[Tracer Patch] Tasty and Lifesaving! by Poultron

[Tracer Patch] Tasty and Lifesaving!

By: Poultron
Last Updated: Apr 27, 2016
82 Votes
Build 1 of 2

Li Li

Build: Aggressive Support Panda

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Level 20

Threats to Li Li with this build

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Threat Hero Notes
1
Li Li I do not condone panda on panda violence.
1
Artanis Can do relatively little to you or your team. Not only is his damage sustained, but you can simply blind him and watch it all vanish.
1
Chen I just told you I don't condone panda on panda violence! He's your uncle, for heaven's sake!
1
Kharazim Gets completely wrecked by Blinding Wind.
1
Tassadar Not much of a concern, plus you can blind Archon if he takes it.
1
Tychus How come he misses with the minigun when he's blind? It doesn't really require aiming.
2
Illidan Almost a complete joke to Li Li. Cast your blind and watch him flail pathetically.
2
Cho Just blind him and walk away. Gath is the scarier head here.
2
Gazlowe Marginally annoying, as his turrets will sap Blinding Wind. Not much of a bother otherwise, and in fact if he takes Robo-Goblin blinding him does good work.
2
Lunara Largely likes to deal damage through auto-attacking, making Blinding Wind effective against her. Furthermore, her damage is over time, which is perfect for your Brew.
3
Gall This guy will sap your mana during the laning phase since all of his abilities are pretty spammable, but he's not much of a menace later on.
3
Murky He's a nuisance for sure, but your heals are well suited to dealing with his brand of damage. Just don't let him catch you.
3
Rehgar Wants to bite you, but he can't bite you if he can't see you.
3
Thrall Really likes to auto attack, so Blinding him is great. He can knock you out of jug but he needs to ult to do it.
4
Malfurion Li Li is nothing without her abilities, so keep an eye on this guy if he's taken [[Twilight Dream]]. He can totally ruin your day.
4
Azmodan Li Li can do nothing to stop his push, but in a team fight he just kills too slowly to really be that much of a nuisance. You can out-heal him no problem.
4
Greymane Scarier in Human form than in Worgen form. Susceptible to Blind, but can reach you quickly.
4
Raynor Surprisingly threatening despite being an auto attack hero, since even if he's blinded he'll still be buffing his team and doing his job.
4
The Butcher Blinding him when he uses his Brand will completely ruin his day. He can knock you out of Jug, but it takes a little bit to run to you.
4
Valla Slightly more threatening than the average auto attack hero thanks to her relatively high ability damage and ultimate stun.
5
Falstad Although he deals most of his damage through auto attacks, he has some surprising ability-based burst. Be careful!
5
Kerrigan Mostly non-threatening thanks to Blinding Winds, but a lot of her damage is from abilities. Luckily she has almost no burst, so you can just heal away.
5
Nazeebo Deals much of his damage through Abilities, but it's not very bursty, so it's not too tough to deal with.
5
Sgt. Hammer Hard to blind given that she's generally in the back of the fight, but still doesn't want to be blinded.
5
Sonya She can stun you, but her damage output isn't really high enough to be a concern.
5
Tyrande Can stun you out of Jug, but otherwise isn't much of a concern.
6
Brightwing Can successfully prevent you from helping your team by polymorphing you, or by being a general nuisance.
6
Anub'arak Something of a nuisance thanks to his stun, as well as his beetles sapping your Blinding Wind.
6
Lt. Morales Can't do anything to you, but you can't do anything to her, other than hope your team actually attacks her.
6
Rexxar Only has one difficult to set up hard CC, but it should still be noted. Misha can be blinded!
6
Sylvanas Annoying because of her Silence, and the fact that her abilities do most of her damage.
6
Xul High damage and his skeletons will sap your Blinding Winds. That being said, you can blind his scythe.
7
Johanna Has a somewhat easy time knocking you out of Jug and doesn't really care about your blind.
7
Leoric Entomb is very scary. Li Li relies on running around in a team fight to get her job done, and this makes your Passive mostly useless.
7
The Lost Vikings A surprising annoyance in that they will make Mass Vortex less effective. But they all like to auto attack, so I guess it's not so bad.
7
Uther Has a lot of ways to disrupt Jug, and he's not afraid to use them.
7
Zagara She deals a lot of sustain damage and doesn't like to be blinded, but Maw is an extremely powerful ability that will ruin your day.
8
Diablo Has an extremely easy time knocking you out of your Jug, and he can reach you very quickly.
8
E.T.C. Has an extremely easy time knocking you out of your Jug, and he can reach you very quickly.
8
Muradin Can VERY easily knock you out of Jug, and doesn't care about your Blind.
8
Tyrael Can and will dive on you to stop a Jug or simply to secure a kill on you.
9
Nova One of Li Li's major weaknesses is healing against burst damage, which Nova has a lot of. She can sneak right up behind you and blast your face off before you even have a chance to react, or do the same thing to one of your squishies.
9
Li-Ming Another bursty mage. Extremely difficult if not outright impossible for you to deal with. The only saving grace is that she has no hard CC.
9
Stitches Hooks are dangerous! Not as dangerous for Li Li as some supports thanks to her passive, but you will still probably die if you get hooked. So don't!
10
Zeratul Same story as Nova, but isn't as bad of a hero.
10
Jaina Extremely high burst damage, Li Li's weakness. Try to avoid at all costs.
10
Kael'thas High-burst hero, and there's nothing you can do against his meatball. Very scary.

