*Update 17/09/2015

* Hotfixes added to patch notes

Real life has finally settled for a while, so the guide should be updated in a more timely fashion

Patch Changes to Nova (16/09/2015) *Fixed an issue that could prevent Nova from using Abilities if her target enters Stasis after Triple Tap is cast. (18/08/2015) * Bolt of the Storm Cooldown changed from 40 to 70 seconds * Gathering Power Initial 5% increase removed Percentage gain from hero kills changed from 2% to 1% Upon death only lose half of stacks (30/06/2015) * Conjurer's Pursuit Initial +0.5 mana regeneration removed Each health globe now grants +0.1 mana regeneration * Envenom Duration increased from 5 to 10 seconds, damage amount remains the same * Spell Shield Duration increased from 2 to 3 seconds * Holo Decoy *Nova's allies will now see minion sized helath bars fro her holo decoys *Fixed a bug in which certain ranged attacks were not dealing damage to heroes that entered stealth after the projectile was already in flight. In this case, the damage will now be applied , revealing the hero, and resetting the time need fro the hero the re enter stealth. (12/05/2015)) * Ability icons have received updated art to make them easier to differentiate from one another * Anti-Armor Shells (Talent) target indicator updated * One in the Chamber (Talent)-Bonus to Basic Attack damage increased from 50% to 80%

Thoughts about latest changes
(18/08/2015) Even with cooldown increase to Bolt of the Storm its still a very powerful talent.

Initially with the changes to Gathering Power I was a bit dismayed due to the loss of the initial power gain and quick power ramp up. However upon further thought i believe this may be for the best. You are no longer punished as harshly for dying but,more importantly IMO, its no longer the clear winner in the lvl 4 talents and may allow more flexibility when it comes to the Burst build and the Holo Build at that tier

1. Introduction 1.1 A Little About Me 1.2 Pros and Cons 1.3 Overview of Nova 2. Talents And Builds 2.1 Talent Break down 2.2 Burst Build 2.3 Holo Build 2.4 Rapid Fire Build 2.5 possible utility build 3. Gameplay 3.1 General tips 3.2 Early Game 3.3 Mid Game 3.4 Late Game 4. Maps 4.1 Blackheart's Bay 4.2 Cursed Hallow 4.3 Dragon Shire 4.4 Garden of Terror 4.5 Haunted Mines 4.6 Sky Temple 4.7 Tomb of the Spider Queen 5. Conclusion 5.2 Change logs 5.3 Future plans

A Little About Me

Hey all! My name is CynicCorvus, and have been playing since late Alpha with Nova as my favourite hero . While looking to see what other Nova players were building I notice alot of guides were with little to no details. So here is my attempt to go more in depth. Hopefully I can keep this updated with each new patch and help some of our new players out. Enjoy.

So who is Nova?
November "Nova" Terra is a ghost of the Terran Dominion and one of the most powerful psionic soldiers ever known. Nova is highly focused, determined, and extremely deadly. Even Jim Raynor wouldn't want to be caught within her crosshairs.

If I had to sum her up it would be a sneaky sniper made of glass who will put the fear into any squishies that cross her.

Pro's and Con's

Pro's +High Burst +Cloaking +Longer ranged AA +Further Sight +Hard to catch if positioned well +Mind games

Con's -Low Health Pool -Mana intensive -Low mobility -Sub-par lane clearing ability -Skill shot reliant for damage -Not truly invisible, a blur can be seen -Good players will know what to expect

Overview Of Nova

Your main job in game is to scout and kill off badly positioned or weakened heroes. The following are the abilities you have to work with

(Q) Snipe Your main damaging ability. It is a skill shot so it will hit the first thing to come into contact with the bullet.

(W) Pinning Shot A targeted ability that will do light damage and slow the target

(E) Holo Decoy Your Utility spell. Used to scout, confuse enemies and can help to juke when trying to escape.

(Passive) Permanent Cloak, Sniper Your passive that gives you increased sight range , auto attack range and most important, permanent cloak allowing you to slip around the map without detection. Note there is a slight shimmer when you are cloaked that can give away your position.

(R) Ultimate: Triple Tap This is your single target burst ultimate. Use this to kill off wounded heroes. The shots can be intercepted by other enemy heroes or buildings, meaning you need to plan before using it. Can be talented to reset its cool down if it kills a hero.

(R)Ultimate: Precision Strike Your AOE ultimate. Has a global range and while it does less single target damage than Triple tap , it makes this up with being an AOE. Can also be used to zone enemies or clear large minion pushes.

