Tyrael is one of my favorite "tanks" in the game, while he is less tanky then others he has great mobility for those who like to be quick. his initiations are great and he has good escapes, simultaneously he can speed up the whole team and absorb a ton of damage in the mid to late game.

A degree of kiting is needed to play Tyrael effectively as just standing in the enemy will most likely get you killed, all his sustain revolves around his skills so use them wisely and position yourself well.

PROS Tanky Late with abilities High Mobility Great Initiation & Escapes Shields Multiple Allies Disrupts Fast Auto Attack

CONS Squishy Early Fairly Low Damage Not as Tanky as other Tanks

Added a Ranked Guide.
Been playing more ranked games with Tyrael and its been extremely well don't believe i have died even once yet. The ranked guide changes a few skills slightly, reason being games are more co-ordinated and so you can focus on a role a bit more.

Vampiric Assault swapped with Amplified Healing because chances are your healer will actually heal you.

Reciprocate swapped with Zealotry initiate and if they all go on you, the extra 4 secs of shielding plus the life you get back from the Angelic Absorption keeps you going a long time so feel free to roll your face over theirs and just be all kinds of annoying. Also a massive plus on this, is that your team AND minions get a shield for the same duration, makes pushing lanes easier and allies have a longer shield.

SKILL CHANGES EFFECTING TYRAEL

Hey there as of the February patch notes: http://eu.battle.net/heroes/en/blog/17906504/heroes-closed-beta-patch-notes-february-10-2015-10-02-2015 These are the new ones applicable to Tyrael.

Regeneration Master Increases Health Regeneration by 4 per second. Every 3 Regeneration Globes gathered increases this bonus by 4. *This will make you insanely tanky and almost unkillable mid-late game.

Smite Cast Aside (Talent) removed *Was good for displacing enemies, now removed.

Righteousness Moved from Level 4 to Level 13 + Healing increased from 10 (+2 per level) to 20 (+4 per level) each second for 3 seconds. *Lost early game sustain and tanking so be careful when blinking in without this.

Smite Damage bonus decreased from 30% to 25%. *Nerf to damage but we aren't using it in this build.

Hardened Shield Activate to reduce all incoming damage by 75% for 4 seconds; 60 second cooldown. *Godmode, if you need to tank more or want to initiate a fight and roll your face on the keyboard

Nexus Blades Basic attacks deal 20% more damage and slow the target for 1 second. *More damage and a slow, perfect on this build if you want more damage over tanking.

PLAYSTYLE

LANING

Tyrael in the early game can be quite squishy so be careful of over committing to fights if you notice you take too much damage, throwing your El'druin's Might (Q) is good to clear waves and harass but don't feel the need to always blink to the sword, the damage is enough. Make sure when clearing waves to throw it after the minions meet and allow the full circle range to hit all the creeps.

* Your objective early game is to farm the green regen globes after getting Regeneration Master which was recently buffed. If the globe drops and the enemy are harassing, use your Righteousness (W) shield to walk in and pick it up before leaving. When in another lane or after getting a objective, make sure to pick up the regen globes on the lanes while walking back to yours. This is super important as it makes you really tanky later and helps sustain you early.

INITIATING FIGHTS

When objectives come up, always make sure to help the team take them, you are great for mobility so jump the high damage targets, if they feel threatened your team will find it easier to go on them, however always be watching your team, your Righteousness grants shields to allies nearby so protect your own damage dealers even if you need to body block.

MAINTAINING FIGHTS

After your in the fight, you need to be constantly attacking their damage dealers, this should make them focus you, fantastic, when this happens you pop your Righteousness and keep going for it, after collecting Vampiric Assault this is more time spent that you get life back and even more if you have Angelic Absorption keep in mind not to use your shield just for the hell of it after collecting Angelic Absorption you want to keep it till they attack you since it will give back so much HP. Focus around keeping allies shielded as well. Keep El'druin's Might for escaping or chasing as if it goes bad you dont want to be in there and suicide because "im a tank" is not an option.

CHASING AND SAVING

If your team mate is in danger and trying to escape, use Smite in front of your allies path as it will grant them 25% speed to escape. El'druin's Might is also useful to blink to the enemy and harass them while they chase a team mate.

Same rules apply when chasing a fleeing enemy, El'druin's Might can close the gap and Smite can allow you to stick close to them.

Regeneration Master
As of the last patch the ability to heal while being shielded and attacked was pushed way back and your generally initiating so you will need more HP and Regen, its easy to farm the globes and it scales very well into the late game while keeping your early lane sustain up.

Vampiric Assault
You have a good attack speed and again sustaining your self in a fight, this will give back a pretty decent amount of HP. *Optionally if your team has some good healers you can get Amplified Healing you just need to have more trust in your team mates.

Reciprocate
Causes your shield to explode for damage to enemies nearby, when you go into fights you will be using this shield a lot as and if your running it will help wear down enemies pursuing. *Optionally get Battle Momentum to try keep your shield up more, your attack speed makes this a nice pick up although i would still strongly arguing to pick up Reciprocate 99.9% of the time.

Judgment
Most picked up skill, it can be used to close the distance of high priority targets and disable most of those big scary ultimates like Nazeebo's Spirit etc.... *Optionally Sanctification is situational depending heavily on team co-ordination, use your shield first before casting it.

Angelic Absorption
Easy pick up, you gain life back when attacked in your shield, and if the enemy all focus you well damn thats all your life back in a few seconds. *Optionally Opposing Will if the enemy team consists of lots of auto attack heroes and your not battling too much with sustaining.

Blood for Blood
This little pick up can save your life and secure kills, it steals HP back (use it on a tank if possible since its there max HP you get) thats if you need it for HP, otherwise its got a fantastic slow on it to help chase those fleeing carries.

Hardened Shield
God mode for 4 seconds, enough said. *Optionally Nexus Blades if your tanky enough, the attack speed and slow is great.

Some useful information to help you improve your game play.

1: If you have your Judgment ready and your in the middle of a enemy fight and they have creeps closer to your base, this is normally when they push your forts. If you need to escape cast your ultimate on an enemy creep to dash away (its worth wasting an ultimate if you live)

2: Your El'druin's Might blink ability allows you to get over walls and impassable terrain, use this to escape or initiate from unexpected places. e.g. Black Water Bay i have initiated fights from one pier to another or escaped by leaping over.

3: When running keep your Righteousness until you know that enemy nuke ability is going to be used and use it when they cast it, this will probably save you being nuked while running.

4: Righteousness Can be used to shield minions to help push a lane.

Feel free to debate any points with me, let me know your opinions and if this was helpful to you please vote it up so i can get a better feel for how this works for more players.

Thanks.