Changes

3rd Dec 2016 — Earthquake has become slightly better than Sundering with the recent patch — it's 5% better than Sundering in Masters and 10% better through Bronze to Diamond. It grants additional sustain if you fight on the EQ point and provides a very big slow for the team. It peels and helps to land skills and combos easier. And because of that your team will require a burst damage dealer to be more effective.

The reason for Earthen Shields at lvl 20 is that it basically gives your team triple Storm Shield. Though, you can still use Bolt of the Storm to escape and close the gaps to attack the backline.

P.S. Don't Bolt of the Storm + Earthquake, you can still be focused quickly. Use it the other way around to save yourself when your trait can't trigger anymore.

The introduction

Hi, guys! My nickname is Slimper and I present you the Thrall guide with 3 main builds and 2 additional ones :)

Talent variables

So, as you can see on the build table, most variables come from level 13 and 16, which make Thrall, the warchief of the Horde, adjust his abilities to the enemy team quite effectively. Additional variables are:

1. Block on level 1. This talent works well only against an autoattack heavy team (but not Samuro, Tracer or Tychus lol).

2. Spell Shield on level 13. If you're faced against a lot of mages (it's especially true against Chromie, Jaina and Li-Ming), you can make use of the spell shield, which will increase your survivability by a good amount. After that you should get the Forked Lightning on level 16.

3. Bolt of the Storm on level 20. It's a good escape and a gap closer, has the same winrate as Nexus Blades. With this talent you gain an immediate way of attacking the backline.

4. Nexus Blades is one dimensional, but as stated previosly, grants you additional damage. If you have a lot of support stuns, you can go for Nexus Blades and increase your burst.

Build explanations

1. Standard. This build has the most damage potential for Thrall. By synergising Giant Killer with the Tempest Fury, you will get 10% HP of the enemy gone and that's a great addition to what the Warchief of the Horde already has to offer. Additionally, if you have to face 2 tanks on the enemy team, Giant Killer becomes sure to get lots of value.

2. Q-build aims to poke squishy heroes like Chromie, Tracer, Valla, Li-Ming and get them to low HP with almost no effort. It has almost the same amount of sustain as the standard build (only 2 stacks less), since you will still get twice the 5 stacks of Frostwolf Resilience. And although you can't do as much damage, you can poke safely, use Follow Through more and use Bolt of the Storm into the backline to get the kills.

3. Sustain E-build aims to get you a great deal of sustain by using Grace Of Air and Tempest Fury on level 13 and 16. 10 stacks of Frostwolf Resilience by using just 1 of your talents is a lot: it helps in teamfights, when doing a boss and other camps. This build is great in Quick match if you didn't get a healer on your team.

Thrall's role

The famous orc shines the most when he holds a lane and pokes the opposing hero, ganks other champions in a pair with another assasin and deals as much damage as he possibly can in a team fight. Destroying structures for Thrall takes a little bit too much time, so try to ask someone else to do that if you see that a fort is undefended.

How to play Thrall

Check out McIntyre's guide to Thrall. Really, it's a must watch. It covers pretty much everything that is going to be said below :)

1. Chain Lightning should always be on cooldown. Poke heroes if they don't have much sustain — you can root and burst them down later on. Poke minions when you need to stop the lane pressure (when defending).

2. Use Feral Spirit to pressure the lane, but make sure no hero stands in the way of the skillshot.

3. Once you get the Follow Through on level 7, try to auto-attack every time you use your abilities.

4. Thrall's highest DPS combo is E-AA-W-AA-Q-AA. This is what makes him really strong. When fighting, always E first and get closer. Then you auto-attack and use W (it will be easier to root them that way) and AA-Q-AA for the maximum damage. You can burst and kill squishy heroes very easily, even tanks will recieve huge damage. Exercise this combo in the shop until you can get it 99% of the time and then go wreck some people :)

5. Another important combo is Sundering + Bolt of the Storm. It looks like this: R-1-AA-E-AA-W-AA-Q-AA. Bolt towards the enemy and destroy the opposing backline.

6. A lot of Thrall's damage will be coming from third hit of Windfury (once you've picked the Tempest Fury). Make sure you get it.

7. Do not face check bushes. Use Feral Spirit instead, this will save you from a lot of deaths!

Tips

1. With Rolling Thunder you get 10 mana every time you auto-attack a minion that was hit by Chain Lightning. Always try to do that when no one bullies you, because with Ride The Lightning you will effectively restore your mana every time you use your Q.

2. Thrall's sustain is his biggest advantage in duels and team fights. Sometimes you can stand against two heroes, heal more damage than they do to you while also killng them. Awesome!

3. Sundering is a great engage ablity. Use it before you start a team fight and try to split the enemy team support or squishies from their tanks. And don't forget that sometimes you can finish someone after a 1v1, disengage from a bad fight or even steal the boss with it.

4. Positioning is the most important thing that will keep you alive when playing Thrall, since Feral Spirit and Windfury are your only escapes. Try to look at the map every 5 seconds and if you don't see the enemies, retreat back behind the walls. Beware of any CC that can come in your way!

5. You can always use Feral Spirit on a minion wave to heal up faster, but remember that it costs quite a lot of mana.

Place in the current meta

Thrall holds a solid 50% winrate in the current meta. Though, remember, that you yourself can get to 60%-70% winrate with him even in the long run. He is currently rivaled by Samuro (very heavily), The Butcher, Sgt. Hammer and Malfurion the most. That's why I suggest playing the orc in Hero League, where you can ban the most dangerous threats. Pick him when your team needs an assassin and a sololaner at the same time.

Threats

Threats info comes from HotsLogs matchups and my personal experience. You can use it as a draft helper. Some heroes are threatful not only because they can take you down, but because they can push lanes really hard if you do not gank them.

Conclusion

This ends my guide. Please, upvote if the guide helped you! Comment and suggest your tips too :)
Thanks for reading! And let the elements be with you! :)