Recent Buffs to medic health pool and regen rate.

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I have been playing since Alpha, have also written top guides for Kael'Thas, The Butcher, Kharazim and Johanna. I eat, breath and sleep Heroes of the Storm! I have also been hardcore gaming for nearly my entire life! Guide Links Here

1. Introduction 1.1 About Hobo 1.2 Quick Video Example 2. Abilities 2.1 Abilities 2.2 Gameplay Tips 3. Detailed Talent Build 4. Gameplay 4.1 Early Game 4.2 Mid Game 4.3 Late Game 5. Matchups Other Contact Information: Twitter: HoboStream Bnet Tag (NA Main): Hobo#1423

Here is a full Quick match game played on the Public Test Realm:

Here is a brief list of things that could use some fixing before the medic can be considered a high tier solo healer:

Very High Mana costs in early game
No Self Heal
Needs some short CD mobility
Needs more Hit points (currently the same as Valla)
Short Ability Range
Stim Drone cast time should be removed and range should be increased

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Lt. Morales is a dedicated support that heals a single ally near her. She also shields allies to take less damage and knocks back enemies. Positioning as the medic is extremely important because she cannot target herself with Healing Beam. Her heroic abilities are also game changing as they both provide huge advantages in a team fight and map control. She will be vulnerable to a focused attack since she cannot heal herself, but with her grenade and shield, she will be difficult to take down. Through her passive, she also has great sustain since it is mana free healing. This will cause her to be a pain to poke down in the early game.

Trait

Caduceus Reactor (Passive) Regenerate 3.12% of your maximum Health every second after not taking damage for 4 seconds.

Abilities

Healing Beam (Q) Mana: 15 per second Cooldown: No Cooldown Heal an ally for 40 + 20 per level health a second as long as they are in range. Reactivate to switch targets, or activate your Trait to cancel the channel.

Safeguard (W) Mana: 60 Cooldown: 15 seconds Grant target ally Resistance, reducing damage taken by 25% for 3 seconds.

Displacement Grenade (E) Mana: 50 Cooldown: 12 seconds Fire a grenade that explodes on the first enemy hit, 80 + 20 per level damage, knocking enemies away.

Heroic Abilities

Stim Drone (R) Mana: 100 Cooldown: 90 seconds Grant an allied Hero 75% Attack Speed and 25% Movement Speed for 10 seconds.

Medivac Dropship (R) Mana: 60 Cooldown: 50 seconds Target a location for a Medivac transport. For up to 10.5 seconds before takeoff, allies can right-click to enter the Medivac.

Trait and Regen

You can remain in combat and still regenerate your health via Caduceus Reactor – the trait stats that after you do not take DAMAGE for 4 seconds, you begin regenerating.

Positioning

This is probably the most important part of playing the medic. You have no self-healing until level 13 with Couples Therapy. You need to remain in the back line at nearly max range to ensure you do not take much focused or splash damage. If you happen to get caught out of position, try to peel yourself using the Displacement Grenade. Use map terrain to your advantage, steam vents, walls, etc – here is a video example of positioning during a team fight in a map objective.

Lane Tips

Don’t lane alone! Your wave clear and base damage is actually very poor. Displacement Grenade has a long CD and drains your mana, it is not an effect lane clear ability. You need to have a lane partner during the game. Additionally – unlike some supports, you cannot solo a merc camp, make sure you bring friends along with you. You can also use your Healing Beam on minions! In the later game, with Bioshield and/or Intensive Care you can keep a minion alive through a significant amount of tower damage.

Mana Management

Watch your mana! It is very easy to drain your mana during the lane phase of the early game. It is not necessary to constantly be channeling Healing Beam on your lane partner (unless you have Bioshield @ level 4). There is a new display timer on the Life/Mana well, be sure to use this as much as possible.

You can still heal while on mana fumes! Every few seconds, you can still use your Healing Beam for some healing. This is good because you can still take advantage of Bioshield while your mana is regenerating.

Escape - You will never kill me!

If you happen to take the heroic Medivac Dropship it has such a short cool down that you can use it as a personal escape if you happen to get focused in a team fight or even if you are alone. Here is a video example of how it can keep you alive, note that is takes 1 second or so for you to enter the ship after casting. Use this skill as a disengage to get out of combat and jump right back into the back line to heal your team.

Video Demo Here:

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Trauma Trigger - You gain an untalented Safeguard automatically if you take damage while below 50% Health. This effect has a 20 second cooldown.

