I played around on Malthael last night, and I'm feeling a lot more confident with him. I had been doing really well after he launched (dude was OP as fuck, tho), but after multiple nerfs, I guess I was struggling to work him back into my roster. I think I just needed to make a mentality shift, to be honest; I had been using Tormented Souls in tandem with our hard initiation, and was finding that I was getting counter-initiated on and blown up pretty consistently. He no longer had the raw mitigation and healing ability that he had at launch. But then I started to think about Tormented Souls a bit like Genji's Dragon Blade -- it isn't something you necessarily start combat with; you have to go in after the hard CC's been blown, or even after your team's already scored a pick and enemies are beginning to retreat. In this way, you can really effectively chase everyone down and finish them off.
I played around on Malthael last night, and I'm feeling a lot more confident with him. I had been doing really well after he launched (dude was OP as fuck, tho), but after multiple nerfs, I guess I was struggling to work him back into my roster. I think I just needed to make a mentality shift, to be honest; I had been using Tormented Souls in tandem with our hard initiation, and was finding that I was getting counter-initiated on and blown up pretty consistently. He no longer had the raw mitigation and healing ability that he had at launch. But then I started to think about Tormented Souls a bit like Genji's Dragon Blade -- it isn't something you necessarily start combat with; you have to go in after the hard CC's been blown, or even after your team's already scored a pick and enemies are beginning to retreat. In this way, you can really effectively chase everyone down and finish them off.
Yeah dude, Malthael is still fuckin' bosstown. But he's no longer Malthael the Invincible, Casual Survivor of 1v5s.
I think he's my single best Assassin at the moment. He's still ultra survivable and super slippery. Ethereal Existence is STILL GOOD despite eating nerf after nerf, and I find that I can take it in basically every game still? If there's literally no AA damage then I take Soul Siphon. If there's a Chromie.... I take the Unstoppable. Not really a big fan of the Spell Armor simply because of the delay/long cooldown, I'd rather my survivability be constant. W makes for some damn fine jukes (no better feeling than juking a Leoric hand or Alarak Q), FTR has saved my full-aggro ass more times than I can count.
A lot of it is just being wary of when you can actually go in, and, like we were discussing on the other page, being aware of enemy cooldowns. If the enemy team has MEGA CC, I wait that shit out. I'll hang back, toss out E's, and wait for the stuns/CC to go off. Then I'm like cool let's rock this shit boys. Or bait it out. That works too.
Honestly he plays a lot like Greymane. And that might sound weird but it's the same principle, knowing when you can actually go in or not. And against certain comps you can literally just walk into them. You CAN pop Tormented Souls off the bat with the right support (not royal Support, I mean like the setup of your teamcomp), but other times you wait and hold it.
Also I'm a big BIG advocate of only ever taking Cold Hand. I'm not usually the kind of person to say this, but I don't think there's any other choice on that tier (unless your team is already packing some good Slows like Arthas/Jaina? But even then...). Like, it's just straight up how you kill people. I've tried playing without Cold Hand, and so many times people just walk away from me and live. It'd be like... imagine if Murky's Slime didn't slow. It's even better with TS since it's a TEAMWIDE slow at that point. They ain't going anywhere. Even in games where Touch of Death was applicable, I'd still go Cold Hand, just because it eventually leads to a kill.
ANYWAY I think I'm rocking a pretty sicknasty winrate with him right now? Yeah, 66% across 47 games. Or if we wanna look at the last 60 days (nerfed on 7/11), 80% across 25 games. Or 90% across 11 games in the last 30 days.
Hm, so I lose at this game. A lot. Any recommendations for resources to help me not suck so much?
1) Learn how to stutter step.
2) MFPallyTime is a great, positive streamer who has a lot of good general info for new players
3) Find a handful of heroes that you really enjoy playing and stick with them for a while. This makes it easier for you to pick up other skills that aren't directly related to a given hero's micro (i.e., if you have to think about what buttons to press, you are not going to be able to focus on anything else).
4) Learn how to look at the minimap every few seconds. Every time you don't see the enemy team, assume they are about to gank you wherever you are. Every time you do see them, think about what you can do to take advantage of that information (if at all).
5) Don't use skills or shoot the enemy just because you can. Sometimes discretion is the better part of valor, especially for longer cooldowns that are the major source of your damage or that cost a lot of mana (e.g., Jaina should not be spamming Cone of Cold, Malfurion should not be spamming Entangling Roots).
