great guide!

Why did you put anti armor shells on holo AAS i run that exact same build but instead of anti armor shells i use one in the chamber because one in the chamber also takes affect on your decoy.

Go snipe... Trust me... Go snipe...

If you are good with skilled shots then snipe will be far more useful. I rarely miss my snipe shots, so late game with a constant stack of 75% damage means you'll be effectively doing over 1000 damage a hit, which in most cases is 1/2 to 1/3 a heroes health. Nova isn't meant to be constantly out of stealth, insight doing combat. I tried doing the other builds but i found myself outside stealth longer than I wanted to, leaving me vulnerable.

This post seems to forget that Nova is a squishy hero that has no defensive capabilities. So staying in stealth, doing mass damage, and getting back into stealth is a preferable choice to survival. So with your snipe, you can do max damage from a distance and quickly get away, with the increased stealth speed you can quickly get to another stealth position to land another shot and get away.

Most cases you want to use her against an unknown single hero, the builds above don't consider the fact that many battles won't be that way, so being revealed for that long in a team fight just leaves you exposed. There's nothing wrong with phasing in and out of a team battle to poke if you are doing enough damage to critically wound an enemy or even finish them off.

But again, go snipe build if you are good at skill shots, and if you aren't good at skill shots, then honestly Nova isn't meant for you. Experience after multiple 20+/1-5 games.

Just wanted to throw my own Nova experience into the mix here. Ironically I play with a build which is similar to your snipe master (Bad) build with the exception that I take 2 pinning shots. I just want to say 1st off, to each their own and everyone has their own play style so what might work for 1 person might not work for another.

I use to play Nova before the nerf and now after, I can honestly say that I genuinely believe that Nova with Snipe Master is OP. I have been playing with this build non stop and after adjusting my style of play can confirm that I can kill anyone I come up against @ lvl 20, but this totally reliant on having your bonus on 75%, and that's where the style of play comes into action.

I'm no longer playing Nova as a lone wolf, but rather the ultimate team mate that has only 1 job, and that's add additional dps to enemy heroes when an ally engages. Killing is important but not my primary goal, instead I do enough dps that the ally hero can easily finish the enemy and more importantly poke the enemy with snipe to farm my snipe master bonus. Keeping the bonus and knowing when to engage is the real test of skill and is almost like playing a game within a game.

However, once you get used to it, you truly begin to see the epicness. I hit heroes for 1500+ damage,in about 1-2 secs, and that's just me!!! Not taking into account the damage being done by an ally. Enemies don't understand what they have been hit by, its insane burst damage!!

I'm going to write a guide soon, but just want to spread the word to fellow Nova players, because i truly believe it's Nova's ultimate weapon that nobody truly appreciates and not many can master.

With the latest buff to Nova, I find the combo of One in the Chamber with Perfect Shot to be insane damage. I pick up Rapid Projection and Psionic Efficiency to compliment it both for more One in the Chamber hits and for the huge increase in mana usage at lvl 16. Other talents are pretty much optional choices imo, though.

With the upcoming buffs (16/3), I foresee increased usage out of Rewind. Needs more field testing though!

im confused..you say Double Fake doesnt help nova do damage, but with Lethal Decoy, the second clone does damage...i dont get you reasoning.

Hey so I'm a very casual player, in no way an expert, but wanted to throw my $0.02 in on something.

So w/ Nova, you've essentially got your 1) snipe/cloak weave & 2) decoy builds, right? Imo, Weave is MUCH more fun, however not as viable in qm as Decoy is. Weave is most effective w/ burst only = unload your snipe combo and drop back into cloak... if needed re position for another AA but that 2.5 seconds is more than enough to get rekt, a smart team will focus nova when coming out of cloak. So obviously you want to take Anti-Armor Shells w/ weave. However if you are going Decoy it is crucial to take One in the Chamber. It's a huge DPS increase, and the decoy build itself allows you to spend more time out of cloak as long as you aren't solo. Dropping decoy like a boss is almost guaranteed slip, imo. If youre taking AA shells w/ decoy or taking OITC w/ Weave, you're gonna have a bad time.

But it's a game, have fun, do your own thing. I've read a couple of your guides LonerVamp, they've helped me learn several characters with whom I've since refined my own play style. I feel you're off on a couple key points w/ nova, but to each their own. TY for all your help along the way! Keep on Keepin on bro.

Oh & with decoy I almost always take Precision strike - works a lot better w/ the build, imo

Generally speaking, One in the Chamber is seen as the far better talent pick than Anti-Armor Shells in real playing. More often than not, the times when you really just want one more AA against a target to finish them off, by the time it comes off cooldown you've lost your shot.

Its a really bad guide. anti armor shells does not make more damage than one in a chamber. One in a chamber gives you 80% per basic attack, you stack it 3 times, one with each abilitie, so, if you do the math it is 180% 3 times, so it is 440%. also, the decoys are bonused by one in a chamber and their attacks makes more damage for every ability you use.

With the new test scenario you can see by yoursefl what i mean.

Feel like with the nerf to Gathering Power, Remote Delivery really steps up. Not sure I agree that it has no presence. The range that you can dismount and disrupt a team with it is huge.

Nice guide, mine is similar. Really have to gauge the Envenom choice based off of how you feel the match is going to go, otherwise I would go with Gathering Power.

Oh and this statement "I'm an aggressively casual player" is right on point with how I feel as well.

Cheers,
See you in the Storm!