Hi, im EvilIllidan, rank 1 support in US realm. Today im going to make a quick guide of how i like to play Brightwing, the most powerful healer in the current meta.
Check out my facebook page for a more generic guide of how to play hero league, and tips about each map mechanic.
My profile in heroes of the storm:
My Win ratio with brightwing in hero league:
1.2 Disclaimer
This is how i like to play Brightwing, and in MY style this things are absolutely fundamental, that's why i get to colour and make big letters, you can choose whatever style fits you best. My guide is not some "ultimate way to be awesome with Brightwing and win in every situation", there's no such thing as that.
1.3 Pros and Cons
Pros:
Heavy sustained healing.
Dont depend on Mana.
Has Hard CC.
Deals an absurd amount of damage (for a Healer).
Cons:
Can't single target heal.
Improved Soothing Mist has a long cooldown and can be dangerous if not used with care.
2 Skills and Talents
The importance of Poking
First of all i have to say this: USE YOUR AUTO-ATTACK A LOT. Brightwing's Auto-attack is more powerful and scales better than Illidan's. Dont believe me? Brightwing Auto attack base is 34, Illidan is 30. Brightwing damage per level is 8, Illidan is 7.
You believe me now?
Yes!, Brightwing's auto-attack is more powerful than the most OP assasin in the game, so USE IT, USE IT A LOT, USE IT EVERYTIME YOU CAN
Look how i beat the **** out of this Li Li:
[Sorry about this kinda lame example, since all my old matches in hero league are from the past patches i can't load a decent one, so i had to play a quick match.]
2.1 Skills
Q - Arcane Flare
This is a great AoE skill that you can spam to threaten your enemies, also if you hit them with the center they receive double damage. W - Polymorph
The best weapon in Brightwing's tools, you are going to be using it a lot. When Illidan jumps into a teamfight, you Polymorph him and the rest is history!, also useful vs E.T.C.'s Mosh Pit and Li Li's Jug of 1,000 Cups E - Pixie Dust
A nice buff that can block 1 (or 2 if improved) enemy auto-attacks and aument your or ally's speed in 20%.
You are most likely use it to catch up with your team when pushing or to help a teammate catch that surviving hero that tries to run away. R - Emerald Wind
Another of BW powerful tools. You can use it agresively with Sprint to separate an enemy and throw him away from their teammates or defensively to disengage from a bad starting teamfight.
NEVER EVER PICK Blink Heal
It's healing is a joke and it often leaves you very bad positioned. Almost all the time, teleporting to the focused character to heal him ends with you receiving AoE Damage/AoE stuns, you are the healer, the core of the teamfight, and you put yourself voluntarily in the focus? That's plain dangerous, you always must be as far away as possible, between the reach of your aura.
Maths behind this sucking Ultimate:
"At lvl 20, it heals 448 in 10 seconds of cooldown. While your passive heals 216 every 5 seconds, which in 10 seconds are 432, so the only real benefit is being able to teleport in and out of combat, which is not a real benefit since you can sprint in and out of combat anyway. Using your improve passive(Active) is more than enough for healing, since it heals 216x4=864 over 4 seconds and doesn't stop the normal ticking of your passive."
The point in this math is, do you really want an Ultimate that heals almost the same as your passive? Me, im sure i don't. Ultimates are supposed to be devastating, not some lame "i heal a bit" teleports. Emerald Wind is devastating for the enemy coordination, that's why is always the good choice no matter what.
Blink Heal assumes that your team know what they are doing, in Hero League, since the matchmaker sucks as hell you are going to be paired with lots of newbies, and you have to help them do what they should do by themselves, kill the enemy team, Emerald Wind gives you the position advantage needed so your allies can do their job more easily.
D - Soothing Mist
Brightwing's Passive/Active at lvl 7. Superb Passive, it ticks so fast and heals so much that your team can endure 2 or 3 teamfights without even going back to base, you must pay attention to the reach of the aura and always use it when you can heal most of your team, wasting it in 1 or 2 allies is a bad move.
You are going to use it on teamfights, win or lose a TF, do some mercs/objectives then regroup and now you got it again for teamfight, then repeat.
2.2 Talents
Default option:Bribe
This is a great talent that can help you steal easy camps right in the nose of your enemy. Also with this talent you can make hard camps by yourself, but only when you won a teamfight and the enemy is dead, you are slow making camps and the enemy can steal it from you. Alternative option:Shield Dust
This is the option to go when you play Haunted Mines or Tomb of the Spider Queen. Since this maps don't have that much mercenary camps. Default option:Protective Shield
Most of the time you want to take this. You can Protective Shield yourself and then Sprint to get outside of focus, then come back and start auto-attacking your enemies to death. Most of the time you are going to protect your assasins with this. Alternative option:Envenom
Take this if you don't have heavy damage ( Valla, Jaina, Tychus, Sylvanas) and the enemy team has a lot of squishies that you can finish of with Envenom.
What about Promote? You can promote a lane and then teleport to your team again, pressuring the enemy (in the end netting you a fort more = more exp = and later on more busy enemy). Also useful in teampushes, healing weakened minions giving you more buffer.
You have 3 allies that are damage dealers, i'm pretty sure they can push so much better than a single minion controlled by the AI. Promote is too unreliable. Most of the damage dealt when pushing lanes is done by heros, creeps are there just to die. (poor things). Blizzard wanted to make a game with multiple options, but Blizzard fans are elitists, they always find the best way to do something and stick to that, (See Theorycrafting in World of Warcraft), Heroes of the Storm is no exception to this.
