Hello everyone, and welcome to a little guide to Greymane, the Lord of the Worgen. Apologies for the lateness in update. I was waiting to see exactly what impact Greymane's recent buffs would have.

It has now been proven that Greymane is competitive viable and he has begun to show his head in the European, Korean and American scenes. There are already some VODs up on Twitch for you to see Greymane in action.

(American) SINIX Reverse vs Team Spooky: http://www.twitch.tv/gillyweedsc2/v/39082383
(American) Cloud 9 vs SINIX Reverse: VOD not uploaded
(EU) Natus Vincere vs Team Dignitas: VOD not uploaded
(EU) Fnatic vs Legos: VOD not uploaded

Hailing from the realm of Azeroth King Genn Greymane is the ruler of the human kingdom of Gilneas. A proud and strong willed leader Greymane was known for his distrust of outsiders and his belief in Gilneas' independence and strength. As such when the council that founded the Alliance of Lordaeron was convened Greymane was very hesitant about joining and offered only token support when he finally agreed. After the Second War against the Orcish Horde Greymane pulled Gilneas from the Alliance and constructed the Greymane Wall to protect his kingdom from all those who threaten it, effectively cutting off his Kingdom from the outside world and its conflicts.

Years later when the Undead Scourge threatened to break through the Greymane Wall, the King ordered Archmage Arugal to summon wolf-like monsters called the Worgen from the Emerald Dream to defend his realm. The Archmage quickly lost control of them however and they began spreading the Worgen curse among the Gilnean people, eventually infecting Greymane himself. Through the use of potions Greymane was able to limit the effects of the curse on himself and others, but it was only with the help of outsiders: the Night Elves that a cure was found. In doing so he paid a terrible price: his son Liam, killed by Sylvanss Windrunner with a poisoned arrow meant for his father.

Since then Greymane has been readmitted into the Alliance and has supported it through thick and thin. A tough and noble ruler Greymane struggles to keep him inner beast at bay while seeking revenge for his son's death upon Sylvanas.

Greymane is a Ranged Assassin who harasses his enemies in human form before diving into melee in his Worgen form to finish them off.

Pros

High Auto-attack damage
High mobility
Very versatile hero
Scales well into the late game
Can build ranged or melee depending on what the team needs.
Great wave-clear
Good 1v1 potential
Fun and dynamic playstyle
Did I mention he's a werewolf?

Cons

Very vulnerable to stuns
High skill cap
Low Health pool
No Self-Sustain or Crowd Contol
Potentially mana hungry in the early game
Human form has no escape

Greymane got a little buff that has since pushed him into the competitive meta.

Stat Changes

Health increased from 1876 (+4% per level) to 1876 (+4.5% per level)

Health Regeneration increased from 3.906 (+4% per level) to 3.906 (+4.5% per level)

A little health goes a long way but he's not really any less squishy than he was before. You shouldn't be emboldened by this small change, you still need to be conservative.

Ability Changes

Gilnean Cocktail- Mana cost reduced from 80 to 70, Cooldown reduced from 9 to 8 seconds

Darkflight- Cooldown reduced from 6 to 5 seconds

Disengage- Cooldown reduced from 6 to 5 seconds

Gilnean Cocktail has become centre feature of a wide variety of burst builds and this buff just makes it all the more worth it. It also alleviates a little bit of the mana-hungriness of Greymane's early game. But the big deal is the cooldown reduction on Darkflight/ Disengage. This allows a significant bit of mobility and survivability so make sure to use it.

Talent Changes

Perfect Aim- Mana restoration decreased from 60 to 50

Insatiable- Maximum Mana restoration increased from 120 to 140

Unfettered Assault-No longer increases Razor Swipe’s cooldown

Unfettered Assault is now viable, and pretty good as well. The other two doesn't matter too much. You;re not overly concerned with mana on Greymane.

Trait: Curse of the Worgen

Greymane's trait is the centrepiece of his kit, dealing 40% more damage with his melee attacks in Worgen form. There are three ways that Greymane can change his form: his E ability, his heroics and by mounting which will always switch him back into human form.

Abilities in Human Form

Q: Gilnean Cocktail

A Ranged skillshot that is surprisingly unreliable when you actually try and shoot with it. However, it is a very effective tool for poking enemy heroes and pushing lanes. Position yourself effectively when in human form in order to make the most of the splash damage and hit as many targets as possible. If you can, try using this when the minion wave is walking in a straight line for maximum effectiveness.

