image source: http://mokhman.deviantart.com/art/On-A-Narrow-Path-541724465
Contents
Introduction
Abilities and Talents Overview
General Pros and Cons
Hero role and aim in fight
Hungering Arrow Build
Part 2
Multishot Build
Talent choices
Multishot Build Pros and Cons
General style of play and tips for Multishot Build
Alternative or situational Talent choices for Multishot build
Tips on How to play against Multishot Build
Heroes that are good with and against Multishot Build
Auto-Attack Build
Part 4
Battleground specific tips
Conclusion
Note: This is a second part of the guide. This part is about Multishot Build.
The first part of the guide, which contains hero overview and Hungerring Arrow Build, can be found here:
https://www.keengamer.com/article/12013_in-depth-valla-guide
"My training never prepared me for all this poking"
(Multishot Build)
Multishot build is designed to be effective at poking targets, and driving your enemies crazy. The build is also good for pushing, and harassing enemy heroes during the lane phase. With Multishot build you are able to dish out small amounts of area damage from a safe distance. You will be out of range of most enemy spells and auto-attacks. Also the build is very good at kiting your opponents.
Multishot build has fallen off a bit since the removal of “Battle Momentum” talent. Apart from the talent loss, the reason is also in a more burst oriented meta game. As you will often times see, in competitive matches teams lean towards heroes that provide burst damage, or are good for burst damage comps.
Talent choices for Multishot Build
image source: http://www.heroesnexus.com/talent-calculator/
The standard version of the build starts with “Composite Arrows” on level 1, and “Arsenal” on level 4. Then, on level 7, you take “Searing Attacks”, and on level 10 “Rain of Vengeance”. “Frost Shot” will be your level 13 talent, and for level 16 “Blood for Blood” will do. In the end, the build is finished with “Bolt of the Storm” talent.
Composite Arrows
(Level 1 talent)
“Composite Arrows” will increase cone area of the “Multishot” by 20%.
It seems not that big of a deal, but believe me those numbers are magical. Suddenly, you will be able to fire your “W” out of the range of most spells and auto-attacks. This talent will allow you to safely harass enemy hero during lane phase, or do tremendous amounts of damage during long team fights.
Arsenal
(Level 4 talent)
The level 4 talent, “Arsenal”, will boost damage output of “Multishot” by 55%, as it will fire 3 grenades that will deal (42.5 +7.5(per level)) points of damage.
The talent will improve your laning and poking capabilities even more. However, keep in mind special mechanic this talent has. The grenades will be flying slower than default “Multishot” projectiles. At some angles, and in some situations, that may result in damage loss, as projectiles won’t hit your target.
Searing Attacks
(Level 7 talent)
This talent acts like a patch for missing “Battle Momentum” talent. SA is an activatable talent that will increase damage of auto-attacks by 50% for the duration of time. The talent lasts for 5 seconds, and has 25 seconds cooldown. Each auto-attack will cost 15 points of mana.
SA increases Valla auto-attack potential, and is good for bursting down targets. Often times, talent is used with Heroic to land a finishing blow, to a target that was poked or focused.
Rain of Vengeance
(Heroic)
RoV in this build has very valuable and diversified role. It will be used as disengage ability, to avoid unfavorable fights, or to counter enemy initiation. Also, you can use Rov as a finisher to a targeted burst. The potential of this Ultimate doesn’t stop there, as it will be used for some wombo-combos. Finally, this Heroic is very good to interrupt important channeling spells.
Oh, and in some cases it can be used for initiating a fight. But this option is for experienced players, as it needs player to be good at predicting enemy movement, and be used to RoV mechanic.
Generally speaking, this ultimate requires some patience and right moment for good usage. Sometimes, the fight is over and you didn’t use RoV, and it is okay, because there was no proper moment.
Frost Shot
(Level 13 talent)
Multishot build will excel even more with this talent, as it will add kiting capability to your kit. “Frost Shot” adds 40% slow effect to your “W”. The effect lasts for 2 seconds.
