Valeera's Level 13 Talent Tier

General Discussion
1

Can we do something about it? These talents have been such a problem to me (and I bet everyone else that pays attention) because whichever talent you pick, you will feel forced to use that opener for the remainder of the game.

If you go Q build, you will eventually want to get Seal Fate (+50% Q damage to stunned, rooted, or silenced enemies). To take advantage of this bonus, you are most likely going to never use Ambush because it doesn’t provide cc to trigger the talent bonus damage. Blind and Strangle are really your only good choices to pair with in Q build.

In the auto attack Valeera build, you will only be using Garrote as your opener in all scenarios because the talents you will be picking only benefit when using Garrote (Hemorrhage, Slice and Dice, Strangle, Rupture). Notice how there are practically no talents other than Blind to upgrade Cheap Shot? Exclusively using one opener takes away the adaptability and variety of ways that Valeera can shut down enemy heroes. Valeera isn’t meant to use only one opener throughout the game, there are specific situations where each opener has their niche and will perform better than another opener.

My proposition would be to completely rework the Lvl 13 talent tier with brand new talents. My idea is that these talents would serve to upgrade Vanish in one way that will affect all three openers in one way that would open up more diversity. Here are my suggestions:

Death From Above Teleporting with any opener reduces the cooldown of Vanish to 6 seconds and cooldowns refresh 25% faster for 6 seconds.
Blind Teleporting with any opener retains the Untargetable status for 1 additional second and now causes the enemy Hero's vision radius to be greatly reduced for 2 seconds.
Strangle Teleporting with any opener deals an additional 2% of the enemy Hero's maximum Health as damage and reduces the damage of the enemy Hero by 20% for 4 seconds.
1 Like
2

I agree that level 13 can lead you into one opener but so does going auto attack build and seal fate. So the problem isn’t just 13. As to your suggestions, Strangle without the %dmg and blind seem pretty neat. CD reduction doesn’t do much for Valeera though. Valeera would also lose the longest blind which would kinda sucks :cry: .

2 Likes
3

She does already have a moderate blind, but that requires picking up the Cheap Shot upgrade, which doesn’t synergize with any Garrote talents or keep enemies disabled for long enough to eliminate them.

4

Yeah, I was just saying if they rework 13 to allow her to use any opener she will most likely lose the cheap shot upgrade which is a great counter to AA. Right now it forces one opener to make that openers effect more powerful.

5

When I was brainstorming ideas for the new functionalities for each talent, I was thinking of ways to further disable your opponents without making it unplayable to the victim against Valeera. Avoiding potential frustration is how I think one step ahead.

Blind + Garrote = mini Isolation
Strangle + Garrote = tank buster tool
Death From Above + Cheap Shot = less downtime on Vanish

I also take into account if each talent is fairly balanced compared to each other. Death From Above gives lower Vanish cooldown and some CDR (other ideas instead of CDR greatly advised). Blind gives you 1 extra second of Untargetable (useful against point and click abilities) and reduces vision radius for a small duration. Strangle let’s you deal % damage and lowers damage of enemy for short duration.

Being on the balance team would be my greatest dream because I absolutely love doing this type of creativity.

6

There was an AMA topic on this a few months back where blizzard agrees with you. Too many talents which enhance one openner pigeon holes valeera into just one move. She should be able to adapt and use the right opener for the right target.

Sadly, no plans for a rework in the near future.

Personally, id like to see some of her CC shifted away from her opener and onto other spells like blade flurry or evis. Im talking soft CC so that it’s not frustrating to play against.

E.g. evis applies a powerful but short duration slow (like rehgars level 16 totem talent). This would have great synergy with AA valeera because it helps her stick easier.

Or enemies hit by blade flurry have their damage reduced (improving valeera’s survivability in combat against potentially multiple targets).

2 Likes
7

I was hesitant about the %dmg because Valeera already dumps out dmg. I have no ideas for strangle maybe put wound poison there? Blind is a really nice idea. I’m hesitant to give any dmg talents on 13 since its supposed to be utility. Death from Above just setting the cd of vanish to 3 or 4 seconds would be fine or if you get a kill within x seconds of opening reset vanish?

8

Kinda agree but I’m worried about then being forced to use blade flurry which is a huge waste of energy in your rotation.

9

How about removing Wound Poison and Crippling Poison and adding them baseline into Valeera’s base kit somehow.

Crippling Poison could be added to Garrote, but nerfed to 15% Slow after the Silence (2.5 >>> 2.25 seconds).
Wound Poison (50% healing reduction >>> 35% but same duration) could be added onto Eviscerate.

10

If going with that idea make crippling on blade flurry or sinister maybe? So that way people won’t just use garrote, and due to them having level 1 free they can pick an energy talent to deal with the high cost of blade flurry.

11

Valeera is gud as she is now. Lets just settle to that - Ming