Important Note Before You Read:

This is my first guide of many that I have wanted to do. This guide is about 90% complete as of 3/25/2015. Besides grammatical errors that I will fix after I get some sleep, this guide is useable.

All guides, due to the culture of video games, are always a work in progress as nerfs and buffs will be seen and had by all heroes in the patches to come. This guide is no different and surely will never be completely done.

I am always willing to hear constructive criticism, so please let me hear what you think of the guide.

I feel like the community is always helpful, so any additional advice or corrections are wanted, and of course credit will be given to any that help.

Finally, this guide is for a siege build, not a teamfight/high-dps build. For my current guide regarding a more teamfight/DPS-oriented build, please look at the bottom of the guide, in the section called "SLAMMIN' SYLVANAS"!

TLDR ("too long didn't read" this cliff notes):
Basically nothing important regarding Slyvanas here unless you really care to know me better. If not, I don't blame you...if so, please read on, as I am proud of my past!

My name is Juan Munoz, I am currently employed as a tennis professional (coaching and playing) in Florida, where I am am lucky enough to get paid for what I love to do besides gaming...playing tennis. My favorite player is Rafael Nadal (VAMOS RAFA!!!) and have gamed since my dad got me a Nintendo when I was 8...I will let you guess how old I am, ha-ha.

Done guessing?

...I am 34. Ancient in gaming years, but if you are under 25 years old, you missed the start of the historic gaming age (Pong, PAC-man, etc.) which was great, thus leading us to this current gaming age, which is absolutely greater.

But who is this guy? He isn't a professional gamer, so why read this at all?

Well chances are you are not a professional gamer either, and guides from casual-to-semi-hardcore might relate to you better.

The professional guides are great, though they usually play with pre-made teams, with other heroes complimenting each other quite well, and let's face it, they are better than us!

So sometimes the talents they choose are for a very specific comp and skill level, and there is a chance it's not made for the non-professionals, but those that aspire to be pro. That is a great and ambitious goal, and I recommend trying to get to that level if you think you can. You have my full support! YOU GO MAN/WOMAN!!

Though, if you are like me, when you do something, you want to do it well. And aiming to be a professional-level player is never a bad idea. Always want to be the best at whatever you do.

Point being, what happens if you are going to solo que or play with a couple friends that are not pros? Or maybe you are not playing with a whole team that might not compliment you well?...

...well, this might be for you.

Even more about me:

I have never really gotten into MOBAs before this game. I tried Dota...but games were too long (upwards of a hour), and LoL was way too toxic. So when they announced this game, I was excited to play it since I love Blizzard games.

Finally after an alpha invite, I got into this game and have played a ton and am fully addicted! I currently have 16 master level heroes, with over 1600 games played. I think it's important to be really good at a few heroes, but even more important to have a grasp on all the heroes to understand them all.

I was a professional Street Fighter 4 player in college when I was in graduate school at the University of Central Florida (GO UCF KNIGHTS!!!).

(If you are asking how I had time for that, do not ask...as I don't remember too much about college with all my beer drinking and partying as an Alpha Tau Omega fraternity member ('Love and Respect')).

My main was Akuma, which is why I had to get the Thrall Master Skin as he looks just like him. The point of this was that my main downfall for that game was that I was really good with Akuma, but trash with most other fighter characters in SF4 because I never played them.

I have took that hard learned lesson and transferred it to Heroes of the Storm and have played most characters to level 7 or higher. I believe that experience trumps a high MMR or HotsLog/HeroGG score (which really is pointless to have anyway) with only a handful of players, so if you notice I am not a DIAMOND LEVEL player, first of all, who cares? And second, I have lots of (losing) Murky/Gazlowe/Chen/low-"tier"-characters.

So I couldn't care less if I am Bronze or "Coal" rating, because I am sure I know more than most players and have experience with everyone. I own all heroes!

Am I bragging...no! Not at all, just showing/telling you how seriously in love with this game I am. It's really a great game, and I can't get enough of all these awesome heroes!

Anyway, learning and playing all characters (especially during the free hero week) is highly recommended, and will make anyone a better player.

So this is my first guide of many (finally have time to do it), and I thought Sylvanas would be a great start!

Lastly, yes, don't have much experience in MOBAs in general, though I have a ton of experience with this game, and maybe you can get some help with my guides. Let's get started, shall we?

