This guide is intended to provide an alternate playstyle for Kerrigan in light of the February 10th patch. It deviates very sharply from the traditional "mage" style. You won't be roaming in the early game (as much), you won't be comboing your spells together (without weaving in auto attacks), and you won't be landing four man Impaling Blades Primal Grasp combos. What you will be doing is providing a formidable mix of crowd control, damage and survivability to keep your assassins/healers alive and shred the enemy front line.

NEVER use this build if:
-Your team does not already have a primary tank, healer and dps, you cannot individually fulfill any of these roles, you instead supplement your tanks and assassins.
-Your team is already overloaded with cc, if you already have Uther, Diablo and E.T.C., you're probably better off getting someone with more damage.
-Everyone except your tank is very squishy
-Your team is already running Illidan, he does the .same thing as you, just without any cc.
-You are using a specialist/push comp.
-You have a single, weak healer ie Brightwing, Tyrande or Tassadar.
-Your team has no range

DEFINITELY use this build if:
-You are running a Bloodlust comp and someone else is willing to play Raynor.
-You are playing on Cursed Hollow.
-You have an Abathur or Tyrande.
-You have two supports, especially if one is Malfurion or Tyrande.
-You are running "Protect the Hammer" and already have a tank, 2 healers and Hammer.

CONSIDER this build if:
-You are playing on Dragon Shire, Garden of Terror or Blackhearts Bay (ordered from best to worst).
-You have a strong area of effect cc on your team.
-You have strong area of effect damage on your team.
-You have Raynor E.T.C. or Gazlowe.
-Your team has one or more ways to shield you.
-Your team needs both cc and damage.
-The other team has Nazeebo, Li Li or Valla.
-Your team needs someone who can clear merc camps solo relatively easily.
-You have a strong single healer like Uther.

WTF, THAT'S NOT Sweeping Grasp! I know, its better. This playstyle doesn't require you to grab 4 people and stun them all, you just need to be able to get one or two off of a carry or get another proc of Double Strike off. The trick to this talent is maintaining a minimum of 2 stacks per minute while still participating in team fights. Use a Primal Grasp to pull a creep wave to you, then kill them with Fury of the Swarm. This leaves you free to roam/help your team and still maintain your stacks. If you are playing on Sky Temple or Haunted Mines, or you just can't convince yourself to get seasoned marksman, Siphoning Impact is a good substitute. It gives you much needed sustain, and healing underneath shields from assimilate is very strong. Block is good against Nova and other heroes with SLOW attack speeds.

The bread and butter of this build. Fury of the Swarm allows you to merc, clear waves and most importantly, tank. Once you combine this with Double Strike, Maelstrom and Aggressive Defense, your passive essentially makes you invincible

The only talent in this tier that challenges Battle Momentum is Searing Attacks. Here's why Battle Momentum is better: -It stacks with Fury of the Swarm...yeah that's a thing -Kerrigan is horribly mana starved, searing attacks is expensive and doesn't provide any utility -Kerrigan's spells have relatively long cooldowns. Battle Momentum keeps your spells up so you can maximize use of Double Strike -More ults=more shields=less deaths -It freaking stacks with cleave!

I love ultralisk, but this build is about absorbing damage, which is where Maelstrom shines. Pop this sucker right before you jump into a big fight. Use it to soften up their front line, use it for some extra damage on that pesky assassin diving your carry, use it to wombo combo with Mosh Pit or Divine Storm. Just make sure you are hitting something and building shields.

I've mentioned this talent a lot, and for good reason. It synergizes with every other talent in this build, making you do HORRIFYING amounts of damage IF abused correctly. This talent is what differentiates this playstyle from the traditional mage playstyle. From the moment you reach level 13, you are no longer allowed to cast 2 spells in a row without weaving an auto attack in between. My rotation usually looks like Ravage (auto attack) Primal Grasp (auto attack) Impaling Blades (auto attack) Maelstom (auto attack). Use this to peel for your carries or to assassinate a squishy IF your carries are safe. This talent takes practice to get the maximum benefit, so be patient.