W: Inner Beast

The bread and butter skill of Greymane is available in both human and worgen forms. This is what gives Greymane his killing potential so use it as often as possible to clear waves, take camps and kill heroes. The only skill involved is to remember to have it off cooldown so its ready for the big team-fights.

E: Darkflight

When you want to go in and kill, this is your tool. The damage doesn't matter but the gap-close is insane. Don't use this like crazy, time your engages and position in order to deal the maximum damage and survive the fight. Greymane is incredibly squishy, particularly in the early game, and likely the focus for the enemy team. Bear all that in mind when choosing to shapeshift in.

Abilities in Worgen form

Q: Razor Swipe

A very nice AOE damage and chase ability. Use this to hit multiple targets and to close the gap on fleeing enemies and bodyblock them in. You can also use this as a small escape tool before using Disengage to get a little bit of extra distance from your pursuers. It also clears minion waves and camps very effectively so be sure to use in then if you have the chance.

W: Inner Beast

If you thought it was good in human form just wait till you see it in Worgen form. The effects remains active when you switch so you don't need to reactivate it changing form. Just remember to keep up the duration by attacking anything that moves and you'll be fine.

E: Disengage

Greymane's key escape ability should be used primarily for escaping enemy heroes. However you can use it aggressively to chase down fleeing enemies if you're confident you can get the kill and not get punished. Be aware there is a five second cooldown on this ability after using Darkflight so time your engages carefully.

Heroics will be discussed under talents in the next section.

Greymane's got a lot of viable builds and talents and particularly at this early stage of his release its not clear exactly what is the optimal talent to go for. Below is a guide to the talents in general, the code for which is the following:

Green: Solid pick at any point
Amber: Situational but viable pick
Red: Uncommon or 'bad' pick

Level 1:

Wolfheart

This is an insanely powerful talent. The reduction on Inner Beast's cooldown is really useful if you need to back out and engage again. If you get a 16 hit combo with this trait Inner Beast will have no cooldown but even a few seconds off makes this talent worthwhile. The big drawback is it's a very mana intensive talent and can cause you to run into problems if it's spammed too much. It's still very strong for builds which focus on auto-attacks which is pretty much all of them: go nuts.

Perfect Aim

If you are going full cocktail build then this is a pretty good talent. The mana refund is particularly nice in the early game where Greymane can be mana hungry, but since you generally want to be auto-attacking you probably want one of the Inner Beast talents on this tier. Not saying this is a bad pick, just there's probably much better options. Consider using it as alternative to Insatiable if your playstyle means you're running out of mana a lot.

Scented Tincture

Honestly you don't need this. While this can reveal targets and stealthed characters for a considerable amount of time it shouldn't be your responsibility to locate targets. You should be following up with damage and the other talents help you do that. It's a bit like Rexxar's Flare: useful but never used, there are better talents.

Viciousness

There has been a lot of debate over whether Wolfheart or Viciousness is the better Inner Beast talent. Grubby and Dreadnaught both favour Wolfheart while MFPallytime and Chu8 both prefer Viciousness. I prefer Viciousness because it gives increased synergy with On the Prowl at 13 and it allows your abilities to keep up the duration which is great when chasing down targets. It's also significantly less mana intensive and the extra second allows the buff to last through stuns, which can be very useful. Both are viable and it may just come down to preference as to which is better.

Level 4:

Thick Skin

If you're going Worgen any extra survivability is great for you, particularly against autoattackers like The Butcher and Raynor. Thick Skin is a must for any Worgen focused build but as the only survivability talent you're going to get, many other builds can benefit from this as well.

Eyes in the Dark

Some people say Eyes in the Dark just ensures escapes that you would have had anyway. I disagree. The juke potential on this ability is very handy and it gives a bit of a safeguard when using Disengage, making opponents less likely to chase you down. However more often than not the stealth will be popped instantly by a stray auto-attack, making it less valuable than you might think.

Insatiable

I don't understand why this talent gets used. If you're managing your health by using the healing fountains and hearthstone well you don't need the extra mana, because you'e getting it anyway from there. While you could argue any extra sustain is good Greymane's main issue is health not mana. I don't think its worth sacrificing the other talents for, just don't spam you abilities and you won't need this.

Draught Overflow

Because of the popularity of Gilnean Cocktail builds this talent becomes very useful. The area increase is actually pretty good, and if you're doing a build that focuses on Gilnean Cocktail this is a must have pick. However, if you're not, its not needed for your Q to be effective.

Level 7:

Quicksilver Bullets

You are going to be spending a lot of time in human form and this is a pretty good pick. It gives you a slightly longer range than Raynor, but you really only make the most of it if you're going for an auto-attack human build. Combine this with On the Prowl and your chase is ridiculous, but if you're not being pressured at range, or you favour a less human focused build, you can let this slide.

