Heroes of the Storm Build Concept: Nova (Re-work)

(2) |

i really like the base changes but the talents seem a bit off balance.
i think her current talent tree is good with the exaction of some weak talents that just needs buffs.

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(8) |

From a Master/low tier GM, Nova is incredible weak in my games. But on the flipside, I have seen she can be strong/oppresive in lower MMR games. And thats not a Nova specific issue because it also applies to Valeera and a lesser extent Samuro. To me, stealth heros might as well not have stealth because as soon as they are in my Vision i automatically see them. But thats not the case for everyone.

The issue is stealth heroes (aside from Zeratul) have their strength directly balanced around the skill of the enemy team rather than their own.

Nova unlike Zeratul is a very one dimensional hero with a low skill ceiling for usefulness. She cant lane, cant siege, and cant consistently merc (even w/ the talent), has no mobility, no crowd control, no utility, no mitigation and weak sustain damage. Shes bare bones and only balanced by the fact of scouting and simple burst potential.

If Blizzard were to ever truly make Nova "balanced", she needs a near complete kit overhaul. Not just number shuffling/talent changes.

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(3) |

Ok though. Main issue is that your trying to fix something that isn't broken.

Nova is incredibly situational, has a low win-rate in hero-league, and honestly is one of the hardest players to play. But she definitely is not in need of a total rework like here. When I play Nova (which is mostly in unranked draft) I can burst for around 3000 damage at level twenty. In no way is this inconsiderable. She's hard to play right, but she causes mass fear in opponents, causing them to group up in ways they normally wouldn't want to.

However with this rework, You've made her incredibly overpowered. You've basically made her into a more survivable, more burst, and more just Do than samuro at range. Sorry pal. This ain't gonna fix any of the problems Nova has (which are quite legitimate). In my opinion They just need to make the four Mana Regen in stealth baseline, and buff her attack damage.

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Well see that's the thing. Take a look at what anyone will tell you inside the game if you ask about Nova in general chat or in a QM, Draft, Hero of Team game. Check the forums and sub-reddit. Wherever you go, whoever that posts, whoever that responds, 95% of all feedback on Nova is that she is useless and does not do enough of ANYTHING. That includes CC, Damage and contributing to the team in any way shape or form.

I for one do NOT disagree with you, I am a Nova main as mentioned and I usually top kills, damage, usually sit on the middle of XP gain all the while bribing mercs. But that is not good enough according to this community.

This this concept my goal was to flush her more out, make both Snipe and AA build viable as right now the AA build is still all too weak despite it's recent buff, Snipe just dominates it IF you can Play Nova that is. A brain-dead Nova VS a brain-dead team will make the AA Build seem viable but it just does not hold up to Snipe if you know how to Nova.

Now I do hope you read the numbers and not just blindly scrolled down as the talent setups here should barely give her MORE damage than what she currently can pump out - And again, the community at large rags about how she "fails" to do damage as a "Mage" (A Bullet for them all talent just makes her stronger VS Warriors, that's about it), rather it would give her more options depending on what she faces. Right now she only deals with Casters but with this I was hoping to let her be more viable as a "all around" ganker rather than juts a "Caster ganker" I mean have you seen Zeratul burst a Warrior? Nova can't even compare and they both fall under the category as Stealth heroes.

But because Zeratul packs Void Prison, it okay for him to have MORE damage AND better escape than Nova since in the community's eyes "he contributes more to the team than a Nova ever could" - So what is Nova to do then if she does not get more damage, better CC options OR ANY form for escape?

The narrow mindset towards Nova in this community hurts my brain - And because of that, It let me to make this "re-work" concept.

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Nova (Re-work) by Rexx

Nova (Re-work)

Nova (Re-work)

Dominion Ghost

Baste stats:

Basic attack:

Combat Trait

Primary Abilities

Deals 588 (279 + 4% per level) damage to the first enemy hit. *New function - Passive: If heroes are registered within the line of fire, Snipe will bypass minions and mercenaries. Mana: 50 Cooldown: 6 Seconds.