6) Count before any engagement. It sounds so stupid that it has become a meme ("my teammates are so dumb they can't count and just run up to the enemy team and die"). But it's very important. HotS is a game that is fundamentally designed around teamwork and numbers. It is very rare that you will be able to win any given engagement with a numerical disadvantage. A 4v5 fight is a massive disparity, and only gets worse the lower the numbers get or the bigger the difference.
7) Talent tiers matter (4, 7, 10, 13, 16, 20). Generally you do not want to fight if your team is down a talent tier (e.g., your team is level 9 and the enemy team is level 10). Conversely, you do want to fight or take advantage of something on the map if your team is up a talent tier. Levels 10 and 20 are the biggest power differentials, but the others matter enough to track.
8) Slightly more advanced: Track cooldowns. At first you may only be able to do this in a 1v1 situation, but as time passes you will get more proficient at it. Look at what the enemy team can do. Watch when they use those abilities, particularly strong CC ones. When those abilities are used, your margin of safety is much higher because they can't "counter" you if you attack them - they can only auto attack you in return.
AuralynxDarkness is a perspectiveWatching the ego workRegistered Userregular
... I seem to rate much higher in Heroes of the Ducks than I do in the actual game! Not complaining.
In people-who-still-don't-quickcast news, I'm finding that certain assassins are just much better with quickcast, notably Alarak and Kael'thas. If you're a dinosaur and a holdout like me, give it a shot on those guys.
I use quickcast ON for all abilities except targeted AOE powers (Zombie Wall, Blizzard, etc). Those get On Release instead. Such a simple change to get used to but a world of difference on performance.
Need a voice actor? Hire me at bengrayVO.com
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051 Steam ID Twitch Page
Also does anyone use a On Release modifier? I can't figure out what might be the best key for it.
I don't use it but shift would probably be the best button for it. You lose queue movement but that's not something that's super useful to be honest. It helps for movement after channeling (mount, collecting a warhead) or moving after you tap well but that's minimizing downtime to a very tiny degree if you're at all paying attention.
I want to say you can go into the control scheme and set it for each and every individual hero though, can't you? If you're dead set on having it on specific abilities you can. I think it's best to just get a good feel and be confident in your ability to learn the ability.
butts
0
Inquisitor772 x Penny Arcade Fight Club ChampionA fixed point in space and timeRegistered Userregular
Also does anyone use a On Release modifier? I can't figure out what might be the best key for it.
I don't use it but shift would probably be the best button for it. You lose queue movement but that's not something that's super useful to be honest. It helps for movement after channeling (mount, collecting a warhead) or moving after you tap well but that's minimizing downtime to a very tiny degree if you're at all paying attention.
I want to say you can go into the control scheme and set it for each and every individual hero though, can't you? If you're dead set on having it on specific abilities you can. I think it's best to just get a good feel and be confident in your ability to learn the ability.
I do it on a per-hero, per-skill basis. In general, I put Quick Cast on things that I'm very familiar with or that are straightforward, and I use Normal Cast on things that require precise aim, have very specific ranges (i.e., they can do that thing where you cast it and miss what you are aiming for because the game will cast in the direction you are aiming regardless of whether it's actually in range), or if I'm just learning the ability (mostly because the graphics you see on screen don't align with the actual projectiles, but the underlying casting graphics do, and I want to build a good mental model).
I tried On Release for a while and found it too finicky. If I want to see the cast then I use Normal and click when I want to use the ability. If I want to just throw it out then I use Quick Cast. On Release can do this thing where, if you cast/click things too quickly, it will actually not fire the ability at all. It can also feel slow in comparison to Quick Cast because there is a slight delay. But everyone has different tastes. Fan is well known for only using Normal Cast on everything even though the vast majority of pro players use Quick Cast on everything.
+1
ArcticLancerBest served chilled.Registered Userregular
Going into that Carbot video, I thought the best part was going to be stealthy Hammer-riding-a-horse, because fucking yes.
But I was wrong. All hail the king and his return. May he parry on forever. XD
@milk ducks I can actually enter this one, probably? We'll yet see if I wind up visiting family. :P For now ...
