This guide assumes you already have a basic grasp of Illidan's abilities. For an overview of the hero there are several guides and wiki pages available. The majority of this guide is devoted to reasoning behind talent selection. That being said lets get to it.

My favorite build despite only being viable in a comp that has a massive amount of cc or healing... hopefully both. I will build this way when I have 2 strong healers on my team and am confident that we will not lose in the earlygame.

Tier 1

This build's focus is on maximum possible damage while using only Illidan's kit for survival. Illidan's base damage and damage per level is the lowest for heroes that fit his archetype(melee assassin with high mobility/gapclose/sticking power) Almost every physical damage oriented character in the game has higher base and scaling stats. With such low damage its almost absurd not to take this talent.

Tier 2

With Illidan's passive lifesteal it seems wasteful to spend this Talent on the 10% bonus lifesteal that Thirsting Blade offers. The other component of Illidan's passive makes Marked for Death a wise choice for maximizing damage output. Furthermore you will almost always use a basic attack on the target you just used Dive on. If high damage is your goal, don't pass up this Talent.

Tier 3

This Talent adds another steroid to your arsenal and has strong synergy with Marked for Death. To use this talent most effectively you should basic attack at least once between each spell cast. Its easy to cast multiple spells in a row while skirmishing. Avoid doing this whenever possible. Follow Through adds damage with every spell cast, even the usually defensive Evasion.

Tier 4

This is where you have the most leeway in talent selection The Hunt is an excellent ability with a lot of playmaking potential and higher single target damage from level 16 on. The reason I choose Metamorphosis is preference. While The Hunt may have better single target damage and a massive gapclose with stun, Metamorphosis has far better damage when considering it can hit multiple targets and the residual damage increase from the attack speed. In ideal scenarios you will be following up your frontline with this ability. Unfortunately things aren't always ideal and when that happens you can use Metamorphosis as an escape from a sticky situation. It has several frames in which you are removed from the game, during this time you are completely untargetable.

Tier 5

While this tier offers more mobility/survivability in various forms Giant Killer is chosen because it is an ever present steroid on your basic attacks in a teamfight/skirmish. Some simple math can show that it is worth consideration. At later phases of the game most heroes have over 2000 hp. 1.5% of 2000 is 30, this talent is adding at least 30 damage to every basic attack against a hero. 30 may seem like a small number but consider that illidan's physical damage increases by only 7 per level. The minimum effect of this passive increases Illidan's basic attack damage more than leveling up 4 times does.

Tier 6

I always want to pick Blood for Blood over this talent but I'm disappointed every time I do. The 15% of max hp can help for bursting targets large and small and the heal/slow can make for some great outplays but Second Sweep offers too much to pass up. It allows you to keep the steroid from Sweeping Strike up longer. It also has strong synergy with Follow Through that we chose at level 7.

Tier 7

Perhaps the easiest to overlook next to the global presence of Nowhere to Hide and the obvious benefits of permanently becoming a demon with Demonic Form. This talent gets my vote at this tier because of the damage increase. By the time you have gotten this talent you will have stacked seasoned marksman quite a bit so that the 20% is even more noticeable. This damage increase is always present, regardless of the target you are attacking. This damage increase is the strongest of your steroids because it isn't situational. Its more damage ALWAYS.

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