Thalyssra by Mandorik

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Thalyssra

By: Mandorik
Last Updated: Jul 8, 2025
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Thalyssra

First Arcanist

Thalyssra is a Support that works really well with squishy ranged Heroes that use a lot of Mana, protecting them from dive oriented enemies, upon completing her Combat Trait Quest she grants utility to the team - be it just the Mana regen or other buffs. She can also forgo a bit of her utility to fulfill the role of an Spell Damage Assassin.
Although her ganking potential isn't great, she'd enjoy tagging along an ally - such as Jaina which spends a lot of mana and deals a lot of Spell Damage to assist on locking down slippery targets with her Warping Shimmer, securing kills.

She'd shine on maps with 3 lanes and easy rotations ensuring she collects plenty of Ancient Mana such as:
    Dragon Shire
    Warhead Junction
    Infernal Shrines
    Tomb of the Spider Queen
    Sky Temple

Pros:
- Great utility, providing a plethora of buffs to Spell Casters
- Can lock down slippery targets and prevent dives
- If there are no other Spell Casters on the team, can talent into one whilst still finding use on her Spell Damage buffs and still providing utility to other teammates
- Masquerade can be useful to assist an ally on escaping or engaging - since the enemy team cannot target the ally under its effect until they're close. This can also trick the enemy team since allies might share the same character model

Cons:
- Needs to complete her quest in order to be 100% effective
- No mobility, needs good positioning
- Low damage if not actively talenting into Spell Damage
- Team-reliant, can't extract the most of the character if playing solo

Upon completing her Combat Trait she'll change from her Wretched form into a Nightfallen.

Wretched vs Nightfallen

Combat Trait

1
Arcane Thirst
Thalyssra's energy bar is replaced with Thirst which rapidly increases if it isn't quenched.
Thirst ranges from 0-100
Increases by 20 every second after 10 seconds since the last time Thalyssra quenched her Thirst, be it by staying above any Leylines or consuming any Ancient Mana

Regeneration Globes near Thalyssra are transformed into Ancient Mana

Ancient Mana reduces your Thirst by 20 and heals for 25% more

! Quest Combat Trait: Maintain your Thirst under 25 for a total of 180 seconds.

? Upon completing the Quest your Combat Trait will be replaced by Gift of the Ancient Magi
2
Gift of the Ancient Magi
Passive: Thirst is replaced with Mana, all abilities that cost or reduced Thirst will now cost or restore Mana.
Ancient Mana will regenerate 25% additional Mana in addition to its normal effect and reduce the cooldown of the Active component of Gift of the Ancient Magi by 5 seconds.

Active Effect: Targeted allied Hero will restore 20% of their Mana and receive a 20% movement speed buff for 2 seconds.

Cooldown: 30 Seconds

Type: Buff
Affects: Self, Allies, Regeneration Globes

Primary Abilities

1
Leyline Rift
Causes a Leyline Rift to surge at the targeted area. Standing on it increases your Spell Damage and reduces your Thirst. Allies receive half the Spell Damage bonus. Every ability cast near you - by allies or enemies - reduces it's cooldown.
Spell Power: 30
Thirst Reduced: 10 per second
Cooldown: 22
Cooldown Reduction: 1
Duration: 5 seconds

Type: AoE, Summon, Resource Manipulation
Affects: Ground, Self, Allies
2
Warping Shimmer
Detonates an eerie arcane energy in a large cone in front of you, dealing low damage and preventing enemies hit from using any Dive, Dash or Leaping ability for a few seconds.
Damage: 70(+4%*lvl)
Debuff Duration: 2 seconds
Cooldown: 14 seconds

Type: Arc, Debuff
Affects: Enemies

Note: This works as a silence targeting gap closing/escaping abilities, does not work on movement speed buffs (Such as Windfury or Lúcio's speed track)
3
Arcane Detonation
Blasts an area with arcane power dealing damage. If cast while on a Leyline Rift the cooldown will be reduced to 1 second and refund 50% of its Thirst cost.
Damage: 150(+4%*lvl)
Cooldown: 4 seconds
Cost: Increases your Thirst by 20

Type: AoE
Affects: Enemies, Summons

Heroic Abilities

1
Masquerade
Places a disguise on the target rendering him Friendly and Unattackable to the enemy team unless he gets too close to an enemy or attacks first.
Duration: 5 seconds
Cooldown: 20 seconds
Attackable Range: 3

Type: Disguise
Affects: Self, Allies

Note: Receiving damage after 0.5 second after being disguised will cancel the effect, this applies to Damage Over Time Effects and Spells already targeted such as Triple Tap or Pyroblast

Note: Disguised targets all share one of two possible character models in-game, depending on their body type

2
Ward of the First Arcanist
Channels a protective ward that knocks back enemies who touch it, dealing damage, damage is reduced by 50% if the target was already struck by it. While channeling your movement speed is reduced to 70% and you cannot attack or cast spells. Being Crowd Controlled cancels it earlier.
Damage: 300(+4%*lvl)
Duration: 4 seconds
Cooldown: 70 seconds
Range: A bit bigger than ETC's Face Melt

Type: Channeled, AoE, CC
Affects: Self, Enemies

Level 1 Talents

Arcane Tradition:

! Reduces Arcane Detonation's Thirst cost by 25%

? Gift of the Ancient Magi increases the target's Cooldown Recharge Rate by 100%. Lasts for 2 seconds.

