• The cast range of activating Healing Beam is shorter than the tether range! Once you start healing your patient, you can take a step back and you'll still be in range. Furthermore, when your patient leaves the healing radius, you have about half a second grace period to get back into range before the beam breaks.

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• Goes without saying that this is your bread and butter. Keep your team topped off and prioritize your teammates that are suffering damage.

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• You will not lose energy for healing a full health target, but you won't regenerate any energy either. This is a good way of keeping your passive online so you can heal yourself.

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• Don't forget to stop healing when it is not necessary. Although energy as a resource is much more forgiving than mana, you will run out very quickly in a prolonged fight. Deactivate your healing so you can rejuvenate in time for when the fight picks up again.

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• Healing Beam will be interrupted and go on a 2 second CD if you suffer CC that impairs your abilities (stuns, silences, sleeps, etc). The fact that it stops your healing is a big problem. However, suffering a cooldown on healing beam can be avoided by skillfully de-activating Healing Beam right before the CC connects. You should only ever think about this tip when facing mini-stuns of sorts, where a tiny 0.25s interruption can deactivate healing for 2s.

• When the enemy team is really putting on the pressure on someone, slap some extra armor on them. As Morales, you will develop a skill at eyeing when your opponents have decided to focus fire on someone. Provide armor as soon as you see it.

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• Make a mental note of ally heroes that have armor bonuses of their own. Armor in Heroes of the Storm does NOT stack. Instead, only the highest available armor will be applied. Negative armor simply subtracts from that maximum. Same principle works for slows and speed boosts, too. If someone is already receiving +20 Armor from other source, then you should only use Safeguard on them when their lives are endangered.

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• Lt. Morales is a high priority target. If you get jumped multiple times in a match, consider saving your safeguard for yourself. Keep a ready hand on Alt+W to self-cast the ability on yourself as soon as you smell danger. Getting the armor in before you suffer any CC is extremely important to your survival.

• Grenade's knockback has a stun component (known in the files as "Daze") that will interrupt any ability channels. When fighting some ETCs, Nazeebos, Kael'Thas, watch for when they channel their ultimates and shut the party down.

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• Despite the fact that is the most offensive ability Morales has access to, you should still think of it as a defensive tool that can peel allies. An ally getting jumped by 4 people is destined to die in spite of your healing, but the knockback can very well save his life.

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• This is the hardest ability for Morales to use, aside from Medivac, so you'll need practice. Bad grenades can end up pushing enemies in the wrong direction. A tip for landing grenades - wait for a reliable CC from a teammate, like a slow or stun. Follow up with an easy grenade, which is almost certainly a kill. If you're hot on someone's trail, a grenade coming from their behind will swoop past them and push them back for maximum gains.

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• Assassins underestimate how much damage Morales can dish out with her right clicks and grenade. Grenades are phenomenally good at executing low health stragglers.

• Morales is picked over other supports for her ultimates. Stim Drone is mind-boggling powerful on a Raynor, Illidan, Valla, or just about anyone who does right clicking primarily for their damage.

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• Identify when it's a fight to the death, or a dancing competition. When you administer Stim Drone, your opponents are smart enough to immediately back away and wait it out. You must be patient and wait for when either team has committed an engagement with no hope of pulling out of it. When someone is doomed, people feel obligated to help, even at the expense of your own lives. That's when the fight-to-the-death occurs, and now you may stim and they cannot escape.
  Alternatively, posture around an objective. Stimming is perfect! Either they concede the objective because a stimmed assassin is too dangerous to deal with, or they fight to contest, forced into challenging a stimmed assassin.

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• You ought to support and keep your stimmed ally alive. People recognize the threat a stimmed assassin can pose, and will adjust their target accordingly.

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• Always try to get stim-drone on the teammate that can use it best. In the event that he is either dead/missing/too far to give to, it is acceptable to give it to someone else immediately who also benefits from right clicking. Finally, if you're about to die for certain, GIVE THE STIM TO ANYONE! If you so happen to panic and give it to the tank, so be it. Better to die using it than to hold on to it - 70 second cooldown is extremely short.

• Incredibly good and fun ultimate when coordinated. Few teams can match the execution speed of a plan helped along by a Dropship. Such tactics could include destroying a fort and mobilizing to another lane, taking a merc camp before arriving at objective, or daisy chaining a won fight/merc/objective into a boss. The possibilities are endless and unique.

