds.

Summon Demon Warrior (W)

• Can now be cast while channeling All Shall Burn.
• No longer has charges.
• Demon Warriors now deal a small amount of damage to nearby enemies every second.
• Attack damage reduced from 37 to 28.
• Health increased from 365 to 390.
• Move speed decreased from 4 to 3.6.
• Weapon range decreased from 1.5 to 1.

All Shall Burn (E)

• New Functionality
  • Channel for up to 2.5 seconds on a target, dealing damage every second. If the channel lasts its full duration, deal additional damage to the target. Azmodan moves at 60% speed while channeling.
• Cooldown increased from 6 to 8 seconds.
• Mana cost changed from 12/sec to 30 flat mana.
• Range decreased from 7 to 6.

General of Hell (Trait D)

• Renamed to Demon Lieutenant.
• New Functionality
  • Can now be cast on the mini-map and has a small slop range.
• Spawn a Demon Lieutenant at any friendly minion, merc, or Azmodan Summon for 20 seconds. The Lieutenant will cast Demonic Smite at a random nearby minion every 7 seconds, instantly killing them. Lasts 20 seconds. Can be used while channeling All Shall Burn. 60 Second cooldown.

Demonic Invasion (R1)

• New Functionality
  • Calls down 8 Demon Grunts in a circle around the targeted location, dealing damage to enemies in each impact zone. Demon Grunts last for up to 8 seconds and explode when they die, dealing damage to nearby enemies.
• Demon health increased from 365 to 750.
• Demon health now decays over 8 seconds.
• Attack damage decreased from 51 to 42.
• Cooldown reduced from 100 to 90 seconds.
• Mana cost reduced from 100 to 60.

(New) Tide Of Sin (R2)

• New Functionality
  • Activate to cause your next Globe Of Annihilation to cost no Mana and deal 50% more damage (30 sec cooldown).

Talents

Level 1

• Taste for Blood (Q): Removed.
• Sieging Wrath (Q): Removed.
• (New) Greed (Q): Increases the timeframe that minion kills will grant Annihilation from 1.5 to 3 seconds. After gaining 200 stacks of Annihilation, Globe Of Annihilation deals 20% increased damage to minions and mercs.
• Gluttony (Q): (Moved from Level 4) New Functionality: The amount of Annihilation granted for hitting Heroes is increased by 1. After gaining 200 stacks of Annihilation, each enemy hit by Globe reduces its cooldown by .25 seconds, doubled against Heroes.
• (New) Wrath (Q): Basic Attacks against Heroes under 75% health grant 1 stack of Annihilation. After gaining 200 stacks of Annihilation, Heroes hit by Globe of Annihilation take additional damage from your next Basic Attack equal to your Annihilation stacks. Lasts 4 seconds.

Level 4

• Hellish Hirelings (Trait): Removed.
• Army of Hell (W): New Functionality: Summon Demon Warrior summons an additional Warrior but its cooldown is increased by 10 seconds.
• Hellforged Armor (W): (Moved from Level 13) New Functionality: Demon Warriors and Lieutenants gain 35 armor and last 4 seconds longer.
• Battleborn (Passive): (Moved from Level 16) New Functionality: Basic Attacks reduce the cooldown of Summon Demon Warrior by .5 seconds and Demon Lieutenant by 1 second.

Level 7

• Infernal Globe (Q): Removed.
• Bound Minion (Trait): Removed.
• Gluttonous Ward (Active): Removed.
• (New) Art of Chaos (Q): If Globe Of Annihilation hits 2 or more Heroes, 25 mana cost is refunded. If it hits 3 or more Heroes, you gain 5 Annihilation.
• Master of Destruction (E): (Moved from Level 1) New Functionality: All Shall Burn’s final damage hits all enemies in a large area. Each hero hit grants 2 stacks of Annihilation.
• (New) Bombardment (Q): Casting Globe Of Annihilation increases your Basic Attack Range by 50% and can hit 2 additional targets for 3 seconds. Each hero hit by Basic Attacks empowered by Bombardment generate 1 Annihilation.

Level 13

• Hedonism (Q): Removed.
• Infused Power (E): Removed.
• (New) Brutish Vanguard (W): Demon Warriors gain 25% increased health and slow the movement speed of nearby enemies by 20%.
• (New) Cydaea’s Kiss (Q): Reduces the channel time of All Shall Burn by .5 seconds. If All Shall Burn channels for its full duration on a Hero, Azmodan is healed for 5% of his maximum health.
• (New) Chain of Command (D): Demon Lieutenants increase the damage of nearby non-Heroes by 25%.