ArcticLancer#1969
I dunno where I'd rank myself, so others can do it for me. I remain on the cusp of falling out of platinum in HL, but high diamond in QM.
The Escape Goatincorrigible ruminantthey/themRegistered Userregular
whew that was a weak Carbot episode. Probably one of the worst. There was no point to the first half and the second half was making literally the same joke they just made in the last one.
whew that was a weak Carbot episode. Probably one of the worst. There was no point to the first half and the second half was making literally the same joke they just made in the last one.
I'd agree if not for Hammer's tank on a hobby horse.
whew that was a weak Carbot episode. Probably one of the worst. There was no point to the first half and the second half was making literally the same joke they just made in the last one.
I'd agree if not for Hammer's tank on a hobby horse.
That happened in an earlier episode! I went back and caught up 'cause I hadn't watched in a while and that was in like 24 or 25.
whew that was a weak Carbot episode. Probably one of the worst. There was no point to the first half and the second half was making literally the same joke they just made in the last one.
I'd agree if not for Hammer's tank on a hobby horse.
That happened in an earlier episode! I went back and caught up 'cause I hadn't watched in a while and that was in like 24 or 25.
in case anyone was wondering, it isn't just hots that suffers from weekend problems. was playing other stuff and i want to say someone was trying to gaslight me, but it was more like just literal lying about the gamestate. it is super exhausting at this point as there was a lot of it yesterday when i was playing hots. i deal with enough of that at work, i think i'm just going to disable all game chat and non-friends list whispers
Thanks for helping me finish my TL games guys! Those were some fun games.
I think I need to return to my first love and play Brightwing more often. I feel that the meta has shifted towards areas that she's good at in two different ways. First off, more people are playing Genji/Illidian/Butcher who are shut down by Brightwing's polymorph. Being able to have an instant CC to disable Genji's escapes is hilarious. Secondly, fights feel shorter than they did when I was last playing her. Previously when I was playing Brightwing, there were long drawn out fights where she got out sustained by other supports. Now it feels that people have learned how to conform kills so you don't have to heal up people from 0 to full as often. Additionally people seem to be roaming as 4 more often where Brightwing can get full value on her heals.
Nova is best at finishing of targets, if your teammates are doing no damage it's an uphill battle. Find the solo lane and wait for an opportunity to gank.
Anyone have Nova tips? I usually do a ton of damage but it seems like it is never enough.
Learn how to play Valeera or Zeratul? I'm not saying that all the Novas on my team have been useless but she doesn't offer much aside from surprise burst damage. If you're picking a nova, you're relying on your team to pick up your slack in wave clear and teamfighting which is a chancy proposition. You also need the enemy team to let themselves get picked off and not notice your shimmer or you're not much more than a fragile mage with no escapes. She needs a certain kind of team comp to be useful which doesn't happen all the time.
Anyone have Nova tips? I usually do a ton of damage but it seems like it is never enough.
Ok, there's two basic builds, and the differences are at 7, 13, and 16
Snipe Build - use this if you're good at hitting your skillshots, or if they're all pretty beefy or have double heals and you need to be able to poke and teamfight and occasionally lane
This makes your Snipe do almost double damage in an AoE with a 3s CD. Basically it increases your damage from snipe by around 360% + more if they bunch up a lot. (you get +75% damage from the 7 skill, then double it again because the 16 skill cuts your cooldown in half)
AA Build - use this if they have a bunch of squishies you need to blow up or if you want to delete people
7: One in the Chamber
13: Double Tap
16: Critical Shot (or whatever the armor reducing one is)
This one lets you take down targets, but you need to get good at the key combination to pull it off. It's W, AA, Q, AA, W, AA, E, AA. Sometimes you actually want to open with E, AA if you think you can get them to waste their CD's on it. If you take Orbital Strike (you almost always should btw, Triple Tap looks cool but actually isn't very effective), the combo goes W, AA, R, AA, Q, AA, W, AA, E, AA
Try mode is a great place to get the timing on this down.
As far as playing goes, you rarely want to try and take someone down from full health. That said, you Q only has a 6 second cd. It's a great way to poke people down. Just keep dropping it on them and they'll quickly start having problems with their health. You want to roam lanes, look for a matchup where the other team thinks they have the advantage, or are extending into your lane, then go down their, wait next to them, and ambush for the kill when they think they're doing good against your guy.
