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What's up people of the internet? I'm Scottwarcraft and I heart Malfurion. It's probably because he's been a B.A.M.F. since Warcraft III. Not to mention (In my opinion) is one of the best healers in Heroes of the Storm. Malfurion can be built as pure support, CC focused or damage focused, it just depends on your individual play style or on the needs of your team. Don't kid yourself though, Malfurion's main purpose is to keep his team alive. Your team won't be happy with you if they're dying in a team fight and you're off by yourself killing minions, spamming Moonfire.


"Nights elves are the right elves." - Malfurion Stormrage

Pros:

• Ranged support hero means you can annoy less-mobile melee heroes from afar (Both with auto-attacks & Moonfire
• Good sustained healing
• Entangling Roots can save lives when used properly
• A properly timed Tranquility can give your team a huge advantage in a team fight
• Twilight Dream is a great source of instant damage and a 3 second silence, also great for team fights

Cons:

• Not much "burst" healing
• No mobility. Your only hope is Entangling Roots or Hindering Moonfire if you spec'd into it
• The slight delay in Entangling Roots means you need to cast it ahead of a running enemy hero, which can be difficult if you're chasing from behind. Elune's Grace can help with this
• Thinking you're going to save the day with Tranquility only to be stunned or silenced really sucks
  

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Malfurion has an iconic set of druid abilities (as well he should). If you've already played Malfurion, then this section probably won't help you much, but if you haven't played him before, be sure to read and understand what all his abilities do.

"Even the lowliest spirit can destroy the most powerful of demons" - Malfurion

Trait

Innervate - D - Use this on CD! You can't use it on yourself, but it costs you zero mana & gives an ally 100 mana over 10 seconds. If you're not sure what heroes burn through mana, ask at the beginning of the game who has mana problems. Otherwise just cast it on whoever needs it. Innervate can be improved once you hit Tier 2 - Level 4 with Shan'do's Clarity or Versatile.

Abilities

Regrowth - Q - This is the main heal you'll be using as Malfurion. Known as a HOT (Heal Over Time) Regrowth delivers its healing over time and not all in one burst. The initial instant heal and the HOT amount increase as you level up. The HOT amount can be increased at Tier 3 - Level 7 if you spec into Enduring Growth Here is a breakdown of Regrowth amounts as you level up both with and without Enduring Growth

Level Instant Heal Amount Regrowth Enduring Growth

Moonfire - W - This is your main damage ability, and it can be surprisingly effective at finishing off your opponents. I've had plenty of Victory games where I've led in takedowns as Malfurion, so don't underestimate this ability. Moonfire is great because it will hit however many enemies are inside of its cast circle. This makes it a effective tool for helping clear a lane, a merc camp or hit multiple enemy heroes in a team fight. Moonfire also reveals cloaked enemy heroes (like Nova, Zeratul or an Ambush spec'd Sgt. Hammer), so if you see a shimmer walking around, hit'em with Moonfire to reveal them for 2 seconds. Moonfire is also great for casting into bushes to reveal hiding enemy heroes. Moonfire can be your very first upgrade at level 1 with Moonburn. The next upgrade to Moonfire comes at level 13 when you can choose Full Moonfire At level 16 you can choose between Lunar Shower or Hindering Moonfire. I'll talk about the various Moonfire upgrades when I break down the talent choices later in this guide.

Entangling Roots - E - This is your main CC ability. A successful cast of Entangling Roots can and will save your life if used properly. I've found that if an enemy hero is chasing you, casting Entangling Roots slightly ahead of yourself will make the rooting effect "active" in time for the hero that's chasing you to be rooted. If you cast Entangling Roots directly under you while running, depending on how far back the enemy hero is, they will probably run right through it before the root becomes active. You'll get used to the timing with practice. There are a few upgrades available for Entagling Roots. The first comes in Tier 2 - Level 4 where you can pick up Vengeful Roots. The next upgrade comes in Tier 3 - Level 7 where Strangling Vines becomes available. The third and final upgrade to Entangling Roots becomes available in Tier 6 - Level 16 in the form of Tenacious Roots. It's important to note that Entangling Roots is a root, not a stun. This means that whoever you trap in the root can still attack and use abilities.

