Table of Contents I. Introduction and Basics A. Using This Guide II. The Highs and Lows (Strengths/Weaknesses) III. The Kit (Your Builds) IV. Abilities V. Talent Breakdown A. Level 1 - The Math behind Level-1 Choices B. Level 4 - The Math behind Level-4 Choices (In Progress) C. Level 7 - The Math behind Level-7 Choices (In Progress) D. Level 10 - The Math behind Level-10 Choices (In Progress) E. Level 13 - The Math behind Level-13 Choices (New!) F. Level 16 - The Math behind Level-16 Choices (In Progress) G. Level 20 - The Math behind Level-20 Choices (In Progress) VI. Map-Specific Strategies A. Cursed Hollow B. The Haunted Mines C. Tomb of the Spider Queen D. Dragon Shire E. Sky Temple F. Blackheart's Bay G. Garden of Terror

Hello, everyone. I'm Jaeris. In game, some of you know me by another screenname, but I actually think that being Rank 1 or Rank 50 has nothing to do with how well you write guides--it just shows how well you play the builds. So I'm not going to regale you with my rank, number of wins with Sylvanas and whatnot. I'm going to give you the best reasons to go with the builds in this guide. Rest assured, though, I've been gaming for a long, long time in casual settings--and I've played Sylvanas quite a lot.

Since Sylvanas has come out, I've seen a lot of builds and a lot of guides for her. The sad fact is that most people don't play her as well as they could, because they don't really know how to optimize her talents--and because her stats can get so high even with the wrong build. To really play her well, you have to know (1) her strengths, (2) her weaknesses, (3) the map, (4) your team, and (5) your opponents' team. Honestly, that's a bland statement that is really true for every hero, but I'm sad to say that people tend to forget it with Sylvanas, partially because she's so fun to play.

So to start with, let's get one thing straight: Sylvanas is not an assassin. She's a unique type of specialist. That means she excels at pushing and sustained damage in team fights, but should not be designed for burst damage. The problem is that she's so overpowered that if she's built for burst, she can 1v1 almost any hero in the game--and so a ton of people like using her as an assassin (see my I'm Confused and Think I'm an Assassin build). That's all well and good, and it's definitely fun in a Quick Match from time to time, but for a competitive build against real opponents who fight as a team, the focus should be on her real strengths and weaknesses. That's the focus of this guide.

Using This Guide

This guide has a lot in it. If you really want to know Sylvanas, I recommend reading everything that doesn't require you to click to expand it--definitely at least the rationales for the talents you should consider. If you're in a hurry and just feel like trusting me, I would read the sections entitled, Introduction and Basics, The Highs and Lows, and The Kit.

If, however, you are really interested in the math behind the talent choices (or just incredibly doubtful of these builds), I have spent quite a long time doing the math behind the talents choices. For each tier, you can click to expand a section devoted to doing the math for the talents on that tier. The math is detailed, so you can always just read the "Summary and Conclusions" sections, and move on from there. Note that this is a work in progress, so I will be posting the math as I finish typing it up,

For a shortcut to any of the sections, you can use the Table of Contents below. Additionally, there are quick links in blue text throughout the guide that allow you to navigate within it. Or you can always hit Top to get back to the Table of Contents.



Update for Kael'thas patch: Sylvanas received almost no changes and will continue to be incredibly overpowered. There were a couple of bug fixes, and her Follow Through talent was replaced with a hero-specific version called Remorseless. Remorseless does exactly what Follow Through did before the patch, so all of my recommendations in this guide stay exactly the same. How easy is that?

Update for Johanna patch: No meaningful changes, except Johanna was added.

Update for Butcher patch: Okay, finally some real changes. Possession was reworked to make it more viable, and Wailing Arrow got a significant damage nerf, so guide now reflects this. Changes to Blood for Blood, Spell Shield, and Unstable Poison are acknowledged in guide, but do not change logics for the builds. Envenom was also nerfed, so level-4 choices may be subject to change, pending playtesting. Strategies for Battlefield Of Eternity are pending playtesting and availability on this site.

Update for Leoric patch: No changes, except Leoric was added.

Sylvanas Windrunner is a hero from the Warcraft universe. In Heroes of the Storm, she is one of the most overpowered heroes in the game, capable of carrying both siege and hero damage on most teams and against most opponents. Remember, though: she's a high-damage specialist, not a bursty assassin. If you want to maximize her stats and her contribution to your team's win, you need to bear in mind her strengths and weaknesses when choosing your build:

Pros:

- Amazing sustained damage with Shadow Dagger (and more from Withering Fire)
- Excellent control with slow, silence, and Black Arrows
- Only hero that can shut down towers and forts
- Serious push and lane clearing in any build
- Escape artist and gap closer with Haunting Wave
- Seriously scales up throughout the game
- Highly versatile

Cons:

- OMG so squishy
- Low burst damage, even with Envenom
- Cannot control fights alone (needs team cc)
- Haunting Wave can be predictable or countered with stun/root/silence
- Wailing Arrow can be countered with stun or silence
- Only 1 viable long-range snipe (by wasting Wailing Arrow)

Based on the above characteristics, I end up using multiple builds, depending on the map and the heroes I'm playing with and against. These builds work. I have a 65%-70% win rate with them, and I always do better than a Sylvanas that uses an assassin build. Below are the builds and when to use them. To be a master Sylvanas player, you should really know all of them so that you can be flexible based on your team composition, the enemy team's composition, and the map (see also Map-Specific Strategies). Similarly, know the the ins and outs of each talent choice so that you can improvise if necessary (for instance, I often take Evasive Fire as a substitute choice in the Team Fight Carry build). For more details on the reasoning for each one, read the Abilities and Talent Breakdown sections, too.

Team Fight Carry LEVEL 1 LEVEL 4 LEVEL 7 LEVEL 10 LEVEL 13 LEVEL 16 LEVEL 20 This is your go-to build. I use it in most maps unless I have a good reason not to. With it, you should easily have the most siege damage AND hero damage on your team. You won't be bursty, but your job will be to stay in the back lines and harass the enemy team constantly with Shadow Dagger and Withering Fire, and also Auto Attack whenever it's safe to stand still. Keep Evasive Fire in mind as an alternative choice if you find you need it later in the game.

Slow All Day LEVEL 1 LEVEL 4 LEVEL 7 LEVEL 10 LEVEL 13 LEVEL 16 LEVEL 20 One of Sylvanas's under-appreciated strengths is her ability to slow an entire team with Overwhelming Affliction. It's not actually an "overwhelming" slow, being between 5% and 25%, and it won't make your own damage/experience points look good, so people tend not to take it. Remember, though: the only stat that really matters is the win rate, and this is the kind of build that wins games because it helps your whole team control the fight. There are two situations where you might take this build instead of your go-to build: (1) your team needs to land a lot of skill shots, so even a 5-25% slow makes a huge difference, or (2) you're working with Jaina, Arthas, or other team members with their own slows. Together, characters like that can effectively root entire teams for entire fights. Think a minor Earthquake all the time.

Self-Sufficient LEVEL 1 LEVEL 4 LEVEL 7 LEVEL 10 LEVEL 13 LEVEL 16 LEVEL 20 You can also spec Sylvanas with a bit of self-healing through Life Drain and extra mobility through Evasive Fire and Bolt of the Storm. I use this in two situations: (1) you're playing against a good team that focuses you first, or (2) you're ending up in a lot of small 1v1s and 2v2s--like on Dragon Shire. Basically, consider this build any time where you need a little bit of extra healing and extra mobility to get out of tough situations. (Also, please note that if you started going for some other build and find you're getting focused, it's always reasonable to consider doing a hybrid build with Evasive Fire and/or Bolt of the Storm. Don't be so committed to a build that you end up dying for it. Dead heroes do no damage!)

Unstoppable Team Push LEVEL 1 LEVEL 4 LEVEL 7 LEVEL 10 LEVEL 13 LEVEL 16 LEVEL 20 Sylvanas has innate pushing ability in any build, but there are some maps just begging for a snowball-level push: Haunted Mines and Tomb of the Spider Queen. On these two maps, because you will spend so much time fighting with or against the golems and spider waves that have enemy heroes standing in the middle of them, your Shadow Dagger/ Black Arrows easily becomes the best ability combo in the game if built up properly. Exploding minions and continuous slows while dodging the golem's and spider's abilities are game-changers.

Split Push Map Control LEVEL 1 LEVEL 4 LEVEL 7 LEVEL 10 LEVEL 13 LEVEL 16 LEVEL 20 This build maximizes your solo-push potential and also your escape abilities. Use this build only with a coordinated (read: not reckless) team that has a specific, agreed-upon strategy of split pushing. Please don't ever take this build and strategy without discussing it with your teammates. You will be constantly alone and pushing while your team engages, and then rotating lanes or fleeing as soon as the enemy heroes come to get you. You should be able to clear waves and kill towers and forts all on your own, but it will only work if you are great at positioning and (most importantly) predicting enemy team movements. High risk, high reward because engagements will always be 4v5 for your team or 1v5 for you.

I'm Confused and Think I'm an Assassin LEVEL 1 LEVEL 4 LEVEL 7 LEVEL 10 LEVEL 13 LEVEL 16 LEVEL 20 Use this in exactly two situations: (1) you're screwing around in Quick Match or a Custom Game, or (2) you're in Hero League and your teammates have their heads so far up their own butts that none of them took an assassin. To be honest, I rarely even take this build in the latter situation. You can play assassin as Sylvanas. It's just not her true strong suit.

Withering Fire (Q) Auto-aimed, single target damage

Charges: 5
Cooldown: 2 seconds
Mana cost: 0

This ability shoots an arrow at the closest enemy target, including minions, mercenaries, and structures. If an enemy hero is in range, it instead shoots the closest hero. You can carry 5 charges, and they can be unleashed in rapid succession for a little bit of burst damage (just hold down Q). One charge refills for a minion kill and three for a hero kill.

There are a couple of things to remember with this ability: (1) it's actual damage output is low, with every hit even lower than an Auto Attack hit and at a slower rate; (2) it can be fired while on the move, so it is arguably the best kiting ability in the game, especially with some talent upgrades; (3) it applies your Black Arrows, so you can use it in tandem with your Auto Attack to lock down two or more minions/mercenaries/structures; (4) it costs no mana; and (5) it is not an effective burst in team fights, because it hits the closest target--which will always be a tank in a good team. On the other hand, it is an amazing way of dealing sustained damage to the tank while your other abilities (and teammates' abilities) target other enemy heroes. Use it liberally (I often just hold Q in team fights where I can't safely try to burst down assassins and healers). This is one of the reasons Sylvanus is a great source of sustained damage, but not burst damage.

Shadow Dagger (W) Targeted damage over time that spreads to nearby enemies

Charges: 1
Cooldown: 10 seconds
Mana cost: 75

This ability is why you play Sylvanas. It is hands down your best ability. It throws a dagger that does damage over 2 seconds. Think of it as Envenom lite. Then, like a disease, it spreads to every nearby enemy--minions, mercs, structures, heroes, everything. Think of it as Envenom lite cast on an entire team. Along with its upgrades--especially Cold Embrace--it can seriously harm enemy heroes while also clearing waves. And like all of your attacks and abilities, of course, it applies Black Arrows to everything it touches. Even a Sylvanas with basic gamer skills should be able to kite around the edge of a team fight, spamming Shadow Dagger, and causing a ton of damage.

Haunting Wave (E) Directed AoE cone of damage that allows a teleport

Charges: 1
Cooldown: 11 seconds
Mana cost: 75

This ability is the source of Sylvanas's immense mobility. It sends out a wave of banshees that grows and does damage to all targets in its path--but more importantly, it allows you to press E again to cast Haunting Teleport, teleporting to the current position of the banshees until the ability expires. It's a slow teleport that happens to deal damage (and apply Black Arrows to anything in its path).

Here's the thing: its costs just as much mana as Shadow Dagger, has a longer cooldown, and deals a lot less damage. That means it's good for two things: mobility, and applying Black Arrows or a little extra damage when you're absolutely sure you won't need your mobility.

In some ways, it is one of the best escape and chase abilities in the game, besides Blink and El'druin's Might, because you can use it to teleport through walls/barriers and over chasms/rivers. It also cuts off abilities like Triple Tap and Judgment if you teleport at the right moment. In other ways, though, it is one of the worst: it's slow and it's easy to counter. First, it is predictable, since the enemy heroes can watch where you cast the wave and follow it (and some heroes like Tychus will have no problem keeping up with the wave). Second, it can be countered with a stun, silence, or root; if you cast Haunting Wave and then get cc'ed, you might be unable to teleport throughout the entire wave and then completely waste your escape.

For these reasons, it takes a lot of good positioning and practice to be good with Sylvanas. Always keep your escape routes in mind--and always make them through walls or barriers that enemies can't follow through. Most importantly, always save it for times where you know you won't be stunned, silenced, or rooted. If there's no escape through walls and barriers, or you don't have time to use Haunting Teleport without being cc'ed, you're out of position. If you've needlessly used your Haunting Wave on minions and then get attacked while it's on cooldown, you're in even more trouble.

Black Arrows (D) Sustained stun against non-heroes/non-bosses

Duration: 1 second per attack/ability
Cooldown: None (Passive)
Mana cost: None (Passive)

Sylvanas's trait is the reason she is a ranged specialist rather than a ranged assassin. Any attack or ability that she uses stuns all minions, mercenaries, and structures--the only ability in the game that does so. This is the reason that Sylvanas exists in the game. With proper positioning, she can use Withering Fire and Auto Attack together to completely stun siege giant pairs, two towers, or a tower and a fort. Splinter Shot can add a third target, and Shadow Dagger can stun entire waves of minions as it spreads. Learn to position yourself properly, and there is no character in the game--including golems--that can more efficiently clear waves and level structures.

Wailing Arrow (R) Skillshot AoE damage that also silences for 2.5 seconds

Charges: 1
Cooldown: 90 seconds
Mana cost: 100

This is your only viable ultimate. It casts a single arrow with a medium-sized radius quickly in one direction, and explodes when it reaches its destination. After it detonates, it damages and silence everything in the radius. It can also be detonated manually by pressing R a second time. If you time it well, you can silence most or all of the enemy team for 2.5 seconds--ages in a team fight--or you can use it to completely cancel channeled abilities like Ravenous Spirit or Strafe. It can also be a last-ditch effort to kill a fleeing hero, since it is far faster than even mounted heroes--but don't waste it on chasing unless the team fight is definitely over, or you'll have some regrets when it's on cooldown.

Be careful with this ability, too. It is a skillshot, so you can completely miss. More importantly, though, it has the same flaw as Haunting Wave/Haunting Teleport: if you are stunned or silenced yourself after you cast it, you can't push R again to detonate it. If this happens, the arrow will fly to the end of the line before it detonates--probably being completely useless. Again, good positioning and timing are key.

Update for Butcher patch: In the new patch, Wailing Arrow was given a damage nerf, so is now truly only a silencing tool with some bonus damage. Recommendations therefore don't change for how to use it, except that it's even less viable as a sniping tool now.

Possession (R) Targeted charm and attack buff to enemy minions

Charges: 7
Cooldown: 12 seconds
Mana cost: 20

Well, this used to be literally the worst ultimate in the game. Blizzard reworked it so that you can now basically use it to take over an entire wave of 7 minions every 84 seconds. It also instantly gives you the experience for the charmed minions. This would be amazing if you could do it early game, but since you can only do it by definition after level 10, it's very situation-specific. Wailing Arrow is a great initiating or tide-changing tool in a team fight, and even this new version of Possession is totally useless at such moments (even in fights on top of minions, your goal is to blow them up with Unstable Poison, not convert them. That means this ultimate is viable in exactly two situations: (1) you are using the Split Push Map Control build where you aren't planning on ever being in team fights anyway, and (2) you are going to convert waves just before running away to map objectives (e.g., on Sky Temple or Cursed Hollow), so that the wave of now 14 minions can seriously push while the enemy is distracted. The latter situation honestly depends on how much your team needs the 2.5-second silence of Wailing Arrow in team fights - which honestly depends on the enemy team's skill set. Waling Arrow is necessary (1) if your team does not enough cc to control a fight, (2) if they don't have enough counters to enemy ultimates (e.g., Shadow Charge or Polymorph against Mosh Pit and Strafe), or (3) if a properly timed silence can seriously disrupt the enemy's plans (e.g., by preventing Ancestral Healing, Avatar, or Longboat Raid!. If none of those situations are present, Possession is a serious choice.

Update for Butcher patch: Wow. All of a sudden, Possession is a viable choice as of the new patch. Not awesome by any means, but at least viable in the right situation. Totally re-did the above information, and it is now the choice for the Split Push Map Control build.

This section explains the pros and cons of each talent in Sylvanas's repertoire, and there the logics of the builds in her competitive kit. Each talent is labeled green for a standard competitive build, yellow for the optional builds, orange for situational picks, and red for builds or talents you should rarely if ever use.

With the Wind - Situational Pick Only Moderately increases Withering Fire's range

With the Wind is a pretty good idea. Extra range on your main single-target ability. It has good synergy with Splinter Shot or Evasive Fire, too. Unfortunately, (1) Sylvanas's strength is not as an assassin, where this talent would really shine, and (2) With the Wind is overshadowed late game by Lost Soul because your real damage comes from Shadow Dagger, not Withering Fire. Also, after you take Cold Embrace at level 16, you have to get close enough that With the Wind helps very little. It's a close call, though, so it ultimately depends on how much your team capitalizes on the reduced cooldown of Cold Embrace and on whether With the Wind saves your life multiple times per game. With the Wind makes the most sense in solo-queue. If you can get good enough at positioning to not need it, though, Lost Soul is the real gamechanger.

Lost Soul - Any Competitive Build Lowers the cooldown of Shadow Dagger by one fifth

This talent is often overlooked. In reality, there's almost never a reason not to take it. Shadow Dagger is your main damage-dealing tool, especially with vulnerability from Cold Embrace at level 16. Thus, although Lost Soul may seem lackluster, it eventually makes your entire team's damage output spike exponentially by increasing the overall vulnerability time by 25%. In the meantime, it also lowers the cooldown on your main wave-clearing tool (and your healing tool if you take Life Drain), getting you to level 16 faster.

