Season 11 Patch Preview

Games Halo Wars Series
1

Let me start by saying - This is NOT a final list. It is a work in progress and is very subject to change.

**Updated 6/28 6:00 PDT"

Hey Community - we want to be as transparent as possible in regards to what our team’s proposed changes are going to be. Below are all items we are currently working on or have implemented so far. Some have numbers attached while others don’t at this time and that’s because we are working towards finding what a good change should be. Now we know there are about a million things everyone will want to see added to this list and I know you will post them in the comments, but this is a large list so far of things we can tackle right now. We are working quickly to get these into your hands. Take a look - give feedback - be civil.

<mark>UNSC</mark>
Warthogs
DPS and Health Increased by 5% to improve viability.

Siege Turrets
Cost Reduced to 700/50 but a cost escalation has been added to subsequent Siege Turrets.

Kodiaks
Build time nerfs partially reverted. Build time reduced by 10%

Jackrabbit
Jackrabbit - LOS added to spotter drone to fix Jerome LP bug.
New Weapon Type -> Modifier vs Scouts increased 1.4 -> 1.7

Marines
Fix Weapon Type on Combat Engineer

<mark>Banished</mark>
Rangers
A Third Elite Ranger has been added to the squad
Base DPS reduced by 25% and Base Health reduced by 20% to compensate for the added unit.

Blisterback
Health increased by 10% to improve viability.

<mark>Leaders</mark>
Cutter
Spartan Jerome DPS increased by 15% vs Vehicles and 20% vs Infantry to increase effectiveness.

Isabel
Mac Blast buffs

  • Level 1 10% damage buff - Level 2 7% damage buff - Level 3 5% damage buffFixed an issue that would cause Best Offense to make Isabel’s Scorpions weaker.

Anders
Spartan Douglas’ Rocket Launcher AoE ring reduced from a radius of 10 to 8.
Sentinel Synergy now swapped with Sentinel Network on the Radial.
Sentinel Network cost increased from 500/250 to 650/450
Sentinel Network cooldown increased by 20 seconds

Decimus
Boundless Siphon
Effectiveness of Siphon on Banshees reduced significantly.
Once again affects the Warlord.

Shipmaster
Displacement radius reduced
Raid has been reduced to 2 Points

Forge
Forgehog

  • XP required for Veterancy normalized compared to other Hero units. - Veterancy damage reduction bonus improved by 2% - Hero Cost changed to match other Hero units: Cost changed from 350/275 to 300/275Scatter Bomb

  • 20% Damage buff to each bomb - Number of Bombs increased at each Tier - Bombs now drop fasterKinsano
    Flamehog Drop cooldown increased by 30 seconds
    Inferno and Napalm Missile damage versus Buildings reduced by 5%

Colony
Non-Upgraded weapon DPS reduced by 10%
Teleport has replaced Mines on the Radial

Johnson
Cost Reduction on Bunker Drop (50 each level)
Digging In turret DPS buffed by 10%
10% Increase to Mantis’ shield.

Commander Jerome
Fixed an issue where the Jackrabbit’s LoS decreased with Recon Training after Support Drone is trained
Enduring Salvo buffs

  • 15% Buff to damage - AoE Rings on the bits of ship falling increased from 10 to 13.Damage increased on Missile attack when Jerome is piloting the Mantis.

Arbiter
Hero Cost changed to match other Hero units: Cost changed from 350/275 to 300/275

Serina
Hero Unit Damage reduction buffed by 2%
Frostraven Seismic Shot cooldown reduced to 45s
Seismic Blast

  • Cooldown set to 160s - Second shot added to level 2Cryo Bomb

  • Cooldown reduced to 160s - Second shot added to level 2 and 3Glacial Storm

  • Duration increased by 5s - Effectiveness vs Ground Units increased.Yapyap
    Grunt Rider ram damage reduction

Pavium
XP required for Veterancy normalized with other Hero units

Voridus
Grenadier now has the correct weapon type to be effective vs Infantry
Infused Engineer

  • Cost Reduction to match standard Engineers - Decrease Y cooldown by 10 secondsHero Buffs

  • 5% DPS increase - Infusion trail duration increased by 5 seconds - Hero Cost changed to match other Hero units: Cost changed from 350/275 to 300/275<mark>Blitz</mark>

