Nova Snipes for DAYZ by Thalgor

Nova Snipes for DAYZ

By: Thalgor
Last Updated: Dec 2, 2014
0 Votes
Rating Pending
Build Guides Discussion (0) More Guides
Build 1 of 1

Nova

Build: Roaming Snipah Build

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

Threats to Nova with this build

Threat
Low
High
Show all
Threat Hero Notes
1
 Li Li Lili is no problem at all. She has no way of taking you out of cloak and she doesn't have the amount of health she needs to survive a few snipes from you.
2
   No Threat
3
 Abathur Abathur is a Hero you will piss off hard. If you know how it's done, you can easily kill him without taking too much damage, considering you can just cloak behind enemy forts. Although if you have an ally Abathur, if he uses his Symbiote on you, enemies can see you a whole lot easier, so keep that in mind.
3
 Gazlowe Gazlowe isn't too much of an issue except for the fact that you can kill him very fast since the only main ability he can take you out of cloak with is his laser, but it's very tedious. TECHNICALLY, his time bomb can, but you have to be really bad to go stand in a time bomb.
3
 Murky You can literally one shot him considering his health is so low. If you want to, when you kill him, look from where he comes from, and take out his egg if you come across it. Since you can go behind enemy forts undetected, you can take out his egg and escape without taking too much damage. Although if you miss your snipe on him, and hot shots doesn't kill him in one shot yet, he could actually deal some damage to you.
3
 Valla You can easily kill her, since she is very squishy. In a teamfight, she can use her multishot and possibly reveal you to the team.
4
 Azmodan Azmodan, if he is skilled, can shoot you out with his Globe, and if he is REALLY skilled, he can summon his demon as soon as you snipe to block it. Other than that don't try to kill, he has a large health pool.
4
 Brightwing Brightwing's annoying to all people. She can take you out of cloak with her Arcane Flare and polymorph you to reveal you, but her Flare is REALLY slow and is easy to dodge.
4
 E.T.C. ETC can be a bit of a pain sometimes since he has two was to get you out of cloak. Stay away from him at all costs, because if your too close Mosh Pit could ruin your day.
4
 Raynor Raynor can take you out of cloak if he has the skill, and you might need quite a bit of power to take him out before his heal kicks in.
4
 Zagara She can hit you with her maw and her drop pod, which would take you out of cloak. You can easily kill her other than that.
5
 Anub'arak A sticky Hero that has two abilties to take you out of cloak, and he's a bad target to try an kill. Dodge his Impale and Burrow Charge and you'll be fine.
5
 Sgt. Hammer She can take you out of cloak with her concussive blast and napalm strike. You do have the power to insta-kill her if she doesn't see you in cloak before she does it.
5
 Uther Uther can stun you, and he can take you out of cloak, so be careful when team fights commence, since he might throw out his ray of light and hit you. You can't kill him solo though since he has too much health.
5
 Zeratul The other main cloaky. You can easily kill him, but he can also easily kill you. Although he's a bit more in the middle of burst dps and sustain dps, so realisticly you can take him before he can take you. He has blink though so he's a hard target to catch.
6
 Falstad You can usually kill Falstad pretty fast once your strong enough. Although if you miss your snipe and he barrel roles out of it, he can hunt you down. He can take you out of cloak with his hammerang and shock and awe, his ultimate.
6
 Illidan Illidan is an easy kill, but if you miss a snipe, he will stick onto you until your dead. Plus, if he sees you anywhere on the map, he can ult you and easily kill you. If you ever have a Illidan on the enemy team, try to stay cloaked as much as possibly if he picked The Hunt.
6
 Kerrigan Kerrigan is a very sticky hero that if she gets ahold of you, your definitely down for the count. She isn't exactly tanky though, usually when your the right level, you'll be able to snipe her to death before she reacts.
6
 Malfurion If he's with his team, and he sees you, in cloak or not, he can moonfire you which reveals you for 2 seconds which is enough time for an enemy to get on you and kill you. On top of that he can root you. Alone, he's a free meal.
6
 Nova This is definitely a skill matchup. It really depends on who can see cloak better and who can snipe each other without missing. Other than that, when she reveals herself, take advantage of it and take her out.
7
 Arthas If Arthas gets on you, your most likely dead meat. He can root you and since you have no escape, his Frozen Tempest will suck the life out of you.
7
 Chen Chen can really hurt you, stick on you, and breath fire on you to reveal you. You also can't kill him since he's too tanky.
7
 Diablo Is an easy threat since he can reveal you with his fire, and his ult, he can be a big threat. If your caught out, he will throw you into the enemy team and you'll be dead meat.
7
 Nazeebo Nazeebo is a big threat since technically, all of his abilities can take you out of cloak, being his spiders and zombie circle being the most threatening. Try to keep away from his zombie circle and other than that you can definitely kill him quickly.
7
 Rehgar Be careful of his lightning shield because it can take you out of cloak. You will need a lot of power to take him out alone, since he does have a good amount of health. If you get caught out, he can slow you as well.
7
 Tyrael Tyrael is a pain in the ass since he has so much mobility. He can take you out of cloak pretty easily with his sword and smite. He can ult you and stop your escape, which can use enough time for the enemy team to come and take you out, if they are close enough. You can't solo him since he is too tanky for you to snipe out.
8
 Tychus Tychus is a pretty big threat. You can sometimes kill him if the Tychus doesn't use his Odin in time. If your revealed to Tychus, he will hunt you to death.
9
 Muradin Muradin is a huge threat to you since he can stun you, slow you, leap at you, and sometimes even knockback. Alone he has far too much health to kill.
9
 Sonya A huge threat that can be really problematic. She can take you out of cloak with her leap, spear, and whirlwind. If he gets you out of cloak, she'll kill you pretty fast.
9
 Stitches If he even sees a glimpse of shimmering cloak, he can slam the area, and if he hits you, he can pull you into the enemy team and kill you. If you have an enemy stitches on the enemy team, hope the stitches is not skilled with his hook, because it can ruin your day.
10
 Tassadar Whenever Tass is on the free rotation, I don't play Nova for that week because of what Tassadar can do to Nova. He has his lightning that can take Nova out of cloak, revealing her, and his Oracle ability reveals a large area around Tassadar. This reveals all cloaked units which absolutely RUINS Nova. On top of that, she usually can't kill him if the Tassadar is skilled, since he can just shield up and use his Shift ability and dissapear becoming invisible and invulnerable. Hate this matchup.
10
 Tyrande A nightmare. She can use her owl to damage and reveal you, she can hit you with her lunar flare. Worst of all, she can shadowstalk which reveals all enemies and cloaks all allies. That would reveal you and cloak her. You definitlely can kill her, but check her ult every now and then by hitting tab, then click show skills at the bottom, then you can see if her ult is on cooldown or not. If you plan on killing her, don't stand near her and wait, do it quickly before she sees you and owls you.