This is third key talent to the build, together with “Composite Arrows” and “Arsenal”. With FS talent Valla becomes very annoying and hard to deal with. The level 13 talent will allow you to chase down, zone out, and poke targets very effectively. Combine that with 8 seconds cooldown on “Multishot”, and you will understand why enemies hate you.
Executioner
(Level 16 talent)
The damage of your auto-attacks will be increased by 40% against rooted, slowed, or stunned targets.
“Executioner” is very good addition to your talent kit if you have ability to do some auto-attacks, in between poking with spells.Picking this talent is also good decision if your team comp has decent amount of disables. Also, don’t forget that your “Multishot” provides 2 seconds of slow, and you are able to use it each 8 seconds.
Oh, and take this talent if you have Arthas in your team, as he will provide constant slow with his “E”. Lastly, take this talent if you choose “Searing Attacks” on level 7.
The talent will be nice addition to your auto-attacking damage and single target burst. In Multishot build, this talent adds a lot of damage to your finishing potential.
Bolt of the Storm
(Level 20 talent)
“Bolt of the Storm”, or “Blink”, is active ability that immediately repositions your hero to targeted area. The talent has 40 seconds cooldown, and costs no mana.
The core of Multishot build is poking and kiting actions. The ability to immediately reposition your hero definitely enhances the build, so “Blink” is our level 20 talent choice. Not only you will be better at everything you did before, but also you will have the ability to initiate the fights by blinking in and using Heroic ability. This action, of course, will require some gameplay experience to be executed properly. So, in this build “Blink” will serve as both, gap closer and escape ability.
Multishot Build Pros and Cons
Pros
-Very good at poking, zoning, and kiting
The amount of utility Multishot build provides is insane! In one spell, that has 8 seconds cooldown, you have the ability to poke enemies from a safe distance, slow them moderately each 6 seconds, and zone them out. Also, “Rain of Vengeance” presence will influence enemy play style and decision making.
-Decent AOE burst
Combination of “Multishot” and “Rain of Vengeance” will do heavy AOE damage for very short amount of time. Also this talent build is very strong when it comes to some combo-wombo setups.
-Strong lane presence
Constant poking during the laning phase will force enemy to play more passively, or ask for ganks. “Multishot” will do decent damage to creep waves thanks to “Arsenal” upgrade. With game progression the wave clearing will become easier. At some point of time, you will find yourself clearing waves with just “Multishot”, or “W” plus few auto-attacks.
-Very versatile
Despite being considered as poking build, Multishot build is very well rounded. It has a bit of everything in the kit. You have decent single target burst with “Searing Attacks” and “Blood for Blood” talents. “Vault” and “Blink” provide nice offensive and defensive options. Sometimes, in the late game, you can win a fight, or game, with blink-in and cast of your Heroic. Lastly, the poking game is very good with this build.
Cons
-High skill cap
The build requires patience, as you want to use your “W” most efficiently – to deal as much AOE damage as you can, and to do it in the right time. Proper “Rain of Vengeance” usage can also be tricky. Not only because of the way it works, mechanically, but also because of the amount of patience and experience it takes to use it efficiently. Also, your self-sustain is poor, and you can’t go ham, as you do with Hungering Arrow build. And that results in more team oriented style of play, and team oriented style of play results in more patience. The patience is second name of this build.
-Weak self-sustain
So, yeah! As mentioned above, self-healing is low – only “Blood for Blood” talent provides healing, and it needs to be activated at the right time, and targeted properly. Other than that, you will rely on your support and teamwork.
General style of play and tips for Multishot Build
image source: http://blizzard.gamespress.com/Diablo-III
General style of play
For players that played Kael’thas on a good level, this build will be very easy to master, as the gameplay is very similar. You wait for the right moment, go in range of your poking spell, fire it, and reposition yourself, so you won’t take any damage. With Valla this play style is easier, and less punishing for positional mistakes, because you have escape ability. But the damage output of your poking ability is also lower. However, Demon Hunter has slow and other nice features.
With Kael you repeat the pattern until enemy is dead or you are out of mana. Valla has one additional option – she can finish off half-dead target. And for that you will use burst damage from “Searing Attacks” and “Hungering Arrow” and, in some cases, from “Rain of Vengeance”. Also, slow from “Frost Shot” talent gives more control over the enemy and battlefield.