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• As Lt. Morales, you must get comfortable opening up the chat and type out/speak out loud what your plans are with a 5/10 second advanced warning. Randoms often... simply forget about the Dropship, which is pretty saddening.

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• In an emergency, casting Dropship will act as a Stasis for Lt. Morales. She'll disjoint things like Pyroblast, Last Rites, and cure off poisons. Furthermore, you should not overlook hoping into a Dropship as a last ditch effort to get out of a nasty situation. This won't work well against high damage heroes, especially burst heroes, but it can buy you time or a chance.

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• Don't forget about your Reinforcements! You can bring your teammates out to a useful location as soon as they revive at home. Furthermore, there is no cast range limit to reinforcements, unlike regular Dropship. You can literally drop reinforcements right in the enemies core!
  

• Green indicates "Recommended", "Very effective", "Flexible and useful"
• Yellow indicates "Situationally powerful", "Alternate", "Team dependent"
• Red indicates "Not advised", "Average talent for niche scenario", "Uncompetitive on its tier"

[Caduceus Feedback]
Mathematically the best Level 1 talent for more energy. Simply siphon energy off the enemy frontline and tanks and you'll never run out of energy in fights. The extra auto-attack range is also super useful in keeping you at a safer distance. I love this talent because it incentivizes using your auto-attacks, which is a very important resource in Lt. Morales arsenal. You deal respectable damage at a good rate!

[Life Support]
If Caduceus Feedback isn't a good option, such as fighting a team with lots of assassins that'll murder you on sight, then you need passive help. An increase on your energy cap is nice, and this talent helps when fighting on/off sustain wars. Recommended when freshly new to Morales.

[Clear!]
When doing the grenade build, Clear is an essential component to it. Fire off grenades as much as possible every time they're off CD so you can stack progress. Your rewards are awesome -- you'll have a -25% lower CD for grenading, and your grenade radius is increased by +25% (which also means it knockbacks +25% further)!
Technically, the talent gives you energy per hero hit. For most of the game, this is nowhere near the amount you gain compared to your other level 1 talents, but it is something.
The grenade build is recommended against melee or ranged only teams. They tend to clump together and you have more control over them when you can grenade them around.

[Cellular Reactor]
There's much to be desired from the active. It nukes your energy quite hard and can cause you to run out too soon. Furthermore, it doesn't do a good enough job of saving your butt when it gets hot. It stands in as a soft bandage, something of a hybrid between OK sustain and OK emergency healing. Trauma Trigger does both better from a mathematical standpoint.
But! That boost in energy from Safeguard is absolutely not to be slept on. Literally any and all instances of damage, even something as minute as minion damage, will swiftly charge you the 10 max energy.
For these two reasons, Cellular Reactor is optimal in a safe game where your teammates have excellent capabilities at protecting you.

[Trauma Trigger]
Oh, darling, what a wonderful talent. Lt. Morales is priority #1 for enemy team because she can keep anyone else alive indefinitely but not herself. Therefore, expect smart opponents to ALWAYS jump you. Emergency armor upon the verge of death WILL make you a tougher nut to crack. Safeguarding yourself at the start of a fight, absorbing damage, safeguard wears off, Trauma Trigger activates, and you'll be standing through gargantuan amounts of burst damage. This, in conjunction with another talent at 7 I'll soon explain, makes you deceptively unkillable.
Furthermore, doubling your Caduceus passive healing feels awesome. You can regenerate 25% of your health in only 6 seconds of healing, instead of 12. This is unironically better against poke-heavy compositions than Cellular Reactor because you can heal yourself cheaply whilst healing someone else at the same cost.

[Blast Shield]
When Trauma Trigger isn't necessary and your team needs CC, then Blast Shield is quite interesting. 50% slow for 1 second is quite impressive when your team has the damage to back it up. Crippling someone after they get knocked into your assassins is a death sentence, and it's overall a very useful effect.
Great choice for grenade builds, too. Slowing melee heroes down will keep them in check. If they can't reach anyone, they can't kill anyone!