TLDR ("too long didn't read" this cliff notes):
The point of this is to control a lane at start, then you can go steal (though always risky) the enemies camps before they even notice it, giving you the all-important map control to keep the enemy defensive as you go aggressive during objectives and getting your own camps!

This is basically a Sylvanas ninja/stealing guide. I called it samurai even though I mean ninja, since Solo Samurai Sylvanas sounds better. :) Was going to call it Solo Stealing Samurai Sylvanas, but that was way too long.

She, as a new hero, is phenomenal with mercs, minions, and fort destroying. So with this guide, you will be able to steal the enemy merc camps at will and doing so fast as possible!

Like any guide, these talent will be interchangeable and I highly recommended changing some talents around.

For example, for this guide I chose the heroic talent for level 10 as Wailing Arrow.

Now let's say the other team has a Sylvanas as well that chose Mercenary Lord.

And let's also say they don't have a Naz, Lili, Malf - people that would definitely be prime targets for Wailing Arrow.

Well the scenario could be something like the enemy Sylvanas takes a merc camp, let's say siege giants. Then with Mercenary Lord the enemy siege giants are now super buffed and heading down and against your lane. Well, I would possibly choose the heroic Possession since when I mind control an enemy merc they now take their buff from the enemy Mercenary Lord which stacks with the buff from Possession and now they have a siege giant which is now on super steroids coming back at them.

This is a rare example, but a possible example.

So for every game, the enemy heroes, your team comp, the map, and scenarios like the aforementioned will change some talents around. This build is not set in stone. Please remember that, and this guide will surely be updated in time

PROS

- Can deal with, kill, or control mercs like no other hero in this game.

- Great escape with Haunting Wave

- Great burst DPS when needed

- She is new, so taking advantage of her early will be great for the time being

Cons

- Squishy as heck, super low health pool

- Will get focused a lot, and she is easily killed of caught out of position

- Must be map aware

- Must also be careful when playing. There is a super thin line between going off solo and helping out the team with merc steals, and hurting your team by not being around when they need you. Playing many games will give you a better understanding of when this is the right thing to do versus helping out your team, but that simply comes with experience.

Trait

Black Arrows
This trait is what sets Sylvanas apart from all other specialists in this game as it completely shuts down whatever it hits, as long as they aren't a map boss or an enemy hero. With abilities or your auto attack you can get between a tower, and shoot the top tower once, then the bottom tower once, and rinse and repeat. This way, the turret never gets a shot off and if you are solo, or with some teammates, can easily take down the turrets, walls, fountains, and forts/keeps when the time is right to do so.

This is one of many examples of how to play to her strengths with her abilities/traits, so do not think this is the only way to play her.

Abilities
Withering Fire Q
So much fun using this! A great ability as this is what you will be spamming when it's time. You can either hold down Q, or tap it when you want to fire. It chooses the closest hero first, then mercs/bosses/minions, then parts of a town (turret, wall, etc.) You reload shots by getting kills of any type, though minion kills are the most efficient way.

You will also notice a purple circle at times on enemies, this is just to show you which enemy the arrow is targeting since when you are close to many enemies, it's usually hard to tell where this arrow will go. This is the abilities' only downfall since you cant target it directly and it will sometimes hit things you don't mean to.

Shadow Dagger W
Can be used in many ways. My personal favorite way is to use it on the leading minion in a wave as it will seek the rest of the wave and stun/damage them nicely. There are many other ways to use it, more on these ways later.

Haunting Wave E
Hit it once and it can be used to stun an entire merc/minion push and it's wide enough and shoots long enough to stun whatever huge push the team decides to throw your way, giving yourself time to start attacking, or follow it up with Shadow Dagger to keep them from causing damage to it's target.

But mostly since Sylvanas is made of paper, it will be used to escape. Hitting E a second time teleports you to where the Haunting Wave ghost is.

Please note that to use this successfully as a getaway ability, it's very important to not think of it like Zeratul's Blink since that is instant. You need a second so that the ghost is far enough away from you to get away with good distance. During this time, you are still able to get hit or stunned, which can get you killed since it will be too late to teleport. You have to hit E before the ghost hits max distance and disappears. If not, you are a sitting duck and most likely dead.

Wailing Arrow R(1)
More on this in the talent section below.