Introduction Top

Hi guys, Thalgor here, making a guide for my second main character. This is my second guide on heroesfire. I've played Nova for quite a while and I think I have a decent idea of what I should be doing with her. If your the kind of player that likes to quickly insta-kill people, and do it from afar, then this is the hero for you.

Who is Nova? Top

Nova is an amazing stealthy assassin that can snipe and kill people quickly from afar. She can be a load of fun considering how quickly she can kill people. Although the fact that she has no escape means positioning is REALLY important. Here are some Pros and Cons:


Pros:



- Permanent Cloak

- High Burst Damage

- Can assist allies with Precision Strike

Cons:



- Extremely Squishy

- No escape whatsoever

- Can run out of mana at a fast rate

- No wave clear


Considering Nova has no escape, positioning is important. You need to keep an eye on possible enemies looking for you, or if the enemy has a T*** or Tyrande. Make sure your in a good spot to escape at before you strike, because if your in a bad spot, it could be your ***. Anyways, now for the main abilities of Nova.

Permanent Cloak, Sniper (D) Top

Permanent Cloak, Sniper
Nova's passive, is a great one. Whenever your out of combat for at least 2 seconds, you go into cloak, which is something enemies can see. However, they can only see shimmering, and sometimes more inexperienced players may not keep an eye out for the shimmering. It can only be broke from taking damage, attacking an enemy, or from people like Tassadar using Oracle, or Tyrande using Shadowstalk.

Snipe (Q) Top

Snipe
Your bread and butter, the ability that's going to kill people in the first place, along with other attacks. One thing you might want to be good at it skillshots. Considering this is going to be most of your damage, you need to be somewhat good at hitting them. Early game, try not to just throw this at anybody unless your going to be targeting him for a minute. Mana can drain fast as Nova.