Since you cannot heal yourself, this will help mitigate damage if you happen to get focused or caught out of position. This will buy you some time to get out of combat and start the regen of your health through your trait Caduceus Reactor. I think the best part about this talent is the extremely short cooldown of the effect (which is entirely passive). The cooldown of Safeguard is 15 seconds and this talent is giving you a no cost untalented Safeguard every 20 seconds. Granted this only applies if you are under 50% health, but I still think this is a significant talent selection that any main support should be taking.

Other Talents Scouting Drone - In maps that require extra vision for objectives or if the enemy team is a gank heavy composition, then this can be a good choice. I don't think these benefits significantly outweigh Trauma Trigger Prolonged Safeguard - Increases Safeguard's duration by 1 second - this could be handy in a Safeguard focused build, but this guide is not going in that direction and again, I don't think it beats out Trauma Trigger Feedback - When Safeguard expires, 45 Mana is refunded. This is a significant amount of mana saved, but as long as you are not constantly spamming grenades, you shouldn't have mana issues as long as you are managing your hearths and proactive well taps.

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Advanced Block - Does the enemy team have auto attack heroes like The Butcher, Illidan, or Raynor? If yes, then you should take Advanced Block. This is also better than the normal Block talent as it store 3 charges!

Bioshield - If your target is at full Health, they gain a Shield that absorbs 27.5 + 7.5 per level damage, stacking up to 5 times. This is the other option in this tier. You can precast this before team fights, for one target only. If you switch targets of your Healing Beam the shield is lost immediately. The most amazing part of this ability is that when your target gains the shield, the mana cost is 0! This is extremely powerful on heroes like Sonya, Illidan, The Butcher...you can lane extremely well. The pressure is insane, you can even get a few early towers if you push hard enough with the heroes listed above. This is a GREAT talent choice!

This Video shows Bioshield being used on a merc camp for near 0 mana - The shield doesn't stack up to full since ETC is taking damage, but its quite a bit of free healing through the shield. This can also be used on friendly minion waves or friendly mercs!

Other Talents Infused Grenade - Displacement Grenade's Mana cost is refunded if you hit an enemy Hero. While the 12 second cooldown of Displacement Grenade is pretty short, you will likely need to save it for times that you need peel and you will not be spamming it during team fights. The knockback can actually be used incorrectly and it might do more harm than good. Imagine spamming it and moving enemy heroes outside of Jaina's AoE burst. Upgraded Ballistics - Displacement Grenade travels 50% faster and enemies directly impacted take 33% more damage - from the grenade only, not a great talent selection based on the other available options.

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**This is a loaded tier and these talents should be taken based on the enemy team, this is not a cookie cutter tier**

Calldown: MULE - This is a very strong and safe choice on maps where the AI is attacking your structures, Blackheart's Bay, Haunted Mines etc.

Cleanse - This is a strong selection vs. teams that are stun and CC heavy. While it is not as strong as it once was, this ability can literally save someone in a team fight.

Irradiate - On maps that are minion heavy or that you constantly need to damage objectives like Shrine, this extra DPS can be worth taking (if the above do not apply). Casting it on a tank or melee assassin gives your team a bit more consistent damage to chip down the enemy team!

Clear! - If you feel that you are going to be focused and dived on by the enemy assassins, then this is a great pick to give yourself some extra peel and space to get away.

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Medivac Dropship - this ability has limitless potential in coordinated team games. The team rotation and map presence that this ability adds is outstanding! After casting the heroic, the dropship lands and is vulnerable to enemy attacks - the medic has to wait 4 seconds before she can take off to the location she picked. Once the dropship is ready for take off, you can use the E key to fly away! You also have a countdown timer, which is a total of 10 seconds. Note that 4 of these seconds, you cannot take off due to the charge up of the ability. It is exciting to see how this ability will be used in professional games. Make sure you communicate with your team ahead of time to plan the dropship departure.

Location, Location, Location!

Be aware of where you are targeting as your dropzone. Jumping right on top of an objective is an easy way to get your own team killed. Jump into a bush or use map terrain to your advantage!

One other note for the dropship - it was hard to coordinate team drops during a match with random players - they were often doing their own thing and not paying attention to the text. Try to ping and encourage team play as much as possible to take full advantage of the drop without a coordinated team behind you. Don't get salty if everyone doesn't listen. The medivac is still a great personal escape!

