Introduction Top
Hello all! My name is inVinceible and I want to share a quick
Tyrael guide that will help new players learn a good build and hopefully give experienced players a different way to play Tyrael. Tyrael has been included in HOTS since the Beta, so there are lots of great guides out there for you to look at. He's an incredibly dynamic hero (especially for a tank) and that means that there are a lot of ways you can play as him. For this guide we are going to focus on a damage absorbing style that's great for players new to HL or HOTS in general. We'll try to take full advantage of Tyrael's shielding and mobility (which can also be used for chasing or DPS if that's more your style) to enter into team fights and position yourself to tank and survive a lot of damage. We all make mistakes, and poor plays when we're learning a new character (or game for that matter) but tanking, blocking and shielding your teammates is a great way to play an important role and help your team win right away. In this guide I'll go through each of the talent selections and try to give you guys a little bit of insight into how to play this style of Tyrael. Hope you enjoy!
Baisic Abilities Top
Combat Trait
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Archangel's Wrath- (Passive)
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Archangel's Wrath is an ultra cool ability and it's with out a doubt a useful tool. That said, a lot of players (especially new players) fall into a trap with this ability and for this build we are going to try to avoid using it. The tendency in MOBA's among new players is to be concerned with "How can I output damage at this particular instant in the game as quickly and as massively as possible?" but remember in this particular build we want to tank damage for our teammates, spam out a lot of shields, and we have to be alive to do that! This means you have to stay aware of 3 things: how much damage you've taken, the cool-down timer on your shield, and setting up your escape (more on that later). If you reach less than 1/3 of your health and your shield has more than 2 seconds left on cool-down then it's time to get out of a fight - not go ham and hope you do enough damage to kill off the entire team with your ghost-explosion-awesomeness. If you do go down (which happens!) don't sweat it, don't rage at your healer, and most importantly don't chase! Your job as Tyrael is to protect your team and make sure they can effectively disengage or get as many out alive as possible. AW goes off after 3.5 seconds (count them out loud if it helps you want to know exactly how much time you have). Use all 3.5 seconds to find the squishiest or lowest members of the enemy team and start moving toward them. Once they see you coming in all your heavenly and doom bringing glory they
will run away, don't chase them! Once they've run off they can no longer land basic attacks or ability damage on your team and you've done your job as a tank so move on to the next logical enemy, try to get them out of the fight too! If you're about to burst (lol) or you've chased off as many pesky assassin's as possible get back to the middle of the fight and try to use your explosion as another space creator to allow your team to escape safely.
Basic Abilities
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Righteousness - (W)
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As I've said before, Tyrael is a very dynamic character and you can prioritize any of his abilities to best suit
your play style. For this guide Righteousness is Tyrael's most important ability. Shields make up for Tyrael's smaller health pool (compared to some Warrior class characters) and allow your teammates to position themselves more aggressively while laning and in team fights. Shields also create something I'm going to call "wasted damage". Every time an enemy lands a hit on one of your shields that hit is maybe not totally useless but certainly less effective than normal, almost like a tax on damage because damage to your shields is not coming out of your actual health pool, does not have to be regenerated or impact your ability to stay in a team fight and protect your teammates. If an opponent lands an ability strike on your shield you effectively mitigate their best damaging tools and you take that ability out of play for 5-10 seconds, and that's your job as a warrior character. The more "wasted damage" you can create the longer your opponents have to be in a dangerous space, taking damage and burning mana. If you're a new player spam your shield as often as possible to mitigate maximum damage. If you're a more experienced player try to hold on to your shields a little longer focusing on when multiple teammates are within the AOE or when a new enemy assassin shows up to a fight because they will most likely spam all of their abilities as soon as they show up.
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Smite- (E)
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Smite is a really popular ability among Tyrael players because it allows them to do damage and chase. For this build we won't be selecting a lot of the talents that make Smite a really special ability but I encourage you to experiment with different builds and find out if a Smite build fits your play style! For this build we will be using smite to lane (more on that later) and to do damage to other characters in the front line of team fights, especially melee assassins like Illidan or Thrall who will be right in your grill. Keeping your Smite AOE in the middle of a team fight also allows your teammates to get a little speed boost if they get caught/pulled out of position or cc'd (stunned). Remember we don't want to get overly friendly with that 'E' key and spam Smite because we need enough mana for shields and El Druin's might at all times. If you see a teammate running back toward you while 15 enemies chase wildly after them make sure to throw a smite down right on top of your position so you and your friend can get away from the rabid horde.