About the right moment
As Sun King, you wait for enemies to be disabled, so they won’t escape “Flamestrike”, or for team fight to develop in favorable direction. As Valla it is much easier to hit enemies with your “Multishot”, as spell doesn’t have delay, and initial projectiles are flying fast. Only when enemies are on the edge of your AOE, they can escape your “Multishot” damage by moving out.
So, for Demon Hunter the right moment would be when enemies are clumped up near each other. Waiting for them to be disabled is also an option, as they will be hit by “Arsenal” talent projectiles.
Spell rotation
Basically, your action pattern will consist of moving in, using “Multishot” and moving out. So, it is all about proper positioning with movement, and “Multishot” spam. You don’t use other abilities until there is no important reason. The reasons are different for your abilities.
Use Vault if you messed up the positioning, and see that enemy will engage in you, or if your target(s) is half dead, and you can finish it off with “Searing Attacks” and “Hungering Arrow”.
Rain of Vengeance usage is very tricky, and highly depends on your team comp and enemy team comp. There is a lot of decision making to do. If it is some crucial hero for enemy team, the usage of Heroic will be beneficial to you, and will, most likely, result in won fight. But if you are finishing off some not key enemy hero, and there still is important channeling ability you need to interrupt, saving you Heroic will be better decision.
Overall, proper spell usage for this build requires some experience and mistakes, so don’t hesitate to experiment with the ways you play.
About the patience
Your aim in the team fight is to do as much poking damage as you can. For that you need to be patient. You need to go in the right moment, and receive as less damage as you can. The longer you survive the more damage you will do.
Sometimes, entering the battle mid-fight, when half of enemy ultimates are used, will be more beneficial to your team. Same goes for some key enemy abilities and positioning.
The teamplay
Vital part of this build is a teamplay. Multishot build is more oriented at teamplay than other Valla builds, poking gameplay in general is. What I’m talking about is the presence of good front line, zoning abilities, and communication. That doesn’t mean you can’t play Multishot build in solo q. You can, and it is fine. However, without the communication you will have to adapt to your teammates, and it won’t be as effective as it is with communication. That is true about all the builds, and gameplay, in MOBA games. This build just happens to be more dependent on the communication than other builds.
About the laning phase
“Multishot” build is ideal addition to pushing triple lane with some specialist. It will allow to push lane even faster, as “W” is very good spell when it comes to wave clearing. In general, Valla is strong solo laner with this build. “Multishot” increased damage and range will allow you to hold towers healthy and enemy heroes pressured. However, self-sustain is none, so trading the HP effectively will be tricky.
Tips
Most of the times, waiting for enemy to eat a disable will result in “Multishot” doing its full damage, as enemy won’t escape damage that comes from “Arsenal” talent projectiles. Also, you will prolong the disabling with your slow from “Frost Shot” talent.
Try using Vault as a gap closer to finish enemy off with your burst. Here i need to mention few conditions. First one – enemy is half dead. Second one – you know that you will definitely finish enemy off with your burst. Otherwise, you will be in bad position, with all your spells on cooldown, and most likely will melt in few seconds, or will be chased down by the enemy.
Experiment with the way you play your Heroic, and build, to have good understanding of what you can, and can’t, allow yourself to do. Mostly, this includes ultimate usage and burst usage.
After you are familiar with that, try to maximize your damage output by breaking usual pattern, and staying on the target after “W” is cast. That won’t be always successful, and is best done when target has cooldown, and can’t do any harm to you. Such play style will increase you overall impact on fight, and is “high risk high reward” type of action.
Try learning this build with Bolt of the Storm talent. This will make late game much easier for you. Usually, game flow will change, and you will be one of the main targets, after enemy will acquire Blinks. They are very good gap closers, and will open up very good initiation moves for most of the heroes.
Usually, if your positioning is good, and you are playing this build properly, you are one of the survived heroes, in case of a lost fight.
The initiations with “Bolt of the Storm”
Once you hit level 20, you become a threat to your opponents. “Bolt of the Storm” talent opens up a new option. Now, you can initiate with a blink in and ultimate combo. This combo is very strong, and can be a game changer if used correctly.