Possession R(2)
More on this in the talent section below.

Talent for this build
Barbed Shot
What makes you able to destroy merc camps and minion waves fast with the addition of a few other talents to help its synergy. Other talents are great for different builds, but for this specific build, this is the way to go. More on this later.

Other Tier Talents
Lost Soul
Enhancing Shadow Dagger would be useful for another build, but not so much here. You use it mainly to start wave clearing or stunning mercs at a camp, but having a 2s reduction isn't necessary since even though you do clear waves fast, the spawn timer for minions is not so fast that you will need it up again 2 seconds earlier.

With the Wind
A phenomenal talent when you will be team fighting more on different maps or strategy. Since you need to keep distance from others, this talents helps you keep away from danger as your Q has that nice extra range. Against merc camps, you don't need that distance since if you do it right, they will always be stunned and you will take no damage.

Corruption
Kind of pointless since when you hit a tower, it simply stops shooting anyway. So in my personal view, all towers are out of ammo anyway when playing as Sylvanas.

This would help if, and only if, you were running by some turrets your teammates might be on, and you can't stay to help them. A few shots of this as you run by to your lane or your next objective can help teammates of course, but other talents are better this tier.

Talent for this build
Ranger's Ambush
I use this primary as a way to refill ammo for Barbed Shot. When you are taking a camp, you have to do it fast, and when you are out of ammo for Barbed Shot, and don't have your other abilities and are on cool-down, this talent is what is going to help you out the most during the time you are waiting for your other abilities to get off cooldown. Just auto attacking isn't enough at the earlier levels, and those early camp steals are really going to help in getting that level lead and hitting level 10 first.

How to attack camps are in the section below called, "How to style with Sylvanas"

Other Tier Talents
Overflowing Quiver
Not a bad talent, but I am usually spamming Q when I need it, so I rarely would use this additional attack if I was full. With Barbed Shot using zero mana, why not spam it when you have something to kill?

Paralysis
Also a decent talent, but with the fast attack speed of Sylvanas, shutting down a camp or tower for 2s isn't really needed. 1s is just fine in my opinion.

Envenom
This talent is always great to have. That additional burst can easily take down those squishy heroes. Though, for this build, your focus is on camps and towers. Rather not use this talent for that as they die easily anyway to Sylvanas. Regardless, does Envenom even work on mercs or towers?

I feel this talent level is a hard choice since this is really your own style, most of these choices are good, if not great, so what I chose was just my personal preference, even these talents can be changed with another

Talent for this build
Mercenary Lord
If you are going to be all out on merc camps, especially on the larger maps with many camps, this is great to have as these mercs are buffed well. On maps like Mines, I would never choose this.

Other Tier Talents
Unstable Poison
This is great and fun, as everyone blows up, chain reacting to other minions. But after level 13, you don't need this at all since minions drops easily.

Life Drain
This is awesome! Think of this talent as having a mobile healing fountain at your disposal. If you are low on health, run to a lane, find the enemy wave, cast your W, and run away. Everyone it hits (and it bounces to all that are in range) gives you life, so what is not to like about getting heals like a fountain located on the enemy side of the map. It's not as good as healing by a fountain, and it gives no mana like a fountain, so it's why this isn't the best choice. Though, if you have no healer on your team, this might be the best in this talent tree

Follow Through
Great if you are going with a DPS build and ignoring camps, maybe. Just not right for this build.

Shade Form
NINJA TIME! Also a fun talent, but it gives you stealth. Not invisibility. Good players know what to look for, and it's good, just not great to have this.

Talent for this build
Wailing Arrow
If you were at Pax in March, or watched the stream, you saw Sylvanas' heroics. This is when people realized how potentially awesome this heroic was, and boy is it great! This heroic is by far the best as it has range, it hurts, and is SILENCES!!!! It is just like Malf's Twilight Dream, but you can do it at a good range. I use this either to interrupt an enemy heroic (during a heroic like ETC's Mosh Pit, or Naz's Ravenous Spirit), or get the killing blow on a retreating enemy. It's so fun to hit them when they are running and think they are safe.

Other Tier Talents
Possession
I currently don't have too much experience with since it's not that strong. Possessing a minion gives it a 5s cooldown, and it goes higher (cooldown time) with the stronger an enemy AI mercs is (siege giants/bruisers). Though does not work on bosses. Let's say this gets buffed later, and made it able to steal a boss, but only once per game, maybe it would be good. But Wailing Arrow is just too good right now.

