(Rank 1) Full Comprehensive, Competitive, Tyrande guide by bear75

(Rank 1) Full Comprehensive, Competitive, Tyrande guide

By: bear75
Last Updated: Jan 6, 2016
5 Votes
Build 1 of 5

Tyrande

Build: traditional solo heal build

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Threats to Tyrande with this build

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Threat Hero Notes
1
Abathur Go owl build, pay good attention to the map and shoot owls at him all day. Once you get lvl 16 (ranger) he should be too scared to leave the nexus or face certain death by owls
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Brightwing You can easily beat her in a 1v1 and polymorph isn't particularly scary to you
1
Lt. Morales Does absolutely nothing. Easy kill if she steps 2 feet out of the gate
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Chen Save your E for when he chugs, then stun him out of that and you will ruin his rotation, annoy the hell out of him, and destroy his teamfight potential
2
Kharazim Little danger, sort of jumpy and hard to E though
2
Malfurion Healer, low damage, does nothing. Nothing to watch out for really just try and burst him if you can
2
Rehgar Healer, even with DPS talents he's not scary. Easy 1v1 for you. Nothing really to watch out for in teamfight
2
The Lost Vikings Easy kills, Save your E for when the boat dies (they will all be stunned and you can land an easy triple stun for the kill)
3
Artanis Very little danger until lvl 16. Once he's there though be very careful facing off with him and avoid being near him.
3
Azmodan Don't stand in fire, move away from lazer.
3
Gazlowe Annoying turrets, don't stand in fire. Moving on
3
Johanna Tanky, annoying, but not really dangerous. A nice target to hit in teamfights for battle momentum
3
Lunara All she has is low damage AOE poke which you are well qualified to deal with. Melts instantly in any stun
3
Sgt. Hammer Counter her by taking E talent on 7, 16, and rewind on 20. When she seiges hit her with E, W, rewind E, W and watch as she uproots and runs away (or dies if your team follows up)
3
Tassadar You will outdamage him but he can't actually die to you unless he's pretty dumb. Don't get caught by force walls and watch for his oracle when trying to set up ganks
4
Jaina Her short range allows you to avoid the combo when you see her running in. If you dodge her abilities she is an easy kill, if not then you are dead
4
Leoric Little danger unless entomb. AA him for battle momentum in the teamfight
4
Li Li Blind is annoying, try to E her ult if you can (she's fast and it's hard to land though, best if a teammate with a guaranteed stun does it)
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Tychus Fairly obnoxious chase capabilities. Don't try to 1v1 him in most situations
4
Uther Zero damage, but the stuns can be the death of you if you let him too close
5
Anub'arak Stuns, engage, and fat bodyblock. Keep yourself safe in the backline and you should be fine
5
Murky Try not to get octograbbed
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Rexxar Stuns and misha are a bit annoying, he dies very fast if you can hit an E and get your burst in
5
Stitches Hooks, slows, gorge. Fairly annoying but moving around a lot will negate his skillshots
5
Sylvanas You can 1v1 her with DPS talents if you hit your E. In the teamfight her AOE poke is largely negated by shadowstalk. Watch out for wailing arrows
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Tyrael Doesn't do much of significance that you should worry about. Just hit him if he's close to you
6
Nova Your positioning shouldn't allow her to do much to you in the teamfight, be careful while roaming though in the early game
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Sonya Engage, heavy damage, if she takes leap she's even more scary. You can trade with her pretty well in lane but be wary of her in teamfights
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The Butcher Run.
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Diablo Hard engage = danger. Stay far back when you are unaware of his positioning and watch the map for rotations
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Kerrigan Hard engage = danger. Same as diablo, watch rotations and sidestep to dodge the combo
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Cho Actually fairly dangerous. He can chase/engage you really well and you will melt to shadowbolt volley. As with all scary engages, play it safe and watch the map for rotations
7
Falstad 1v1ing him can be dangerous but possible with full DPS talents. Bait his abilities and dodge them. Hit him with an E D W + searing arrows and he should melt. In the teamfight be mindful of him flying in to mighty gust you into the enemies. See the zone where he flies in and shoot an E that will hit as soon as he arrives allowing your team to deal with him
7
Nazeebo Some annoying poke and you will die if caught in zombie wall. With lunar blaze you can sort of reliably stop his ravenous spirit
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Valla Don't let her get too close or she will decimate you. Easy burst target when she's out of position
8
Arthas Roots, slows, more slows, ugh. If he engages you with sindragosa you are most likely dead regardless of your positioning. Play it safe and force him to overextend hard in order to touch you
8
E.T.C. Very important for you to watch ETC constantly. In a teamfight always save your E to stop the mosh pit. Keep yourself safe in the backline away from everyone until he uses his ult. If you get caught in it you are going to die and the rest of your team will probably also die since you cant interrupt it
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Illidan Very very very danger. Unlimited chase, jumps around alot hard to hit E on him. Avoid unless with your team
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Zagara Very unlikely you will ever attack her in the teamfight through the spam of obnoxious minions. She's an easy gank target though if pushing a lane solo
9
Kael'thas Oh god. Don't stack up past lvl 13 chain bomb will destroy you. His abilities outrange your AA so don't move in until you know his abilities are down. Same deal as jaina. In the teamfight, stay spread out to avoid chain bombs, phoenixes, and flamestrikes!
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Muradin Keep him the f*ck away from you. Try to avoid hitting him unless you absolutely have to, especially at later levels where he simply WILL NOT DIE. If he dives you then move away forcing him to overextend. He won't die because he's muradin, but at least you wont get stunned and bursted to death
9
Raynor The most broken idiot-friendly hero ever. You will not win 1v1 with him at any level. His broken right click damage plus his heal make him way too much even with DPS talents. Don't stand in hyperion and don't get too close
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Thrall Very danger. He will destroy you if you let him get near. Dodge his wolf root as best you can. If you get put out of position by sundering you're as good as dead
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Zeratul Danger. Be mindful of the minimap and be aware of where he is at all times. He will catch you offguard and there is no escape. He's less dangerous in the teamfight just practice safe posiotining as always
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Tyrande Most deadly hero in the game. Run for your life

