Alarak guide - whys and whynots by littlecaesar

Alarak guide - whys and whynots

By: littlecaesar
Last Updated: Sep 20, 2016
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Build 1 of 1

Alarak

Build: Combo and control

Level 1
Level 4
Level 7
Level 10
Level 13
Level 16
Level 20

Threats to Alarak with this build

Threat
Low
High
Show all
Threat Hero Notes
1
Kharazim Alarak is probably the most annoying opponent for Kharazim, shutting down his healing and escape.
2
  No Threat
3
  No Threat
4
  No Threat
5
  No Threat
6
  No Threat
7
  No Threat
8
  No Threat
9
  No Threat
10
Valla Can dodge your attacks and Alarak has no escapes besides telekinesis.
10
The Butcher If he catches you you're dead.
10
Tracer Good Tracer will always kill you.
10
Zagara Very annoying to fight on your own and denies you from laning. Seek help :D
10
Illidan You are dead.
10
Lunara You are dead.

The another Star Craft hero with a combo? Top

Yes, yes he is. Alarak plays much like Kerrigan.

To engage you hit W and pull the opponent close to you. Then you follow up with Q to damage and silence him. Throw lightning for the slight extra damage and for slight heals. Your only problem is that telekinesis (W) might not feel consistent in the beginning but you'll get there with training.

W - Q - E or just W - Q
Follow with autoattacks if possible.

When defending always start with Q and E but save the telekinesis in case you need to escape or chase and use accordingly. If the opponent bursts you use Counter strike (ulti) to take the edge of it and then punish with Q. Initiate a teamfight by pulling a fragile hero towards your team and burst him down. Works great against supports because of the silence!

Should I play HL/TL with Alarak? Top

At the time I'm writing this, no. Maybe with tons of training but... no.
Alaraks lightning is a terrible sustain (and damage) and his ultis aren't quite there yet compared to Thrall that can Sunder to damage and stun or earthquake for massive slows. Or Kerrigan who has great sustain in her shields and ulti that boasts her damage output. Alarak is an ability based melee assassin that relies on his skills and those are just a underwhelming compared to the other options.

But I hope he gets some love in the next batch or so!

Pros:
Teamfight initiation, ganking, silencing, punishing.

Cons:
Clumsy, low utility, main damage skill Q is hard to land.

Talents Top

Take it
Second best

1.
Without effort
Applied force
Power conduit
Wide lightning

You want to be able to punish the opponent with your Q after grabbing him with telekinesis and Applied Force makes it easier to achieve when you get the enemy closer to you. Helps with escaping too so great utility nonetheless.

2.
Double Cross
Reckless strike
Cycle of discord
Extended lightning

Your Q is your main damage output so you should invest to it. Double cross makes that tiny discord reach a little better and therefor land more consistently. You don't want to be vulnerable and cooldown reduction isn't good enough when you still need telekinesis (w) to land the combo anyway.

Lightning isn't powerful enough (atm) to waste talents.

3.
Chaos reigns
Endless energy
Thunderstruck

This is an easy pick. Lightning isn't powerful enough (atm) to waste talents. And doing the quest you beef up your main damage source to sky high. Just learn to get the combo straight.

4. Ulti
Deadly charge
Counter-strike

This might change according to situation but most of the time you should pick counter strike first. Example: Kael throws that ball of fire towards you -> counter strike -> no damage. The point of counter strike isn't to hit the opponent back with backslash but to negate bursts that the opponent throws at you. Thrall in your face? -> counter strike. Chromie throwing nasty sands -> do I need to repeat myself? Don't be afraid to use it all the time. Counter strikes CD is so low that it's soon up anyway.

5.
Dissonance
Psychokinesis
Hindered motion
Pure malice

Hindered motion. Every time. It gives you some much needed utility in form of slow. Grab an enemy close to you and it's harder for him to escape from your grasp. Push him away to make an easy escape. Makes telekinesis so much better and also more unforgiving.

Boosting damage of telekinesis is also decent but I think that if assassin can have more tools you should take them. That's why we take the slow.

6.
Quick mind
Projected force
Sustaining power
Negatively charged

More telekinesis -> more control, more combos, nuf said.

Some people take Projected force for the telekinesis range upgrade but I feel that the original size is just fine since you can only pull enemies from certain distance anyway. Besides you already got the first talent for the pushing power which is more than enough for us.

7.
Counter-strike
Deadly charge
Last laugh
Hasty bargain

Deadly charge is a tricky one to use and takes some time to find the best applications for it.
[*] Hide in the bushes and when your team engages drive through the enemy team with it and cause confusion. [*] Bait a lone opponent and dash through him to body block his escape
[*] Attack the opponent from the other side of obstacles to distract or to contest mercs
[*] Behind the enemy lines? Dash through them and back to your mates at the same time, brilliant.

Be wary of dashing into a threat you cannot take on your own. Alarak does decent damage but is a bit clumsy and easy target to 'stun and gun'.

Now is the time to take counter-strike if you already didn't (you boob)! You should take it earlier even though it's not as flashy as deadly charge.

Last laugh let's you escape and that's never cool.
Hasty bargain eats your bonus damage for skill refresh and there aren't many situations where you would need to do that. Either your attack is a success or no refreshing will help you.

After word Top

This was my first guide and as you can see it has no fancy pictures or stuff like that. That's how I like it. I've played ~3k matches with the emphasis in solo HL, rank 1 preseason and diamond after that. I play all heroes in order to know what works and against who. Leave a comment if you liked the guide.

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