Nova doesn't get any bonus damage until 7, then she starts taking off. Remember that and don't try to force things in the early game. All of the stealth assassins have been adjusted so that they're not great at bursting people 100-0 anymore, keep that in mind while you're working. The other big thing is you want to play conservatively, you're very fragile and don't have an escape. Because heroes like Nova don't have a huge map presence, it's important to try and be up for all the fights because that's where you'll have the biggest impact. And remember, your job isn't to do damage, it's to get kills.
XBL: Morgan Coke Yes, there is a space, not an underscore. I'm old school like that.
Battle.net: morgancoke#1589
Anyone have Nova tips? I usually do a ton of damage but it seems like it is never enough.
Ok, there's two basic builds, and the differences are at 7, 13, and 16
Snipe Build - use this if you're good at hitting your skillshots, or if they're all pretty beefy or have double heals and you need to be able to poke and teamfight and occasionally lane
This makes your Snipe do almost double damage in an AoE with a 3s CD. Basically it increases your damage from snipe by around 360% + more if they bunch up a lot. (you get +75% damage from the 7 skill, then double it again because the 16 skill cuts your cooldown in half)
AA Build - use this if they have a bunch of squishies you need to blow up or if you want to delete people
7: One in the Chamber
13: Double Tap
16: Critical Shot (or whatever the armor reducing one is)
This one lets you take down targets, but you need to get good at the key combination to pull it off. It's W, AA, Q, AA, W, AA, E, AA. Sometimes you actually want to open with E, AA if you think you can get them to waste their CD's on it. If you take Orbital Strike (you almost always should btw, Triple Tap looks cool but actually isn't very effective), the combo goes W, AA, R, AA, Q, AA, W, AA, E, AA
Try mode is a great place to get the timing on this down.
As far as playing goes, you rarely want to try and take someone down from full health. That said, you Q only has a 6 second cd. It's a great way to poke people down. Just keep dropping it on them and they'll quickly start having problems with their health. You want to roam lanes, look for a matchup where the other team thinks they have the advantage, or are extending into your lane, then go down their, wait next to them, and ambush for the kill when they think they're doing good against your guy.
Nova doesn't get any bonus damage until 7, then she starts taking off. Remember that and don't try to force things in the early game. All of the stealth assassins have been adjusted so that they're not great at bursting people 100-0 anymore, keep that in mind while you're working. The other big thing is you want to play conservatively, you're very fragile and don't have an escape. Because heroes like Nova don't have a huge map presence, it's important to try and be up for all the fights because that's where you'll have the biggest impact. And remember, your job isn't to do damage, it's to get kills.
But this is the build you deploy against squishy targets. The power of a fully Mastered Snipe is devastating against squishy targets. It puts them instantly into the danger zone where they start serious thinking about fleeing. Beefy targets will still shrug it off to a large extent. The whole point is crazy burst ability damage.
The Pinning Shot build is the other major option imo and looks like this: https://www.heroesfire.com/hots/talent-calculator/nova#kbUO
(Can replace the decoy talent at 4 with bribe again. It's a DPS loss but it's a good trade when you can get good use from it.)
This is the build you use against beefier teams because the -Armour Debuff is what is gonna help your team blow them up. You drop holo decoy frequently to get more OitC shots off and you basically pick a target out in a fight and turn them into a squishy piece of meat for your team to destroy.
Anyone have Nova tips? I usually do a ton of damage but it seems like it is never enough.
Ok, there's two basic builds, and the differences are at 7, 13, and 16
Snipe Build - use this if you're good at hitting your skillshots, or if they're all pretty beefy or have double heals and you need to be able to poke and teamfight and occasionally lane
This makes your Snipe do almost double damage in an AoE with a 3s CD. Basically it increases your damage from snipe by around 360% + more if they bunch up a lot. (you get +75% damage from the 7 skill, then double it again because the 16 skill cuts your cooldown in half)
AA Build - use this if they have a bunch of squishies you need to blow up or if you want to delete people
7: One in the Chamber
13: Double Tap
16: Critical Shot (or whatever the armor reducing one is)
This one lets you take down targets, but you need to get good at the key combination to pull it off. It's W, AA, Q, AA, W, AA, E, AA. Sometimes you actually want to open with E, AA if you think you can get them to waste their CD's on it. If you take Orbital Strike (you almost always should btw, Triple Tap looks cool but actually isn't very effective), the combo goes W, AA, R, AA, Q, AA, W, AA, E, AA
Try mode is a great place to get the timing on this down.