Tyrande

Build: Full DPS build (duo support)

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Tyrande

Build: Stun/follow-up build

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Tyrande

Build: Owls+rewind

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Tyrande

Build: Full heal

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Introduction Top

NOTE: I'm publishing this early to get feedback, It's not finished yet. I plan to add a few more sections with gameplay tips, strategies, how to combo with certain heroes (ex. how to stun off diablo flip). Feedback is appreciated


Hi, I'm Bear and this is going to be the most comprehensive Tyrande guide I can possibly make. When talking about guides I think it's important that you know the credentials of the author to make sure it's a good quality guide. So here's a bit about myself:

I was a professional WOW player for just over a year. Multi-gladiator + Rank 1 as windwalker monk. Following my entry into university I wanted to leave my rigorous gaming life behind me and pick up something more casual, and HOTS was perfect for that. I don't play HOTS professionally (yet!), although I'm qualified to do so. In-Game I am rank 1 with roughly 3200mmr which is constantly rising. (I doomed myself to MMR hell in the beginning and almost a year later i'm still pushing for that 4k+ where I belong!!) I have about 1400 games played, with roughly 400 of those being Tyrande and at this point i'm so comfortable with her that landing E's on a moving target is second nature. In addition I am very familiar with the competitive scene in this game. I follow and watch HOTS E-sports regularly and have an excellent understanding of how this game works at the highest level.

http://www.hotslogs.com/Player/Profile?PlayerID=2371311

I played Tyrande as a main before she was buffed to god status, and intend to continue once she inevitably falls from grace. She was mainly what I queued to rank 1 (pre-shadowstalk buff). I believed in the Tyrande solo-heal dream back in those days and everyone told me I was insane!

In this guide I will go over every talent, every matchup, and every possible situation that you could find yourself in whilst playing Tyrande

When to pick Tyrande in the draft Top

Drafting in Hero League is one of the most interesting and important factors of the game. A good draft can start you off with a MASSIVE advantage and that's what most people don't understand. The easiest way to win games is to understand the drafting process and how to pick accordingly (and how to influence your team to pick accordingly). Tyrande is the traditional support/sidekick and usually requires a specific set of circumstances for her to shine.

However as of right now (Lunara patch), this is not the case anymore. Regardless of what your team picks, Tyrande is the best firstpick you could have. If you can pick Tyrande should always do so since she is the single most impactful hero in the game right now. She is very high priority and so you should be prepared that you might not always get her in Hero League unless you have the first pick.