Here is a picture of the dropship UI:





Stim Drone - Welcome to the age of auto attacking assassins. This ability can nearly break the game when it is used on an Illidan, The Butcher or even Raynor. 75% attack speed for 10 seconds is absolutely insane and this is a great pick if you have strong auto attack focused heroes. NOTE: The target of your Stim Drone will glow bright blue, make sure you use Safeguard before they dive in because they will likely be focused by the other team.

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**Testing this tier - many good options!**

Couples Therapy - While channelling Healing Beam you are healed for 25% of the healing amount at the cost of an additional 4 Mana per second.

I really enjoyed this talent for prolonged team fights. Even if you have the best positioning in the game, you are going to take splash damage or even some focused damage. This gives you a 25% heal that will aid you in staying alive, the additional mana cost is worth the self healing that you gain. In my opinion, this is the best pick of the tier hands down.

Other Talents Spell Shield - If the other team is stacked with Ability Focused Heroes like Kael'Thas or Jaina, this is a safe pick up. In my opinion you may not see much value from this if you are correctly positioning yourself in the back line during team fights or objectives. If you happen to take splash damage Couples Therapy provides you with more benefit. Preventative Care - Basic Attacks against your Healing Beam target reduce the attacker's Attack Speed by 25% for 2.5 seconds. This provides you with an Imposing Presence on whichever target that you decide. **IF the other team is running with numerous auto attack focus heroes, this is a very good pick up.** Intensive Care - I felt like I was switching targets too often to take full advantage of this talent. **I am still testing this - the quicker you can get a target to full health, the faster Bioshield can kick in for mana free sheilds.

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Shield Sequencer - After casting Safeguard, you can cast it a second time within 3 seconds at no cost.

Anything that can improve your mana efficiency and increase your support for the team is extremely good! This talent is especially nice because you can cast one Safeguard and recast the free one as it is expiring on the same target. This gives a dive type assassin even more mitigation during team fights and objectives. The free cost of this talent really makes it a valuable selection, since mana is a bit tight in prolonged fights. With the new UI, you also see how much damage was absorbed with this shield, I was actually surprised at how much mitigation they each provided for your team.

One thing to note: If you are using "quick cast" you can rapidly cast both charges on the same target...especially if you are a button masher, just beware and make sure to spread this to other team mates or wait to apply it to your main target.

Other Talents System Shock - Displacement Grenade slows enemies by 50% for 4 seconds. The slow amount decays over its duration. Nothing really new here, a decaying 50% slow. Shield Sequencer just adds much more value to your support kit. Second Opinion - This could work in a grenade heavy build - but this guide is focusing on being the main support for your team. Unless talented through Infused Grenade, you will not have the mana to spam Displacement Grenade on cooldown. Inoculation - Increases Safeguard's initial damage reduction to 50% for the first 1.5 seconds. This might be a matter of preference and team composition. Personally, I would rather have a two targets with 3 seconds of 25% reduction, than one target with an increased reduction. This might be different in the pro meta since they focus targets with stun/burst etc and this could be a great counter to that. But in short, Shield Sequencer is a much better option for most players.

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Caduceus Reactor 2.0 - This is by far the most outstanding talent choice that the medic has. The mana regen for this talent is beyond good. It is such a huge power spike when you hit level 20, you can spam your heals and abilities without worrying about mana. When a team fight or objective ends, you will be up to full mana in no time at all! This will enable you to keep pushing with your team and pressuring objectives/lanes can win the game! The sheild also helps since it stacks to around 25% of your health, it makes you tank enough to survive a few hits/focuses from the other team. It also quickly recharges, so that if you are in a fight, duck out for a big shield. If only you got this at level one!!

Medbay - This gives you an AoE heal cooldown (heals nearby allies for 300 per second @level 20) - but it is targetable and can be destroyed by the enemy team. If you happen to have a team that is using the dropship, then this could be a good choice, but Caduceus Reactor 2.0 just feels so strong compared to this.

Storm Shield - always a safe choice, but I really prefer Caduceus Reactor 2.0 due to the increase sustain and prolonged healing that you get in the late game.

Transfusion - Even if I had an Illidan or The Butcher on the team, I would prefer taking the Reactor - 2 seconds seems weak, especially for a storm tier talent.