Barbed Shot - Never pick this Makes Withering Fire deal 3 times damage to minions and mercenaries

I seriously cannot understand why so many people pick this. Maybe they just gravitate toward the only level-1 talent that "bonus damage" without considering that it's useless bonus damage. Your main lane-clearing tool is Shadow Dagger. At best, Withering Fire only hits one minion or merc at a slower speed and lower damage than Auto Attack does, and it less efficient at laning than Lost Soul is. At worst, there will be an enemy hero nearby (as there usually will be) so that Withering Fire will target them instead--making Barbed Shot completely ineffective. Then, at level 7, the laning power of Unstable Poison makes Barbed Shot entirely obsolete. The only use I can fathom for this talent to slightly increase your slow speed at claiming mercs camps in early game. Given Lost Soul and even With the Wind, not even close to worth it.

Corruption - Never pick this Auto Attack destroys ammunition from towers and forts

This is a talent like Demolitionist, which is sometimes useful on other specialists. On Sylvanas, it's a complete waste. Her Black Arrows already stuns structures, so you can destroy them long before they run out of ammunition.

The Math behind Level-1 Choices Recently, there has been debate about the best level-1 talent. One other guide currently uses some math to conclude that Barbed Shot is the best pick--but the math is seriously flawed, both in arithmetic and assumptions. So, here's the correct math. There's been so much debate that I'm really going to spell this out, so if you don't want step-by-step logic, I recommend reading just the Summary and Final Math. Summary and Final Math Based on the corrected assumptions laid out below (and in the rest of the guide), the role we want Sylvanas to play combines siege damage with sustained hero damage in team fights. She's the carry. Thus, any talents we take should maximize team-fighting and push capability--and since pushing happens best when the enemy is dead and not at all if you are, the former takes priority. We also want to pick the best talent for both early and late game, take into account that minions are not neverending and isolated (there are heroes, structures, and minions on both sides), and consider the impact of all talent choices and our abilities together. Given all that, here are the final numbers. With the Wind provides mobility and safety, especially alongside Evasive Fire, Overwhelming Affliction, or Splinter Shot. It provides extra damage by keeping you alive, mobile, and effective. (Note that numbers for a range-increase ability like this are inexact, but they are based on With the Wind saving you 0.8-1.6 deaths per game.) Level 1 Laning and team-fighting: 291-481 damage and 0.0% mana per minute Level 20 Laning and team-fighting: 1981-5203 damage and 0.0% mana per minute Level 20 w/ Laning and team-fighting: 4319-8602 damage and 0.0% mana per minute Lost Soul is a versatile laning and team-fighting tool, allowing you to cast your main damage-dealing ability ( Shadow Dagger) 20% more frequently, and ultimately giving you a 25% increase in enemy vulnerability time through Cold Embrace. It's impact is therefore huge: Level 1 Laning: 653-996 damage and 15.0% mana per minute; 1.8-2.6 seconds per wave Team-fighting: 490-498 damage and 22.5% mana per minute Level 20 Laning: 3216-5112 damage and 10.9% mana per minute; 0.0 seconds per wave Team-fighting: 2680-2840 damage and 16.3% mana per minute Level 20 w/ Laning: 4424-6819 damage and 10.9% mana per minute; 0.0 seconds per wave Team-fighting: 5498-8944 damage and 16.3% mana per minute Bonus: Level 20 w/ Laning: 600-960 personal healing per minute Team-fighting: 480 personal healing per minute Barbed Shot is primarily a laning tool that deals extra damage to minions/mercenaries, but none to structures, heroes, or minions/mercenaries when an enemy hero is in range. Its damage output is therefore questionable at best and scales terribly: Level 1 Laning: 217-882 damage and 0.0% mana per minute; 0.4-2.8 seconds per wave Team-fighting: 0 damage and 0.0% mana per minute Level 20 Laning: 607-1609 damage and 0.0% mana per minute; 0.0-2.4 seconds per wave Team-fighting: 0 damage and 0.0% mana per minute Level 20 w/ Laning: 1186-2666 damage and 0.0% mana per minute; 0.0-0.6 seconds per wave Team-fighting: 0 damage and 0.0% mana per minute Corruption is a waste. I didn't spend time calculating numbers for it because it isn't really a contender. Given Black Arrows, it's pretty easy to see that it contributes no damage and all levels and in all situations. Level 1 Laning and team-fighting: 0 damage and 0.0% mana per minute Level 20 Laning and team-fighting: 0 damage and 0.0% mana per minute Level 20 w/ Laning and team-fighting: 0 damage and 0.0% mana per minute From these results, it's clear that Barbed Shot and Corruption are far less effective than the other two level-1 talents at laning and especially team-fighting at all stages of the game. Don't ever take them. As noted in the math, the damage contribution of Barbed Shot actually decreases if you take Unstable Poison or Splinter Shot, so there is really no reason for taking it. It's difficult, however, to choose between With the Wind and Lost Soul. Lost Soul has higher minimum and maximum damage levels than With the Wind does, and it can add extra healing through Life Drain, but its benefits come at a fair mana cost. You'll need to refill via a fountain or hearth more frequently, so the question is whether and when that cost is worth it. If you read through the detailed calculations, you will find that which of the two talents is better depends on whether you are team-fighting, laning when outnumbered, or laning with a more even matchup - and most importantly, on how many lives With the Wind saves you in particular each game. If With the Wind saves you fewer lives per game (around 0.8 lives on average), Lost Soul is the clear choice, but if it saves you closer to 1.6 lives per game, With the Wind may be better for you. The choice often depends on whether your team is not coordinated and patient enough to save their cooldowns and capitalize on the increased Cold Embrace uptime provided by Lost Soul. That's really its chief benefit. In the end, it might be right to gravitate toward With the Wind if you are playing solo-queue or if you find that it saves you 1.5 or more deaths per game; in all other situations (and therefore in most competitive games), Lost Soul is the best pick by far. Finally, the choice actually is not one about concentrating on Cold Embrace or Splinter Shot/ Evasive Fire. Your level-16 pick should always be Cold Embrace, so that doesn't help. At level 13, you might think that you should take Splinter Shot if you took With the Wind, but as the detailed numbers show, making Splinter Shot more effective at the cost of more Cold Embrace uptime is a poor trade, all else being equal. The question is whether With the Wind keeps you alive or not. To that end, With the Wind might look better with Evasive Fire (or even Overwhelming Affliction); more range to activate mobility abilities is useful - but in the end, it really won't answer whether you are good enough at positioning to need that extra range. That's ultimately the only question for the level-1 pick. Both Lost Soul and With the Wind will compliment your build, so just figure out whether you in particular can survive (literally) without With the Wind. If you can, Lost Soul is the biggest gamechanger on this tier. Detailed Math and Explanations Below is a series of re-calculations designed to fix the flawed assumptions that the other guide (and many others) make. Please note that incorrect conclusions and assumptions are in red while correct conclusions and assumptions are in green. Corrected Numbers + Incorrect Assumptions = Wrong Conclusions Let's start where the other guide does, but with corrected numbers: Incorrect Assumption: A talent's impact depends only on damage output at the level we get it, based on raw numbers against unchanging minion waves. Barbed Shot appears to do an extra 2352 damage per minute, based on raw minion damage. At lvl 1, Withering Fire does 28 dmg/min. The +200% dmg increase of Barbed Shot contributes 56 more dmg/hit (84 total). You can shoot 42 Withering Fire per min: 1 charge refills every 2 sec, and another refill for every minion kill (there are 2 waves of 7 minions to kill every min, but only the first 6 kills grant Withering Fire charges usable against other minions). That's a total of 3528 Withering Fire dmg, 2/3 of which comes from Barbed Shot. With the Wind basically gives a boost of 0 damage at level 1. It only gives you a range increase: pointless against minions. Lost Soul gives an indirect damage increase by reducing the cooldown on Shadow Dagger, so it appears to provide 708.75 damage per minute. Normally, you can cast 6 Shadow Dagger per min, dealing 13.5 immediate dmg and 54 more dmg over 2 secs. If it spreads through an entire minion wave, it deals 472.5 dmg to 7 total targets: 2835 dmg/min. With Lost Soul, you can cast it 7.5 times per min, for a total of 3543.75 dmg/min, with the difference coming from Lost Soul. Based on this math, the logical pick seems to be Barbed Shot. It appears to deal 3.32 times the damage Lost Soul does at level 1. That makes intuitive sense because it's the talent that says, "damage increase." Correction: Flawed Assumptions #1 and #2 Of course, the above analysis is only at level 1 and omits any subsequent talents. But what we really want is a talent that boosts our presence throughout the game: Corrected Assumption #1: A talent's damage contribution depends on both when it's taken and how it scales toward late game (e.g., at level 20). Corrected Assumption #2: How a talent scales depends on how other talents compliment it. Barbed Shot appears to scale well, especially if Splinter Shot is taken. At level 20, it can deal 7140 damage per minute, or 12495 with Splinter Shot. The only talent that directly adds more dmg to Barbed Shot is Splinter Shot. Although Unstable Poison appears to have good synergy with Barbed Shot, it actually doesn't. Barbed Shot automatically targets the closest minion (usually a warrior), but the fastest way to blow up minions is by tossing Shadow Dagger and then attacking the wizard (which has 1/2 the warriow's health and is better positioned for damaging the other 6 minions in an explosion). Afterwards, Barbed Shot is useless until the next wave, since it only adds dmg to minions. Thus, Unstable Poison actually decreases the impact of Barbed Shot to virtually 0 dmg/min. At lvl 20, Withering Fire does 85 dmg/hit. Splinter Shot hits do 63.75 dmg. Using the same math from above, 42 hits deal 3570 dmg/min, possibly with 2677.5 more from Splinter Shot. Barbed Shot adds 200%: 10710 dmg/min and 8032.5 extra from Splinter Shot, 2/3 of which comes from Barbed Shot. Withering Fire still appears to provide 0 additional damage. Even at lvl 20, range increases do nothing against minions. Lost Soul scales even better, but still does not appear to have the impact of Barbed Shot. Its extra damage at level 20 is 4200 per minute, or 5544.95 if you also took Splinter Shot and Cold Embrace. If you take Life Drain, it also heals for 720 per minute. Two talents are directly relevant for Lost Soul: Life Drain and Cold Embrace. Lost Soul makes their benefits available 1.5 more times per min. Overwhelming Affliction is mostly activated through Shadow Dagger, so Lost Soul is relevant. Still, Overwhelming Affliction does 0 minion dmg, so it's not important to our calculations yet. Unstable Poison isn't really helped by Lost Soul either, since it should only take 1 Shadow Dagger to blow up a wave. At level 20, Shadow Dagger does 80 initial dmg plus 320 dmg over time to every target it spreads to. With Cold Embrace, it becomes 100 dmg and 400 dmg over time. Life Drain adds 80 healing each time it spreads to a new target. Normally, Shadow Dagger can be cast 6 times per min. Using the same 7 minions/wave as above, that's 16800 dmg/min normally or 21000 with Cold Embrace, possibly with the benefit of 2880 healing from Life Drain ( Life Drain only spreads 6 times between the 7 targets during a Shadow Dagger). However, we must also consider how vulnerability from Cold Embrace impacts your dmg. During a 2-sec vulnerability, assuming you're smart and save up Withering Fire for it, you'll get off 7 Withering Fire (5 refills every 2 secs, and 2 from kills) at 85-148.75 dmg each at lvl 20 (depending on whether you took Splinter Shot), and 3 Auto Attack at 163 dmg each. A 25% boost is thus 271-382.56 dmg per Shadow Dagger (6 times/min). With the base dmg from above, that's a total of 22626-23295.36 dmg/min. Taking Lost Soul adds 1.5 more Shadow Dagger per min, increasing those numbers to 21000 dmg without Cold Embrace and 3600 healing from Life Drain. The difference is the contribution from Lost Soul. With Lost Soul, Cold Embrace does 26250 initially. Adding 25% dmg to your other skills (but only 4 Withering Fire refills because it's now 8 seconds between Shadow Dagger), Cold Embrace with Lost Soul adds another 249.75-345.38 per wave (7.5 times per minute). That's 28078.13-28840.31 dmg/min. Again, the difference comes from Lost Soul. So Barbed Shot still seems to have it. With or without other talent upgrades, the ratio between Barbed Shot and Lost Soul at level 20 seems smaller than at level 1, but Barbed Shot still seems to add 1.7-1.9 times the damage that Lost Soul does. Lost Soul, however, can provide a little healing, too. Corrected: Flawed Assumptions #3, #4, and #5 Still, there are some serious logical flaws to the above conclusions. Our calculations must also consider the following: Corrected Assumption #3: Minions waves are neither neverending nor isolated, so laning damage calculations must include when minions spawn or die, when mana is used, and also damage against structures. Corrected Assumption #4: When laning, allied minions are also present to do damage. Corrected Assumption #5: Realistically, we will never be using one ability alone. Each talent's contribution is dependent on overall attack and ability usage, not one ability in continuous isolation. Based on those assumptions, here are some key facts: First, waves come every 30 seconds and have a total of 4455 health (warriors have 810, wizards have 405, and archers have 540) - meaning a lot of damage is lost as overkill, and that we will spend laning time between waves killing structures. Second, our minions' damage is key to killing the enemies', since Black Arrows keeps them alive. Third, no matter which talent we pick, we're still clearing waves using Withering Fire, Shadow Dagger, Auto Attack, and occasionally Haunting Wave when it's safe to use it. That means Splinter Shot and Cold Embrace are both indirectly relevant to all level-1 talents - and that Remorseless is relevant during Cold Embrace vulnerability. Without any talent upgrades at level 1, we can kill a wave alone, in 18.4 seconds. During and between those the 2 waves per min, Shadow Dagger deals 3510 dmg. Auto Attack does 30 dmg 1.67 times per sec. Withering Fire does 28 dmg every 2 secs - but remember it also stores 5 initial charges and then hits 6 more times/wave (every minion kill grants a recharge). Shadow Dagger then hits for 67.5 dmg against all minions every 10 secs (diminishing each minion's health by the time we get to them). We'll assume that you never use Haunting Wave to kill minions because it's dangerous and not mana-efficient. Thus, to kill a wave yourself with no upgrades would theoretically take 42.0 secs (9.6 secs for warrior #1, 19.8 for #2, 28.8 for #3, 31.2 for the wizard, 35.4 for archer #1, 39.6 for #2, and 42 for #3). With the help of your own minions (protected by Black Arrows), it takes 18.4 secs. (This math is based on a spreadsheet and playtested videos). During those 18.4 secs , you cast Shadow Dagger twice. However, the prior subsection's assumption that each one hits 7 targets is inaccurate: they also hit structures. If you're playing as you should be, you can use Shadow Dagger as minions cross their gates, which means that you're actually hitting a 7 minions plus 5 structures: a gate, 2 towers, and 2 walls. (Actually, on some maps, there are 4 walls. Also, if timed perfectly, you can get the fountain, too. Still, to be conservative, let's just assume each Shadow Dagger hits 5 structures.) The timing of minion deaths is also important. At lvl 1, you hit 12 targets with the first Shadow Dagger per wave (7 minions, 5 structures) and 9 with the second (3 minions are dead by then). Between waves, you have time for 1 more Shadow Dagger that hits 5 structures. That's 3510 dmg/min from Shadow Dagger (52 targets during the 2 waves * 67.5 dmg/hit). At level 20, it's 4.2 seconds - or 1.6 seconds with Cold Embrace, Splinter Shot, and Remorseless. Shadow Dagger then does 17600 damage per minute or 24032.5 damage with Cold Embrace, Splinter Shot, and Remorseless. With Life Drain, it also adds 3040 healing. This timing is true with and without your minions' help, since you do so much dmg at this point. (Again, I have a spreadsheet and playtested videos, but just try it for yourself to see.) At lvl 20, the first Shadow Dagger per wave hits 12 targets (7 minions and 5 structures), and the next two hit 5 (just the structures). That's 17600 dmg/min without Lost Soul (44 hits/min * 400 dmg/hit). With Cold Embrace, Shadow Dagger itself does 22000 dmg (same thing * 1.25), but remember that Cold Embrace also boosts your other ability and Auto Attack dmg through its 25% vulnerability. If you properly save up Withering Fire in between Cold Embrace, you should have 5 charges saved every 10 secs (for 148.75 dmg/hit if you took Splinter Shot). You can also use Auto Attack 3 times during a 2-sec window, and if you took Remorseless and properly space out the Withering Fire to boost each Auto Attack, they all do 203.75 dmg. That's 1809.375 dmg in addition to the Shadow Dagger/ Cold Embrace dmg itself {(148.75 Withering Fire/ Splinter Shot dmg * 5 hits) + (203.75 Auto Attack/ Remorseless dmg * 3 hits) * 0.25 from vulnerability * 6 times per min}, for a total of 24032.5 dmg/min. Barbed Shot adds 1792 damage at level 1 against minion waves. At level 20, it's 3740 damage - or 4143.75 if you take Remorseless, Splinter Shot, and Cold Embrace. As far as timing goes, Barbed Shot saves 5.4 seconds per wave at level 1, 2.2 seconds per wave at level 20, and only 0.6 seconds at level 20 with the three talent upgrades. This all comes with a cost of 0.0% of your mana, since Barbed Shot is a passive bonus. At lvl 1, it adds 56 dmg/hit. Based on math broken down to every 1/5 sec, this boils down to theoretically killing a wave in 29.4 secs by yourself (warrior #1 in 4.0 secs, #2 in 11.4, #3 in 18.0, wizard in 20.2, archer #1 in 23.4, #2 in 26.0, and #3 in 29.4 secs). With your minions' help, it takes 13.0 secs. (Playtested video available, but try it in a custom game if you're curious.) At lvl 20, it takes 2.0 secs - or 1.0 sec with Cold Embrace, Splinter Shot, and Remorseless. Since you're so powerful by then, your minions don't really change these times. During each wave at lvl 1, you cast Withering Fire 5 initial times, 5 from auto-refills over 12 secs, and 6 more from minion deaths. That's 1792 dmg/min from Barbed Shot (56 per hit * 16 hits * 2 waves). During a wave at lvl 20, you get out 11 Withering Fire between the initial burst and refills on kills (none from auto-refills since it's so quick). That's 3740 dmg/min from Barbed Shot (170 per hit * 11 hits * 2 waves). With Cold Embrace, Splinter Shot, and Remorseless, you can get 6 Withering Fire hits with 5 more from Splinter Shot. That's 4143.75 dmg/min {(212.5 per hit * 6 hits + 159.375 * 5 hits) * 2 waves}. Most importantly, Barbed Shot dmg only comes during the waves, because Barbed Shot is only active for minion/merc targets. That means the above numbers are it. With the Wind still appears to make 0.0 difference in the speed at which you clear a wave for 0 extra damage. Like Barbed Shot, it is a passive bonus, though, so it costs 0.0% mana. At best, it saves you 0.6 secs, since it might otherwise take a moment to get in range of the wizard and archers, respectively. The extra dmg still comes to 0. Lost Soul now looks a bit better with these new assumptions. At level 1, it deals 582.5 siege damage per minute. At level 20, it's 3000 damage, or 4202.34 with Cold Embrace - and also 480 healing at level 20 with Life Drain. Considering time, Lost Soul saves you 3.0 seconds per minion wave at level 1 and 0.0 seconds at level 20 (regardless of other talents). The cost of these bonuses is 15.0% of your level 1 mana pool per minute, or 10.9% at level 20. In theory, Lost Soul lets you kill a wave in 37.8 secs at level 1. With your minions, you realistically end up killing them in 15.4 secs. Lost Soul saves you 3.0 secs/wave because you save the life of 1 warrior by getting Shadow Dagger out sooner. Bonuses from Barbed Shot only occur when targeting minions and mercenaries. Lost Soul, however, boosts damage against all targets, 100% of the time (as does With the Wind). Therefore, the math in prior subsections for Lost Soul is inaccurate because it omits dmg to structures. With Lost Soul at lvl 1, the first Shadow Dagger per wave hits the same 12 targets as without it, but the second hits 10 (minion #3 hasn't yet died). Afterwards, you still have time for a third that hits 5 structures. Then, between waves, you also have time for 1.5 extra Shadow Dagger against the structures, but you would only cast 1 (the second 0.5 one would throw off your timing for the next wave). That's 3982.5 dmg/min (59 targets during 2 waves * 67.5 dmg), or 582.5 more than without Lost Soul. At level 20, because the wave dies within 1 Shadow Dagger, there's no benefit during waves for Lost Soul. However, during the period between waves when Barbed Shot does nothing, remember that you can throw Shadow Dagger at structures, hitting 5 targets each. Lost Soul lets you do this 1.5 more times per minute at 3000 dmg (5 targets * 400 dmg * 1.5 times). With Cold Embrace, Shadow Dagger itself does 3750 more dmg (same thing * 1.25), but remember that Cold Embrace also boosts your other ability and Auto Attack dmg through vulnerability. If you properly save Withering Fire between Cold Embrace, you should have 4 charges saved every 8 secs (the interval with Lost Soul), for 148.75 dmg/hit with Splinter Shot. You can also Auto Attack 3 times during 2-secs, and if you took Remorseless and properly space out Withering Fire, they all do 203.75 dmg. That's 452.34 dmg in addition to the Shadow Dagger/ Cold Embrace dmg itself {(148.75 Withering Fire/ Splinter Shot dmg * 4 hits) + (203.75 Auto Attack/ Remorseless dmg * 3 hits) * 0.25 from vulnerability * 1.5 times from Lost Soul}, for a total of 4202.34 dmg/min. Also, Life Drain could add 480 health (4 targets spread between * 80 health each * 1.5 times). I'm still assuming you don't routinely use Haunting Wave to attack, but it could potentially add 250 dmg every other Shadow Dagger. Fury of the Storm and Wailing Arrow/Defeaning Blast could also be relevant, but since it's difficult (and often counterproductive) to time Auto Attack to be on its 5th time during a Cold Embrace or to save your silence for one, these calculations omit those talents - another reason why the numbers for Lost Soul are, if anything, low. Finally, Lost Soul has an indirect mana cost. If you cast 1 more Shadow Dagger per min, you need the 75 mana for it. At lvl 1, that's 15.0% of your 500 mana; at lvl 20, it's 10.9% of your 690 mana. Given these corrected assumptions (but still not the following ones), at level 1, Barbed Shot seems to do about 3 times the siege damage per minute that Lost Soul does, and at level 20, it seems to do 1.25 times it. If you take Cold Embrace, Splinter Shot, and Remorseless, though, Lost Soul seems to do 1.01 times the siege damage of Barbed Shot, and also adds a little healing with Life Drain - but it also costs mana that Barbed Shot doesn't. If it's timing you're concerned about, Barbed Shot seems to kill minion waves 1.18 times faster than Lost Soul does at level 1, 1.9 times faster at level 20, and 1.6 times faster with the talent upgrades. Corrected: Most Important Assumptions #6, #7, and #8 Here's the thing: Why on earth are we talking about how much siege damage talents do only when enemy heroes aren't around? There are so many things wrong with that. Yes, Sylvanas is a specialist. But that does not mean that she should just stay in a lane, nor that she can avoid fighting enemy heroes if she does. Corrected Assumption #6: Even when laning in a competitive game, there are virtually always enemy heroes in our face. Corrected Assumption #7: Even when laning early game or split pushing afterwards, hero damage is just as if not more important as siege damage. Corrected Assumption #8: Ultimately, the best build is the one that contributes the most to team fights; maximizing laning damage is important but only insofar as it does not compromise team fighting ability. Basically, split-pushing is a rare thing even if it's part of the plan and definitely doesn't happen at level 1. In competitive games, you have to be ready to contribute to team fights when necessary, even when using the Split Push Map Control build. Note that the calculations in this section assume isolated team fights away from structures and minions, since it would be far too complex to consider all the venues where fights can occur. Realistically, you can think about a talent's contribution in these mixed venues by combining how well it does at laning and team-fighting. With enemy heroes present, we can kill a minion wave in 23.4-35.8 seconds without any talent upgrades at level 1. During and between the two waves per minute when laning, Shadow Dagger can do 4455-6142.5 damage against minions, structures, and heroes together. With damage from Withering Fire and Auto Attack, that's 8087-9774.5 laning damage