Halo Wars 2 - Patch Preview Tentatively 4/18

**4/11 Update**

The update was going to be released today, but we are moving this to next Thursday, 4/18. We know many were eagerly awaiting this today, but have identified risks that required us to move it out 1 more week. Apologies for the inconvenience, but it is the right call at this time.

Cheers,
Postums

-----------------------------------------------

Hello Friends,

It has been a hot minute since I've stopped in with some news for the HW2 Community. Well let's change that!!! Today we are posting a Patch Preview for the next balance update to Halo Wars 2 that we have been working with the community on. I mentioned on yesterday’s Social Stream that we were targeting to get this out today, but we found an issue in test that was causing disconnects and are fixing it and moving the release to next week.

So some might be, "well Postums, weren't we supposed to be getting patches more frequently?" This is true. We did say that our goal was to do this, and the goal was to have these come more frequently and smaller, but we had to change the cadence of more frequent ones focused-on Halo Wars 2. This is because of bug fixes for Fort Jordan, some planned fixes that require more robust solutions, and also to pause and help provide support for other endeavors. In good news, work related to Fort Jordan and future updates beyond balance are continuing and the team is making solid progress.

The team is actively investigating code solutions to some of the balance challenges that we have been unable to overcome with focus on adjusting values with our balance updates. The biggest offender is specifically targeting Decimus and the challenges he has posed for quite some time. Seeing the lack of Decimus changes in this list is because we are working on a proper solution to balancing him by altering how the game handles some of his issues, but we will cover this in a future update when we have info to talk about on that Brute.

For today, please take a gander at these proposed changes. The targeted release for this is tentatively sometime next week unless issues arise in testing. Halo Wars gets it's updates usually on Thursdays, but if issues arise - we will be transparent.

Banished Global
Jump Pack Brutes
JPBs have been strong for a very long time. These changes aren't drastic, but we believe will help in countering them more appropriately.

• Build time increased from 15s to 17s
• Speed reduced from 12 to 11

Cleansing Beam Tier 3
Tier 3 Cleansing Beam is currently too strong, nerfs are coming to the speed the beam moves at as well as giving an additional second of telegraphing on the T3 version.

• Speed normalized across tiers
• Tier 2/3 reduced from 18 to 17
• Tier 3 telegraphing increased by 1 second.

Kinsano
Hellcharge

• Fixed an issue that caused Hellcharge to not affect units correctly in the targeting radius.

Pavium
Burnout Tier 3
Burnout is still very strong on Pavium so nerfs to the T3 version of the ability are being made to reduce its ability to buff an entire base.

• Duration reduced from 50s to 45s
• Radius reduced from 24 to 17

Arbiter
Conduit of Rage Tier 1 & Tier 2
Buffing Tier 1 and 2 of Conduit of Rage to improve Arbiter’s early game effectiveness.
Tier 1

• Speed buff increased from 20% to 25%
• Damage Buff increased from 15% to 20%
• Area of Effect increased from 40 to 50

Tier 2

• Speed buff increased from 28% to 30%
• Damage buff increased from 30% to 35%%
• Area of Effect increased from 80 to 90

Plasma Bolt
Buffing the damage across the board on this power as it has been historically very weak and even with the triple shots at Tier 3 it did too little damage to be effective and is only used to proc CoR. With the damage buffs the ability will now be a viable option for attacking units as well.

• Tier 1: Damage increased from 3000 to 3300 per shot
• Tier 2: Damage increased from 3000 to 3600 per shot
• Tier 3: Damage increased from 3000 to 3900 per shot

Colony
Goliath
Goliath rushes are currently very hard to deal with. To diminish the power of a rush, we are reducing their health so that rush counter-units can better deal with them if scouted early.

• Overall health reduced by 15%

Serina
Cryo Troopers
Serina struggles in her early game because once players counter her chill, she doesn’t have a lot to fight back with. For now, we are rolling out a small buff to her early game Cryo Troopers to help with map control. We will monitor balance data in the future to see if additional buffs are needed.

• Base DPS increased by 10%
• Chill Rate vs Infantry increased by 5%

Isabel
The Best Offense
Currently she is struggling in competitive and in the short term we are looking to buff her late game passive and give her Nightingales and Scorpions more survivability. We will monitor balance data in the future to see if additional buffs are needed.