Li Li

Build: Full Serpent Panda

Level 1
Level 4
Level 7
Level 10
Level 13
Level 16
Level 20

Introduction Top

Li Li, the World Wanderer, is a highly positional support who relies on her spammable heal and multi-target blind to keep her and her allies in the fight. Li Li is extremely quick on her feet, speeding up any time an enemy hits her, allowing her to get out of trouble where others might fall. Because of this, she can be surprisingly aggressive, with her pet Cloud Serpent and fearsome Water Dragon to assail her foes.

Strengths and Weaknesses Top

Strengths

  • Easy to learn; only one Ability requires any targeting
  • Extremely mobile with cast-while-moving spells and her passive
  • High sustain healing
  • Very cute

Weaknesses

  • Little to no crowd control
  • Difficulty handling burst damage
  • Squishy, particularly vulnerable to crowd control
  • Too cute?

Abilities Top

(Trait) Fast Feet
Fast Feet is a very useful, if boring, passive. It makes Li Li incredibly slippery. She can move in and out of a team fight fluidly, escape from situations that would be impossible for most other Heroes, and can even give chase with smart use of mechanics (try hitting a merc camp for that last burst of speed!). In a game where not every Hero can properly give chase, this ability will save Li Li's bacon more often than not.
(Q) Healing Brew
Healing Brew is Li Li's bread and butter ability. You're going to be using this ability on cooldown in almost every situation. You should always be trying to use this ability on the best possible member of your team; since we have no way to target this ability, we must always be wary of where we are in a fight, and adjust accordingly based on who needs our heals the most. Maybe that Stitches isn't close to death and there's no reason to heal him right now, but you also need to heal your Zeratul, who is very close to him. You need to be able to position yourself in such a way that you hit the Zeratul with your Brew, and not the Stitches. This is the key to using Healing Brew effectively, not mindlessly spamming (though there is a lot of that as well).
(W) Cloud Serpent
Cloud Serpent is dead easy to use. Just cast it on whoever is closest to the most enemy Heroes. That's it, you've mastered Cloud Serpent. It effectively adds some passive, uncontrollable damage. You generally will want to hold off on using this when mana is a concern.
(E) Blinding Wind
Blinding Wind is deceptively strong even with no talents, as it can easily remove hundreds of damage with every cast. Like Healing Brew you must be sure you are positioned correctly to get the most out of this ability. Hitting just Stitches is no good, but ducking behind enemy lines for a minute and hitting Sgt Hammer and Valla is a great use of the ability. It's almost always wrong to use this ability for the damage, but it's a fantastic way to secure a kill early on in the game, so if you think you can get a kill behind the gate, go for it! Be sure to utilize Fast Feet when positioning for this spell.
(R1) Jug of 1,000 Cups
Jug of 1,000 Cups is a very potent teamfight ability, however against teams that can knock you out of it easily it is almost worthless, as they will just save a stun for when you cast it. However if you can somehow manage to craft a scenario in which this doesn't happen, it's the best choice. It may still be preferable over her secondary heroic if you are desperate to keep your team alive.
(R2) Water Dragon
Water Dragon is a pretty good chase/pick off ability. The way this works is Li Li summons a Water Dragon above her head, channels for 3 seconds, and then the Dragon crashes down upon whichever Hero is closest at the end of the channel. This will whiff if a Hero moves out of range before the channel is over. The best way to use this ability is to begin the channel as early as possible during a fight, so you have time to move to your desired target before the channel ends (and before they have time to react and run). Ideally you hit more than one target with this, but it's usually better to smash the called target instead.

