Only have him at about level 8 and haven’t won game with him yet… lets see how I do
Talents:
1 Unending Hatred- stacks go brrrrr
4 idk close your eyes and pick one
7 rapid chase- you want to go faster to get more autoattacks
10 always hunt
13 depends on enemy
16 % damage obviously
20 nexus blades
What you want to do with ilildan is soak. Just soak. When enemies attack use your w to run away. Then once you hit 10, you can ult into an enemy thats about to die. Then you use your w to run away. You cannot be teamfighting ever. If you afk soak hard enough the minions will do the fighting for you.
Illidan is actually quite nuanced, and talent choices can vary greatly depending on QM versus Draft, rank, and ally/opponent comps. I honestly don’t think there is a single dead talent in his tree.
This is my favorite Illidan build for solo QM: https://www.icy-veins.com/heroes/talent-calculator/illidan#54.4!133..13
10: usually The Hunt
13: usually Nimble Defender or Elusive Strike
Beast-mode wave clear and mercs right out of the gate, shifts damage and self-sustain away from basic attacks to abilities in case of CC/blind or auto-pick anti-AA talents from opponents, and magnifies W as an escape.
I’m actually preparing a guide for Illidan right now. I have over 1000 games with him. See a lot of common mistakes I’m going to address in the YouTube video, along with some tips and tricks I think would help.
Might be a while?
But here’s a quick rundown:
Unending Hatred is not the default pick. Immolation for push build and vs teams without a bulky frontline. Battered Assault vs teams with 2 heroes on the frontline.
Most experienced Illidans including myself will go for Hunter’s Onslaught here. It provides healing on demand and makes Illidan an unkillable laning monster. Thirsting Blade if you go UH or BA.
Rapid Chase all day every day. Like lvl 4, most experienced Illidans will go for this talent as its bonuses are ridiculous. Friend or Foe if you are new to Illidan and can’t manage escaping without it.
The Hunt. That’s it. On two lane maps, there’s room for Metamorphosis but only if you went BA or UH build with Thirsting Blade.
Nimble Defender if the enemy team doesn’t have KTZ or Kael or someone who can drop a massive amount of spell damage on you quickly. If they do, go Sixth Sense.
Marked for Death. This is Illidan’s game-ending upgrade. People start to die very fast when you pair this with the bonuses from Rapid Chase. This also allows Illidan to end the game with near-unstoppable siege. The enemies try to hurt you while your critting the crap out of their keeps and core lol.
Nowhere to Hide. Gives Illidan global presence, allows cheesy Illidan plays where you can hunt to the other side of the map and take a keep while the enemy team is nowhere near it. Let’s you finish off pesky enemy heroes who are near death.
I do like this talent especially if the enemy team has blinds / ways to prevent you from attacking. This build shifts more power to your spell damage allowing you to rely less on AA.
Here’s my tip:
Through my many, many games with Illidan, I’ve found that my success rate is much greater if I’m constantly bouncing from target to target. Most people tunnel vision with Illi which I’ve found to be a big mistake.
If Valla is the “correct” target but she’s doing a good job of kiting you…don’t keep chasing her and falling deeper and deeper into enemy territory. Just spin around and start attacking their johanna. Smacking an easy to hit target gives you some healing, helps reset your mobility spells, brings you back in range of your healer and dramatically repositions yourself which in turn shakes up the enemy team.
Once Valla realises you’re no longer following her, she’ll spin back around to rejoin the fight. That’s when you give up on Jo and jump back onto Valla again.
Rince and repeat.
This might sound strange given that he’s a squishy hero, but Illidan is surprisingly good at baiting damage. Often in fights I’m bouncing from target to target making people chase me and wasting time. I’m not accomplishing anything particularly great, but the rest of my team barely have a scratch on them giving them free rein to do what they please.
Actually gonna make a video to address this, give me til the weekend.
I see that you are a fellow educated man of a highly civilized nature. You are saying all the correct things. Illidan is all about that 4D chess in teamfights. And yes, I am saying that half-seriously.
But still, this is why I love Rapid Chase so much. With the CD reduction, you can even use the enemy heroes (in your case Jo) as a “battery” to lower the cooldown of your Dive in just a few autos, since the upgrade provides even further CD reduction itself as mentioned before.