per minute. When team fighting, Shadow Dagger alone can do 2025 damage per minute; with Withering Fire and Auto Attack, you can do 5265 overall. Remember that Withering Fire automatically targets a hero whenever one is in range, so your actual laning speed is dependent on whether, when, and which enemy heroes are present in your lane. If the enemy team is smart and sends a tank or a powerful hero like Zagara who can blatantly harass you, Withering Fire automatically targets them - and your Auto Attack might, too, if you can't get in range of the minions. Thus, your only laning tools in that situation are Shadow Dagger, your minions, and your towers (I'm still assuming you're not using Haunting Wave, though realistically in this situation, you may be occasionally using it when it's safe). In typical competitive games, there are 1-4 enemy heroes in your lane (usually 1-3, but maybe 4 in Haunted Mines or against a rotating team in Tomb of the Spider Queen). Based on realistic playtesting in such situations, you can kill a wave in 23.4-35.8 secs at lvl 1, depending on how aggressive and successful the enemies are at staying in your way. (Note: it's in your best interests to rotate or ping for help if your push potential is being wasted like that.) If they send a ranged hero who doesn't do more than poke you or the enemy is outnumbered, and if you focus on laning like you should be, then your laning speed approaches what it would be with no enemy heroes in your lane: 18.4 secs/wave. Without Lost Soul at lvl 1, laning against a single enemy hero, your first Shadow Dagger per wave actually hits 13-16 targets if you time it right (7 minions, 1 gate, 2 towers, 2 walls, 1-4 heroes). Your second one hits 11-14 targets (2 minions are dead), and your third hitd 9-12 (4 minions dead). That's 66-84 targets per min, for a total of 4455-5670 Shadow Dagger dmg. Note that these are still conservative estimates, since it's now even more likely to hit the fountain or even the fort and third tower, because fleeing enemy heroes spread Shadow Dagger. If you're outnumbered, your Shadow Dagger actually tends to hit more targets, since killing waves takes longer if you can't reliably get in range to use Withering Fire and Auto Attack against minions. In this case, the first Shadow Dagger hits 14-16 targets (there must be 2-4 heroes in this case), while the second tends to hit 13-15 targets (only 1 minion dead), and the third tends to hit 11-13 (3 minions dead). Then, the first Shadow Dagger of the following wave also hits an extra 3 targets, too: the archers are often still alive. That makes 79-91 targets per min, or 5332.5-6142.5 dmg. If you're team-fighting, there are fewer targets: 5 heroes. In that case, all 6 Shadow Dagger hit 5 targets, for a total of 30 per min: 2025 dmg. You can shoot 30 Withering Fire per min when team-fighting (1 every 2 secs), and 44 per min when laning (same thng + 1 for each minion kill). At 28 dmg/hit, that's 840 or 1232 dmg/min.) Finally, regardless of whether you're team-fighting or laning, you can get out 80 Auto Attack per minute (theoretically 100, but let's assume you're moving 20% of the time) for 2400 dmg ((30 dmg/hit * 80 hits). Adding together Shadow Dagger, Withering Fire, and Auto Attack dmg, that's 8087-9774.5 dmg/min when laning and 5265 in team fights. At level 20, when enemy heroes are present, we can kill minion waves in 4.2-6.6 seconds, or 1.8-2.4 seconds with Remorseles], [[Splinter Shot, and Cold Embrace. When laning, then, Shadow Dagger does 20000-27200 damage per minute or 26809.375-35809.375 with Cold Embrace, Splinter Shot, and Remorseless, and Life Drain can add 3520-4960 healing. Together with Withering Fire and Auto Attack damage, that's 36780-43980 damage per minute without the extra talents and 47831.875-57055 with them. When team-fighting, Shadow Dagger alone does 12000 damage per minute or 16809.375 with Remorseless, Splinter Shot, and Cold Embrace. Together with Withering Fire and Auto Attack, that's 27590 and 35451.875 damage per minute, respectively. Enemy heroes have a harder time slowing you down at lvl 20, since Shadow Dagger now deals 400 dmg by itself. Playtesting shows that you still get about 4 Withering Fire per wave against minions, so even with heroes in your way, you can kill a wave in 6.6 secs - and if they're not there, it's still 4.2 secs. Of course, it's possible your team is there so that it takes the group only 1-2 secs. If you take Cold Embrace and Splinter Shot, enemy heroes can slow you down only by about 0.2 secs, because you still get 4 Withering Fire against minions with about 10 Splinter Shot hits against them. That's 1.8-2.4 secs/wave. If your team is there, it's 1 sec flat; whatever they hit the wave with after a Cold Embrace kills it. At lvl 20, the first Shadow Dagger per wave hits 13-16 targets (7 minions, 5 structures, 1-4 heroes), and the next two hit 6-9 (just structures and heroes). That's 20000-27200 dmg/min without Lost Soul (50-68 targets * 400 dmg/hit). With Cold Embrace, Shadow Dagger itself does 25000-34000 dmg/min (same thing * 1.25), but just as in the prior section, remember that Cold Embrace also boosts your other ability and Auto Attack damage through vulnerability. Because enemy heroes don't make a difference for that calculation, though, it's still the same 2032.5 extra dmg/min, for a total of 27032.5-36032.5. This time, though, Life Drain gives 3520-4960 health per minute (44-62 targets spread between * 80 health each). If you're team-fighting, there are fewer targets: only 5 heroes. In that case, all 6 Shadow Dagger hit 5 targets: 30 targets per min for 12000 dmg. With Cold Embrace, it has a base damage of 15000 alongside the vulnerability dmg (still 2032.5): 17032.5 total. At lvl 20, those 30 Withering Fire per min when team-fighting and 44 per min when laning do 2550 and 3740 dmg/min, respectively (85 dmg/hit). If you take Splinter Shot and Cold Embrace, that's 5578.125 dmg/min when team-fighting {(85 dmg/hit + 63.75 from Splinter Shot) * 1.25 vulnerability * 30 hits}; when laning it's 8181.25 (same thing * 44 hits instead) if you kill waves in less than 2 secs. If, however, you're outnumbered and it takes you 2.4 secs to kill the wave, 3 Withering Fire each wave don't get the vulnerability bonus, meaning it does 7958.125 dmg/min instead {(85 dmg/hit + 63.75 from Splinter Shot) * 1.25 vulnerability * 38 hits) + (85 dmg/hit + 63.75 from Splinter Shot * 6 hits)}. Finally, whether team-fighting or laning, you can Auto Attack 80 times per min (again, assuming you are moving 20% of the time) for 13040 dmg (163 dmg/hit). Remorseless and Cold Embrace, however, would boost 20 of them (as shown in The Math behind Level 7 Choices, the most efficient way to divvy your Auto Attack with Remorseless and Splinter Shot is to save your Withering Fire for bursts during Cold Embrace). In that case, Auto Attack does 14873.75 dmg/min from (163 dmg/hit * 1.25 Cold Embrace boost * 1.25 Remorseless boost * 20 hits + 163 dmg/hit * 60 hits). Adding together Shadow Dagger, Withering Fire, and Auto Attack dmg (but not counting the 1809.375 vulnerability bonus twice), that's 36780-43980 dmg/min at lvl 20 when laning and 27590 when team-fighting, or 47831.875-57055 dmg/min with the extra talents when laning and 35451.875 when team-fighting. With the Wind is now the point to start our math since it will make a difference for the other talents. With all of the correct assumptions, it finally makes a (huge!) difference. It's not designed to lane, so the initial assumptions made by the other guide make it seem completely useless. In reality, I'm often torn between With the Wind and Lost Soul. Ultimately, when laning or team-fighting, With the Wind adds 252.24-480.784 damage per minute at level 1, 1981.467-5202.67 damage at level 20, and 4318.5265-8602.982 at level 20 with Cold Embrace, Splinter Shot, and Remorseless. Also, these bonuses cost 0.0% mana at all levels, since With the Wind is a passive bonus. It's hard to give numbers for talents that increase range, because such talents are all about survivability (especially given the synergy with Evasive Fire or Overwhelming Affliction). Here's some key ideas, though. If you die, both Lost Soul and Barbed Shot do 0 damage per minute; With the Wind is therefore priceless if it constantly keeps you alive. To really give accurate numbers on this, I'd have to know the range of every ability in the game compared to With the Wind, so that I could calculate the probability of dodging them based on the increased range, and the probability of outrunning chasing heroes with the increased distance to activate Evasive Fire or even Overwhelming Affliction. Since no such numbers exist, the best estimate comes from how many deaths per game the range increase avoids, how much dmg we could have done during them, and then converting it to effective dmg/min from keeping us alive that many times throughout a game. Note that we can't effectively differentiate between laning and team-fighting damage with this method, since there's no predicting what you would have been doing had you not died, regardless of what you were doing when you did. In 40 games (20 with the Team Fight Carry build and 20 with the Self-Sufficient build; 10 games for each build with With the Wind and 10 without it), I had on average 0.8 fewer deaths per game with With the Wind than without it. I'm pretty good at staying alive with Sylvanas, so I'd expect that to be a minimum number of saved lives. Let's say the maximum is twice that: 1.6 per game. (If With the Wind saves you more lives than that, even when you're taking other defensive talents like Life Drain and Evasive Fire, you honestly need to work on your positioning.) If that death comes at lvl 1, it costs you 24 secs (9-sec respawn timer and about 15 secs to get back to your lane); at lvl 20, it's 80 secs (65-sec respawn). Let's assume a 20-min game (actual numbers are thus higher or lower depending on game length). That means 0.8-2.4 deaths at lvl 1 reduces dmg/min to 96.8-98.4% {100% - 24-sec return timer * 0.8-1.6 deaths / (60 secs/min * 20-min game)}, or 89.33-94.67% at lvl 20 {100% - 80-sec return timer * 0.8-1.6 deaths / (60 secs/min * 20-min game)}. Put another way, With the Wind provides an extra 1.6-3.2% dmg/min at lvl 1 to 5.33-10.67% at lvl 20. We will be using those damage reduction figures throughout this section. If we're going to assume With the Wind does damage by saving lives, that extra damage must be exclusive to it. Thus, we have to reduce the damage contribution of the other two talents by the same factor. Based on the overall dmg you can do (see above), With the Wind is worth 84.24-312.784 dmg/min at lvl 1 (5265-9774.5 overall dmg * 0.016-0.032 increase from saved lives), 1471.467-4692.67 dmg/min at lvl 20 (27590-43980 overall dmg * 0.0533-0.1067 increase from saved lives), or 1890.767-6090.116 at lvl 20 with Remorseless, Splinter Shot, and Cold Embrace (35451.875-57055 overall dmg * 0.0533-0.1067 increase from saved lives). In addition to saved lives, consider the alternative playstyles. Maximum dmg without With the Wind relies either on having a team that consistently blocks for you so you can stay still and Auto Attack or on continuously running in to fights, releasing multiple Withering Fire charges with a single Auto Attack, and running back out. Playing with With the Wind, however, allows you to continuously spam Withering Fire from a safer range. If you end up not using 1 Withering Fire per 10 secs from the other playstyle, With the Wind does another 168 dmg/min at lvl 1 (28 dmg * 6 hits), 510 at lvl 20 (85 dmg * 6 hits), or 1004.0625 at lvl 20 with Splinter Shot and assuming 1/2 of the missed shots were during Cold Embrace (148.75 dmg * 3 hits + 148.75 dmg * 1.25 vulnerability * 3 hits). (Honestly, you really should be able to run in once every 10 secs without With the Wind, so as not to waste any Withering Fire, especially since you'll want to throw Shadow Dagger at the reduced range of Cold Embrace every 10 secs. But let's keep the boost as part of the maximum With the Wind dmg, with 0 as the minimum.) Finally, With the Wind is arguably the best way to make Splinter Shot effective. If you're just barely in Auto Attack range of the enemy tank (the safest place from which to attack), and no other enemy heroes are on the front line, there's no second target for Splinter Shot to hit without With the Wind. On the most important maps for Splinter Shot (see Map-Specific Strategies), you may not be near structures and minions for it to hit, too. At worst, let's say 2/3 of your Splinter Shot won't have a target without With the Wind. If so, at lvl 20 with Splinter Shot and Cold Embrace, With the Wind also provides a continuous 1423.697-1508.803 dmg/min during the time you're not already getting bonus dmg from saved lives (63.75 dmg/hit * 1.25 vulnerability * 20 hits/min * 0.8933-0.9467 proportion of time not in a saved life). Adding it together, With the Wind provides 252.24-480.784 dmg/min at lvl 1 (123.12-312.784 from saved lives + 168 from extra Withering Fire), 1981.467-5202.67 at lvl 20 (1471.467-4692.67 from saved lives + 510 from extra Withering Fire), or 4318.5265-8602.982 at lvl 20 with Remorseless, Splinter Shot, and Cold Embrace (1890.767-6090.116 from saved lives + 1004.0625 from extra Withering Fire + 1423.697-1508.803 continuous Splinter Shot dmg). Lost Soul is way more attractive with these more accurate assumptions. When laning at level 1, it actually adds 653.4-996.3 damage per minute, depending on how many enemy heroes are in your lane. At level 20, it's 3215.88-5112.18 damage per minute, or 4423.929-6818.459 with Cold Embrace, Splinter Shot, and Remorseless. Considering time, Lost Soul ends up saving 1.8-2.6 seconds per wave at level 1, but 0.0 seconds at level 20 (regardless of other talent upgrades) because 1 Shadow Dagger kills a wave. Also, Lost Soul adds 600-960 healing per minute during laning with Life Drain at level 20. However, these bonuses still cost 15.0% per minute of your level-1 mana pool and 10.9% per minute of your level-20 pool. Lost Soul damage actually increases in the laning phase when heroes are present, because they add targets. This calculation is similar to the prior section's, except with extra targets per Shadow Dagger and a longer time between minion kills because enemy heroes are present. With Lost Soul at lvl 1, laning without being outnumbered, your first Shadow Dagger per wave hits the same 13-16 targets as without Lost Soul. Your second gets out sooner, hitting 12-15 targets, and your third manages to hit 10-13 targets because minions are still alive. The wave dies in 21.6 secs. Then, you can still chuck an extra Shadow Dagger that hits 6-9 targets (just structures and heroes) once per min (not 1.5 times, since that would throw off the timing for subsequent waves). That's 76-97 targets per min, for a total of 5130-6547.5 dmg. Thus, Lost Soul provides 653.4-863.46 dmg/min (the difference from normal Shadow Dagger dmg * 0.968-0.984 reduction from dying without With the Wind). Again, these are conservative estimates for the reason listed above. If you're outnumbered with Lost Soul, the first Shadow Dagger hits the 14-16 targets (there must be at least 2 enemy heroes here), and so does the second (no minions have typically died by 8 secs). The third its 12-14 targets (2 minions dead), and the fourth Shadow Dagger every other wave hits hit 10-12 targets (4 minions dead). Each wave dies in about 33.2 secs. Thus, just as without Lost Soul, you often tend to hit extra targets for the second wave each minute, because minions are still alive (in this case, 2 archers). That's 92-106 targets per min, for a total of 6210-7155 dmg at lvl 1 - or 849.42-996.3 dmg/min provided by Lost Soul (the difference from normal Shadow Dagger damage * 0.968-0.984 reduction from dying without With the Wind). Note here that a big reason Lost Soul ultimately does well at level 1 is that it's safe to chuck Shadow Dagger even when outnumbered, because it has a greater range than Withering Fire (without With the Wind) and because it will spread from heroes to minions and structures. Barbed Shot is no help at all if you're being bullied in a lane. At lvl 20, Lost Soul still doesn't add dmg during waves, since they die during 1 Shadow Dagger. However, while laning, it does let you cast 1.5 more Shadow Dagger per min against structures and heroes. That's 3215.88-5112.18 dmg/min (5 structures + 1-4 heroes * 400 dmg * 1.5 times * 0.8933-0.9467 reduction from dying without With the Wind). With Cold Embrace, the 1.5 extra Shadow Dagger do 4019.85-6390.225 dmg/min directly (same thing as above * 1.25). But remember that Cold Embrace also boosts other abilities and Auto Attack by 25%. The extra targets don't matter for vulnerability dmg, though, so that number is the same as in the prior subsection adjusted for deaths without With the Wind: 404.079-428.233 {(148.75 Withering Fire/ Splinter Shot dmg * 4 hits + 203.75 Auto Attack/ Remorseless dmg * 3 hits) * 0.25 from vulnerability * 1.5 times from Lost Soul * 0.8933-0.9467 reduction from dying without With the Wind}. Together with the 4019.85-6390.225 dmg/min, that's 4423.929-6818.459. In addition, assuming lives saved by Life Drain are comparative to lives lost by not taking With the Wind, Lost Soul also adds 600-960 healing per min (5-8 targets spread between * 80 health each * 1.5 times). As above, I leave out additional vulnerability damage from Haunting Wave, Wailing Arrow, Deafening Blast, and Fury of the Storm - another reason why the numbers for Lost Soul are, if anything, low. The mana cost does not change because heroes are present. If you cast Shadow Dagger 1 more time per minute, it costs 75 more mana. At lvl 1, that's 15.0% of your 500 mana, and 10.9% of your 690 mana at lvl 20. Lost Soul ultimately ends up being so good because of how it stacks up in team fights. During them, it adds 490.05-498.15 damage per minute at level 1, or 2679.9-2840.1 at level 20. At level 20, with Remorseless, Splinter Shot, and Cold Embrace (including your whole team's ability to capitalize on the 25% increase in vulnerability time), it ends up contributing a whopping 5498.234-8944.258 additional damage every minute. With Life Drain, it can also add 480 healing per minute. The cost, however, is 22.5% per minute of your level-1 mana pool and 16.3% per minute of your level-20 pool. In team fights, Shadow Dagger hits 5 targets 7.5 times per min, 1.5 of which come from Lost Soul. Lost Soul therefore deals 490.05-498.15 dmg/min in lvl-1 team fights (5 targets * 67.5 dmg/min * 1.5 times * 0.968-0.984 reduction from dying without With the Wind), or 2679.9-2840.1 dmg/min at lvl 20 (5 targets * 400 dmg * 1.5 times * 0.8933-0.9467 reduction from dying without With the Wind). With Cold Embrace at lvl 20, Lost Soul deals 3349.875-3550.125 dmg/min (same thing * 1.25). However, just as in laning, the increased Cold Embrace uptime boosts your other abilities and Auto Attack. Since the number of targets makes no difference, it's the same as above: 404.079-428.233 dmg/min {(148.75 Withering Fire/ Splinter Shot dmg * 4 hits + 203.75 Auto Attack/ Remorseless dmg * 3 hits) * 0.25 from vulnerability * 1.5 times from Lost Soul * 0.8933-0.9467 reduction from dying without With the Wind}, for a total of 3753.954-3978.358 dmg/min. Life Drain also adds 480 healing through Lost Soul, assuming saved lives from Life Drain and extra deaths from not having With the Wind are a wash (4 targets spread between * 80 health * 1.5 times). Envenom also gets a boost from Cold Embrace when team-fighting. However, it has a 60-second cooldown, so you can use it during a Cold Embrace with or without Lost Soul. Realistically, though, the point of vulnerability is for your team to capitalize on it - and Lost Soul grants a 25% increase in Cold Embrace vulnerability time (casting Shadow Dagger 7.5 times per min instead of 6 provides 15 secs of Cold Embrace instead of 12: 25% more). It's hard to estimate how much dmg your team does during a 2-sec vulnerable, but I calculated a minimum and maximum - both assuming a well-coordinated, lvl-20 team that saves cooldowns for Cold Embrace and hits an avg of 4 targets with AoE casts (using spreadsheet calculations every 1/5 sec). With the minimum reasonable team I can think of, a conservative Chen, a healing-focused Malfurion, a conservative Kerrigan, and a conservative Raynor do an avg of 13259.5 dmg during 6 2-sec vulnerables per min, or 11909.35 dmg during 7.5 2-sec vulnerables per min (the difference comes from their own cooldowns) - which boils down to 1744.28-1848.55 dmg/min from Lost Soul (1952.625 extra dmg * 0.8933-0.9467 reduction from dying without With the Wind). With the maximum reasonable team I can think of, a ham Anub'arak, a ham Kael'thas, a ham Jaina, and a ham Brightwing do an avg of 30795.97 dmg during 6 2-sec vulnerables per min, or 26844.51 dmg during 7.5 2-sec vulnerables per minute - or 4685.794-4965.9 dmg/min from Lost Soul (5245.488 extra dmg * 0.8933-0.9467 reduction from dying without With the Wind). Combined with the 3753.954-3978.358 dmg Lost Soul allows you to do, that's an increase of 5498.234-8944.258 dmg/min. This time, however, the mana cost does change, because you are using Shadow Dagger 1.5 more times per min rather than 1 more when laning. Casting it 1.5 more times costs 112.5 more mana. At lvl 1, that's 22.5% of your 500 mana, and 16.3% of your 690 mana at lvl 20. Based on correct assumptions, Barbed Shot actually only adds 216.832-881.664 damage per minute when laning at level 1. At level 20. it only adds 607.444-1609.39 damage, or 1186.414-2665.552 if you also take Cold Embrace, Splinter Shot, and Remorseless. That boils down to saving 0.4-2.8 seconds per minion wave at level 1, 0.0-2.4 seconds at level 20, and 0.0-0.6 seconds at level 20 with the three talent upgrades. It still costs 0.0% of your mana at all levels, since Barbed Shot is a passive bonus. On top of only dealing extra dmg to minions and mercs, Barbed Shot is dependent on the auto-targeting of Withering Fire, which automatically targets an enemy hero whenever one is in range. That means at worst, no shots will hit a minion because heroes are in the way. At best, you'll get off a few shots if you chase the heroes to their fountain, doing far less damage than estimated in the prior subsection. Based on realistic playtesting of the laning phase in competitive games, you can typically fire 4-16 Withering Fire per min that hit minions. That's 216.832-881.664 dmg/min (4-16 **** * 56 dmg * 0.968-0.984 reduction from dying without With the Wind). If you only get 4, it saves you virtually no time: 0.8 secs across the 2 waves per min. If you get 16, it still only saves you about 1.8 secs/min, unless you can manage to fire them all in a single wave, which saves 5.4 secs for that wave (an avg of 2.8 per min). At lvl 20, you can fire a bunch of Withering Fire if you catch a wave undefended by enemy heroes and if you're not with your team (since they will kill the wave so quickly). Because that happens pretty rarely, you typically fire 4-10 Withering Fire per min, or 4-8 if you take Cold Embrace, Splinter Shot, and Remorseless. That's 607.444-1609.39 dmg/min from Barbed Shot (4-10 hits * 170 dmg * 0.8933-0.9467 reduction from dying without With the Wind), or 1186.414-2665.552 with the other talent upgrades {(4-8 Barbed Shot hits * 170 dmg + 3-7 Barbed Shot/ Splinter Shot hits * 127.5 dmg) * 1.25 from vulnerability * 0.8933-0.9467 reduction from dying without With the Wind} - allowing you to kill a wave in 2.2-4.2 secs, or 1.2-1.8 secs with the other talents. Of course, if your team is present, Barbed Shot basically saves you 0.0 secs at lvl 20. Barbed Shot does 0 damage per minute in team fights at all levels. Being present at all in team fights (as you should be) means that your already diminished returns on Barbed Shot drop exponentially, effectively doing 0 overall damage by mid game. The cost is still 0.0% of your mana at all levels. Because team fights by definition have enemy heroes in it, against whom Barbed Shot does nothing, you do exactly 0 dmg/min when engaging. Even if you're fighting on top of minion waves (e.g., in Tomb of the Spider Queen), Withering Fire automatically targets heroes instead of minions (unless you stupidly hold Withering Fire charges until it's safe to kill minions rather than using them to contribute to the fight). These final corrected assumptions show us the real balance between the three talents. When laning against enemy heroes, Barbed Shot and Lost Soul essentially clear waves equally fast at all levels, with Lost Soul being marginally faster when outnumbered and Barbed Shot being marginally faster when not. However, the damage contribution shows the clear pick: Lost Soul does 1.13-3.01 times the laning damage per minute Barbed Shot does at level 1, 3.18-5.29 times its laning damage at level 20, and 2.56-3.73 times its laning damage at level 20 with Remorseless, Splinter Shot, and Cold Embrace. The numbers are even more disparate when you consider that Barbed Shot literally contributes 0 damage to team fights at all levels. Thus, the only choice is between Lost Soul and With the Wind. Lost Soul has a higher minimum and maximum damage per minute at all levels and with all talent combinations. However, the actual damage ratio depends on how many lives the latter saves you and whether you are team-fighting, laning when outnumbered, or laning with a more even match. Thus, Lost Soul does 1.02-3.42 times more damage per minute than With the Wind does at level 1. At level 20, though, it does between 2.58 times more and 1.94 less than With the Wind does, or between 2.07 times more to 1.94 times less than it does with the relevant talent upgrades. Ultimately, Lost Soul tends to be a bit better, especially given the extra bit of healing it adds with Life Drain, but it comes at a significant cost: 15.0% of your mana at level 1 and 10.9% of it at level 20. See the discussion in Summary and Final Math above for more details on which to choose.