Incendiary Elixir

Increased damage and no more unreliability on your Q? Done deal as far as I'm concerned.

Wizened Duelist

Gathering Power on steroids. If you liked that on heroes like Kael'thas and Nova you'll probably like it here. However, Greymane's playstyle practically requires you to commit suicide by jumping on people at a regular basis. Thus you end up losing stacks more often than you gain them. Very unreliable but great if you're good enough.

Level 10 (Heroics):

Go for the Throat

This is the heroic of choice for most people. Its easy to land and it does a truck-ton of damage. Its just a lot better than Marked for the Kill, ignoring how satisfying it is to get the finishing blow. More importantly its burst damage, something Greymane doesn't have a lot of. There's a little symbol that appears above a target when you are guaranteed a kill, so keep an eye out for it and don't blow it on Ultimate Evolution clones or Storm, Earth, Fire minions.

Marked for the Kill

Marked for the Kill is not a bad heroic but it come with many more problems than Go for the Throat. Firstly, its very hard to land under pressure especially against good players, secondly it doesn't do any meaningful damage on a hit and thirdly there are plenty other ways to get that vulnerability: Tyrande's Hunter's Mark or Sylvanas's Cold Embrace both do the job just as well. But then again you aren't wanting it for the vulnerability you're wanting it for the huge engage potential. I pick Go for the Throat any day, but if you can land Marked for the Kill it's very useful.

Level 13:

Running Wild

The increased range is definitely significant, and it can really help you pull out from fights more so than going in. The only reason its not higher is because On the Prowl is so good. It can be pretty handy during chasing but its not as versatile and you have a six second window when you can't make use of it.

Visceral Attacks

The cooldown's already short enough anyway on your Razor Swipe. You probably don't need to decrease it any more. It can help you do aoe damage more often and it does help you stick to targets. Useful if you're willing to sacrifice On the Prowl.

On the Prowl

This is as close as it gets to a must-have talent for Greymane. Increased movement speed helps you chase and escape without any draw backs. It makes you faster than a Lunara for pity's sake. If you took Viciousness definitely take this as the increased duration will always give you a second of speed. If you didn't, take this anyway. It's that good.

Unfettered Assault

Now this is viable. The cooldown is the same and this is actually much better. I still stand by On the Prowl being the best talent this tier, but it's not the trash talent it once was.

Level 16:

Concentrated Blast

There are so many good talents at this level its hard to pick between them. If you're staying back in human form a lot then you'll want this. The damage increase is nasty. Just remember to have Inner Beast before you use your Gilnean Cocktail otherwise you've wasted a lot of damage.

Relentless Predator

Sometimes the enemy team is just locking you down and killing you. For those situations you'll want this one. Particularly if they have a hero with a lot of crowd control, such as Jaina or Leoric. However, it's important to note this is not a must-have talent on Greymane, even in the current meta. Good play and not making stupid engages will mean you don't need this. More often that not you'll want the damage talents since they're just too good to pass up on most occasions.

Executioner

It's not what you're taking, its what you're giving up at this level. Executioner could be useful in really stun heavy comps but not even Raynor takes this talent 99% of the time, so you probably don't want it either. If you're solo-queueing, definitely don't take this as it requires a bit of synergy to use properly.

Alpha Killer

Now we're talking big damage. It's a very nasty pick against heroes with a high health pool: Cho's cry when you take this, in all three eyes. Only Artanis' Titan Killer comes close to this for damage increase and boy is it worth it. Worgen build? Must-have. Not getting engaged hard? Must-have.

Level 20:

Unleashed

Chances are you aren't going to get to use the third Go for the Throat because either you're dead, they're all dead or, much more likely, there just isn't a target to kill with the second one. You're better off taking one of the auto-attack talents. But you can have a lot of fun with this, particularly if you're up against The Lost Vikings.

Gilnean Roulette

If there is ever a reason to take Marked for the Kill this is it. You can shred entire teams with good team coordination and a lot of aoe burst. However, you still have to land the thing, so it's usually better to take one of the auto-attack talents.

Hunter's Blunderbuss

Human or Worgen? The choice depends on your playstyle and build. If you've built into human form and sometimes even if you haven't but the enemy keeps blowing you up in close range, this is the talent of choice. Your positioning needs to be good in order to make the most of this but its definitely the safer of the two auto-attack talents.

