About Anduin - Theorycrafting

General Discussion
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I know, I know… he’s only out on the ptr yet and not even for long, and I only played him in 3 vsAI games, and once against (and next to) him in a Custom game with randos as Uther. BUT!
Here are my thoughts:

About his abilities:

  • Q (4 sec cd) -your main heal- can be interrupted and roots you for 0.75 sec, so you need to cast it from safety.
  • W (9 sec cd) is weird for dmg, cuz it’s a rather narrow skillshot, but an excellent aoe heal which you can aim with because it follows you like Xul’s Scythe.
  • E (10 sec cd) -your root- is a reaaaaally slow moving skillshot. Better keep it for follow up or for chase or maybe against a diver (you are bad against dive comps).
  • D (80 sec cd) is an excellent cleanse. One of the best I saw, it’s like a buffed Stitch Helping Hand. (But sadly it can be used for trolling not just saving.)
  • R1 HW: Salvation is similar in power and usage like Santification.
  • R2 Lightbomb is like if you could cast Divine Storm on your allies if you don’t feel to dive yourself, lol.

His healing feels like “bursty sustain”. So inbetween the two.

He works really well with Stitches, because Leap of Faith can “hook” Stitches and his Gorged target to your team.

Imo he counters Maiev, because you can just root her when she tries to Bind your team.

He looks fine as a solo Healer but with his powers and weaknesses, I’d recommend “Double Support” with him, I think it suits him well because he has fine dmg and CC next to his great heals. WM, Uther and Auriel would be my suggestions for the other support mostly.
Maybe it still won’t be enough, but Leap of Faith looks like a good addition to Resurrect.

I think he’ll be countered by Mura, Diablo and Anub. Which is a bit sad, considering they’re the meta Tanks now. They counter his HW Heroic and can make his job to use his Q harder since they can dive and CC him pretty easily.

But he looks like a good addition to murder-squads. With Manduin you can just go like an inquisitior with your inquisitor buds and share the true meaning of DEUS VULT!

Ana -as always- looks like a big counter to this Healer as well. CC and antiheal just to make him cry in a corner.

These are my quick thoughts about him.

I’m curious what others think. Let’s theorycraft!

Sidenote: comboing your root and Lightbomb’s stun is pretty fun. :smiley:

6 Likes
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He makes Uther irrelevant. Everything that uther does Andy does better, and for less mana, and less CD. Which is richly ironic given that the last balance patch was designed around mana balance… :woozy_face::dizzy_face::face_with_raised_eyebrow::balance_scale:

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I have a silly build with him: The Lightwell Build
This build is all about reducing the cooldown of his Lightwell Talent at level 16 and essentially turns Lightwell into your main source of healing

Lightwell is an 70 second CD active ability that heals all allied heroes in it’s small range up to 10 times total (10 casts per Lightwell, not 10 casts per Hero), after that or if you cast another, it disappears. Lightwell’s cooldown is reduced by 1 second every time Anduin heals an allied hero (Including himself!)

Level 1. Bold Strategy
This talent comes into play once you get Lightwell. You get both Renew (A free HOT for your Q once you land an Auto on an enemy Hero) and Pursued by Grace (Heals the lowest ally when you damage an enemy Hero), both of which will reduce the cooldown of your Lightwell

Level 4. Holy Reach OR Inner Fire
Honestly I haven’t really tested both out a lot to see which one is better for this “fun” build. Again, these two talents will reduce the cooldown of your Lightwell (Holy Reach being more Bursty while Inner Fire is more sustained)

Level 7. Any talent works, it’s up to preference
This talent row isn’t really necessary for this build to function, it’s more Survivability for Anduin (Which is always nice). I prefer Power Word: Shield just for the extra health.

Level 10. Again, up to preference
Both of his Heroics are great, though I’m leaning towards Lightbomb since Holy Word: Salvation can be interrupted (It grants Protected, NOT Invulnerable)

Level 13. Enchant Boots - Lion’s Speed
This talent row is basically a speed buff for Anduin, however Lion’s Speed is significantly better than the other 2 (At least for me it is) because of how consistent it is.

