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Banning pick is here

Patch 0.1.66 came out today. The patch includes various hero buffs/nerfs, bug fixes and a new mode!

The long awaited “Banning Pick” mode is here. Similar to Captains mode from dota, each captain will get  3 bans per team then each player has 60 seconds to pick a hero from the pool , taking turns alternately.

It might sound similar to banning draft, however, you can pick from the full list of heroes.

With this new mode aimed at competitive play, there have been a few hero changes:
Zephyr has largely been remade (for the umpteenth  time). His ultimate now a Typhoon that reaps destruction to enemies the closer they are to the epicentre. This definitely synergies well with Tempest’s ultimate, making zephyr a useful hero now.

Electrician has been buffed, his ultimate having its cool-down reduced and the ability to jump to multiple targets if in possession of Staff of the Master. Other changes are viewable in the change-log on this site.

Personally, as a dedicated Valkyrie player i was glad to see that her ultimate has been improved(cool-down and mana cost reduced), enabling me to skill prism earlier without concerns about mana consumption.
The sound that Valkyrie’s arrow makes has been quietened, making it harder for enemies to hear that distinctive sound. Although minor, this can mean the difference between winning/loosing a gank/battle.

These are just a few hero changes, other heroes including Pyromancer (new DoT effect on fervor), Jeriziah(repel nerf), devourer, Madman and more have been updated.

Lastly, most heroes with aura’s now gain the ability to toggle them on or off. We think this is a nice idea especially when some aura’s effect lane control, namely pushing the creeps too far into enemy towers making it difficult to farm or gank.

Flavours of the month

After being blessed with patch 0.1.63, HoN players are switching up their play styles accordingly.
Here is a list of heroes that have been effected by this patch, starting with those that have been buffed.

Recent buffs:
Devourer
Engineer
Glacius
Hellbringer
Moon Queen
Night Hound
Nymphora
Ophelia
Pandamonium
Pebbles
Rampage
Slither
Soulstealer
Swiftblade
Torturer
Wretched Hag

And those that have been nerfed:
Corrupted Disciple
Deadwood
Forsaken Archer
Madman
Magebane
Puppetmaster
Sand Wraith

Most of the buff/nerfs are subtle, however a few heroes have had noticeable changes. Here are a couple we thought might make some noise in the weeks to come.

Devourer:

With his hook now 1100 range at all levels, Devourer players have the option to skill level 1 hook instead of rot. This in our opinion is a huge advantage, especially if he is laning with a partner who has a stun/disable, opening up the possibilities of level 1 tower hooks (where you hook a player into the vicinity of a nearby tower). Level 1 rot is still viable as an early ganking spell.

Engineer:

Having had channeling removed completely from Tinker, Engineer is now a great support hero. Making defending/pushing a much easier job.

Glacius:

Glacius can now cast Ice Imprisonment on allies reducing ALL damage taken from enemy’s up to 80% at level 4! (the draw back being they are immobilized for the duration). We think this is great throughout the game and especially late game when facing farmed carries or just before a player gets nuked by a big damage dealing spell.
Special tip: Try ice imprisoning yourself when playing Glacius just before you cast your ultimate.

Hellbringer:

Deathboil now jumps to a total of 4 targets at level 4…. need say anymore ?

Rampage:

Not the most viable pick in high level games, but for the players who enjoy Easy Mode games Rampage has had cool-downs on both his spells significantly reduced, nice.

Slither:

Slithers attack range has been increased by a whopping 50, this may not sound like much but it makes a huge difference in terms of lane control and ganking.
His Passive now impairs the health regeneration of players under the effect. Possibly making him more of a viable pick in higher level games.

Sand Wraith:
Those fond of Sand Wraith will be sad to realise his dispersion is not doing nearly half as much as the damage it used to do. This is because the damage type has been change to Magic (from True) making it less effective the more magic armor enemies have.

Tempest:
Early farming for tempest has become a difficulty: with the new creeps implemented in the last patch, and purge getting buffed in this patch, his spawns will have a tough time lasting  in the jungle.

To sum things up
So, we’ve given you some advice on picks of the month, its up to you how you go about countering the newly buffed heroes.

Good luck!

Patch 0.1.62

Today Heroes of Newerth was updated to Patch 0.1.62.

There are some interesting additions to the game, most notably new neutral camps.

You can check out the details of the latest patch here -> Changelog

Deadwood is here!

Christmas has come early for all HoN fans out there. With the new patch 1.61.0 players can now play as Deadwood.

Deadwood is a Strength hero with ranged disabling abilities and melee capability. His spells are new apart from his 2nd spell Uproot which has been taken from the old Keeper of the Forest.

Following the christmas spirit S2 games have decorated the maps with snowmen and lanterns.

Enjoy!