The most upvoted Whitemane guide is back, updated and improved! (It is also unfinished but that's besides the point)

Whitemane is one of the more difficult healers in Heroes of the Storm. Having to control your Desperation stacks. Needing to output damage safetly to heal her team efficently. She's extremely immobile and vulnerable to being dove and crowd controlled to death. But if played properly she is capable of outputting insane amounts of healing and keeping her allies alive to the very end of a fight.

With this guide I will go over when to pick her different talents. The builds you see above are solid and do work wonders. But it's first when you understand how to mix and match certain talents depending on teamcomps that you will see how strong Whitemane can be.

Pros → High Healing Output → Adaptability with Talents → Great Teamfighting → Powerful Ultimates → Great Hero Damage for Healer

Cons → Squishy → Immobile → Mana Hungry → Neutral AoE Healing → High Skill Floor

Pity the Frail Pity the Frail is a great choice for any composition and could always be picked into any game. The 25% healing on allies below 30% Health can often times be the deciding factor between if an allies lives or dies. The cooldown reduction on Inquisition when hitting enemy champions with Searing Lash allows for more control over your desperation stacks. Pick this if none of the other two are desireable.

Righteous Flame Righteous Flame is best paired up with Unwavering Faith and ocassionally Indulgence. This talent increases your damage output with Searing Lash and Basic Attacks. The bonus healing with this will be more consistent than Pity the Frail, but it is best paired with a Basic Attack and Searing Lash focused build.

Inquisitor's Prayer I would only ever pick Inquisitor's Prayer if the enemy has picked a dive comp and I will be getting focused. It could also be used if you want some extra survivability and additional mana to work with. I am not in favor of this talent, but I do sometimes pick it against Anub'arak and Diablo if they're in a team comps that will for sure dive me.

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Unwavering Faith Unwavering Faith grants you increased attack range to attack from a safer distance and increased attack damage, increased for each ally affected by Zeal. The extra damage adds up a lot and grants you more consistent healing. This is the consistent healing and damage talent in this tier. I focus on basic attack builds when I can safetly attack without being dove with the extra attack range. E.g. Mal'Ganis or Johanna.

Martyrdom Martyrdom increases the healing of Desperate Plea and increases it further for each ally affected by Zeal. This lets you use it more efficently in the neutral and grants you overall more healing. The healing value of Martyrdom can exceed that of Unwavering Faith but it doesn't give the range and safety of the former. You can pick Martyrdom if you want to play at a safe distance.

Indulgence Indulgence is my most favored talent in this row as it is the only mobility talent that Whitmane has available to her. It les you kite around, dodge and escape a lot more. If you need more safety and dodge things then this talent is a must. I especially like it against enemies like Stitches and Garrosh.

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Zealous Spirit Zealous Spirit spares you a cast of Desperate Plea to apply Zeal on yourself. This gives a free stack of your Tier 2 talents and free self healing. I use it for builds when I want to keep as many Zeal buffs up as possible and when the enemy has high AoE damage.

Saintly Greatstaff Saintly Greatstaff gives you more damage on your next basic attack against enemies recently struck by Searing Lash. If you're quick in between the first and second hit of Searing Lash you can apply, consume and apply the Saintly Greatstaff stack for maximum damage. I take this if I want a basic attack focused build.

Intercession As with any other cleanses, this one is no different. Pick if there's important crowd control that needs to be blocked or cleansed. Some examples of when you could pick Intercession would be to counter Stitches Hook, Arthas Howling Blast, or Sylvanas Mind Control.

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Scarlet Aegis Scarlet Aegis is a great defensive ultimate on a relatively short cooldown. The 40 armor is no joke and the healing is quite decent. The thing that often times makes a big impact is also the fact that it applies Zeal to all allies affected. Making it a fast way to apply Zeal to your whole team with no mana cost. A drawback to this ultimate is the fact that it is centered around Whitemane. This means that if you want to use it on an ally you need to be near them. This can sometimes backfire as if you want to hit your whole team you need to be grouped up which can sometimes lead to mispositioning. I will not be picking Scarlet Aegis unless I will be taking Scarlet Crusade with it. The level 20 upgrade is insanely strong as it can give your whole team 2 seconds of Unstoppable which is able to completely shut down some heroes' combos and abilities. This is my go to ultimate if the enemy has a deadly AoE combo that has to be absorbed or if I need to give myself or an ally instant protection. Examples of when you can take Scarlet Aegis is against Falstads Gust and The Butchers Furnace Blast and Lamb to the Slaughter.