Talent for this build
Splinter Shot
This is where the going gets good. Each time you shoot Barbed Shot, it hits another enemy close to it as well. The reduced damage it hits the additional target for isn't the point of this talent, it is the trait of Black Arrows that effects another minion/merc next to it.

If you are clearing a wave of minions, just bounce this attack to everyone around and the wave drops super fast as everyone is stunned and just standing there. For merc camps like the siege giants, this talent makes them even easier, and against a bruiser camp, you will continuously stun the whole pack of 4, leading to camp clearing with no damage taken.

You can also throw in a Shadow Dagger to help keep the camp or waves stunned as you kill it, and if that isn't enough and you are out of Withering Fire procs, you can easily use your Ranger's Ambush to fill up your stacks/procs again to keep everyone stunned.

Ahhh...now you know why I chose the talent of Ranger's Ambush, huh? :)

It really makes it fun and easy to take or steal camps with this.

Other Tier Talents
Overwhelming Affliction
Not bad, as it slows enemy heroes, though your goal it to help out in team fights when needed, not the main DPS for your team to kill people. In this case, this talent is sub-par with your playing goals/needs.

Evasive Fire
A great talent for a DPS build and being aggressive, as it helps you chase down heroes, or get away. Again, with this build, you aren't focusing on kills, but siege damage.

Follow Through
Great if you are going with a DPS build and ignoring camps, maybe. Just not right for this build.

Spell Shield
Ummm...I never use this on anyone. Maybe I am bad for not taking this, surely I am, but I have not found this talent to beat any other talent this tier.

Talent for this build
Cold Embrace
This is an all purpose talent. You can use as your W Shadow Dagger to hit all minions/mercs and kill them faster. And in the case of team fights, also makes enemies take more damage if hit. At this later part of the game, you are surely involved in team fights, or maybe you are still stealing camps, regardless, this talent works in both scenarios.

Other Tier Talents
Windrunner
Oh my, if I can get this to work. After experimenting with this, I was trying to get a double reload for Withering Fire with Ranger's Ambush. I was trying to spam my 5 procs of withering arrow, hit E for Haunting Wave, shoot another 5 rounds of withering arrow, and use Haunting Wave again to get another refill, but....

...you have to use Ranger's Ambush and spam Withering Fire too fast within 2s (cast time required after the first Ranger's Ambush) to use it once again, and spam Withering Fire also once again, to make this efficient. It's a mess to try this and make this work, so will leave this to the pros to master. Regardless, not the best talent for this tier. But I can see how shooting 15 total Withering Fire shots within 4 seconds can be great! But I am not a pro, and not even sure if my medial theory crafting of this idea is even plausible.

Will of the Forsaken
My first character in WoW was an undead mage. So I thought I would love this talent. It's good, but again, not for this build. Nothing bad about this at all, just not for me.

Blood for Blood
A staple in all assassin heroes! But since you are a specialist in theory with this build, not good. Really good for a DPS build, just not for this.

Talent for this build
Bolt of the Storm
So many good talents this tier, but since you are now level 20, stealing a camp is so useful at this stage with scaling. Also, if you die at this stage, you are also out for over 60s. Way more than enough time for the enemy team to destroy your core. With that said, the risk of stealing an enemy camp is much less if you get caught by the enemy team if you get this talent and use it as another escape. You can also use your Haunting Wave before or after Bolt of the Storm to get more distance and to safety. Just a good talent with this play style.

Other Tier Talents
Deafening Blast
With you not focusing on heroes, this talent is a waste. The level 10 version of this is good enough, and this is also hard to aim. To hit someone in the exact center is too hard to make this worth it, so I skip it.

Dark Lady's Call
Since we did not choose Possession for this build, ignore this.

Fury of the Storm
Have never once used this, maybe it's great! But probably not better then with the play style and bonus of having a free teleport when you are in trouble. I do not think this is worth it, maybe I am wrong.

Early Game (level 1-9)
At this stage, just lane and get XP. You can solo a lane against two and even three enemy heroes if you do it right.

Stay away, use your Shadow Dagger when you first see a wave to stun them all. If you need more control, use your Haunting Wave to stun the wave. And when needed, spam your Withering Fire to down whatever you need to down. You literally never have to get hit by anyone, play safe, and don't get caught and die. EZPZ.

