High Sustain Li Li by tempesti

High Sustain Li Li

By: tempesti
Last Updated: Jul 20, 2015
23 Votes
Build 1 of 4

Li Li

Build: Baiting Panda

Level 1
Level 4
Level 7
Level 10
Level 13
Level 16
Level 20

Threats to Li Li with this build

Threat
Low
High
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Threat Hero Notes
1
  No Threat
2
  No Threat
3
Chen After last patch Li Li's uncle no longer can stop her from serving Brew.
4
  No Threat
5
  No Threat
6
Diablo Never give him openings to Shadow Charge while jugging. Overpower is melee range.
6
Valla Lategane, if you let her close enough, will be able to burst you without autoattacking
6
Sylvanas In team fights position so that she can't silence both you and the rest of the team. In lane better rotate with somebody who counters her like Falstad, Zagara, Chen or Valla - 1 vs. 1 she is much better laner than Li Li
7
Tyrael Can't burst you but Smiting an ally with 25% bonus speed may end the run for your life
7
Illidan After Metamorphosis can burst Li Li down if you are alone. The Hunt rises his threat level to red. Without his ultimates is completely shut down by Blinding Wind - missed attacks don't recharge his abilities He is good reason to pick Shrink Ray
8
Sonya Don't let her get you with her spear or you won't be able to escape. Can completely shut down your laning
8
Johanna Stay out of Condemn - not only stops your Jug but enemies will be ready to "welcome" you Bounces from Blessed Shield are real pain...
9
Zeratul Void Prison can completely shut down your plans
9
Nova Always try to be near bushes or corners to prevent her full combo. If she takes Precision Strike - the opposite plan: have enough space to escape the AoE
9
Anub'arak Can get behind you with Burrow Charge and body block your escape. If built as CC train becomes constant source of concern
10
Falstad Never walk alone if he is on opponents team. He can burst you with spells only, or close the gap if you are running at low HP with Barrel Roll + Hammerang + Lightning Rod. The standard juking behind bushes and corners can't hide you from this vile dwarf.
10
E.T.C. Power Slide + Mosh Pit is major threat, once he gets Tour Bus you have to be extra careful with Jug timing

Li Li

Build: DPS - 2nd support

Level 1
Level 4
Level 7
Level 10
Level 13
Level 16
Level 20

Li Li

Build: Max Heal - team reliant

Level 1
Level 4
Level 7
Level 10
Level 13
Level 16
Level 20

Li Li

Build: Anti CC Train - team

Level 1
Level 4
Level 7
Level 10
Level 13
Level 16
Level 20

Contents Top

Intro Top

"Wild Dog" Li Li is easy to learn but hard to master hero. Only one of her abilities requires targeting - whom to lend a drake. On the other hand, to have full control, you need to constantly reposition, so that only your intended target is within range. Also, Li Li is priority target and has to move nonstop, making it hard for any skillshots - especially the ones with knockback or stun.

For new players Li Li is a very good choice to get used to the basics of healing support. Healing Brew automatically targets the closest ally (heroes first), same with Blinding Wind. Cloud Serpent goes with your most active ally - usually the initiator in your group. Heroic abilities are cool and auto-target as well. So far so good. After meeting better opponents, comes the realization that you need to be able to heal or debuff exact hero in the exact moment. This is where the fun begins ...
This cute panda girl is positioning Support. Other heroes also need good positioning but the difference in effectiveness with Li Li is astounding. Being able to control who's the target doubles her effectiveness.

Pros and Cons Top

Pros


    Li Li Stormstout is cute little panda and so much fun to play
    negates a lot of auto attack damage and crowd control
    high healing potential
    can flip team fights
    decent lane presence
    great escape artist
    good mobility

Cons


    requires mana management
    no interrupt or reveal talents
    priority target for ganks and dives
    has always to be on the move to avoid skillshots followed by stunlocks
    her squishiness can become problematic against team of multiple casters