However I believe that it is important to understand the drafting process, so for one second lets assume that Tyrande isn't the most disgustingly OP thing in the world, and let's try to understand why we would want to pick her:

Tyrande is a ranged follow-up / burst with moderate-strong healing (depending on talents). Knowing this classification helps your pick when you draft. She wants something to roam early-game with. Something tanky with engage potential and a stun. Muradin, Diablo, The Butcher, Thrall are perfect candidates. Her hybrid nature makes her perfect for duo-support lineups. Unfortunately in hero league people don't see Tyrande as a DPS, and will force you to solo support. She works very well with Tassadar due to him serving a similar purpose (hybrid support). Be wary of heavy engage on the enemy team. Heroes like Kerrigan, Illidan, Zeratul, Thrall, can make your life a nightmare if they dive you at the start of a teamfight. To counteract this make sure your team has strong peeling/save potential. Taking an uther will keep you safe vs the potential dive from melee assassins. Tanks such as Muradin and Diablo can do a good job of peeling divers off you.

Analyse the draft, and make sure that your Tyrande is a good pick... Kappa

Tyrande used to be very specialized, meaning she needed a specific setup in order to shine. You don't need this anymore in the current meta, as of the Lunara patch, just pick Tyrande first every time and it will always be the best pick you can make. Heroes such as Diablo, E.T.C., Kael'thas will be picked later on anyways since they are all T1 heroes with a stun, you don't need to wait for them before picking Tyrande (In the current meta at least)

Abilities and how to use them Top


Hunter's Mark (D)



Makes and enemy Vulnerable, increasing all damage taken by 25% and revealing them for 4 seconds. Cannot be used on structures


This has a very low cooldown with the lvl 1 talent (that you should almost always take). Spam it constantly on cooldown on the target of your team's focus fire. Try to time it to hit just before your stun so it benefits from the extra damage. This is the bread and butter of your gank. When your roam squad moves in for the kill you want this to be active immediately. For example, you and friendly Muradin are hiding in the bush to set up a pick on Valla. Muradin moves in with his Dwarf Toss and hits his Storm Bolt. You then launch your Lunar Flare and immediately Hunter's Mark before the stun lands.

The relatively short range on this ability somewhat restricts it's use in teamfights. There is nothing wrong with marking the tank in a teamfight. With that 25% damage your team can burst down that tanky Johanna or Muradin like a hot knife through butter. Be sure to use it on cooldown, you don't really need to be "saving" this ability for the opportune moment. Use it on lane minions or mercenaries, use it on anything and everything!!



Light of Elune (Q)



Heal yourself for 155. If cast on an ally, also heals them for 310 health

This is your basic healing ability. The mana cost is low and it heals for a fair amount so don't be afraid to mash it on cooldown when your mana is high and your team needs healing. If you are running a double support, you can be more lenient on it's usage to allow more mana for damaging abilities such as Sentinel and Searing Arrows. Once you get Overflowing Light on 13 this ability becomes very potent, healing up to 40% of the HP of a lighter target such as Lunara or Falstad. With Battle Momentum you want to be using this on cooldown in the teamfight to get as much value as you can. Be sure to auto attack as much as you can so you can pump these out faster than... faster and something that pumps pretty fast (I suck at metaphors sry)


Sentinel (W)



Send an owl that travels across the battlefield revealing its path. Deals 173 damage to the first enemy hit and reveals them for 5 seconds

This is your most versatile ability. In it's most basic form, it serves as a moderate single target nuke. Using it as part of your burst repertoire is perfectly natural (as long as you can spare the mana) and it will hit for a fairly decent amount with your Hunter's Mark active. Other than it's regular damage dealing capabilities, it also serves very important scouting duties. Shoot it accross the map at enemy mercenary camps and bosses, or anywhere you believe the team is located in order to give your team valuable information on the enemy's whereabouts.