  • Blast units now do more damage to structures<mark>UNSC Global</mark>

  • Warthog 60 > 40 - Hornet 70 > 50 - Hellbringer 10 > 20 - Marine 20 > 10 - Vet Jackrabbit 50 > 40 - Trooper Warthog 110 > 100 - Scorpion 120 > 100 - “Rush” added to Veteran Jackrabbit<mark>Banished Global</mark>

  • Banshee 60 > 40 - Marauder 70 > 50 - Wraith 110 > 90<mark>Leaders</mark>
    Cutter

  • Trooper Hornet 100 > 90 - Close Air Support 180 > 160 - Spartan Jerome 200 > 180Isabel

  • Armored Warthog 80 > 60 - MAC Blast 140 > 120 - Lockdown Scorpion 150 > 140 - Ghost in the Machine 170 > 120 - Spartan Alice 210 > 180Anders

  • Aggressor Sentinel 30 > 20 - Watchtower 50 > 30 - Protector Sentinel 70 > 50 - Ark Defense 130 > 100Atriox

  • Spike Turret 90 > 50 - Enduring Blisterback 160 > 150 - Eradication 190 > 180 - Atriox Chosen 210 > 180Decimus

  • Boundless Fury 150 > 140 - Terror Chopper 60 > 50Shipmaster

  • Teleport 80 > 60 - Prowling Marauder 90 > 70 - Unstable Banshee 90 > 70 - Spirit Assault 140 > 150 - Glassing Beam 160 > 140 - Honor Guard 170 > 180Forge

  • Pelican Transport 40 > 30 - Heavy Metal 70 > 60 - Scatter Bomb 90 > 80 - Grizzly 160 > 150 - Forgehog 200 > 180 - Combat Salvage 170 > 100Kinsano

  • Flamehog 70 > 50 - Veteran Flamehog 90 > 70 - Inferno 180 > 160Colony

  • Goliath 50 > 40 - Hunter Captain 230 > 190 - Engineer Swarm 80 > 70 - Skitterers can now attach correctly in BlitzJohnson

  • Mantis 80 > 60 - Siege Turret 100 > 90 - EMP MAC Blast 110 > 100 - Mantis 110 > 90 - Colossus 140 > 130 - Sergeant Johnson 200 > 180Arbiter

  • Stasis 70 > 60 - Plasma Bolt 90 > 80 - Conduit of Rage 80 > 70 - Mass Cloaking 200 > 180 - Arbiter 215 > 200 - “Rush” keyword changed to “Reflect”Commander Jerome

  • Sniper 110 > 100 - Commander Jerome 215 > 200Serina

  • Seismic Blast 60 > 50 - Frostraven 70 > 60 - Cryo Bomb 110 > 90 - Glacial Storm 170 > 130 - Bison 220 > 190YapYap

  • Grunt Riders 50 > 40 - Shade Drop 80 > 70Voridus

  • Scarred Grenadier 50 > 40 - Infused Engineer 60 > 50 - Terror Wraith 150 > 140 - Voridus 210 > 190Pavium

  • Enduring Will 60 > 70 - Wraith Invader 100 > 90 - Mega Turret 160 > 120 - Pavium 215 > 190 - Lich Vanguard 200 > 180 - Rain of Fire 80 > 120

2

My boy Voridus is finally getting love.

Pls buff Grenadiers substantially. I think that them not filling the void that Suis leave is the reason why Voridus just isn’t good.

However, I would be against buffing his Hero. I play a lot of Voridus, and I build the Hero every game. He’s tanky, fast, and is a goo faucet. You could buff his DPS, but at that point I think he’d be good at one too many things.

3

RAID IS TWO POINTS FOR SHIPMASTER

The future is now my friends.

4

Very promising patch, Postums. Looks really good. Thanks for keeping us in the loop!

5

> 2533274830489835;2:
> My boy Voridus is finally getting love.
>
> Pls buff Grenadiers substantially. I think that them not filling the void that Suis leave is the reason why Voridus just isn’t good.
>
> However, I would be against buffing his Hero. I play a lot of Voridus, and I build the Hero every game. He’s tanky, fast, and is a goo faucet. You could buff his DPS, but at that point I think he’d be good at one too many things.

We are making Grenadiers more anti-infantry in this patch by giving them the correct modifiers and weapon type for them.