Level 16. Lightwell
It’s a Lightwell Build…

Level 20. Varian’s Legacy
This is your powerspike for this build, what this does is that whenever Anduin attacks anything, he places a short DOT on them and heals himself for 50% of the damage. With that in mind, you can spread your DOT’s around and you’ll get a ridiculous amount of cooldown reduction for your Lightwell allowing you to place it down more frequently

It’s a fun build that I’ll probably stick to unless there’s some meta build that increases his potential substantially.

1 Like
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What even… Uther is a Frontline hero who spams stuns and has incredibly powerful burst protection. Anduin is completely different

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I’d say he’s still perfectly good for solo healing. He simply requires a good frontline or peel, like most healers do.

Also, I haven’t had much issue hitting with his W as the damage portion moves really fast. It’s his E root that’s too slow for chasing, but good for stopping divers.

3 Likes
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So far?
I love that you can ‘tether’ the heal cast; so long as you begin casting it on the target, they seem to be able to just jettison anyplace away from you; being able to catch allies as they run deep is very, very nice. It’s also nice to be able to prepare it from a distance while they’re running in, and you don’t have to stick to them.

I feel like his level 1 is a bit of a trap; are there going to be cases where keeping the 4sec CD Q over the 5sec CD Q is going to be worth missing the regen + the damage sustain? I had lots of fun using both effects with the Lightwell. But as with recent picks, his talents all feel pretty flush. Did his movement speed tier also feel particularly strong to anyone else?

I didn’t get too much field time with the ults or the chance to do anything too crazy. I’ll have to wait for him to go live to get better opportunities to play him.

I don’t agree he’s better than Uther objectively, he lacks Uther’s stun, he lacks Uther’s raw burst and he lacks Uther’s incredible armor coverage which can turn fights. People are just overreacting because he is pretty potent right now.

Wish they’d incorporate the sword somehow.

1 Like
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Yeah, i mean, Stukov already did everything uther did but better anyways!
He could root people at range and silence–like a better stun!

And he could heal multiple people and burst heal for low mana!

writers note: this is sarcasm. ifyou have an issue with it please fill out the following form: https://hardforum.com/data/attachment-files/2019/03/200469_image.jpg

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Anduin vs. Uther:
Qs more often vs. Q gives armor as well and can be talented into hurting ppl
W bigger and easier to hit aoe heal vs. W gives armor as well and its dmg is wider
E is a slow root vs. E is a spammable stun
R1 is a channeled aoe protection vs. R1 is one invulnerable
R2 is a delayed aoe stun on an allied Hero vs. R2 is a bigger aoe stun around you without delay

Also, Uther can dual, Anduin not really. Uther laughs on divers, Manduin cries.
Uther can solotake AP obj, Manduin cries for help.

Uther is fine.

1 Like
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Yea, it’s fast, but narrow. So not easy to deal dmg with it on multiple Heroes unless they’re in a line.

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Anduin is hands down the best healer partner for Butcher. Just think about it for a second, the synergy is bloody insane.
:cut_of_meat::cut_of_meat::cut_of_meat::cut_of_meat::cut_of_meat:

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Lightbomb your Butcher, let him go and take his pick, and then pull him back to safety before he has the chance to pick up the meat

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You mean Uther gets close enough to get killed, (and usually does) so much so they need a mechanic to have him heal after death to compensate. Anduin stands behind the tanks spam heals the crap out of them without bleeding mana.

Uther has one escape for team mates in Devineshield, Anduin comes with a better sanctification that tyreal and a better single hero devine shield with Protected by the way… (like father like son) as ultimates OH and HIS D key is a free save for over extending morons on the team.

Other than that, Uther totally viable as an alternative to Anduin…

:face_with_raised_eyebrow::face_with_raised_eyebrow::face_with_raised_eyebrow::face_with_raised_eyebrow:

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Imo getting invulerable is better than getting protected and get some heal but only if someone doesn’t interrupt Manduin.