Tooth and Claw

More damage? You want more auto-attack damage? Then you shall have more. This means you can clear knight camps by yourself with Inner Beast up without too much hassle and it wrecks everyone: minions, heroes, who cares? Take this if you've built into Worgen or are having a good time engaging.

This is the balanced human build on Greymane. It's great as a starting build on Greymane to help you get used to his playstyle.

This is the balanced worgen build on Greymane. It sacrifices safe damage for more damage up close.

This build was theorycrafted by European pro assassin player Snitch. The idea behind this build is to basically be like Raynor and autoattack from afar and avoid using Worgen form unless its to pick up a kill. However it's a very rare build as Greymane's ranged autoattacks are not the main focus for ranged builds currently.

The Wizened Duelist build focuses on augmenting your Worgen's auto-attacks. Running Wild can be picked up to help you keep those precious Wizened Duelist stacks but Unffettered ***ualt also gives you the range to escape. If you're not feeling skilled enough to take Unleashed,Tooth and Claw never fails. A very high-risk build but very high reward if you can keep it up.

Most people tend to be using some form of burst build on Greymane. Those builds fit with the current meta and allows you to be dangerous at both ranges. This build focuses on bursting down enemy heroes using a combination of Gilnean Cocktail and Marked for the Kill, however picking up Go for the Throat is never bad in a burst build.

If you really need to turtle up and play it safe, these are the talent's you're looking for. But you shouldn't be aiming to do so.

The Cocktail build is very popular. The burst damage fits in well with the current meta and gives his ranged form a real kick. However your Gilnean Cocktail is on a decent cooldown which means it's a very long time between your big damage busts. You don't want to neglect Worgen form but this build doesn't force you to use it.

Greymane is best described as ' Valla when in human form and Illidan in worgen form.' What this means is: play safe in human form and go crazy in worgen form. The key trick, which will only come with practice, is knowing when and when not to engage. You should be trying to harass the enemy down and then going into melee when you smell an opportunity to burst someone down for the kill. You shouldn't be diving in all the time, nor should you be staying back and harassing all the time. Once you've mastered this, Greymane will be much easier for you and you'll be able to wreck people.

Here are few tips to get you started playing Greymane:


Don't feel that you have to go into worgen form every fight. You might just end up dying for nothing. Sometimes the best idea is to sit back and shoot. Patience is your ally.

Your optimal initiation rotation is usually, depending on what talents you've picked, Inner Beast, Gilnean Cocktail, Darkflight and then Razor Swipe.

Keep your health and mana up high. Use your hearthstone often to keep yourself topped up so your healer doesn't have to. If you can, try and make sure you have a healing fountain on standby before the big team-fights or objectives.

Greymane is only as mana intensive as you make him. If you spam your abilities too much, you will run out of mana. Don't overdo it, or you won't be able to use them when it counts, and you'll waste a talent pick on Insatiable when you all you had to do was play better.

Positioning is absolutely key on Greymane. Watch the minimap for enemy heroes and plan your movement accordingly. In teamfights stay at the back until you have an opening and never be on the frontline unless you intend to stay there.

Worgen form is surprisingly useful at PVE. You can clear siege camps by yourself with Inner Beast up, use Razor Swipe to clear waves and it does more damage to enemy structures. Better yet, you can Disengage if the enemy gets close you.

When taking a boss camp you can time your Darkflight/ Disengage by watching the boss' stuns. After the boss stuns use Darkflight to dish out the damage, by the time the boss in ready to stun again your Disengage should be off cooldown allowing you to dive in and out with ease.

When using Go for the Throat from human form make sure to engage with Darkflight first. You can then Disengage if things get tough and still be able to re-engage quickly with Go for the Throat. If you use your heroic first and then Disengage you'll have to wait six seconds in human form before being able to switch back to worgen.

If you are going to get ganked while in human form, use Darkflight as fast as possible even if you're diving onto an enemy hero. Then you can use Razor Swipe to put some distance between yourself and your enemies and hopefully your Disengage will have come off cooldown by that point to allow you to escape.

First off, Greymane is not considered a safe pick. He is very squishy, vulnerable to stuns and lacks an escape when in human form which makes him easy to gank and kill. However, with the recent buffs to his health and abilities Greymane has seen considerable play in the pro-scene and is now considered to occupy the same role as Valla: a hybrid auto-attacker who can deal a good bit of burst damage as well.

In order to excel in a team Greymane needs three things: a strong front-line that can engage the enemy and take the damage for him, a lot of crowd control to allow him to dish out his damage and a good strong support that can keep him alive in team fights. Your best bet is probably either the standard double warrior comp with Greymane taking the place of one of the assassins, usually the one that deals autoattack damage such as Valla, Falstad or Raynor. Another good composition swaps out a warrior for a melee assassin that can lock down targets and has good sustain like Thrall or The Butcher.