6

Please improve pathfinding/intelligence for all units especially Jump Pack Brutes. Whenever I rush a base, they literally never attack the base and instead get baited by a squad of Marines. They also never attack simultaneously or in a group- some just sit around.

Another glitch is the Scarab not firing when there’s an enemy in its range. It will charge the main cannon, but will stop if the enemy moves which usually ends up being a cat and mouse -Yoink!- contest. Scarab should also get a damage/health buff as it’s completely underwhelming at the moment.

Elite Enforcers should do less damage to infantry units.

7

Oh and these glitches!

  • Blisterbacks can be deployed in the air or on angled surfaces.

  • Melee-specific hero units can melee from a ridiculous range without moving.

  • Leader abilities will be recharged even after a player has been defeated.

  • The same leader ability will be recharged simultaneously, but with different tiers.

  • Campaign level progress may not appear in the main menu. Also fix glitch where the slider reverts itself to the beginning.

  • Choppers can ram sideways and backwards and even through some surfaces. This applies to Ghosts and Warthogs too, but to a lesser extent.

  • Units can attack your base in the fog of war despite being in range of base turrets. This occurs mainly in campaign.

  • Bandit raids in Pelicans will awkwardly reverse direction when destroyed in Terminus Firefight. Replace Palmer with Jeff Steitzer.

  • Dropships continue to drop a building even if it was destroyed mid-construction.

  • Alt-tabbing out of the game then returning will disable all actions in-game.

  • Bases blown up in the fog of war (whether by disconnection or defeat) should be destroyed live as opposed to being static. Newly established bases can also overlap with destroyed ones in the fog of war if it isn’t cleared entirely.

  • On occasion, units will walk on air!

  • Scarabs will walk either sideways or upside down on vertical surfaces.

  • Camera will reorient itself after defeat.

  • Fog of war will awkwardly move away when ascending or descending higher surfaces.

  • Units can phase through floors partially on some parts of the map.

  • Ordering units to collect resources will sometimes cause them to stop moving.

  • Improve connection performance, lag spikes, occasional freezes and disconnections. - The minimap will sometimes indicate bases being attacked even though it’s not.

8

> 2533274830489835;2:
> My boy Voridus is finally getting love.
>
> Pls buff Grenadiers substantially. I think that them not filling the void that Suis leave is the reason why Voridus just isn’t good.
>
> However, I would be against buffing his Hero. I play a lot of Voridus, and I build the Hero every game. He’s tanky, fast, and is a goo faucet. You could buff his DPS, but at that point I think he’d be good at one too many things.

Shut up cars, let them make voridus OP (ᴗ ͜ʖ ᴗ)

9

> Heroes Pass
>
>
> - XP gain normalized. - Vet bonuses normalized. - Cost normalization. - DPS. - Spartans specifically: Douglas rockets AOE adjustment and Buffs to Jerome.

First 3 are great!
Not sure what the DPS plan is, but I can say without a doubt that heroes with their second and third tier upgrades need to chill out. They have crazy stats in both HP and DPS.
Doug: AoE damage zones, right? My favorite thing.

> UNSC
>
> - Tier 2 Vehicles adjustments.
> - Warthog buffs. - Siege Turrets cost escalation.
> - Kodiaks time to build adjustments.
> - Jackrabbit tuning vs. other scouts.
> - Condor affected by Global Upgrades.

For T2 vehicles, I think we only need a little bit better shields for Mantis.
Warthog is a very balanced unit, but it doesn’t deal with CT marines, and Hunter is so strong that you can’t use any T2 vehicles vs Banished anyway. Imo make the marine rocket weapon type the same as their other weapons, and nerf hunter a bit vs T2 vehicles.
Kodiak change sounds great.
JR loses to Ghost, which is as it should be, because Arby/Ship don’t have grunt mines. Would be great if Grunt Mines didn’t wreck them as hard as they do. I still think all the scout upgrades are way too expensive given their very specialized role.
Condor: Why break the rules of the game when you can just buff the stock Condor? Would be perfectly fine to do that.

> Banished
>
> - Rangers - reduce DPS of individual Ranger and add 1 more to the unit.
> - Blisterback buffs.
> - Scarab/Corrupted Scarab affected by global upgrades.