Basic attack Combo

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(W) Pinning Shot + (Q) Snipe + Auto Attack This is a basic combo that will be used when trying to kill early game.
The combo will cost 130 mana. Your Mana pool will be 500 at lvl 1,590at lvl 10 and at lvl 20 your mana pool will be 690

This combo when timed properly can be done in 1-1.5 seconds! At lvl 1 it will do 236 damage, lvl 10 695 damage and1205 damage at lvl 20 (this is without talents/buffs/debuffs).When going for this combo keep in mind that each bar in the health bar is 250 health, which can be used to judge the likely hood of killing someone.

Ideally you would only do this when a kill is likely , either they are already low health or you have allies to follow up. Mastering this will be key to getting better with Nova

Alternate combos will be discussed in the talent build section.

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Conjurer's Pursuit
Every Regeneration Globe you pick up will increase Nova's mana regeneration by 0.1 per second. This may be an okay talent for new players until they learn how to pace their mana consumption. However, as you wont be in lane enough and will miss out on alot of globes, it is a bit sub-par for Nova.

Psi-Op Rangefinder
Increases how far your Snipe shot travels and lowers cool down by 2 seconds. This can be quite good for harassing heroes safely or picking off wounded heroes who think they are safe while fleeing.

Ambush Snipe
Increases your Snipe damage by 20% if you use it from cloak or a second after leaving cloak. A nice talent for early burst. As mentioned the buff sticks for a second after leaving cloak, which allows you to get a Pinning Shot off first.

Tazer Rounds
Nearly doubles the slow time from Pinning Shot. You probably wont get much mileage out of this ability , mostly as it competes with Ambush Snipe and Psi-Op Rangefinder, but if you were to pick up Covert Ops and Crippling Shot it could give you a decent debuff to chuck on heroes for 4 seconds.

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Perfect Shot
Gives a 50% mana refund if you hit a hero or 100% if you kill a hero when using Snipe. Gives you great mana sustain and you will find you wont have to go back to wells or the altar as often to recharge.

Remote Delivery
Reduce cooldown by 3 seconds and increases cast range when using Holo Decoy. Can be useful if you are using holo drone to scout often.

Gathering Power
Increase damage of all damaging spells by 1% for every hero kill, up to a total of 15%/. you will lose half of your current stacks upon death. Very good talent to take against Murky or the The Lost Vikings

Envenom
Does damage over 10 seconds. Gives extra damage that is done over time which may play into a hit and run style however it isnt the best if trying to kill a hero as quick as possible. One benefit to its DOT of 10 seconds it will stop another cloaking hero from re entering cloak e.g Zeratul for 13 seconds, 10 seconds from dot then another 3 for the cloak cooldown.

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Explosive Round
Adds a cleave that does 50% of the damage from Snipe. Good for spreading a bit of the damage around to clumps of enemies, The damage from the cleave counts as a target hit for Perfect Shot allowing you to gain mana from hitting clumped up heroes.

One in the Chamber
Every time you cast an ability your next auto attack is buffed by 80%. This talent is good for a replacement to take instead of Anti-Armor Shells on maps where a slowed auto attack speed is a hindrance , like Blackheart's Bay

Anti-Armor Shells
Turns your auto attack from a weak attack every second to a fairly strong one every
2.5 seconds. This is very good for Nova's hit and run style. For comparison at lvl 7 Nova's Snipe does 332 damage, a normal auto attack does 100. Once you upgraded it with Anti-Armor Shells it does 250 damage per hit!. So pretty much a mini snipe, however it does come with the draw back of a slow attack speed which makes you even worse at clearing lanes or doing some map objectives.

Covert Ops
The longer you are cloaked for, the more your Pinning Shot slows , up to a total of 50%. To reach that 50% , you will need to remain cloaked for 20 seconds. This talent could be okay if roaming for long periods, however it is out classed by other talents on this tier for the most part.

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Triple Tap
The single target ultimate. The best time to grab this is if the other team is full of squishies
and/or it is a quick match game. If you do get this ultimate you are pretty much forced to get its lvl 20 upgrade, Fast Reload, if you want to mow down a wounded Team.

Precision Strike
The Aoe ultimate. This can be used to zone out heroes and to cut off their escape path . Combines with Allie's cc abilities to create a "wombo combo' doing high damage to multiple heroes.

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Lethal Decoy
Now the Holo Decoy also deals damage when it casts Snipe, Pinning Shot and auto attack. This is at 25% of your damage values.

Advanced Cloaking
You will move faster and regen health while you are cloaked. with this you will need to mount less and can quickly relocate during fights. if you took Perfect Shot you will rarely have to go back to base to recharge.