Divine Reckoning Divine Reckoning is the ultimate I tend to default towards. The raw healing output of Scarlet Aegis bleaks in comparison to the potential of Divine Reckoning. Not only does it have insane healing value and can hold a single person alive who's being focused by 5 people alive, but it also grants you mana back based on the damage it does to heroes. This extends your teamfight uptime and allows for more liberal casting of Desperate Pleas for Zeal stacks throughout the fight. Divine Reckoning offers more than what Scarlet Aegis, but the value is prolonged whilst the former has an instant effect on the fight. Divine Reckoning has a 1 second delay before it starts taking effect. Being late with it in the slightest could be fatal in some cases. It is also possible for enemies to move out of the ability, making you lose any of the value you could be getting. I tend to avoid picking Divine Reckoning if the enemy has multiple ways of escaping it such as Li-Mings Teleport and Vallas Vault.

Take Scarlet Aegis if your team needs on demand protections. It provides on demand protection consistently, and Scarlet Crusade is so good that it is almost mandatory to take against certain teams if you pick Scarlet Aegis.

Take Divine Reckoning if you can garauntee someone will stand in it for an extended time and don't need the same protections from Scarlet Aegis. It provides more than Scarlet Aegis in terms of raw healing (and damage) output. It can also increase your uptime in teamfights with the mana it restores. But the value can be inconsistent if enemies move out of the area or if you are too late with it.

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Subjugation Subjugation gives you a way to nullify enemy burst damage with Inquisition. I rarely take this talent as I find it to be debilitating to stand still for an extended period of time. However it does absolutely have its uses. You can pick it against enemies like Jaina and The Butcher.

Lashing Out Lashing Out provides so much value that it is almost too good to pass up on. It can reduce the cooldown your main damage ability by 4 seconds. This is the talent I mostly never swap because of the value it can provide. I have yet to try a lot of Scarlet Wrath though. Default to this talent.

Scarlet Wrath Scarlet Wrath lets you keep up the duration of your active Zeals when using your basic attacks. If you were to attack freely you would be able to triple the duration of your active Zeals on allies. Extending the benefit of your Tier 2 talents for longer. I will need more testing to see when yo would want to pick this instead of Lashing Out.

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Radiance Radiance gives you a way to heal all allies with Zeal in an instant and also refresh the duration of Zeal on them. With Zealous Spirit and Guiding Light you are able to quickly heal the whole team with only 3 Desperate Pleas. I like Radiance when I know there will be a lot of AoE damage that has to be healed up quickly. I pick this by default as it will grant me the most healing value in any scenario of these talents.

Shared Punishment Shared Punishment causes Inquisition to chain to a nearby enemy and reduce the target's armor, allowing your team to deal more damage to them whilst you slow them with the ability. Paired with Subjugation this is able to nullify 2 enemies at a time and make them vulnerable. Take this if you want to be able to amplify your team's damage slightly or if there's a way for you to benefit from Subjugation on 2 targets.

Harsh Discipline With the added bonus of having your Inquisition cooldown reduced by 2 seconds, Harsh Discipline has moved up to be a dynamic talent which allows for more control over your Desperation stacks. It also sets up easy hits on your second attack of Searing Lash, giving you an easier time to activate Lashing Out. I would pick Harsh Discipline if I need to give my team additional crowd control or more control over your Desperation stacks. It synergises well with other Pity the Frail and can give you a lot of control over you Desperation stacks.

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Scarlet Crusade Scarlet Crusade is able to fully counter certain ultimates if timed correctly. The 2 seconds of Unstoppable can negate things such as Sonyas Leap or The Butchers Lamb to the Slaughter. It is an extremely powerful upgrade and can turn the tides of battle if used correctly. I take it if there's any big crowd control cooldown that needs to be countered.

Judgment Day Scarlet Aegis fills a defensive teamfight turning role, while Judgment Day can do the same but with in an offensive aspect. Being able to group up all enemies if even just biefly is very strong. On top of the 50% extra damage, this ability with Zeal activation can alone win teamfights. It is able to deal half the health of many squishies and fully heal any teammate with Zeal active on them.

Guiding Light Guiding Light is a bit niche as it doesn't give much direct value and instead let's you benefit from 1 additional Zeal at all times without any cost. It can be cast on allies that are too far to reach that you need to heal. It has a fairly special use and would probably not be a good pick unless you know what you are doing.

Purge the Wicked Purge the Wicked is an excellent pick if there's an enemy target that has to die quickly. The loss of 25 armor is extremely valuable and the damage it does is nothing to disregard either. You can pick this if there's a clear enemy threat on their team that often is within range of you. Not everyone will focus on the target in solo queue as there could be a lack of communication, but it does have its uses.