Level 16

• Demonic Smite (Trait): Removed.
• Sin for Sin (Active): Removed.
• Forced Recruitment (D): Removed.
• (New) Total Annihilation (Q): Globe Of Annihilation deals additional 3% max health damage to Heroes.
• Sin's Grasp (E): (Moved from Level 4) New Functionality: Increases the range of All Shall Burn by 20%. If All Shall Burn channels for its full duration on a Hero, its cooldown is reduced by 4 seconds.
• (New) Hell Rift (E): If the channel lasts its full duration, a Demon Warrior is summoned at your target and your Demon Warriors deal 100% increased damage for 4 seconds.

Level 20

• (New) Siegebreaker (R1): Azmodan’s summoned units deal 50% increased damage to Structures
• (New) Black Pool (R2): Tide Of Sin creates a Black Pool at the impact location, dealing light damage and reducing armor over 5 seconds to enemies in the area.
• (New) Pride (Q): After reaching 400 stacks of Annihilation, Globe Of Annihilation’s area is increased by 15% and its damage is increased by 100.
• (New) Trample (Active): Activate to dash a short distance, dealing damage and slowing enemies in the path. 60-second cooldown.

Raynor [Build Guide]

Goals

• Update talent tree with new design philosophies.
• Maintain focus on "auto-attack" builds.
• Give more control of the base kit to the player.

Rework Highlights

• Adrenaline Rush can now be activated. If he takes damage, the ability can be used to replenish Health.
• When Raynor's Raiders is selected, Jimmy summons a single banshee that will travel with him and engage nearby enemies. It's controllable and will continue to attack enemies that remain within range of Raynor.
• Raynor has a new trait called "Acquire Weak Spot"
  • It maintains the range bonus from Advanced Optics with additional functionality.
    • On every 4th shot, Raynor will do increased damage that will splash to all nearby enemies.
• New Talents
  • Veteran Marskman (new Level 1 talent) in place of Seasoned Marksman.
    • Quest: Every time the primary target of Acquire Weak Spot is a Hero, permanently increase its damage bonus by 1%.
  • Unstable Compound (new Level 7 talent)
    • Increase the area of Acquire Weak Spot by 15%, and enemies hit by it are Slowed by 10% for 3 seconds.
  • Weak Spot Acquired (new Level 20 talent)
    • Enemy Heroes that are the primary target of Acquire Weak Spot have their Armor reduced by 25 for 2 seconds.

Rework Details

Blizzard (Source)

Stats

• Health increased from 1302 to 1450.
• Health regeneration increased from 2.71 to 3.02.
• Damage decreased 122 to 92.
• Base range set to 6.5 (no longer trait driven).
• Scaling increased from 4 to 5%.

Abilities

(New) Acquire Weak Point (Trait)

• Every 4th Basic Attack is empowered and deals an additional 125% damage to your target and splashes for 50% in a small area around your target (2.25 Radius).

Penetrating Round (Q)

• Damage decreased from 240 to 220.
• Mana cost decreased from 60 to 50.
• New Functionality
  • Slows enemies movement speed by 20% for 2 seconds.
• Knockback range is dependent on proximity to Raynor.

Inspire (W)

• Cooldown increased from 10 to 12 seconds.
• New Functionality
  • Reset your Basic Attack. You and all nearby Minions and Mercenaries gain 30% Attack Speed and 10% Movement Speed for 4 seconds.

Adrenaline Rush (E)

• Cooldown increased from 30 to 45 seconds.
• Mana cost increased from 0 to 75.
• New Functionality
  • Heal for 25% of your max Health over 1 second. Basic Attacks lower this cooldown by .5 second (double vs. Heroes).

Raynor's Raiders (R2)

• Health increased from 766 to 1000.
• Damage decreased from 31 to 24.
• Attacks per Second increased from 0.8 to 2.
• New Functionality
  • Raynor gains a Banshee that flies by his side and auto-acquires his Basic Attack target. The Banshee can be killed which will start a 45-second cd before another is called down.
• They gain 75 HPS when out of combat for 4 seconds.

