Hi guys, I'm Megamasso! I started out playing World of Warcraft and have been raiding since early Burning Crusade. I've also played League of Legends for a few years now and have been playing Heroes of the Storm since early Beta. Since my break from raiding early Warlords, I have been investing more time into HotS. I generally play as Specialist role, preferring Abathur or Zagara, but recently have found some love for Tyrande.
I've tested out multiple builds in many games with her, and from what I've noticed (based on my play style) she does much better as a DPS with side support than a full support hero. This guide will give you a bit of insight into building Tyrande to put out some damage while still being able to sustain yourself and your teammates.
Tyrande isn't the strongest support by far, and to be honest, I believe the only reason she's listed as such is due to her small healing capabilities. She has shielding and healing abilities, but up against a Lili or Brightwing, she just can't do enough heal output. With this build, she focuses more on a DPS setup to work well in team play, assisting a main support throughout the game. This build focuses heavily on using
Hunter's Mark and timing
Lunar Flare to increase damage as much as possible.
Tyrande has quite a high skill cap due to the fact that
Lunar Flare skill shots need to be on point. If stuns are frequently missed, she will be quite useless throughout the game. While this build focuses mainly on damage output for your team, don't forget that she has a single target heal with
Light of Elune (which should mainly be cast on a teammate for optimal usage) and a shield with
Protective Shield, and if used at the right moments, can ultimately save a teammate or yourself quite often.
PROS:
- Decent damage output (especially late game)
- Good CC with Lunar Flare, if timed correctly
- Self sustainability in addition to somewhat help the team with shield and heals
CONS:
- Very squishy early game
- Fairly easy to misuse mana/run out frequently
- No getaway and easy to get locked down
- High skill cap with Lunar Flare skill shot
(Q) Light of Elune
Mana: 45
Cooldown: 8 seconds
"Heal yourself for 60 (+14 per level) . If cast on an ally, also heals them for 120 (+28 per level) Health."
This is Tyrande's healing ability. Unless you are solo laning early on, this ability's should always be cast on a teammate. Even though you are going DPS heavy, remember that priority is to always help keep your team alive. It has the potential to be a mana drainer if not used properly or used to heal high health allies. Just be smart with this ability and aware of your mana and you should be good. |
(W) Sentinel
Mana: 65
Cooldown: 18 seconds
"Send an Owl that travels across the battleground revealing its path. Deals 60 (+16 per level) damage to the first enemy Hero hit and reveals them for 5 seconds."
Grants vision in its path unless it hits an enemy hero, where it will stop and keep them visible for 5 secs. If timed correctly, it has a decent snipe ability for those long-range kills on escaping heroes. Its biggest usage is scouting out positions/activity, which comes in handy on team fight maps such as Cursed Hollow or Garden of Terror. |
(E) Lunar Flare
Mana: 60
Cooldown: 12 seconds
"After a short delay, deal 90 (+18 per level) damage and stun enemies in the target area for 1 second."
This is Tyrande's stun ability, and one of the more useful ones to your team if used correctly. The ability to stun an enemy every 12 seconds is a huge help to your team, especially during team fights which you will be able to do multiple times. If successfully timed, can be used to stop enemy heroic abilities like Lili's
 Jug of 1,000 Cups, E.T.C.'s
 Mosh Pit, or Malfurion's
 Tranquility. |
(D/Trait) Hunter's Mark
Cooldown: 20 seconds
"Marks a target enemy, increasing all damage taken by 25% and revealing them for 4 seconds. Cannot be used on Structures."
This is ultimately your main DPS ability against enemy heroes. With good teamwork/organization, your team can focus down a Hero in no time flat. This ability should always be used on cooldown. In addition to enemy heroes, this ability also works on neutral mercenaries/bosses and other NPC-type mobs such as Shamblers (Garden of Terror) and Golems (Haunted Mines). |
Ranger's Mark - This is almost always my go-to level 1 talent. It decreases the cooldown of your
Hunter's Mark by 8 seconds, making it a 12 second cooldown fown from the original 20 seconds, and gives you a very good up-time on the trait ability. This should always be used off cooldown for max benefit.
Note: A decent alternative to
Ranger's Mark is Seasoned Marksman. The damage output from your basic attacks is there, but you will have a longer cooldown for your trait ability, resulting in the potential loss of bursting down an enemy.
Protective Shield - In addition to your single-target heal, the shield will provide more support for your team and help to save your allies when escaping or needing to soak a bit of damage. This can be extremely useful in team battles when
Light of Elune is on cooldown.
Note: An alternative to
Protective Shield would be
Focused Attack if you want to go more strongly into DPS.
Searing Arrows is not viable due to the strong contraint on mana when used.
Lunar Blaze - Tier 3 talents are a bit of a toss up. Generally, I tend to go with Lunar Blaze, as it increases the range of your
Lunar Flare ability by 50%, resulting in you having to be a tiny bit less clutch with it and potentially avoid getting caught somewhere you shouldn't be. I like to switch between this and
Battle Momentum for ability cooldown reduction. Either are viable, and it's based off of preference.
Starfall - This is almost everyone's go-to heroic ability pick, as it should be due to its more useful nature. The damage isn't anything special from this ability, but timed correctly with
Nova's
Precision Strike,
Raynor's
Hyperion, or
Valla's
Strafe heroic abilities, the damage against the enemy team adds up. It's definitely also useful for putting a bit of extra damage on structures to clear a lane, since the area is quite widespread.
Huntress' Fury - Unless another tier 1 ability was chosen over
Ranger's Mark, this is usually my go to for tier 5. The increased attack speed for 4 seconds on top of the vulnerability can put out some decent damage to an enemy hero or help to cap mercenary camps faster.
Note: Another extremely viable option if going for a more support heavy role would be
Overflowing Light. This boosts your heal by a nice amount, making it easier for you to help save your teammates.
Shrink Ray can also be useful to help reduce damage from DPS heavy heroes such as
Illidan,
Zagara, or
Jaina.
Trueshot Aura - Should be the one and only talent chosen for this tier, as it passively grants your nearby allies a 15% increase to their basic attack damage.
Note:
Shooting Star could have its potential as a choice talent over
Trueshot Aura. It's usefulness depends on how clutch you are with making the
Lunar Flare skill shots to return mana after hitting an enemy hero.
Nexus Frenzy - I personally like the attack speed and added range from this talent, which could significantly increase your DPS output in later game (if you end up getting that far).
Note:
Storm Shield is also a very viable option if you need to go more of the support route, since it grants all of your nearby allies a shield, which comes in handy for very late game team fights.
All talent selections were based off of my personal play style and preference with Tyrande. I've cycled through many of the talent combinations, and these are what seem to fit best with my vision of a DPS/mini support verson of the hero.
I hope you guys find this guide helpful, and please leave a comment with any thoughts on it.
You can also find me streaming HotS and other games on Twitch @
Megamasso or contact me via one of the social media options below:
Twitter -
@MegamassoGaming
Facebook -
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Website -
http://www.megamasso.com
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