Headshot
Any enemy heroes that you kill will lower cool downs by 4 seconds ( It may extend to enemies that were recently damaged, needs more testing ). This can be a very good snowball talent by itself, if added to a few different talents you can get Snipe cooldown of 0.5 seconds!.

Spell Shield
Reduces ability damage when hit by a spell and for another 3 seconds then needs to recharge. this can be a good pick up if there is another enemy burst assassin (like Nova or Jaina) if they are giving you issues.

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Railgun
Your Snipe now pierces in a line with the first target hit tacking full damage and all other units that are hit taking 50% of the full damage amount. This talent can be very good at making sure an enemy hero will still take some damage if your Snipe gets blocked by minions, summons or other bodies.AS a bonus each target hit reduces snipes cool down by 1 second. Paired with Perfect Shot every enemy hero hit will add the 50% mana refund, meaning you can actually gain mana when you hit 3 targets! This also stacks with Explosive Round . This leads to a nice combo which means every shot will be free if it hits a hero, any additional hero affected from the cleave/pierce will add mana and anything hit by the combo will reduce the cool down of snipe allowing nearly instant cool down Snipe in the right condition! (Had to confirm this several times as I thought I was going crazy)

Crippling Shot
Now as well as a slow, your Pinning Shot gives the target a debuff that makes them take 25% more damage while the slow lasts. This is a really good talent that helps both your burst combo and helps your team take out more tanky targets faster. this debuff also can be applied to buildings, so it also helps pushing forts/keeps. You can extend how long this debuff lasts by taking the lvl 1 talent Tazer Rounds.

Double Fake
Now when you cast Holo Decoy a second will appear where you are. This will add more chaos in the battle and with Lethal Decoy, it can turn the ability into a decent burst cooldown, One thing to note is that the holo AI will move a bit more erratic with this talent, so if you still want it to fool people during battle you may want to emulate the AI to a degree.

Overdrive
For 5 seconds your abilities do more damage however cost more mana. This can be a nice burst cooldown however it will hit your mana pool hard which can quickly leave you useless at the wrong time, so planing and mana conservation will be key.

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Fast Reload
Every time you kill someone with Triple Tap the cool down will instantly reset. Possibly one of the most raged about talents for Nova, this will allow you to totally wipe out an heavily injured team ( starts to hum 'another one bites the dust')

Precision Barrage
Adds a second charge to Precision Strike. This talent is pretty good if you like to strike often across the map or your team has a decent 'wombo combo' set up were two back to back Precision Strikes would wipe an enemy team


Rewind
Resets cool downs for Snipe, Pinning Shot and Holo Decoy. This ability will allow you lots of burst every 60 seconds. Very good for 100-0 kills and if you are grabbing Holo Decoy related talents for 13 and 16, you can have 4 holos out doing damage and causes crazy chaos.


Bolt of the Storm
Short range teleport. Getting this will allow you , like Zeratul, to become very slippery. Allowing yo to better juke heroes that are chasing you and your own chasing power

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Now that we have a good overview of the talents, we can work out some builds that can be used.

The Burst Build style is very common among Nova players. The goal of the build is to put out as much damage in a short period of time. This can be used to cripple an enemy team by taking out split pushers or heroes that are very important to their team fights, like healers or their main damage dealer. So lets break down the talent picks and possible alternatives.

Level 1

The name of the game is burst and we want to do this as quickly as possible the moment we leave cloak. The only talent that really helps with this is Ambush Snipe, so we will grab it.

Alternatives While this wont help with the goal of damage, it does make your harassing of in lane heroes safer. Only grab it if needed against heroes with good gap closers or another burst assassin that can retaliate with deadly retribution.

Level 4

Update 09/09/2015 With the changes to Gathering Power, this tier is more equal in choice however Gathering Power is still the overall best by a small margin.

This talent will give us the most efficient boost to Nova's ganking power.

Alternatives Due to the time needed to get the full damage , it is not as good for a burst build. However it may be a good pick to keep another cloaking hero out of cloak for 13 seconds or to be used on heroes that may have trouble getting to a healing source before the poison can kill them either due to immobility, lack of healer or a large map. With the change to gathering power this talent is now nearly an equal choice

Level 7

Focuses your auto attack damage into fewer shots. Gives the most burst for this tier

Alternatives This spreads your Snipe damage to other targets, if they are clumped up. Sub-par next to Anti-Armor Shells however could be useful against a heavy summon composition. Each ability cast gives a bonus to your next auto attack. This is a good replacement for Anti-Armor Shells for when a slow auto attack would be a hindrance

Level 10

Single target burst, which is what the build is built around. Please note if you take this one you will most likely have to take the lvl 20 upgrade

Alternatives Honestly any of the ultimate abilities work in this build, and if you take this one you have more freedom on your lvl 20 talent.

