Arena of Valor has recently released their January Patch Notes on January 18, 2019. This update focuses on a couple of balance changes, as well as other tweaks in their system to go with in-game nuancing. The developers stated that the patch will be implemented on January 24, 2019.
That said, we at Samurai Gamers give our general impressions on what the January Patch Notes have in store for players:
Peripheral System Optimizations
Revision of Match Results interface
Cleaned up the Match Results interface and sorted information display rows.
Revision of Match Result “Like” interface
Reorganized the Match Result “Like” interface so the display of likes is more intuitive to players.
Revision of Favorite Heroes interface
For number of matches and win rate of each hero, Standard mode will only record data for 5v5 and Ranked matches. You can also view the data of each hero according to season and game mode.
Teammate Info Display
Tap the avatar of a teammate in the Hero Menu to view the data of the classes that your teammate has used.
Feature to pin heroes to the top of the list
Can choose heroes to pin to the top in the Hero Menu.
Feature to give likes on the Match Results page
After viewing the battle stats, you can now give the player or the opponent likes.
Tutorial added for Xeniel’s Codex
Butterfly will guide you step by step as you learn more about Xeniel’s Codex.
Hero Win Rate Revision
When choosing heroes, the Hero Win Rate will now only show data from Standard mode instead of all modes. It will only include data from 5v5 and Ranked matches. Players can choose to only see win rate of the 100 most recent Ranked matches.
Optimization of skin display when choosing heroes
When choosing heroes in the various modes, once a player chooses a hero, the hero avatar and the skin are both displayed for the hero.
Opening Dance
When entering the battlefield, players equipped with dance animations will dance.
Victory Dance
After the winning team destroys the enemy’s core, when the core destruction animation is played, the preferred dance animation of all heroes on the winning team will be played.
Match Result MVP Display Interface
Added the display of relevant information of the MVP player to the first screen of the match results. The model and dance animation can be displayed as well.
General Impressions
The pre-match and post-match screens are set to be given some quality of life tweaks. These are always welcome since it will make the game feel smoother when preparing with your team or if solo queuing.
As far as customizing heroes, the devs will give players the option to input which dances their hero do once the game starts and as the game ends. They also plan on improving the overlay once a player chooses his desired hero with the skins and dances that said hero can be equipped with. These are quirky additions that help bring out the players’ personality to the heroes they use.
Battlefield Changes
Adjustments to minion waves in the Abyssal Dragon Lane: One melee minion in each Abyssal Dragon Lane wave will be upgraded to an enhanced melee minion. Enhanced melee minions have a higher base HP and give more gold when killed.
Adjustments to tower mechanics: The Gold reward for minions that die in the attack range of the outer tower (tower 1) will be reduced by 10%.
Adjustments to EXP for leveling up of heroes: The EXP required for a hero to level up to Level 2 has been reduced by 8 to ensure that the hero can level up to Level 2 successfully after clearing one wave of minions in the middle lane.
Minion Wave and Drake movement speed: The initial movement speed is 300 and is increased by 25 at 6 minutes, 10 minutes, 14 minutes, and 18 minutes.
Other adjustments: The duration of the Enraged Abyssal Dragon BUFF and Dark Slayer BUFF will be increased from 90 seconds to 120 seconds.
General Impressions
The devs are adjusting the Antaris Battlefield to be a fairer playing field for competing teams. Throwing down with your enemy is somewhat easier now since both of you can level up at the early stages. This means that it will be a test of pokes, harasses, and proactive actions for players.
The addition of a melee minion that gives more gold as well as increasing its movement speed along with the drake as the game progresses is an interesting choice. It could be their way of speeding up the game. Meanwhile, increasing the duration of the Abyssal Dragon and Dark Slayer buffs will be fairly noticeable once this patch goes live, especially in higher levels of play.
Hero Balance Adjustments
The Diviner: Annette
Ability 1: Gust Force
Magic damage: 65 (+9 per level) (+0.15 AP) → 55 (+9 per level) (+0.15 AP)
Cooldown: 9/8.5/8/7.5/7/6.5 → 10/9.5/9/8.5/8/7.5
Ability 2: Wind Cuffs
Passive effect cooldown: 45 → 60
Annette is one of the safer support / mage heroes in the game today. She provides decent zoning and poking with her abilities. So much so, that she can build as a semi-mage-support hybrid and really do a number on opposing teams. The devs have finally caught up with her, though, and have nerfed her damage output with Gust Force, as well as her Wind Cuffs passive. These changes will force players to play her either as a sole mage or support. You can’t have it all, I guess.