I know that people complain about rangers on the forums, but any buff to the unit would be incredibly uncalled for. Rangers are the backbone of the Banished army. They only have minor problems dealing with CT Marines. See my prior comment about their weapon type.
Blisterback needs range in artillery mode! Very hard to siege a base with them.
Scarabs are definitely strong enough right now. Solid balancing currently, wouldn’t mess with it.

> Isabel - Currently a -5.9% disadvantage
>
> - MAC blast buffs. - Buff canister shell DPS (currently weaker than standard attack).

Would be good if MAC was similar to before nerfs, but had a longer telegraph.
Sounds good, but Scorpions are trash with and without the Isabel buff. I have no reason to make a unit that will lose to most army comps and takes forever to make an army of anyway. Just needs to do much better in combat, and not use the crazy long anim for canni that locks it in place - can it just use the normal firing anim like the Wraith with the Scorch attack?

> **Anders –**Currently +2.5% advantage
>
> - Solutions for Retriever Sentinel by shifting leader powers around so shield must be picked later for Sentinel.

So Sentinel Network I guess becomes a point 4 power? Can’t be as strong as it is now then I guess.
Can we also get the Protector Sentinel change in? 3->4 pop, but 5% better base dps/hp. More usable early, and beatable late game that way. Atm they are the ultimate end game unit spam that you can’t beat, it’s stupid.

> Decimus – Currently a +3.4% advantage
>
> - Boundless Siphon Banshee Fix: We are going to create a new weapontype with specific leech on it for Banshees. - Warlord does not get T3 upgrade in Strongholds.

If you applied this siphon fix to every unit, you’d fix the siphon doing work outside of combat. Please! :frowning:

> Shipmaster – Currently a +4.4% advantage
>
> - Nerfs to Displacement size. - Raid 2 points.

OhMyDog! YAAAAS

> Forge – Currently a -3.5% disadvantage
>
> - Scatter Bomb buffs.

Feel it should telegraph less.

> Kinsano – Currently a +0.8% advantage
>
> - Flamehog drop cooldown adjustments - Inferno/Napalm Missiles investigation.

The drop is waaaay cost effective, same with the ultimate one. Should cost at least 10% more than the units themselves. The ult drop applying so many buffs is crazy, too.
Best to straight up nerf those powers vs buildings I think. Are good vs units as well thanks to ridiculous stun-lock potential with drops.

> Colony – Currently a +2.9% advantage
>
> - Potential Buffs to slow on attacks. - Nerfs to early game. - Teleport for Colony potentially to swap for either Battle Hardened or Mines and made tier 4 power.
> - Skitterers do not get affected by Stasis investigation. - Skitterer Mob in Blitz cannot attach investigation.

Slow on what attacks? You mean the hero?
Hero definitely needs a slight DPS nerf.
TP!!!

> Johnson – Currently a +1.6% advantage
>
> - Reduce cost on Bunkers.

Mentioned this before, but would like to reiterate - a slight buff on the Mantis shield would be pretty important.

> Commander Jerome – Currently a -1.5% disadvantage
>
> - Fixed an issue where the Jackrabbit’s LoS decreased with Recon Training after Support Drone is trained (Fixe was that we added the bonus LoS from the upgrade to the Support Drone allowing the LP to buff them correctly). - Enduring Salvo buffs

Both sound good.
Another subtle buff would be to match the Hero Mantis speed with that of Marines so that he wouldn’t slow down all infantry comps.

> Serina – Currently a -5.3% disadvantage
>
> - Buff seismic blast and cryo bomb. - Possible leader power cooldown reduction.

Both are good changes, but you absolutely need to change her 12 o’clock, it’s the worst 5th tier power in the game.

> Pavium – Currently a -2.2% disadvantage
>
> - Investigate areas to improve.

I would recommend getting coaching from Nakamura RTS, available now for $9.99/h.
Seriously though, buffing Pavgod is madness.

> Voridus – Currently a -8.1% disadvantage
>
> - Grenadier fixes (Rebalance weapon DPS, Give a correct weapon type for role, and is likely a new weapon type. - Cataclysm pool investigation - Engineers: Cost Reduction and Decrease Y CD. - Hero Buffs.

This all sounds great. Maybe HP for the engineers, too.