Paralysis - Slow & Push Builds Doubles Black Arrows duration

In any build where you're going to take Unstable Poison or Overwhelming Affliction, it's worthwhile to consider Paralysis. Both of those talents significantly enhance Black Arrows by either adding a slow or making minions/mercs explode when they die under its effects. As such, so lengthening the duration of those effects works wonders.

Overflowing Quiver - Never pick this Automatically fires Withering Fire whenever more than 5 charged would be gained

Whenever you would need to use a Withering Fire, you should have already used it, so having Overflowing Quiver shoot off extra charges is pretty useless. If you find that you can't multitask well enough to use Withering Fire, just hold down Q all the time--still better than this talent.

Ranger's Ambush - Never pick this Refills Withering Fire charges after Haunting Teleport

With this talent, you can fire off 10 Withering Fire shots almost instantly. If you use Windrunner at 16, it could be 15--all while chasing down almost any hero. Two problems, though: (1) this is an assassin-like logic that does not play to Sylvanas's strengths, and (2) even an assassin build has better options, like Envenom.

Envenom (#) - Hero Damage Builds Deals heavy damage to an enemy hero over 5 seconds

Charges: 1
Cooldown: 60 seconds
Mana cost: 0

I almost don't need to say anything. Envenom exists on multiple heroes, and it's a viable if not go-to talent on every single one. It costs no mana, has a moderate cooldown, and deals some serious damage throughout a game. It's therefore a key part of your Team Fight Carry and Self-Sufficient builds. Stick it on any squishy hero in range (probably one that your team has pinged for a bursty death) and laugh as they run around aimlessly while the poison slowly finishes them off. Toss a Shadow Dagger at them while you're at it for even more damage over time!

Unstable Poison - Push Builds Causes minions and mercenaries who die under Black Arrows to explode and deal AoE damage

Level 7 is when your true build decision will take place, since it's where your most situational talents exist. Unstable Poison is basically the best talent in any situation where the enemy heroes are likely to be standing in their minion waves during team fights: the Unstoppable Team Push build. Then, just toss a Shadow Dagger in there, shoot one minion a couple of times, and watch the entire wave explode all over the enemy heroes, dealing some serious damage that they never expect--on top of Shadow Dagger's damage, of course. It's also the fastest way to clear waves, if you're going for the Split Push Map Control build.

Life Drain - Self-Sufficient Build (Situational Pick) Shadow Dagger heals a small amount every time it spreads between enemies

If you find yourself in need of additional healing (because you don't have a healer, because you're on Dragon Shire, or because you're being bursted down by the enemy team), then the Self-Sufficient build with Life Drain is your best option. You can also reasonably take this talent as a substitute in any build if you need to. It's more effective in waves, since there are more enemies for Shadow Dagger to spread between, but you could use it to play it safe in maps like Cursed Hollow with isolated team fights if you want to.

Remorseless - Damage & Slow Builds Adds 25% damage to the first Auto Attack that follows an ability

For most heroes, this kind of talent is a waste. Usually, there aren't enough abilities to keep up with the Auto Attack rate. With Sylvanas, though, you can cast Withering Fire at an extremely high rate, boosting about every other Auto Attack you make by 25% and seriously boosting overall damage for your Team Fight Carry and Slow All Day builds (and the I'm Confused and Think I'm an Assassin build). Just hold Q and right-click whenever it's safe to stand still for a moment.

Update for Kael'thas patch: In the new patch, Follow Through was updated to increase Auto Attack damage to 150% rather than 125%. That would have made this talent even more effective for Sylvanas. Unfortunately, at the same time, they created the new Remorseless talent just for Sylvanas and removed Follow Through. So basically, no advice in this guide changed.

Mercenary Lord - Never pick this Boosts damage of nearby mercenaries

This kind of talent is bad because it commits you to perpetually staying in lanes near mercenaries--not a good plan in most competitive games. For Sylvanas, even if you do split push, you're much better off taking Unstable Poison, boosting your own laning ability far beyond anything mercs can do.

Shade Form - Never pick this Haunting Wave grants temporary stealth

In theory, this talent is a great addition to Haunting Teleport. As I said above, Haunting Teleport predictable, allowing enemy heroes to keep running toward your eventually escape. It's a viable strategy to cast Haunting Wave and then run the other way, but this tactic will likely just delay the inevitable. With Shade Form, though, the enemy heroes can't figure out where you're going to go. It also makes Polymorph, Hammer of Justice, and other targeted abilities useless in preventing your escape, so it's definitely a useful ability--especially in early game laning phases. Still, long term, you're probably better off not getting caught out of position and investing in one of the better, game-changing talents in this tier.