The Anointed One: Ignis
Passive ability: Sacred Flame
HP recovered when the mark is triggered: 120 (+8 per level) (+0.3 AP) → 100 (+5 per level) (+0.15 AP)
Ability 1: Fire Crash
Magic damage: 340 (+40 per level) (+0.4 AP) → 300 (+40 per level) (+0.4 AP)
Ability 2: Rain of Fire
Stun time: 1 sec → 0.75 sec
The old man has been been hit with the nerf bat again. This time, the devs thought that his passive and Fire Crash were dealing way too much damage and have adjusted his numbers to be more fair during the laning phase. Reducing Rain of Fire’s stun time to 0.75 seconds is just mean. They’ve already taken out his damage, why take out his utility as well?
The Ghost Guardian: Kahlii
Passive ability: Powerful Hymns
Bullet speed: 20m/s → 25m/s
Kahlii got another slight buff with to auto attacks. In the previous patch, her normal attack got a bit more damage and now her projectiles hit their target faster. It’s an okay buff, but she’s better at nailing enemies with her skills.
The Nether Queen: Natalya
Ability 1: Arcane Spirits
Range: 9m → 10m
Ability 2: Arcane Nova
Range: 8m → 9m
Natalya’s abilities have a bit more range now. This makes her a bit more potent and safer harasser for her team.
The Fastest Man Alive: The Flash
Ability 3: Cyclone
Slow effect on yourself: 50% → 40%
Magic damage dealt after 2 seconds: 500/750/1000 (+0.6 AP) → 500/750/1000 (+0.7 AP)
Cooldown: 60/55/50 → 50/45/40
The Flash gets another nod from the Buff Gods. Cyclone has a bit more damage scaling, decent cooldowns, and its slow effect is a bit more forgiving for The Fastest Man Alive. We’ll keep a close eye on how he fares in the Mid Lane after this patch hits servers.
The Indomitable: Astrid
Ability 1: Spin Slash
Physical damage: 150 (+50 per level) (+1.1 AD) → 200 (+40 per level) (+1.2 AD)
Attack speed increase: 20% (+4% per level) increase when the target is hit → 30% (+6% per level) increase when the target is hit
Ability 2: Fearless Charge
[Added] The attack speed bonus with be applied to the charge speed of the next normal attack.
Ability 3: Dire Blow
Conditions to trigger stun: Target has a higher HP percentage than you → You have less than 60% HP
Conditions to trigger Slay: Target has the same or a lower HP percentage than you → Target has less than 60% HP, maximum damage against jungle monsters is increased to 2000
Mechanic that reduces the cooldown of passive ability when it hits enemy heroes: Cooldown of passive is refreshed → Cooldown of passive is reduced by 3 sec.
Astrid finally gets some much needed buffs in this upcoming patch. While Astrid players still long for the days where her shield was helping her soak and deal damage at the same time, the devs have upped all the damage for her abilities. Now, how to make her survive from getting focused on by enemies.
The Frenzy: Ormarr
Passive ability: Gut Punch
Probability of triggering stun: 20% → 40%
Stun time: 0.75 – 1 sec → Fixed at 0.75 sec
Damage mechanic: Physical damage equal to (10 – 16)% of target’s current HP → Magic damage equal to (3 – 7)% of your maximum HP
Internal cooldown: 4 sec → 6 sec
Ability 2: Swagger
Fighting Spirit stacking mechanic: Add 1 stack each time the target is hit → Add 1 stack each time a hero is hit
Cooldown: 4.5 → 6
Ability 3: Walking Tall
[Added] Recover 2% of your maximum HP whenever an enemy hero is hit.
[Added] Ability 1 can be used during the duration of the Ultimate.
Cooldown: 28/24/20 → 40/35/30
The devs are continuing their tweaking of heroes who rely on RN-Jesus in their abilities to make them more consistent. Ormarr’s kit got a bit of an update. This is a long time coming, since he was being overshadowed by other heroes as of late.
Apart from having a more reliable stun in Gut Punch now, the devs modified its damage mechanic to a magic attack equal to a percentage of Ormarr’s HP. Don’t know where they’re going with this since Ormarr has been a predominantly physical damage-dealer. Walking Tall also got some love from the devs, which is nice.