Usually, best time to blink in is when enemies are unaware of your positioning, or not expecting your actions, and are clumped up. It will be effective initiation even if you catch 2 heroes in your Heroic. Sometimes, if hero is the core of enemy composition, you can combo in one hero.
However, no matter how good your initiation is, even if you ultied 5 enemy heroes, it won’t be useful if allies can’t follow it up. You simply won’t have enough damage to kill the target yourself, unless we are talking about half-dead hero, and would probably waste combo, if not a fight.
So, if we are to talk about the mid-fights, using this combo in half-dead enemy hero will be super effective. Basically, it is the same poking play style you do before 20, but “Blink”
Lastly, what i want to mention is initiations with “Blink” require some experience and mechanical skill. “Rain of Vengeance” is not instant, it has its own mechanic, and you need to be used to it. Using the right moment to your advantage will also require some skill, experience, and dedication. In the end, don’t be upset if things won’t go your way!
Alternative or situational Talent choices for Multishot build
image source: https://www.heroesfire.com/hots/talent-calculator/
Basically, the talents at level 1, 4, and 13 are not the subject to change, as they are the core talents of the build.
Sometimes, in competitive scene, you can see “Spell Shield” talent instead of “Frost Shot” talent. The reason for this lies in very burst oriented enemy hero comp, but even then it is very specific choice. Usually, you are positioned in a safe distance, out of range of enemy initiations and spells. And your team comp has some zoning abilities, or good frontline, so most likely you won’t be targeted. Overall it’s better to go Frost Shot.
As for the other talent tiers – you have plenty of choices on level 16 and 20. Also, level 7 and 10 will have some situational alternatives.
Level 7 talent choices
If you feel that you won’t be able to stand in one place for 3-4 seconds, to do some auto-attacking damage between cooldowns, consider taking other talent than “Searing Attacks”. Usually, that is the case when enemy also has poking setup, and you don’t want to come in close range and get free damage, or enemy team has good burst potential that will be unloaded on you if you come in auto-attacking range.
Hot Pursuit
This talent will increase your movement speed by 20%, instead of 10%, when you are at 10 stacks of the trait, Hatred.
“Hot Pursuit” is very good at chasing down targets when the main phase of the fight has ended. HP is a very good pick up if enemy has lots of escapes, and you tend to not finish them off because they outrun you.
Repeating Arrow
RA will refresh the cooldown of your Hungering Arrow every time Vault is used.
The talent is good choice if you see that fights are happening much faster than you anticipated, and you really don’t get much time to poke. Other case could be that you feel that in some situations the addition of quick burst damage can be a fight changer. For example, enemies escape your finishing blow, but chasing them is not an option, so you need to add some burst damage.
Caltrops
This talent will upgrade your Vault ability. Anytime you would use Vault, 3 Caltrops will be dropped. They will drop onto the trajectory of the escape ability. This will slow anyone who will chase you after you Vault, as Caltrops slow enemies by 20% for 2 seconds, and deal small amounts of damage (27 + 2 per level).
Caltrops are very rarely picked talent. Usually you will see either “Searing Attacks” or “Repeating Arrow” on level 7. Reason for that is you have better talents on the same tier, and you also have slow from level 13 talent “Frost Shot”. However, in some very rare occasions, if you are 100% sure that you will take Spell Shield on level 13, and you also won’t take any other talent on 7, Caltrops are viable.
Overall, all other talents are much better then Caltrops on this talent tier. Also, most of the time, the choice will be in favor of “Searing Attacks” talent.
Level 10 choices
With the introduction of “Daze” mechanic to Heroes of the Storm, we see Strafe being more popular Heroic choice than Rain of Vengeance. And this is also a part of the reason why there are more Hungering Arrow builds, in competitive scene, and less Multishot builds. Strafe fits more in HA build, and RoV fits more in Multishot build. That doesn’t mean you can’t go not standard ultimate, even pros do, it means that the play style would be different and harder.