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El'Druin's Might- (W)
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I know I sound like a broken record but El'Druin's might is another very cool ability that you can use in a lot of ways, if a damage boost El'Druin build really turns you on then go for it! However that's not what we're gonna be doing here. We don't want to use El'Druin's Might to chase because as soon as you are away from your team you can't do your job and soak damage for your team but again if you want to body block/warcraft surround/chase/play fruit ninja with El Druin then find the right build and go for it! For this build we'll use El'Druin's might to make the most of Tyrael's mobility which is elite among the Warrior characters. Arguably the quickest way to lose a team fight outside of a wombo-combo is to get caught without a warrior in front to soak up basic attacks, abilities and cc's. With El'Druin's Might you can enter a team fight in exactly the right place so take into account where the enemy damage dealers are, where you'll be able to pop the most effective shields, and where your lowest allies are before you throw your sword (which is super sweet btw). Remember that time I told you we'd talk about setting up your escape later? In the part about Arch Angel's Wrath? Well that's this part. In this build we want to use El'Druin to Enter a fight and to disengage quickly,like bookends to a team fight. When you hit that low health mark (roughly 1/3 health with shield on cool-down) start pinging retreat to let your team know they have to get back or fight without a tank, then throw your sword back to a disengage point i.e. behind a wall or in a bush where you can effectively retreat. Don't leave right away!!! Pop that last shield and buy your team a few seconds to fall back, you have 6 seconds to flash to your sword so don't panic. Once you're back you can pop a Smite down if you really need a little extra juice to make it out alive.
Heroic Abilities
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Judgement- (R)
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Judgement is a great way to enter team fights from distance and especially to shut down an enemy's ult. (i.e.
Nova's
Triple Tap,
Valla's
Strafe etc.) and it's the Heroic we're going to take in this build. We'll talk more about it later.
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Sanctification- (R)
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Sanctification is a solid ability in theory but it's especially hard for new players to land on an effective number of teammates, especially in quick games or even HL when you don't know your teammates and if you miss or only shield on teammate you still can't fight, tank, or escape as effectively. Again if this seems like your cup of tea go for it! Sanctification actually flexes into this build just fine.
Talent Build Top
Green = Typical Choice for this build
Yellow = Situational choice for this build
Red = Not recommended
*Have a different idea or way to use a talent? Disagree with one of my ideas? Make sure to let me know and spread the word down in the comments!
Level 1 Top
For this build only one talent really makes sense. Regeneration Master not only helps you stay alive and keep taking damage, it means you don't have to run back to the moonwell or use your harthstone as often so you can stay in lanes and close to your team. When laning try to focus the mage in each minion wave rather than landing two or three baisic attacks on an enemy hero and make sure your smite always lands on the mage. When you see the mage minion get low move Tyrael right on top of him and finish him with your auto attack. Remember you don't have to wipe out the whole minion lane or stick around and fight once you kill the mage and take the globe! Just get your regent globe and leave, Grubby would call this "taking the cheese from the sandwich,". As a rule of thumb kill the mage and take the regen. globe from every minion wave you pass unless you're in a hurry. By late game your health regen/sec will be really strong and you'll be able to soak up massive damage in team fights.
Level 4 Top
Amplified Healing This talent also helps you stay alive and keep taking damage, it combines nicely with regen master and further eliminates the need to use your hearthstone or run back and forth to the moon wells. Also since you are a tank and you have shields you will be receiving a lot of secondary healing effects rather than burst heals, and this Amplified Healing gives those smaller heals a little extra juice.
Vampiric Strike While not nearly as good for this build as Amplified Healing, Vampiric Strike works well in a pinch giving you survivability when you are playing without a traditional healer. In QM when people are focused more on trying out new and fun heroes than creating good team comps you're more than likely not going to have a healer on your team but you still need some sort of health boost and Vampiric Strike serves that purpose. Also not a bad pick if you're playing with a support like
Tassadar,
Tyrande, or the genius who for some reason insists that
Abathur is an out and out support hero (not that he's not cool or useful, I can already hear the Abathur faithful grinding their teeth).
Level 7 Top
Battle Momentum This talent reduces the cool-down of your abilities with every basic attack you land. Lower cool-downs mean more shields, more "wasted damage" and more survivability for your teammates which is a good deal all around. One caveat with this talent, lower cool-downs also means it's easy to burn through your mana faster than a celebrity marriage. If you have no mana then you can't shield or escape when you get low so be careful not to spam out too many smites, one man shields, etc.
Reciprocate Causes Tyrael's shield to explode when it expires, dealing damage to all nearby enemies. Normally in this build we aren't gonna go for damage buff talents but if you're running out of mana when you pick
Battle Momentum or your team needs a boost in damage this is a great choice. You'll be using a lot of shields and should be locating yourself in the middle of teammates so Reciprocate is going to land a lot of damage on a lot of enemies 2/3 times each team fight. Remember you can't be a slave to a build (except in Quick Game) sometimes you have to adapt to what your team needs.
Zealotry I see you thinking "Hey inVinceible, if this build is all about shields and tanking damage shouldn't I take the shield-extender-talenty-thingy?" Good question fine sir, and no, no you should not. I see where you're coming from but Zealotry doesn't increase the size of your shield only the length of time it lasts for. Your shield won't be expiring because of the timer, it will be running out because five red team jerks insist on hitting you with swords, arrows, fists, hooks, and various other implements of death. #whycantwebefriends?