[Physical Therapy]
Theoretically good talent. Challenging to get value out of most of the time. This is not an unstoppable - it is an instant cleanse and nothing more. I find it irritatingly annoying that when I cleanse a decent or powerful slow, they just get slowed again by something trivial!
However, reducing Safeguards cooldown is very respectable, and highly synergistic with future talents. That's the only thing keeping it from rock bottom. But... this talent tier has some strong, strong competition.

[Vanadium Plating]
By all that is holy, Vanadium Plating is a saint in Healing Theology textbooks. In MOBAs, all forms of CC are strong because people turn bloodthirsty upon seeing a defenseless target. They'll change their focus to punishing a stationary enemy. Morales is specialized towards keeping 1 ally alive through ANY amount of punishment. The armor and high continuous healing is very difficult to crack. But not impossible. How about we make our defenseless mate impossible to kill? You would have already safeguarded and healed a CC'd ally, so why not make it even better and safer? It helps saves your own skin, too!
Look at the enemy lineup and imagine all the roots and stuns they possess. Will it be present when trying to secure a kill? Yes? Vanadium Plating is your answer.

[Medi-Drone]
Safeguard will provide healing to ANY target Hero with it so long as you're healing someone's healthbar. Yes, you can safeguard yourself and heal yourself!!! Anytime you are hurt, you can full heal yourself on command. A favorite trick of mine is to find a minion, Safeguard myself, start healing it. It's like an instant fountain. Furthermore, this is an incredibly energy efficient way of sustaining two people at once. Morales struggles a lot versus extreme artillery and prolonged fights, so splashing your heal on 2 targets doubles your output for no extra cost! It takes a bit of finesse in fights, but if you are able to you can switch healing to a secondary target, whilst safeguarding your main ally that's being focused. The armor is more important than 25% of the healing, and it's almost like a full heal anyhow. Meanwhile, you're healing a second patient at full speed.
Against Lunara and other poison/AoE based heroes, healing just one person at a time is not enough. Medi-drone solves your problem by splashing your healing to more heroes!
Just note that the Safeguard healing only comes IF you are healing missing health.

[Stim Drone]
This is the ONLY ultimate people think of when associating Lt. Morales. People remember the absolute pain and devastation of an unchecked carry going to town with a stim preceding a loss.
Identify any assassins that primarily use their right clicks to deal damage on your team. You want to stim those guys. Then, consider allies that benefit from attacking more frequently. Artanis is a great example. His passive, Shield Overload, gives him frequent shields. Every attack will lower the shield's cooldown by 4 seconds. Stimming Artanis is hence, a really good idea! Not only does he hit hard with certain talents, but he will be more durable by refreshing his shield more often. I'm certain he'd appreciate extra movement speed, too. This is just one example! Be on the lookout, or just ask your mates in chat!

Stim is ALWAYS a good option to pick. Most teams have 1+ physical damage attackers, and 1+ mages to provide variety in damage type. Providing a gigantic boost to damage output is always appreciated. The only time Stim is not a viable choice is if the team does not have any right clickers. They don't deal their damage that way, and they don't want to auto attack in favor of doing something else. The solution is two-fold: either you pick Medivac, or you just don't pick Lt. Morales to begin with. Such a strange team composition implies an unorthodox strategy. You should consider picking another healer that may offer better CC, vision, or support that can better execute your gameplan. Lt. Morales strictly offers only healing. If your team cannot deal damage, then you're just delaying their deaths in vain.

[Medivac Dropship]
First off, click this text here to visit my dedicated Medivac chapter so we can talk more about tactics.

As for the philosophy of picking the talent... Nothing fuels me as much as a team willing to listen and trust your absolutely bonkers drunk driving abilities. Medivac is so, so much fun! But I must concede to the fact that it is not as necessary as Stim-drone. If you end up on a team without a right-clicking assassin (which isn't a good outcome of a draft for Morales), then Medivac is an automatic pick.

Lt. Morales struggles more than other healers when it comes to macro play due to the fact that she is useless on her own and must be paired with someone else at all times. Medivac alleviates it. If your team is fighting a scary macro oriented team, Medivac will alleviate that. Maps where macro play are important also tend to be quite big, getting you value out of a long range ferry. Shove a wave, take a merc camp, shuttle your mates over to objective on time. Assault a fort, then travel to the other side of the map and bring down the other one uncontested. Take a boss, push with it, Medivac away to another lane/home/merc camp when it falls.

