Yrel has always been at her best when surrounded by friends and inspired by their sacrifices. This element of her fantasy is reflected in a trait that makes her more powerful in teamfights, and even
*more* powerful as her team starts losing a fight.
The gameplay effect is that Yrel is a waveclear laner who gets tankier as more teammates show up. In laning phases she can bully a lane by herself simply by using
Blessing of Protection on herself and minions, while clearing waves with
Consecrated Ground and
Retribution Strike. She can also take certain merc camps by herself.
When allies show up to help her in a lane, or when a teamfight is necessary, the first part of her trait kicks in. An aura around her indicates to her team where they have to be in order to buff her. As her Armor increases from
Shining Light she becomes harder to kill. She creates small areas of denial with
Consecrated Ground and uses
Blessing of Protection to both shield allies and augment her body-blocking. She has now transformed into a tanky warrior.
Retribution Strike is her only controllable damage output in teamfights, but its long cooldown makes it unwise to use loosely because of the second part of her trait. If a teamfight goes poorly, allied Heroes will be taken down by the enemy team, and any teammates killed within Yrel's aura provide her a huge Ability Power buff. The aura provides allies with an indicator of where they need to be to buff Yrel and provides experienced players with a way to deny the buff.
Yrel's buff lasts for 4 sec and is spent when using her next spell, meaning she can only take advantage of this newfound power once per ally death. The buff is refreshed if it has not been used before the next ally death so, if she does not use the buff before the next ally gets killed, she will have lost that opportunity to utilize the buff.
The gameplay effect is that Yrel is acting like a tank in these teamfights until her team starts losing. As she gets buffed from
Shining Light she starts trying to turn the tide of battle with a
Retribution Strike skillshot that is now heavily, heavily buffed. Done well, Yrel can end most teamfights as the last Hero standing.
In this way Yrel changes roles from laner, to tank, to assassin, and back to laner again in real-time as the normal flow of a match progresses.
Yrel's heroic abilities also provide some multi-class effects by giving her a support option, as well. Both heroics include an Ability Power modifier so they can be used instead of
Retribution Strike. Using
Guardian of Ancient Kings gives her shielding-style support while
Lay on Hands gives healing-style support.
Her heroics are significantly weaker without the trait buff and therefore Yrel must choose how to use her trait to alter the fight. She can use her buff to finish off weakened enemies or to save dying allies. She cannot do both with a single application of her trait.
Heroes of the Storm Build Guides
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