Heroes of the Storm March 2025 Update Brings Game-Changing Changes!

Summary

Heroes of the Storm‘s recent patch includes reworked hero talents, reduced draft timers, and balance adjustments.
This update is the second in 2025 for the game, which has been in maintenance mode since 2022 but receives regular patches.

In simple terms, the popular game “Heroes of the Storm” has released a significant update. This update includes revised hero abilities, shorter timers in Draft mode, and numerous balance changes and bug fixes. This is the second update for “Heroes of the Storm” this year and is now active within the game.

Essentially, “Heroes of the Storm” has been operating under maintenance since July 2022, which means no new content is being developed for it. However, despite this, Blizzard’s MOBA received a balance adjustment in September 2023 and has consistently received additional updates every few months since then, with the most recent “Heroes of the Storm” update being released in late January 2025.

Currently, “Heroes of the Storm” has unveiled its second major update for the year. Similar to previous updates, this latest patch encompassed numerous balance adjustments and bug fixes across multiple playable characters. However, some modifications in this particular update were more substantial than typical, with several talents undergoing complete overhauls. For instance, Dehaka’s Gambit from Paralyzing Enzymes talent has been shifted to Feeding Frenzy, Greymane’s Wolfheart talent now enhances his armor in Worgen form rather than boosting Inner Beast, and Lucio’s Off the Wall and Up to Eleven talents have been updated to provide a mana refund for Sound Wave and extend the duration of the subsequent Amp it Up respectively.

The latest version of this draft includes some significant adjustments. In the game mode for Heroes of the Storm, many timers have been shortened by approximately 40%. For instance, the time allotted for choosing heroes in the first round has decreased from 40 seconds to 25, and Hero Bans and subsequent picks now have only 15 seconds, compared to the previous 24. This means fans will spend less time waiting to join matches in Draft, and they’ll need to make quicker decisions about which heroes to select or ban.

The recent update for “Heroes of the Storm” mirrors the pattern established by its equivalent from January 2025. Unlike previous patches released after the game’s soft reboot in September 2023, which typically arrived every two to three months, these last two updates have been quicker, with a gap of seven weeks for the first and six weeks for the second. It remains to be seen if Blizzard will maintain this swift tempo for future updates throughout the rest of the year.

On June 2nd, it’s been ten years since the launch of Heroes of the Storm. This date is about 12 weeks from the latest HotS update. If Blizzard maintains its current pace, fans can anticipate one more update before reaching this milestone and another around the anniversary. In addition, if they are fortunate, maybe there will be a significant announcement to commemorate a decade of Heroes of the Storm.

Heroes of the Storm Patch Notes – March 12, 2025

Our next Heroes of the Storm patch is live! Read on for more information.

NOTE: Italicized text indicates a change between PTR and Live notes.

General

Draft
- First Round pick timer has been reduced from 40 seconds to 25 seconds.
- Hero Ban timer has been reduced from 24 seconds to 15 seconds.
- Hero Pick timer has been reduced from 24 seconds to 15 seconds.

