Introduction Top
I been playing
Illidan pretty much since i started with HotS. Much like everyone else i went through the process of discovering that "max dmg boost" talents might not always be the best choice. As of now i am through all the
The Hunt Kool-Aid. And finally i discovered that (at least to me)
Illidan is not meant to be played as a hit n run laserninja from the future. I play him as an solid all-rounder with high kill rates, moderate lane presence and pure endgame bestiality. My playstyle with
Illidan evolves around filling certain necessary gaps to win the games. Although this job is might be more suitable for other heroes i can say that it's seriously entertaining to play illian this way.
What can you expect from this guide?
People seem to be pretty lazy when it comes to give an idea of what their strategies lead too in the everyday business of playing the game. Which is actually good because in a game like HotS it's almost ridiculous to make any claims about winning percentages. As in any MOBA winning games is really depending on the quality of team work one can pull off. "But Tryndamere in LoL can solo everything!" you might think. Well what if he has 2 feeders in his team? Playing a MOBA should really be about fun. If you can't enjoy the ridiculous situations unfolding here and there it's probably not the best choice of game for you. I personally not keeping a track record of how often i loose or win. I tend to just power through lost games because it's really not a big deal. Especially in HotS the team aspect is very dominant. If your team doesn't win the map objectives the game is almost certainly lost. Plus there will always be leavers, afkers and players trying out new heroes.
Nevertheless subjectively i feel like i win most of the games i play. Of cause that is also one reason why i keep playing
Illidan this way. Actually i am quite pissed about the daily quests because they always keep me from using my favorite hero for a few games. I know this is a very bad habit. One reason i am writing this guide is to get it out of my system so i can actually start seriously experiment with more heroes (personally I find
Muradin and
Zeratul fascinating).
Disclaimer
During writing this guide i realized that it's form is pretty much that of an essay. I apologize if the little walls of text i call my chapters are a pain to read through. Hopefully i can give a some readers a new perspective on the game. What really is important? How can you play
Illidan? Why don't you have to camp in the botany the entire game just waiting to snipe the opponents
Illidan when he is at low hp?
Playstyle Top
Early Game
So the battle begins and you will notice that (except for
Garden of Terror) a ping fest takes place on your mini map. Games often start off with the first clash at the watchtowers.
To my surprise i found the common belief that
Illidan is a weak hero in the early game. That might be owed to the fact that some players are not taking the essential survival talents
Shadow Shield and
First Aid. The good news is that in many cases the enemy players think you are easy to nuke. We can really utilize this in the early clash at the watchtower. I always try to baiting the opponents. You should expose yourself fairly open and make the enemy players chase you. I saw it countless times that players are happy to take a lot of damage from my teammates and die (just for the possibility of killing
Illidan). With
Shadow Shield you can easily block off their damage. Remember you can also use
Sweeping Strike defensively. If you see that an enemy took the bait (and you positioned yourself fairly safe) you can help your mates bringing them down (using auto hits,
Dive and
Sweeping Strike). Never underestimate the automated hits. It's absolutely crucial to precisely click on the opponent or just A + left click in the right position to hit your victims. Never run around like a fried chicken desperate to spam your Q and A abilities. Also it can be quite helpful (especially in the presence of enemies like
Valla,
Nova or
Zeratul) to use
Dive on a retreating target and
Sweeping Strike back into the direction of your teammates. Never try to pull off ridiculous kills in the reach of enemy towers. It's not worth the lost of your own hp. Don't worry the players most of the time come back way too early (the predicted hp gain from picking up a healing fountain HoT seems to get confused with their actual hp sometimes).
Once the chaos of the early clashes is over i try to show fairly aggressive presence on the lane. Take the mid lane on
Blackheart's Bay for example. Many times you will find characters
Muradin,
Diablo and/or
Azmodan trying to push to your first fort. Can you safely kill them? Probably not. But what you should do is clearing of their minions with
Sweeping Strike (i train
Immolation for that reason).
Dive at them to get on their nerves. Use your
Shadow Shield to dodge their attacks and make them wonder "who is the tank here?!". Your goal must be to keep them at least in their half of the lane. If you master it you can even push them further back which makes it really easy for your team to get the coin chest. Also always keep an eye on the mini map. Many times you will find that a cheeky
Valla is standing right at your gate on the other lanes. Just waiting to get harvested. You don't necessarily have to stay on mid lane. Most of the time you have a tank character in your team who is happy to do this job. In this case i support the player on the outside lanes who are pushed back the most by their opponent.