Possibly it's most important use, however, is it's ability to cancel channels from ANYWHERE on the map. On Blackheart's Bay you can be a huge nuisance by constantly shooting Pierce Sentinels through the turn in point. It is also incredibly potent on Towers of Doom and Cursed Hollow for the same reason

And last, but not least, the classic long range owl snipe. Enemy survives on 2% HP and moves behind the gate? No problem! Sentinel at the enemy fountain to catch him trying to hearthstone and put him on that 60 second death timer where he belongs. Sniping is very very hard because it requires a very good understanding of timing and enemy movement positions. Similar to how Abathur places his Toxic Nest, you need to know HOW and WHY people move around in this game. Once you understand that pattern, long range sentinels become a lot easier to hit. In addition, you want to be shooting these constantly at the enemy Abathur. You can detect his positioning by the location of his locusts. Many abathurs will try to get fancy with aggressive positioning during map events, and it is your job to punish him for this. 4-5 owls = dead abathur unless he backs. You will not only annoy the hell out of him you will severely disrupt his pushing potential and potentially even get kills if he's not careful



Lunar Flare (E)



After a short delay, deal 205 damage and stun enemies in the target area for 1 second

This is the iconic Tyrande ability. You will live and die by your ability to hit Lunar Flare. It's not easy, it's never going to be easy. Especially at higher rankings where people will constantly be moving unpredictably to avoid your stun. As with Sentinel snipes, this ability comes with a LOT of practice and understanding of player movement patterns. The easiest way to hit this is when an enemy is running away, you launch your stun a few paces ahead of him and watch him run straight into his death!!

Fortunately, there is a safety net here. 70% of the time you do not want to be randomly stunning. Lunar Flare is uniquely designed to be a follow up, not an initiate. This is why you see Tyrande roaming with E.T.C., The Butcher, Diablo, Muradin, Thrall and others. Your job is to land your Lunar Flare as a follow up to their engage CC Storm Bolt Feral Spirit etc, etc. (I'll go more in depth on this later).

It is important to note that you do not want to throw your stun immediately as the teamfight begins. Watch your teammates like a hawk for when they use their spells. It's hard in random solo queue matches with no communication, but you're the Tyrande player, you're here to carry them. Watch for when they use their CC, once it hits you have roughly 0.5 seconds to react and shoot your stun on top of them. Follow up with a Hunter's Mark and Sentinel and watch your team decimate the poor target.

Your value as Tyrande is mostly determined by your ability to hit your stuns. I can teach you the timing and strategy on hitting stuns (and I will later on in the guide), but nothing can substitute for practice. You will not be a good tyrande player after 10 games. You need to build the muscle memory and awareness to play this hero.



Shadowstalk (R)



Stealth all allied heroes and heal them for 256 over 8 seconds. At the conclusion of Shadowstalk, they receive a burst of 100 healing

The most overpowered and broken ultimate in the game. This serves two primary functions: Healing, and Engage. Obviously, this heals a massive amount so you want to use it when the majority of your team needs healing. It can be used from across the map so you can assist your teammates from anywhere on the map with the heal. It grants stealth also, so it can be used to set up an ambush. Be wary when using it like this though, since you will be missing your biggest healing potential in the fight and your impactfulness will be severely weakened. Only do this if you see the opponents are disorganized and your ambush is guaranteed to take one or two kills right off the bat


Starfall (R)



Deal 64 damage per second and slow enemies by 20% in an area. Lasts 8 seconds

Oh my, RIP the days when this ultimate was actually a thing. It's not bad, but shadowstalk is just so much better and can't be passed up on. I mourn it's loss, truly and deeply. Every now and then (with another support on the team) I'll take starfall. It's not bad if you are able to get good value from it. The slow is good for controlling teamfights and the damage is not bad either. For new Tyrande players I would not recommend it though. You need to be sure your team will not lack healing if you forsake shadowstalk. For example, if you have Lt. Morales on your team you might consider starfall since her healing is more than enough to support the team

Pros and Cons Top

Pros:



-Excellent scouting thanks to your Sentinel
-Perfect for early game roaming/ganking squads because of your stun and trait.
-Strong sustained healing and AOE healing thanks to Battle Momentum and Shadowstalk
-Strongest damage of all the supports, and can compete with assassins/specialists when talented for damage
-Effective at long range, making it easy to position yourself.
-Fits perfectly into the stun/burst meta that we currently see
-Can be played effectively as solo support or duo support
-She doesn't really have any major weaknesses or counters in the current meta, considering she is arguably the best hero in the game right now

Cons:



