Since there has been a significant increase in PvP games and streams, a lot of remaining balance issues were discovered (mostly war machines). A lot of new tech was discovered and too valuable to not implement before releasing the campaigns, so today Heroes 5.5 team release Beta 7. A balance patch with a lot of new skills and features.
Earthquake can be cast outside sieges and inflict a small amount (20 + 2 * SP) of physical dmg to all creatures (this tactically serves to counter low tier 1-unit stacks)
Heroes 5.5 RC15 Beta 7 changelog:
Summoning magic Earthquake can be cast outside sieges and inflict a small amount (20 + 2 * SP) of physical dmg to all creatures (this tactically serves to counter low tier 1-unit stacks) tremors perk no longer exists as it is now part of earthquake spell, mana burst perk teaches earthquake spell summon elementals now always summons earth by default. added 3 new perks in summoning magic each allowing to select another elemental type to summon. rearranged DBC bonuses in summoning magic nerfed summon elementals amount from 1.8 * SP to 1.5 * SP at expert level and increased mana cost to 20 you no longer get a 40% bonus for fire elementals air elementals -1 initiative nerfed tieru and zehir amount of summons increased wasp swarm dmg to 10,12,15,18 * SP increased initiative of wasp hive by 1 set wasp swarm atb reduction to 0.2,0.25,0.3,0.4 increased multiplier of swarm queen specialization to 0.02 probably fixed hero specs summoning extra stacks in HvH LAN fights
Destructive magic elemental balance perk is moved to destructive and placed after master of storms buffed effect of master of storms to x0.5 ATB reduction increased damage of meteor shower to ice bolt level and mana cost to 32 increased damage of stone spikes to eldritch arrow level with lower base and increased cost to 12 ignite perk adds 50% instead of 33% dmg per round. decreased mana cost of fireball to 20 mana, ice bolt to 8 mana, circle of winter to 24 mana adjusted various mana pools of creatures and hero specs to the new spell costs the evercold icicle, emberstone necklace and emerald slippers also regenerate 2 mana per day banish base damage is a bit higher
SP and mana buffs are moved around to have skills compete better with each other secrets of destruction now gives knowledge per level and replaces pariah. occultism gives spellpower bonus based on level and also works for destructive. arcane brilliance perk also gives spellpower per level instead of mana regen. twilight and dark exaltation give mana regen instead of SP at higher level. swapped knowledge and spellpower bonuses between detain and weaken perks in process of reducing their text. chieftains can now learn casters luck and gain +12 spellpower from it. tribal rituals now also gives +4 mana regeneration.
New spymaster and siege master perk New perk: Siege master now merges quadruple catapult with +3 movement speed in sieges in one perk. New perk: Spymaster, supports games where heroes can never return to town (see screenshot)
Other changed ARMG ladder template B to have T5 dwelling on zone 1, T6 in zone 2 and T7 in zone 3 unupgrade brawlers made more durable +5Hp, -1 initiative, +Bash ability modified all ghosts to be less tanky and more aggressive, -5Hp,+1dmg/-3HP,-1D,+1maxdmg/-4HP,+1 initiative reduced hydra/wyvern regeneration to 40-60HP per turn nerfed regeneration spell from 60% + 6% per SP to 60% + 4% per SP at expert level mining skill is a bit better as it no longer has a chance for 1 gold counterspell now cost x2 the opposed spell again, because it is much stronger after being moved resurrection artifacts no longer work per stack, but overall
BUGS fixed staff of saint resurrection looping fixed band of conjurer giving DBC bonus fixed evercold icicle not obtainable in battle sites fixed bart still boosting summon elem spell power fixed calid starting with too much knowledge fixed sylsai not called trickster fixed orson getting extra zombies per week fixed laszlo not getting extra swordsman on duel template davius and malustar no longer start with war machines fixed luck penalty on unicorn hornbow and penalty can now be removed with treebron quiver fixed a lot of wrong creature names in hero spec and building descriptions fixed description of enlightenment and learning giving the impression all primary stats are increased fixed mysticism and refined mana text