And I want to write few words about “Daze” mechanic. Previously, spells that would displace the unit, like “Frag Grenade” of Tychus or ETC’s “Face Melt”, would interrupt the channeling ability. Now, all these spells are considered as “Daze’s”, and no longer interrupt channeling. This led to channeling spells being more popular than before, and Strafe is one of them.
So, let’s talk about cases when you do go Strafe with Multishot build.
Firstly, it can be a reactionary decision. This can happen when enemy has no problems with sustaining your poking damage, but is very vulnerable to burst damage. For example, enemy support is Malf. Malf is superb for poking wars, but when it comes to burst healing he is very bad.
Secondly, it can be when you see that Rain of Vengeance won’t fit the pace of the game. What i mean here is short periods of time between the fights that won’t allow you to recharge the RoV cooldown. This will happen when enemy constantly forces the fights.
As you can see, the decision to take other Heroic is purely situational, and is not needed if you are comfortable with the game direction and standard poking game.
Level 13 talent choices
“To take, or not to take, that is the question”. Well most of the times it is not to take “Spell Shield”, and take common “Frost Shot” talent. As was mentioned before, you won’t be targeted, because of the safe distance and other stuff. The only case, that seems viable, is when you 100% know that taking SS will turn the team fights around. For example, you are always the first victim in the fight, and even the perfect positioning doesn’t help. And if you take SS, you will survive that burst and win a fight. Otherwise, take “Frost Shot” and be super annoying!
Level 16 talent choices
With BfB nerf, all the talents are now viable on level 16. So there are no talents that will be most beneficial to Multishot build, and usually choice is situational. However, my choice leans a bit to Executioner, as it stacks very well with “Searing Attacks” and “Frost Shot”.
Tumble
This talent will add second charge to your Vault ability. That charge can be used after 2,5 seconds delay, after the initial cast of Vault.
The talent doubles the amount of Vaults you can use in fights, however, you will find it rarely used. Most of the time, you don’t need second safe ability, as you will be poking from a safe distance and reposition yourself with a movement. In case of danger you will have Vault ability. If you are to mess up the first charge, second charge won’t be so helpful, as it has 2.5 seconds delay.
The talent can have its uses if you took “Repeating Arrow” on level 7, or plan to take “Frenzy” instead of “Blink” on level 20, and you feel that you still need additional gap closer. However, it will require you to sacrifice some stronger talent choices.
In the end, in this talent tier “Tumble” will be the least useful talent for Multishot build.
Blood for Blood
Blood for Blood is activatable talent. It has 60 seconds cooldown. The talent steals 10% of max HP of the target, and heals you for double the amount. It also has range of your auto-attacks, which are 5.5.
Before the rework, this was your to go talent, as it insanely boosted Demon Hunter’s kiting potential. Now, with the removal of slow effect and portion of damage, it is just good talent for self-sustain and burst damage. It is best to use BfB on a target with big portions of max HP, as it will heal you in percentages. Mostly, talent is used to turn the tides in a duel, with unexpected heal of HP, or to burst someone down.
Stoneskin
“Stoneskin” is activatable talent that will give you shield for 5 seconds. The amount of shield will equal to 30% of your max HP. It has 60 seconds cooldown.
Usually, “Stoneskin” is a good choice if enemy comp has 4 ranged heroes, or tons of pokes. It would boost your sustain, and allow to absorb damage from some key abilities.
Level 20 talent choices
If you feel that you won’t need “Bolt of the Storm”, there are few options, but they are situational, and based on your previous talent choices. Usually, these are situations when you see that you won’t initiate with Rain of Vengeance, or you don’t need another saving ability.
Vengeance
“Vengeance” is an upgrade to your “Strafe”. “Vengeance” will boost damage of the ultimate by almost 70%, as “Strafe” will now fire additional piercing projectiles each 0.25 second. On level 20, the overall damage will be increased from 1800 to 3000 points of damage.
This talent adds a lot of AOE damage to your kit. Problem is: most heroes chose Blink talent on level 20. So, casting your Strafe, for its full duration, will be very tricky task. This talent choice is very risky, and requires a lot of experience to fully realize its potential.
However, it can be your talent choice if you have tremendous amount of XP lead and looking to trump the enemy with your advantage. The level advantage, for that to happen, has to be around 3-4 levels, meaning your team is level 20, and enemy team is level 16-17. But even then, you have to be very careful with your positioning.