-VERY squishy and vulnerable to ganks and rotations
-DPS builds require close range and offensive positioning to do damage, leaving yourself exposed
-No escape, your defense relies solely on good positioning and defensive Lunar Flares
-Makes a painful high pitched squeal when punted by the dragon knight that will make you so sad you'll cry :(

Talent Breakdown and Analysis Top

I'm going to be honest here, about 80% of Tyrande's talents are viable in some form or another, and I rarely build the same in any game. You will either learn to love or hate this. Every game you will have to analyse the draft and situation in order to determine which talent is the best pick. I put some examples at the top but honestly there is no real "Tyrande spec". You need to be aware of all the choices, and how to get value from each of them. Many talents require another talent in order to be worth it, such as Pierce and Ranger. I will make this clear in the talent choices below

Level 1 Top


Celestial Attunement

- Situational Pick

Makes your Light of Elune cost 30 mana. This requires you to pass up on Ranger's Mark so you'd better make sure you're going to get some insane value out of this. You may consider this talent if your team consists of heavy sustained damage with little burst Sylvanas Lunara Johanna are a few examples of sustained damage heroes. You need to be mashing your Q on cooldown and take Battle Momentum



Ranger's Mark

- Best Pick

This is your bread and butter. 9 times out of 10 you want this talent. It gives your trait a 12 second cooldown allowing you to spam it constantly whenever your team is doing damage. It allows you to be more generous with your usage of Hunter's Mark. I would reccomend you taking this talent when you have a burst heavy team with a lot of CC, for example: Diablo Muradin The Butcher Thrall.



Seasoned Marksman

- Situational Pick

I used to find myself picking this talent quite a lot back in the days before I realized the value of Ranger's Mark. If you're going to take SM you'd better make sure you're going to be able to get those auto attacks off. If the enemy team consists of long range poke, then you should definitely not take it because you don't be able to get close enough to do significant AA damage. Also be aware that SM is ONLY worth considering on Tomb of the Spider Queen because this map consists of fighting mostly in the lanes. Tyrande is a roamer, this means that she spends a lot less time in lane than most heroes. This will really hurt your stack generation. Not the best pick even for a damage spec, Ranger's Mark is usually just better.



Empower

- Situational Pick

I see this talent played a bit in competitive and personally I don't understand it. The only time you would get value from this is with a full owl build with Pierce and Ranger, but you will be spamming owls on cooldown which is really bad for your mana. Your cooldowns will be up very fast that's for sure, but even if you recharge your shadowstalk in 25 seconds what's the point since you won't have any mana left by that point anyway. Battle Momentum provides all the cooldown reduction you need, this is overkill in my opinion. The pros seem to place value on this talent though, so i'll leave it at "situational pick" and let you make your own judgement

Level 4 Top


Pierce

- Situational Pick

Oh god here we go, the lvl 4 talent. I absolutely hate this tier because every talent is so goddam good I can't choose. Pierce is my go-to pick on maps where turn-ins are relevant. This is an excellent pick on Towers of Doom, Tomb of the Spider Queen, Blackheart's Bay, and Cursed Hollow. If you take this talent, plan on taking Ranger on lvl 16 because the two pair so well together. Make sure that you have enough healing that you won't need Healing Ward or Protective Shield



Focused Attack

- Situational Pick

OK, this is just the lazy man's version of Searing Arrows. The overall damage is lower, if you get more than 2 AAs in then the burst is also lower. The only upside is that this requires no activation and happens passively. I'd recommend this if you are new to Tyrande because she's complicated enough without having to manage another button. Once you get the hang of it though, try to transition into Searing Arrows



Protective Shield

- Best Pick (Healing)

Your generic support talent for this tier. Use it on the tank because it's percentage based so the more HP you have, the more value you get. Healing ward is so easily killed so this becomes the most effective healing talent for this tier. Not much to say here, use it on the tank when he's taking damage



Healing Ward

- Situational Pick

I used to like this talent, but I don't anymore. It dies instantly to any random AOE and boss stuns/roots. The only time you can get value from this is on maps where your team is going to be sat in the same place for a while, such as Sky Temple, Towers of Doom, Infernal Shrines, Garden of Terror. You need to get at least 8 ticks on this to get comparable value to protective shield



Searing Arrows

- Best Pick (DPS)