Talents Top


Conjurer's Pursuit - The Mana regeneration it provides early game is decent, but if you manage to be at every merc camp, in every lane, at every team fight (as you should be), then you're going to stack this up relatively quickly. This is necessary in order to sustain yourself and your team over long periods of time and to keep yourself in the fight. However, it is notably less good on certain maps, and if your team is good at sustaining itself. You may, therefore, prefer Timeless Creature instead.

ALTERNATIVES


Mass Vortex - This will allow you to remove a huge amount of auto attacks every 10 seconds during a teamfight. Although this and Lingering Blind will tend to prevent the same amount of damage if used against certain team comps, Mass Vortex is much easier to use, and has some applications for wave clear. Note that you will basically be able to blind the enemy team near-constantly once you get Kung Fu Hustle.

ALTERNATIVES


The Good Stuff - A great buff to your most spammable ability. A little less immediately potent these days, but I would almost never pick anything else. This is actually 30% additional healing, which is especially noticeable when using Two For One.

ALTERNATIVES


Jug of 1,000 Cups - Still personally hard to justify with all the CC running around, but the ability does heal for a significant amount. If you can get it off and keep it going, then this will completely flip a team fight. I look at the composition of the enemy team to determine whether I will use this or Water Dragon, preferring the latter if the enemy team is extremely CC heavy.

ALTERNATIVES


Shrink Ray - This ability is absolutely fantastic. It lets you catch someone who's trying to run, it locks down the biggest damage dealer on the team, it can bail you out if your team let a Zeratul jump you, it can even let you 1v1 a particularly squishy Assassin; it's an all around versatile and amazing talent.

ALTERNATIVES


Two For One - This quite literally doubles the output of your heal, and splits it between two targets, which is a major benefit. This will allow you to, for example, heal yourself as well as someone else, or heal the tank AND your squishy at the same time. It also just makes you that much better at nursing everybody back to health after a fight. The extra cooldown is definitely a concern, but not enough to be relevant.

ALTERNATIVES


Kung Fu Hustle - Li Li loves to spam her abilities. This lets you spam them significantly more often, and fits in very very well with the aggressive playstyle of this guide. Pair this with Surging Winds for a nearly permanent 20% increase to your Ability Power and you become a team fighting monster. Just be sure to watch your Mana... hope you've been stacking Conjurer's Pursuit!

ALTERNATIVES

Playstyle Top

First of all, it's important to note that this build is primarily designed to be run alongside some other healing Support. As Li Li's numbers are not the best, even with a full Support build she needs extra help to keep her team up. However, with a secondary Support like Uther, this aggressive playstyle really shines, putting extra pressure on your enemies with your blind and shrink while also putting out very respectable healing numbers.

During the laning phase, you want to monitor your Mana closely, and ensure that your lane partner is able to trade harass with the opponent effectively. To this end, you should usually hold off on Cloud Serpent, unless you're sure you can bully the opponent entirely out of lane. Save your Mana for Healing Brew and Blinding Wind when the enemy gets aggressive. Remember that it's totally fine to use the Moonwell just to get Mana, since you can heal yourself anyway. It is generally better to take some damage first if you can help it, of course.