Overall, this is the least picked talent for Multishot build. You rarely chose Strafe with Multishot build. And upgrading it even further, turns out to be a good comeback mechanism for your enemies. Also, other two options are damn good!
Storm of Vengeance
This talent will increase the effectiveness of your Rain of Vengeance. The amount of Shadow Beast waves will be increased from 2 to 4. And that means more damage and more stun. You will be able to do 2240 points of damage, and stun enemies for 2 seconds, combined.
The problem with this talent, and Rain of Vengeance ability, is it rarely hits your enemy with second wave. Most of the times, you are able to hit them with one wave, and they walk out from another. So, on paper this upgrade looks fantastic, but in reality there have to be some dream conditions, for it to be effective. You might think that this upgrade would be good for wombo-combos, but by the time the second wave hits, enemies are usually dead or almost dead.
So, in the end, this talent is never picked for Multishot build.
Nexus Frenzy
NF is a passive upgrade that will increase the attack speed and range of your hero by 20%. For most of ranged heroes, the range will be 6.6.
“Nexus Frenzy” is very strong upgrade to your auto-attacking potential. It also stacks very well with previous talent choices, such as “Searing Attacks” and “Executioner”. The upgrade will increase your auto-attacking potential greater than it seems. The range upgrade will put you at the edge of enemy spell radius, and that will allow you to constantly auto-attack enemy. In Multishot build, “Nexus Frenzy” turns Valla into auto-attacking beast with very good poking abilities.
Overall, this talent is your best choice if Blink is not an option.
Tips on How to play against Multishot Build
The weak spot
The weak spot of “Multishot” build, and of most poking setups and builds, is the pace of the game. Poking game requires slow and steady game flow. For that reason poking setups usually consist of heroes with good zoning and tanking potential. This potential will lead to prolonged and delayed fights, with poking, controlling, and positioning actions. You need to break that approach to counter poking build.
Breaking the game flow
To break the game flow, that is favorable to the enemy, you need to enforce gameplay that is either faster or slower, provided it will be beneficial to you. Here, I’m talking about fast paced ganking setups or heroes, and heroes and setups that are oriented at having more sustain than the opponent.
Fast paced setups or heroes
Default poking setups shine when fights are long and drained out. Changing the game flow to faster gameplay will put “Multishot” build in uncomfortable spot. Demon Hunter’s damage will drastically decrease, as poking build does low amounts of damage in fast fights. For that situation to happen, you will be looking to build up a setup, or pick a hero, with good burst potential and initiation.
Game of sustain potentials
General idea is to have more sustain then the Valla’s team has. That way you will play even slower game. Hero lineups with double support or semi support will do the trick. Assassins, with auto-attacking builds, will be most beneficial choice for such slow lineups. They will out damage enemy poking heroes, and at the same time, your supports will do better than enemy one.
Taking double tank can also be an option. However, it will require more coordination and is harder to execute. Also, double and triple tank setups are more vulnerable to pushing and zoning setups.
As for single hero pick – your primary goal will be to pick a hero that will increase sustain of your team, and is suitable for your role. You can pick another support or semi-support if you are playing the support role.
If you play other roles, consider taking more sustainable route in your talent build. That doesn’t mean you have to go all talents that will increase your sustain. General idea is to boost your sustain where it is an option, and where it won’t drastically decrease other valuable parameters of your hero.
Other approach
Playing with game flow is interesting way to counter poking setup or build, but there is also one effective approach. The central idea of the approach is to mess up with the positioning of the enemy team. If you are able to separate Valla, and other squishes, from the rest of the team, she will be very easy target. Multishot build has very low self-sustain, so Demon Hunter will melt like an ice-cream, under the focus of your team.
Heroes that are good with and against Multishot Build
Enemies of Multishot Build
image source: http://mr–jack.deviantart.com
In this part of the article i will point out the examples of heroes that are good versus Multishot Valla. I will also explain why they are good, and what other similar heroes and will achieve same result.