I love love LOVE this talent!! It gives you a strong burst at the cost of a small amount of mana. Paired with Huntress' Fury and Hunter's Mark you will have some very scary burst. This is the best damage pick for the tier, and you can even take it as the solo support if you feel the team doesn't need the extra support from Protective Shield or Healing Ward

Level 7 Top


Quickening Blessing

- Bad Pick

Looks like a decent talent? Yeah it's not too bad I'll give you that. But LOOK at what it's competing with. There is no way you should give up Battle Momentum or Lunar Blaze for this



Lunar Blaze

- Best Pick (DPS)


Amazing talent, if it weren't on the same tier as Battle Momentum I would always pick it. If you are DPSing, then this talent is amazing because you don't rely on the reduced cooldown on Shadowstalk and Light of Elune to be effective. It allows you to get your follow-up stun easier when your DPS is going balls deep. Some people say this is just a crutch to compensate for bad positioning. You have to keep in mind that in solo queue your teammates don't always think "hmm, i'm going to wait for Tyrande to be in range before I stun so she can follow up". Nope, they are thinking "HuehuehuEHUEhUEHUEU KILL KILL KILLLL". Giving the extra range allows you to practice safer positioning and be more reliable on your follow up.



Battle Momentum

- Best Pick (Healing)

YES YES YES!! If you've been paying any attention so far you've probably seen how often I refer to this talent. This is godly, amazing, heavenly. When I play without it I feel crippled, almost as if I've lost part of my soul. This talent is primarily used for healing for the reduced cooldown on your Light of Elune and Shadowstalk, allowing you to pump out insane amounts of healing during the teamfight. You need to make sure you are getting your AAs in, hit the tank, hit zagara minions, hit anything near you to get that Shadowstalk off cooldown. The beauty of this talent is that it allows you to get off 2+ Shadowstalks in the teamfight as opposed to only the 1 you would get otherwise, this is a MASSIVE advantage!! With great power comes great responsibility also. As a heal Tyrande you should be spamming Light of Elune and Shadowstalk on cooldown, but be VERY lenient with using your Lunar Flare and Sentinel, using them only when necessary in order to avoid depleting your mana



Calldown: MULE

- Bad Pick

Some people love this talent and swear by it. I agree it's not a bad pick, but it's competition is simply too good. The game is not won or lost by how you managed to save a fort and heal it to full. The game is won when you manage to get a clutch last-second Shadowstalk thanks to Battle Momentum that allows you to win the late-game teamfight and rush core to end the game

Level 10 Top


Shadowstalk

- Best Pick

I think I've gone over Shadowstalk vs Starfall in enough detail already. Insane healing, Insane engage, low cooldown, can't go wrong with this



Starfall

- Situational Pick

I think I've gone over Shadowstalk vs Starfall in enough detail already. Decent damage, Decent teamfight control, overshadowed by Shadowstalk. If you want to take this make sure you are very comfortable with Tyrande and your team has another support to pick up the slack

Level 13 Top


Overflowing Light

- Best Pick (Healing)

Oh boy!! Another talent tier with impossible choices, now you see the struggle you will be faced with every game!! This talent makes your Light of Elune a lot stronger, as long as you keep your HP high. This shouldn't be an issue because healing Tyrande is a backliner and has no need to put herself in danger. Generic healing talent, no effort value, good for beginners



Huntress' Fury

- Best Pick (DPS)

Here is your damage pick for the tier. Gives you a short machine gun mode after using your Hunter's Mark (which you can do very often thanks to your Ranger's Mark.) Great for burst, great for sustained damage, pairs up really well with your Searing Arrows




Shrink Ray

- Situational Pick

This is an amazing talent, regardless if you're DPS or healing. I recommend taking this vs melee assassins and Sonya. It completely shuts down their damage and leaves them extremely vulnerable in the teamfights. Squishy melee targets are a prime target to blow up, and this talent makes it even easier to do so



Sprint

- Situational Pick

I see this a fair amount in pro games, and again I don't really see the necessity in it. Tyrande isn't hard to keep alive. Positioning her is easy thanks to the range on her abilities. This is simply a crutch to save you from overextending that you shouldn't be doing in the first place. Additionally, it can be used to chase targets that are running away for the kill.

