== General ==
- Added a new Inventory Slot: The Ward Slot
+ Item progression in our game is very important; however for all roles, support especially, dedicating one inventory slot to holding wards can be a large detriment to this progression. This extra inventory slot for Wards of Sight will allow supports to more easily carry all of the required consumables for their role and enjoy more item progression than previously available. It will also allow the option of other roles to place wards when they previously couldn't due to inventory slot restriction.
* Any Wards of Sight purchased are now stored in this new location
* Can use Wards from this slot the same as any other inventory slot (default hotkey: Alt+R)
* Wards of Revelation still use normal inventory slots
- Having a friendly Ward selected now displays its reveal radius for you to see
- Winter has come to the Forests of Caldavar and Mid Wars
+ A frigid front has finally swept over Newerth turning the lush Forests of Caldavar into a replica of the chilly tundra known as Frost Fields. So grab your coats and bundle up, we wouldn't want you to get frostbite right before a big battle.
== New Content ==
- New Store Item: Ward Skins
* For the first time we are introducing Ward Skins into Heroes of Newerth. This exciting product will allow you to select a custom look for the wards your hero places. They function like Taunts and Announcer Packs, so after you purchase a Ward Skin in the Game Vanity section of the store, select it in your Vault before you enter a game.
* Your Ward Skins will have separate effects for Wards of Revelation and Wards of Sight to allow you and your teammates to identify which type of ward has been placed. The Ward Skins are completely cosmetic and have no effect on the performance of wards, their placement, or the area they affect.
* Any player who owns a Ward Skin may select one before starting a match, and each player’s Ward Skin will be displayed for all players when standard rules of gameplay allow (hopefully not by the enemy team too quickly or often).
* The first group of Ward Skins features products inspired by classic support heroes and the URSA Corps. The former will be offered as individual products and in a themed bundle for additional savings!
- New Support Hero Ward Skins
* Aluna: A glittering emerald floating above a gold and bamboo base!
* Rhapsody: A dazzling disco ball spinning over Rhap’s guitar!
* Pearl: A bubbling wand whirling over a magical base!
* Glacius: Ice shards spinning over a miniature glacier to stop the ganks cold!
* Empath: A glowing Empathic symbol over a golden base to let you know she cares!
* Note: You do not have to play with the hero for whom the ward is themed to use that ward. For example, any hero can use the Aluna Ward Skin.
- New Ward Skin: URSA Ward Skin
* The enemies of URSA Corps cannot hope to meet them head-on in battle, so they resort to gutless ambushes and sneak attacks. Reveal their plans and your loyalty with this custom URSA Corps ward skin, and expose the enemy for the cowards they are!
- New Announcer Pack: URSA Announcer
* Lock and load and armor up, URSA warriors! If this announcer pack doesn't get you ready to roar, you might already be dead!
* Claim the URSA Announcer Pack for free when you own these avatars: Uproar Flux, Ussuri Gauntlet, Kodia Devourer, Axia Moraxus, Barrage Bombardier, Gunclaw Gunblade, Scoria Magmus, Grizzington Benzington, and Arctos Gladiator.
- New Avatar Set: The Three Judges of All Hells
- New Puppet Master Avatar: Minos
* In ancient Greece, King Minos ordered his architect Daedalus to construct the Labyrinth to hide the Minotaur, a half-man, half-bull monstrosity resulting from his wife being cursed by Poseidon and spending some quality time with a bull. When Minos tried to find and kill Daedalus - the only man who knew the truth about the Minotaur - he was tricked, boiled to death, and sent to the underworld. Because of his thirst for revenge on all those who wronged him and his uncanny ability to exert his will over others, he manipulated his way into becoming one of Three Judges of All Hells, where he has ruled for centuries. Until now.
- New Accursed Avatar: Abaddon
* Overseer of the bottomless pits of the underworld and the dead cast within for all time, Abaddon the Destroyer was perfectly content wielding his cauterizing sword to sear away any glimmer of hope for the doomed souls brought before the pulpit of the Three Judges of All Hells. Now he stalks the battlefields of Newerth, hunting she who has opened the Vault of All Hells...
- New Magebane Avatar: Aeacus
* Aeacus, the Lord of Wailing and Lamentation, serves as the third Judge of All Hells and carries the sole key to the Vault of All Hells. At least he did, until someone descended into the realm of the dead, knelt for her judgement, and wreaked havoc upon the natural order of endless damnation and punishment.