When picking Greymane in these comps you are sacrificing what many players consider to be safe picks so only pick Greymane if you are confident you can play well with him. If the draft allows he should ideally be a late draft pick as he's very easy to counter with certain heroes. Also note that Greymane is NOT a melee assassin and never be picked in place of a melee hero with good sustain.

If the enemy team picks up a Greymane, you should be aiming to play heroes with a lot of crowd control and burst damage to destroy him before he can wreck your team. Conversely heroes with good self-sustain also do well against Greymane as he has difficulty bursting a target down. Below are some helpful picks that can be used to help or hinder Greymane

Greymane loves heroes who can support him in his engages or can be the first ones in to take the damage. Greymane hates going up against heroes with better sustain than him or heroes that can burst him down before he has a chance to do anything. I've had most success with him as a secondary assassin in a double warrior comp.

Friends

Like the other auto-attack assassins Abathur is a great friend to Greymane if you build him right. Adrenal Overload plus the increased damage to his Stab and Spike Burst can turn Greymane into a monster. If that doesn't work two Greymanes are usually more than the enemy can handle.

Greymane needs someone to initiate for him and to take damage when things get rough. Johanna fits the bill and also has a lot of cc making it easy for Greymane to shred targets. Comboing her Condemn with either Hunter's Blunderbuss or Tooth and Claw is devastating.

Sustain heals aren't quite good as burst heals for Greymane but Lt. Morales is a fantastic partner. Stim Drone is very strong with Greymane and she provides the self-sustain that he sorely lacks.

Like Johanna Muradin has both lockdown and survivability to spare. He can also initiate effectively with his Dwarf Toss. A good pick with any team, but especially one with Greymane on it.

Raynor synergies well with Greymane thanks to Inspire as they both benefit from increased attack speed. More importantly he does reliable damage from the back and his Penetrating Round can be used to help Greymane escape the enemy.

Ancestral Healing can save you in tough times, Bloodlust can buff you to insane levels, suffice it to say Rehgar is a good support if he goes healing build. What he lacks in straight heals he makes up for with cc and damage which is still useful for Greymane.

Leeching Plasma and the straight defence boost from Plasma Shield make Greymane a sustain machine. A good Force Wall can block off escape routes for the enemy and allow Greymane to close in for the kill.

Foes

Artanis' Shield Overload makes finishing him with Go for the Throat really hard work. Plus he does a surprising amount of damage and can pull you into his team. 1v1 Artanis can and will kill you a surprisingly high number of times, so make sure you can burst him down before engaging on him.

Diablo has high health, good stuns and a good bit of damage. All things Greymane doesn't like to go up against. Harass from afar and go in when he's low, or better yet pick a squishier target.

In the early game, Kharazim has enough sustain to beat Greymane 1v1. In the late-game Divine Palm's will ruin your day. To top it off he can engage and escape on you very quickly, not a fun hero to face.

Octo-Grab is horrible to go up against as it will guarantee a kill 6.5/10 times. As well as that killing him makes little difference thanks to Spawn Egg. He slows and can burst you down in the late game. Murky is very frustrating to fight.

Novas are the worst. She can burst you down again and again. Your best best is to jump her and hope that you can kill her before she kills you. You can't even stun her out of Triple Tap. Feels bad.

The only assassin with higher health than Greymane and a sustain monster with Butcher's Brand. The Butcher is your worst nightmare in a 1v1 scenario, try and avoid that at all cost and don't fight him while branded.

Everyone still hates Tyrande . She's not as bad as she was but she's still a considerable threat to any Greymane player. Whether you believe her nerfs worked or not: beware.

Greymane was one of the three heroes announced at Blizzcon 2015, alongside Cho'Gall and Lunara.

Greymane was referenced in Warcraft lore as far back as Warcraft II but made his first appearance in the franchise in World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.

One of Greymane's quotes is a reference to the Stark family in Game of Thrones. Two others reference the Marvel comic superheroes Hulk and Wolverine.

01/15/16 completed main guide, added in more gameplay tips. Added defensive build for completeness.
Added in Snitch builds and re-evaluated Running Wild and Marked for the Kill
01/16/16 began adding threats and introduced pick guide.
01/18/16 added in wiki links and updated talents and hero picks. Added back in Cocktail build because why not?
01/31/16 added in patch notes, and made various small changes to the guide.