As far as playing goes, you rarely want to try and take someone down from full health. That said, you Q only has a 6 second cd. It's a great way to poke people down. Just keep dropping it on them and they'll quickly start having problems with their health. You want to roam lanes, look for a matchup where the other team thinks they have the advantage, or are extending into your lane, then go down their, wait next to them, and ambush for the kill when they think they're doing good against your guy.
Nova doesn't get any bonus damage until 7, then she starts taking off. Remember that and don't try to force things in the early game. All of the stealth assassins have been adjusted so that they're not great at bursting people 100-0 anymore, keep that in mind while you're working. The other big thing is you want to play conservatively, you're very fragile and don't have an escape. Because heroes like Nova don't have a huge map presence, it's important to try and be up for all the fights because that's where you'll have the biggest impact. And remember, your job isn't to do damage, it's to get kills.
But this is the build you deploy against squishy targets. The power of a fully Mastered Snipe is devastating against squishy targets. It puts them instantly into the danger zone where they start serious thinking about fleeing. Beefy targets will still shrug it off to a large extent. The whole point is crazy burst ability damage.
The Pinning Shot build is the other major option imo and looks like this: https://www.heroesfire.com/hots/talent-calculator/nova#kbUO
(Can replace the decoy talent at 4 with bribe again. It's a DPS loss but it's a good trade when you can get good use from it.)
This is the build you use against beefier teams because the -Armour Debuff is what is gonna help your team blow them up. You drop holo decoy frequently to get more OitC shots off and you basically pick a target out in a fight and turn them into a squishy piece of meat for your team to destroy.
Yeah, see I guess we come at it from opposite directions then. I like the combo build vs. squishies because you can 100-0 with it. Whereas I like the Snipe build vs. tankier targets because you can hit and run them more effectively.
XBL: Morgan Coke Yes, there is a space, not an underscore. I'm old school like that.
Battle.net: morgancoke#1589
Posts
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
Steam ID
Twitch Page
Penny Arcade Community (PAC) Nexus Throwdown VI
General Info:
Official Rules:
Battlegrounds:
Each team gets one map ban
Players:
Commentators:
@Dibby
@milk ducks
@Inquisitor77
@This
Twitch Streams:
Milk Ducks' Heroes of the Storm Shenanigans! (Commentary)
BLUDGEONtv (Commentary)
Yeah dude, Malthael is still fuckin' bosstown. But he's no longer Malthael the Invincible, Casual Survivor of 1v5s.
I think he's my single best Assassin at the moment. He's still ultra survivable and super slippery. Ethereal Existence is STILL GOOD despite eating nerf after nerf, and I find that I can take it in basically every game still? If there's literally no AA damage then I take Soul Siphon. If there's a Chromie.... I take the Unstoppable. Not really a big fan of the Spell Armor simply because of the delay/long cooldown, I'd rather my survivability be constant. W makes for some damn fine jukes (no better feeling than juking a Leoric hand or Alarak Q), FTR has saved my full-aggro ass more times than I can count.
A lot of it is just being wary of when you can actually go in, and, like we were discussing on the other page, being aware of enemy cooldowns. If the enemy team has MEGA CC, I wait that shit out. I'll hang back, toss out E's, and wait for the stuns/CC to go off. Then I'm like cool let's rock this shit boys. Or bait it out. That works too.
Honestly he plays a lot like Greymane. And that might sound weird but it's the same principle, knowing when you can actually go in or not. And against certain comps you can literally just walk into them. You CAN pop Tormented Souls off the bat with the right support (not royal Support, I mean like the setup of your teamcomp), but other times you wait and hold it.
Also I'm a big BIG advocate of only ever taking Cold Hand. I'm not usually the kind of person to say this, but I don't think there's any other choice on that tier (unless your team is already packing some good Slows like Arthas/Jaina? But even then...). Like, it's just straight up how you kill people. I've tried playing without Cold Hand, and so many times people just walk away from me and live. It'd be like... imagine if Murky's Slime didn't slow. It's even better with TS since it's a TEAMWIDE slow at that point. They ain't going anywhere. Even in games where Touch of Death was applicable, I'd still go Cold Hand, just because it eventually leads to a kill.