Deal 242 (115 + 4% per level) damage to an enemy and slow it by *40% (Was 30%) for *2.5 seconds (Was 2.25 seconds). *Mana: 55 (Down from 65) Cooldown: 12 Seconds. *Charges: 2 (Up from 1)

Create a Decoy for 5 seconds that appears to attack enemies. Using this Ability does not break Cloak. The Decoy has a sight range equal to a hero. Mana: 50 Cooldown: 12 Seconds* (Down from 15 seconds)

Secondary Abilities

Enemy minions killed near you grant stacks. Hero Takedowns grant 10 stacks. Use 25 stacks to bribe a mercenary, instantly defeating them. Does not work on Bosses. Maximum 100 stacks. If a camp is defeated entirely with Bribe, the camp respawns 50% faster. * Is now baseline instead of a talent.

Heroic Abilities

Locks in on the target Hero, then fires 3 shots that hit the first Hero or Structure they come in contact with for 741 (352 + 4% per level) damage each. *New Function: While Triple Tap is active, Nova gains 50 Armor. *Mana: 75 (Down from 100) *Cooldown: 90 Seconds (Down from 100)

Talents

Level 1

Advanced Delivery: While Stelthead, Nova gains 4 mana per second and Holo Decoy costs 40% less mana.

Rapid Cloaking: While Stelthead, Nova gains 25% movement speed and Holo Decoy now gains 100% cast range, 50% sight range and can see past obstacles.

Letha Stability: Attacks and Abilities done from stealth and within 0.5 seconds of breaking stealth deals 45% more damage. Holo Decoy lasts for 120% longer and deal 50% of Nova's damage.

Level 4

Longshot in the Chamber: After using Pinning Shot, your next Basic Attack within 3 seconds deals 80% additional damage. Pinning Shot gains 30% increased cast range.

Covert Ops: After being stelthead for 2.5 seconds, Pinning Shot's slow is increased to 60% and costs no mana. This bonus is lost after losing stealth for 1 second. You next 3 basic attacks gains 2.5 more range after using Pinning Shot.

Snipe Master: Hitting an enemy Hero with Snipe permanently increases the damage of Snipe by 15%. Stacks up to 5 times. All stacks are lost if Snipe fails to hit a enemy.

Searing Rounds: Snipe now always bypasses minions and mercenaries but does it's full damage to all units in Snipe's path. Snipe also loses it's mana cost and gains 15% range.

Level 7

Anti-Armor Shells: Your Basic Attacks Deals 125% more damage and decreases the Armor of Heroic targets by 15 for 3 seconds, but your attack speed is proportionally slower.

Headshot: Hitting an enemy hero with Snipe will stun them for 0.75 second.

Crippling Shot: Pinning Shot lowers a Hero's Armor by 25 for the duration of the slow, causing them to take 25% increased damage.

Level 10 - (R: Ultimates)

Tripple Tap.

Precision Strike.

Level 13

Dominion Dealings: Bribe now requests 15 Stacks to be used and generates 5 more stacks from Hero takedowns.

Master of Distraction: Holo Decoy no longer spawns a single Decoy but creates 4 Decoys in total within a targeted area. Where within the area the Decoys will spawn is random.

Tactical Cloak: After breaking stealth you gain 25 Armor which lasts until you take damage. Once damage is taken the armor will decay by 8 per second. Each time you lose armor you will stack 8% movement speed which stops once the armor is gone.

Level 16

Trick Shot: Pinning Shot can bounce from 1 hero unit to another. This jump can only happen 2 times per Pinning Shot.

A Bullet for them all: Your basic attacks deals damage equal to 2.5% of the target's total maximum health. If the target is disabled this will be increased to 5%. You will heal yourself for 30% of your basic attack damage.

Perfect Shot: Snipe can now bypass the first hero or structure it hits, allowing it to deal damage to 2 heroes / structures. Landing Snipe on an enemy hero reduces it's cooldown by 1.5 seconds.

Explosive Round: Snipe also deals 75% damage to enemies near the impact.

Level 20

Sitting Ducks: Triple Tap shots will penetrate any unit or structure blocking it's path to the main target. Penetrating unintended heroes will decrease the Triple Tap shots damage by 15% per unintended hero hit. Each unintended hero hit will also reduce Triple Taps cooldown by 12.5 seconds.

Precision Barrage: Precision Strike holds two charges and has it's cooldown reduced by 8 seconds per hero hit.

Rewind: Activate to reset the cooldowns of your Basic Abilities. Cooldown: 60 Seconds.

Other concepts and more

Sidenotes

Quick Comment

Heroes of the Storm

Deals 588 (279 + 4% per level) damage to the first enemy hit.

*New function - Passive: If heroes are registered within the line of fire, Snipe will bypass minions and mercenaries.