Level 10 (Heroics) Top
Judgement Let's get one thing straight, Judgement is the coolest ability in the game. Period. From a functionality perspective in this build, Judgement allows you to rapidly enter a team fight while doing damage and stunning a potentially dangerous enemy. Think about how we're playing El'Druin's might on steroids. If you're already in a team fight keep your eyes open for an enemy popping their Heroic, and see if you can shut it down. Using judgement to put a righteous end to a
Strafe,
Triple Tap,
Jug of 1,000 Cups, or
Tranquility can totally shift a team fight in your favor and even lead to a team wipe. I know it's super tempting to Judgement the living !@#$ out of a fleeing Illidan with 16 %&#$!@* HP left but try to resist. Chasing takes you away from your team so that you can't tank and you're not well equipped to do damage on your own if the other team pulls a reversal.
Sanctification If you're one of the people who swears by Sanctification I see where you're coming from and this ability definitely has its uses. The issue is that without some kind of team-speak app it's really hard to land your shielding on enough of your teammates to make this talent worth it. Remember Tyrael has to channel this ability so you can't move around or use your other abilities.
The reality of being a new player in Heroes of the Storm is that you're gonna find yourself out of position a lot - and that's ok! You're still learning! But
Sanctification is wasted if you're not well positioned and on the other hand
Judgment can instantly correct a positioning mistake while dealing a bunch of damage and stunning an enemy, that's one heck of a swing.
-- Do note that, if most of your teammates are melee characters (i.e.
Illidan,
Thrall,
The Butcher,
Uther etc.) then they will be spending more time in the scrum of a team fight and less time kiting around the outside, which makes it much easier to land a solid Sanctification, just a thought.--
Level 13 Top
Angelic Absorption This tier is loaded with great talents, but Angelic Absorption is honestly one of the best abilities in the game. You're going to be using your shield during team fights like we discussed anyway so you don't need to alter your play style, and this ability combines with the
Amplified Healing talent you took earlier. This means your healer can focus their heals mainly on the squishier members of your team and you can be just as effective as a tank. Remember this talent works on any form of incoming damage so you can exploit an enemy creep wave, tower or keep for a little bit of extra juice in a pinch, you don't have to wait for heroes to start beating you with sticks.
Imposing Will This talent is useful if you're playing a bunch of characters that have to land quick strikes to survive *ahem*
Illidan *cough*
Illidan...ok basically Illidan. If there's an Illi running train through your team like Coffee Black in the Flint Michigan Mega Bowl then this could be a good counter #weekofdeadillidans.
Angelic Might Angelic might is a hugely effective way to boost your DPS and it's one of my favorite abilities. It doesn't sync up super well with this build but definitely give it a try in a Quick Game and who knows, maybe one day you need a little extra juice and you can pull this rabbit out of your...angelic cowl? Empty face hood? Honestly idk.
Level 16 Top
Salvation Salvation is a great ability that increases your shield for each teammate in range when you pop
Righteousness and it fits in really well with the rest of the talents in this build. You get healed more because of
Angelic Absorption, you tank more damage, you use shields more efficiently, it's a win-win.
Blood for Blood In my heart of hearts I know that Salvation is a better ability and that it goes better with this build but DPS is like the Dark Side of the Force, it's so much sexier than doing the right thing sometimes. The recent patches changed the way that Blood for Blood works (increasing health steal and decreasing damage) but I still pick this ability more than I should. It's an ok choice if you're playing 2 opponents with large health pools and your team needs a little extra umph...kinda...a little bit...honestly just take Salvation, be smarter than me.
Level (20) Top
This is the tier where my explanations for talent choices are the most convoluted so I'll do my best and let me know if something doesn't make sense in the comment section below. Then again, that sentence wasn't particularly clear so we're not off to a strong start.
Angel of Justice Taking this talent means you can cast
Judgment more frequently and from farther away. The cool-down of Justice is reduced by 30 seconds which is huge! This is a solid ability but you have to consider the talents you've already selected before you make you choice. For example, if you chose
Battle Momentum back at level 7 then every basic attack you land is already reducing the cool-down of judgement and this talent becomes a lot less valuable for this build at least.
Hardened Shield A couple of things I should mention. Hardened shield reduces the damage you take but does NOT affect the healing you get from
Angelic Absorption because that number is calculated as a percentage of your opponents attack. This means you can use hardened shield almost like
Uther's
Divine Shield if you're getting really low. Pop your shield and then immediately after pop Hardened Shield, your shield will last longer cause you're taking 75% less damage but you'll still be healing, at the end you should be at least stable enough to disengage from a team fight.
Wrap Up! Top
Some of you may call this guide comprehensive, thoughtful, expansive, thorough, a gift to man and beast alike in an otherwise desolate world. Others will call it long, exhausting, wind-baggy, and use adjectives that Blizzard would turn into symbols. Hopefully some of you found it useful, there are a lot of ways to play Tyrael and that's why he's my favorite Hero to play as. I hope this guide taught you one way to play the Archangel of Justice and that you learned some useful tips and tricks. "Have fun storming the castle!"
P.S. All hail Grubby.
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