Level 13

This talent will allow you to rapidly change position during fights, as you will be dipping in and out of cloak to get the bonus damage from Ambush Snipe. There is also the added bonus of the passive healing allowing you to shrug of any minor harass you take as well.

Alternatives The build is about burst after all, so allowing your Holo Decoy to do damage as well would help. The only reason that it is not a definite pick is due to the randomness of the holo's Ai This talent is also a good pick, if you are landing the killing blow often as it will lower your cool downs, therefore increase how often you can burst. WHAT? This dosn't increase our burst. While true, you cant do damage if you are dead. Get it if another burst assassin is giving you SOME issues.

Level 16

It fits right into your normal combo and increases all the damage a target will take

Alternatives Gives you a burst cool down button to hit. However it increases mana cost and it will uncloak you when you use it so your combo will have to change to Overdrive+ Snipe+ Pinning Shot+auto attack

Level 20

We take this assuming you also took Triple Tap at 10. (you can get away with not taking it if you would rater have a bit more flexibility)

Alternatives If you took Precision Strike this is also an option Burst two times in a row. This will use your mana a bit quicker and can only be done every 60 seconds. More mobility which can help with better positioning.

As mentioned before this is the most common build for Nova and for good reason as it plays to her main strength.

Now lets move onto the next build

Another popular build for Nova, the goal of it being to increase the power of Holo Decoy. As we go into this keep in mind, all your talents are also applied to the decoy and your mana levels is also copied meaning if you dont have mana for Snipe or Pinning Shot after casting Holo Decoy, then neither will the decoy. So lets begin.

Level 1

While we are focusing on the holos this will allow you to increase your burst until we get to the right talents.

Alternatives This can allow you to harass from a safer distance but more important it can increase your Holo Decoy threat range

Level 4

Update 09/09/2015 With the changes to Gathering Power, this tier is more equal in choice however Gathering Power is still the overall best by a small margin.

The power you get will also be transferred to the Holo Decoys, increasing their damage

Alternatives Not as good as Gathering Power, but it still helps decoys by lowering the cool down slightly and extending threat range.

Level 7

This ramps up your burst and more important, your decoys also get the boost

Alternatives Can make you a decent AOE threat with you and all your holos spreading Snipe damage. Each ability cast gives a bonus to your next auto attack. This is a good replacement for Anti-Armor Shells for when a slow auto attack would be a hindrance. * note your Holo Decoy does not seem to gain the buff to auto attack

Level 10

Gives you a nice AOE. The reason for taking this over Triple Tap is so we can more easily pick up Rewind at 20

Alternatives You can pick it up of course. However you will be more easy to identify from the holos and you will either lose out on Fast Reload or Rewind

Level 13

MandatoryThis is the whole point of the build. Now your Holo Decoy is a burst cooldown.

Level 16

Mandatory Once again you will have to take this one. Now you have 2 decoys, making it twice as good

Level 20

Can anyone say mass chaos? With this you can have 4 decoys running around at the same time, which is alot of burst.

Alternatives If you took Precision Strike this is also an option If you took Triple Tap this is a strong contender with Rewind More mobility to allow better positioning

Okay so now we know why certain talents are taken , now howto execute the build ( keep in mind the AI for Holo Decoy can be a bit random with its target but it will always follow the same combo Snipe+auto attack+ Pinning Shot+auto attack)
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Level 13 to 20 Rotation

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So we drop the Holo Decoys in good position to hit the target, then we go for our normal rotation which will cost a total of 180 mana.

When you get Rewind , use it and redo the entire rotation. If it is done correctly,the rotation will take about 4 seconds to complete but it will cost a good chunk of mana (360) so save for it.

Lets move on to the next build.

This build focuses on the synergy between several talents to get a low as possible cooldown on snipe plus the benefit of good mana regen. Now you will sacrifice early burst potential for it but once you hit 16 you will be able to rapidly mow down weakened heroes.
*Disclaimer: This build is NOT meant to make you better at lane clearing. Even with the increased AOE you wil be sub par. Sure if you are in a lane and with nothing to do put a few rounds into the minion wave but your main goal is still to take out other heroes.*

Level 1

So we get this for the decrease cooldown to Snipe. Also it pairs with Railgun allowing you to hit enemy team's back line if they are being covered for.