This is where you get really scary. Doubling shield generation from all sources is pretty huge, especially when you're hitting 3+ with Maelstrom and Fury of the Swarm. At this point the other team will be focusing you, take advantage of this to waste their cooldowns and mana.

You have a choice here. Omegastorm is better if your team is behind or you need the additional shielding to stay alive long enough to be useful. Very strong synergy with Aggressive Defense. Nexus Blades is great if your team lacks chasing power or damage. It synergizes well with seasoned marksman and Fury of the Swarm, adding an aoe slow to Kerrigan's already formidable cc.

Early Game (Levels 1-10):
Your top priorities in order are
-Maintain 2 stacks of seasoned marksman per minute/help your team with objectives
-Make sure all 3 lanes are being soaked
-Take merc camps after learning Fury of the Swarm
-Gank overextended enemy heroes

Mid Game (Levels 11-15)
Your top priorities in order are:
-Maintain 2 stacks of seasoned marksman per minute/help your team with objectives
-Deny the other teams mercs (if your team will help you)
-Get your own mercs (Do this alone, let your teammates soak a lane or do something else productive)
-Soak an empty lane (Don't miss objectives for this EVER)

Late Game (Level 16+)
-Maintain 2 stacks of seasoned marksman per minute
-Do not split from your team beyond this point without VERY good reason
-Keep control of mercenaries
-Force 5v5 fights. Kerrigan gets a *huge* spike in teamfight power with both Aggressive Defense and Omegastorm, take advantage and bait/force fights around bosses or other objectives. Make sure your team is on board with your brilliant plan though. Nothing is more awkward then chasing down that pesky Nazeebo, popping your big scary combo on him and realizing your team went the other way to clear a camp.

Teamfighting with this build is very different from mage Kerrigan. Your number one priority is to keep your carries and healers alive. This means you should NOT be diving into their back line to assassinate a Valla as soon as the fight breaks out or chasing around a Nova while Tyrael and Illidan kill your Uther. Your job is to stay close to the most vulnerable/valuable member of your team and be an absolute **** to anyone that gets near them by spamming Primal Grasp, Ravage and your auto attacks. This is particularly effective when multiple people dive your back line, as Maelstrom will provide maximum damage/durability. If the enemy team has one or more channeled ultimates, save your Primal Grasp to cancel them. Note that if the other team has said channeled ults and you are your team's only hope of stopping them, Sweeping Grasp becomes competitive with seasoned marksman.

Bloodlust: A Bloodlust comp relies on combining Rehgar's Bloodlust skill with a team full of auto attackers. Kerrigan fits into this nicely with either Tyrande (for Trueshot Aura) or Tassadar (for Archon and Static Charge) as a secondary support, Raynor for Inspire and either E.T.C. for Rockstar or Tyrael. Most enemy teams just melt under all of this.

Abathur: Kerrigan works great with an Abathur going for Symbiote build. Adrenal Overload and Adrenaline Boost are good enough, but once he grabs Soma Transference, its all over. Cloning Kerrigan with Ultimate Evolution can be pretty good, it gives a lot of extra cc and he can provide peeling, leaving you free to assassinate enemy carries. This is the only time you can run this Kerrigan build with an Illidan, as they both benefit immensely from Symbiote.

Gazlowe: If you can coordinate with a gazlowe, you synergize very well with him. The two of you can steal mercenary camps, obliterate creep waves (stacking seasoned marksman) and cc train people for upwards of 10 seconds (let him lay down 2x Xplodium Charge + Grav-O-Bomb 3000, then hold as many people in place as possible with Primal Grasp + Impaling Blades). If you are on Sky Temple, use the mage build.

E.T.C.: This guy is great. He's just all around a cool dude, he buffs your attack speed with Rockstar, helps you peel with Powerslide and Face Melt and holds everyone in your Maelstrom with a well-placed Mosh Pit. Just make sure he doesn't Face Melt people out of Primal Grasp or Impaling Blades.