Wailing Arrow (R) - Damage, Slow, Self-Sufficient, & Team Push Builds Skillshot AoE damage that also silences for 2.5 seconds

Charges: 1
Cooldown: 90 seconds
Mana cost: 100

This is your only viable ultimate. It casts a single arrow with a medium-sized radius quickly in one direction, and explodes when it reaches its destination. After it detonates, it damages and silence everything in the radius. It can also be detonated manually by pressing R a second time (Note that if you hold R down to fire it, it will detonate almost immediately). If you time it well, you can silence most or all of the enemy team for 2.5 seconds--ages in a team fight--or you can use it to completely cancel channeled abilities like Ravenous Spirit or Strafe. It can also be a last-ditch effort to kill a fleeing hero, since it is far faster than even mounted heroes--but don't waste it on chasing unless the team fight is definitely over, or you'll have some regrets when it's on cooldown. The key is planning: are you saving it as a defensive against enemies' sustained ultimates, are you using it as an initiation tool, or are you simply using it on the healer at the best moment when the enemies are grouped up and already hurting? Coordinate this with your team, and Wailing Arrow can be a gamechanger.

Update for Butcher patch: In the new patch, Wailing Arrow was given a damage nerf, so is now truly only a silencing tool with some bonus damage. Recommendations therefore don't change for how to use it, except that it's even less viable as a sniping tool now.

Possession (R) - Split Push Build (Situational Pick) Charms and applies an attack buff to enemy minions

Charges: 7
Cooldown: 12 seconds
Mana cost: 20

Well, this used to be literally the worst ultimate in the game. Blizzard reworked it so that you can now basically use it to take over an entire wave of 7 minions every 84 seconds. It also instantly gives you the experience for the charmed minions. This would be amazing if you could do it early game, but since you can only do it by definition after level 10, it's very situation-specific. Wailing Arrow is a great initiating or tide-changing tool in a team fight, and even this new version of Possession is totally useless at such moments (even in fights on top of minions, your goal is to blow them up with Unstable Poison, not convert them. That means this ultimate is viable in exactly two situations: (1) you are using the Split Push Map Control build where you aren't planning on ever being in team fights anyway, and (2) you are going to convert waves just before running away to map objectives (e.g., on Sky Temple or Cursed Hollow), so that the wave of now 14 minions can seriously push while the enemy is distracted. The latter situation honestly depends on how much your team needs the 2.5-second silence of Wailing Arrow in team fights - which honestly depends on the enemy team's skill set. Waling Arrow is necessary (1) if your team does not enough cc to control a fight, (2) if they don't have enough counters to enemy ultimates (e.g., Shadow Charge or Polymorph against Mosh Pit and Strafe), or (3) if a properly timed silence can seriously disrupt the enemy's plans (e.g., by preventing Ancestral Healing, Avatar, or Longboat Raid!. If none of those situations are present, Possession is a serious choice.

Update for Butcher patch: Wow. All of a sudden, Possession is a viable choice as of the new patch. Not awesome by any means, but viable in the right situation. Totally re-did the above information, and it is now the choice for the Split Push Map Control build.

Overwhelming Affliction - Slow & Team Push Builds Black Arrows now slows enemy heroes a small amount, stacking up to a moderate amount

Your second big choice comes at level 13. If you're in a situation where your best bet for team fights is to add a slow--either because your team has more slows or because even 5-25% slow will be enough for a golem or spider to crush them more easily on Haunted Mines and Tomb of the Spider Queen--go with Overwhelming Affliction. This is the key to the Slow All Day build and works well in the Unstoppable Team Push build. If you took Lost Soul and Paralysis, the slow lasts 2 seconds for every Withering Fire and Auto Attack, and gets a whole team every 8 seconds with Shadow Dagger.

Evasive Fire - Self-Sufficient & Split Push Builds (Situational Pick) Withering Fire moderately increases movement speed, and stacks for a large increase

Ever seen an enemy Sylvanas running around a team fight faster than anyone else, dodging all kinds of stuns and skillshots, and then kiting chasing heroes like a pro? That's Evasive Fire. In any situation where you're likely to need that kind of mobility (see the Self-Sufficient and Split Push Map Control builds), it's your best bet. You can hold down Q for a continuous 10% boost in speed, or you can save 3 Withering Fire charges for huge 30% bursts. (Note the big difference between choosing Overwhelming Affliction and Evasive Fire: whether you want the opponents to miss their skillshots targeted at you, or whether you want you whole team to get the benefit of landing their skillshots. It all depends on which team has more skillshots they need to land--and who needs to dodge golems and spider queens.)

Splinter Shot - Hero Damage Builds Withering Fire now hits a second target for less damage

I really debate between Splinter Shot and Evasive Fire in any build. Splinter Shot lets you solo bruiser camps more easily and actually hit something besides the tank with Withering Fire in a team fight. Thus, it boosts your sustained damage and distributes it more harmfully among enemy heroes. The downside is that you sacrifice both Evasive Fire and Overwhelming Affliction, so that if your team's front line doesn't hold, you are seriously vulnerable. Take it only if you're feeling safe enough to use the Team Fight Carry (or I'm Confused and Think I'm an Assassin) build.

Spell Shield - Never pick this Automatically halves incoming ability damage for 2 seconds every 30 seconds

Spell Shield is a great pick for a tank with lots of health. However, even reducing ability damage by 50% won't help a hero as squishy as Sylvanas if you're caught out of position. If you're feeling nervous, Evasive Fire is much more effective.