Alternatives Bit of burst early never hurt but you wont get the full affect later as you will be firing Snipe often enough that you may not be going back into cloak for long periods.

Level 4

As we will end up firing Snipe very quickly we will need the mana. But as a bonus if you take explosive shot and Railgun you will actually gain mana instead of losing it

Alternatives while you would probable run out of mana quickly , you could take this instead to boost Snipe's damage for a bit.

Level 7

This combos very well with Perfect Shot and Railgunto get the effects we want.

Alternatives Regardless of what build you are going this is always a good choice. Each ability cast gives a bonus to your next auto attack. This is a good replacement for Anti-Armor Shells for when a slow auto attack would be a hindrance

Level 10

Gives you a nice AOE.

Alternatives You can pick it up of course. However your Snipe will become a pseudo execute which is the role that Triple Tap usually takes. It however is still pretty good.

Level 13

This one will allow you to rapidly decrease the cool down of Snipe, with all the other talents, allowing you to use Snipe as an extremely good execute.

Alternatives Taking this with the other talents can give you a good AOE presence. WHAT? This dosnt increase our burst. while true, you cant do damage if you are dead. Get it if another burst assassin is giving you issues.

Level 16

Mandatory This pools all the other talents together ( Perfect Shot, Explosive Round) to give us what we are after. Once you have this taken you wont run out of mana while spamming a rapid fire Snipe into clusters of enemies.

Level 20

Gives you the mobility to get into position to kill or to escape from heroes

Alternatives Good upgrade for Precision Strike If you took Triple Tap, this is a pretty big buff. It however isn't as useful in this build as a rapid execute.

So assuming you took the suggested talents , you will now be able to rain a never ending stream of Snipes on the enemy team.
You most likely wont be using the normal combo as often as Snipes cool down will not line up with Pinning Shot as much and you will sit at a further range then your auto attack

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So this gives a few good builds to use. However there is always room for experimentation. Here is an example ( I wont give alternatives or a detailed break down as this is just for show ).

This could be a possible utility style build. From this you would be able to cast a good slow that increase damage with Pinning Shot and your Holo Decoy can cast it on another, making it easier for your team to close on and kill enemy heroes. You would also be better at scouting due to a further range on Holo Decoy. A very interesting fact is if you use the Holo Decoy and remain cloaked your decoy uses your current stack from Covert Ops, Leading to a way to keep slowing heroes with out having to drop out of cloak then go back into stealth and then having to wait 20 seconds again to get the max stacks. This give the choice of only coming out of stealth to finish someone off with Snipe or Triple Tap

The main point I wish to make with talents is always be flexible and experiment with what works for your build.

So now we have possible builds to work with lets move onto some general game play tips to improve playing as Nova.

We'll start with some tips about the abilities.

Snipe

Our main damage ability. as discussed in some of the talents, there are ways to buff it or create synergy between some talents. But how best to use it?

* The bullet has a travel time. Now this is fairly short, roughly .5 of a second, but it does mean you will have to lead a target who is just within range. How far will depend on their speed but I find that aiming just in front of them if they are moving sidewards across your path will work. This can be the hardest part of mastering

Nova as a missed Snipe will lower your damage by a large margin. The best practise is of course live opponents but to get you started i suggest playing a few bot matches and only use Snipe and to do it from as many different angles as possible.

*Now assuming you are not using the quick cast option ( I will cover this later), you will notice a yellow indicator before you click to fire showing range and path of your Snipe and an outline of the most probable target to get hit. Use this as a guide only. Partly because of the travel time means it may not hit the highlighted target, but due to the size of some hit boxes not lining up with this yellow outline around the target you may hit something ( eg a minion under the hero) instead.

*Early game feel free to use this to harass heroes out of the lane, however make sure to leave yourself with at least half of your mana pool. Later on if you pick up Anti-Armor Shells use that instead

Pinning Shot

I feel like this ability is pretty straight forward by itself. If I do find certain niche tips I will expend this section.

Holo Decoy

Now this ability is often given flak as being useless, which i think is selling it short. As per the talent section it can be buffed in certain ways. Now lets also give some tips to use it better.

* This can block skill shots ( at one stage it could body block as well... I miss that). With this in mind it can become a semi shield to save you or an allie from being killed. For example our very own

Triple Tap can be blocked by Holo Decoy. Nothing beats killing a enemy Nova that thought they could finish you off with Triple Tap, have it blocked then turn around and blow them away..