Li Li Basics Top


HEALING

MANA ISSUES

AWARENESS

LANING

POSITIONING

Abilities - Basic, Trait, Heroics Top

(Q) Healing Brew
(W) Cloud Serpent
Healing Brew Li Li's iconic healing ability. The way it works makes the tiny panda hard to master - you need to "feel" the distance as well as constant repositioning to be able to control who gets healed and eventually cleansed. In some situation you want to spam it - keeping Q pressed does the job - especially if you have Kung Fu Hustle and are taking sustained damage
Cloud Serpent This wannabe dragon helps with early harass. Picking talents from the "serpent" tree greatly improves sustainability and helps clearing waves of lane creeps. Casting it on Li Li use Alt+W - no need to waste APM. Of course if Li Li has Serpent Sidekick, always cast on ally. At lvl.20+ can have up to 3 "serpented" heroes at once.
(E) Blinding Wind
(Trait) Fast Feet
Blinding Wind Damagewise is far from impressive but has great preventive value - less to heal and can completely shut down the plans of auto attacking opposing heroes. If you expect ganking, better keep for emergency escape. As with Healing Brew, "feeling" the range is important in mastering Li Li.
Fast Feet 1 second might not seem important but often those few bonus pixels keep Li Li alive and able to bait pursuing assassins to their doom. Has great synergy with Kung Fu Hustle. Too bad that other talents empowering this trait can't compete with the alternatives at their corresponding levels.
(R) Jug of 1,000 Cups
(R) Water Dragon
Jug of 1,000 Cups Can completely flip team fights, but is easy to interrupt by stuns. During those 6 seconds Li Li has to to be moving nonstop. I like to begin with Cloud Serpent on myself, Jug and start kiting. With experience and good positioning, Li Li often manages to avoid interrupts. In case enemy dives for you, the serpent helps you sustain to cleanse and cast Blinding Wind and Shrink Ray. Many team fights ended with wipes when opponents overextended for the "Panda Bait"
Water Dragon 3 seconds delay and the closest opposing hero (hopefully there are more near him) will be unpleasantly surprised. If for some reason you get out of range it fizzles, so better plan ahead and cast it before your approach. Follow with Cloud Serpent and Blinding Wind to improve your survival chances if opponents decide to go for a dive, or get +20% power from Surging Winds if you have good angle and your frontliners protect you.

Talents Top



Timeless Creature - This talent is often overlooked, but combined with others from the serpent tree helps a lot during early game. Normally 8 sec serpent fires 4-5 shots and half the of the duration is wasted. 12 sec lets you get more effective damage and heal or cast it before mounting (Z) and have a bodyguard during the entire ride.

ALTERNATIVES




Mending Serpent - Paired with Timeless Creature this is very helpful for your team's sustain. The drake attacks every second if there is enemy in range and at lvl.20 heals for 48. Lightning Serpent's splash hitting heroes no longer counts as attacks. Targeting priority is important and is explained in playstyle.

ALTERNATIVES




Lightning Serpent - Greatly improves Li Li as laner and her contribution to the sustained damage in team fights. Numbers are deceptively small but at levels 8-10, only effective splash adds around 600 siege damage if you time Cloud Serpent with a wave of lane minions. At this point your drake should be always summoned - depending on situations on you, your initiator or lightly injured team mate near hostile minions. Very helpful for faster capping merc camps. Very helpful for gathering objectives (seeds, skulls.gems).

ALTERNATIVES




Both Heroics are explained in Abilities section as well as with the respective builds. With good positioning and evasive movement any of them can flip team fight in your favor.




Shrink Ray - Amazing utility talent. Normally it either saves an ally (often Li Li herself) or spells the doom for enemy overcommitment - sometimes both. Does great job on opposing Garden Terror or Dragon Knight. Don't be stingy if it can catch fleeing enemy - most likely it will cool down before next team fight as death penalty starts growing midgame+.

ALTERNATIVES




Herbal Cleanse - Now this cute little panda is officially the greatest escape artist in the Nexus. You often survive even 3 vs 1 ganks long enough for your team to intercept, and in team fights you cleanse and add mobility to your allies. Choosing this skill requires mastering Li Li's positioning - if you can't control who is to be cleansed or boosted, you are wasting this talent slot (but there are good alternatives, though less impactful)

ALTERNATIVES




Kung Fu Hustle - If you have picked Conjurer's Pursuit and stacked many orbs, now is the time to enjoy. Else you have to go back to mana management - something that shouldn't have bothered Li Li previous 6-7 levels. Now she can turn into spamming machine as long as she takes moderate damage.