2 Likes
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Uther is not an “alternative” to anduin you draft them for completely different reasons

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Till he runs out of mana,
Uther Q 12 Sec cooldown, 80 mana, 362 heal
Anduin Q 4 seconds (5 if you take level 1 talent) 30 mana 260 heal

over 2 casts, Anduin out heals Uther, with less mana spent winner Anduin

Uther W, 12 seconds , 70 mana, 177 damage, 177 healing
Anduin W 9 seconds, 45 mana, 145 damage, 130 with a 25% increase for every hero hit.

If anduin hits 2 heroes he’s behind on damage but close to even on healing and ahead on mana. I’ll give Uther the win on this.

Uther E, 8 seconds 40 mana, 109 damage, 1 second stun
Anduin E, 10 seconds, 40 mana 145 damage, 1.25 second root.

Stuns are good, for interrupts, but you have to be in range and that puts you in danger, Anduin gets points for being able to lock down from range and doing slightly more damage, Anduin wins.

Now the main event Ultimates.
Uther has 80 seconds, 90 mana, 3 second invulnerable 20% move speed
Devine storm 80 seconds, 80 mana, 1.75 stun with 170 damage.

Anduin
Holy Word, 80 seconds 70 mana, 3 seconds area Protected and Heal 25% of health.
Lightbomb 70 mana 60 seconds, 150 dmg per enemy hero it hits and stuns 1.25 second and gives 140 damage absorb per enemy hit.

Light bomb much > devine storm from damage mana, cooldown and protection and Holy word > Devine shield.

Anduin wins on 3 of 4 spell categories and only slightly looses on the W. combine that with the fact he does that from the back line then there you go.

Uther has to put himself in danger to use talents less useful. Again Why pick Uther when anduin is available. RIP Uther it was good run…

Or Uther, the new Chen.

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You draft Uther to put a divine shield on your dragonblade Genji :wink:

(which people never do and it tilts me)

@Thread

He seems fine for solo healer depending on the enemy team, but he should shine on double support comps (with a medivh, tass, zarya, aba) with a hypercarry or with triple frontline (tank + bruiser + thrall + ranged dps + him). He is probably unkillable with comps like that.

His kit adapts to every situation (burst + sustain), he has really really good CC, he is good against divers (just alt R the aoe stun + W), he can save people really well with trait.

I just think he will be one of the top tier healers for sure.

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I’m sorry what are those completely different reasons. I don’t see them as clearly as you do and I’d like to learn more.

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for the record AOE protected (so everybody gets protected) and 25% of max health is more than SOME heal…

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Yes, and Tyrael’s Santification is aoe Invulerable. Why mention aoe when both are?

Not really. Lvl 1 mana and stun cdr talent is really good.
Makes him kinda manafree and that was before his recent manacost buffs.

You don’t give credit to the 25 Armor.

What is this point system? :'D I’d take Uther’s stun all the time instead of that slow ranged root. The more value you get from its range the less likely you’ll hit what you want (or anything).

And let’s talk about when you’ll pick Anduin and Uther if you say apples are just better oranges.
Uther is good against divers. Manduin? Nope.
Uther is good against burst. Manduin? Thanks to his delays, I won’t say so. (Not bad tho, but as I said, he’s in the middle of the burst-sustain spectrum.)
Uther is better in lockdown comps than Manduin. Stuns interrupt channels, and prevents the enemy from using abilities and AA. Roots do none of these.
Manduin is better in hit’n’run and poke comps and enable divers better if you don’t need to fear enemy dives.

They’re only similar in a bit of a “feel of playstyle”, so if you like Uther, you’ll have fun with Manduin as well, but these two Heroes can’t replace the other.

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I said this on discord, but here is my opinion:

Anduin will be one of the best supports at pro level. He counters tyrande blowup comps with yoink and she cannot cleanse his root.

Additionally, he has two great ults. He can empower his tank’s CC chains and also counter big wombo combos like zera jaina.

He has pretty much everything you could want from a healer.

1 Like