* Even before getting Lethal Decoy your Holo Decoy will still apply the slow from Pinning Shot

*It can interrupt objective channels (eg tributes) and knock heroes off their mount, and this is without the Lethal Decoy upgrade. This can be a very good tactic to stop a hand in/capture of objectives until support can arrive.

*Juking/tricking Heroes. To do this you must be realistic with where you put the decoy. What do i mean by this? well where is the best place to attack from: right next to Diablo or from a bush? If you wouldn't be there, then neither should your Holo Decoy. There is one exception to this. If a hero is spamming AOE abilities to clear lanes, you can drop a decoy just as the AOE goes off, making it look like you got careless and was revealed. I have seen many players make a snap judgement and jump on the decoy wasting abilities, creating an opportunity to jump them instead.
Now juking is best done by dropping the drone just as a chasing heroe looses vision either due to terrain, bushes or cloak coming back online. That second of delay that can come due to indecision can be the second that saves your life.

* ALT*E will drop the Holo Decoy directly on top of you. this can be very good while juking, blocking skill shots by side stepping only slightly and concentrating the holo build decoys on the same spot.

* I will restate that your holo drone copies all your stats and talents on use. So make sure you have mana for abilities after dropping a Holo Decoy so the decoy can use them.

*Remember the drone will do this combo, moving around while doing it , Snipe+auto attack+ Pinning Shot+auto attack.

*Use it to scout merc camps and bushes without putting yourself in danger or to scare of heroes.

Cloak

There are not too many tricks to this but ill list them as every bit helps

*It takes 3 seconds for cloak to reactivate after you stop attacking/mount up/ stop channelling. You will need to get a feel for this as it will help with juking and making sure you dont miss step and show someone where you are.

*It is not 'true'' invisibility. There is a slight shimmer outlining you. This shimmer is more obvious if you are moving or depending on the background graphics. I will try to find a good picture to show what i mean.( if you have seen the Predator movies you will know what i mean)

This is a quick screen shot to show what it looks like. Notice that the texture from the wall really highlights Nova, the same with the floor tile edges


* The only building that can reveal you is the core. Forts and towers will not shoot you as long as you are cloaked.

*You will not appear on the enemy's mini map while you are cloaked.

*You are still solid . You can be walked into which will give out your position. Also some maps have objects that can be bumped making them sway or fall over. This is also a big sign to someone paying attention.

Triple Tap

Our burst ultimate.

* Can be stopped by buildings and other enemy heroes, so you must plan accordingly

*The total channel time is 4 seconds. Make sure you are safe for this before casting.

*For the most part the projectiles can not be dodged. Good for getting the more slippery heroes.
However there are some ways to dogde it with the following

Skills to dodge Triple Tap The Lost Vikingsas the use Jump! and Longboat Raid! Brightwing as she uses Phase Shift Murky as it casts Safety Bubble Illidanas he dives below ground during the cast of Metamorphosis Utherprotects whoever he casts Divine Shield on Zagaras Nydus Network when she enters one of the worm will have it drop off Chens Storm, Earth, Fire as he splits will cause it to not hit Ice Block and Improved Ice Block stop all damage Sylvanas as she jumps with Haunting Wave Abathur at the end of casting Deep Tunnel and as he casts Ultimate Evolution Tyraels Sanctification if not fired on Tyrael will be blocked There may be some more abilities that can dodge the bullets but theses are the more oblivious ones to be aware of

Precision Strike

Our AOE ultimate.

* Has a 3 second activation time. This is not channelled so after casting start moving again. Also it will drop you from cloak as it is casted.

*Remember it has a global range, and it can also be used to zone out enemy heroes, not just for damage.

*Using ALT+R will cast this directly where you are. This can be used to create space for you to escape from close quarters or if they have you pinned down with no escape to go out with a bang.

Quickcast

I mentioned this before but what is it? So in the option menu under controls you will notice this option. What this changes is how abilities are used. By default you need to press the key for the ability then click again where you want to cast it. This is good for new players as it lets them be more accurate by showing range/AOE. However if you turn on quick cast the ability will automatic cast where your mouse is pointing when you tap the key. This is much quicker but depends on you knowing range, AOE and some other factors to get the most out of that speed. There is a also a half option that is called cast on release. With this one the yellow range indicator will appear until you release the key then it will cast.
Now once you get good enough i do suggest using the quick cast but really it is personal preference that matters.

Early game lvl 1-7

During this time your main job is to harass heroes and kill any that get out of position. Make sure to rotate between the lanes, preferably between the two lanes that need an extra body. Dont worry if you cant actually get the kills as the goal is to deny exp to the other team to give your team the edge by harassing them out of exp range.
Another role that will pop up between lvl 4 -7 is to fend of enemy mercenary captures. These will usually be done by certain characters so if you notice that a enemy hero is missing for 10-15 seconds and they are a natural mercer, go hunting.