Level 16 Top


Trueshot Aura

- Best Pick

Yay more difficult choices!! Not really, this tier is fairly easy to pick between. The thought process here is "Do I have X? If so, then I need Y talent". This talent is exactly that. Does your team have heavy autoattackers such as Raynor, Falstad, Valla, The Butcher, Thrall? If so, then take this talent



mark of mending

- Bad Pick

Quite literally the only talent you never want to take. The healing is small and unnecessary. The other choices are simply better



Ranger

- Situational Pick

Only take this with Pierce. It makes your owl big and scary. Funny for long range snipes and greater area with which to stop turn-ins. Also great for sniping Abathur



Shooting Star

- Situational Pick

I love this talent! It greatly improves your burst and effectively eliminates any mana issues whatsoever beyond this point. Consider this talent if the draft allows you to land easy stuns. For example, if my team consists of Muradin, Thrall, E.T.C., and Kael'thas, then I'm going to have a very easy time landing stuns due to the huge amount of initiate stuns that are available. This allows me to get good value from this talent. Regardless if you are healing or DPSing, this talent is perfect in the right situation

Level 20 Top


Hunter's Swiftness

- Best Pick

The single most overpowered talent in the game. Gives your entire team mount speed for 8 seconds... Blizzard?? WHAT?? You'd better have a bloody good reason for not taking this. It's just so good for engage, disengage, and chase. I can't even, this is too good if you can't see the value in this talent then I lose hope in humanity



celestial wrath

- Bad Pick

Just don't. 30% damage on your ult is not going to win teamfights or kill anything. You are much better off with Nexus Frenzy if you go for DPS build



Nexus Frenzy

- Situational Pick

If for whatever reason you chose to go full AA DPS tyrande with Starfall, then why stop now? This talent combos really well with pretty much every AA talent/ability you have. It gives you a longer range which is the single biggest issue with DPS tyrande (her short range)



Storm Shield

- Situational Pick

Solid talent. Your team had better be lacking some serious healing though for you to take this over Hunter's Swiftness. If they have some mad AOE Chain Bomb Shadow Dagger Globe of Annihilation etc etc, then you might want to consider this to counteract some of that damage.



Rewind

- Situational Pick

Rewind lost a lot of its appeal with the Shadowstalk buff. There are few situations where i'm willing to give up my disgustingly OP ult upgrade for this. With an Sentinel build you can take this for the double owl long range snipes, its definitely going to annoy the hell out of the enemy Abathur (although this late in the game he's probably sitting cozy in the nexus anyway). Another good use for this is paired with Shooting Star on 16 vs Sgt. Hammer. After she seiges: E, W, rewind, E, W, and hammer is either dead or running away with her tail between her legs

How to follow up Top

Ok in this section I'll tell you all you need to know about following up stuns off every hero in this game (that has an initiate), some are easy, some are harder, but they all require a different mindset and playstyle that I will try to go over. Keep in mind that NOTHING can substitute for pure practice, I can teach you the mindset and the timing, but only you can put it into practice.




Ok let's start off with the tanks. Muradin is probably one of the easiest initiates to follow up on. In the early game you want to be roaming around with him. Hide yourself in the bush and wait for him to engage. He will either simply Storm Bolt, or use Dwarf Toss into Storm Bolt for the dive engage. In the case of the former, it's simply a matter of watching for the stun and landing your E once you see the target stunned. You have about a 0.5 second reaction time from when the stun hits to follow up. This sounds harder than it actually is, because it should be fairly obvious when he's about to stun. In the case of the latter, it might be harder to land the stun since he will overextend. Just be aware of positioning and try to move in with him to get your stun off. If you are having trouble with overextending then take Lunar Blaze to make stunning easier.



E.T.C. is fairly similar to Muradin with your follow up. One thing to note is that most E.T.C. players will use their Face Melt directly after hitting their Powerslide. This is an absolute nightmare for Tyrande players and you should tell him in chat to NOT do this. Tell him to wait for after your stun to use his knockback. For landing the stun, simply watch as E.T.C. runs in and launch your stun. With Mosh Pit simply wait for a couple seconds and launch your stun as it ends. This is mainly guesswork but when timed right it can give you an extra stunlock on the end of the Mosh Pit (if the target's haven't died by then)



Butcher is fairly easy to play with. You will roam with him in the early game similar to how you would with Muradin or Diablo. Simply watch for the icon above the head of the enemy which he uses relentless onslaught and launch your stun just as he impacts the target. Be aware that many butcher players will overextend due to the large range on his relentless onslaught. This can make it hard to land stuns without Lunar Blaze. Although, if your Butcher is doing this he is likely to die every time since your support is not enough to save him from a stupid engage. A good Butcher is really fun to play with because he gives you easy opportunities to Lunar Flare but a bad Butcher is a nightmare because all he will do is overextend and die. You are his sidekick and you should play like that. Follow him around always and ensure that he is protected and followed-up on to allow him to get maximum effect from his hero.