* Now the Three Judges have risen to the surface of Newerth to collect what is rightfully theirs -- the harvested souls of the damned, amassed since time began -- and to exact their worst punishment yet upon the woman who released them upon the world.
- New Predator Avatar: Ba'al
* Ba'al is a principle lord of Hell and Satan's primary henchman. He rules over 66 types of lesser daemons and vast realms of Hell, and he has chosen a terrifying corporeal form in order to further his goal of creating Hell on Newerth so he can rule that as well. In the meantime, he can slaughter his way across the battlefield and send more souls to his infernal underworld.
- New Limited Edition Emerald Warden Zodiac Avatar: Sagittarius
* The Centaurs have always been a gentle species upon Newerth, wanting nothing more than to care for the beasts of the forest, enjoy peaceful music and tutor their young in the divine art of archery. Their mythological hero, Sagittarius, has always been the model of benevolence to strive for, he who made the selfless offer to replace the suffering Prometheus and in return was raised to the heavens to rest among the stars. But now the Centaurs send a different prayer to Sagittarius, one of fear and desperation and pleas to save them from extermination at the hands of the Hellbourne, and Sagittarius has answered this call by tearing himself out of the celestial sky and bringing his enchanted bow, loyal wolves, and fierce eagle with him to defend his race.
- New POGs Avatar: Swiftblade
* The POGs avatars are here! These high definition skins will be released one-per-patch and will be available via the store, Plinko, or both, depending upon the region.
== Bug Fixes and Optimizations ==
- Warlock, Archer, Imp and Soldier 3D portraits are now properly centered
UI
- The correct hero icon is now shown when reporting a player while watching a replay through a player's perspective/point-of-view
- As a player in-game, kicking a spectator who's spectating you no longer makes a box get stuck to your cursor
- Randoming a hero will now properly select the Alt Avatar that you marked as the default one in your preferences
- Pending spectate/mentor requests will no longer linger on the screen after you disconnect from the game
- Tooltips will now show the proper aura radius scaling (e.g. Soul Reaper's Withering Presence)
- Reporting a player will no longer pop up after remade games
- "Join" buttons are now hidden while the game is in the loading bar race screen
- Gold infobox tooltip (when you hover over your in-game gold) has been cleaned up
- HoN Store: Right-clicking the "Purchased" button when you already own a product should properly redirect you to the Vault
Gameplay
- Non-shift-queued commands will no longer be added to the order queue during a forced order (this fixes units becoming unresponsive for a short period of time after the expiry of forced orders such as Legionnaire's Taunt)
- Heroes such as Circe, Moira and Gemini will no longer deselect themselves and have a blank unit selection after using certain abilities
- Selected upgrades (Taunts, Announcer Packs, owned hero set special effects, etc.) now play properly in Practice Mode games and bot matches without other human players
Cast range indicator additions
- Gemini: Fire & Ice pets' Fire Breath and Ice Breath
- Gunblade: Lethal Range
- Ravenor: Storm Blades and Electrical Feedback
- Keeper of the Forest: Camouflage
- Voodoo Jester: Acid Cocktail
- Magmus: Volcanic Touch
- Hammerstorm: Mighty Swing
- Myrmidon: Forced Evolution
- Forsaken Archer: Split Fire
Walk cycle animations now have 1 less frame to make them smoother for the following heroes
- Witch Slayer
- Elder Riftwalker
- Acolyte Amun-Ra
- Cthulhuphant (all avatars)
Andromeda
- Staff of the Master visual smoke effects on Gundromeda are now 10x more pink!
Artillery
- LRM's application of Special Ammunition's slow state is now properly linked to LRM's damage application (radius based on the center of the projectile's position when it impacts)
* The slow should no longer be applied without damage being applied, and vice versa.
Geomancer
- Dig no longer changes Geomancer's actual facing by 180 degrees
Kane
- Face Off no longer freezes Kane if his target is deleted during its duration
- Waylay no longer lingers for a prolonged period of time in cornercase situations
* This fixes Parasite being damaged by the ability if he's inside a creep which dies from Waylay.
Lord Salforis
- Life Tap cast impact visuals and Dark Lord's Presence radius visuals rescaled to match their actual respective radii
Master of Arms
- Stun debuff state hidden from Charged Shot
Moira
- Ephemeral Forge spirit's autoattack changes to a Physical effect type if the target is Magic Immune
Parasite
- Infested creeps will now have effects properly when hex skills are cast on the infested creep (e.g. Witch Slayer's Miniaturization)
- Infest no longer "heals" Parasite for a negative amount of HP if the infested creep receives damage that brings its Health to below 0
* Th