• Nightingale Health and Shield buffs increased by 10%
• Scorpion Health and Shield buffs increased by 10%

Please feel free to discuss these proposed changes on this post. We look forward to additional feedback from the community on the next upcoming balance update. But be aware, the scope of changes is locked at this time. Please focus feedback on the changes contained in this preview.

Cheers,
Postums

Not bad, but it feels like it falls kinda short.

Buffs to Isabel's late game are appreciated, but it is the early game where she struggles :(

I proposed swapping heavy metal and mines, or adding further buffs to JR production/upgrades with accelerated assembly

Edit, or maybe slightly buff T.1 Alice

Postums wrote:

Hello Friends,

It has been a hot minute since I've stopped in with some news for the HW2 Community. Well let's change that!!! Today we are posting a Patch Preview for the next balance update to Halo Wars 2 that we have been working with the community on. I mentioned on yesterday’s Social Stream that we were targeting to get this out today, but we found an issue in test that was causing disconnects and are fixing it and moving the release to next week.

So some might be, "well Postums, weren't we supposed to be getting patches more frequently?" This is true. We did say that our goal was to do this, and the goal was to have these come more frequently and smaller, but we had to change the cadence of more frequent ones focused-on Halo Wars 2. This is because of bug fixes for Fort Jordan, some planned fixes that require more robust solutions, and also to pause and help provide support for other endeavors. In good news, work related to Fort Jordan and future updates beyond balance are continuing and the team is making solid progress.

The team is actively investigating code solutions to some of the balance challenges that we have been unable to overcome with focus on adjusting values with our balance updates. The biggest offender is specifically targeting Decimus and the challenges he has posed for quite some time. Seeing the lack of Decimus changes in this list is because we are working on a proper solution to balancing him by altering how the game handles some of his issues, but we will cover this in a future update when we have info to talk about on that Brute.

For today, please take a gander at these proposed changes. The targeted release for this is tentatively sometime next week unless issues arise in testing. Halo Wars gets it's updates usually on Thursdays, but if issues arise - we will be transparent.

Banished GlobalJump Pack BrutesJPBs have been strong for a very long time. These changes aren't drastic, but we believe will help in countering them more appropriately.

• Build time increased from 15s to 17s
• Speed reduced from 12 to 11

Cleansing Beam Tier 3Tier 3 Cleansing Beam is currently too strong, nerfs are coming to the speed the beam moves at as well as giving an additional second of telegraphing on the T3 version.

• Speed normalized across tiers
• Tier 2/3 reduced from 18 to 17
• Tier 3 telegraphing increased by 1 second.

KinsanoHellcharge

• Fixed an issue that caused Hellcharge to not affect units correctly in the targeting radius.

PaviumBurnout Tier 3Burnout is still very strong on Pavium so nerfs to the T3 version of the ability are being made to reduce its ability to buff an entire base.

• Duration reduced from 50s to 45s
• Radius reduced from 24 to 17

ArbiterConduit of Rage Tier 1 & Tier 2Buffing Tier 1 and 2 of Conduit of Rage to improve Arbiter’s early game effectiveness.
Tier 1

• Speed buff increased from 20% to 25%
• Damage Buff increased from 15% to 20%
• Area of Effect increased from 40 to 50

Tier 2

• Speed buff increased from 28% to 30%
• Damage buff increased from 30% to 35%%
• Area of Effect increased from 80 to 90

Plasma BoltBuffing the damage across the board on this power as it has been historically very weak and even with the triple shots at Tier 3 it did too little damage to be effective and is only used to proc CoR. With the damage buffs the ability will now be a viable option for attacking units as well.

• Tier 1: Damage increased from 3000 to 3300 per shot
• Tier 2: Damage increased from 3000 to 3600 per shot
• Tier 3: Damage increased from 3000 to 3900 per shot

ColonyGoliathGoliath rushes are currently very hard to deal with. To diminish the power of a rush, we are reducing their health so that rush counter-units can better deal with them if scouted early.

