Hey there im Timmah Im rank 1 and it took roughly 30 games to get there i hope this guide helps some people out :)!.generally im Basilisks fill of anything i mainly play warrior and assassin as the support role is covered by Benjamin94 the god, Illidan has to be one of my FAVOURITE Assassin's so thats why im making this guide.

Illidan is a extremely high skill cap champion, but also satisfying as hell to play every kill skill you dodge gets your more and more pumped to play him. he might seem face roll but when you have multiple heroes to track and watch out for there skill shots while trying to glue to the enemy heroes.

Lvl-1
you can weigh up either or
Shadow shield gives you great sustain against ability damage and damage general, Or Season Marksman because of the duration a game will go for will out sustain the shield you will gain from Shadow Shield

Lvl-4
this is a hands down talent to take for Illidan you ouput a constant stream of AOE damage, your W is never not up so your Immolation is always up in fights

Lvl-7
Illidan's passive isn't always enough to sustain him, this talent allows you to stabilize your HP vs Bursty heroes or while you are currently under CC your still gaining life, With Metamorphosis the amount of hp you gain increases by a large amount late game were staying alive as long as possible or not dying is the most important thing

Lvl-10
is almost a guaranteed ulti choice free attack speed which is insanely strong for Illidan a sustain as well as an escape tool, the damage on it is rather slim but the effects outweigh the damage loss.

Is a great choice Vs heroes with 0 escape opportunity, allow you to split soak then engage with your team within a second, its Damage is high and the stun also allows you to set up your W on top of them also.

Lvl-13 Is almost a must as every hero has an ability that will be halved with this talent it brings Illidan's survivability much higher vs His counters and general Damage that occurs during team fights

If there team contains 2 heroes with high hp, E.G. Azmodan any Warrior. as your attack speed will quickly shred the fat off the meat shields

lvl-16
is generally the talent to grab as 10% of any hero in damage instantly is great not to mention double that amount x2 and you gain that life instantly, It can catch most players by surprise especially after a team fight were people would of expected you to have already used it

lvl-20 Unless you need to dodge abilitys is the choice as it halves CC gives even more attack speed and the life gain you get from your ulti remains permanently

is a good pick if you grabbed the hunt as it gives you more gluing potential to every hero

[Bolt of the Storm size=30] Is a talent i never grab unless you need to dodge a crucial ability but generally Metamorphosis does the same thing

In the early game as Illidan you want to be a bully and pressure the lane without getting caught out, you can either W or Q in and AA(auto attack) move while your on your target and as your Q goes up you should be able to duck straight out as your Q on there minion wave heal off minions rinse and repeat and bully the hell out of the poor soul who is laning vs u, at Lvl 4 you get Immolation which is an AOE around you, which increases your wave clear, i like to after Ive pushed the enemy out of my lane to W into there towers and use evasion and soak up alot of Ammo until evasion is gone then duck back out.

Be careful of people roaming with stuns :) Illidans worst nightmare is stuns!

Once you hit 10 if you grab Metamorphosis you want to group with your team to pressure a fight! As you damage output spikes! as well as your sustain, you can either Engage with it if you know you will destroy the fight, this is something i rarely do, as his ulti is good to duck out of the fight for 2 seconds and have the enemy damage your teammates and gain at least 1k hp if you hit them all! which is crazy!

If you grab Hunt at this Lvl you want to split! soak experience which will get your team ahead, then engage with your team with your ulti on one of there out of position players.

Once you reach late game you generally want to be sticking with your team for objectives making sure when fights do break out you jump in there after some of the CC has already gone out then you Glue yourself to the squishiest players of there team, usually what will happen is they will peel(falling back to assist) for there teammate when they do this you either have to ulti straight away to get the HP boost or just save it to dodge or escape.

If you have grabbed the hunt its generally a good idea to remain split from your team to give an experience lead for your team as you can engage with your team in a second, one thing to look out for is getting ganked seeing as you will be split, Map awareness is key to illidan


Team comps: illidan doesnt fit in the everyday comp he either requires an Uther or Abathur
Uther is a great support when your playing Illidan due to the Burst in his healing and gets alot of people by surprise, he has cleanse which helps deal with CC, he also has Divine Shield which is perfect you can just go ham for a full 4 seconds of no CC on you.

Abathur is a specialist that give Illidan a shield, attack speed increase of 25%, he also does alot of damage when Abathur uses his Hat ability shooting spikes at the enemy while you glued to them increases all kill potential.


Another thing is Illidan is an extremely high priority target for your enemy they will be trying to kill you asap! which is what makes Illidan so good as your other assassin on your team is just dumping all there damage into the enemy unnoticed, you need to keep your cool when playing Illidan and make sure you don't panic and use an ability at the wrong time as that is where it will kill you in the end,
learning Illidans survivability is a tough thing to master as it all varys depending on player skill of your enemy how they use ability's theres so many factors its crazy! you can dodge alot of ability's as Illidan with your W or your Q so multi tasking is key as tunneling someone will most definitely get you killed!

Im going to leave my battle net tag here for anyone who has any questions about Illidan or this guide :)
Timmah#1527

goodluck with your future endeavors as The funnest hero in HOTS