The Pandharma Master: Zuka
Passive ability: The Chi
Increase: (30/35/40/45)% → (15/20/25/30)%
Ability 1: Pain on a Stick
Enhanced the physical damage of normal attacks: 0.5 AD → 60 (+20 per level) (+0.25 AD)
Ability 2: Panda Chariot
Shield: 150 (+30 per level) (+1.5 AD) → 250 (+50 per level) (+1.5 AD)
[Added] When the shield disappears or is destroyed, Zuka gains a recovery effect that recovers 30 (+10 per level) (+0.1 AD) per second for 3 seconds.
Ability 3: Skyfall
Enhanced the physical damage of normal attacks: 0.5 AD → 70 (+40 per level) (+0.25 AD)
Zuka sees some balancing in his offensive and defensive prowess. The Chi’s additional damage was toned down, while Pain on a Stick and Skyfall’s damage were re-calibrated to have a more balanced damage output throughout the match. Panda Chariot was given a much needed buff to the shield and some recovery, since Zuka suffers from being too squishy.
The Spirit: Arduin
Basic
Growth attack speed: 2% → 3%
Passive ability: Bloodlust
Cooldown: 60 → 45
Arduin got some quality of life buffs, specifically for Bloodlust. This makes him kiiiinda survive more skirmishes.
The Adventurer: Roxie
Passive ability: Fire Spirit
Maximum HP required to convert 1 point of ability power: 50 → 40
Ability 1: Wild Fire
Magic damage: 20 (+6 per level) (+0.14 AP) → 20 (+6 per level) (+0.16 AP)
Ability 2: Blazing Shield
Haste percentage: 20% → 25%
Slowdown duration: 1.5 sec → 2 sec
Cooldown: 12-10 → 10-8
Ability 3: Agnie’s Grasp
Cooldown: 40-32 → 35-27
Roxie got a bunch of balance tweaks which are more of buffs than anything else. Lower cooldowns mean she is able to use and pulse her abilities more consistently again. The slight buff to Wild Fire’s damage is also welcome, since she was nerfed in the previous patch.
The Imbued: Riktor
Basic
Growth max HP: 237.5 → 262.5
Ability 1: Jungle Strike
Charge damage: 60 (+15 per level) (+0.4 AD) → 50 (+20 per level) (+0.5 AD)
Slash damage: 125 (+30 per level) (+0.8 AD) → 100 (+40 per level) (+1.0 AD)
Knockup time when in brush mode: 1 sec → 0.75 sec
Proportion of damage based on the target’s HP when in brush mode: 10% → (5-10)%
Cooldown: 9 → 9/8.8/8.6/8.4/8.2/8
Ability 2: Retaliate
Cooldown: 3 → 5
Riktor was hit with a couple of tweaks to his Jungle Strike. His Charge’s base damage was nerfed, but its scaling was raised a bit. Same thing with Slash. The Knock-up time was reduced to 0.75 seconds, while the damage based on the target’s HP in brush mode now fluctuates between 5-10%. Finally, Jungle Strike’s cooldown scales better.
Riktor’s Jungle Strike was given a bit of a balance in terms of damage, but the 5-10% proportion is a bit confusing. While other heroes were tweaked to be more consistent with their damage output, the devs chose Riktor to be more all over the place.
Retaliate’s cooldown is also nerfed, which isn’t good for Riktor mains.
The Slayer: Amily
Ability 3: Enrage
Magic damage: 300/400/500 → 300/450/600
Magic damage dealt to nearby units per second: 60/80/100 → 60/90/120
Amily’s Enrage got more firepower. Hooray.
The War Hammer: Taara
Ability 3: Steeled Focus
Cooldown: 40 → 35
Taara’s Ultimate is now more available than ever before! …but she is still owned by Tome of the Reaper or Curse of Death.
The Chosen: Arthur
Basic
Base Armor: 98 → 103
More armor for Arthur.
The Smasher: Skud
Ability 1: Furious Charge
Physical damage: 210/240/270/300/330/360 (+1.0 AD) → 200/250/300/350/400/450 (+1.0 AD)
Cooldown: 7/6.7/6.4/6.1/5.8/5.5 → 6
Furious Charge has more damage in the later levels while gaining a consistent cooldown.
The Old Growth: Y’bneth
Passive ability: Natural Affinity
HP recovered per second: 45 (+18 per level) → 32 (+15 per level)
Mana recovered per second: 14 (+2 per level) → 10 (+2 per level)
Ability 2: Branching Out
Physical damage: 285 (+55 per level) (+0.95 AD) → 240 (+70 per level) (+0.95 AD)
Y’bneth has been nerfed, finally. He has been as strong as he was first introduced, and his survivability while dealing massive damage was just ridiculous.