Li Li's primary job is to keep her team mates in the fight. The most important thing you can learn as Li Li is proper positioning. This will allow you to not only stay out of harm's way, but most effectively utilize Healing Brew, and Blinding Wind. In a team fight it's crucial that you cast these two spells on cooldown, and that you hit someone important with both every single time. It's well worth it to jog in to hit that Valla, since your passive allows you to slip right back out (assuming your tank is positioned appropriately as well).

If you've taken Jug of 1,000 Cups, there's a lot of things to consider. First and foremost, you can be knocked out of Jug. Stuns, knockbacks, and the like will stop the channel of Jug. It is extremely important that you do not waste this channel. Sometimes it's unavoidable, but with the numbers as they are now, it's best used to heal everybody up AFTER the fight so you can secure a push, or to break off and heal an Assassin up quickly so they can get back in the fight. If you can position yourself correctly however, and the enemy team has no way to stop the channel, it is obviously very effective to use this right in the middle of the fight.

Water Dragon has a considerably different playstyle. The best use of this spell is as a ganking tool. It's possible to catch someone without a Blink, even with the extremely long 3 second channel, and with a buddy you can finish them off. However, it's much more difficult to figure out the use of this ability in a team fight. This goes back to Li Li's extreme reliance on her positioning. The damage can be rather devastating to the enemy Assassin if you can manage it, but the damage and slow splash, so this ability works great with a wombo combo. Either way, you should almost ALWAYS cast this during a team fight, even if you cannot get an ideal use out of it, since you can use abilities during the channel anyway.

Map Specific Strategies Top

Blackheart's Bay - Li Li's Cloud Serpent will attack chests for some reason, so be sure to keep it up while you're doing so. Keep in mind the range of your Blinding Wind, as this can sometimes be effective at stopping a turn in, if you don't get caught out doing so.

Dragon Shire - You can Shrink Ray the enemy Dragon Knight! You will want to more aggressively take merc camps on this map since Li Li is of very little help taking the Knight. You will usually want to give somebody else control of the Dragon Knight, unless of course this would mean giving it up entirely.

Cursed Hollow - You can sometimes toss a Blinding Wind across the wall from a Tribute, but other than that there are no special considerations for this map as Li Li.

Garden of Terror - There is some consideration for any Healing Globe based builds on this map, and that's that Garden of Terror has a lot of them. The Garden Horrors on either side of the map poop out a lot of these things, and there are a lot of merc camps to boot. If your team is bothering with Seeds, be sure to go and help, at least so you can greedily slurp up those delicious globs.

Sky Temple - Your Blinding Wind can be used to blind the Temple enemies, which will significantly reduce the amount of damage you and your allies take.

Tomb of the Spider Queen - Use Blinding Wind to interrupt turn-ins and, heaven forbid, blind enemy spiders. Also note that Li Li is a potent carrier on this map, since she is naturally very difficult to kill.

Battlefield of Eternity - This is a tough map for the little panda, as she doesn't bring anything particularly valuable to the objective here. That being said, Blinding Wind as always does work preventing damage on your Immortal.

Infernal Shrines - This might be one of the few maps where a Serpent build with Lightning Serpent can really shine, along with Mass Vortex to help clear out the Shrine minions faster.

Towers of Doom - Once again, Blinding Wind can prevent your enemies from taking the Towers. However, sustained combat is not as important here (largely due to the portal in the middle of the match), and thus Li Li is somewhat of a weak pick.

Conclusion Top

The little panda girl seems to have finally been forgiven for her past transgressions and is now firmly in the "pretty good" slot in most tier lists. She's still as fun as ever to play, and super easy to pick up for new players, while providing potent support to her team mates.

If you have any questions about the guide, feel free to post a comment below, and I'll try and answer them as best I can! I'd consider myself to be one of the best Li Li players in the game at the moment, but it's pretty hard to judge right now. You can also find me at the following places:

YouTube: Poultron
BattleTag: Poultron#1383
Twitch: Poultron
Twitter: poultronic

Changelog Top

April 27, 2016 (Tracer Patch)
  • Added changelog
  • Water Dragon - Damage increased from 192 (+4% per level) to 318 (+4% per level).
  • Water Dragon - Mana cost decreased from 100 to 50.
  • No changes to guide; Water Dragon is still the same situational use, it's just less bad now

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