Arcane Wrath:

! Leyline Rift's cooldown reduction is increased to 1.5 second.

? Gift of the Ancient Magi grants 20% Spell Power to the target. This effect is reduced by 33% for every ability cast by its target. This Effect Cannot Stack

Arcane Resilience:

! Warping Shimmer will reduce your Thirst by 10% for every enemy hero struck

? Gift of the Ancient Magi will reflect the next ability that strikes the target back at its caster. This effect lasts up to 2 seconds. Also grants the target 20 Armor for the duration

Level 4 Talents

Warpwalking: Increases the ability's Area of Effect by 33%. Enemies struck are slowed by 30% for 2 seconds while you and Allies in the Area of Effect have your movement speed increased by 30% for 2 seconds.

Backfire: Warping Shimmer knocks you back and its damage is increased by 200%. The hindering effect's duration is increased to 3 seconds.

Volatile Energy: Heroes struck are knocked back and reduce the cooldown of Warping Shimmer by 3, stacking up to 6.

Level 7 Talents

Arcane Sanctum: Targets standing on the Leyline Rift receive a stacking Shield that lasts for 5 seconds. Shield Strength: 30(+4%*level) every 0.5 second. The maximum Shield is equivalent to 10 stacks, additional stacks only refresh its duration.

An'anora: Leyline Rift leaves an energy trap upon expiring. Enemies who step on it will receive 100(+4%lvl) damage and are revealed for 3 seconds. Traps last for 60 seconds. If the Leyline Rift isn't stepped on by you nor any allied hero, its cooldown is halved.

[Note: The cooldown reduction aims at turning the Leyline Rift into a scouting or area control tool, therefore if it isn't used as a buffing ability, its cooldown will be reduced by 11 seconds. Since its cooldown runs while the ability is on the field, its current cooldown would be at around 17 seconds. Leaving it with 6 seconds]

Magic Attunement: Targeted Allied Hero receives additional healing (25%) for 5 seconds. Cooldown: 60 seconds. Cooldown is also reduced by the same amount as your Leyline Rifts.
Passive: The target under the effect of Magic Attunement is healed by 40% of all Spell Damage you deal.

Level 10 Talents

Masquerade: Listed Above

Ward of the First Arcanist: Listed above

Level 13 Talents

Arcane Reach: You and allied heroes standing on the Leyline Rift have their basic attack range increased by 1.1. Also increases the Arcane Detonation's cast range by the same amount.

Amplify Magic: Arcane Detonation reduces the target's Spell Armor by 15. Lasts for 3 seconds.

Arcane Sigils: Area of Effect increased by 25% and its duration by 2 seconds.

Level 16 Talents

Arcane Expunge: Arcane Detonation marks targets struck for 3 seconds. Your next basic attack will strike all marked targets (within your basic attack range), dealing 100(+4%*lvl) additional Spell Damage and slowing for 50% for 0.75 second.

Prismatic Cloak: Gift of the Ancient Magi renders its target Unstoppable for 0.75 second.

Suppressive Energy: Enemies who walk into the Leyline Rift are dealt 25(+4%*lvl) damage every 0.5 second and are slowed by 25%.

Level 20 Talents

Fancy Ball: Masquerade receives a Stack system with 3 charges. Targets cannot be disguised for 10 seconds after being revealed. Increase its duration to 15 seconds.

Arcane Dome: Increases the Area of Effect by 40%. Upon expiration or being cancelled launch an Arcane Wave dealing 230(+4%*lvl) damage and applying Warping Shimmer's debuff to all targets.

Suramar Brilliance: Gift of the Ancient Magi no longer has a cooldown, but the same target cannot benefit from it for 20 seconds. Thalyssra benefits from all of her level 1 talents.

Ley Flux: Leyline Rift no longer expire while you're standing on it. Arcane Detonation's damage and mana cost are increased (25%) by 3 seconds when hitting an enemy hero. This effect can stack indefinitely. This effect is lost if it expires or if you miss an enemy hero

Editing

20.01.18 - Leyline Rift nerfed a bit. Tooltip clarification. Amplify Magic and Arcane Echoes buffed.
10.07.18 - Fixed crashed icons.
13.08.21 - Fixed some typos, changed a few talents, overall changes to Thirst costs.
28.06.25 - Major changes, talents revamped, big changes to Leyline Rift and Arcane Detonation interactions.
02.07.25 - Slight buffs on Magic Attunement, Arcane Dome, Arcane Expunge, Arcane Reach and Arcane Tradition, aiming at a better interaction between other tier talents and baseline interactions on her kit. Additional information added to Masquerade. Changing the icons of some talents.
08.07.25 - Nerfing Arcane Sanctum, Arcane Expunge and Magic Attunement, providing additional introduction to the character, such as its Pros and Cons.

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2
[-]
matrix123mko (8) | January 11, 2018 10:37pm
I like concept of support for mages. I have one question. Does Thalyssra change appearance after changing quest?
1
[-]
Mandorik (2) | January 20, 2018 4:19pm
Yes, she does. Sorry, I ended up forgetting to add that somewhere.

Thanks for the comment!
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