• Overall health reduced by 15%

SerinaCryo TroopersSerina struggles in her early game because once players counter her chill, she doesn’t have a lot to fight back with. For now, we are rolling out a small buff to her early game Cryo Troopers to help with map control. We will monitor balance data in the future to see if additional buffs are needed.

• Base DPS increased by 10%
• Chill Rate vs Infantry increased by 5%

IsabelThe Best OffenseCurrently she is struggling in competitive and in the short term we are looking to buff her late game passive and give her Nightingales and Scorpions more survivability. We will monitor balance data in the future to see if additional buffs are needed.

• Nightingale Health and Shield buffs increased by 10%
• Scorpion Health and Shield buffs increased by 10%

Please feel free to discuss these proposed changes on this post. We look forward to additional feedback from the community on the next upcoming balance update. But be aware, the scope of changes is locked at this time. Please focus feedback on the changes contained in this preview.

Cheers,
Postums

Is deci getting nerfed anytime soon? I think the warlord shouldn’t have boundless shipon and the deci drop could it be less effective it’s ridiculous that thing can really wipe armies. Can PAV also get a turtle nerf as well he has one of the hardest defenses to crack expecally on sentry causeing for hours long games. Maybe give him a rain of fire buff to compensate for his turtle nerf?

thank you for your continued support 343

BreezyStarfish1 wrote:

TBE Reek wrote:

Postums wrote:

The team is actively investigating code solutions to some of the balance challenges that we have been unable to overcome with focus on adjusting values with our balance updates. The biggest offender is specifically targeting Decimus and the challenges he has posed for quite some time. Seeing the lack of Decimus changes in this list is because we are working on a proper solution to balancing him by altering how the game handles some of his issues, but we will cover this in a future update when we have info to talk about on that Brute.

Is deci getting nerfed anytime soon? I think the warlord shouldn’t have boundless shipon and the deci drop could it be less effective it’s ridiculous that thing can really wipe armies. Can PAV also get a turtle nerf as well he has one of the hardest defenses to crack expecally on sentry causeing for hours long games. Maybe give him a rain of fire buff to compensate for his turtle nerf?

thank you for your continued support 343

As Postums alluded to, Decimus's changes are a bit more complex than just altering a few values. There are some hard code issues that need to be fixed. So yes Decimus is getting nerfed, don't know how soon.

Yea probably should of read the whole thing saw patch notes and skimmed through the other portion of his post lol I went back now I see it thanks.

I do have a question how come the wingman hornets are not getting nerfed or anything done they are just an over powered unit and anti air dose nothing to kill it at all

MaStEr ShReK0 wrote:

I do have a question how come the wingman hornets are not getting nerfed or anything done they are just an over powered unit and anti air dose nothing to kill it at all

Upgrade your anti air lv zero anti air isn’t going to beat lv 3 air it doesn’t work like that

This post has been edited by a moderator. Please do not create alternate accounts to bypass forum bans. Alternate accounts will be permanently banned, and offending users will be subject to both temporary and permanent bans.
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BreezyStarfish1 wrote:

SUPER SQUID 333 wrote:

Terrible balance patch to be honest, serina's t2 needs a buff. Pav changes are fine I guess, but where are the deci changes? Also Isabel already has a very strong late game so that doenst need a buff. Hornet changes nowhere to be found. Goliath nerfs are good though. Deci needs to be addressed very soon though, as he is very overpowered.

If you read the post Postums explains why there are no Deci changes this patch.

There are some simple solutions for now though, such as moving deci drop -> 1500/1500

This post has been edited by a moderator. Please do not create alternate accounts to bypass forum bans. Alternate accounts will be permanently banned, and offending users will be subject to both temporary and permanent bans.
*Original post. Click at your own discretion.

I'm a casual wars 2 fan so keep that in mind as I agree with the majority consensus here, this isnt shaping up to be a good patch. I do like the cleansing beam nerf but Izzy won't be helped with a late game buff and even a simple temporary nerf to deci is practically required, kind of dumbfounding to find that's not happening.

No disrespect to 343 but I really think that if you guys are going to pretend to be invested in halo wars 2 like you claim, it'd help to get more people on the project. It doesn't really feel like you guys care all that much.