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Talents with a green border are best in a healing build.
Talents with a blue border are best for a crowd control build.
Talents with a yellow border are best for a DPS build.
Talents with a red border are not recommended for any build.
Talents with no border are neutral, are fairly specialized and may not be optimal for every game.

Tier 1 - Level 1

Conjurer's Pursuit - This is my go-to talent choice in tier 1. Malfurion has some serious mana issues in the early parts of the game. If you're consistently using Moonire and Entangling Roots to harass enemy heroes, you'll be going OOM regularly. Any boost to your MPS (Mana Per Second) is a good thing. The Regeneration Globes are dropped once you kill those pesky little healer minions

Moonburn - If you like assisting with minons or map objectives, this is probably the talent for you. The extra damage that Moonburn does to minions and mercenary camps is definitely noticeable. This talent is especially useful on Haunted Mines for gathering skulls and even on Blackheart's Bay for quickly killing the skeleton mercenaries that drop coins.

Scouting Drone - These are easily killed by the enemy and only last 60 seconds, but can be useful if you need vision of a map objective.

Harmony - Not worth it over any of the above talents. Have I healed a minion or mercenary? Yes. Have I done it often enough to warrant ever choosing this talent? No.

Tier 2 - Level 4

Protective Shield - Since Malfurion lacks any real burst healing, this is the next best thing. The key thing to remember here is that it only protects against damage for 5 seconds. At level 4 Protective Shield prevents 420 damage and will prevent 900 damage at level 20. This should be the obvious choice for this tier.

Healing Ward - If you're trying you be the best little healer you can be and for whatever reason didn't pick Protective Shield then you can choose healing ward, but it's not recommended.

Vengeful Roots - If you're building a more offensive Malfurion and/or you have another support hero on your team then choose Vengeful Roots. Vengeful Roots is useful for helping to kill minions, mercenaries, or make towers waste ammo.

Versatile - Think of Versatile as a mini Bloodlust, only without the increased movement speed. Pretty much the only scnenario I can see taking Versatile would be if your bff is playing Rancor spec'd Valla and you're just following them around the whole game boosting their attack speed. But even then, they'd benefit more from Protective Shield

Shan'do's Clarity - If your ally absolutely, positively needs 100 mana in the next 5 seconds, you can pick this. Considering you can't Innervate yourself, I can't ever see choosing Shan'do's Clarity

Tier 3 - Level 7

Enduring Growth - The default choice for the tier. If you're building Malfurion to put out the most healing possible, Enduring Growth is a no-brainer. Click here to compare Regrowth with & without Enduring Growth

Strangling Vines - Going for a more offensive Malfurion? This will be your top pick. This talent is great when paired up with Tenacious Roots at level 16.

Calldown: MULE - This talent is pretty specialized. If you already find your towers/forts/keeps taking that much damage by level 7, you're probably not going to be in for a Victory screen. Anyway, if your team is always super offensive and relies on your structures to defend, picking up Calldown: MULE may not be a bad idea.

Elune's Grace - If you'd like some extra range on Regrowth and Moonfire and if for whatever reason you find yourself chasing a lot of enemy heroes and need some extra range on Entangling Roots, then you can pick this talent... But there are better choices in this tier. This talent does go well if you choose Tenacious Roots or Hindering Moonfire from Tier 6 - Level 16.

Battle Momentum - Just no. There are better choices in the tier, plus choosing Hardened Focus in Tier 6 - Level 16 is more effective anyway. My reaction when I see a Malfurion choose Battle Momentum Play Video

Tier 4 - Level 10

Tranquility - If I'm going for a healing build on Malfurion then I'm taking Tranquility. One of the great things about Tranquility compared to other ultimates is that Malfurion can still cast his other abilities during it. Casting Regrowth on allies who are extra low while Tranq is active, is a great way to quickly bring them up. Tranq should be used during a team fight and when your team is around 50-75% health. You do NOT want to wait until your allies on the verge of dying to use Tranquility, it won't save them. You also have to recognize the skill level of your opponents and how they behave in a team fight. If they always focus down your allies one by one, Tranquility won't do much to help them. You'd be better off going with...

