After several rounds of nerfs, Valentina's powerful Ultimate still makes her an irreplaceable choice in high-level matches and tournaments. This time around, we're increasing her Ultimate's cooldown once again in hopes of improving the use rate of other Mages in high-rank plays.
Ultimate - I Am You
Cooldown: The stolen Ultimate's cooldown is 120%-100% → 120% (at all levels) of the target's cooldown
Valentina is far more versatile than the other Mages, so we decided to slightly reduce her damage.
Skill 1 - Shadow Strike
Damage: 340-665 + 185% Magic Power → 300-600 + 165% Magic Power
Valentina's Ultimate can be extremely strong against certain heroes but weak against others, so we're balancing it a bit.
Ultimate - SkillName SkillName
Valentina's Ultimate cooldown will be 1.2x/1.1x/1x the starting cooldown of the Ultimate she steals (when her Ultimate is Lv.1/2/3). The cooldown cannot go below 10s.
Valentina can become very powerful depending on her opponents. We're making it harder for her to steal an enemy's Ultimate. Meanwhile, we're adjusting her Skill 1's control to perfom better in lower ranked matches while giving higher ranked opponents a fairer chance.
Skill 1 - Shadow Strike
Terrify Duration: 0.6s → 1s
The same target can only be terrified once every 4s.
Ultimate - I Am You
Steal Range: 8 → 7
Slightly reduced Valentina's durability.
Passive - Primal Force
Lifesteal Ratio: 32-60% → 30%
Adjusted the mechanics of Valentina's Ultimate and lowered the control duration of her Skill 1 to address her irresistibility under specific conditions.
Skill 1 - Shadow Strike
Terror Duration: 0.7s → 0.6s
Ultimate - I Am You
Cooldown: 42s → 55s
Valentina now gains the ability to hit enemies' weaknesses after stealing Wanwan's Ultimate and needs to hit all three weaknesses of an enemy to cast the Ultimate.
Valentina now unlocks the Rage mechanic after stealing Minotaur's Ultimate and needs to reach maximum Rage to cast the enhanced Ultimate.
Damage of the Ultimate stolen from X.Borg is now the same as the lower damage when X.Borg's Firaga Armor is destroyed, instead of that when his Firaga Armor is active.
Valentina's loomed large over higher play, so we're cutting down her early game power to give the overshadowed heroes more play time on the battlefield.
Passive - Primal Force
Extra EXP: 15-50 → 8-50
Skill 2 - Arcane Shade
Cooldown: 10s → 12s
We're hitting on Valentina's in-lane tradeoffs while slightly boosting her early game damage as compensation.
Passive - Primal Force
Extra EXP: 22-50 → 15-50 (Scales with level)
Lifesteal: 46-60% → 32-60% (Scales with level)
Skill 1 - Shadow Strike
Base Damage: 290-665 → 340-665
We're slightly lowering the uptime of Valentina's Ultimate while smoothing out her damage scaling throughout the game.
Skill 1 - Shadow Strike
Base Damage: 320-620 → 290-665
Ultimate - I Am You
Cooldown: 35s → 42s
We're lowering Valentina's strength in the laning phase but giving her more late-game damage and access to her Ultimate as compensation.
Passive - Primal Force
Lifesteal: 60% → 46%-60% (scales with level)
Extra EXP: 30 → 22-50 (scales with level)
Skill 1 - Shadow Strike
Magic Power Bonus: 170% → 185%
Skill 2 - Arcane Shade
The Shadow Bolts no longer prioritize enemy heroes, but will be evenly distributed to enemies in the area.
Ultimate - I Am You
Cooldown: 45s → 35s
An unpredictable shadow predator who can siphon the power of her enemies and even turn into their forms.
Passive - Primal Force
Valentina gains EXP each time she hits an enemy hero with a skill. If the enemy hero's level is lower than or equal to Valentina's, part of the damage dealt will be converted into her HP.
Skill 1 - Shadow Strike
Valentina launches Shadow Strike on a fan-shaped area ahead, dealing Magic Damage to enemies hit and slowing them. Also applies a Shadow Sigil to enemy heroes hit. Marked enemies that are hit by Shadow Strike again will be terrified.
Skill 2 - Arcane Shade
Valentina fires 3 Shadow Bolts at the nearest enemy and dashes forward, dealing Magic Damage. The cooldown of Shadow Strike is reduced each time a Shadow Bolt hits an enemy. Valentina can cast this skill 2 times.
Ultimate - I Am You
Valentina siphons the power of a designated enemy hero, gaining the ability to cast their Ultimate, and slows them. After casting the enemy's Uitimate, Valentin a will turn into the enemy hero's form and inherit their Basic Attack type. If the enemy hero is a Physical Damage hero, Valentina will gain extra Physical Attack according to her Magic Power for the duration.