Talents

Level 1

• Seasoned Marksman: Removed.
• Scouting Drone: Removed.
• (New) Veteran Marksman (Trait): Quest: If an enemy Hero is hit with the empowered Acquire Weak Point attack, increase the bonus damage of Acquire Weak Spot by 0.75%.
• (New) Ace In The Hole (Passive): You deal 35% more damage to enemy Heroes that are slowed or stunned.
• (New) Exterminator (Passive): Increase your Basic Attack damage against Minions, Mercenaries and Monsters by 50%. Increase this bonus to 100% if Inspire is active.

Level 4

• Focused Attack: Removed.
• Vigorous Assault: Removed.
• Confident Aim: Removed.
• Relentless Leader: Removed.
• Fight or Flight (E): ( Moved from Level 7) New Functionality: Lower the cooldown of Adrenaline Rush by 10 seconds. Activating it grants 25 Armor for 4 seconds.
• (New) Behemoth Armor (Trait): Quest: Gain 250 Health. Increase this by 5 every time you hit a Hero with Acquire Weak Spot.
• (New) Sustaining Rounds (Trait): Acquire Weak Spot attacks heal for 3% of your max health. This is increased to 6% against Heroes.

Level 7

• Hamstring Shot: Removed.
• Revolution Overdrive: Removed.
• Puttin' On a Clinic: Removed.
• (New) Heavy Slugs (Active): Activate: Your next Penetrating Round has 30% increased range and increases the slow duration of Penetrating Round by 200% (30 sec cooldown).
• (New) Fuel The Rush (W/E): While Inspire is active, increase Adrenaline Rush's cooldown bonus from Basic Attacks by 200%.
• (New) Unstable Compound (Trait): Increase the area of effect of Acquire Weak Point by 15%. Enemies hit by it are slowed by 10% for 3 seconds.

Level 13

• Giant Killer: Removed.
• Double-Barreled: Removed.
• Steel Resolve: Removed.
• (New) Debilitating Rounds (Q/W): Decrease the cooldown of Penetrating Round by 3 seconds. While Inspire is active, the slow amount is increased by 100%
• (New) Rallying Cry (W): Increase the duration of Inspire by 1 second. All nearby Heroes gain 10% movement and attack speed for the duration.
• (New) Giddy-Up (W): Gain 10% movement and Mount Speed permanently. Increase Inspire’s Movement Speed bonus to 20%.

Level 16

• Executioner: Removed.
• Cluster Round: Removed.
• Bullseye: Removed.
• Give Me More! (E): (Moved from Level 1) New Functionality: Increase the heal amount from Adrenaline Rush by 50% and gain 1 additional attack range while Inspire is active.
• (New) Bounty Hunter (Active): Acquire Weak Spot attacks that hit a Hero deal an additional 3% of a Heroes max health and grant you 10 Armor for 3 seconds. Activate: Your next Basic Attack is empowered with Acquire Weak Spot (40 sec cooldown).
• (New) Paint Them Red (Q): Increase the damage of Penetrating Round by 50%. Heal for 100% of the damage it deals to Heroes.

Level 20

• Scorched Earth: Removed.
• A Card to Play: Removed.
• Nexus Frenzy: Removed.
• (New) Indomitable Resolve (R1): Acquire Weak Spot attacks against Heroes lower the cooldown of Hyperion by 5 seconds. Casting Inspire grants 2 seconds of Unstoppable.
• (New) Dusk Wing (R2): Banshee Health, Damage, and leash range are increased by 100%. When killed, Inspire and Adrenaline Rush are activated for free.
• (New) Weak Spot Acquired (Trait): The primary target of your Acquire Weak Spot loses 25 Armor for 2 seconds.
• (New) Execute (Passive): Increase your attack speed by 20%. Your Basic Attack damage is increased by 25% against targets below 50% Health.

Finally, here's the official blog post, previewing both Hero updates.

Blizzard (Source)

Launching in all regions with the Raiders  patch, we’re practicing our jump-shots, calibrating our lasers, and setting our sights on major gameplay updates for both Azmodan and Raynor. Read on for a high-level description of what’s changing and find out why we’re excited for you to get your hands on these remastered versions of your favorite Lord of Hell and Renegade Commander.