The Kunoichi: Airi
Basic
Base HP Regen/5 sec: 45 → 51
More time to stay in the lane for this Ninjutsu practitioner.
The Ash Weaver: Marja
Basic
Base HP Regen/5 sec: 46 → 42
Base Armor: 88 → 84
Marja’s laning is hit thanks to these nerfs to her armor and base HP regen.
The Great Warlord: Lu Bu
Ability 1: Red Stallion
Increase in speed of movement of the 3rd stage, movement distance: 3m → 3.5m
Because what does this Warrior Assassin need? More buffs!
The Stalwart Twins: TeeMee
Ability 1: Pooty Poots
[Added] When an enemy hero is hit, Pooty Poots’ cooldown is reduced by a maximum of 40%.
A decent buff to TeeMee’s Pooty Poots. It makes them more reliable when engaging or trying to save their team’s carry.
Purifying Blade: Quillen
Ability 2: Decimate
Physical damage: 350 (+40 per level) (+1.0 additional AD) → 300 (+40 per level) (+0.8 additional AD)
Ability 3: Assassinate
HP Regen: 100 (+50 per level) (+0.25 additional AD) -> 70 (+35 per level) (+0.15 additional AD)
Quillen’s damage output was toned down to give players more chances of retaliating against this mobile and back-stabby assassin.
Equipment Adjustments
Support Items
Water Stone
10 Mana Regen → 8 Mana Regen
20 HP Regen → 5% movement speed
Unique passive – Devotion
Mechanic: Only increases Gold and EXP for allies → Increases Gold and EXP for yourself and allies
Maximum stacks: 2 → 3
Additional Gold gained by yourself and allies per stack: 15 → 30
Water Stone now gives its bearer and allies bonus gold and EXP, while the HP Regen was changed to a 5% movement speed. These are welcome tweaks, and the movement speed change feels like the devs want players to be more active in the lane.
Windrider Talisman
175 Armor → 150 Armor
Adjusted the Armor from Windrider Talisman. Bummer.
Ring of Gale
Crafting items: Wind Stone + Spell Tome → Wind Stone + Light Armor
60 Ability Power → 150 Armor
[Added] +5% Cooldown Speed
Ring of Gale is now a defensive Support item, thanks to the change in item recipe. The additional cooldown reduction is also nice.
Crystal Talisman
120 Armor → 150 Armor
20 Mana Regen → 15 Mana Regen
[Added] +5% Movement Speed
Crystal Talisman gives a bit more armor and a bit less mana regen to go with a bit more movement speed.
Stream Bracers
Crafting items: Water Stone + Magic Ring → Water Stone + Light Armor
10% Cooldown Speed → 5% Cooldown Speed
20 Mana Regen → 15 Mana Regen
[New] +150 Armor
[Added] +5% Movement Speed
Stream Bracers also got a tweak in its item recipe. It now grants more armor and movement speed, but its cooldown speed and mana regen are toned down.
Ring of the Fiend
Crafting items: Ring of Gale + Magic Ring + Spell Tome → Ring of Gale + Magic Ring + Ring of Vitality
90 Ability Power → 200 Armor
30 Mana Regen → 20 Mana Regen
[Added] +600 HP
Unique Active [Tornado Eye]
[Added] Gain the vision of illuminated enemies for 4 seconds.
[Added] After activation, nearby allies within 8m receive a 50% increase in movement speed for 2 seconds.
Ring of the Fiend now has a different item recipe which results with the item giving more armor, HP, and a new active. The additional buff for the bearer’s allies is good, especially for carries who like to face-check the brush (READ: NEVER FACE CHECK A BRUSH) and do not have a decent escape mechanism.
Tidecaller’s Mark
200 Armor → 250 Armor
20 Mana Regen → 15 Mana Regen
[Added] +5% Movement Speed
[Added] +40 HP Regen
Tidecaller’s Mark now has more armor and now grants its user movement speed and HP regen at the expense of a bit of mana regen. It’s a decent tradeoff, especially if you’re using a Support hero who is rather squishy.
Purifying Bracers
Crafting items: Stream Bracers + Ring of Vitality + Ring of Vitality → Stream Bracers + Ring of Vitality + Magic Ring
500 HP → 600 HP
[Added] +200 Armor
[Added] +5% Movement Speed
Unique Active [Purifying Spell]
Remove the control effects on one nearby ally hero → Remove the control effects on all nearby allies
[Removed] Increase movement speed of friendly units by 30% and gain immunity to slow effects for 2 seconds.
