Kerrigan, Queen of Blades is a high burst melee assassin who currently is one of the top heroes in the game. She was recently buffed in the last patch and is returning to the spotlight once again. She used to be one of the top assassins when envenom and sprint were strong but sort of fell off when they got nerfed and removed. I have been playing Kerrigan since I started playing as she was the first hero I mastered and have had to continually change styles as she got changed and reworked multiple times. This is the second strongest she has felt since release.

Trait

Assimilation (Combat Trait)
Gain 10% of damage dealt from Basic Attacks and Abilities as Shields for 6 seconds. Shield amount gained doubled against Heroes.

Current maximum: 1044.16 (+4% per level)

Every time you deal damage you get a little bit of a boost in the form of a shield. This may not seem like much and for a long time it wasnt. Recently they have buffed her damage and shield so it is much more. Her health pool is deceptively larger than it appears, especially when ulting.



Abilities

Ravage (Q)
Mana: 40
Cooldown: 8 seconds
Leap to a target, dealing 237.12 (+4% per level) damage. If the enemy dies within 1.5 seconds, this cooldown is instantly reset.

This is her engage and gap closer in fights. It allows you to jump to the target and hit them for a fair amount of damage as well as her finisher should the enemy be leaving when you aren't quite done with them



Impaling Blades (W)
Mana: 75
Cooldown: 12 seconds
After 1.25 seconds, deal 261.04 (+4% per level) damage to enemies within the target area, stunning them for 1 second.

This stun is the first part of her "combo" which bursts and stuns a hero down to a very low health total or multiple if landed correctly. You must place this ability first on the ground where you will be pulling the enemy into as it has a small delay.



Primal Grasp (E)
Mana: 60
Cooldown: 10 seconds
Pulls enemies within the target area towards you, dealing 114.4 (+4% per level) damage.

This is the second part of her combo and will pull enemies into the stun. If the enemy is low it can also be used as a gap closer for allies as it will usually only let you get one auto attack in after. Simply put use it as a combo piece or gap closer, with proper talents it is great wave clear as well as it is attached to a burning rage type talent.

Level 1
Siphoning Impact
Sharpened Blades
Energizing Grasp
Block
They key to the newer Kerrigan play and build style is to maximize damage. With the recent damage increase those small amounts of shields really start to add up and you no longer need to offset with sustain talents as they are now built in. For this tier that would be sharpened blades for the increased damage on your W.

Level 4
Fury of the Swarm
Clean Kill
Psionic Pulse
Envenom
This tier you will want Psionic Pulse as it provides incremental mage when you pull enemies closer as well as having other applications like making chests easier on Blackheart's and clearing waves/creep.

Level 7
Battle Momentum
Impaling Swarm
Adaptation
Assimilation Mastery
For this tier battle momentum is the best talent by far as it allows multiple combos to be attempted and landed in team fights leading to more damage and sustain.

Level 10
Maelstrom
Summon Ultralisk
For this tier Maelstrom is by far the best talent as it adds shields and deals AOE damage which Kerrigan lacks. The Ultralisk as cool as it looks just dies far to fast and has little impact.

Level 13
Lingering Essence
Eviscerate
Double Strike
Queen's Rush
This level, Double Stike is the best as it procs the battle momentum faster as well as increases the damage output.

Level 16
Aggressive Defense
Blade Torrent
Essence for Essence
Overdrive
This tier I believe is her biggest talent spike with Aggressive Defense as it increases the shields gain which really shows in fights. It lets you live longer to do more damage in fights so its very self explanatory.

Level 20
Omegastorm
Torrasque
Nexus Blades
Bolt of the Storm
There is not much to be said about bolt of the storm, you are a divey hero who gets in bad spots often as well as a good chase assassin. It lets you get in or out easily. The other consideration is Omegastorm if you are on maps like infernal shrines where due to the minions you can survive basicly everything.