Bursting down the target
Zeratul, Sylvanas, Tyrande, and Falstad are the names of few heroes that will put decent pressure on poking setups and Multishot Valla. They all have good amount of burst damage, but will do it in their own way, depending on the mechanic of their kit.
Zeratul play style is to be as annoying as he can, and drag as much attention as he can. He will jump from the safe distance, and will unleash tons of damage in split-second. This will put pressure on enemy support, also this will force enemy to lose positioning. The burst will be very quick and painful. In some cases this will also put psychological pressure on a player, and will result in some panic moves on their behalf.
Sylvanas will be looking to assist her allies in bursting down the target. She can either use her Heroic on enemy support, to prevent healing and “Cleanse”, or will target her ulty on the target, to provide additional damage and disable. Sylvanas’ other abilities will also help to burst down target, as they provide decent damage output.
Tyrande is valued very high in burst setups, as she brings a lot to the table. However, she requires communication and teamplay more than other heroes. Tyrande kit consists of abilities that are good for burst. These abilities, when combined together, provide tons of single target damage. Priestess of Elune is also very good utility hero. She will provide nice scouting with Owl, good zoning with Heroic, and decent heal with “Q”.
Tyrande will assist her allies in burst, by increasing the damage the target receives with Trait, and adding more burst damage with abilities. She also has nice lockdown ability, “Lunar Flare”, which can be used for initiation.
Lastly, let’s talk about Falstad. In this example, I’m talking about the build that designed to do damage with abilities, the “Mage” build. Falstad will look to quickly kill enemy hero by unleashing all his burst damage into disable target. You can often see him paired with some tank, or other hero, that provides both, good initiation and lockdown of the target. You can see them described below.
If we are to talk about Tanks, then heroes like Johanna, Tyrael, and Muradin are coming to mind. You can use other tanks for initiation and lockdown of the target, like Arthas or Chen, but heroes mentioned above are one of the best for the burst down play style.
The pattern is similar for Johanna, Tyrael and Muradin, as they lockdown the target when it is the right time. Tyrael does that with ult, and follows with slow and body block. Muradin jumps in with “E”, stuns with Bolt, and follows with slow from Clap and body blocking. Lastly, Johanna catches target in Heroic, and follow up with “W” and “Q”.
Heroes that offer more sustain
Here, I’m talking about supports and semi-supports, mostly. As mentioned before, you will be looking to have more sustain then enemy team. So, picking another support, or adding semi-support will do. We can talk about Tyrande again, as she provides both, decent healing and good burst. Tassadar is also valid option. He will put pressure on enemy squishes, and will provide additional sustain. He is also good example, because not only he provides additional sustain for team, but also his own sustain is very high.
If we are to talk about solo play, and you don’t play supports, choosing more sustainable build, or picking some situational talents, will do. Let’s continue to talk about Tass. You can upgrade his “E“ in the talent tree, so it will bring insane sustain and repositioning. Doing so will increase your sustain, and will allow to put a lot of pressure at the backline. “Archon” will do tremendous amounts of damage to the target, while “Phase Shift” will heal all poking damage that you recently took.
How to mess up enemy positioning
Heroes that bring lasting AOE disables, and allow the repositioning of the enemy, will do. Good examples will be Zagara, Zeratul (yeah, this Protoss is good for everything), Thrall, and Chen. There is plenty of other, I’ll just explain general idea on these.
Zagara’s “Maw” is very good tool when it comes to separating, blocking, or dividing enemy team. As Zagara, you can eat enemy frontline and start killing backline. You can use “Maw”, in some narrow spaces, to divide enemy team. Lastly, you can eat enemy support, and other heroes, so he won’t save your target.
With Zeratul, Thrall, and Chen you will be looking to do the same, but minding their mechanic. Zeratul and Thrall will divide enemy team from target. Zeratul can also disable enemy support. Chen will initiate on target with “Kick”, and then push target to his team with his Heroic, and then push enemy team away from the target.
Allies to Multishot Build
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Depending on the hero comp, you will be looking to enhance team parameters that are good for poking. You know that poking build is based on slow and steady game flow. So, with your pick you will be looking to provide, or support, that type of game pace for your Valla ally.
