I'm a 2x Rank 1 and 4-time Master+ player specializing in high MMR Assassin & "flex" play, and have played HotS since first wave technical alpha testing. I now stream and youtube more casually.
My guides are like notebooks. I update them progressively based on what I learn and theorycraft. As such, this guide is a culmination of my experience, successes, and feedback.
Twitch: OfClanMurray
Twitter: OCM_Heroes
YouTube: OCM UPDATE D.VA PATCH: FULL REWORK - I will be progressively updating this guide with the builds I am now using. "The Sadist" has already been edited.
Alarak is an interesting approach at an assassin, who has the unique ability for players to balance damage and utility, or throw all eggs into a basket one way or another. I've spent a decent amount of time analyzing what I believe will be the most effective ways to play Alarak, even to the point where I'm getting this guide out far later than I normally do. As always, my guides are merely suggestion on how to approach Alarak. They may work for you, they may not!
For longevity's sake, I've included the original description of the old build below, namely because this rework build is the "new" version. This build still plays heavily around the devastation provided by Alarak's Q, and the even deadlier utility and scaling that has been added onto it.
For some reason Blizzard was under the impression that it was a good idea to let Sadism bonuses start stacking from the beginning of the game, and furthermore allow them to stack infinitely.... I'm not necessarily complaining but.... you get it. This actually allows for Sadism tradeoffs as well that are not detrimental to his damage output, such as Applied Force at 7.
As I spend more time with our new Alarak and this build, I will be progressively updating this guide with more info.
(OLD DESCRIPTION)
Alarak's lightning is not only damage, but self-sustain. Because of this, I find value in this build from both Wide Lightning AND Power Conduit, but my go-to is the reduced mana cost. This allows for less of a mana tax while self-healing, which in turn allows for other abilities to pumped out simultaneously with great frequency.
Alarak, as a melee assassin, has a few ways to be played including very in-the-face melee style, and more ranged poke-dive style. This build makes use of a few Discord Strike talents to emphasize Alarak's ability to get in a fight and stay there, and this is the first step. The increased range and added AoE only makes Alarak a more potent team fighter, while keeping his Sadism at 100% for maximum AP value.
Building off of the reasoning and choice at level 4, this scaling damage is only accentuated by Sadism's maxed out 100% throughout this build. Finishing this quest will turn Alarak's Q into a deadly poke and execution tool.
I believe both of these ults are very situational. At the end of the day, they both deal massive damage, and you'll end up taking the other ult you don't pick here at 20 for this build, so pick your ult situationally depending on what you need more. Counter-Strike is great call & response damage, while Deadly Charge is not only a great engage, but a great escape.
Some may be confused by this choice. The purpose of this "Full AP" build is pretty simple: to maximize Sadism's AP bonus for maddening damage against enemy heroes. Pure Malice can bring this Sadism bonus ABOVE the 100% ceiling with its allied hero death bonus, meaning that a fight looking in the enemy team's favor is never REALLY in the enemy team's favor. You may lose two allies, but all of the sudden you have a raging Alarak flying around dealing 116% AP damage to heroes. God forbid Alarak is the last standing, the 140% AP has allowed me to literally win fights 1 versus 4 in certain games. If you're afraid of not maximizing the value of Pure Malice, Psychokinesis is the "safer" way to keep the maximum 100% bonus.
As mentioned with the level 1 explanation, Alarak's lightning IS his self-sustain. The 100% AP bonus damage DOES in fact contribute to lightning's percentage-based healing, and this 30% increase only makes that bonus and healing that much scarier. NOTE: This healing bonus DOES scale with Pure Malice, proportionately increasing the healing received based on the same scaling AP damage and bonus.
I think there is novelty and humor in Last Laugh and Hasty Bargain, but for the purpose of keeping your AP bonus at 100% and simply the concept of having the utility of two ultimates, I take the other ultimate. Having both ults gives Alarak insane damage, insane utility, control over team fights, and the ability to heavily carry seemingly unfavorable situations.
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Alarak
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