If your team do not have much range and have trouble getting into the middle of a fight, you can technically use Medivac as an engagement tool. Load up the whole squad and dive into the heart of the enemy team. It's a terrible idea, you yourself will definitely die. It'll work. Somehow. Also, this is actually a good strategy vs Sgt. Hammer.

When you're dogpiling the objective, call Reinforcements 5-3 seconds before your mate respawns. Remind him of it at home. Get a fresh new body to keep the unrelenting pressure up! There are no limits to the possibilities and unique map strategies that encompass Medivac gameplay. Get creative!

[EMP Grenade]
There are very, very rare games you'll be picking up EMP grenade. There are a bunch of talents that provide shielding for various heroes, but you can't count on enemies picking them, unless you intentionally wait. Instead, you pick it when fighting certain heroes (almost all of which are Starcraft related!).
Keep eyes out for Fenix, Artanis, Chen, Kerrigan, Imperius Angelic Armaments, Tassadar Archon + Plasma Shield , Mei, Zarya.
Still, even when fighting these heroes, you must also consider the entire enemy team composition. If your team is struggling to get through tanks, you will need Bedside Manner. If there is too much damage in the game, System Shock can halt more than one enemy.

[System Shock]
The final piece-de-resistance to a Lt. Morales kit. Reducing multiple enemies' damage by 30% is unbelievably good for a support. Your team will appreciate the number leverage. There is no match where you won't get benefit out of reducing ALL damage they can make by 30%. This also synergizes with Lt. Morales gameplan - you will grenade someone to interrupt them, apply armor, start healing. First, they deal 30% less damage. Then they deal another 35% less damage due to armor. Finally, you're healing for a big amount. Your healing is certainly outpacing anything they will throw out.

[Bedside Manner]
For when the meaty boys up front are too hard for your team to get through, or you'll straight up get a lot of value, Bedside Manner is awesome. This talent synergizes with Caduceus Feedback at level 1. You want to be constantly outputting auto attacks. You can apply a LOT of pressure to someone with it. Also, don't forget that you apply a mark with your grenade that must be consumed by an auto attack for a +6% HP damage bonus!

[Extended Care]
My preferred pick, especially to beginner doctors. At this point in the game, you realize you just need more healing to spread around. You're often the only source of healing for an entire team, and that can be a tall order. Keep your healing on someone for 3 seconds and frequently change targets to spread the buff. This keeps your entire team level with their health rather than just one man - something you can rival the enemy healer with.
One thing to note - your buff will be applied even if you were healing a full health patient. You can make preparations for an incoming fight by applying the buff to your tank and then switching patients.
Also, the increase range on healing beam is KILLER GOOD. It keeps you so much safer. Kiting trouble away whilst not breaking the connection becomes a breeze. And need I say how important it is to start healing someone that is dying when you would have been too far away for?

[First Responder]
An incredible "get me the HELL out of here, Medic!" talent. If you arrive to a fight late, this supercharges your healing for the first 10 seconds before you stabilize. It has a hefty condition - but the reward is pretty decent. I don't often choose this talent because keeping your energy >60% is a pretty unreasonable challenge, despite trying to do that all game long! Intentionally turning off your beam to keep the energy high is wasted healing that NEEDS to go on someone in a critical condition. You just don't end fights with energy that high.
The best case scenario to benefit from this talent is to have a hypercarry that must be protected at all costs, even if it means prioritizing them over anyone else. You should also spec into Cellular Reactor and either Caduceus Feedback/Life Support for additional energy. This strategy gives you more single-target healing + speed to enable your hypercarry to do their killing.
I find this to be a good talent for self-defense in prolonged engagements - preferably against short ranged enemy teams. The speed gives you a lot of maneuverability to get out of harms way whilst you orbit a teammate.
This talent is like a clean gown in a hospital. Professional and sleek, but untested and easily overwhelmed.