Early Game +

The biggest tip for the early game is to SAVE YOUR MANA! While in the lane phase, you can easily drain your mana topping off your lane partner constantly, this will quickly drain your mana for relatively little effective healing. Make sure they are around 80% before you start channeling your Healing Beam. Additionally, try to bait the other teams abilities on you. Self cast a Safeguard and bait out some enemy abilities. This is beneficial for a few different reasons. You are extremely tanky while Safeguard is up and getting the other team to cast spells or use abilities on you can drain their mana for the next map objective. You can easily recoup this damage through your passive trait Caduceus Reactor. The other benefit of Caduceus Reactor in the early game is you can abuse the turrets. If you are pushing the lane well with your partner, and they don't have Zeratul or Nova lurking around, tank some tower shots to reduce the ammo. You can easily heal up for free after this since Caduceus Reactor is completely mana free healing! The little things like this can really put your team ahead with small advantages for the first team objective.

Mid Game or

Positioning is still one of the most important parts of playing the medic, again, you CAN'T heal yourself! I might be repeating myself, but I cannot stress this enough. You need to be in a safe position that you can still heal your team but not overextend to make yourself vulnerable to the other team. You have already acquired some of your stand out talents by the midgame - be sure to adapt to the other team. Check talent selections often to determine your choices. This section will focus on the heroic abilities, they are some of the most useful heroics in the game and you will pick it based on your team mates. Stimdrone The target of Stimdrone will glow a bright blue and an audible sound is very distinct. The enemy team might disengage if you cast it too early. Try to land in a few seconds after the other team has committed to the fight. Timing on this is extremely important - too early and it could be a wasted cooldown, while casting it too late can cause your team to lose a team fight or objective. The other key to effectively using a stimdrone is to make sure you watch that target carefully. A coordinated team might immediately switch to the target with stimdrone, be sure that you are ready to cast Safeguard as soon as the enemy team switches to the buffed target. If you happen to have Bioshield be sure to focus the target with stimdrone with Healing Beam. The are basically a big blue ball of death that the enemy team must deal with. Medivac Dropship I could write pages on this ability alone, it has the capability to completely change map strategies and team objectives. I will write a few short tips and update as the meta of Medivac Dropship develops: - Be aware of the positioning that you are sending the dropship into. Generally, You DO NOT want to cast this right on top of an objective. It is better to pick a bush or use the map terrain to your advantage - The enemy team gets a notification that you have called a dropship, it reduces the element of surprise, but they do not get the exact location. - Coordinated Team rotations can be steller for objectives - you can even plan an E.T.C. moshpit as you land with a coordinated team. This can be devastating to steal a boss or capture an objective - Never say die! If you are loosing a team fight, use Medivac Dropship as an escape to saftely. It is wise to let your team know @ level 10 that you might plan to do this if it is up. - Communication is key to a successful dropship rotation, especially in Hero League Solo/DuoQ - be kind and encourage through pings and chat. Don't be offended if they don't trust your dropship calls - it is very easy to throw the game with poor drop positioning in the late game - Loosing badly in the late game? The Medivac Dropship can be used to bypass enemy defences for a late game steal. Even if you don't win, it makes for an exciting ending!

Late Game +

With the level 16 talents you get a chance to enhance your utility for the team. Be sure to counter pick this tier to maximize your effectiveness! Couples Therapy enables you to be a bit more aggressive in team fights, you can take a bit of splash damage and remain in the fight! While you won't be able to tank a full focused assault from the other team, this can aid you as you approach level 20. Caduceus Reactor 2.0 is an overpowered ability! The medic kit is complete once you acquire this skill and you can really keep your team topped off and nearly spam your abilities constantly without having any mana issues. Encourage your team to keep pushing on an objective or enemy keep, you can sustain it! Try to coordinate a team rotation using Medivac Dropship, in the late game this can turn the tables of the game. Just like in the midgame, communication is key to the medic's success! Caduceus Reactor 2.0 - In order to maximize effectiveness of this talent, you still need to not take any damage. Again, POSITIONING in team fights is paramount! You also get a massive 25% shield - but this does not mean you can jump right into the middle of team fights. Make sure to keep avoiding damage to keep your mana and shield up!

(coming after PTR)

09/28/15: Draft Created
09/29/15: Content Updates, published.
09/30/15: Added content and formatting
10/01/15: Add more videos and gameplay footage
10/05/15: Gameplay Guide Added
10/06/15: Prep for Medic going live.
10/07/15: Threats Added
10/08/15: Adding New Sections - Hero League Draft, Good Team Combos, Synergies