Tanks
Tanks with good sustain and zoning will do. General idea is to provide front line that won’t allow enemy to come close to Valla. Also, you are looking to prolong the fights, so increased sustain is another criteria. Depending on enemy hero comp, there will be different heroes, but I’ll describe few so you understand the core idea.
Let’s start with Arthas. He is very special to any hero that has “Executioner” talent. The Lich King constantly slows his enemies with “Frost Presence”. The “Executioner” hero will add a lot to his auto-attacking damage, with Arthas in team. At the same time, he is very good for your default poking team. He has very strong self-sustain and he brings good zoning.
As next example, let’s take hero that is in meta now – Muradin. Mountain King is good for both, the burst down and poking meta games. Default “Thunder Clap” Build will offer good zoning, and at the same time it has strong sustain. Muradin’s Trait is insanely good when it comes to prolonged fights. Hero is able to take tons of damage, hide in the backline for some time, and come back with almost full HP.
Supports
As a support player you want to bring as much utility, and HOT, as you can. HOT stands for Healing Over Time. Malf and Brightwing will be logical decisions here.
However, BW has fallen off after recent rework. She is much weaker against bursty setups now, but you can use her to disengage, with “Emerald Winds” ability. Now, it is harder to play Brightwing versus burst, so consider taking semi-support, as an addition.
Malfurion, the Archdruid. Recent reworks made him even stronger. He provides very good zoning with “Entangling Roots”, and HOT for both, single target and AOE, is amazing. Usually, he is very good choice when you plan to play poking game. Keep in mind that he has very weak burst healing, so your team has to play accordingly.
Assassins
Generally speaking, you will be looking to boost poking potential even more, with addition of another poking hero like Zagara (she is Assassin, don’t believe to Blizzard), or to balance the team comp and pick hero oriented at burst.
So, let’s take Zagara as an example. Not only she provides nice poking with Hydras and Mutalisks, later in the game, but she is very good at zoning and disabling enemies with her “Devouring Maw” ultimate. If Zagara is not an option, you can choose from plenty of other heroes with poking capabilities, like Zeratul, Kael, and so on…
For burst Assassins, any hero with decent burst potential will do. If current top pool of heroes was taken, like Jaina or Butcher, doesn’t mean you can pick other less popular heroes likeFalstadorSylvanas.
Specialists
Okay, Specialists are very special, you know! Problem is, half of them are actually Assassins, like Nazeebo, Sylvanas, Zagara or Hammer, and others are Specialists.
So, with Nazeebo and Hammer you can play very good poking game, and boost the poking potential. Sylvanas is good for poking or bursting, depends on the build. And Zagara was described before, as an Assassin.
All other Specialists have unique gameplay and kit. That means that if you are good at playing them, you can pick them and use their strength, and cover weaknesses, to further enhance your setup.
Semi-supports
Finally, i get to talk about Tyrande and Tass! They are both good for many setups, and usually are chosen situationally. Choosing them, will increase your burst and sustain potential, at the same time.
Tassadar provides increased sustain with his shield, which can be cast prematurely, while also offers very strong wave clear with “Psionic Storm”, and has insane survivability with his “E” ability. “Archon” is very strong ultimate, and when you choose build that upgrades “Phase Shift”, is able to destroy enemy backline if left unchecked.
Tyrande, on the other hand, has way less self-sustain, but provides stronger single target burst. The main source of the burst will be her Trait. “W” and “E” abilities will also add nice numbers to the general burst. Also, her “E” ability, “Lunar Flare”, is a nice initiation and lockdown spell. Tyrande will provide more sustain with “Light of Elune”, her “Q” ability, and her Heroic is very strong zoning ability.
Note: This is the end of the second part of the guide. This part was about Multishot Build.
You can check other part, which contains hero overview and Hungerring Arrow Build, here:
Part 1:
https://www.keengamer.com/article/12013_in-depth-valla-guide
Other parts of the guide should arrive soon. They will highlight Auto-Attack build, Battleground specific tips, and Conclusion to the whole guide.
Part 3, about Auto-Attack Build :
https://www.keengamer.com/article/12029_in-depth-valla-guide-part-3-auto-attack-build