You will get an objective start in this period on most maps. Your job is to provide cover for your team so they can get it done. Or if they dont need help go harass the other team while they try to do it

Mid Game 7-16

Team fighting will be more common however between these, heroes will often be more spread out. Now is the time to prowl the entire map and go looking for ganks/ help set up kills.
Keep an eye out for mercers as usual and continue to run interference for your team during objectives.

Late Game lvl 16 - 20

By now you should have to power to start mowing down heroes very quickly if you are playing to the strength of your build.
Keeping an eye on mercs becomes a little less important as they tend to lose power as the match goes on, except the bosses, and will be captured too quickly for you to contest.
This period will be a series of escalating team fights.

SECTION IS WORK IN PROGRESS

For the Moment I have uploaded screenshots of sections of the different maps. Each screenshots will have circles in different colours to symbolize a certain tips

Depicts a 'pillbox' This area can be useful for sniping into another area. What makes these good are either line of sight blocker or environment boundaries that allow you to escape or stop the enemy heroes from reaching you as easily. Arrow will point to the ideal area to be focusing on trying to hit from the 'pillbox'

Depicts a 'jukiing area'. These areas and/or pilars are good for losing heroes that are chasing you usually by making them lose sight of you.Some of these may be dead ends so you will have to make a judgement if it is worth the risk

Areas to be aware of. These can be dead ends that arnt worth going into. They will also show things that mau give your position away , such as lamps that will swing if they are brushed against or map objectives that will show someone is capturing them etc.

I am currently working on further map tips.

Build of Choice
[*] Burst build Due to the more spread out nature of the objective and Lanes ,leaving heroes alone and exposed, the Burst build excels in this map

Telent consideration
[*] Consider not getting Anti-Armor Shells as the slow attack speed will really hurt you when it comes to getting coins from the chest

Objective
[*] The objective of this map is to collect coin from chest and the merc camps around the map. The coins are then handed into Blackbeard the pirate in the middle of the map, who then rains down cannon balls on the other team. Your goal is to stop hand ins to Blackbeard and to pick off heroes that have coins. Try to avoid getting coins yourself ,unless there is no choice, as your squishy nature will make you the prime target of the enemy team. Also you will struggle to get coins from the chest as they are damaged by number of attacks not strength of attacks.

Blackheart's bay Map locations

Build of Choice
[*] Holo build With the objective requiring close quarters team fights, this build will offer the best chance of surviving during the chaos
[*] Burst build Outside of the objective, this map is fairly large , targets will be spread out and isolated (which the burst build shines at)

Telent consideration
[*] Getting Psi-Op Rangefinder and Remote Delivery Can allow you to stop tribute channels from a safer range
[*] Explosive Round or Railgun can allow you to benefit from split pushing during a curse.

Objective
[*] This map is focused on collecting tributes to curse the other team, reducing minion health and stopping their builds (except core) from firing. This map is fairly large which makes it easy for Nova to find targets that are isolated. During the tribute, your goal is to stop the enemy's attempts to capture the tribute or to flank the team and take out their back line during fight ( this is made a bit easier due to the layout of the tribute areas, which can help you escape)

Cursed Hollow Map locations

Build of Choice
[*] All builds are fairly equal on this map with a slight edge to Holo build

Telent consideration
[*] Due to the fact that the dragon knight is considered a hero type for targeting purposes, Triple Tap should be considered as a way to quickly eliminate an enemy knight.
[*] Crippling Shot Can allow your team to quickly take out the enemy knight.


Objective
[*] Objective sis to control 2 shrines and then summon the dragon knight. With cloaking, you can often capture the shrines safer then other heroes but be ready for attempts to decloak you. During a knight push ran interference and force the enemy away from the knight. Against an opposing knight be careful about the flame breath, its a fairly large cone and will leave you visible.

Dragon Shire Map locations

Build of Choice
[*] All builds are fairly equal on this map with a slight edge to Holo build

Telent consideration
[*] Due to the fact that the Summoned Garden terror is considered a hero type for targeting purposes, Triple Tap should be considered as a way to quickly eliminate an enemy terror.
[*] Aoe talents may be considered to help with the seedlings.
[*] Crippling Shot Can allow your team to quickly take out the enemy terror.