The combination of the defensive talents and your basic skills make you are very strong at harassing your opponents. Especially with
First Aid you can harass pretty aggressive since you can skip on bunch of hp breaks in your base or simple save yourself from getting killed. Think about the psychological aspects of harassing. The opponents will make crucial mistakes in later stages of the game just because they are still mad at you diving, dodging and sweeping around so much in the early game.
Mid Game
In the mid game i start the transition of being more helpful for my team (aka being more in the presence of my mates). For that reason i train
Metamorphosis and
Giant Killer. Of cause
The Hunt is a very good talent used by many Illidan players. But i personally found
Metamorphosis to be the better all-round talent. It seems to be quite common for
The Hunt players to use the talent to pull of cheap kills (even if targets had no chance of escaping anyways,
Nowhere to Hide seems to worsen this behavior).
Metamorphosis on the other hand really helps to give you the edge when it comes to fighting in the
Haunted Mines, supporting/killing the garden terror, helping the dragonknight etc.. The talent also really helps to support your mates during clashes. It can really turn the ship around. Since it is not permanent (yet) the time to pop it is hard to name. I personally try to pop it as much as i can. Don't try to wait ages for the "perfect moment". The talent is so good because it helps with all these different aspects of the game. In any scenario it gives you an advantage over the enemy. I find that the most important (and fun) aspect of playing an
Metamorphosis Illidan.
Since "being helpful for the team" in mid game often means to fight off the enemies attacks (for example when you fighting mercenaries) i train
Giant Killer.
Sixth Sense for sure is a brilliant talent to take but i personally found that my hero at this point feels resilient enough to survive nuke attempts (
Evasion is not the only defensive option you have with Illidan). With
Giant Killer i easily cut through heroes like
Tyrande and become almost an worthy opponent for
Kerrigan.
Late Game
If you and your team did everything right and you were able to pull of some good kills and stayed ahead of the opponents in terms of map objectives you will see players fleeing from you and your flock more and more frequently. For that reason i still train
Blood for Blood. Players (and especially players yelling at their team mates in chat) are often too distracted to realize that there is basically no escaping once they get
Blood for Blood. I am always able to pull off many funny kills during that phase of the game. Plus it's always good to give a pesty
Zeratul a heart attack when he tries to nuke you or one of your mates.
Finally i want my
Metamorphosis to be permanent with
Demonic Form. With this talent I regain my basic mobility (recognize that without the talent you can't mount in normal
Metamorphosis) and also do significant damage against enemy structures. I mention this because in the late game you find yourself wiping out the rest of the enemies base and finally push for their core. Also it happens a lot that have to retreat from a big push into the enemy base. Since I now have permanent
Metamorphosis I can get new mercenaries very quick on my own if necessary. That can seriously trouble the opponents even more. With
Demonic Form I can really seal the deal when it comes to actually winning games.
Conclusion
As you can see the Illidan i described here really depends on the situation he is in. There doesn't seem to be a straight forward strategy on how you should play your hero. I personally found that supporting your team is the most important aspect of the game. I try to make my team push forward and at the same time taking the pressure of them which comes from the opponents site. The general drudge. Playing quick match i come across many other Illidans. Though i sometimes see good and inspiring ones (the entire guide is based on what i saw good Illidan players do on the BNet) the majority of Illidans just don't play well. In most cases they end up sniping a bunch of people in the late game with
The Hunt while their base is already in ruins. Actually those Illidans are one of the easiest victims for you since they stubbornly get crushed by
First Aid,
Shadow Shield,
Metamorphosis in 1on1 situations.
Since i been hating on
The Hunt a lot i have to clarify this a bit. Of cause playing
Metamorphosis comes with similar issues. Players using it tend to get overconfident acting like nothing could destroy them. It is important to note that it doesn't make you as tanky as for example
Avatar does. Especially during the mid game you might learn this the hard way. Because
Metamorphosis keeps you from mounting up you sometimes find yourself standing morphed on empty lanes with your mates riding by to get to the next objective. For this reason
Metamorphosis might actually downgrade your mobility a bit during that phase of the game.
I also understand why people think
Blood for Blood isn't always the best choice. I use it since most of the time i have at least my brother sitting right next to me (playing
Valla). But i see how when you on your own you might not be able to time quick ninja kills. So actually
Second Sweep might be the better option for you.
I will update the guide as frequent as i can. I hope you enjoyed it! Cu on Bnet!
Quick Comment () View Comments
You need to log in before commenting.