Hello everyone! I'm LeBlonde, a HUGE moba and Blizzard fan. When I was young, I played Starcraft and Diablo II. Now, when I found out Blizzard was making a moba, I jumped for joy. Once I got the game, I played game after game with the free to plays until I could unlock Nova. Nova is the perfect character for me. She has an amazing stealth mechanic, high burst damage, and a lovable personality. I play Nova more than any other character I have still.

Pros
+Very high single target burst
+A useful cloak
+Both of her Heroic abilities are fun
+Dat ***


Cons
-Super Squishy
-No mobility
-Low base mana pool
-Can be detected during stealth by watchful players
-Does not have her own game

Passive: Permanent Cloak, Sniper
The name says a lot about it. While out of combat, Nova will cloak. While cloaked, enemies can not select Nova with targeted abilities or basic attacks. However, enemies can still get an idea of where she is and can reveal her with AoE. A silhouette of Nova can be seen shimmering as she moves while her cloak is active. A thing many people don't know about this passive is it also increases her basic attack range and sight range by a little bit while she is cloaked.

Q: Snipe
Nova's bread and butter spell. Snipe is a high damage, narrow, and fast projectile that damages the first enemy hit. Snipe's damage is amazing throughout the game. Its also pretty easy to hit, due to its amazing speed.

W: Pinning Shot
Pinning shot is an average range targeted slow with small damage. However, when you upgrade this spell it becomes core to Nova. It can make the enemy take 50% more damage. This slow makes it easy to land snipe, and the damage increase makes snipe deal even more.

E: Holo Decoy
Nova creates a holographic clone of herself that attacks enemies and uses snipe. The clone deals no damage, until you upgrade it. The clone is good for scaring enemies, blocking skill shots, scouting, and later on adds some minor damage to your burst. It isn't a very convincing clone, however. Enemies will know its a clone as soon as they see it.

Heroic 1: Triple Tap
Nova chooses a target in a large range. She channels for a second before firing 3 shots at them. Each shot deals massive damage. It is similar to Caitlyn's Ace-in-the-Hole from league. An important thing to note about this though is each shot CAN be intercepted. Both Heroes and Structures will block the shot. When using it, be sure that nothing will block it, or if a hero will block it they will die.

Heroic 2: Precision Strike
Precision Strike is a global ranged AoE nuke. Nova chooses a place on the map, and after a 3 second delay the Orbital Cannon fires a laser to the place, damaging all enemies there by a high amount. This tends to be the preferred heroic since it can not be intercepted. It is really good when timed perfectly to follow up CC such as Zagara's Devouring Maw, or Zeratul's Void Prison.

Nova synergizes very will with most characters, but I felt as if a few specifically should be mentioned.

Zeratul
Zeratul, much like you, is a sneaky assassin who specializes in ganks. Nova and him work extremely well together because both of them can stealth gank. The damage the two unload is insane, since they are both high burst assassins and they both come out of no where. Furthermore, Nova can assure a Precision Strike hitting enemies because Zeratul can trap them in his Void Prison.

Uther
Uther is very nice to have on your team when you are Nova. His heals are always nice, and his stuns are amazing. He can hold them down long enough for Nova to land her combo and kill. He also has pretty good peel, and can set up Precision Strikes.

Tyreal
Tyreal is so nice to have. His peel is pretty good, but the best part is his ability to single out a target. He can clear a path to high priority targets and get you out without much risk.

Zagara
Zagara makes up for a lot of things you lack. She has powerful pushing, reliable CC, and even good damage. Zagara's Devouring Maw also sets up for nice Precision Strikes too.

Nova takes on the role of a hit and run assassin. Nova is supposed to lurk around the battlefield, occasionally poking with snipe. When the opportunity arises, Nova unloads her Crippling Shot, Snipe, Hot Shot Auto Attack, Lethal Decoy combo on a squishy. This combo is almost guaranteed to kill an enemy carry, if not leaving them with such little health. Thankfully Nova has access to Rewind again, so she can do this combo twice to take out the enemy for sure.

Its imperative you understand how squishy Nova is. If you are caught out of stealth late game, you WILL die if the enemy is smart. They key to Nova is positioning. If you do it right, then you will turn a fight into a 5v4 before it even happens. Nova is one of the few assassin's without mobility, so as sated earlier, positioning is a must.

Levels 1-9
Nova isn't at her strongest these levels. She still does amazing damage, but she will not be instantly annihilating everything that comes into her path. At this stage of the game, while everyone is laneing, nova should be roaming. Due to her cloak, enemies will not spot her on the mini map. Her ganks are lethal. Her combo should be Pinning Shot, Snipe, Auto attack. At these levels Holo Decoy is used defensivly, or to try and bait enemy cooldowns.

Levela 10-16
Here is where Nova starts to get scary. Her decoy now does damage, so enemies may be more likely to believe it to be the real one and unload an important spell onto it. Nova also has access to Crippling Shot, increasing her now devastating Snipe damage. Her combo should be Pinning shot, Snipe, Auto, Lethal Decoy. If this does not kill, drop a Precision Strike in front of them. If they are running from you, they will have to either try to make it through the AoE before it lands, or move backwards into you. Either way, your Anti Armor shells will have expired and you will be able to attack again before the Orbital Cannon drops the shot.

Level 17-20
Nova becomes the scariest assassin, in my opinion, at level 20. Once she grabs rewind, any squishy that is found alone by her, WILL die. Crippling Shot, Snipe, Auto + Rewind and Snipe will kill any squishy, and majorly chunk tanks even (Don't waste this combo on tanks though, unless everyone else is dead and rewind came up again). At this point in the game, lurk around, see if you can find enemies out of position. But do NOT break cloak unless you are certain you can score the kill, or you are 100% safe if you break it. Nova will be a highly sought out target because of the threat she provides.

It is important to note at all levels, a giant red eye over your head means the enemy team can see you. Things that can reveal you are Oracle, Shadow Stalk, Clairvoyance, and Far Sight. It is immperritive to be on your guard when any of these are present in your game. Avoid combat until you re-stealth. It could be the difference between life and death.

Now, with this build, Nova is not capable of taking objectives or camps very well. When looking to take bosses, you should not be the one to be hitting it. Nova does good damage to objectives, but a better approach would be to stand in a bush, like a ward. You act as an amazing ward. Because not only does this ward provide vision, she comes with an enormous burst. If an enemy squishy approaches the Boss you are doing, blast them into tomorrow. Your team can handle a boss. You can also scout to see more enemies incoming.

With objectives, try not to be the one that takes them. Again, staying cloaked is a thing that seperates the good Nova's from the great Nova's. Being a stealthy burst is more important than grabbing a tribute. Unless you are the only to grab the tribute and you can. In that case go for it. Also your clone is a great disruption. The clone will stop enemies from grabbing the Dragon Knight, can interrupt the taking of a tribute, Stops gem turn ins, and provides vision. It also un-mounts enemies.

In the haunted mines, Nova can take out 2 skeletons before waiting her long time to attack again. Auto attack one skeleton, and snipe another. Instant 2 dead. This is not always the most practical use, but it can be helpful to know.

Nova does similar things to the shamblers, but they are slightly more durable. Its best to try to steal seeds while stealthed. However that is really risky because enemies will be able to figure out where you are. Doing that is playing with fire, but its really rewarding when it works.

I hope you enjoyed this guide, and it helped you learn Nova. She is a fun, unique character. Thank you for taking the time to read my guide, and good luck on the battlefield.