ALTERNATIVES

Gamestyle Top

Baiting Panda

Why "bait"? It is common knowledge that Li Li is hard to catch if not CC-ed. Besides being borderline aggressive early game, there are situations when opponents have no choice but to go for her and this build was tweaked to give her high sustain when the moment comes.
The most obvious is "the Jug". Skilled Li Li player won't allow long range interrupts, so some enemies have to dive towards her, or her powerful ult may decide the outcome of the team fight.
Another situation is after scrappy team fights. Some of your team barely escaped with their lives to restore HP and mana, Li Li heals the retreating tank covering them. Remaining opponents have tough choice: to focus tank and regroup back, risking to possibly lose another hero if he is at low HP and has no escape means to (what a shame!) autoattacing drake on superspeed panda girl, or go after Li Li 3 vs. 1 hoping for fast kill and tank becomes easy prey (no more cleansing heals). Now these +30% speed, Q spam, drake peppering tiny projectiles, and good kiting and juking may lead to complete team wipe when your carries are back to intercept.

Talent Progression

QM and Cloud Serpent

Max Heal
Pretty standard team based build for panda main healer. With it Li Li is very reliant on her team but if they do their job, she unleashes impressive healing potential. Against heavy slow/root comps Herbal Cleanse is a worthy alternative.
There is already a nice guide by 2ARC-ChubbsZ for such build -
DPS - 2nd support
This build features one angry panda girl who lets Water Dragon to teach manners the brutes who stomp flowers and hit little girls. Once mastered, the dragon is quite deadly both in ganking skirmishes as in team fights. Don't be stingy with your ult - use it if it helps kill even one hero. Go for such build only if your team has another heal support. On faster maps switching Conjurer's Pursuit out for Gale Force is reasonable option for both builds.
Anti CC Train
This build is designed for team play on Dragon Shire against heavy CC compositions. Possible tweaks are tier 2 Lingering Blind / Mass Vortex (though I love how Mending Serpent lets me be aggressive), and at tier 7 Storm Shield. On this map Lightning Serpent is not so useful (you never lane alone post lvl.7), so is one of the few cases I find Shake It Off as good option, while group roaming between lanes and camps provides enough orbs for Conjurer's Pursuit.


For beginner friendly build, LonerVamp's guide is well written and could be helpful.

Build and Talent breakdown for Hero League according to hotslogs.

Specific Maps Top


Sky Temple

Dragon Shire

Cursed Hollow

Garden of Terror

Haunted Mines

Blackheart's Bay

Tomb of the Spider Queen

Battlefield of Eternity


It is expected that you are already familiar with map layout. In above subsections are explained the specifics of each map and is suggested Li Li's early game behavior on every one of them, if the standard solid map strategies are followed by her team.

Battlefield of Eternity
subsection added recently


If you are interested about details how to control Garden Terror or Dragon Knight (though Li Li is the last hero to do so - priority list goes melee bruiser -> hybrid support -> tank -> ranged DPS -> healer) - check that section from my Arthas guide.

In-Depth Stuff Top

Various details that would turn other guide sections into walls of text, but you may find interesting read.

General Stuff and XP Importance

Strategic Factors

Various Engagements and Li Li

Contributing to Team APM

Shrink Ray PRIORITIES

JUG Interrupt Threats

Brew, Wind and Serpents


Heroes Li Li Counters

POPULAR BUILDS

Replays Top


This section is for some replays demonstrating the playstyle. As with every new patch the old version becomes obsolete, once I have decent replay available, I will link it.
I prefer replays to YouTube videos, as games have more instructive value as replays - you can focus on what interests you and not the caster.
Quick Match games often snowball (bad compositions, talent gated heroes, players unfamiliar with map objectives etc.), but still some nice examples can be picked.



Bugs, Patches, PTR Top


Bug Related

Butcher Patch and Li Li

Outro Top


Li Li is my favorite hero and this build suits well my style. For others, some tweaks may have better results. The important thing is that a cute tiny panda can be so much fun to play (with more or less competent teammates), that I owed her to invest several hours in this guide, and share some experience with others who adore playing her and are looking for builds that may fit well their playstyle.

Have lots and lots of fun and see you in the nexus!

Changelogs Top

If guide is updated and there are no notes, either were added current version replays, or was done some polishing.

CHANGELOGS

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