I think if you want raw healing you are probably better off with Malfurion. His ultimate can't be interrupted and he can do things while casting it other than cast it. Li Li is a good healer but healing doesn't really make her special.

What does make her fairly special is Blinding Wind. Blinding Wind is a treasure trove of goodness. It does damage, prevents damage, and perhaps most importantly can be a mass slow. Its the mass slow that keeps me interested in Li Li. Crowd Control wins group battles perhaps more than anything else. You either helping run down or escape engagements because of crowd control. Damage is good, crowd control is great.

Group battles aren't generally decisive on their own. One team attacks another until one team decides to leave. Its at this point that slows will either let your team escape or let you run down your broken opponents. Blinding Wind with Hindering Winds is the reason to play Li Li over other support.

Having said that the other thing that people miss is how big a swing the missed basic attacks are. A hero can easily be doing 150 damage on a basic attack (and often more). If they miss twice (because of Lingering Blind then you prevented 300 damage. If you actually managed to hit 5 heroes (which happens) you just stopped your team from eating 1500 damage (probably more). The blind also seems to work on things like the dragon knight. Making him whiff twice can easily save a tower or fort. On a ten second cool down you can be stopping 1500 damage for 50 mana.

Finally Blinding Wind does damage on top of all the other goodies. Its not a ton but it can be important. I expect about 100 damage per target or a bit more. It is very comparable to Azmodan's Globe of Annihilation which is pretty awesome as a third effect on Blinding Wind. One of the nice perks of this build is that relatively early you can take creep mobs on your own quickly, hitting 5 mobs takes out a creep wave or camp relatively nicely. This build doesn't need a teammate to be effective in the Haunted Mines.

So for 50 mana every 10 seconds you can be doing about 2000 change in damage (1500 less damage on your team, 500 damage you did) and causing a mass slow that can decide battles on its own. That is an impressive effect for 50 mana on a 10 second cooldown and probably better than her actual ultimate.

Pros

Mass Slow
Misses can prevent more than just damage (misses don't seem to chain for one)
Fairly good solo camps

Cons

Mana Hungry. You will need to Hearth for mana (or die)
You need to be close to use Blinding Wind, and you are squishy.
Your end game stats suck. (The support stat is healing done, not damage prevented, simple minds will think you are doing less than you are)

With this build you need to aggressive. Blinding Wind is a fantastic tool but it has a limited (but not short) range. You need to dance into combat to throw out Blinding Wind, but once you've cast it you probably want to get away from the big mean guys with swords. Your damage (especially if Cloud Serpent is correctly on someone else) is pitiful.

You want to dance in then dance out to throw out Healing Brew and Cloud Serpent. You may snipe at a weak hero on a flank but you don't want to be in he melee for 9 seconds. Then you can pop back in for more Blinding Wind goodness.

Further, you are looking for excitement and adventure. As a support character you may be unique in that the more opponents you are near the better you do (most typical healing support wants to be paired against one hero so their heals can easily keep up with incoming damage). Big mass melees are Li Li's playground, you want to seek out the most exciting part of the battle.

You can do boring things in lanes okay. Blinding Wind can be a big advantage to a friendly creep wave against an opposing one. Blinding Wind and Cloud Serpent let you take camps. But you don't want to be doing boring things, you want to be surrounded by friends who are diving into five opposing heroes. That's where you shine.

But you are still just little girl. So try not to die too quickly. Dance out when you can.

Level 1

This is where you have to buy into Blinding Wind as a build. Conjurer's Pursuit is very good and its hard to pick something that isn't going to give you mana, but this build is about Blinding Wind and Mass Vortex helps a ton.

Yes it is rare that you hit 5 enemy champions. They either won't be in your fight or you'll hit some creep along with champions. Honestly though hitting creep is actually the best argument for Mass Vortex. You are going to hit creep when you want to hit champions. Hitting more targets means you can hit the champion behind the creep.

I'm also not sold on Conjurer's Pursuit. On paper its fantastic but its just too damn tempting to stop and pick off a mage in a creep wave when you are needed elsewhere. Picking up regen globes becomes a mini-game and you stop focusing on supporting your team. Stop it with the orbs. Go do something useful.

Also, Conjurer's Pursuit feels like a win more effect, you are assuming the enemy isn't killing you. If they aren't killing then you are winning and that is the only time Conjurer's Pursuit is good. If they are killing you (and they should be) then you died and get a fresh mana bar on rezing. You probably are better off causing more champions to be slow, damaged and missing so you didn't die in the first place even if you have to Hearthstone occasionally to refill your blue bar.

Level 4

Missing more > heals and shields. You have a great multiplier in Vortex. Get your opponent's to miss more and this will do more than the shield without being as static as the totem.

Lingering Blind should be obvious. You are causing 10 misses. Ten. (Maybe less)

Level 7

I'm always tempted by The Good Stuff and I'm not convinced its wrong. Later we'll be getting Two For One so we are getting 50% more healing most of the time. You'll end up doing more for something you would have done anyway.

Still my napkin math is that Bringer of Gifts does a fair bit more healing and lets you double heal ( Healing Brew followed by Cloud Serpent) a 3 second window which can be important if someone is going down fast. Even if The Good Stuff were doing better healing (and my math is that it doesn't), I'd still probably want the burst healing that Bringer of Gifts gives.

Level 10

Jug of 1,000 Cups is obvious. The only thing that doesn't suck about Water Dragon is the slow and you shouldn't need or want it.

Level 13

This build exists to use Hindering Winds. Pick it. Enjoy.

Level 16

Two For One is almost always the best choice. By this time in the game you should be in a pack and you want better burst healing.

I haven't played with Magical Essence but I can see an argument for extending the range of Blinding Wind. If you have been dying a lot then try it so you can hang back further out of the fight. Haven't needed it yet but I'm sure to try if I find myself being aggressively targeted.

If for some reason you are way ahead of your opponents then Timeless Creature is worth a look. You can keep up two serpents on different targets, so it adds a bit of dps to help close out a blow out. Still, if you're ahead then it doesn't really matter what you take.

Level 20

There's a real choice here. If you have been dying because they are targeting you (they should) then you want Resurgence of the Storm. Dead support aren't helping.

However, if you find that your opponent's aren't diving to get in your face then Jug of 1,000,000 Cups is strong and definitely worth looking at.

Most times Resurgence of the Storm will be right, but you can consider the Jug.

I've also considered Bolt of the Storm. Combined with Hindering Winds and your inherent speed from Fast Feet you end up with lots of escape goodness, but I'm not sure I have the reflexes to pull off a clutch Bolt of the Storm. I'd rather just come back with a new mana pool through Resurgence of the Storm right now. Maybe better players will find Bolt to be a better choice.

I'm nobody. I'm not important enough for you to take my word on anything. I have been enjoying this build though. Try playing with Blinding Wind yourself, and make your own judgement. I'd love to hear about it; I'm just tired of seeing Li Li super healer builds. I don't think that is her best use.

This is my first guide. I'd love feedback even a thumbs up would be great and might spur me to write another.

Regardless, I hope you enjoy Li Li. I think she's something special in the game.