Balance Update

Heroes

Auriel
- Base
  - Bestow Hope [Trait]
    - Decreased the amount of energy stored from 50% to 40% of damage to non-Heroes.
Dehaka
- Base
  - Dark Swarm [W]
    - Damage reduced from 52 to 48.
- Talents
  - Level 4
    - Hero Stalker
      - ~~Essence gain is not increased when hitting more than 2 Heroes.~~
      - ~~Essence gain now requires Dark Swarm to hit 2 Heroes.~~
      - Hitting more than 3 Heroes at once no longer grants additional Essence.
    - Lurker Strain
      - Cooldown reduction bonus reduced from 3 seconds to 2 seconds.
  - Level 7
    - Feeding Frenzy
      - REWORK: Cooldown reduction is now a Gambit bonus, starting from 1.5 second cooldown reduction. Each death lowers this by 0.25, up to 3 times.
    - Paralyzing Enzymes
      - REWORK: Gambit removed. Now reduces Drag’s target’s healing received by 40% while Drag is active and for 2 seconds after.
  - Level 13
    - Ferocious Stalker
      - Damage bonus reduced from 60% to 50%.
  - Level 16
    - Tunnelling Claws
      - Movement speed reduced from 125% to 120%.
  - Level 20
    - Contagion
      - Now also reduces the damage of Isolation by 60%.
Greymane
- Talents
  - Level 1
    - Wolfheart
      - Rework: Now also increases Armor granted by Worgen Form from 10 to 15.
Kharazim
- Base
  - Health increased from 2027 to 2080.
  - Breath of Heaven [W]
    - Healing increased from 285 to 295.
- Talents
  - Level 4
    - Air Ally
      - Health increased from 200 to 300.
      - Spell Power increased from 15% to 20%.
  - Level 10
    - Divine Palm
      - Duration increased from 3 to 4 seconds.
  - Level 13
    - Sixth Sense
      - Sixth Sense now starts expiring after the Stun expires, instead of as soon as the Stun is applied.
  - Level 20
    - Epiphany
      - Cooldown increased from 60 to 70.
      - Mana restored increased from 33% to 70%.
Lúcio
- Base
  - Soundwave [Q]
    - Cooldown increased from 7 seconds to 8 seconds.
    - Mana cost increased from 30 to 45.
- Talents
  - Level 1
    - Accelerando
      - Time to maximum increased from 4 seconds to 6 seconds.
  - Level 4
    - Off the Wall
      - REWORK: Now also refunds 15 Mana when hitting an enemy with Soundwave while Wall Ride is active.
  - Level 7
    - Good Vibrations
      - Duration of Shield increased from 7 seconds to 8.5 seconds.
  - Level 10
    - High Five
      - Cooldown increased from 20 to 25 seconds.
  - Level 13
    - Heavy Casters
      - ~~Now also prevents Push Off from hitting multiple targets.~~
      - Push Off no longer Slows the first Hero hit and instead Stuns them for 0.5 seconds.
  - Level 16
    - Up the Frequency
      - Cooldown reduction reduced from 0.4 seconds to 0.3 seconds.
    - Up To Eleven
      - Duration bonus from Push Off increased from 0.3 seconds to 0.5 seconds.
      - Duration bonus from Soundwave reduced from 0.3 seconds to 0.25 seconds.
      - REWORK: Hitting Heroes while Amp It Up is not active increases the duration of the next Amp It Up by up to 1.5 seconds. This does not limit the amount able to be gained while Amp It Up is active.
Whitemane
- Talents
  - Level 1
    - Inquisitor’s Prayer
      - After Basic Attacking an enemy Hero 3 times, Whitemane also gains a stack of Inquisitor’s Prayer.
  - Level 13
    - Scarlet Wrath
      - REWORK: Now also restores .5% Mana to all Zeal targets.

Bug Fixes

General

Fixed an issue that caused some effects to not display correctly on the Target Dummy in the Sandbox and Try Mode.
Fixed an issue that caused some Movement Speed bonuses to display the incorrect value in the target info panel.

Brawl

Deathwing’s Cataclysm no longer starts on Cooldown in Arena Mode.
Deadman’s Stand
- Fixed an issue that caused AI to not act.
- Fixed an issue that caused the Map Mechanic button to not be visible.
Garden Arena
- Fixed an issued that caused the AI to not move.
Punisher Arena
- Fixed an issued that caused the AI to not move.
Trial Grounds
- Fixed an issued that caused the AI to not move.

Map

Braxis Holdout
- Fixed an issue that caused Archangel’s visual effects to register as a pingable object.
Volskaya
- Fixed an issue that caused the Triglav Protector’s Shield Emitter Shields granted to allies to increase the Pilot’s Self Healing score when absorbing damage.