RAYNOR

There's a New Sheriff in Town

We are extremely excited to bring the long-awaited Raynor rework to the Nexus. We have been reading and absorbing all the amazing feedback that players have sent to us over the past year, implementing and iterating on these and other ideas, and are now confident that these gameplay updates will do the Renegade Commander justice! We have massively increased his wave-clear and burst damage potential with a brand-new Trait, and have completely overhauled his talent tree (which, by the way, was one of the oldest in the game). Raynor mains should have a whole new set of tools to play around with while newer players should still be able to pick him up and learn the ropes without too much hassle. We have been having a ton of fun with the changes and hope you do as well. As always – please send us any feedback you have and get ready to fill your enemies full of daylight!

TALENT PREVIEW:

A new Level 13 Talent, Rallying Cry can drastically increase your teams damage output by granting them attack and movement speed whenever Raynor casts Inspire.

Chosen at level 16, Bounty Hunter allows Raynor to manually activate his new trait, deal bonus damage based on the targets max HP, and grants Raynor some Armor for a little boost of survivability. Now that’s giving them some pepper!

Fuel the Rush is a new Level 7 Talent option that reduces the cooldown of Adrenaline Rush with every basic attack Raynor lands while Inspire is active. Stay in the fight to stay alive!

AZMODAN

Say Hello to a New Lord of Hell

For the Azmodan update, we’ve embraced his current role as a late-game siege monster while expanding his talent and ability choices and introducing some versatility to his kit. He now has a baseline stacking quest that’s a hybrid of the old ‘Taste for Blood’ and ‘Sieging Wrath’ talents built into ‘Globe of Annihilation’. With this new addition to his Q ability, regardless of if you’re focusing on PvE or PvP objectives, you should see your Globe of Annihilation become more powerful as the game progresses. As a counterbalance to this increase in baseline power, we’ve made the impact area of Globe of Annihilation more visible to enemies, giving them a chance to sidestep their impending doom. We’ve also made major mechanical changes to Black Pool (now called ‘Tide of Sin’) and focused it towards solely affecting Globe’s damage without the need for ground targeting. ‘All Shall Burn’ has also received some mechanical changes, and should be a much more consistently useful ability, especially when choosing E-focused talents. You’ll also notice a few minor changes to his other abilities, as long as a whole suite of new talents, to give him some more versatility against enemy Heroes without sacrificing his push potential in those solo-siege moments.

TALENT PREVIEW:

Chosen at Level 16, Sin’s Grasp drastically shortens the cooldown of All Shall Burn if it channels for its full duration, granting Azmodan players a massive power-spike for laser-focused builds.

Adding an area-of-effect explosion to All Shall Burn if it completes a full channel, Master of Destruction opens up even more waveclear opportunities for Azmodan while giving him some surprise damage in close-quarters team fights.

Unlocked as a Storm Talent at Level 20, Trample grants Azmodan some previously unavailable mobility by allowing him to dash short distances, dealing damage and slowing anyone in his path.

We hope you’re as excited for these major gameplay updates as we are. We’ll see you in the Nexus!

[lChronosl 182]

Log post is long.

Hyped about the Raynor rework. New Azmo not so much...

[Arcling 898]

Jimmy will be played a lot (including myself), not sure about Azmodan though. Some things had to go, like laser build but overall his Q might be harder to execute now and certainly lost some pushing potential.

[Migol 433]

A bit worried as some of the Azmodan "Stack" options are actually worse than they were.    You used to get increase range and damage, or potentially infinite increased damage.

Now it increased damage to minions/mercs only, increased damage from basic attacks (wut?) or a decreased cooldown.    With a big tradeoff of the fireball being easier to dodge.

IE less "Azmodunk".

I'll wait to see but I'm worried that they sideways nerfed Azmodan instead of buffing him.

[ArtVandelay 24]

3 minutes ago, Migol said:

A bit worried as some of the Azmodan "Stack" options are actually worse than they were.    You used to get increase range and damage, or potentially infinite increased damage.

Now it increased damage to minions/mercs only, increased damage from basic attacks (wut?) or a decreased cooldown.    With a big tradeoff of the fireball being easier to dodge.

IE less "Azmodunk".

I'll wait to see but I'm worried that they sideways nerfed Azmodan instead of buffing him.

I have been told by friends that he is pretty much junk as a team fighter now, and can only be played as a complete split pusher.  If that is true, they really F'd up this rework.  Nobody wants to play with a split pusher like that.

[Morcalivan 86]

Depends if the minion can be controlled or not. A pet directed minion would be nice. Used as a scout to launch from a safer area. Search and destroy.

Edited July 10, 2018 by Morcalivan