Pinning Shot (W) Top

Pinning Shot
Decent damage and a decent slow. Not much to say about this ability other than once again, don't spam it every chance you get. Only use it if you know it's going to possibly get a kill with its slow. You should be ALWAYS opening with pinning shot just so later on you get used to it for Crippling Shot. This makes pinning shot a lot more important when you get that level since 25% to everything that hits that character, including your ultimate, hot shots, and other allies attacking him.

Holo Decoy (E) Top

Holo Decoy
An ability I have a lot of fun with. Laning with people, it can trick a lot of people if beforehand, you snipe them legit. Then after you cloak, put a decoy in nearby brush close enough to look like it's hurting them. I've had this happen with a Sonya, and she threw her spear at it and a slam. People that are smart don't tend to fall for this though. Other than that, I try not to use it too much unless I really need it.

Triple Tap (R) Ultimate Number 1 Top

Triple Tap
I always have tried to put this skill to good use, but I never did good with it. Every time I try to kill someone with it, it gets blocked by another hero or structure. I feel this ultimate doesn't compare to the other, and the fact that it can hit other heroes and structures kinda kills it. However, late game this ability becomes a lot more powerful, at level 20 specifically. If it gets a kill, it RESETS the cooldown, which is amazing, however the other ultimate also gains an amazing upgrade as well.

Precision Strike (R) Ultimate Number 2 Top

Precision Strike
This ultimate is a lot stronger than the other ultimate in my opinion. First of all, it does a big chunk of damage. Secondly, it has an unlimited range, meaning you can help other allies get a kill or save their lives. Also, at level 20 you get 2 charges of it, which is amazing. It's an ability you'll need some practice with, as it is not impossible to dodge. The reason why I think this is better is because you can block the bullets from Triple Tap too easily, and that includes buildings.

Talent Overview Top

The talents to do will have a YES under it, ones not to pick will have a NO under it, and ones that you could choose will have a MAYBE under it.


Conjurer's Pursuit:
NO
Even with Nova and her mana issues, you shouldn't be laning very much at all. You should be roaming, more than anything.

Psi-Op Rangefinder:
NO
This ability is OK, but in the long run Ambush Snipe will end up doing more damage, since the range on Snipe is already enough for you not to get too close.

Ambush Snipe:
YES
This is a great talent that increases your burst which is what Nova is about.

Tazer Rounds:
NO
This is a pretty bad talent since it doesn't compare to any of the other talents in the tree and I've never heard of a Pinning Shot build, so pass.


Perfect Shot:
NO
This is an good talent, since Nova has mana issues, but it doesn't compare to the two other good talents in the tree, so I would say pass.

Focused Fire:
NO
Nova isn't based on this ability, and there's much better talents in the tree.

Remote Delivery:
NO
It might be good if your going for a holo type build, but other than that there's better talents in the tree.

Envenom:
MAYBE
A strong talent that really helps the early game then loosens a bit late game. It's a good talent to pick, but I think Gathering Power just ends up doing more in the long run. Your call.

Gathering Power:
YES
A great talent that increases all of your spells damage, including your ultimate. If you don't die and you keep the ability power, it can do a lot, even though you may not realize it.


One in the Chamber:
NO
This talent is horrible compared to other talents in the tree. I don't even know why they have this talent for her when much stronger talents are available in the tree already, honestly.

Anti-Armor Shells:
YES
A great talent that pretty much gives you another Snipe, but free! It really increases your damage output.

Explosive Round:
NO
A pretty good ability for teamfights, doing damage to multiple heroes. It also gives Nova a bit of a wave clear, but Anti-Armor Shells will end up doing a lot more damage to heroes. Explosive Round also doesn't give you any extra damage to taking out a single hero.

Covert Ops:
NO
I guess this is an OK talent, but it's not going to do as much as Anti-Armor Shells will.

Digital Shrapnel:
NO
Holo Decoy isn't a need to have ability for every fight, and the explosion is useless, since nobody is stupid enough to do up to the decoy, thinking it's you, and start hitting it. It's also very easy to dodge.


I already talked about these in the ability listing, but if you didn't see that Precision Strike is the one to go for since Triple Tap is blockable.


Spell Shield:
NO
I feel like this could be an OK talent, but since your cloaked most of the time, positioning should be enough.