The Math behind Level-13 Choices Summary and Final Math Based on the corrected assumptions laid out in the rest of the guide, the role we want Sylvanas to play combines siege damage with sustained hero damage in team fights. By level 13 and after, however, team-fighting becomes the clear priority - and most of the talents on this tier focus on contributing to team-fighting, anyway. With that focus in mind, here are the final numbers. Overwhelming Affliction is a versatile mobility tool that provides both offensive and defensive bonuses, concentrating on the former. It provides some benefit by keeping you and your team alive but shines at allowing both you and your teammates to chase better and land skillshots and area-of-effect damage that you would otherwise miss. Because the need for such mobility is situational, its potential contribution therefore has an incredibly broad range. (Note that numbers for a status abilities like this are inexact. These numbers are based on Overwhelming Affliction]] saving you 0.2-1.7 deaths per game, saving your teammates 0.1-0.4 deaths per game, allowing you to chase effectively 2% more time per game, and allowing your team to land 11% more of your skillshots and area-of-effect abilities. Also, note that the below numbers assume you took Paralysis because Overwhelming Affliction is useless without it, and that the numbers would actually be higher with Lost Soul instead of With the Wind.) Level 13 Laning: 151-1185 damage and 0.0% mana per minute Team-fighting: 672-5650 damage and 0.0% mana per minute Level 20 Laning: 367-2639 damage and 0.0% mana per minute Team-fighting: 1494-12674 damage and 0.0% mana per minute Level 20 w/ Laning: 884-6059 damage and 0.0% mana per minute Team-fighting: 2103-18237 damage and 0.0% mana per minute Evasive Fire is also a mobility tool, but it emphasizes defense more than offense. Its mobility bonus is higher than that of Overwhelming Affliction, but at the cost of only benefiting you as opposed to your entire team. Because it is also situational, its benefit also has a wide potential range. (Note that numbers for a status abilities like this are inexact. These numbers are based on playtested averages of Evasive Fire saving you 0.4-3.6 deaths per game and allowing you to chase effectively 3% more of overall game time.) Level 13 Laning: 304-2895 damage and 0.0% mana per minute Team-fighting: 835-3466 damage and 0.0% mana per minute Level 20 Laning: 737-6452 damage and 0.0% mana per minute Team-fighting: 1443-7257 damage and 0.0% mana per minute Level 20 w/ Laning: 1547-12836 damage and 0.0% mana per minute Team-fighting: 2302-13783 damage and 0.0% mana per minute Splinter Shot is an outright boost to your damage by providing an additional attack with no extra cost or cooldown. It can therefore contribute well to both team fights and laning, and its benefit is more predictable and reliable than are those of the two mobility talents. Level 13 Laning: 1842-1984 damage and 0.0% mana per minute; 1.1-2.7 seconds per wave Team-fighting: 1114-1206 damage and 0.0% mana per minute Level 20 Laning: 2285-2606 damage and 0.0% mana per minute; 1.2-2.0 seconds per wave Team-fighting: 1379-1586 damage and 0.0% mana per minute Level 20 w/ Laning: 2544-3191 damage and 0.0% mana per minute; 0.8-1.6 seconds per wave Team-fighting: 1749-2224 damage and 0.0% mana per minute Spell Shield is pretty ineffective for Sylvanas, especially compared to the defensive talents on this tier. Its ability to save your life by temporarily reducing damage by a percentage is inferior to the ability of either Evasive Fire or Overwhelming Affliction to dodge and flee attackers - primarily because a damage reduction would benefit most from a substantial health pool, whereas Sylvanas has one of the smallest health maximums of any hero. Level 13 Laning and team-fighting: 76-920 damage and 0.0% mana per minute Level 20 Laning and team-fighting: 185-2054 damage and 0.0% mana per minute Level 20 w/ Laning and team-fighting: 222-1781 damage and 0.0% mana per minute From these results, it's clear that Spell Shield is the inferior pick on this tier. It simply does not make sense on a specialist (or assassin, for that matter) who has such a small health pool and who is so vulnerable to getting stunned or rooted. Choosing between the other three talents, however, depends entirely on the situation. Overwhelming Affliction has the highest maximum damage levels on this tier, but it also has the lowest minimum. Also, the most consistent and reliable source of damage is Splinter Shot, while Evasive Fire will likely give you (and your contribution on the in-game statistics) the highest boost. As late game approaches and contributes, which talent scales the best depends on the situation, too. Ultimately, which of the three talents is better depends on whether you are being focused or not, on how many lives Evasive Fire saves you in particular if you are, on how many lives Overwhelming Affliction saves your teammates, on how many skillshots and area-of-effect abilities your team needs to land, and on how coordinated your team is. If Evasive Fire saves you closer to 0.4 lives in a game (either because the enemies aren't as concerned with you or because you're just that good), the other talents are superior, but if it saves you 2.2-3.6 or even more lives per game, it might be your best choice. If your teammates are coordinated enough to benefit from Overwhelming Affliction so that it saves them 0.4 or more lives each during a game and/or allows them to land 11% or more extra skillshots and area-of-effect abilities, then it might be your best choice - but if they don't need the help or can't use it effectively, it rapidly becomes inferior. If neither of those two talents are effective or necessary, then [[Splinter Shot[[ becomes the superior pick. Much of the choice between Evasive Fire and Overwhelming Affliction can be made based on the map. On Dragon Shire and Sky Temple, for instance, you're much more likely to be alone or in small groups than on other maps, so Overwhelming Affliction loses a lot of its potential. On Haunted Mines and Tomb of the Spider Queen, though, there's a lot of time spent battling with the assistance of golems and spider queens, so that the area-of-effect bonus from Overwhelming Affliction becomes more valuable. The other factors that matter are your team's communication, your team's other abilities, the enemy team's abilities, and your skill. If your team is on voice chat and plans ahead, a strategy that incorporates Overwhelming Affliction is way more attractive. It also looks better if your team has other slows (but not so much as to make yours superfluous) or a ton of skillshots to land. If you're in a dive squad, though, where you can't otherwise keep up, Evasive Fire makes more sense. If the enemy team, however, has a ton of skillshots or dive abilities, take Evasive Fire to keep yourself safe - and consider making yourself the focus so you can make them waste their abilities. If you have no need for a mobility boost because you are a positioning expert, consider Splinter Shot more strongly. If you're improvising with a build later in the game because you need mobility but you didn't take Paralysis earlier, go with Evasive Fire. And so forth. Essentially, your default pick should be Splinter Shot, but that should change if the situation calls for it. Given the above considerations, however, you should bear in mind that you will deviate from that default more often than not. It might make more sense to call it the "fallback plan," since you fall back on it when there's no reason to take either of the other two talents. You should stick with Splinter Shot only if you are safe doing so, if your team is safe without your help, and your team can land damage without your help. Otherwise, consider the map, your team, the enemy team, and their playstyles in order to choose between Overwhelming Affliction and Evasive Fire. Detailed Math and Explanations The math in this section is based on the assumptions laid out in detail in The Math behind Level-1 Choices. However, because there is less erroneous math out there for these picks, the detailed math for this tier simply begins and ends with all 8 correct assumptions: Assumption #1: A talent's damage contribution depends on both when it's taken and how it scales toward late game (e.g., at level 20). Assumption #2: How a talent scales depends on how other talents compliment it. Assumption #3: Minions waves are neither neverending nor isolated, so laning damage calculations must include when minions spawn or die, when mana is used, and also damage against structures. Assumption #4: When laning, allied minions are also present to do damage. Assumption #5: Realistically, we will never be using one ability alone. Each talent's contribution is dependent on overall attack and ability usage, not one ability in continuous isolation. Assumption #6: Even when laning in a competitive game, there are virtually always enemy heroes in our face. Assumption #7: Even when laning early game or split pushing afterwards, hero damage is just as if not more important as siege damage. Assumption #8: Ultimately, the best build is the one that contributes the most to team fights; maximizing laning damage is important but only insofar as it does not compromise team fighting ability. Killing a minion wave at level 13 takes 13.6-20.6 seconds without any talent upgrades. When laning, you can do 27476-33581 damage per minute against minions, structures, and heroes together. When team fighting, it's 19365 damage per minute. Since Withering Fire automatically targets any hero in range, your laning speed is dependent on whether, when, and which enemy heroes are laning against you. If it's a tank or a powerful hero like Zagara who can blatantly harass you, Withering Fire automatically targets them - and your Auto Attack probably will, too. Your only laning tools in that situation are Shadow Dagger, your minions, and your towers (I assume you're not using Haunting Wave because it's not mana-efficient, but you could consider it in this situation if you're sure it's safe to use up your escape tool). In typical competitive games, there are 1-4 enemy heroes in your lane (usually 1-3, but maybe 4 in Haunted Mines or against a rotating team in Tomb of the Spider Queen). Based on realistic playtesting in such situations, you can kill a wave in 13.6-20.6 secs at lvl 13, depending on how aggressive and successful the enemies are at staying in your way. (Note: it's in your best interests to rotate or ping for help if your push potential is being wasted like that.) If they send a ranged hero who doesn't do more than poke you or the enemy is outnumbered, and if you focus on laning like you should be, then your laning speed approaches what it would be with no enemy heroes in your lane: 10.6 secs/wave. Now consider dmg/min. In even lane matchups (1v1, 2v2, 3v3, or 4v4), your first Shadow Dagger per wave hits 13-16 targets if you time it right (7 minions, 1 gate, 2 towers, 2 walls, 1-4 heroes). Your second one hits 9-12 targets (4 minions are dead), and your third hits 6-9 (the wave is dead, so only structures and heroes). That's 56-74 targets per min at 277.5 dmg each (55.5 initial dmg + 222 dmg over 2 secs), for a total of 15540-20535 Shadow Dagger dmg. If you're outnumbered, Shadow Dagger hits more laning targets per min, since killing waves takes longer if you can't reliably use Withering Fire and Auto Attack against minions. In this case, the first Shadow Dagger tends to hit 14-16 targets (there must be 2-4 heroes in such situations), the second hits 12-14 targets (only 2 minions dead), and the third hits 7-9 (the wave should be dead). That's 66-78 targets per min, or 18315-21645 dmg. If you're team-fighting, there are fewer targets: 5 heroes. In that case, all 6 Shadow Dagger hit 5 targets, for a total of 30 per min: 8325 dmg. You can shoot 30 Withering Fire per min when team-fighting (1 every 2 secs), and 44 per min when laning (same thng + 1 for each minion kill). At 64 dmg/hit, that's 1920-2816 dmg/min.) Finally, regardless of whether you're team-fighting or laning, you can get out 80 Auto Attack per minute (theoretically 100, but let's assume you're moving 20% of the time) for 9120 dmg ((114 dmg/hit). Adding together Shadow Dagger, Withering Fire, and Auto Attack dmg, that's 27476-33581 dmg/min when laning and 19365 in team fights. At level 20, you can kill minion waves in 4.2-6.6 seconds, or 2.6-4.0 seconds with Remorseless and Cold Embrace. When laning, you can do 36780-43980 damage per minute, or 44396.75-53481.75 with those additional talent upgrades. When team-fighting, that's 27590 and 33121.75 damage per minute, respectively. Enemy heroes have a harder time slowing you down at lvl 20, since Shadow Dagger now deals 400 dmg by itself. Playtesting shows you still get about 4 Withering Fire per wave against minions, so even with heroes in your way, you can kill a wave in 6.6 secs - and if they're not there, it's still 4.2 secs. Of course, it's possible your team is there so that it takes the group only 1-2 secs. If you take Cold Embrace, Shadow Dagger deals 500 dmg and makes everything vulnerable for 2 secs. Enemy heroes have a lot more trouble slowing you down in that case, so you end up killing the wave in 2.6-4.0 secs. If your team is there, it's 1 sec flat; whatever they hit the wave with after a Cold Embrace kills it. At lvl 20, the first Shadow Dagger per wave hits 13-16 targets (7 minions, 5 structures, 1-4 heroes), and the next two hit 6-9 (just structures and heroes). That's 20000-27200 dmg/min (50-68 targets * 400 dmg/hit). With Cold Embrace, Shadow Dagger itself does 25000-34000 dmg/min (same thing * 1.25). If you're team-fighting, there are fewer targets: only 5 heroes. In that case, all 6 Shadow Dagger hit 5 targets: 30 targets per min for 12000 dmg. With Cold Embrace, it's 15000. At lvl 20, those 30 Withering Fire per min when team-fighting and 44 per min when laning do 2550 and 3740 dmg/min, respectively (85 dmg/hit). If you take Cold Embrace, though, some of them have a 25% vulnerability boost (as shown in The Math behind Level 7 Choices, the most efficient way to divvy your Auto Attack with Remorseless and Cold Embrace but not Splinter Shot is to use Withering Fire continuously rather than saving them up). If you're team-fighting, 6 of them deal extra damage (1 during each Cold Embrace); when laning, between 10 and 14 of them do (same 6 + 4 refills that occur during Cold Embrace if you're outnumbered in a lane, or 8 if it's an even matchup). That's 2677.5 dmg/min when team-fighting {(85 dmg/hit * 24 hits) + (85 dmg/hit * 1.25 vulnerability * 6 hits)}, or 3952.5-4037.5 when laning {(85 dmg/hit * 30-34 hits) + (85 dmg/hit * 1.25 vulnerability * 10-14 hits)}. Finally, whether team-fighting or laning, you can Auto Attack 80 times per min (again, assuming you are moving 20% of the time) for 13040 dmg (163 dmg/hit). If you took Remorseless and Cold Embrace, though, and if you properly use Withering Fire continuously rather than saving them up (if you don't have Splinter Shot, The Math behind Level 7 Choices, shows that's the most efficient way), then your Auto Attack does 15444.25 dmg/min (36 Auto Attack * 163 dmg/hit + 24 Auto Attack * 163 dmg/hit * 1.25 Remorseless bonus + 8 Auto Attack * 163 dmg/hit * 1.25 Cold Embrace bonus + 12 Auto Attack * 163 dmg/hit * 1.5625 from simultaneous bonuses). Adding together Shadow Dagger, Withering Fire, and Auto Attack dmg (but not counting the 1809.375 vulnerability bonus twice), that's 36780-43980 dmg/min at lvl 20 when laning and 27590 when team-fighting, or 44396.75-53481.75 dmg/min with the extra talents when laning and 33121.75 when team-fighting. Evasive Fire is the right place to start on this tier since it will make a difference for the other talents. When laning, it effectively does 304.031-2894.682 damage per minute at level 13, 736.653-6451.866 damage at level 20, and 1546.786-12835.620 at level 20 with Cold Embrace, Remorseless, and With the Wind. Also, these bonuses cost 0.0% mana at all levels, since Evasive Fire is a passive bonus. Just as with range-increase talents like With the Wind, it's difficult to give accurate numbers for talents like Evasive Fire that apply movement buffs, because they are all about landing damage you would otherwise miss and avoiding damage you would otherwise take (and therefore staying alive when you would otherwise be dead). Also, although I could calculate the amount of extra dodges and jukes you can do in an average game with Evasive Fire, and therefore the amount of damage it avoids, it would not be comparable to the calculations for the other talents (both on this tier and others). The best way therefore seems to be the same thing we did for With the Wind at level 1. Remember that if you die, Splinter Shot and an offensive bonus from Overwhelming Affliction are effectively useless. Likewise, if you can't get close enough without one of those movement buffs to use Withering Fire on two targets, Splinter Shot contributes exactly 0 dmg. Evasive Fire is therefore priceless if it constantly keeps you alive and mobile enough to land your abilities. Unfortunately, we can't completely predict the probability of dodging skillshots, outrunning chasing heroes, or catching fleeing heroes with the movement buffs because a lot of the pertinent information is unavailable, but we can estimate such numbers based on playtesting (as we did for With the Wind). Note that we can't effectively differentiate between laning and team-fighting damage with this method, since there's no predicting what you would have been doing had you not died, regardless of what you were doing when you did. I playtested 20 games with the Team Fight Carry build, and in 10 of them, I replaced Splinter Shot with Evasive Fire); I also tested an additional 10 games where I took both Evasive Fire and With the Wind. Since the choice between the Team Fight Carry and Self-Sufficient builds often revolves around whether the enemy team focuses you in particular and is good at doing so (e.g., with Judgment followed by Burrow Charge), I divided my results into games where I was in danger (and would therefore typically have taken the Self-Sufficient build) and those where I was not. The range was pretty wide. When I took Evasive Fire but was not in serious danger, I had an average of 0.4 fewer deaths per game. When I was in danger, though, it prevented an average of 2.2 deaths. Taking With the Wind alongside Evasive Fire made those numbers 0.7 and 3.6 deaths, respectively. If a death comes at lvl 13, it costs you 47 secs (32-sec respawn timer and about 15 secs to get back to the fight/lane); at lvl 20, it's 80 secs (65-sec respawn). Let's assume a 20-min game (actual numbers are thus higher or lower depending on game length). That number of deaths at lvl 13 reduces dmg/min to 91.38-98.43% {100% - 47-sec return timer * 0.4-2.2 deaths / (60 secs/min * 20-min game)}, 85.33-97.33% at lvl 20 {100% - 80-sec return timer * 0.4-2.2 deaths / (60 secs/min * 20-min game)}, or 76.00-95.33% at lvl 20 with With the Wind {100% - 80-sec return timer * 0.7-3.6 deaths / (60 secs/min * 20-min game)}. In other words, Evasive Fire provides an extra 1.57-8.62% dmg/min at lvl 13 to 2.67-14.67% at lvl 20, or 4.67-24.00% dmg/min at lvl 20 with With the Wind. Based on the overall dmg you can do (see above), saved lives through Evasive Fire are worth 304.031-2894.682 dmg/min at lvl 13 (19365-33581 overall dmg * 0.0157-0.0862 increase from saved lives), 736.653-6451.866 dmg/min at lvl 20 (27590-43980 overall dmg * 0.0267-0.1467 increase from saved lives), or 1546.786-12835.620 at lvl 20 with With the Wind, Remorseless, and Cold Embrace (33121.75-53481.75 at overall dmg * 0.0467-0.2400 increase from saved lives). Evasive Fire contributes more damage per minute when team-fighting. In that situation, it effectively provides 834.632-3465.950 damage per minute at level 13, 1442.957-7257.494 damage at level 20, and 2301.962-13782.902 at level 20 with Cold Embrace, Remorseless, and With the Wind. As before, these bonuses cost 0.0% mana at all levels. There's no effective way to differentiate between laning and team-fighting damage when it comes to saved lives, so it initially appears that we would have to list them as the same (like we did with With the Wind at level 1). However, in addition to be a useful escape and dodging tool, Evasive Fire is helpful as a chasing tool specifically when team-fighting, so we can count extra dmg in that case. When the enemy team is fleeing, Haunting Teleport helps you catch up once, but Evasive Fire can keep you in range for much longer. Thus, in addition to keeping you alive, Evasive Fire lets you deal extra damage by keeping up with fleeing enemies. Again, the only practical way to estimate that damage is through playtested estimates. In the 20 testing games referenced above, I was able to stay in dmg range an avg of about 3% more of my overall game time because of successful chases. With the Wind, however, made no additional difference; in the 10 extra games I played with it, I still only stayed in range about 3% of the time. With the Wind didn't help here because we still have to get in Auto Attack (and Shadow Dagger) range in order to deal effective dmg. If you're chasing at lvl 13, you end up doing 2.74-2.95% extra dmg/min (0.03 increase from better chasing * 0.9138-0.9843 proportion of time not in a saved life). At lvl 20, that's 2.56-2.92% dmg/min (0.03 increase from better chasing * 0.8533-0.9733 proportion of time not in a saved life) or 2.28-2.86% dmg/min at lvl 20 with With the Wind, Remorseless, and Cold Emcrace (0.03 increase from better chasing * 0.7600-0.9533 proportion of time not in a saved life). Thus, Evasive Fire contributes an additional 530.601-571.268 dmg/min at lvl 13 (19365 overall dmg * 0.0274-0.0295 proportion of extra time alive and chasing), 706.304-805.628 dmg/min at lvl 20 (27590 overall dmg * 0.0256-0.0292 proportion of extra time alive and chasing), or 755.176-947.282 at lvl 20 with With the Wind, Remorseless, and Cold Embrace (33121.75 overall dmg * 0.0228-0.0286 proportion of extra time alive and chasing). If we total those numbers by level, Evasive Fire can contribute 834.632-3465.950 dmg/min at lvl 13, 1442.957-7257.494 dmg/min at lvl 20, or 2301.962-13782.902 at lvl 20 with With the Wind, Remorseless, and Cold Embrace Overwhelming Affliction effectively provides 151.047-1185.409 damage per minute when laning at level 13. At level 20, it's 366.947-2638.800 damage per minute, or 884.351-6059.482 with Cold Embrace, Remorseless, and With the Wind. Like Evasive Fire, Overwhelming Affliction comes at a cost of 0.0% mana at all levels, since it is a passive bonus. The calculations for Overwhelming Affliction are initially very similar to those of Evasive Fire. Because it's a movement bonus, a lot of what it does is save lives. However, it's weaker as an escape tool than Evasive Fire is. Evasive Fire effectively keeps a continuous 10% movement differential between you and all enemy heroes by boosting your movement speed with every Withering Fire shot (or periodic 30% differentials if you save 3 Withering Fire for bursts). Overwhelming Affliction can at most create a 25% initial differential between you and only one enemy hero through a burst of 5 Withering Fire ( Overwhelming Affliction maxes at 25% rather than 30%), a continuous differential of 5% against one hero through Withering Fire refills, and occasionally an extra 5% from each use of Auto Attack and Shadow Dagger. If there are even two enemy heroes chasing you, though, your Withering Fire and Auto Attack must be split between them, so that you cannot maintain a consistent movement differential. Thus, Overwhelming Affliction is far less efficient at keeping you alive when you are running from multiple enemies than Evasive Fire. As a result, in 20 playtested games (same 10 with the Team Fight Carry build, and 10 more where I took Paralysis and Overwhelming Affliction instead of Envenom and Splinter Shot), I ended up dying only 0.2 times fewer when I wasn't the main enemy focus, or 0.9 times fewer when I was. I also tried an additional 10 games where I also took With the Wind, in which case I died an average 0.4 and 1.7 times fewer in those respective situations. Note that every build I tested for the purposes of testing Overwhelming Affliction on this tier included Paralysis. Neither of those two skills are useful at all without the other (see The Math behind Level-4 Choices for details). Also, Lost Soul actually has better synergy with Overwhelming Affliction than With the Wind does against multiple pursuers, with multiple teammates fleeing (below), or during a team fight (below). However, With the Wind does helps out against single pursuers, and it's not a terrible thing in team fights. Since With the Wind makes the biggest difference the other two level-13 talents, I consider that part of the "maximized" level 20 build for this math, but honestly, you should always take Lost Soul if you're going Overwhelming Affliction, even if you tend to choose With the Wind otherwise. Using the same time figures from above, we can see that dying effectively reduces your dmg/min 96.47-99.22% at lvl 13 {100% - 47-sec return timer * 0.2-0.9 deaths / (60 secs/min * 20-min game)}, 94.00-98.67% at lvl 20 {100% - 80-sec return timer * 0.2-0.9 deaths / (60 secs/min * 20-min game)}, 88.67-97.33% at lvl 20 with With the Wind {100% - 80-sec return timer * 0.4-1.7 deaths / (60 secs/min * 20-min game)}. Put a different way, Overwhelming Affliction provides an extra 0.78-3.53% dmg/min at lvl 13 to 1.33-6.00% at lvl 20, or 2.67-11.33% dmg/min at lvl 20 with With the Wind. Overwhelming Affliction is thus worth 151.047-1185.409 dmg/min at lvl 13 (19365-33581 overall dmg * 0.0078-0.0353 increase from saved lives), 366.947-2638.800 dmg/min at lvl 20 (27590-43980 overall dmg * 0.0133-0.06 increase from saved lives), or 884.351-6059.482 at lvl 20 with With the Wind, Remorseless, and Cold Embrace (33121.75-53481.75 at overall dmg * 0.0267-0.1133 increase from saved lives). Overwhelming Affliction also contributes more damage per minute when team-fighting: 671.587-5650.100 effective damage per minute at level 13, 1068.740-14559.737 at level 20, and 1680.873-20550.731 at level 20 with Cold Embrace, Remorseless, Paralysis, and With the Wind. As before, these bonuses cost 0.0% mana at all levels. As with Evasive Fire, there's no effective way to differentiate between laning and team-fighting damage when it comes to saved lives. It does have a few additional bonuses when team-fighting, however. First, like Evasive Fire it is also helpful as a chasing tool specifically when team-fighting - but again, it is also somewhat less effective at it. In the 10 games tested for Overwhelming Affliction, I was able to stay in dmg range while chasing an avg of about 2% more of the time than without it. It essentially works just as well as Evasive Fire does unless you're after a Valla, a Tassadar who took Scryer, etc. With the Wind also made no additional difference here (because we still really have to get in Auto Attack range). Thus, Overwhelming Affliction contributes an additional 373.628-384.279 dmg/min at lvl 13 (19365 overall dmg * 0.02 increase from better chasing * 0.9647-0.9922 proportion of time not in a saved life), 518.692-544.461 dmg/min at lvl 20 (27590 overall dmg * 0.02 increase from better chasing * 0.9400-0.9867 proportion of time not in a saved life), or 587.381-644.748 at lvl 20 with Remorseless and Cold Embrace (33121.75 overall dmg * 0.02 increase from better chasing * 0.8867-0.9733 proportion of time not in a saved life). Second, remember that the real point of taking a talent that slows multiple enemies rather than giving yourself a (faster) movement boost is that your entire team can benefit from the slow (while the only beneficiary of the movement boost is yourself). If you take Evasive Fire often, you'll notice that you're often the only member of your team that escapes a fight that goes poorly. The key reason for taking Evasive Fire is that dead heroes (i.e., you) do no damage. The key reason for taking Overwhelming Affliction instead is that heroes still do very little damage defending alone against 5 enemies when their team is dead. As we will see below, the choice between them here really depends on how much help your allies need to stay alive and how much they can help you stay alive in return. One key point: saving your teammates' lives depends on them knowing that you are taking Overwhelming Affliction to cover them. Otherwise, they will likely try to cover you instead. The best way to flee as a team with Overwhelming Affliction is the same way Jaina should flee: she should be the second-to-last one out with a tank close behind her to body block. If your team doesn't know that, though, they will likely fail to benefit from Overwhelming Affliction. Thus, in the same 20 games, my allies had an average of 0.4 fewer deaths each, but in 20 similar solo-queue games where I didn't coordinate with my allies (sorry to anyone who suffered from the necessary tests), they died at almost the exact same rate whether I took Overwhelming Affliction or not: there were only 0.1 fewer deaths each. In the 10 games where I took With the Wind, the numbers didn't effectively change for my teammates; it helped me stay alive, but my teammates only really got cover from Shadow Dagger and offensive Haunting Wave casts (because there are always multiple enemies chasing if you're fleeing with teammates). In the games where I coordinated with my teammates, they were also more likely to choose complimentary talents that also apply additional slows (like Frost Shot). There's no real way to differentiate between teammates picking complimentary talents and teammates simply paying attention. After all, paying attention to your teammates' builds essentially means taking complimentary talents anyway. At lvl 13, then, Overwhelming Affliction effectively counts as 0.39-1.57% of a teammate's dmg/min {47-sec return timer * 0.1-0.4 deaths / (60 secs/min * 20-min game)}, or 0.67-2.67% of it at lvl 20 {80-sec return timer * 0.1-0.4 deaths / (60 secs/min * 20-min game)}. To account for teammates' saved lives, I used the same "minimum" and "maximum" team composition that we used in The Math behind Level-1 Choices - both assuming a well-coordinated team who saves its cooldowns for Cold Embrace (using spreadsheet calculations every 1/5 sec). With the minimum reasonable team, a conservative Chen, a healing-focused Malfurion, a conservative Kerrigan, and a conservative Raynor do an avg of 82091.294 dmg/min at lvl 13, 117197.931 dmg/min at lvl 20, and 130297.333 dmg/min at lvl 20 with Cold Embrace. With the maximum reasonable team I can think of, a ham Anub'arak, a ham Kael'thas, a ham Jaina, and a ham Brightwing do an avg of 110544.025 dmg/min at lvl 13 and an avg of 190635.085 dmg/min at lvl 20, and 227830.192 dmg/min at lvl 20 with Cold Embrace. Putting those team bonuses together, Overwhelming Affliction effectively provides 320.2-1735.541 dmg/min for your team at lvl 13 (82091.294-110544.025 overall dmg * 0.0039-0.0157 from saved lives), 785.2-5089.957 dmg/min for your team at lvl 20 (117197.931-190635.085 overall dmg * 0.0067-0.0267 from saved lives), or 873.0-6083.066 dmg/min for your team at lvl 20 with Cold Embrace (117197.931-190635.085 overall dmg * 0.0067-0.0267 from saved lives). And third, the main reason to use Overwhelming Affliction is to allow both you and your teammates to land skillshots and AoE dmg that you would not otherwise land. In the same playtested games, Overwhelming Affliction and Paralysis let me, my team, and our golems/bosses and spider queens hit an average of 11% more skillshots and AoE hits throughout the game. In other words, they were 11% more likely to hit a single-target skillshot or 11% more likely to hit 1 additional target with an AoE ability (I counted each target hit by AoE abilities separately). Assuming for consistency that you don't use Haunting Wave offensively (though it does make a ton more sense here, since it's one of your tools to apply the slow to multiple enemies), your only skillshot is Wailing Arrow. Although it can be an excellent teamfighting tool, its dmg/min is negligible: 224.4 dmg/min at lvl 13 (374 base dmg * 1 target hit * 60 secs per min / 100 sec cooldown), 300.0 dmg/min at lvl 20 (500 base dmg * 1 target hit * 60 secs per min / 100 sec cooldown), 375.0 dmg/min at lvl 20 with Cold Embrace (500 base dmg * 1.25 vulnerability bonus * 1 target hit * 60 secs per min / 100 sec cooldown). The real dmg here comes from your teammates' skillshots and AoE, along with golem/spider AoE dmg. The "minimum" team above also has fewer skillshots and AoEs than does the "maximum" team, so they continue to be a good comparison. The former does 15047.733 dmg/min through skillshots against single targets at lvl 13, 58693.333 dmg/min at lvl 20, and 27155.417 dmg/min at lvl 20 if they maximize usage of those skills during Cold Embrace. The latter does 23368.32 dmg/min through single-hit skillshots at lvl 13, 41786.171 dmg/min at lvl 20, and 51371.678 dmg/min with Cold Embrace. However, we also have to adjust for whether your teammates are aware of your strategy well enough to save their cooldowns for Overwhelming Affliction (and Cold Embrace, for that matter). If they are and do, then they get the full 11% bonus for every skill they can cast during a 2-sec Shadow Dagger/ Black Arrows window every 10 secs. If they aren't or don't, then they only get a random bonus for 2/5 of every minute (12 secs of Black Arrows). Ultimately, that means that by allowing extra skillshot and AoE hits, Overwhelming Affliction can contribute an extra 395.676-2913.791 dmg/min at lvl 13 {(224.4 Wailing Arrow dmg/min + 3000 golem/spider dmg/min + 15047.733-23368.32 team dmg/min) * 0.11 increase from landed skillshots/AoE * 0.2-1.0 factor from teammates' cooperation with your cooldowns/abilities * 0.9843-0.9961 proportion of time teammates not in saved lives}, 601.087-5178.648 dmg/min at lvl 20 {(897.6 Wailing Arrow dmg/min + 5310 golem/spider dmg/min + 58693.333-130549.981 team dmg/min) * 0.11 increase from landed skillshots/AoE * 0.2-1.0 factor from teammates' cooperation with your cooldowns/abilities * 0.9733-0.9933 proportion of time teammates not in saved lives}, 731.624-6422.260 and dmg/min at lvl 20 with Cold Embrace {(897.6 Wailing Arrow dmg/min * 1.25 vulnerability bonus + 5310 golem/spider dmg/min * 1.25 vulnerability bonus + 71103.333-160793.333 team dmg/min) * 0.11 increase from landed skillshots/AoE * 0.2-1.0 factor from teammates' cooperation with your cooldowns/abilities * 0.9733-0.9933 proportion of time teammates not in saved lives}. Note that this dmg increase is also mostly in burst dmg, so it's hard to truly estimate how gamechanging it can be. It's like Envenom - it looks okay on paper but can be awesome in practice. Also note that Unstable Poison dmg can benefit from slowing enemy heroes. If you blow up a wave on top of 4 enemy heroes 11% more of the time, it does 253.44 more dmg/min at lvl 13 (192 explosion dmg * 4 heroes * 3 explosions per wave * 0.11 increase), 336.6 more dmg/min at lvl 20 (192 explosion dmg * 4 heroes * 3 explosions per wave * 0.11 increase), and 420.75 more dmg/min at lvl 20 with Cold Embrace (255 explosion dmg * 1.25 vulnerability bonus * 4 heroes * 3 explosions per wave * 0.11 increase). However, this extra dmg comes at the cost of Remorseless dmg, so we can't count it twice. Finally, note that in the playtested games, my teammates were indeed more effective at chasing fleeing enemies with Overwhelming Affliction, just as I was. Actually, the whole team managed to stay in dmg range while chasing 2% more of our game time. However, it's effectively impossible to differentiate this bonus from the bonus your teammates get to their skillshot and AoE dmg, so the numbers here don't include it - another reason they might be lower on paper than they are in practice. Finally, it is important that every build I used with Overwhelming Affliction for the purposes of this tier's testing also included Paralysis. Thus, we have to reduce dmg/min here because we are sacrificing Envenom for Paralysis by 568.92 at lvl 13, 778.36 at lvl 20, and 972.95 at lvl 20 with Cold Embrace (each is exactly the base dmg of Envenom at that lvl, since it can be used exactly once per min). Adding together you and your team's bonuses from saved lives, from extra chasing dmg, and from additional skillshot and AoE dmg, Overwhelming Affliction can potentially contribute 671.587-5650.100 dmg/min at lvl 13, 1493.593-12673.506 dmg/min at lvl 20, and 2103.398-18236.606 dmg/min at lvl 20 with With the Wind, Remorseless, and Cold Embrace. Splinter Shot adds 1842.221-1984.349 damage per minute when laning at level 13. At level 20. it adds 2284.711-2606.011 damage, or 2543.625-3190.576 if you also take Cold Embrace, Remorseless, and With the Wind. In terms of time, it saves you 1.1-2.7 seconds per minion wave at level 13, 1.2-2.0 seconds at level 20, and 0.8-1.6 seconds at level 20 with the talent upgrades. Like the other talents on this tier, Splinter Shot costs 0.0% of your mana at all levels. In our dmg calculations here, we have to remember that Splinter Shot comes at the cost of not taking Evasive Fire and Overwhelming Affliction. That means laning dmg must account for the loss of their benefits in terms of saved lives. Since you could never benefit from Evasive Fire and Overwhelming Affliction at once, it makes sense to reduce your dmg only by the highest personal contributions: to 89.82-97.26% of your dmg/min at lvl 13, 82.67-95.33% of your dmg/min at lvl 20, 75.33-91.33% of your dmg/min at lvl 20 with With the Wind, Remorseless, and Cold Embrace. While laning, you can fire 42 Withering Fire per min: 1 charge every 2 secs plus 1 charge for each minion kill (2 waves of 7 minions each min). That means Splinter Shot contributes 1842.221-1984.349 dmg/min at lvl 13 (48 dmg/hit * 42 hits * 0.9138-0.9843 reduction from dying without Evasive Fire or Overwhelming Affliction), 2284.711-2606.011 dmg/min at lvl 20 (63.75 dmg/hit * 42 hits * 0.8533-0.9733 reduction from dying without Evasive Fire or Overwhelming Affliction), or 2543.625-3190.576 dmg/min at lvl 20 with Cold Embrace, Remorseless, and With the Wind (63.75 dmg/hit * 1.25 vulnerability bonus * 42 hits * 0.7600-0.9533 reduction from dying without Evasive Fire or Overwhelming Affliction) - assuming you properly save up your Withering Fire refills for Cold Embrace. With Splinter Shot at lvl 13, you can theoretically kill a wave in 7.2 secs. Based on playtesting with the assistance of your minions, it actually takes about 9.8 secs. When enemy heroes are present, if you are laning with an even matchup (1v1), you can kill a wave in about 12.5 secs. If you're outnumbered, it takes a little longer: about 17.9 secs. At lvl 20, it takes 3.0-4.6 secs - or 1.8-2.4 sec with Cold Embrace and Remorseless. When team-fighting at level 13, Splinter Shot deals 1114.218-1205.694 damage per minute. It adds 1379.080-1585.917 damage at level 20, or 1748.503-2224.477 at level 20 if you also take Cold Embrace, Remorseless, and With the Wind. Again, these bonuses cost 0.0% of your mana at all levels. Any contribution of Splinter Shot while team-fighting must account for the loss of Evasive Fire and Overwhelming Affliction benefits in terms of both saved lives and extra damage done while chasing, because you can't do dmg when you're dead or out of range. (We're not, however, going to subtract the lost benefits of Overwhelming Affliction to your teammates and the missed skillshots/AoE dmg, because neither of those directly impact Splinter Shot dmg.) Still, because you can't benefit from Evasive Fire and Overwhelming Affliction at once, we're only going to reduce dmg/min by the highest personal contributions: to 88.43-95.69% of your dmg/min at lvl 13 (1.57-8.62% from deaths without Evasive Fire + 2.74-2.95% from lost chasing dmg while alive without Evasive Fire), 82.41-94.77% of your dmg/min at lvl 20 (2.67-14.67% from deaths without Evasive Fire + 2.56-2.92% from lost chasing dmg while alive without Evasive Fire), 73.14-93.05% of your dmg/min at lvl 20 with With the Wind, Remorseless, and Cold Embrace (4.67-24.00% from deaths without Evasive Fire + 2.28-2.86% from lost chasing dmg while alive without Evasive Fire). Also, without With the Wind, you will not always be close enough in range to the enemy team to hit two targets with Withering Fire: the first from its default hit and the second from Splinter Shot (see The Math behind Level-1 Choices for more details). In the same playtested games used for comparison purposes above (there were 20 in which I took Splinter Shot, half of which also had With the Wind), about 2/3 of my Splinter Shot hits had no target if I was continuously spamming Withering Fire. If I saved them for bursts (especially for Cold Embrace), only about 1/8 of them were lost. That's another reason on top of the ones listed in The Math behind Level 7 Choices to learn to save your Withering Fire for bursts. One benefit to Splinter Shot that simply cannot be accounted for in these calculations is its benefit as a bursting tool. Typically, Sylvanas is poor at burst damage, precisely because Withering Fire automatically targets the closest hero (usually the tank in your face). Splinter Shot, however, allows you to hit the closest and second-closest heroes, so that you can burst down that Valla when she jumps at you. For that reason, the contribution of Splinter Shot in practice is significantly more than on paper. When team-fighting, you only have 30 Withering Fire per min, since there are no refills from minion deaths. Consistent with the rest of the math in this guide, we aren't counting any 3-hit refills from hero deaths, since there's no consistent way to predict when they would occur. However, that does mean that estimates for Splinter Shot and other talents that depend on Withering Fire refills are slightly lower than the value those talents actually have practice. Thus, Splinter Shot provides 1114.218-1205.694 dmg/min at lvl 13 (48 dmg/hit * 30 hits * 0.9138-0.9843 reduction from dying without Evasive Fire or Overwhelming Affliction * 0.875 reduction from missing hits without With the Wind), 1379.080-1585.917 dmg/min at lvl 20 (63.75 dmg/hit * 30 hits * 0.8533-0.9733 reduction from dying without Evasive Fire or Overwhelming Affliction * 0.875 reduction from missing hits without With the Wind), or 1748.503-2224.477 dmg/min at lvl 20 with Cold Embrace, Remorseless, and With the Wind (63.75 dmg/hit * 1.25 vulnerability bonus * 30 hits * 0.7600-0.9533 reduction from dying without Evasive Fire or Overwhelming Affliction). Spell Shield doesn't really stand a chance compared to the above numbers, but I did the math for thoroughness. When laning or team-fighting, it effectively contributes 75.524-920.119 damage per minute at level 13, 184.853-2053.866 damage at level 20, and 221.916-1780.942 at level 20 with Cold Embrace, Remorseless, and With the Wind. Like every other talent on this tier, Spell Shield is a passive bonus that costs 0.0% mana at all levels. The only idea behind Spell Shield is to save lives. We can therefore estimate its contribution the same way we estimate the main contribution from Evasive Fire or Overwhelming Affliction. Spell Shield can be great on other heroes, and it can feel nice to survive a burst from Nova or Jaina. However, its contribution for Sylvanas pales in comparison to Evasive Fire and Overwhelming Affliction for a number of reasons. First, it only prevents a percentage of dmg and you are so squishy that it's unlikely to really help if you're caught out (especially if you're stunned or rooted). It's much better not to get caught at all, and Evasive Fire and Overwhelming Affliction are far better for that. If you're not convinced, consider the difference between dodging Burrow Charge and reducing its dmg or the benefit from being able to outrun the Overpower that follows up Shadow Charge. Second, even if Spell Shield were to save as many lives as the other talents do, it doesn't provide the extra chasing and skillshot/AoE bonuses to you and your team. I playtested 10 more games with the Team Fight Carry build, and in 5 of them, I replaced Splinter Shot with Spell Shield); I also tested an additional 5 games where I took both Evasive Fire and With the Wind. When I wasn't in serious danger, I didn't have any fewer deaths per game from Spell Shield, but to be charitable, let's say it's 0.1 deaths. When I was in danger, it prevented only an average of 0.7 deaths. Taking With the Wind actually decreased the latter figure to 0.5 deaths, since it helped me be out of range in the first place (making Spell Shield somewhat superfluous). Thus, that number of deaths at lvl 13 reduces dmg/min to 97.26-99.61% {100% - 47-sec return timer * 0.1-0.7 deaths / (60 secs/min * 20-min game)}, 95.33-99.33% at lvl 20 {100% - 80-sec return timer * 0.1-0.7 deaths / (60 secs/min * 20-min game)}, or 96.67-99.33% at lvl 20 with With the Wind {100% - 80-sec return timer * 0.1-0.5 deaths / (60 secs/min * 20-min game)}. In other words, it effectively provides 0.39-2.74% dmg/min at lvl 13 to 0.67-4.67% at lvl 20, or 0.67-3.33% dmg/min at lvl 20 with With the Wind. Based on the overall dmg you can do (see above), saved lives through Evasive Fire are worth 75.524-920.119 dmg/min at lvl 13 (19365-33581 overall dmg * 0.0039-0.0274 increase from saved lives), 184.853-2053.866 dmg/min at lvl 20 (27590-43980 overall dmg * 0.0067-0.0467 increase from saved lives), or 221.916-1780.942 at lvl 20 with With the Wind, Remorseless, and Cold Embrace (33121.75-53481.75 at overall dmg * 0.0067*0.0333 increase from saved lives). Ultimately, the choice of talent for this tier is unclear. The damage contribution ratios show that, when team-fighting, Splinter Shot can be better or worse than Evasive Fire or Overwhelming Affliction depending on the situation, doing between 6.20 times less and 1.33 times more effective damage per minute than Evasive Fire does, and between 8.20 times less and 1.66 times more effective damage per minute than Overwhelming Affliction does. The choice between Evasive Fire and Overwhelming Affliction is just as situational: Evasive Fire provides between 1.24 times more to 1.75 times less damage per minute when team-fighting than does Overwhelming Affliction. When laning, Splinter Shot provides the only direct benefit to both damage per minute and wave-clearing per second, although Evasive Fire and Overwhelming Affliction both provide indirect benefits to your laning effectiveness by keeping you alive. The only thing that's truly clear is that Spell Shield is clearly not a contender. Among those talents, Overwhelming Affliction has the broadest range, with the lowest minimum and the highest maximum damage per minute, while Splinter Shot has the smallest range and therefore the most consistent contribution. Splinter Shot, however, has the lowest average contribution by a significant amount, and Evasive Fire has a slightly higher average than does Overwhelming Affliction. According to averages, Evasive Fire appears to scale the best in terms of team-fighting, but Overwhelming Affliction does in terms of laning. Ultimately, the actual damage ratio depends on how many lives the movement bonuses save you and/or your teammates, how many extra skillshots/AoE you and your team can land, how coordinated your team is, and how often you are the primary focus of the enemy team. Mana doesn't help, since all the talents on this tier cost 0.0% of your mana at all levels. See the discussion in Summary and Final Math above for more details on which talent to choose in which situations.