At level 4 you can solo siege camps, and at level 7, bruiser camps as well.

The best way to take siege camps is to run up to the two siege giants, hit one with all your Withering Fire. If you stand clearly to one side of the siege, all Withering Fire shots will hit the giant nearest to you.

If you notice, there is a delay from when you attack them at first, and when they get up off their butts to start attacking you. This is plenty of time to use your full 5 procs of Withering Fire.

When the second siege giant starts attacking, you can quickly cast your Shadow Dagger on him to stun him, and continue bursting down the first giant you choose to kill. The first giant, since you are attacking him initially, won't touch you since he will be stunned continuously. Only attack the other giant after using your Shadow Dagger with one hit of your auto attacks to keep him stunned, then back to the first giant you want to kill.

If you need an additional stun, you can now use your Haunting Wave to hit both giants, and stunning the second giant as you finish of the first. This is more than enough to keep the second giant stunned, as you finish the first giant, then do the same to the second giant as he is the only one left.

At level 7, if you are feeling good, take on the bruiser camp. Use the same ideals as the siege camp. Always kill the bruiser mage first as he has the most DPS. Walk up to him and behind him (against the wall or bush) and spam your Withering Fire on him. After, hit your Shadow Dagger as this spreads to the other 3 bruisers and stunning them. Continue using your auto attacks on the mage, and if you need another AOE stun, use your Haunting Wave to stun everyone of the bruisers. At this point if you teleport to where your Haunting Wave is, you now have ANOTHER 5 procs of Withering Fire to run behind the mage again and kill him. Rinse and repeat until the mage is dead, then pick on the next weakest non-mage bruiser, then the second to last bruiser, then kill the last and get the camp.

If you have some serious map awareness skills, you can even try to steal the enemy bruiser or siege camp first. Again, risky, but the pay off is great.

Once done, get lane XP or help the team with early objectives.

Mid Game (level 10-19)
At this point you have your heroic and it's group up time! This is the point where you can help your team (this build isn't that bad for teamfights), or go steal some more stuff. Be aware if you team needs you to team fight, or if it's ok to do your own thing. This is where experience and "feel" of the game matters.

Teamfight, objectives, steal camps, etc. Then to the late game...

Late Game (level 20+)
Ah, if you game even gets to level 20, this is where you have to be careful. A death from you can lead to a team fight of 4v5, which leads to a team wipe, and with the 60+ seconds of downtime, the enemy team can win. You really have to be map aware at this point, as even though you have escape tools, it is still possible for you to get caught and die easily.

Use the same strategy, steal camps, help team fights, etc., and play to win!

I hope you enjoyed this guide, I took a lot of time to make it, so if it helps just one person be better, then awesome!

Regarding the Slammin' Sylvanas build, this is for a higher DPS build. Here are the talents. These are used for just bursting down heroes, as Sylvanas can hit hard when she wants and win team fights. I will make a guide on this later if asked, but figured I would give you the run down of how to be a DPS-syle Valla or Tyrande.

Talent Choices:

Level 1 Talent: With the Wind
The range on this against heroes is great! Use it to keep a safe distance and hurt them.

Level 4 Talent: Envenom
Couldn't quite finish the kill? Use this and watch them die a slow death!

Level 7 Talent: Follow Through
Use this as you chase down heroes, to get that additional damage to finish the fight.

Level 10 Talent: Wailing Arrow
Read the above guide for why this is great in fights.

Level 13 Talent: Evasive Fire
Great for additional chase of enemy heroes, or if you are running away, spam Withering Fire to run faster and get away. Mixed with Haunting Wave and teleporting, this is great to have to finish kills, or escape someone trying to kill you.

Level 16 Talent: Blood for Blood
Just like envenom, can be used to hurt a hero just enough to finish them. Or like Evasive Fire, use this to slow them down, inadvertently making you faster, so you can escape, or just get some much needed health.

If you need health, remember to target a warrior-class, as they have the most health. And when you steal 15% of their health, you rather steal an ETC than another Sylvanas or Jaina.

Level 20 Talent: Deafening Blast??
I added the "?" after since I am not sure what works best with this build as I have yet to have too much experience with it. Any help here would be nice, but this might a completely preferential pick.