Twilight Dream - This ability is all about positioning and recognizing what enemy heroes are in range of it. You want to use it on heroes that rely on their abilities - not their auto attacks - as their primary damage dealers. Ideally you would try to get within range of their support heroes before using Twlight Dream, as a silenced support hero can't really support much of anything. It's usually a good idea to wait until a team gets hectic before walking your druid-self into the middle of the enemy group to blast them with TD. Keep in mind that Twilight Dream isn't an instant cast, there's a delay, so keep that in mind when planning it's use.

Tier 5 - Level 13

Life Seed - The tooltip for this isn't very clear, but here's how it works, When you cast Regrowth on an ally, they receive both the instant heal from Regrowth and the HOT effect. The ally with the lowest health, in range of you, will receive the HOT effect of Regrowth. This is a pretty great ability and I recommend it 100% when building Malfurion for pure healing output. As an example, let's assume your team is is level 6 and in a team fight. You cast Regrowth on Stitches and he receives the 124 instant HP as well as 310 HP over 10 seconds (Use this chart for healing numbers). Right next to the Stitches you cast Regrowth on is Illidan who has the lowest HP out of anyone on your team. Illidan would then gain the 310 HP over 10 seconds effect. Get it? Got it? Good.

Shrink Ray - If you're building Malfurion to have better CC, then pick Shrink Ray. Nothing annoy's a Zeratul more than popping out of Permanent Cloak and being hit with Shrink Ray and stuck with their damage & movement speed cut in half for 5 seconds.

Full Moonfire - Going offensive? Go with this talent. Making the target area of Moonfire 50% bigger while reducing its mana cost by 10 will be great for killing minions, gathering skulls or being more effective in team fights.

Ice Block - Running from an enemy hero while your team comes to save you? You need to do a few things, ping yourself as many times as possible until the game won't let you, keep Regrowth on yourself, try to trap the pursing enemy with Entangling Roots and as a last ditch effort to keep yourself alive, use Ice Block. A 3 second invulnerability may not sound like much, but properly timed, it should get you through the deadliest of combos from burst heroes like Nova or Zeratul. If you find that the enemy team has been focusing you on sight, this is probably the talent you want to pick up.

Rewind - This is pretty self explanatory, it refreshes your BASIC ability CDs. This means it will NOT effect Tranquility or Twilight Dream. That being said, since you can only do this once every 60 seconds, the other talents in this tier will probably serve you better.

Tier 6 - Level 16

Hardened Focus - If the enemy team isn't focusing you, then this is the talent to pick. A 50% reduction in your basic cooldowns is fantastic. Like Rewind however, this only effects the CDs of your BASIC abilities, Tranquility and Twilight Dream will not have their CD effected by Hardened Focus

Tenacious Roots - If you're building a CC-focused Malfurion, this will probably be your best bet in this tier. The extra 25% duration it adds to Entangling Roots could make the difference between your team escaping, or securing a kill on an enemy hero. Now I said this is probably your best bet for a control build because sometimes I like to choose...

Hindering Moonfire - I honestly probably pick this more than Tenacious Roots. Nothing is more annoying than chasing an enemy hero on foot and having them be just out of reach. Being able to spam Moonfire on CD and slow them down by 20% so your team can catch them is great. It's just a matter of choosing between Hindering Moonfire and Tenacious Roots based on your play style.

Lunar Shower - If you like to Moonfire all the things!!!! Then you're obviously building Malfurion to deal some damage and should pick this talent. Once you've got 3 stacks of it, Moonfire has a 1.5s CD and does 30% more damage. At level 20 & with 3 stacks of Lunar Shower, each Moonfire will be doing 299 points of damage.

Tier 7 - Level 20

Serenity - If you chose Tranquility over Twilight Dream then you should most likely take Serenity as well. At level 20, Tranq heals for 220 HP per second for 10 seconds. With Serenity, that jumps up to 275 for 10s, which is an extra 550 HP. If you've gotten to level 20 and not found yourself using Tranquility very often, then You should have taken Twilight Dream You're not getting in many team fights, so you probably don't need Storm Shield either.

Bolt of the Storm - Even if you chose Twilight Dream for your Tier 4 - Level 10 talent, pick up Bolt of the Storm here. Why you ask? Simple, the extra second of silence and the slow isn't going to help you out that much. What is going to be helpful is blinking into the back lines of the enemy team, popping Twilight Dream and silencing those pesky support heroes and the Nova that is pewpew-ing your team from afar. After you do that, Regrowth yourself and get the hell out of there and let your team clean up the mess.

