Patch date: . Guide reviewed 2026-11-03. Historical changes can be superseded; use current definitions for a match today.
How this guide was prepared: AI-assisted analysis with a separate source-check pass against archived official notes. Practical decisions are reasoned suggestions, not player-tested results or measured win-rate evidence. A small hotfix receives a short guide rather than a reconstructed full build.
Original update sources
Recorded topics: Heroes, Gameplay, Fixes. Dates refer to the update named in the notes; a mirrored post can be published later.
Queue starts and wide-gap parties
What changed: Matches no longer start automatically at a fixed time immediately after 12 players enter the queue. Start timing now depends on player distribution, with an upper wait limit; the system may wait if it expects a poor match, but need not wait when a match is already reasonable. Wide-skill-gap parties may see a warning and may take longer to find a game; their overall skill is biased closer to the best player’s values than to the average.
How to adapt: If you queue with a wide-skill-gap party, factor in the warning and possible longer wait, and weigh that against the value of playing together. When assessing the change, track wait time and match quality over several queues because the notes say tuning is ongoing and small queue sizes limit options.
Shield and resistance damage fix
What changed: The fix makes the damage remaining after shield reduction subject to resistance instead of passing through as pure damage. In the supplied example, 800 spirit damage with 80 Spirit Shield and 45% Spirit Resistance leaves 720 damage after shield reduction; resistance then reduces the health loss to 396 instead of 720.
How to adapt: If you rely on both shields and resistance, check incoming damage under the fixed behavior rather than relying on the old results. The example uses spirit damage and its stated values, so it does not establish outcomes for every damage type or setup.
Alchemical Fire changes
What changed: Alchemical Fire deals 40% less damage to non-heroes, and its cooldown increases from 25 seconds to 37 seconds. The damage reduction is specified for non-heroes.
How to adapt: If you use Alchemical Fire for non-hero damage, test whether its reduced damage and longer cooldown still fit that purpose. The note does not specify a change to its damage against heroes.
Follow the affected decisions
Verify your match build · How current recommendations are checked
Earlier and later records
Archive coverage currently ends 2026-10-30; sources last successfully checked 2026-11-01. A source check does not establish a post-patch win rate.