[Shield Sequencer]
If the enemy team has overwhelming single target damage, you're gonna need more protection. Doubling up on your safeguard gives you options. You can extend the duration on one man, or protect a second player if they change targets.
In either case, you should not sleep on that 60% range increase. Safeguard is now a range 12 ability. That's the same as a fully graduated ranged Sgt. Hammer you can plop down! Just being in the fight means you can put a Safeguard onto anyone. It really helps in chaotic games where formations break constantly and it's not safe for you to reach out to your wounded mates.
Also -- this talent has massive synergy with other Safeguard talents. If you picked up Medi-drone, you can use that to remotely give someone healing for 3 seconds. Running out of your way to give someone else safeguard ONLY for the healing is not an optimal strategy. Instead, with the +60% increased range, you can easily pinpoint someone that needs healing and is taking pressure without having to disconnect your connection with your primary receiver. Another strategy is to double-dip your medi-drones by safeguarding two people and triple up your healing!
Meanwhile in matches where Vanadium Plating is King, you need to be in the right place at the right time. The talent gets value the sooner you place it on a CC'd ally (or pre-emptively). But to do that right away, you need to be in range of the person that the enemy team so happens to target. You can't always predict that information! Instead, your huge range gives you freedom to position yourself well out of harms way whilst safeguarding a friend RIGHT as they are being stun-locked. Furthermore, another Vanadium Plating will save a second life if they try something.
Hospice Care at level 20 is incredible too. Just when the enemy team dove hard for your backline, you will always be in range an unkillable effect. It helps that you can use the first safeguard stress-free for its armor purposes, whilst saving the second charge specifically for the unkillable effect. Win-win-win synergies here!
[Hyperactivity]
Remember kids, overdosing is not good for your health. You really don't need this talent, Stim-drone has a forgiving 70s cooldown. You'll have it available for every major fight. Sure, you can freely activate it in a small skirmish to win it, but I tend to find these scenarios in a lvl 20+ game rare. As a general rule of thumb, you should be grouped up with your team and not be caught alone. If you make contact with the enemy, it's more than likely that enemy you see is backed by his entire team. If they aren't, it's a trivial kill and stimming is unnecessary. Or if you do invest in a stim and win the fight, then the 5v4 advantage allows you to secure an objective or to close out a game.
I'm just not a fan. Taking it feels like I didn't get any lvl 20 talent. I might consider it if I'm working with a Butcher or Illidan who would seriously appreciate +50% movespeed, but that's the only circumstance. This talent is competing with really strong effects in this tier.

[Safe Zone]
Come on, I'm a fanatic about my dropships. I would take this talent JUST for the cooldown reduction. A 30 second "transport my entire team elsewhere" is ridiculously bonkers. You can freely reinforce and have it ready again for the second person. You can jump in to take some keeps and jump back out.
Oh right, teamwide protection status. Hmm. Incredible. Obviously, this transforms your Medivac into the ultimate teamfight initiating tool. It is the PERFECT showstopper. Enemies doing boss? Taking your keep? Foolishly taking an objective? Fly in and put an end to their dreams.
However, be hesitant and thoughtful of enemy AoE ultimates. Damage protection does not give CC immunity. Jumping straight into a Zarya just to get Graviton Surged, or a Mosh Pit, will still kill you and your team. And then you'll subsequently lose.
Also! Cool note - passengers still benefit from protection if the Medivac gets destroyed. This sometimes helps when you get caught out of position and try to make a run for it with the Medivac, only for it to get destroyed. You'll have three more seconds for your team to come to your rescue.

[Hospice Care]
YESSSSSSSS Unkillable status effect HERE WE GO! You, Morales player, have been babysitting everyone on your team. You will save people by mere hairs. But you can't save 'em all. I present to you: the unkillable status effect. Sure, it takes good timing, but this thing is disgustingly good when it works. The more you practice, the better you'll get at it. It's also a HARD counter to executors like Pyroblast, Rocket Ride, Last Rites, etc. What's more, tacking on an extra +8% HP heal on top is quite baller for your Safeguard!
Remember to still treat your Safeguard as an armor increaser first and foremost (especially with Vanadium Plating). Hospice Care is your triage - the last card up your sleeve. If you rely too hard on the unkillable effect, you may only delay the inevitable when your patient has been brought to deaths door.

[Second Opinion]
The crowning jewel of the grenade build. The last infinity stone. Unlimited grenades, status effects, knockback, and damage. This also changes how you aim your grenade. First, look to secure a kill by follow-up CC. Next, save your grenade for clusters when in team fights.
If you haven't picked up into any grenade talents (except lvl 13 obviously) then it's OK at best. Stick to Safe Zone or Hospice Care for the most part.