ANYWAY I think I'm rocking a pretty sicknasty winrate with him right now? Yeah, 66% across 47 games. Or if we wanna look at the last 60 days (nerfed on 7/11), 80% across 25 games. Or 90% across 11 games in the last 30 days.
HE'S MY BOYYYY
Battle.net Tag: Dibby#1582
I'm not going to let my previous loss discourage me. Sign me up!
BattlenetID: NullPointer#1191
Preferred roles: Support/Specialist
HL rank: Gold
Battle.net Tag: Dibby#1582
BattlenetID: mncdover#1994
Preferred roles: Fill
HL rank: Silver
BattlenetID: kieri#1440
Preferred roles: Assassin/Support
HL rank: Plat
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
Steam ID
Twitch Page
Thanks! This was very helpful
BattlenetID: SeGaTai#1225
Preferred roles: fill
HL rank: gold
@milk ducks
In for both, it looks like.
Auralynx#1772
In people-who-still-don't-quickcast news, I'm finding that certain assassins are just much better with quickcast, notably Alarak and Kael'thas. If you're a dinosaur and a holdout like me, give it a shot on those guys.
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
Steam ID
Twitch Page
I'm in for the tourney.
Also does anyone use a On Release modifier? I can't figure out what might be the best key for it.
Steam: CavilatRest
I can do 9/23 tourney
I think you have my stuff.
I want to say you can go into the control scheme and set it for each and every individual hero though, can't you? If you're dead set on having it on specific abilities you can. I think it's best to just get a good feel and be confident in your ability to learn the ability.
I do it on a per-hero, per-skill basis. In general, I put Quick Cast on things that I'm very familiar with or that are straightforward, and I use Normal Cast on things that require precise aim, have very specific ranges (i.e., they can do that thing where you cast it and miss what you are aiming for because the game will cast in the direction you are aiming regardless of whether it's actually in range), or if I'm just learning the ability (mostly because the graphics you see on screen don't align with the actual projectiles, but the underlying casting graphics do, and I want to build a good mental model).
I tried On Release for a while and found it too finicky. If I want to see the cast then I use Normal and click when I want to use the ability. If I want to just throw it out then I use Quick Cast. On Release can do this thing where, if you cast/click things too quickly, it will actually not fire the ability at all. It can also feel slow in comparison to Quick Cast because there is a slight delay. But everyone has different tastes. Fan is well known for only using Normal Cast on everything even though the vast majority of pro players use Quick Cast on everything.
But I was wrong. All hail the king and his return. May he parry on forever. XD
@milk ducks I can actually enter this one, probably? We'll yet see if I wind up visiting family. :P For now ...
ArcticLancer#1969
I dunno where I'd rank myself, so others can do it for me. I remain on the cusp of falling out of platinum in HL, but high diamond in QM.
Perhaps I can interest you in my meager selection of pins?
I'd agree if not for Hammer's tank on a hobby horse.
Steam: TimIsOnSteam
Battle.net: TimIsOnBnet#1745
Switch: SW-7012-4788-7410
PSN: TimIsOnTheNet
That happened in an earlier episode! I went back and caught up 'cause I hadn't watched in a while and that was in like 24 or 25.
Oh! Well, then fuck this new one.
Steam: TimIsOnSteam
Battle.net: TimIsOnBnet#1745
Switch: SW-7012-4788-7410
PSN: TimIsOnTheNet
WoWtcg and general gaming podcast
WoWtcg and gaming website
I think I need to return to my first love and play Brightwing more often. I feel that the meta has shifted towards areas that she's good at in two different ways. First off, more people are playing Genji/Illidian/Butcher who are shut down by Brightwing's polymorph. Being able to have an instant CC to disable Genji's escapes is hilarious. Secondly, fights feel shorter than they did when I was last playing her. Previously when I was playing Brightwing, there were long drawn out fights where she got out sustained by other supports. Now it feels that people have learned how to conform kills so you don't have to heal up people from 0 to full as often. Additionally people seem to be roaming as 4 more often where Brightwing can get full value on her heals.
Brightwing is still the best announcer too.