Windrunner - Never pick this After Haunting Teleport, Haunting Wave can be cast again for free

Not bad. Doubles your escape/chase range and the effectiveness of Ranger's Ambush. Unfortunately, it doesn't help Haunting Teleport's vulnerability to stuns, silences, and roots, and it's completely overshadowed by the other talents in this tier. Evasive Fire should provide enough mobility if you need it.

Cold Embrace - Any Competitive Build Sahdow Dagger also makes all minions, mercenaries, structures, and heroes vulnerable

Always take this. It adds a serious damage boost to Shadow Dagger itself and to any subsequent damage for 2 seconds. This is the reason for Lost Soul at level 1: to let you cast this gamechanger as often as possible (Ultimately, Lost Soul grants 25% additional vulnerability time--3 more seconds per minute). After you get it, consider saving your Withering Fire charges and getting your team to save their bursts until after you make the entire team vulnerable: wombo combo! Cold Embrace is so good that you should really take it even if you forget that you're not an assassin ( Jaina has a similar talent that only hits in a cone, and most people take it, and Cold Embrace is all but guaranteed to spread to an entire enemy team).

Will of the Forsaken (#) - Never pick this Temporarily adds 30% movement speed and makes you unstoppable

Charges: 1
Cooldown: 60 seconds
Mana cost: 0

This might be the best escape in the game, next to Bolt of the Storm. Could even cancel Judgment and The Hunt. Realistically, though, Evasive Fire can already provide 30% movement speed, which is faster than any other hero, and you can take Bolt of the Storm soon anyway. The unstoppable trait is therefore just not worth sacrificing Cold Embrace. If it were on another tier, I might rethink it.

Blood for Blood (#) - I'm Confused and Think I'm an Assassin Steals health from and slows a single target

Charges: 1
Cooldown: 60 seconds
Mana cost: 0

Blood for Blood is a great talent on many assassins, because it works well with Envenom and their other talents to burst down enemy heroes--especially tanks, since Blood for Blood calculates damage and drains health by a percentage of the target's max health. The problem is that you're a specialist without any other good burst abilities. Even for an assassin-like Sylvanus, I would still probably recommend Cold Embrace because it's a more effective immediate burst against non-tanks, and it applies both Overwhelming Affliction (slowing all enemy heroes rather than just one) and Life Drain (taking care of your emergency healing needs). That being said, the recommendations for this tier are designed for a well-coordinated team that fights together against a well-coordinated team that fights together; if the teams are all over the place and there are a ton of 1v1 death matches away from minions, you could take Blood for Blood instead of Cold Embrace.

Defeaning Blast - Situational Pick Only Significantly increases damage and silence duration at the center of Wailing Arrow's detonation

Deafening Blast would be immensely effective if it affected Wailing Arrow's entire radius rather than only it's small center. That means that it's incredibly difficult to aim and detonate at the right moment, even if your target is standing still (like Nazeebo using Ravenous Spirit or Tyrael using Sanctification). Because of that, I would only consider it alongside Overwhelming Affliction's slow . Even then, however, I find that Fury of the Storm is more effective. It's a close call, though, so feel free to try it for the Unstoppable Team Push and Slow All Day builds.

Dark Lady's Call - Situational Pick Only Allows Possession to be used on mercenaries and adds 3 extra charges every 80 seconds

Now that Possession isn't the absolute worst ability ever invented, Dark Lady's Call is now something to consider. If you're playing the Split Push Map Control build, this will let you convert late-game waves (i.e., including catapults or mercenaries) before you run off. On the other hand, Bolt of the Storm will help keep you alive while you're running, so it will be more effective if you are frequently being chased. The extra 3 charges aren't worth dying for.

Update for Butcher patch: This talent was reworked when Possession was, so it is now slightly more viable as well.