Ok I'm going to say it right now, Diablo is the hardest hero to play with as Tyrande. That being said, he is also the most impactful initiator you can play with. Executing this combo correctly relies on good play from both your part. If Diablo is not doing his combo properly or flipping in weird directions, it will be almost impossible for you to follow up on. Diablo's combo consists of Shadow Charge into Overpower. This will cause him to charge at the target, knock them back, and then flip onto the other side of his body. Diablo will have to move forwards a few steps after his charge in order to get the flip off (since he knocks the target back), this is important to keep in mind for your follow up. You want to launch your Lunar Flare directly BEHIND diablo roughly 0.5 seconds after his Shadow Charge impacts. You CAN NOT wait for the Overpower animation because by then it will be too late. You have to trust in your partner to execute the combo correctly on his part.

When executed correctly it should look like this.

step 1: The gank is established, both you and Diablo are ready

Tyrande - - - Diablo - - - - - - - - - Valla

step 2:
Diablo Shadow Charges onto Valla and knocks her back, you start to move in

Tyrande - - - - - - - - - - - - Diablo - - - Valla

Step 3: Diablo moves into Valla after knocking her back, you shoot your Lunar Flare directly behind Diablo

- - - - Tyrande - - - - - - - - - LunarFlare - Diablo - Valla

Step 4: Diablo Overpowers Valla straight into your Lunar Flare. You follow up with Hunter's Mark and burst her down

- - - - Tyrande - - - - - - - - Valla - Diablo



Thrall is very easy to play with. He can't really overextend so there isn't too much to worry about. Simply wait for his Feral Spirit to impact and shoot your stun. You can also combo with his sundering aswell. Wait for his ultimate to go off then shoot the stun on one of the helpless displaced victims




Ok now we're getting into the more fancy moves that you can pull off. Zagara's Devouring Maw is somewhat harder to land your stun off. Too soon, and it will do nothing (since the enemies are in the maw), too late, and the enemies will have moved out of the way. I don't really have a secret trick to landing stuns off maw, you just sort of have to guess. Devouring Maw lasts 4 seconds, so you can use this information to guide your stun. As the maw is about to end you can see the tentacles "bulging" a bit on the sides. That's the cue to get ready for the stun. Combos on maws can win teamfights and win games, so get that timing right!!




Zeratul's Void Prison is the hardest one of them all, mainly because this relies more on his part than yours. This is slightly longer than Devouring Maw at 5 seconds. Too soon, and the stun will be absorbed, too late and the enemies will move away. Zeratul can, however, cancel his Void Prison early when he sees you launch your stun. If your Zeratul isn't canceling his Void Prison for you, just take your best guess at the end of it. It's better to be too late than too early, because in the case of the latter the stun is absorbed entirely




Stitches is also fairly tricky. Again, timing here is everything. Once you see him hit something with hook, immediately shoot your stun in front of him. Depending on the distance of the target he hits you will need to time differently. Having good awareness is important here. Stitches will make it fairly obvious when he's going for a hook (he will stand in place for a few seconds hiding behind a line of sight to time it). During the teamfight it's much harder to combo since your attention will probably be elsewhere so don't worry too much about that. The times you want to worry about combo-ing is when he positions himself for a long range snipe-hook.

You can also Lunar Flare off Gorge. It lasts 4 seconds and Stitches will usually stop moving at the end to allow for combos. Simply shoot your stun in front of him just before he spits up the target. You have to shoot the stun before the Gorge animation or it will be too late. As with most of the harder combos, it's 60% skill/timing, 20% guesswork, and 20% luck

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There are some other heros in the game with stuns/roots, but those are fairly straightforward (such as Kael'thas Gravity Lapse or Murky octograb)

Remember the big 3 influences on landing stuns

Timing
Practice
Luck

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