Mana: 50
Cooldown: 6 Seconds.

Deal 242 (115 + 4% per level) damage to an enemy and slow it by 40% (Was 30%) for 2.5 seconds (Was 2.25 seconds).

Mana: 55 (Down from 65)
Cooldown: 12 Seconds.
Charges: 2 (Up from 1)

Create a Decoy for 5 seconds that appears to attack enemies. Using this Ability does not break Cloak. The Decoy has a sight range equal to a hero.

Mana: 50
Cooldown: 12 Seconds* (Down from 15 seconds)

Enemy minions killed near you grant stacks. Hero Takedowns grant 10 stacks. Use 25 stacks to bribe a mercenary, instantly defeating them. Does not work on Bosses. Maximum 100 stacks. If a camp is defeated entirely with Bribe, the camp respawns 50% faster.

* Is now baseline instead of a talent.

Locks in on the target Hero, then fires 3 shots that hit the first Hero or Structure they come in contact with for 741 (352 + 4% per level) damage each.

New Function: While Triple Tap is active, Nova gains 50 Armor.

Mana: 75 (Down from 100)
*Cooldown: 90 Seconds (Down from 100)

Advanced Delivery:

While Stelthead, Nova gains 4 mana per second and Holo Decoy costs 40% less mana.

Rapid Cloaking:

While Stelthead, Nova gains 25% movement speed and Holo Decoy now gains 100% cast range, 50% sight range and can see past obstacles.

Letha Stability:

Attacks and Abilities done from stealth and within 0.5 seconds of breaking stealth deals 45% more damage. Holo Decoy lasts for 120% longer and deal 50% of Nova's damage.

Longshot in the Chamber:

After using Pinning Shot, your next Basic Attack within 3 seconds deals 80% additional damage. Pinning Shot gains 30% increased cast range.

Covert Ops:

After being stelthead for 2.5 seconds, Pinning Shot's slow is increased to 60% and costs no mana. This bonus is lost after losing stealth for 1 second. You next 3 basic attacks gains 2.5 more range after using Pinning Shot.

Snipe Master:

Hitting an enemy Hero with Snipe permanently increases the damage of Snipe by 15%. Stacks up to 5 times. All stacks are lost if Snipe fails to hit a enemy.

Searing Rounds:

Snipe now always bypasses minions and mercenaries but does it's full damage to all units in Snipe's path. Snipe also loses it's mana cost and gains 15% range.

Anti-Armor Shells:

Your Basic Attacks Deals 125% more damage and decreases the Armor of Heroic targets by 15 for 3 seconds, but your attack speed is proportionally slower.

Headshot:

Hitting an enemy hero with Snipe will stun them for 0.75 second.

Crippling Shot:

Pinning Shot lowers a Hero's Armor by 25 for the duration of the slow, causing them to take 25% increased damage.

Dominion Dealings:

Bribe now requests 15 Stacks to be used and generates 5 more stacks from Hero takedowns.

Master of Distraction:

Holo Decoy no longer spawns a single Decoy but creates 4 Decoys in total within a targeted area. Where within the area the Decoys will spawn is random.

Tactical Cloak:

After breaking stealth you gain 25 Armor which lasts until you take damage. Once damage is taken the armor will decay by 8 per second. Each time you lose armor you will stack 8% movement speed which stops once the armor is gone.

Trick Shot:

Pinning Shot can bounce from 1 hero unit to another. This jump can only happen 2 times per Pinning Shot.

A Bullet for them all:

Your basic attacks deals damage equal to 2.5% of the target's total maximum health. If the target is disabled this will be increased to 5%. You will heal yourself for 30% of your basic attack damage.

Perfect Shot:

Snipe can now bypass the first hero or structure it hits, allowing it to deal damage to 2 heroes / structures. Landing Snipe on an enemy hero reduces it's cooldown by 1.5 seconds.

Explosive Round:

Snipe also deals 75% damage to enemies near the impact.

Sitting Ducks:

Triple Tap shots will penetrate any unit or structure blocking it's path to the main target. Penetrating unintended heroes will decrease the Triple Tap shots damage by 15% per unintended hero hit. Each unintended hero hit will also reduce Triple Taps cooldown by 12.5 seconds.

Precision Barrage:

Precision Strike holds two charges and has it's cooldown reduced by 8 seconds per hero hit.

Rewind:

Activate to reset the cooldowns of your Basic Abilities.

Cooldown: 60 Seconds.