While similar, Valla’s talent tree is also different:
Level 1:
Gain move speed/mana regen at max hatred (utility + mana management)
Make E leave traps behind and after quest reduce its mana cost and cd (damage potential + self peel + utility increase)
Increase Q’s PvE damage and reduce its mana cost (mana management + PvE dmg)
So far so good, diverse talents.
Level 4:
Increase Q’s damage
Increase W’s damage
Increase your attack speed and damage (after completing a quest)
Okay, here we have talents that only add damage.
Level 7:
Add secondary projectiles to your W, increasing its damage and reducing its cooldown
Increase the damage bonus you get from E, if you kill the target - cd and mana cost are refunded
Cause your E to reset the cooldown of your Q (thus allowing you to deal more damage)
Another tier that is all about damage. Although her W talent also provides a cooldown reduction, and the E talent provides a cd reset and mana refunt upon a kill. So they have some additional functionalities to play with (unlike any of Maiev’s talent’s, where all the additional functionalities only increase the damage)
Level 13:
Gain spell armor, spend your hatred to increase it further
Your basic attacks heal you
Your Q heals you when hitting heroes
While this is a “survivability” tier, it’s not quite like Maievs. All of Maiev’s talents grant her armor, while Valla can chose between burst heal, sustained heal or spell armor (damage prevention).
Level 16:
Increase W’s range and add slow to it (utility)
Generate hatred faster and at max hatred, gain spell power (utility + spell damage)
Every 3-rd basic attack deals extra % damage (% damage)
Seems good.
Level 20:
Make Strafe more reliable and add self-sustain to it
Make basic attacks reduce RoV’s cd
Hatred increases your attack speed (damage)
Increase your basic attack range (utility)
So in the end, her talent tree is a lot better than that of Maiev, even if she has 2 talent tiers that are all about damage, and 1 that is about survivability.
And Valla has 3 defined builds, that function very differently from each other. And each uses different talents. Each of her talents is picked in at least 1 of her builds. This is another reason her talent tree is good.
While Maiev… I can’t say that all of her talents are worth picking. Especially on level 13, there you pick the only that you think will grant you the most value, regardless of your build (either W if enemies clump up a lot, either E if you find yourself dueling a lot).