Lethal Decoy:
MAYBE
Since Rewind is gone, Nova has less burst, so this can help with that, but I'm stuck between this and Advanced Cloaking.

Advanced Cloaking:
MAYBE
This is a pretty good talent, and realisticly, you could pick this over Lethal Decoy, but since Rewind is gone, increasing her damage output is helpful.


Railgun:
NO
This is a OK talent, it gives her a wave clear, and it can help in teamfights, but Crippling Shot will end up doing more damage than this ability.

Crippling Shot:
YES
A great ability that increases all of your damage by a whopping 25%. This includes Precision Strike, Anti-Armor Shells, Snipe and your other abilities. This includes allies attacking as well.

Double Fake:
MAYBE
This creates another decoy that runs around like some blind guy, and also does this to the decoy that you summon. I like to use this sometimes to trick people, since I run around like that too, confusing them. If you like it, choose it.

Blood for Blood:
MAYBE
This can be pretty good, especially on warriors with high health, but it has more of a closer range than other abilities, and as Nova, that's something that can be dangerous. Your call though.

Overdrive:
NO
I think Crippling Shot is a lot better, since Overdrive uses a lot of your mana, and considering Nova already has mana issues, I don't take this talent.


Fury of the Storm:
NO
This is a horrible ability for Nova since she's not based off of basic attacks, even though you get Anti-Armor Shells, it's not worth it.

Bolt of the Storm:
MAYBE
I get stuck between this and Precision Barrage, since having 2 Precision Strike is really good, but having Bolt of the Storm frees her problem of having no mobility. Tell me which one you would pick in the comments!

Fast Reload:
MAYBE
If you picked Triple Tap, this is a really good talent so pick this if you did.

Precision Barrage:
MAYBE
I love this talent, but I also love Bolt of the Storm, so you choose which.

How to Play Nova Top

Early Game Lvl 1-7:



Early Game is the point where Nova is at her weakest. She doesn't have any of her really strong talents yet like Anti-Armor Shells, or her heroic ability. At this point in the game I roam, and on maps like Dragon Shire, I try to stay with the lane more often that is missing me. Until level 7, stay low and be careful.

Mid Game Lvl 7-16



At this point you have Anti-Armor Shells, so you can be more aggressive on squishy heroes like Valla or Li Li. However, at this point other assassins get their power too, so be careful of people like Zeratul, since he could trade out with you depending on how both of you play.

Late Game 16-30



At this point you have all your power and you can easily kill sqishy people, although also heroes like Tyrande get a lot of power and sometimes able to get allies to hunt you down, with her ultimate Shadowstalk. Be careful, and don't get greedy.

Now for the rotation. When you play Nova, you aren't supposed to just throw out your abilities like certain other heroes. You have certain talents like Crippling Shot, that need to be casted beforehand so your other abilities end up doing more damage. Well, here it is.

Early Game Rotation: Pinning Shot, Ambush Snipe, Auto Attack

Mid Game Rotation: Pinning Shot, Ambush Snipe, Precision Strike , Anti-Armor Shells

Late Game Rotation: Crippling Shot, Precision Strike, Ambush Snipe, Anti-Armor Shells


One thing to note playing as Nova is since you have no escape positioning is important. Position yourself in a spot you can run from and make sure at least a few other enemies are occupied, since you have no escape.

Patch Notes December 2, 2014 Top

Well, there goes Rewind! A huge nerf on Nova, but to be honest she kinda deserved it because of how strong quick she can kill people. But who needs Rewind! Rewind was not everything she was, it was just a bonus. Booster Shot was renamed to Perfect Shot An addition to that, Hot Shots is now named as Anti-Armor Shells, and instead of 330% more Auto Attack damage, it was reduced to 300%. Snipes damage was also reduced from 120(+34 per level) to 115(+31 per level). So a pretty big nerf on her, but she is still very powerful.

Conclusion Top

Well that's all I have to say, thanks for reading, and feel free to leave feedback in the comments!

Quick Comment () View Comments

You need to log in before commenting.

0 Votes
New Guide

Quick Comment () View Comments

You need to log in before commenting.

HeroesFire is the place to find the perfect build guide to take your game to the next level. Learn how to play a new hero, or fine tune your favorite HotS hero’s build and strategy.

Copyright © 2019 HeroesFire | All Rights Reserved