Fury of the Storm - Damage, Slow, & Team Push Builds Every 5 seconds, increases Auto Attack damage and massively damages nearby minions/mercs

For most heroes that have it, I recommend against taking Fury of the Storm. It only increases damage for 1 Auto Attackevery 5 seconds, and minions and mercenaries are usually irrelevant to their team fight strategies. For Sylvanas, however, things are different. If you took Remorseless, that 1 Auto Attack will be boosted by both abilities, making a single right-click deal almost triple damage. Moreover, Fury of the Storm hits all minions and mercenaries near your target for 500 damage, infecting them with Black Arrows and likely killing them. If you took Unstable Poison, they will also explode, dealing even more damage. If you took Sylvanas because you want burst damage, here it is.

Bolt of the Storm (#) - Self-Sufficient & Split Push Builds (Situational Pick) Instant teleport with long range

Charges: 1
Cooldown: 40 seconds
Mana cost: 0

Multiple times, I've considered writing a general guide entitled, "Why You Should Always Take Bolt for Every, Single Hero Who Has It." It's the best escape in the game, with three exceptions: it has a long cooldown, it only comes at level 20, and almost everyone has it. Still, not everyone takes it, and it's hard to follow where someone bolted to fast enough to catch them--especially if they're smart enough to bolt into a bush or out of sight. If you're building for escapes, this is the talent you really want alongside Evasive Fire and Haunting Teleport. With those three, you don't need anything else.

• Preferred Build: Team Fight Carry
• Optional Build #1: Slow All Day(if it compliments your team)
• Optional Build #2: Self-Sufficient(if you need it)

This is the map where you should learn Sylvanas's team fight style. There's team fight after team fight around tributes, followed by mercenary farming and pushes where minions and structures are irrelevant (because they're cursed). Your strategy here is to build up your sustain presence in team fights with the Team Fight Carry build. If your team has the right slow talents and wants to cc that way, the Slow All Day build works, and the Self-Sufficient build is great if you are getting bursted down in team fights.

Early game, you will likely want to lane top of bottom. Mid should be held by a pair that is less vulnerable to ganks. If your team does a 2-2-1 or 1-2-2 split, you will likely be solo, but it is a viable strategy to do a 3-1-1 or 1-1-3 split where you go with the 3 and push one lard hard before the first tribute. Since the first tribute comes after a long period, this kind of push often works, but remember that your team's priority should be to soak to level 10 faster than the other team. So your primary goal is to stay in sight on minions, kill them with Shadow Dagger, and keep an eye out for trees to Haunting Teleport through if you need to escape. You have the ability to solo siege giant camps without taking any damage as soon as they come up (target the further one with Auto Attack while letting Withering Fire target the other), but make sure someone covers your lane because you can only kill them very slowly.

In team fights for tributes, stay back and deal sustained damage to everyone you can--even the tank if that's all you can reach, since Shadow Dagger will spread from there. Remember that Sylvanas starts off fairly weak and seriously scales up throughout the game, so you're not yet a huge threat; just stay alive and do your part. Be sure to Auto Attack those squishes while your Withering Fire keeps bugging the enemy tank. However, don't stand still too long or you will be a natural target. When you get Remorseless, you are a bigger threat. Remember that your Haunting Teleport can easily reposition you through trees and barriers, so that you can escape, dodge, or engage with ease. However, don't chase too hard. Sylvanas is usually better used to go lane some exp if the team fight is basically over. The team to get to level 10 first often wins. If your team gets 3 tributes, go push right away or take some mercs and push with them (not the boss...it takes too long to get at this stage and wastes the curse); your presence in pushes makes a big difference even with 1-health minions and frozen structures.

When mid game arrives, team fights will be more frequent and ultimates will be in play. Figure out your plan with Wailing Arrow and stick to it. It's still not really worth it to chase enemy heroes because you're priority is to get to Cold Embrace at level 16 (and if you're playing the Slow All Day build, to get to Overwhelming Affliction at level 13). Once you get there, your presence in team fights makes a huge difference. Get there right behind your tank and control those fights. Cold Embrace is even worth it against single targets and bosses. If you and your team win a tribute fight anywhere near a boss, and the enemy heroes won't be respawning soon, take a boss. Bosses win this map. In late game, your strategy shouldn't change too much, except that laning minions is completely irrelevant except to push. Never leave your team unless you've killed a number of enemy heroes so that split push is safe. Most enemy heroes will now have the ability to cc and burst you before you can get out, even if you take every escape you have, so don't get caught without your team.

• Preferred Build: Unstoppable Team Push

Haunted Mines is a good map to practice your second style of play and team fighting: fighting as part of a team lane push. Your build here is Unstoppable Team Push--absolutely no excuses for taking another build. Your job from the beginning is to be on the offensive because you are as dangerous if not worse than any golem. In fact, you are so dangerous on this map that your strategy should be different from other specialists.

Usually, in early game, I would say that a team on Haunted Mines should do a 4-1 or 1-4 split: the 4 being in the lane their golem will be pushing, and the team's specialist should go hold the other lane. Sylvanas, however, can seriously consider going with the 4 and pushing the hell out of the towers and gate before the first trip to the mines. Sometimes my team and I even decide to have two specialists on this map so that Zagara or Nazeebo can go hold the non-golem lane while we do some serious siege damage. Haunted Mines is all about a snowball, so the team that gets ahead on pushing usually gets ahead of levels and can't be stopped. (Not always, though, so don't give up! I've seen a number of really awesome comebacks on this map.)

Actually, it's such a snowball map and Sylvanas is so dangerous on it that I would even consider an unorthodox strategy: when the first trip to the mines comes up, Sylvanas can legitimately ignore it and keep pushing. The enemy team will either have to send someone to (poorly) defend against her, or worse, they'll ignore her and go for skulls. Yes, it will be 4v5 in the mines for your team, but you can do so much damage to the enemy team's first fort that it will be worth it almost every time (assuming your team can hold their own and get a few skulls). This strategy only works on the first trip to the mines, because the first golem is half strength. Never, ever, ignore skulls on subsequent trips. But because the first golem is half strength, Sylvanas can be more powerful than a 100-0 golem. One last thing about this strategy: make sure your team knows what you're doing and agrees with it.

Right after the mines, your team should get the bruiser camp and your siege camp. If there's a team fight at the bruisers, be there to help, but otherwise, you can slowly solo the giants. When the golems are up, though, you should always, always be pushing with your golem--unless the enemy team is 5-pushing with theirs. Even if it's 1v5 near their golem, just throw a Shadow Dagger in and run occasionally. Because you'll be taking Unstable Poison and Overwhelming Affliction, a single Shadow Dagger will seriously disrupt the enemy's ability to efficiently kill your golem. You can't do the same sort of catastrophic damage on defense, but if you're whole team is forced to defend against a 5-push, you can still blow up enemy minions in their faces.

After the first mines, during mid game, and during late game (if there even is one on this map), your strategy should basically be the same. Get down to the mines to collect skulls, quickly grab camps, push with your golem, refill mana/health for the next trip to the mines. Your team should be grouped after their first trip to the mines at all times, with the one exception discussed above: if your team's golem is significantly weaker, split up so that 4 defend and you push. If your golem is even close to equal to the other team's, though, team push with all 5. Because Sylvanas can basically protect her golem from taking any siege damage, even a golem with 40 skulls can end the game if nobody's there to defend against it. With this build, your team fight strategy is basically to stay in the background, tossing Shadow Dagger, lighting up the towers and forts with Withering Fire and Auto Attack, and watching your golem smash through everything. The only time you should really engage is to kill a squishy hero that got caught out of position, but remember that since your whole team is fighting in range of structures, you are more effective if you just keep them out of play with Black Arrows so that your team plus your golem can fight safely.

• Preferred Build: Unstoppable Team Push
• Optional Build #1: Self-Sufficient(if you need it)
• Optional Build #2: Split Push Map Control(only if team agrees to take the risk)

Your overall strategy on this map is very similar to the one you should use on Haunted Mines. Take the Unstoppable Team Push build. Reasonably, you could consider the Self-Sufficient or Split Push Map Control builds, too (especially given how effective the quick movement is on such a small map), but the Unstoppable Team Push build is the most effective long term because you will end up pushing as a team with your spiders, the same way you would with golems on Haunted Mines.

Early game, you should be bottom, probably alone. Push it gently at first. The key to Tomb of the Spider Queen is actually not laning, but staying alive. It's a small map that is ripe for ganks, and despite your Haunting Teleport, you are seriously vulnerable because of your squishiness. So always be positioned where you can teleport to safely very quickly. When the siege giants come up around level 3, get someone from mid to cover your lane while you solo them. In the meantime, just stay alive and cover your teammates turn-ins (and contest your opponents' turn-ins). The big gamechanger on this map is who gets to level 10 first, so your team should never sacrifice lanes for kills (ganks are great here...just be sure to rotate lanes effectively between them).

By mid game, your team ought to start roaming in groups or as one. Defend spider waves together, killing one wave at a time, and push with spider waves as a group. Because you're in 5-man groups pushing or defending a push, your fighting strategy ought to look very similar to what you'd do in Haunted Mines. If you are split pushing instead, you're job would be to push until the other team reacts and then get out before they show up. When you're with groups, same fighting style: throw Shadow Dagger and spam Withering Fire at whoever's closest. Be aware that you'll be a big focus on this map, especially if there's a Nova or Zeratul running around. Late game is basically the same as mid game on this map, since laning is actually still important for gems--but there will be more laning as a group, unlike in early game.

• Preferred Build: Self-Sufficient

This map is what the Self-Sufficient build is made for (the Split Push Map Control build might seem tempting here, but there are plenty of team fights with or against the dragon knight in which Black Arrows is a gamechanger). You can, of course, use it on other maps, but here--especially early game--you will find yourself in a lane 1v1 or 2v2. Most of the time, a specialist is solo in mid with a 2-1-2. You could do that as Sylvanus, but if you do, another team member should take the dragon. Your Black Arrows compliments the dragon way too much for you to be controlling it (of course, if it's ever a choice between taking the dragon and waiting until nobody can, definitely take it).

In early game here, you're just going to want to carefully soak until the first shrines come up. Kills are not really worth it unless you can kill everyone in a lane and gain that experience advantage. Once you get to Envenom at level 4, you could consider some kills, but really, just hang back and push like the monster Sylvanas is. As long as your team can hang on to one of the two shrines, nothing really matters as long as you survive. You're better late game, so your goal is just to get there. If you keep an eye on your minimap (which you should always do anyway), you should know when you're safe to push towers and gates.

Your mid and late game strategies should honestly depend on the other team. If they let you stay 2-1-2, you'll win, so don't be the first to group--but if they do group react quickly. Again, all that really matters is not letting the enemy team take the dragon knight, since your push will be stronger than theirs, so just hold at least one shrine.

Your team fight ability will be a little weaker than in other builds, since your focus is staying alive in a 1v1 or 2v2 lane. However, with Evasive Fire, you should be pretty good at darting in to plant an Envenom and Shadow Dagger, and then darting back out--all the while spamming Withering Fire at nearby stuff. When Shadow Dagger is on cooldown, do your best to take structures out of play if you're on offense. If you're on defense, keep spamming Withering Fire and Auto Attack the dragon knight. You're more effective on offense in this map, so kill the dragon knight as soon as possible to end enemy pushes.

• Preferred Build: Team Fight Carry
• Optional Build #1: Self-Sufficient(if you need it)
• Optional Build #2: Slow All Day(if it compliments your team)
• Optional Build #3: Split Push Map Control(only if team agrees to take the risk)

Your strategy for Sky Temple should be very similar to the strategy for Cursed Hollow. There are a lot of team fights throughout the game, and they are far removed from laning and mercenaries. The difference is that there are often multiple temples up at once, as opposed to the tributes that pop up one at a time. So the build you use is your call. You could stick to the Team Fight Carry strategy of Cursed Hollow, or you could go with the Self-Sufficient strategy of Dragon Shire since you are so often in groups of 2 or 3. (Similarly, this is a viable map for the risky strategy of the Split Push Map Control build - if you think your 4 teammates can hold temples alone, or at least contest them long enough for split pushing to make enough progress to be worth it.)

In early game, you should be either top or bot before the first temples (which are top and mid). If you have a Falstad or Brightwing, they should probably be bot so they can simply teleport to the temples; otherwise, it should be you. Push carefully and don't overextend in whichever lane you're in. When the first temples come up, your team should really concentrate on taking one, agree on it, and go for it. If neither team contests the temples, it should be safe for you to lane right next to your team for some extra exp and pushing. Otherwise, stay with your team for the team fights. Use your Black Arrows to stun the temple guardians that are attacking your team, and if necessary, use the temple guardians as vehicles to infect enemy heroes with Shadow Dagger. Your goal in team fights is not to kill heroes; it's to zone them out of the temples until the temples expire. In other words, a kill is just a bonus but never worth chasing for.

After the first two temples, start moving bot, where the next one will be. From that point on, be cognizant of where the temples where be next and apply pressure before they arrive. The same sort of strategy applies mid game, except that teams will be more likely to try to take all of the temples instead of just one at a time, so be ready to fight alone, with small groups, or as a 5-man team. Use your healing abilities at nearby lanes or with multiple guardians and enemy heroes to get that extra health. Then, as late game approaches, keep an eye on the boss. More than even other maps, the boss can decide this one, because teams will have to choose between contesting temples or defending against the boss, and either of them can end the game. Don't hesitate to use everything you've got on the boss (specially a single-target Shadow Dagger for Cold Embrace) whether you're trying to take it quickly or defend against it. Although this is a Sylvanas guide rather than a general strategy guide, I do feel compelled to say this: never try to get the boss unless you have a clear advantage, either because they have 2 heroes dead for a long time, or because you have a serious level advantage. Otherwise, your team will get ganked, likely lose between fighting the boss and the enemy team, and then end up losing multiple lives and the boss.

• Preferred Build: Team Fight Carry
• Optional Build #1: Self-Sufficient(if you need it)
• Optional Build #2: Slow All Day(if it compliments your team)

This map involves a lot of killing mercenaries and fighting over turning in coins, so go for the Team Fight Carry and Self-Sufficient builds (or the Slow All Day build if your team composition or the enemies' calls for it). It's still about lanes in early game, since the first team to 10 often wins, but the siege damage that stacks up from turning in coins is really what makes or breaks a team on this map--so in any phase, make sure to help your team if they need help defending against enemy turn-ins. There's one other thing important to this map for you: the bottom lane is really far from the other two. That means you should usually be down there in the beginning, out pushing the enemy team's specialist (though definitely switch out if it's Zagara or Tychus defending against you). Also, a ton of teams like to rush to the watch tower at the beginning to fight--which is almost never worth it. That means you are very likely to find yourself alone in the bottom lane; if so, get your team to hold the enemy as long as possible while you level their gate and towers. If you're not alone down there, though, focus on getting coins and turning them in. You'll be able to solo both the siege giants and the smaller coin camps as soon as they come up, but get someone to cover your lane if you go for the giants, since it will take you a while in the beginning.

By mid game and late game, unless there's a major snowball already happening, both teams will begin to group up to contest turn ins--then splitting to quickly take down the camps on their side of the map. You can sneak the enemy team's siege giants if you are confident you know where the enemy team is and you have an escape route (probably because the first bottom fort is gone). Other than that, be present in team fights for your damage. You are also one of the most survivable heroes on this map, because there are a lot of escape routes for you (send your teleport across the rivers and barrier near turn in--almost nobody can keep up). That means you are a viable hero to grab coins and hold them if your team ends up losing and needs to escape. However, you are also so squishy that you'll almost never be able to dart into the middle of an ongoing team fight to collect coins off a dead hero. Finally, note that the boss is almost as important on this map as it is on Sky Temple, so always be there to get it with your team, and use everything you've got (except your ultimate) to take it quickly.

• Preferred Build: Team Fight Carry
• Optional Build #1: Slow All Day(if it compliments your team)
• Optional Build #2: Split Push Map Control(only if team agrees to take the risk)
• Optional Build #3: Self-Sufficient(if you need it)

This is maybe the hardest map to come up with a "best" Sylvanas build because of a few factors: (1) unlike with golems, dragon knights, etc., you don't actually compliment the garden terror so well (because the seeds already stun structures and minions); (2) it's a large map so you can't get between lanes easily; (3) objectives mostly involve killing a boss-like single target (the minions are negligible as far as your build is concerned); and (4) it's hard to predict whether there will be a lot of team fights or a lot of laning. Based on all of this, I tend to go with the main two builds, Team Fight Carry and Self-Sufficient (or the Slow All Day build if your team composition or the enemies' calls for it), and a similar strategy to the Cursed Hollow and Sky Temple maps. Your push will be totally fine without adding to it, so put your talents into team-fighting. Alternatively, this map be the most viable map for the Split Push Map Control build, since both you and the terror can do similar things in different lanes (your team should go 4-1 in that case). It should go without saying that you are still one of the worst characters to take the terror because your sustained damage is too valuable to team fights.

As for early game strategy, you should be either top or bottom. There's really no difference between the two on this map, so you'll want to pick based on your match-ups. Mid lane is too dangerous for you because of ganks, so let the tank handle it. Lane as usual until the first objective pops up, and then get in there and kill the minions as soon as possible. If the two teams split up and each go for a different terror, then you should get back to the nearby lane and soak while your team grabs seeds. If, however, the teams end up fighting over a terror, get in there and help. Try to keep the terror between your team and the enemy's, and let your tank run around grabbing seeds. You're way to squishy to risk getting stunned by the terror when the enemy team is right there.

Your mid and late game strategies really shouldn't be that different than on other large maps, like Cursed Hollow or Sky Temple. As long as you are safe doing so, stay in separate lanes, because Sylvanas is going to be the stronger pusher--but as soon as either team groups up, make sure you do the same. You have some good escapes, but there's usually no getting away from a 1v5. Your team fight strategy at that point really depends on the build you took. If you took the Split Push Map Control build, you really need to end the game as soon as possible, since your team fight presence will be significantly weaker than in the two main team fighting builds.