Only option:Gust of Healing
Just take it, its your main source of healing, there's no better option. Only option:Sprint
Take it, you need it, you can use it for escape, you can use it for chasing, you can use it for agresive Emerald Wind, there's no better option.
also there are 2 better options depending on map and composition. Phase shield is amazing as is sticky flare
Phase Shield is just a 800 shield that you can use every 45 seconds, only strong if you are away from your team, which you should not, sprint has far more uses. Sticky Flare is a soft CC that you can compensate with Sticky Powder, since focusing is better than slowing the entire enemy team. Even if you don't take Sticky Powder CCing is not your job, let it for tanks or assasins.
As i said Sprint is superior because you will be focused often, if not always, so you can sprint out of focus, go back behind your melees and start poking the enemy to death. The important thing here is YOU SHOULD NEVER, EVER DIE. If you die your team lost they can't handle without healer, there's no situation when dying is good for you so avoid it at all cost, hence Sprint. Default option:Critterize
25% increased polymorph damage means that your enemy is more likely to die if polymorphed and focused, i take this option when the match is even. Alternative option:Sticky Powder
If you already know that you are going to win, then take this instead. 50% slow helps ensuring that no one will escape from a won teamfight. Default option:Continuous Winds
Most of the time you are going to want this. Disarm the enemy formation and keep them away while your allies can move freely inside your Emerald Wind focusing and finishing the separated enemies, its the perfect ultimate, because you dont have to aim it, it can't be cancelled, and most of the time will make you win teamfights. Alternative option:Storm Shield
If you feel that they have too much damage and need and extra shielding you can take this, but only if the match is even and they have more damage than you, i don't usually take it a lot, since Continuous Winds it's a no brainer choice.
3 F.A.Q.
What's my objetive to win in High Ranked Matches?
In High ranked hero league, meta focuses in winning the teamfight, spreading out, clearing mercenary camps and then regrouping and winning the teamfight again, so the matches usually end before any minion can do any significative progress, you do mercs so your enemy can't do them, not because they help.
...But Pro Players always pick this!
How pro players play in Pro League is absolutely different than how you play hero league, for only 1 subject, communication. Pro players can play risky strategies because they know they teammates will work accordingly, in Hero League, you are on your own, you must always assume the worse. Assasins are going to jump first, Tanks are not going to initiate properly, You are going to fight undernumbered, always in position disadvantage. That's why you must pick what gives you more overall advantage.
What i'm supposed to do as a support?
Your job is to ensure your assasins survive long enough to wipe the entire enemy team.
If i pick Emerald Wind i don't have enough healing left to heal my Tank!
You are not supposed to protect tanks, is ok for tanks to die, if you win the teamfight with positive trade. (Meaning you kill more enemies than they kill your allies).
4 Terminology
AoE: Acronym of the phrase, "Area of Effect". Used for skills that deal damage or heal in area.
Baiting: When you hide in the bushes so you can ambush the enemy team, more usually done in Boss bushes.
Chaser: A hero that can hunt you down no matter how much you run. (You know who im talking about, ****ing Illidan. Also Thrall or Anub'Arak)
Dps: Born from the WoW term, "Damage Per Second", it means a hero that can deal constant, heavy damage, like Valla. Most frequently they auto-attack a lot, making Zagara, (who can deal heavy damage) not a dps.
Healer: A support that can heal constantly a big amout of health. Not all supports are healers. (Tassadar, Tyrande are supports but not a healers).
Map Awareness: To be conscious of where the enemy team is. Is dangerous to start a merc camp is no enemy is present in the map.
Off-Support: Tassadar, Tyrande. They can heal and also can be damage dealers, sometimes called hybrids.
Off-Tank: Heros that can sustain a decent damage and also deal a decent damage. (Illidan Meta Build, Anub'Arak).
Opener: A skill that can disarm the enemy formation, usually done by tanks but can be done by other roles. (ETC's Mosh Pit, Brightwing's Emerald Wind, Illidan's Metamorphosis).
Poking: Born from the term "Poke", it means to harass the enemy in the current line with your auto-attack, forcing them to go back and heal.
Snowballing: When you win advantage and start to constant kill your enemy, making you more powerful very quickly.
Tank: A hero that has damage mitigation skills or can sustain a lot of damage. Usually they are warriors but not all warriors are tanks. (Anub'arak and Sonya are not tanks).
5 Conclusion
I hope you enjoy my guide and feel free to leave me a comment or PM me on my facebook page i will answer any doubt you have about Brightwing.
(If my guide was useful, a like on my FB page would be the greatest thanks!, it helps me to promote so i can do more guides for other heros, I'm a Pro Illidan too!, guide is coming.) See you in the Nexus and i hope you win a lot!
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Heroes of the Storm Build Guides
Soothing Mist has a long cooldown and can be dangerous if not used with care.
Brightwing's Auto-attack is more powerful and scales better than
Illidan's. Dont believe me?
Q - Arcane Flare
W - Polymorph
E.T.C.'s
Mosh Pit and
Jug of 1,000 Cups
E - Pixie Dust
R - Emerald Wind
Blink Heal
Shield Dust
Haunted Mines or
Tomb of the Spider Queen. Since this maps don't have that much mercenary camps.
Envenom
Valla,
Jaina,
Tychus,
Sylvanas) and the enemy team has a lot of squishies that you can finish of with
Promote? You can promote a lane and then teleport to your team again, pressuring the enemy (in the end netting you a fort more = more exp = and later on more busy enemy). Also useful in teampushes, healing weakened minions giving you more buffer.
Phase Shield is just a 800 shield that you can use every 45 seconds, only strong if you are away from your team, which you should not, sprint has far more uses.
Sticky Flare is a soft CC that you can compensate with
Sticky Powder, since focusing is better than slowing the entire enemy team. Even if you don't take
Storm Shield
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