Storm Shield - Considering Storm Shield has half the CD of Tranquility you may want to pick this up if you find that your team is taking a lot of AOE (Area of Effect) damage in team fights. Having an extra CD to use when there's a lot of incoming damage is always useful and a 20%-of-HP shield for 3 seconds is pretty decent.

Nightmare - For what Nightmare adds to Twilight Dream the other talents in this tier are much more useful. I recommend choosing Bolt of the Storm if you've spec'd into Twilight Dream. This allows you to blink to the back of the enemy group, cast Twilight Dream to silence their support and "caster" heroes, then you run the hell outta there.

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Playing Malfurion is pretty simple. Granted there are few things that change based on what talents you chose, but ultimately, your goal is to keep your team alive. There are a few basic scenarios that you'll find yourself in.

Coming to the rescue of an injured ally

When you see an ally losing HP, you're going to want to cast Regrowth on them. (Good strat right!?) If they're really taking damage and if you spec'd into Protective Shield you're going to want to cast that on them also. Hopefully, if its clear that your ally is not going to kill whatever they were attacking, they start to GTFO. At this point, if you enemy heroes are in pursuit, cast an Entangling Roots on your allied hero, by the time it grows, it should capture the enemy hero(es) allowing you your teammate to safely escape. An important note, if you're doing everything you can to keep your ally alive, and they're just taking to much damage, you need to say "sorry good buddy" and get out of there. It's better for you to live and go heal another ally than fight a losing battle and possibly end up dying yourself.

Standing in a lane, killing minions & harassing enemy heroes

As a support hero, you should NOT be alone in a lane. If you're by yourself, who is healing your other allies? Even if your team has 2 support heroes, you should be in a lane with someone else. Now that that's out of the way, while in lane you should be concentrating on two things.

1. Waiting for that one enemy hero to dive just a little to deep so you can Engtangling Roots that mofo and your ally (hopefully allies) can swoop in and kill them.
2. If you spec'd into Conjurer's Pursuit, killing those healer minions and collecting Regeneration Orbs for that sweet, sweet, mana regeneration. You may want to be careful with your Moonfire & Entangling Roots usage in the early game, as it's pretty easy for Malfurion to go OOM at the exact moment when your ally needs a Regrowth or when a low HP enemy could be rooted.

Healing a team fight

This is when things start to get a little hectic and you need to be paying attention. Depending on the skill of your opponents, they may or may not focus down "important" targets on your team. FUN FACT! Malfurion is often one of those important targets, so be ready to cast Regrowth & hopefully Protective Shield on yourself. It's also not a bad idea to throw down an Entangling Roots and start trying to run to safety. If you're level 20 and you have Bolt of the Storm use it, it's a great escape tool. All that being said, if they don't focus you, be ready to use the same abilities on whatever ally they are focusing. Regrowth, Protective Shield, Entangling Roots for extra damage and to slow up the enemy team. If you spec'd into Hindering Moonfire it's a good idea to cast some of those on the enemy heroes as well, making it harder for them to run away or pursue your allies.

If there's a lot of AOE damage flying around and your entire team is taking damage, pop Tranquility and HEAL ALL THE THINGS! However, don't wait until your team is almost dead to use Tranq, it's not a miracle ability. Tranquility is best used when your team is above 50-75% HP. This will keep their HP in a safe range, while (hopefully) allowing them to bring down enemy HP to the point of getting some kills for forcing a retreat. If your team is taking heavy damage and you didn't spec into Serenity for whatever reason, hopefully you chose Storm Shield because now is the time to use it. What's nice is hopefully you've seen how your enemy likes to team fight and you can figure out what level 20 talent you're going to pick before you need to pick it.

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That's it, that's my guide! I'm not a firm believer in "absolute" talent choices, different talent choices work better for different people. Granted some talents are better than others, but if you and your team play a certain way, and enjoy a Malfurion than can do a little extra DPS, then do what works for you and your team.

If you notice any grammatical errors, mistakes, or just have comments about the guide, feel free to send me a tweet: @Scottwarcraft

May Elune grant you strength!

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