Finally, recommending the below for Yapyap - his brute rider rushes vs UNSC are way too difficult to stop consider how cheap a play it is. The hero changes would give him a better alternative T1 strategy.

> Yapyap:
>
> - Reduce Surprise Party mine damage by 10%. Shouldn’t be identical to lotus because of the extra units. - Reduce Brute Rider HP by 5%. - Reduce Goblin power cost to 100, and increase HP by 20%. Compensate with second and third upgrades to remain the same as now (target buff to the T1 heroes)

10

Some bugs I’ve come across recently:
Warlord can hammer pull Scarabs
Audio bug with Colony saying “turret upgraded” with some base buildings being built, most notably the sensor tower.
When Kinsano destroys a building a Sgt Johnson line of dialogue plays
Last Leader played appears “locked” when instantly going into another match
And then Discussed with Postums, settings and preferences resetting

11

> 2533274959262061;10:
> Some bugs I’ve come across recently:
> Warlord can hammer pull Scarabs
> Audio bug with Colony saying “turret upgraded” with some base buildings being built, most notably the sensor tower.
> When Kinsano destroys a building a Sgt Johnson line of dialogue plays
> Last Leader played appears “locked” when instantly going into another match
> And then Discussed with Postums, settings and preferences resetting

Deci and Warlord can pull Scarries. Those two heroes literally turn a scarry into 40 pop paper weight. PLEASE FIX. I would be happy with a damage nerf to Deci Y ability too. You drop it in a center of army and Red bars half your army while being nearly impossible to kill. Even worse when he goes bloody air too. Banshees kill everything not AA and Deci and Warlord kill everything they cant.

12

YES! Teleport for colony will be amazing. Please don’t take battle hardened though, replace mines. They’re pretty useless as high on the radial as they are for him.

13

<mark>This post has been edited by a moderator. Please refrain from making posts that do not contribute to the topic at hand.</mark>
*Original post. Click at your own discretion.

I like turtles

14

Ok first off outstanding work postums and everyone else. I appreciate all your hard work and I agree with all the changes well all but one.
If I am reading this correctly Deci Warlord doesn’t get a third upgrade? Remember he can’t shoot air at all he is a Melee unit. This seems a bit much and will drastically hurt him. Maybe tone down his DPS also it’s not fair for all other heroes to have their third upgrade and not him and lastly if he can’t get his 3rd upgrade for his Warlord wouldn’t that affect his Decimus drop as well? That’s like a double nerf.

15

Scorpions should receive a small HP buff and an additional 10 DPS on thier main cannon.

Vultures could also get a small HP buff and a DPS buff. Might need to nerf Phoenix Missile some.

Hell Charge UI vs actual buff radius bug.

Johnson bunker does need to be cheaper. The cost decrease should be in Digging In though. Why make Heal + Bunker better? Also possible buffs to his siege turret drop.

Just give Isabel a Vehicle Drop similar to Forge. Could we switch Heavy Metal with heal?

Enduring Salvo should be buffed with caution. It has good building damage but the randomness of the dropped ship pieces are the issue. Just make their AOE bigger or you will have a OP/garbage nuke depending on how the pieces fall.

16

Do we have a time frame on when to expect season 11?

17

I like everything here other than the Isabel mac buff I think her mac blast is in a good spot right now not completely broken while still doing a good amount of damage.

18

<mark>This post has been edited by a moderator. Please refrain from making posts that do not contribute to the topic at hand.</mark>
*Original post. Click at your own discretion.

No No No…MAPS MAPS MAPS!

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> 2533274927740213;3:
> RAID IS TWO POINTS FOR SHIPMASTER
>
> The future is now my friends.

Right I’ve been asking forever. I like this post. I think they did a good job. I think there should be a vortex lightning investigation but this is good for now. Is anyone else scared of lvl 3 condor or scarab?

20

> 2535422421305993;19:
> > 2533274927740213;3:
> > RAID IS TWO POINTS FOR SHIPMASTER
> >
> > The future is now my friends.
>
> Right I’ve been asking forever. I like this post. I think they did a good job. I think there should be a vortex lightning investigation but this is good for now. Is anyone else scared of lvl 3 condor or scarab?

Yes, i feel like ultimates are strong enough, they are already tough to take out if they have just a small escort and I don’t think there should be any kind of “I win” button. Like it shouldn’t be a case of “I built a condor, gg”