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
But it loses its thread
Soooooon
Learn how to play Valeera or Zeratul? I'm not saying that all the Novas on my team have been useless but she doesn't offer much aside from surprise burst damage. If you're picking a nova, you're relying on your team to pick up your slack in wave clear and teamfighting which is a chancy proposition. You also need the enemy team to let themselves get picked off and not notice your shimmer or you're not much more than a fragile mage with no escapes. She needs a certain kind of team comp to be useful which doesn't happen all the time.
Ok, there's two basic builds, and the differences are at 7, 13, and 16
Snipe Build - use this if you're good at hitting your skillshots, or if they're all pretty beefy or have double heals and you need to be able to poke and teamfight and occasionally lane
7: Snipe Master
13: Explosive Round
16: Perfect Shot
This makes your Snipe do almost double damage in an AoE with a 3s CD. Basically it increases your damage from snipe by around 360% + more if they bunch up a lot. (you get +75% damage from the 7 skill, then double it again because the 16 skill cuts your cooldown in half)
AA Build - use this if they have a bunch of squishies you need to blow up or if you want to delete people
7: One in the Chamber
13: Double Tap
16: Critical Shot (or whatever the armor reducing one is)
This one lets you take down targets, but you need to get good at the key combination to pull it off. It's W, AA, Q, AA, W, AA, E, AA. Sometimes you actually want to open with E, AA if you think you can get them to waste their CD's on it. If you take Orbital Strike (you almost always should btw, Triple Tap looks cool but actually isn't very effective), the combo goes W, AA, R, AA, Q, AA, W, AA, E, AA
Try mode is a great place to get the timing on this down.
As far as playing goes, you rarely want to try and take someone down from full health. That said, you Q only has a 6 second cd. It's a great way to poke people down. Just keep dropping it on them and they'll quickly start having problems with their health. You want to roam lanes, look for a matchup where the other team thinks they have the advantage, or are extending into your lane, then go down their, wait next to them, and ambush for the kill when they think they're doing good against your guy.
Nova doesn't get any bonus damage until 7, then she starts taking off. Remember that and don't try to force things in the early game. All of the stealth assassins have been adjusted so that they're not great at bursting people 100-0 anymore, keep that in mind while you're working. The other big thing is you want to play conservatively, you're very fragile and don't have an escape. Because heroes like Nova don't have a huge map presence, it's important to try and be up for all the fights because that's where you'll have the biggest impact. And remember, your job isn't to do damage, it's to get kills.
Battle.net: morgancoke#1589
Titan's Creed: Jump first, don't ask questions, punch everything
or really something other than the owl thing
WoWtcg and general gaming podcast
WoWtcg and gaming website
Disagree on the use cases here.
Snipe build looks something like this (as you say):
https://www.heroesfire.com/hots/talent-calculator/nova#hd5s
But this is the build you deploy against squishy targets. The power of a fully Mastered Snipe is devastating against squishy targets. It puts them instantly into the danger zone where they start serious thinking about fleeing. Beefy targets will still shrug it off to a large extent. The whole point is crazy burst ability damage.
The Pinning Shot build is the other major option imo and looks like this:
https://www.heroesfire.com/hots/talent-calculator/nova#kbUO
(Can replace the decoy talent at 4 with bribe again. It's a DPS loss but it's a good trade when you can get good use from it.)
This is the build you use against beefier teams because the -Armour Debuff is what is gonna help your team blow them up. You drop holo decoy frequently to get more OitC shots off and you basically pick a target out in a fight and turn them into a squishy piece of meat for your team to destroy.
His master skin is where it's at.
RIP master skins.
Steam: TimIsOnSteam
Battle.net: TimIsOnBnet#1745
Switch: SW-7012-4788-7410
PSN: TimIsOnTheNet
Yeah, see I guess we come at it from opposite directions then. I like the combo build vs. squishies because you can 100-0 with it. Whereas I like the Snipe build vs. tankier targets because you can hit and run them more effectively.
Battle.net: morgancoke#1589
Titan's Creed: Jump first, don't ask questions, punch everything
Lets get more people for the mutator tournament next week
Still need to hear from
@Munkus Beaver
@Rynox
@traib
@Invictus
and of course everyone else is welcome as well.
Steam: TimIsOnSteam
Battle.net: TimIsOnBnet#1745
Switch: SW-7012-4788-7410
PSN: TimIsOnTheNet
It's casual as fuck, man. Sign up! It's a lot of fun. No reason to be worried about performance.