Season 16 has arrived and the second round of ranked play in 2020 is underway.
Just a few weeks before, Moonton teased assassin reworks for Natalia, Hanzo and Lancelot. Natalia is especially strong now, and has made a comeback into ranked play.
New tank hero, Atlas, has also been released. A reliable initiator with tons of crowd control, check out our Atlas guide here.
Before you dive any deeper into the competition, here’s a quick summary of everything that’s changed in Patch 1.4.60:
Revamped Freya
Passive – Power of Einherjar
(Formerly Spirit Contact) After hitting an enemy with a basic attack, Freya increases her attack speed for the next two basic attacks. This effect cools down in ten seconds. Freya gains a stack of Sacred Orb every two basic attacks, capped at three stacks.
Leap of Faith
(Formerly Wings of Faith) Freya jumps to a designated area, dealing damage to enemies in the area and pulling them to the center. She can consume Sacred Orb to increase the AoE area, damage and CC effect of this skill.
Spirit Combo
(Formerly Godspeed Strike) Freya can sacrifice Sacred Orb to cast different skills in a row. Each cast grants her a shield. The first three casts will deal damage to enemies in a fan shape area after a short dash. The fourth cast will deal damage to enemies in a circle area and knock them airborne after moving.
Ultimate – Valkyrie Descent
(Formerly Valkyrie) Freya gains 3 stacks of Sacred Orb. And her basic attack also becomes ranged and can deal AoE damage.
Aside from assassins, Freya also received new changes to her kit. Sacred Orb adds another layer of complexity by giving players a choice to empower Leap of Faith or Spirit Combo.
Her shield is more reliable, and can be activated instantly with Spirit Combo. While Valkyrie no longer grants her magic resist and armor, in return the rework has given her extended range and splash damage.
If you want to purchase this hero, note that at this point in time she can only be bought with diamonds.
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Marsha
Passive – Ancient Strength
Physical lifesteal boost when her first HP bar is gone increased from 10% to 25%. When the second HP bar is lost, her bonus physical lifesteal increases from 20% to 40%. Energy regen from attacking heroes or creeps increased from 5 to 8. Energy regen from attacking other units reduced from 5 to 3. Total HP growth reduced from 300 to 201.
Howl Shock
Slow duration increased from one to two seconds.
Wild Power
Wild Power’s active basic damage increased. Masha will lose 1% of her current max HP each second Wild Power is in use.
An overall buff to Marsha, she now gains more lifesteal with decreasing HP. A strong 1v1 hero, we’ll see if these changes warrant her more usage in the offlane.
Cecilion
Passive – Overflowing
Base mana reduced from 1150 to 700. Mana regen reduced from 50 to 30. Mana gained per hit reduced from 10 to 8.
Bat Impact
Dive path damage decreased from 110 / 140 / 170 / 200 / 230 / 260 to 100 / 130 / 160 / 190 / 220 / 250 (+80% Total Magic Power)(+5% Total Mana) Magic Damage.
Second launched attack damage decreased from 220 / 280 / 340 / 400 / 460 / 520 to 200 / 260 / 320 / 380 / 440 / 500 (+160% Total Magic Power)(+10% Total Mana) Magic Damage.
Bats Feast
Damage of bolts of blood energy increased from 30 / 35 / 40 to 35 / 40 / 45 (+8% Total Magic Power)(+0.3% Total Mana) Magic Damage.
Decreased base mana and mana regen means Cecilion will not be able to cast as many spells to stack Overflowing in the early levels. The mana gained from Overflowing has also been reduced.
Overall, these changes significantly delay his scaling potential, making him strictly a late-game hero who will no longer be permanently banned in rank.
Granger
Rhapsody
Can now be interrupted by crowd control. Basic damage of each bullet decreased from 30 / 56 / 82 / 108 / 134 / 160 to 25 / 51 / 77 / 103 / 129 / 155 (+70%Total Physical Attack) points of Physical Damage against enemies.
Base HP reduced from 2490 to 2370.
Rhapsody is the bread and butter of Granger’s skills, so even though the lowered base damage is not much, the fact that it can now be stopped with crowd control makes it harder to channel for its full duration during team fights.
Flameshot
Cooldown increased from 35 to 50 seconds. Slowdown duration reduced from two to one second.
Professional players in MPL demonstrated how much burst damage multiple Flameshots can do early game, so this nerf to its cooldown was highly anticipated.
READ MORE: Swim up the ranks with Atlas: Tips and tricks for MLBB’s newest hero