The mass removal of control effects is a great tweak for this item. Essentially, this item becomes a Chaugnar Ultimate for other Support heroes who need more utility in their kits. The bonus stats in HP, armor, and movement speed are also not bad.
Jungling Items
[Added] Even before purchase of jungling equipment, the stacked layers of passive ability Wild are recorded. After purchasing level 2 or level 3 jungling equipment, the buff corresponding to stacked layers will be received.
Mr. Stabby
[Unique Passive – Wild]
Increase to own attack damage: increase by 3 → increase by 2
Maximum stacks: 15 → 20
Mr. Stabby’s damage increase per stack was nerfed, but the stack was increased.
Monsters’ Bane
[Unique Passive – Wild]
Increase to own ability power: increase by 8 → increase by 6
Maximum stacks: 15 → 20
Similar to Mr. Stabby, the additional ability power was decreased a bit, but the number of stacks was increased to balance out the change.
Gnoll Cleaver
[Unique Passive – Wild]
Increase to own maximum HP: increase by 70 → increase by 50
Maximum stacks: 15 → 20
Following the same pattern as the other jungle items.
Whispering Wind
[Unique Passive – Wild]
Increase to own attack speed: increase by 2% → increase by 1.5%
Maximum stacks: 15 → 20
It will now take more time to hit the same attack speed boost
Soulreaver
[Unique Passive – Wild]
Increase to own attack damage: increase by 3 → increase by 2
Maximum stacks: 15 → 30
The higher number of final stacks makes this a more attractive item than it’s second tier counterpart.
Loki’s Curse
[Unique Passive – Wild]
Increase to own ability power: increase by 8 → increase by 6
Maximum stacks: 15 → 30
See Soulreaver
Leviathan
[Unique Passive – Wild]
Increase to own maximum HP: increase by 70 → increase by 50
Maximum stacks: 15 → 30
See Soulreaver
Scorching Wind
[Unique Passive – Wild]
Increase to own attack speed: increase by 2% → increase by 1.5%
Maximum stacks: 15 → 30
See Soulreaver
Shuriken
[Unique Passive – Vital Point]
[Added] Internal cooldown of 0.3 seconds after the passive effect is triggered.
More chances to proc the Vial Point passive is always nice for DPS heroes.
Artistic Adjustments
Updated the hero avatars of Zuka, Cresht, and Azzen’Ka.
Updated the character art of skins, including Zuka’s Bodhi, Nakroth’s Demonic, and Thane’s Chief Knight.
Redesigned the hero model, art, avatar and some skin art resources for Yorn.
- Audio Adjustment
- The New Year Version login and lobby music was composed by the Hexany team.
Bug Fixes and Other Adjustments
- Adjusted the recovery range of the Altar and fixed the bug in which recovery is prevented in the corner of the Altar.
- Fixed a bug in which jungle monsters exit combat due to incompatibility between the range before exiting combat of some jungle monster camps and the terrain of the map.
- Fixed a bug in which Omen’s normal attacks lagged a little when his passive ability was triggered.
- Fixed a bug in which Emily’s Ability 2 missed in certain situations.
- Fixed an issue with the description of Annette’s Ability 1 (a maximum of 4 damage instances are dealt with the inner circle).
- Fixed an issue with the description of Marja’s passive ability (normal attacks and abilities slow enemies when HP is full).
- Fixed a bug in which Murad’s ultimate could be abnormally unlocked.
- Fixed a bug in which the prompt icon of Peura’s passive displayed wrongly.
- Fixed a bug in which the damage of Yorn’s Ability 2 did not trigger consecutively sometimes.
- Fixed a bug in which the indicator of Tel’Annas’ Ability 2 did not match the actual range.
General Impressions: more bug fixes from the devs are always great news. This means a more balanced battlefield for players and an overall better gaming experience.
Arena of Valor (AoV) Recommended Article List
| ▼ Popular Articles | |
|---|---|
 Beginner's Guide |
 Hero Tier List |
 Hero Class Guide |
 Armory (Item List) |
| ▼ Popular Articles | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Beginner's Guide |
Hero Tier List |
Hero Class Guide |
Armory (Item List) |
Teemee is going to be one of the best supports imo. He can feed his carrries with tons of gold with his passive and the buff to water support items.
The item Shuriken new passive “internal cooldown of 0.3 sec after passive effect is triggered” means that after the effect is triggered, you need to wait 0.3 sec to trigger it again (like Ormarr passive that has to wait 6 sec after it is triggered)