Objective
[*] Day/night cycle. During the night the team collect seeds from neutral creeps to summon a Garden terror.During the night scout out the enemy and defend your team mates. During a terror push you can be more aggressive due to the terrors massive cc and its ability to lock down towers/forts, stopping them from shooting.

Garden Of Terror Map locations

Build of Choice
[*] Holo build Cramped quarters makes this build pretty useful
[*] Rapid-Fire build With the cave fighting in among skeletons and large pushes, the ability to deal aoe damage is useful on this map.

Telent consideration
[*] Aoe talents to help in mines
[*] Precision Strike, due to the both teams push style of map, being able to defend and help push from different positions is very useful for this map.
[*] Crippling Shot Can allow your team to quickly take out the enemy golem.

Objective
[*] Objective is during mine event to collect skulls from skeletons/Golem to create a powerful Grave golem to push down one lane( will always be the same lane for that game). During this period you have two choices, enter mines to fight and defend your teammates or guard merc camps to make sure they enemy team cannot use them to defend from your golem (mercs will always push the opposite lane to your golom)

Haunted Mines Map locations

Build of Choice
[*] Holo build Fights over the shrines can be fairly chaotic, a place where holos can shine
[*] Burst build Often there will be at least 2 shrines activated, splitting teams up allowing for easier pickings. The map is also medium size so laning heroes will be more isolated.

Telent consideration
[*] Precision Strike allows you to help at multiple shrines at a time.

Objective
[*] Hold shrines to shoot LAZERS at the opposing teams structures. During the shrine events its best to wait for the enemy to engage the guardians so they have both them and you hitting them. As you wont be able to contend shrines by yourself very well, its best to move to a contested shrine to help.

Sky Temple Map locations

Build of Choice
[*] Rapid-Fire build With the massive amount of bodies in the pushes that will occur the rapid fire will allow you to contribute to fights even if you cant get a clear shot.
[*] Holo build Cramped chaotic quarters allows the holos to work fairly well.

Telent consideration
[*] Remote Delivery Allows you to rapidly check both egg nests.
[*] Precision Strike allows pushing/defense of multiple lanes.

Objective
[*] Collect gems from spiders and hand them into nests to summon large spiders to push every lane. Your goal is to stop hand ins of the gems during the laning stages. During pushes , your going to have to aim very carefully as the pushes will be very cluttered due to the summonsed minions ( it may pay to aggressively flank the otehhr tema to give you a clear shot).

Tomb Of The Spider Queen Map locations

Build of Choice

Telent consideration


Objective

Build of Choice


Telent consideration


Objective

Nova in my mind is the the best example of a true assassin, picking off wounded and/or important heroes is what she is built around.
Hopefully this guide will help new and old players alike
Thanks for reading
CynicCorvus

p.s I would like to give a big thanks to Mowen. Without the guides put on the forum to make good looking guides... well this guide would look pretty bad. So Cheers Mowen

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I would also like to give a thanks to my wife and my brother who did some proof reading as my grammer and spelling are awful :)

Change logs

*Uploaded 1/05/2015
*updated the utility build due to further testing 01/05/2015
*updated added in tips for abilities 01/05/2015
*updated with cloaking picture plus a few edits in tips 01/05/2015
*updated with some tips for early/mid/late game 01/05/2015
*updated with grammar corrections and some formatting fixes 05/05/2015
*another tip in Holo Decoy 07/05/2015
*updated with some graphical improvements 08/05/2015
*updated with skills that can dodge Triple Tap 12/05/2015
*Updated One in the Chamber in talents and added to alternatives in builds. 12/05/2015
* Updated with the first of the map information (just some screen shots for the moment) 12/05/2015
* Updated with some fixes to grammar
*added Threat levels for Kael'thas and Johanna and The Butcher 12/07/2015
*Change to Burst build due to Envenom change. Level 4 talent is now Gathering Power 12/07/2015
* Change Brightwings threat level 12/07/2015
*update the changed talents info. 12/07/2015
*First map draft up Blackheart's Bay 12/07/2015
*added Threat levels for Leoric and Kharazim and Rexxar 09/09/2015
*Update ability inof from changes 09/09/2015
* map drafts up for Cursed Hollow, Dragon Shire, Garden of Terror, Haunted Mines, Sky Temple and Tomb of the Spider Queen 09/09/2015

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* Hotfixes added to patch notes 17/09/2015
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Future plans

keep working on flow of guide

Gameplay

How to pick tagets
Early/mid/late game tips *addmore
How to deal with certain heroes

Maps

Detail of maps and how they will affect your play style
Would also like to put up pictures of the maps with good paths/'pillboxes' and other important features.